Diamond Princess

[willow949]

We will be on the Diamond Princess on Dec 17 for a 10 day cruise. I am hearing rumors that the ship is at anchor in Long Beach and can’t get enough crew to sail. Anyone have any info on this? Also hear about the ship being in bad shape. This was from Japan cruises from several months ago.  There is also the Discovery and Crown going at about the same time. 

[PacnGoNow]

13 minutes ago, willow949 said:

We will be on the Diamond Princess on Dec 17 for a 10 day cruise. I am hearing rumors that the ship is at anchor in Long Beach and can’t get enough crew to sail. Anyone have any info on this? Also hear about the ship being in bad shape. This was from Japan cruises from several months ago.  There is also the Discovery and Crown going at about the same time. 

I see it berthed Nov 6-14 at San Pedro.  Was wondering why it’s there.  Is it just berthing at open ports in the area?

 

It does leave one day, since there are 2 other Princess ships in port.  It leaves on Nov 10th, then back again on the 11th.

Strange.

[Cruise Raider]

Isn’t she sailing from San Diego and not Long Beach or San Pedro?  Princess, all well as other cruise lines, are having trouble getting suffice it crew members.  I hope that is resolve rather quickly.  

[san diego sue]

Diamond Princess doesn't start cruising until Nov20th.

I am on Nov 27 cruise. I have checked with my travel agent who has some very good connections at Princess. She has been told it will sail .

Before Sapphire Princess started up again recently it also was hanging out near Long Beach anchored.

We have seen the Diamond Princess in Puerto Vallarta.

Don't know where the Poster got information that cruisers in Japan said the ship is in bad shape. The Diamond hasn't sailed with passengers since the start of Covid .

 

[Kay S]

Not strictly on topic, but the Diamond is such a pretty ship. 🙂

[Oakman58]

The Diamond Princess had the misfortune to be the first cruise ship affected by the Corona Virus (Covid 19).  She was quarantined in Yokohama in Feb 2020 for a month with 3700 passengers and crew onboard.  Since this was a new virus, medical authorities didn't handle the outbreak very well.  When they finally allowed passengers to disembark 700 people had been infected.  For some reason the number that died from the virus can't be confirmed and depending on what you read the number ranges from 9 to 14.  There is an HBO special titled, The Last Cruise, and documents the Covid 19 outbreak on the Diamond.

 

I will be cruising on the Diamond on Jan 6th for 16 days to Hawaii.

[Lizabu]

There’s a tour of the ship from a crew member a couple months ago. He has one showing a stateroom too. He points out a couple updates that were made to the ship.

https://youtu.be/Z9K-MIhB6VM

[TravelDan99]

You can follow the Diamond Princess anytime on this live ship tracker site. She is sailing around between LA and Mexico which most ships have to go out to sea from hours to days to desalinate ocean water to filtered water in their holding tanks, with crew only stationed in passenger cabins, as previous sightings have seen them on the balcony cabins, while waiting for Nov 20, which is currently SOLD OUT. I am on the Nov 27th sailing and there are available cabins at this time. Here is the tracker info, which will show destination, current speed, recent paths, etc. and a whole lot more.

https://www.cruisemapper.com/?imo=9228198

[CastMember 02]

4 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

The Diamond Princess had the misfortune to be the first cruise ship affected by the Corona Virus (Covid 19).  She was quarantined in Yokohama in Feb 2020 for a month with 3700 passengers and crew onboard.  Since this was a new virus, medical authorities didn't handle the outbreak very well.  When they finally allowed passengers to disembark 700 people had been infected.  For some reason the number that died from the virus can't be confirmed and depending on what you read the number ranges from 9 to 14.  There is an HBO special titled, The Last Cruise, and documents the Covid 19 outbreak on the Diamond.

 

I will be cruising on the Diamond on Jan 6th for 16 days to Hawaii.

The diamond was the first cruise ship that gained media attention! Many other ships/brands were experiencing the same but got little/no coverage

[stevec999]

The first week of October she was anchored at Puerto Vallarta. We were down there on the Celecrity Solstice. 

 

We are supposed to be on the Diamond in January. 

[Neonsport]

We are on the first cruise on Nov 20th.  Nervous as heck as to if its going to happen, and if it does... what issues we may run into being the first cruise of the Diamond post COVID.  

[Kay S]

55 minutes ago, Neonsport said:

We are on the first cruise on Nov 20th.  Nervous as heck as to if its going to happen, and if it does... what issues we may run into being the first cruise of the Diamond post COVID.  

You probably won't be more at risk on the Diamond than on any other Princess ship.

[Neonsport]

My apologies if i wasn't clear, I mean we are concerned whether the cruise will actually sail or if it will be canceled.   Also concerned that there may be issues due to the fact that any bugs may not have been worked out in regards to service/dining/staffing etc. as this is the first cruise the Diamond is going to have with passengers on it since pre COVID.   

 

My concerns have nothing to do with COVID itself or the fact that it is the Diamond specifically as we have already been on two previous cruises (RCCL) this year.

[caribill]

4 hours ago, CastMember 02 said:

The diamond was the first cruise ship that gained media attention! Many other ships/brands were experiencing the same but got little/no coverage

 

At the time, the Diamond Princess had the most confirmed cases in the world after China.

[caribill]

3 hours ago, Neonsport said:

We are on the first cruise on Nov 20th.  Nervous as heck as to if its going to happen, and if it does... what issues we may run into being the first cruise of the Diamond post COVID.  

 

May have a problem with the crew being up to speed with everything. Some might be starting their first Princess job.

[GTVCRUISER]

I shot this photo of the Diamond in Puerto Vallarta 10/11/2022 

[Oakman58]

With the Diamond Princess back in U.S. waters I'm feeling more confident that she will start cruising in November and my Jan 6h Hawaiian cruise will happen.

[TravelDan99]

5 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

With the Diamond Princess back in U.S. waters I'm feeling more confident that she will start cruising in November and my Jan 6h Hawaiian cruise will happen.

I just received my upgrade bid that was accepted on my 20 day Nov 27th on the Diamond. Seems reasonable we'll be on our way.

[richla]

9 hours ago, TravelDan99 said:

I just received my upgrade bid that was accepted on my 20 day Nov 27th on the Diamond. Seems reasonable we'll be on our way.

We also just had our upgrade bid accepted. The Diamond is still scheduled to arrive in San Diego on Nov 17 to prepare for the first revenue cruise on the 20th.

Edited October 29, 2022 by richla

[JRice]

On 10/25/2022 at 6:48 PM, Oakman58 said:

The Diamond Princess had the misfortune to be the first cruise ship affected by the Corona Virus (Covid 19).  She was quarantined in Yokohama in Feb 2020 for a month with 3700 passengers and crew onboard.  Since this was a new virus, medical authorities didn't handle the outbreak very well.  When they finally allowed passengers to disembark 700 people had been infected.  For some reason the number that died from the virus can't be confirmed and depending on what you read the number ranges from 9 to 14.  There is an HBO special titled, The Last Cruise, and documents the Covid 19 outbreak on the Diamond.

 

I will be cruising on the Diamond on Jan 6th for 16 days to Hawaii.

 

My wife and I were passengers on that ill fated cruise and endured the 2 week quarantine on the ship and a 13 hour cargo plane ride return to the USA, Lackland AFB for another 2 week quarantine.

One of people in our travel group wrote about her experience, from arriving in Tokyo for a pre cruise stay until she and her husband returned to their home after the 2 quarantines.  If you have not read her book, QUARANTINE! How I Survived the Diamond Princess Coronavirus Crises, by Gay Courter, you should do so. It is available on Amazon in ebook and soft cover.  To be 100% transparent, I am an (unpaid) contributor to the book.  My review is on Amazon.  

[cr8tiv1]

1 hour ago, JRice said:

 

My wife and I were passengers on that ill fated cruise and endured the 2 week quarantine on the ship and a 13 hour cargo plane ride return to the USA, Lackland AFB for another 2 week quarantine.

One of people in our travel group wrote about her experience, from arriving in Tokyo for a pre cruise stay until she and her husband returned to their home after the 2 quarantines.  If you have not read her book, QUARANTINE! How I Survived the Diamond Princess Coronavirus Crises, by Gay Courter, you should do so. It is available on Amazon in ebook and soft cover.  To be 100% transparent, I am an (unpaid) contributor to the book.  My review is on Amazon.  

I read the book under recommendation from another poster. If you are familiar with Princess ships, it was a fascinating read.  I borrowed a copy of the book through my library…to read while on the Grand. Thank you for your input.  Hope you remained safe and healthy. 

[JoRoy218]

We had reservations on the Diamond in early Sept., which would have been her first cruise upon return. It was cancelled about two weeks before departure, along with several others later that month and into October. The “word” was they were having problems getting crew. At least a month before it was cancelled, our cruise 

was “not available” on the Princess site. I and many others messaged and called Princess about the possibility of cancellation. And we were reassured it was a “go.” It was docked in San Pedro.  On the positive side, we were reimbursed fairly quickly. 

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

On 10/30/2022 at 6:23 PM, JoRoy218 said:

We had reservations on the Diamond in early Sept., which would have been her first cruise upon return. It was cancelled about two weeks before departure, along with several others later that month and into October. The “word” was they were having problems getting crew. At least a month before it was cancelled, our cruise 

was “not available” on the Princess site. I and many others messaged and called Princess about the possibility of cancellation. And we were reassured it was a “go.” It was docked in San Pedro.  On the positive side, we were reimbursed fairly quickly. 

 

 

Wondering what kind of shape Diamond is in now?  Hope they are getting staff as we speak.

We are booked on D after first of the year.

Will be watching this thread & hoping someone does a Live from thread.

That would be great.

Thanks

 

[GTVCRUISER]

La Paz 

[P&R cruising]

Got off the Sapphire last and were told a number of times by crew that while we were in Puerto Vallarta a number of crew members were sent on to work on the Diamond and help new crew to get up to speed.