Just Back - Diamond Princess

[MRF777]

By the way the ship will have to have the propeller repaired, probably in December when it has a scheduled wet-dock.

 

Scandinavian Sun

Emerald Seas

Island Princess

Seaward

Norway

Westward

Sensation

Facsination

Majesty of the Seas

Dawn Princess

Inspiration

Norwegian Dream

Norwegian Sun

Grandeur of the Seas (June 2002)

Carnival Paradise (Sept 2002)

Grand Princess (June 2003)

Disney Magic (Sept 2003)

Diamond Princess (June 2004)

 

Diamond Princess Here We Come!

 

[MRF777]

Oh, and we got upgraded to a mini-suite Dolphin deck,from a balcony cabin Baja deck. We didnt know this until we checked in at the pier..a nice surprise.

 

Scandinavian Sun

Emerald Seas

Island Princess

Seaward

Norway

Westward

Sensation

Facsination

Majesty of the Seas

Dawn Princess

Inspiration

Norwegian Dream

Norwegian Sun

Grandeur of the Seas (June 2002)

Carnival Paradise (Sept 2002)

Grand Princess (June 2003)

Disney Magic (Sept 2003)

Diamond Princess (June 2004)

[NEW YORK LADY2]

Great review and I'm happy to see that the Diamond is back on track. I am planning a cruise to Alaska next July/August (don't know which yet) with some of the other girls from work and I was concerned due to previous posts although I did think it was just Alaska start-up pains and would be straightend out. Glad to hear it was.

 

Jackie

[NitaBcruising]

MRF777,

I appreciate your comments, even about the food! Mainly because there was balance! And food is subjective, as to one's tastes!

Thanks for posting also!

 

Nita

[fnewman]

We were also on this cruise (D402) and agree with the comments above. While it was not mentioned, we actually got to dock in Victoria on a very nice mild evening -the tour people told us it was the first time they had docked there in about the last three weeks! (due to high winds)

 

I have only one real negative regarding the whole experience : on our return day last Saturday, SeaTac was an absolute zoo. We were one of the first groups off the ship, and I thought we would have a lot of waiting time before our 1:15 flight. However, there were at least three cruise ships dumping their passengers there that morning and the place was packed like sardines. The Delta line went down the ticketing area about 200 years while the Southwest line wrapped completely around the building. The security was at least another 1-1/2 hour wait. To make matters worse, there were not nearly enough employees doing crowd control. Because of the crush of people, somejust entering were merging into the middle of the lines (I'll admit it was sometimes hard to tell). Clearly the airlines, SeaTac and the Cruise lines don't yet have their act together. I would not recommend that adventure to anyone right now - that's a shame because the experience was otherwise excellent. The only suggestion I could make would be to try to 'lie' your way off the ship very early (or, Princess does now offer 7:15 departure if you carry your own luggage) then take a taxi to the airport to try and beat the crowds.

 

Another note about dining; we elected to stick with the traditional dining format, expecting to try a couple of the PC dining rooms laterin the week. But to our surprise were were also given menus from each of the PC dinning rooms on four of the nights, so we had the best of both worlds. A nice touch.

 

Great cruise!! The Diamond is a very nice ship but really not that different, in generl, from Grand Princess. I'd almost bet that the designer was the same althogh the shipyard was different. Yes, there are some small differences, including overall size, but the layout is virtually identical.

 

Frank Newman

[WolfpackFan]

Regarding embarkation. I agree completely, it was pretty bad - but only after you left the ship. I thought Princess did a great job getting us off the ship. The trouble came in dealing with the customs folks at the dock, the Southwest folks at SeaTac and also the security folks there. Lines were ridiculous. The Southwest agent gave us a great deal of grief concerning overweight luggage (it wasn't). And the line into the security area was huge with only too stations open. We were off the ship really early, but it's good we were with all the problems that faced us. We immediately decided we will never fly Southwest again, regardless of how cheap they are. I am really tired of the cattle call. From now on I want an assigned seat. But none of these was Princess' fault.

 

Someone asked about lunch and breakfast. We ate all breakfasts in Horizons and most lunches were either Horizons or pizza (which was delicious). We only ate one lunch in a dining room (International). It was pleasant sitting down and meeting some others at lunch, but we really just prefer the convenience of grabbing something from Horizon. What was really neat was being on the Aloha deck we were just steps away from Horizons and pizza. Quite often we would go and fix a plate in Horizons, then if they didn't have any entrees we liked would stop by the pizza and get a couple of slices and then go and eat on our balcony (after stopping off at the bar to get a drink along the way of course). This was really a great part of the cruise.

 

-----

WolfpackFan

 

June 1994 Premier Atlantic

June 1995 Regent Rainbow

March 1998 Celebrity Century

January 2000 Norwegian Sky

January 2003 Golden Princess

June 2004 Diamond Princess

Nov. 2005 Disney Magic

Summer 2006 Pride of Aloha

 

[srphnx]

We ate in the International pretty often, we felt we could do a buffet at home and the delicious fresh made frozen yoghurt was only available in the DR.

 

Can't wait for cruises 3,4,5 for '04.

 

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

 

[fnewman]

Bump

[HeartofTexas]

Glad you liked it - we leave Sunday on the Sapphire - I hope we get to get siamese with the Diamond...

[meyerhaus]

WELCOME BACK! You're never going to guess what I am going to ask...

 

Did you save the Patters and/or menus? :D

I would love to add them to my site!

 

JON

[TX_Caddie]

We were also on the 6/12 cruise.

Noise from engines - We were was in B706 which is close to the stern on the 11th level. I could hear a slight rumble, just perfect for putting me to a quick deep sleep.

Foor Service - I also noticed a little slowness early in the meal delivery in the dining rooms. We ended up eating in the Horizon Room a couple of evenings but the quality was typical buffet ... unless you found the large slabs of prime rib!!!

Service - Exceptional all the way around. Our steward, Benjamin, met us immediately and went through the room and offered his services 24 hours a day. We were also addressed as mr./mrs. everytime he saw us. Keeping everything in line was well worth the extra tip.

Cruise - Tracy Arm was magnificent though you do not get as close as I would like. Now the cruise through Tracy Arm, 25 miles, is the most spectacular. The fjord could not be more than 2500 feet wide in some spots, it felt like you could almost touch the vertical cliffs. It also helped that there was not a single cloud in the sky. The weather was so nice, every outside bar was open. The view on the aft deck was amazing ... except for watching the Holland America ship catch AND pass us.

Juneau - I do not recommend getting an early excursion as we were almost 2 hours late getting in and the same happened on the previous cruise. Maybe this is due to Captain "Crunch", currently reassigned, damaging the prop on the Victoria dock 2 cruises previous.

[fnewman]

WELCOME BACK! You're never going to guess what I am going to ask...

 

Did you save the Patters and/or menus? :D

I would love to add them to my site!

 

JON

I have the Patters

 

Frank Newman