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Just returned from Diamond 6/5-6/12

g8trzz

By g8trzz,
in Princess Cruises

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g8trzz

g8trzz

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We just returned from a wonderful week on the Diamond and I thought I would share some thoughts with everyone. Embarking in Seattle was a nightmare. It was a very long line and a slow process. I was quite surprised at how chaotic it was. Disembarking was also a very slow process. If you can carry your luggage off the ship then you can get off first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, for us, my family had too many pieces of luggage to handle so we were stuck. Fortunately, though, we didnt have a flight to catch that day, so time wasnt really a factor for us. Overall, I found the food in the restaurants to be extremely good. We wanted traditional fixed seating, but it was overbooked and we had to settle on moving around from restaurant to restaurant. As soon as I got on board I called the concierge services and made our dinner reservations. We couldnt book in the same restaurant every night so we could enjoy the same waiters, the max you could book in any one restaurant was 2 nights. So we rotated around which actually worked out well as we really enjoyed all of them. You still get the international menu each night so you dont miss out on anything. Actually, we might have missed the Baked Alaska march if they still do it. They didnt do it in the alternate restaurants. That was disappointing. All of the food we had for dinner was excellent. Prime rib, alaskan crab, lobster, fish. No one in our group was disappointed in anything they tried. All of the waiters we had were a lot of fun and very attentive. We felt very lucky. Food in the Horizon court was average. We would try to eat in the international restaurant for lunch or breakfast instead of the buffet. Even though the food was basically the same, it was prepared much better than the mass production at the buffet. The hburger/hdog grill and pizza out by the pool was also a pleasant change. Pizza was good as was the hburgers and hdogs. You could also get a chicken burger or veggie burger if you wanted. On Friday, they replaced the burgers with a fish cook out. It was really good. They had shrimp/halibut kbobs, stone crabcakes, bbq salmon, venison stew. One thing I didnt care for was the kids that ran around at the Horizon Buffet and werent as careful as they should have been when handling the food. I was surprised none of the Princess staff said anything to them. I think many of the parents thought Princess was there babysitter for 7 days as many of them ran around unattended. It was very frustrating as it took away from the atmosphere of the ship. We did arrive consistently late at each port. You really dont have much time in Ketchikan as it is, which is frustrating, because it is a neat town. We did not get to dock in Victoria because of the winds. That was really frustrating because the Oosterdam was in port and we were sitting out anchored in the water. The Captain did not feel it would be safe to attempt to dock there. We were actually in Victoria the Friday night before and watched the Diamond come in. It seems to be a joke there as to whether or not the Diamond is going to make it there from week to week as they seem to have so many problems getting there. We had heard and maybe someone could verify, that the Captain who hit the dock several weeks ago in Victoria was actually replaced with a new captain. Dont know if it is true or not, maybe that would answer why this captain is extra cautious. The entertainment was kind of a hit and miss. Piano Man show with the Diamond Princess dancers was really good.That was on Sunday. Monday was a man by the name of Lorenzo Clark who was a comedian/magician. He was okay, a little strange we thought. Tuesday was a lady named Michelle Murlin who we thought was going to sing several broadway songs but actually spent most of her time thanking everyone for coming to her show and singing only one of the broadway songs. The rest of her music was okay. Weds show we missed but heard was very good. It was called Variety Showtime with Duncan Tuck. Thursday was probably my favorite. It was called Curtain Up and featured the Diamond Princess Dancers. I would definitely recommend seeing it. I saved all of the Princess Patters if anyone has any questions regarding them I would be happy to answer them. I would definitely do this cruise again. Overall we thought it was excellent and had a wonderful time! If I can help anyone with any questions I will do my best to try and answer them. We filmed the menus for each night and this weekend I plan to write it down and post them if they havent already been done by someone else. I know I was very anxious about what we were eating every night! g8trzz

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srphnx

srphnx

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Thanks for the update, funny I have sailed Diamond twice and didn't know about the Friday change at the burger spot.

 

A request, when you write a review, could you use a paragraph break once in a while? It is very hard to keep your place when reading 40 or 50 consecutive sentences. Perhaps it is just my old eyes.

 

Life is at it's best when your address floats

One MORE open Bookings.

<FONT color=red>Alaska</FONT>

Sapphire Princess 09/04

Diamond Princess 05/04 ~~ Mercury 06/02

Rhapsody o.t. Seas 05/98 ~~ Legend o.t. Seas 09/95

<FONT color=red>Mexican Riviera</FONT>

Diamond Princess 12/04

Diamond Princess 11/04 ~~ Diamond Princess 04/04

Sea Princess 01/02 ~~ Vision o.t. Seas 04/02<FONT color=red>

West Coast-Baja Mexico</FONT>

Ecstacy 09/01

<FONT color=red>Eastern Carribean</FONT>

Century 12/97

<FONT color=red>Western Carribean</FONT>

Century 9/96

 

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Lynda90

Lynda90

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Thanks for the review. I echo much what you said and also had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back. They must have switched some of the entertainment. I went to all the shows and there was never a female singer. I wonder if she replaced the hypnotist. He was a real yawner, so it doesn't surprise me. It's too bad you missed Duncan Tuck. He was really, really good. Also the first night "welcome" show had an extremely funny comedian. I also agree with your opinion of the magician/comedian. Sort of funny, but not really great. You are correct about the captain being replaced. The staff spoke about it on our cruise. Sorry you missed the "baked alaska march." It was cute and the baked alaska was delicious. We might have been one of the few, if not the only sailing, that made every port. And, I can't wait to go again.

 

Lynda

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g8trzz

g8trzz

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Sorry about not having any breaks in my report. I was so intent on finishing it I didnt think about it! I made a mistake about the fish bbq. They actually did cookout hburgers, hotdogs, etc. earlier, but instead of cooking them until 6 they stopped at 4 for the fish bbq. That was why you probably didnt realize it!

 

Thanks for verifying the situation with the captain. We werent sure if it was rumor or truth.

 

g8trzz

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srphnx

srphnx

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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by g8trzz:

Sorry about not having any breaks in my report. I was so intent on finishing it I didnt think about it! I made a mistake about the fish bbq. They actually did cookout hburgers, hotdogs, etc. earlier, but instead of cooking them until 6 they stopped at 4 for the fish bbq. That was why you probably didnt realize it!

Yes, by 4 I was in a Tea frame of mind, not up on lido.

 

Thanks for verifying the situation with the captain. We werent sure if it was rumor or truth.

 

g8trzz<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Life is at it's best when your address floats

One MORE open Bookings.

<FONT color=red>Alaska</FONT>

Sapphire Princess 09/04

Diamond Princess 05/04 ~~ Mercury 06/02

Rhapsody o.t. Seas 05/98 ~~ Legend o.t. Seas 09/95

<FONT color=red>Mexican Riviera</FONT>

Diamond Princess 12/04

Diamond Princess 11/04 ~~ Diamond Princess 04/04

Sea Princess 01/02 ~~ Vision o.t. Seas 04/02<FONT color=red>

West Coast-Baja Mexico</FONT>

Ecstacy 09/01

<FONT color=red>Eastern Carribean</FONT>

Century 12/97

<FONT color=red>Western Carribean</FONT>

Century 9/96

 

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srphnx

srphnx

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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by overthesea:

You stated that you could get off the ship anytime if you carry all your luggage off. I thought they gave everyone colored tags by deck or flight time. How does the process work with carry on luggage? Thanks.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

You may, at your option, elect to carry off ALL of your own luggage, not "carryon" only. If you choose to do so you get to go prior to all the tags colors. It is an early call, usually about 7:30 if things go well, we were at the Airport by 8:30.

 

Life is at it's best when your address floats

One MORE open Booking(s).

<FONT color=red>Alaska</FONT>

Sapphire Princess 09/04

Diamond Princess 05/04 ~~ Mercury 06/02

Rhapsody o.t. Seas 05/98 ~~ Legend o.t. Seas 09/95

<FONT color=red>Mexican Riviera</FONT>

Diamond Princess 12/04

Diamond Princess 11/04 ~~ Diamond Princess 04/04

Sea Princess 01/02 ~~ Vision o.t. Seas 04/02<FONT color=red>

West Coast-Baja Mexico</FONT>

Ecstacy 09/01

<FONT color=red>Eastern Carribean</FONT>

Century 12/97

<FONT color=red>Western Carribean</FONT>

Century 9/96

 

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Hornet

Hornet

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So glad to know about the luggage ~ never heard that before. We will have to be off the ship as early as possible and this is a great option. I suppose that means we get to keep all our luggage in the room the last night ~ I like that too. I've never seen this option advertised. Do many people do this?

 

Island Princess Nov 2003

Diamond Princess Oct 2004

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srphnx

srphnx

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The lines are getting longer, but no.. only a small percentage do it, I would say about 200 out of 2900.

 

Life is at it's best when your address floats

One MORE open Booking(s).

<FONT color=red>Alaska</FONT>

Sapphire Princess 09/04

Diamond Princess 05/04 ~~ Mercury 06/02

Rhapsody o.t. Seas 05/98 ~~ Legend o.t. Seas 09/95

<FONT color=red>Mexican Riviera</FONT>

Diamond Princess 12/04

Diamond Princess 11/04 ~~ Diamond Princess 04/04

Sea Princess 01/02 ~~ Vision o.t. Seas 04/02<FONT color=red>

West Coast-Baja Mexico</FONT>

Ecstacy 09/01

<FONT color=red>Eastern Carribean</FONT>

Century 12/97

<FONT color=red>Western Carribean</FONT>

Century 9/96

 

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sboh

sboh

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g8trzz,

Here's an odd question. Does the Princess Patter (probably the first one you received) happen to show what time the kid's club get together is on the first (Saturday) night? We're sailing with our 10 & 13 YOs and doing PC dining so would like to make a reservation for dinner the first night allowing enough time for them to make it to the get together. Thanks for checking!

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g8trzz

g8trzz

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I don't know how many people used the "express" checkout on the ship for disembarking. It didn't appear to be too many because SO many people were still on the ship! They called for the early disembarking around 7:45. Around 9:00, my husband got the bright idea to disembark early so he could go to the airport and get our rental and then pick us up. It was no problem to do that, he just went up to the desk on the 6th floor and explained what he wanted to do. They let him right off. It worked out great because by the time we got off he was there within 5 minutes to pick us up! g8trzz

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sboh

sboh

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Lyndabaker, thanks for the info. re: kid's program. I understand that on the first night it's some kind of get-together so that they get to see what's available, etc. so will plan on dinner at about 5:30. Thanks!

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