Any reports from the Diamond Princess 1st cruise after Covid

[Bwana Tom]

Apparently the Diamond Princess is departing San Diego today (Nov. 20th) for a Mexico cruise. This is its first cruise since the very beginning of Covid. I would really appreciate any reporting on the ship, crew and all things on board. Great to see it is finally getting back into service. 

[Thegeorges]

The diamond princess has an amazing new cruise director Sophie Gideon she came off the Discovery princess and she is one of the best they have I wish her all the luck on her new ship 

Edited November 21, 2022 by Thegeorges

[san diego sue]

5 hours ago, Bwana Tom said:

Apparently the Diamond Princess is departing San Diego today (Nov. 20th) for a Mexico cruise. This is its first cruise since the very beginning of Covid. I would really appreciate any reporting on the ship, crew and all things on board. Great to see it is finally getting back into service. 

The people on the cruise Nov 20(today) are posting. Go to their roll call and read the last couple of pages.

[Nobbi]

The roll call does not reflect reality. I am posting a separate thread.

[Bwana Tom]

2 hours ago, Nobbi said:

The roll call does not reflect reality. I am posting a separate thread.

For the life of me I can’t find your new thread. Any hints would be appreciated. We are booked in January on the Diamond and anxious for any available info.

[cr8tiv1]

5 minutes ago, Bwana Tom said:

For the life of me I can’t find your new thread. Any hints would be appreciated. We are booked in January on the Diamond and anxious for any available info.

 

Same for me.  Would someone add a link?  Thank you.

 

[Nobbi]

I am so sorry. I posted it but the internet aboard has not been good.

 

I would like to add that this info goes into some picky first world details as well as some not so pleasant things. This is my first cruise as Elite. My two travel mates will both be Elite after this cruise. All three of us love Princess and will return. However, if this had been my first ever on this line, I would have never booked again.

 

Here it goes.....

 

The Diamond was the first cruise ship I was ever on. It was in 2006, a Mexican Riviera cruise. That’s when I fell in love with cruising. It was prior to the “renovation”. So I was excited to sail on her again to Mexico, but on a new itinerary which went to Loreto and La Paz. 

 

Embarkation was not great. The Port of San Diego is a mess. The Disney Wonder was there at the same time and passengers were intermingled. Where we had to go was a somewhat chaotic puzzle. (As DCL Platinum Castaway Key members, we love the DCL ship. In fact, by our clothing and back packs, one would have thought we were getting onto the wrong ship.)

 

Once through security checks, there were only two lanes, based on a color on the App. There was no extra line for Elite and/or Suite guests. (I was both). Because this voyage was severely capacity controlled, it did not take an eternity to get aboard.

 

Aboard the ship, I had the following experiences. I will enumerate them by categories:

 

Restaurants

 

Sterling Steak House

 

OMG! It is located in the Horizon Court. At the table we were first seated, we felt as if under interrogation with the spotlights shining on us. But we were able to get seated at another table. It had been difficult to get a later reservation, but while we were there, many tables were empty. The food was good, the ambiance was terrible. We have been to many Princess Steak Houses, and this was subpar due only to the location.

 

Sabatinis

 

An Italian Restaurant run by Ukrainian women. Now, the staff was very friendly but severely overworked. Food service was extremely slow. And we love 4 hours lunches. Water was not refilled. Beverage service took forever, and the wine server had no clue about wine. When I ordered a bottle from their wine list, he did not know what I ordered until I showed him on paper. Then he told me he would bring it, if they had it. 

 

Antipasti were good. Pasta was good 2 out of 3. No extra parmesan was offered as would be usual.

 

Secondi were not good. The seafood packet was the “worst seafood” our friend had so far in comparison to the steak house and the club class lunch. My veal was tough, and the mushrooms tasted like dish soap or motor oil. I had our tablemate check, and she confirmed.

 

Deserts were mixed. I had the “Chef’s Special” which was small portions of all 4 offerings. When served, there was no explanation of what was what. The panna cotta was superbly executed.  (This dish sends chefs in competitions home.) The Zabaglione was good. The tiramisu presentation was just strange. I have no way to describe it. The mini-Rocher was good, very chocolatey. But the large single desert version was bizarre. It has strange bread in it. Not a cake-like bread/brownie-type, but just dry bread.

 

There was neither grappa nor limoncello available.

 

However, the suite breakfast offered there with the same Ukrainian staff was very nice. The service was great. The eggs benedict were a little over.

 

Kai Sushi

 

Dining credits are not accepted in this restaurant despite being a “specialty restaurant”. The servers, like most on board, are friendly but not trained.  There were 2 different shochu on the menu. When I asked, how the two differed, she told me what shochu was made from repeatedly. After I kept asking the same question over and over again, she told me she had not tasted them. When I asked if anyone could answer this question, there was silence. I gave up and told her to bring me one. It was very mild and had almost no flavor. Also, there were no Japanese beers available despite two being listed on the app menu and one on the paper menu. I can understand not having some Vietnamese or Korean or Ethiopian beers available, but Japanese beers are everywhere to be had in California. 

 

Guest Services

 

I stood in line at guest services. There were two elderly women before me at the Suite/Elite Counter. The other counters were busy. I decided to wait for the special counter as there were folks in officer uniforms there, and I assumed they would have more knowledge. Well, I was mistaken. I asked about the Elite tender embarkation for Elites. Since I was travelling with two others who were only this cruise away from Elite status, could we use that, or would it be only available to me? After typing vigorously on the computer and perusing the Princess Patter and finally making a phone call, I was told that in this case, it would be ok since there were not many Elites on board. Ask as simple question, it takes 10 minutes to get an answer. I also reported our cabin water problem (see below).

 

Cabin

 

We have the Cannes /suite, the second largest on board. The sink has no cold water, the shower has no hot water. The somewhat warm water turns to tepid, then to ice cold. I called guest services the first morning of the cruise (Day 2). They referred me to our cabin steward whom I have yet to see in person. He told me he would take care of it. Morning #2 (Day 3), no change. When I told guest services, he investigated it and said no report had been filed. This was the one who needed time to answer the tender question. On the morning of day 4, I received a call asking if the water issue had been fixed. No. That evening I had a voice message to see if it had been fixed. It had not. I did not bother calling and was too lazy to run down to guest services. On Day 5 I ran into another passenger at the Izumi (more to come about this below.) He told me how he woke up in the middle of the night (3 am) to the sound of water rushing. He stepped out of the bed and was ankle deep in ice cold water. It had come from the toilet. Later that day I spoke with a woman whose toilet had also backed up. She reported it, and nothing was done. Two days later her bathroom flooded.

 

Spa

 

The lockers in the changing room were mostly stuck in the locked position though they were all open and filled with robes and slippers. What was nice were the changing rooms which had Sauna and Steam Rooms Europeans style. No clothing needed. Although I did see a man with regular shorts, shirt, and sneakers sitting in it! Later into the cruise, I was using a locker that appeared to be in order. The lock worked. As I was retrieving my items, an attendant informed me that is was broken. I showed him how the lock was functional. To my surprise, the door could be opened while locked because the previous day, the crew had broken the latch by force to open it. When I asked why they did not use the key to open it, he said their key did not work.

 

The Thermal suit in the Spa had the usual heated lounges, but they were not heated.

 

I had booked a Men’s Grooming with Hair Cut online as I always do on cruises. I love the One Spa (former Steiner Spa) treatments. My stylist was a wonderful woman from SA. It was her first cruise contract. She had had a salon in her hometown, but due to a bad economy, she decided to do the cruise ship gig. Her hair cut, overall demeanor, and execution was lovely. However, the shave itself was not to the normal standard. One of my travel mates had booked a Fire & Ice Manicure. Not only did she get a standard manicure, but the manicurist told her that gratuities were not included. She added her standard 20%, but when she checked with Spa Manager, this erroneous fact got rectified by an appropriate credit.

 

The Lotus Pool, which was ice cold, had only one of the hot tubs working one day. The next day, both were roped off. We were in port both days and there was no bad weather.

 

I had an acupuncture session and the doc recommended I do a steam before going to bed. As the Izumi had the men on the side without the steam room, and the thermal suite steam was not very hot, I wanted to go to the men’s changing room. The spat closes at 10 pm. As I entered I was told that the changing closes at 8 pm because it had to be cleaned.

 

Izumi

 

The Izumi bath over all was wonderful. A reason to be on this ship again. I love being unclothed in a spa. However, the facilities were not in working order. On some days the jacuzzis with bubbles were not working. The steam room was cold. The waterfall showers which had warning signs about hot water were cold. Several guests asked for refunds and received them.

 

 A special note on the pastry chef. Apparently, he likes bread. At Sabatinis the Rocher chocolate ball had bread in it. One of my desserts at our Santa Fe Club class dinners had a strange pink decoration which I thought was some type of raspberry thing. It was pink colored bread. Our chocolate soufflé at Thanksgiving dinner also had the consistency of dark bread. It sounds bizarre and it was.

 

 

Facit:

 

The main problem here is hardware/engineering with water issues, poor logistics with products not being on board, and extremely poor staff training as well as understaffing, all fault of corporate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cr8tiv1]

@NobbiThank you for a detailed report.  It is sad to hear that the Diamond Princess could use a little bit of extra work.  If you were all in the same suite ("We have the Cannes suite"), your cabin mates should have had priority tender boarding, regardless of elite status, too.

 

Why do you think your sailing was capacity controlled? 

 

I love the Loreta/La Paz itinerary.  Hope you enjoyed every port.

 

 

 

[VibeGuy]

Ugh.  There is some specific *thing* that the plumbers can do when the sink has hot water and the shower doesn’t or vice versa, and it seems like the likelihood of needing it is directly proportional to how long the ship was out of service - Ruby needed it in every cabin we were in, and it’s some very minor thing because it’s done from the panel in the hallway and takes three minutes.  
 

If you can possibly imagine, the Sterling Steakhouses (eye roll) on Diamond and Sapphire used to be even less atmospheric because the servers wore US flag-motif vests.    So bad.    It’s one of the features I like least about the twins.  
 

I’m disappointed that Izumi isn’t fully functional. We are onboard in a few weeks and I’ve been looking forward to some quiet hot water.  
 

 

[sfoh]

I posted some additional detailed thoughts on this cruise in the Nov 20 Roll Call:

Agree with much of what Nobbi said (including what I think is a massively overlooked opportunity with Sterling Steakhouse). If they had Sterling Steakhouse in another venue, more similar to Crown Grill, it would be far better. Anyway, we’ve had an excellent week on board and made many fond memories, and met some very kind people.

 

They clearly made a good decision to cap capacity on this cruise as the crew is still working to get themselves and the ship ready for prime time.

[HaveDogWillTravel]

@Nobbithank you taking the time to write such detailed report. 
 

The crew chat feature on your ap is an efficient way to contact guest services without any standing in line. And you will have a paper trail. 
@VibeGuyis correct about the water issues. I just had that happen again to me last week on the Sapphire (her 3rd sailing I think since being back).  
 

Your room steward most likely has been assigned to the aft facing suites….meaning they are having to go deck to deck. I personally hate this setup as it means you never see your steward unless you page them. If you haven’t been given a small business size card with your stewards # yet, use crew chat to request it.  
 

Also ask your steward to have the suite rooms supervisor come to your room to address the issues you are having. They kept telling me the water was fixed when I could not get it to do what they said.  The supervisor came and turned the water on in the wet bar while we talked for a solid 5 minutes. The water took that long to get hot!  Coming from California I would never have thought to let a sink just run that long!  But she was unable to get cold water in the shower (we had a hot weather cruise so needed cool and hot showers). She then took care of the issue that day. I usually like to give the steward a chance to get something addressed first but if it doesn’t get addressed in 24 hours I go up the chain of command. Those suites are far too expensive for “less than” service.  That said I am always pleasant with a smile on my face while explaining what my issues are and I am always profusely thankful for a solution provided & understanding of how overworked a crew is. 

[geocruiser]

I am very sorry to hear of all the issues that you are having.  A cruise is to be a relaxing vacation, not one full of problems.   Or if a problem happens, that it gets fix in proper time.  Spending money for a cabin with this trouble would be very upsetting.  I hoe that it works out.

[riffatsea]

Thanks for writing 

I hope things get smoothed out before we sail in January!

Usually a ship,coming back into service would have some experienced crew on board and not just a bunch of newbies!

[treesah]

We're booked on the Diamond 12/17/22.  After reading Nobbi's report I'll lower my expectations.  Thanks for posting.

[san diego sue]

We are boarding the ship on Sunday. Also have a suite and ours is aft facing on Caribe deck. Hope not the same one that the person that gave us that very thorough review has. Didn't know that the suites had names so don't know what ours is called.toilet issues or lack of hot water (or cold) will be a big deal for us. Our cruise is 20 days and  better be in working order. This is a big deal as it is a surprise for my husband (thinks we are in a mini suite which is still a splurge) and our wedding anniversary.

Also he had a big birthday this year and we hadn't celebrated it yet.

 

[waltd]

Just now, san diego sue said:

We are boarding the ship on Sunday. Also have a suite and ours is aft facing on Caribe deck. Hope not the same one that the person that gave us that very thorough review has. Didn't know that the suites had names so don't know what ours is called.toilet issues or lack of hot water (or cold) will be a big deal for us. Our cruise is 20 days and  better be in working order. This is a big deal as it is a surprise for my husband (thinks we are in a mini suite which is still a splurge) and our wedding anniversary.

Also he had a big birthday this year and we hadn't celebrated it yet.

 

Don't tell me someone is celebrating birthday number 59, Again?????

Wish I was there to see his face.     Best wishes and Bon Voyage. 

Joe🎂

[muleevans]

Are multiple dining rooms open or just the International ??

[VibeGuy]

1 hour ago, muleevans said:

Are multiple dining rooms open or just the International ??

Santa Fe and sometimes Pacific Moon.  They’re using Vivaldi and Savoy for contractors and crew. 

[sfoh]

2 hours ago, muleevans said:

Are multiple dining rooms open or just the International ??

Think Savoy and Vivaldi might be open, as I see people dining in them. They are not listed on the Patter though. In my opinion service has been most reliable in International. Afternoon tea is in Pacific Moon and is a nice experience. Lunch, when served, has been International Dining Room. If you get servers Mia or Erwin (both International Dining Room) you’ll be well cared for! 
 

Setiya and Loren in Crooners have been wonderful, especially as the week has gone by.

Liselle in Wheelhouse Bar is our favorite there. She’s delightful. She will probably be excited and extra happy on the next cruise as she is from Guatemala and it’s on the itinerary.

Edited November 25, 2022 by sfoh

[san diego sue]

4 hours ago, waltd said:

Don't tell me someone is celebrating birthday number 59, Again?????

Wish I was there to see his face.     Best wishes and Bon Voyage. 

Joe🎂

First thing he will say is How much did it cost? Many years ago I booked a cruise and it had a huge cabin(an old ocean liner). When he walked in he asked me if he was dying. He had just had a physical

and the Dr. was a good friend of mine. He was only in his 30's then.

[NownZen]

One of the issues with the shower and the lack of either hot or cold water is the mixing valve may have gotten stuck while the ship was sitting idle. We had that in January. Setting it for full flow and moving the temperature dial back and forth gradually loosened it.  While it was being sticky there were times with a sudden temperature change. All fine by the end of the voyage for the next passenger.

[dns65]

5 hours ago, treesah said:

We're booked on the Diamond 12/17/22.  After reading Nobbi's report I'll lower my expectations.  Thanks for posting.

 

As that song goes "How low can you go?"

 

I was willing to accept all of the issues outlined in this thread given the fact that this is the first sailing of the ship in several years

 

But when I walked out on my balcony at 7:00 a.m. this morning to find three to four centimeters of water on it I hit my limit

 

9 hours later my balcony is still full of water

 

 

[san diego sue]

The last time we were on the Diamond was 2012. It was for 35 days and we loved the ship. We were traveling with 4 other couples.Part of cruising is who you are with and the fun times experienced

with our friends. So even with the negative comments , I know our cruise coming up will be lots of fun.We are going to be traveling with three other couples (one of whom we met for the first time on the Diamond in 2012 and have been cruising with them ever since.). Since cruising started again, we have been on 6 cruises. yes, we noticed cutbacks on food , but we aren't foodies so not a big deal for us.

Elite benefits have been cut  but that isn't why we  cruise Princess . Won't be doing a live from the ship but if the internet allows , will come back here and comment.Last few cruises I had trouble posting on Cruise Critic.

[Nobbi]

UPDATE 11/26/2022

 

Well, it actually hit us also. Toilet overflowing today, last day before debarkation. Flush doesn't work. Apparently from top to 7 in Aft per our steward. However, they did fix the mess within 45 mi.

[Nobbi]

19 hours ago, san diego sue said:

The last time we were on the Diamond was 2012. It was for 35 days and we loved the ship. We were traveling with 4 other couples.Part of cruising is who you are with and the fun times experienced

with our friends. So even with the negative comments , I know our cruise coming up will be lots of fun.We are going to be traveling with three other couples (one of whom we met for the first time on the Diamond in 2012 and have been cruising with them ever since.). Since cruising started again, we have been on 6 cruises. yes, we noticed cutbacks on food , but we aren't foodies so not a big deal for us.

Elite benefits have been cut  but that isn't why we  cruise Princess . Won't be doing a live from the ship but if the internet allows , will come back here and comment.Last few cruises I had trouble posting on Cruise Critic.

 

Good for you! This is our 9th cruise since post-covid cruises started. We did Crystal Bahamas in June 2021, Viking Ocean Iceland in the fall, Virgin Voyages Caribbean last Thanksgiving, Princess West Coast in December, NCL Haven Mexican Riviera in Feb 2022, Princess Mexican Riviera in April, Princess Alaska in May, DCL Caribbean in September. There were no issues on any of the ships. And this voyage has had so many, not just for us, but worse ones for other guests. As I said before, we will continue to cruise Princess as Elites. But it is the first timers I would be worried about.

 

Enjoy all your voyages, SDS.

Edited November 26, 2022 by Nobbi