Onboard the Diamond Now..

[azjanes]

Surprised to learn the same menu in all dinning rooms, no special menus in Santa Fe, Sterling, Picific Moon. The waiter said they had recently stopped that and all get the traditional menu. The food is good..

[gg3]

:) We'll be on the Diamond in late June - anxious to find out more details. How was your view around Vancouver Island as you left port and headed out? I know the Inside Passage is gorgeous. Let us know your impressions of Diamond and the sights - details, details. Thanks and have a great time !!!!!!

[Italy52]

Surprised to learn the same menu in all dinning rooms, no special menus in Santa Fe, Sterling, Picific Moon. The waiter said they had recently stopped that and all get the traditional menu. The food is good..

 

 

Hope you are having a wonderful cruise. Thanks for taking the time to post this information. Does this mean that there are NO specialty items any more? If so, what is the purpose of the various dining rooms? Is it to spread the PC diners amongst various rooms so there is not a heavy concentration in one room? We are sailing the Sapphire on Sunday. Do you know if this practice is the same for the Sapphire? Thanks in advance for your response.

[gaunerdog]

I find no Specialy menus interesting as all of the printed literature mentions these. We were on the May 3rd Alaska Sampler on the Diamond and did receive the Specialty menus with the traditional menus each night. If not why don't they assign you to a specific table with early or late seating?There did seem to be a lot of confusion with meal times and assigments by the Consierge. Also, on the Alaska itinerary there was not enough space in the International Dining Room to accomodate those wanting to eat there for breakfast and lunch. Maybe they will open one of the other venues to accomodate those in the cooler climate.

[Gateman1997]

Surprised to learn the same menu in all dinning rooms, no special menus in Santa Fe, Sterling, Picific Moon. The waiter said they had recently stopped that and all get the traditional menu. The food is good..

That's odd. I just got off Diamond right before you got on and each dining room had a different menu plus the "shipwide" menu as well.

[Colo Cruiser]

Gateman1997

I think what the poster is trying to say is that there was talk of the availability of all menus in every dining room. We were also on the 05/03/05 Diamond and only had the specific menu for the dining room that you were in at the time and also the traditional menu. Example if you were in the Pacific Moon you could not get the Santa Fe, Sterling or the Vivaldi. At least we could not.

[Gateman1997]

Gateman1997

I think what the poster is trying to say is that there was talk of the availability of all menus in every dining room. We were also on the 05/03/05 Diamond and only had the specific menu for the dining room that you were in at the time and also the traditional menu. Example if you were in the Pacific Moon you could not get the Santa Fe, Sterling or the Vivaldi. At least we could not.

Again that's odd because I had no problem doing that. Then again it could be time of day you went etc... We usually ate around 9:30 and got chummy with several of the waiters, especially Alek in Santa Fe (aka the purveyor or Limonchelo (sp?))

[Sheebah]

Gateman,

How was your cruise? did you write a review and I missed it? Anxious to hear all the details!!

[azjanes]

And there are no special menus every dinning room has the same, except the $, the one you pay for. They said that that recently changed. Yesterday at Tracey Arm didn't get to go all the way about 8 miles short of the glacier, the ice is too heavy. The good news is the weather has been great. And no problem getting into any of the dinning rooms reservations or not. The new ship is going to be the California Diamond, as we already knew, West Coast based, they didn't know the ports. Past passenger party is tonight, maybe the captain will know more.

[Beryl]

azjanes, Are you telling us that you can no longer get guacamole and fajaitas in the Santa Fe dining room, that Osso Bucco has disappeared from the Vivaldi Dining room, that Sushi and Mandarin Duck is no longer served in the Pacific Moon and that Prime Rib is not available at Sterlings? Is it really true that only the traditional menu is offered :( ! If that is true Princess has really taken away what was one of the most wonderful parts of cruising aboard the Diamond Princess!

[judyjudy56]

I really hope this is not true. Kind of puts a damper on our June 4 cruise. Was really looking forward to the food in the PC dining rooms.

[Colo Cruiser]

Beryl I was told onboard that they are installing an actual Sterling Steak House at the rear of the Horizon Court. I hope that is true.:)

[Beryl]

Colo Cruiser, I remember reading that, likely in one of your posts. :) I think it would be a wonderful addition to the Diamond. We tried Sabatini's on our last cruise and it was very nice but I think I would have preferred a steakhouse.

 

Did you hear any rumors that they were planning to do away with the special menus in the PC dining rooms? I will be very sad if that happens (or has already happened!)

[Colo Cruiser]

I did not hear that and they had the specific menu in the Santa Fe and the Sterling. We never made it into the Pacific Moon or the Vivaldi.

 

Does not make sense if they did do away with them.

[Hulagirl]

Beryl: I'm with you that it will be disappointing if they have done away with the menus for each of the dining rooms. We have friends going with us on this cruise and I've told them all about the different dining venues on the ship. This is their first Princess cruise, well actually first cruise period, and they were looking forward to the different menus. Granted, it won't make the cruise any less, but it is something different. I know you are on the cruise before we are, so if we don't here any other posts about this, would you please let me/us know if this is still the case when you sail. So sorry we aren't on the same trip so we could finally meet.

 

Susan

[momthecruisedirector]

We got an email from Princess yesterday about our July cruise on the Diamond. Here is what they said about PC Dining:

 

 

http://princess.dynamicmessenger.com/?cvP0iL7JWdbZ7D7flHbbvuee

[azjanes]

Maybe it is just this cruise May14-21 that doesn't have the speciality menus. One night in the Santa Fe they did mention that we could get fajitas, chicken or beef, but it was not on the menu. That was the only sign of a special choice available.

 

At the Captains party last night, he mentioned the new ships were to be named the Crown and Emerald. The future cruise lady had said there was going to be the California Princess, so who knows what..

 

We are having a great time, Victoria tonight then home in the morning.

[ModestMeans]

Azjanes -- thank you for your posts. I hope that you will give us an expanded review upon your return. A favor -- if you have a chance, would you please be kind enough to check with the powers-that-be on the ship, get to the bottom of this specialty menu issue, and report your findings? We are scheduled for the 6/4 sailing and would be very disappointed if the PC rooms have only the traditional menu.

Thanks,

Jim

[azjanes]

Hello, I just booked a future cruise and asked Jayne about the menus, she said alot of people have been asking about where they went. She told me this is a trial basis for awhile she didn't know how long it would be, but it would be for a time. And there will be the 3 new ships, California, Emerald and Crown.

[woodta63]

I wonder how long that is going to be... I am bummed because i am getting on the diamond when you get off for the May 21 sailing tomorrow. I hope that we have choices on our cruise. I am so excited to be going. I will also see how it goes on my cruise and get back to you all about it.

[tx2cruiser]

I got off the Diamond May 14th (one week ago) and there were definately different specialty menus in each dining room. You could also order off the "Main" page of things served in every dining room. I thought the food was very good.:)

[hrob777]

Sailed 5/15-22 on Sapphire. All 4 Specialty Restaurants had the regular menu plus one specialty dish. But I had to ask about the specialty dish in each restaurant.

 

Sterling - Double Thick Pork Chops

Santa Fe - Beef or Chicken Fajitas

Vidaldi - Osso Buco

Pacific Moon - Tiger Prawns and Scallops Stir Fry

[bdjam]

With all the complaining about getting into the Anytime Themed Dining Rooms, it’s no wonder they’ve changed the approach.

And there will be the 3 new ships, California, Emerald and Crown.

I wonder where the third hull is coming from? From all I can tell, there are only two on order and they are slated as Crown and Emerald.

 

[mojavegirl]

I was also on the 14-21st diamond princess cruise. I was looking forward to the variety offered by the different menus. However after talking with Marius (our matre d' in Pacific Moon) it sounded like the varied menus created nightly chaos for the staff. I enjoyed the excellent service and never felt the lack of extra menu items, it already was too hard to choose!

Fabulous cruise!

:D

[NewPacifica]

I wonder where the third hull is coming from? From all I can tell, there are only two on order and they are slated as Crown and Emerald.

 

Our captain (Diamond) mentioned a shipyard in France as well as Italy and Japan. Could that be it?