First time on the Diamond Princess

[cbpanda]

We are cruising southbound from Alaska at the beginning of July and I was looking over the deck plans recently.

 

Can someone explain why there are 5 dining rooms on the ship?

[Laurie7]

We traveled on Sapphire Princess a fews years ago. Sapphire Princess is a sister ship to the Diamond. At that time they were going to try and have 4 different types of restaurants on the ship. One asian, one southwestern, etc., etc. I don't remember the other two. Apparently that plan didn't work out too well or it was too confusing so they just returned to the standard dining rooms. I believe that is why there are so many dining rooms on the ship. We will be sailing the Diamond June of 2012, let us all know how you like your trip.

[5:00_Somewhere]

Laurie 7 is correct.

 

The traditional dining room is still on deck 6 aft.

 

Most other Grand Class ships have 2 additional large anytime dining rooms amidships, on decks 5 and 6. On the Diamond and the Sapphire, however, they have divided each of these midship dining rooms in half, creating 4 smaller venues, each with a "theme": Southwestern ("Santa Fe"), Asian/Pacific ("Pacific Moon"), Italian ("Vivaldi") and sort of a "steakhouse" feel ("Savoy"). These dining rooms offer the same menu as the Traditional dining Room, but each also offers an additional "signature" dish. When we were on the Diamond in 2009, Savoy had a pork chop, Santa Fe had fajitas, Pacific Moon had scallops on rice noodles (and I forget what Vivaldi offered.) In our experience, all the specialty dishes were especially good. Once we got used to this difference, we actually came to very much enjoy this arrangement, and were only sad that our cruise was not long enough to enjoy all 4 specialty dishes more than once (as we also wanted to dine in the specailty restaurants.)

 

Oh, and I don't know if they're still doing this, but when we were aboard, the offered an additional early assigned traditional seating in the Vivaldi dining room; it did not become an "anytime" dining room until after 8:00, if memory serves.

 

I hope that helps, and I hope you have a great time. The Alaska cruises are wonderful, and the Diamond is a lovely ship.

 

Oh, and try and venture down to the "hidden" Wake View bar, which you can only access from a spiral staircase near the stage in Club Fusion. It's a nice little spot. :D

[cbpanda]

Thanks to both of you for your responses.

 

I'm super excited about Alaska -- it's definitely one trip on my must do list! We are making the most of it and doing a week on land before we cruise.

 

5:00 Somewhere, I'll have to check out that hidden bar! Sounds intriguing!! Thanks for the tip.

[Pam in CA]

The others are correct. The Sapphire and Diamond are the only Princess ships built in Japan and they were designed so that each of the two large Anytime dining rooms were split in half to create four Anytime dining rooms. It's the same space, just a wall separating the two dining rooms on each deck. As said, originally, they were designed to each have a separate menu based on the dining room theme. It didn't work and after about 4-5 months, they changed to all the dining rooms having the same menu.

[Ahhh]

Those smaller dining rooms, each with it's own intimate decor, are just one of the reasons why I prefer these two ships. When Sapphire goes into drydock in January some big changes are going to be made, including doing away with the Wake View Bar and reconfiguring two of the smaller dining rooms.

[5:00_Somewhere]

Those smaller dining rooms, each with it's own intimate decor, are just one of the reasons why I prefer these two ships. When Sapphire goes into drydock in January some big changes are going to be made, including doing away with the Wake View Bar and reconfiguring two of the smaller dining rooms.

 

I hadn't heard about them getting rid of the Wake View bar. It's too bad, although it is HIGHLY under used. I'm sure it could be put to better use. We had a nice time down there on our cruise, though.

[billyg3]

Last summer on the Diamond the signature dish in Vivaldi was osso bucco.

[caribill]

I hadn't heard about them getting rid of the Wake View bar. It's too bad, although it is HIGHLY under used.

 

Oddly enough, when we were on the Diamond last December, that was where they held the AA meetings every day around 4 PM.

[bdjam]

From the deck plans in the 2012-2013 Cruise Atlas, it looks like they are extending the aft dining room into the Wakeview Bar area.

I hadn't heard about them getting rid of the Wake View bar. It's too bad, although it is HIGHLY under used. I'm sure it could be put to better use. We had a nice time down there on our cruise, though.

[5:00_Somewhere]

Last summer on the Diamond the signature dish in Vivaldi was osso bucco.

 

Yes, that was it when we were on, as well. I had just forgotten. Like the other signature dishes, I seem to recall my dinner companions commenting that it was quite good.

 

Oddly enough, when we were on the Diamond last December, that was where they held the AA meetings every day around 4 PM.

 

A rather ironic choice of locations ... except that it was so rarely used as an actual bar, at least that was a way to get people down there.

 

From the deck plans in the 2012-2013 Cruise Atlas, it looks like they are extending the aft dining room into the Wakeview Bar area.

 

Makes sense, based on its location.

 

I recall others saying that, originally, it was designed so that the aft facing wall was supposed to be all floor-to-ceiling windows, but some issue (structural I believe) prevented that from becoming reality. So, with only a small window back there, there really was no special draw to the location, I suppose.