Live from the Diamond, July 10-27, 17-day B2B around Japan and Korea

[SimplyMarvie]

Ken, thank you so much for this thread -- we'll be ships passing in the night as we'll be on the Diamond immediately after you get off, so it's a great preview of what we'll get to do when it's our turn. 🙂

[Ken the cruiser]

FWIW here are a few of the links I will periodically refer to while on our cruise. I’ve always enjoyed using Cruise Mapper to find the current location of our ship.

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

 

But on our last cruise in the Spring on the Celebrity Eclipse, the Windy website proved to be quite valuable when it came to evaluating any potential weather impacts we might encounter in our immediate area as well as where we were heading towards. For our upcoming cruise I’ll probably search on “Yokohama”.
 
https://www.windy.com/

 
Then it’s always fun to see what the potential might be for seeing the Northern Lights, which I’m guessing will be quite minimal cruising around Japan in early July. 😂

 
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast

 

https://auroraforecast.com

 

 

Edited June 30, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

6 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Looks like there has been an itinerary change and we won't be stopping at Kanazawa on July 13 now. Instead, they have extended the time in Akita, the previous port, a few hours and turned Day 4 into a sea day.

 

ITINERARY CHANGE Please be advised the port authority has recently advised the berth for Diamond Princess in Kanazawa, Japan is not available on July 13, 2023 as scheduled. As a result, Diamond Princess will no longer call to Kanazawa on Thursday, July 13 but instead will spend the day at sea. To accommodate this change, we have extended our call to Akita, Japan by three hours and we will now depart Akita at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, July 12 rather than 4:00 PM as previously scheduled. Guests with Princess shore excursions booked for Kanazawa will be refunded to the original form of payment. Updated shore excursion information for Akita will be available on board. The revised itinerary displays in full at the end of this notification. Thank you for your attention to this notification.

 

Just a guess, but I’m wondering if the aftermath from the 6.5 magnitude earthquake near Kanazawa on May 7 had anything to do with our port stop on Day 4 being canceled? 🤔

 
https://earthquaketrack.com/jp-15-kanazawa/recent

 

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/05/07/national/ishikawa-earthquake-aftershocks-heavy-rain/
 

[chubbypiggy]

@Ken the cruiser  Do you plan to have lunch in the dining room on embarkation day?  If so, do you already know which dining room will be used for embarkation day lunch?  I know on the Royal class ships, it is the midship dining room on deck 6.  I am not familiar with the Grand class ships.  TIA.

[Ken the cruiser]

13 minutes ago, chubbypiggy said:

@Ken the cruiser  Do you plan to have lunch in the dining room on embarkation day?  If so, do you already know which dining room will be used for embarkation day lunch?  I know on the Royal class ships, it is the midship dining room on deck 6.  I am not familiar with the Grand class ships.  TIA.

Our plan is to eat in the Reserve Collection dining room if we’re able to board while it’s open for lunch. Unfortunately, we won’t know which MDR it’s located in until we’re on the ship, unless someone else following this thread might know.

[chubbypiggy]

17 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Our plan is to eat in the Reserve Collection dining room if we’re able to board while it’s open for lunch. Unfortunately, we won’t know which MDR it’s located in until we’re on the ship, unless someone else following this thread might know.

Thank you.  I do recognized CC names of 1-2 posters following this thread that I remember they were recently on the Diamond Princess.  Hopefully they will have information on the embarkation lunch in the dining room. 

[Ken the cruiser]

18 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Our plan is to eat in the Reserve Collection dining room if we’re able to board while it’s open for lunch. Unfortunately, we won’t know which MDR it’s located in until we’re on the ship, unless someone else following this thread might know.

Which brings us to our arrival plans. We have booked a Princess overnight package to go along with our EZAir flights. We will arrive at the Haneda Airport the day before and look for the Princess rep after going through Customs and picking up our baggage. We will then board their provided transportation that will take us to the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo, about 50 minutes from the airport. Hopefully after checking in we’ll have some time to explore the surrounding area.
 

Then the next morning after breakfast we will jump on the provided transfer bus and head to the Yokohama passenger terminal to board the Diamond, which is about an hour away from the hotel. Hopefully if all goes according to plan, we should be there in plenty of time to enjoy a sit-down lunch on the Diamond! 😁

[cr8tiv1]

Back in March (with only 80% occupancy), they only had 3 (out of 5) MDRs open:

 

*Deck 6 dining rooms (Santa Fe and Pacific Moon / midship. 

 Club Class was in Santa Fe (Deck 6 midship/starboard). 

 

*Lunch for everyone else (and breakfast) was aft at International Dining Room / Deck 6

[TRUEBLUE66]

We enjoyed the Club class dining in the Santa Fe restaurant. I believe it is the only anytime dining on the ship for dinner as all other main dining rooms are traditional dining times unless that has changed since 2019.

[Alltheworld2C]

Hi Ken, do you know if Princess will deal with immigration at Korea or we need to get our own Q-Code. 

[cr8tiv1]

5 hours ago, TRUEBLUE66 said:

We enjoyed the Club class dining in the Santa Fe restaurant. I believe it is the only anytime dining on the ship for dinner as all other main dining rooms are traditional dining times unless that has changed since 2019.

 

Since the pandemic, ships across the fleet have been Dine My Way (no traditional dining).  Occasionally, you are able to set the same time/same table/same wait staff, but it does take some doing.  

 

My observation of Reserve Dining on the Diamond was that most diners preferred a later time. It was empty from when it opened at 5 to about 6:30.  

[Ken the cruiser]

5 hours ago, Alltheworld2C said:

Hi Ken, do you know if Princess will deal with immigration at Korea or we need to get our own Q-Code. 

Everything I've read so far in various CC threads is that once onboard, Princess will either handle it or tell you want needs to be done. So unless we hear otherwise, that's how we're going to proceed. Remember, the only reason we personally went through the Visit Japan Web registration process a few weeks ago was to hopefully get into the Customs "fast pass" line once we arrived at the airport.

[Ken the cruiser]

25 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

My observation of Reserve Dining on the Diamond was that most diners preferred a later time. It was empty from when it opened at 5 to about 6:30.  

That was also our experience on the Regal this past summer cruising around the Med, as my DW has to eat early and as you might imagine the service was awesome! 😊 

[Alltheworld2C]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Everything I've read so far in various CC threads is that once onboard, Princess will either handle it or tell you want needs to be done. So unless we hear otherwise, that's how we're going to proceed. Remember, the only reason we personally went through the Visit Japan Web registration process a few weeks ago was to hopefully get into the Customs "fast pass" line once we arrived at the airport. 

[Alltheworld2C]

Thanks for your information. Like wise have registered for QR code Japan. 

[chubbypiggy]

14 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Back in March (with only 80% occupancy), they only had 3 (out of 5) MDRs open:

 

*Deck 6 dining rooms (Santa Fe and Pacific Moon / midship. 

 Club Class was in Santa Fe (Deck 6 midship/starboard). 

 

*Lunch for everyone else (and breakfast) was aft at International Dining Room / Deck 6

Thank you.

[Tranquility Base]

Thanks for doing this thread.

 

My query as the cruise progresses will be regarding dining.

We normally try to book Reserve Class Minis.

However it appears most of these on Diamond are fully uncovered.

This is a concern for us.

 

Any info you can share regarding how normal anytime dining in the MDR is working will be appreciated.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

11 hours ago, Tranquility Base said:

Thanks for doing this thread.

 

My query as the cruise progresses will be regarding dining.

We normally try to book Reserve Class Minis.

However it appears most of these on Diamond are fully uncovered.

This is a concern for us.

 

Any info you can share regarding how normal anytime dining in the MDR is working will be appreciated.

 

I would be happy to. However, I'm not sure how much useful information I'll be able to provide as we will be eating at 5 pm every evening in the Santa Fe Reserve Dining Room on Deck 6 midship followed by going to the 7 pm early show in the main theater. 

 

Right now, since it appears the ship will be pretty full especially on the first leg, hopefully all 4 MDRs, the Savoy and Vivaldi DRs on Deck 5 mid-ship and the Pacific Moon DR (next to the Santa Fe) on Deck 6 mid-ship and the much larger International Dining Room on Deck 6 aft, will all be open.

 

However, since it appears the "Fixed Seating" dining option is no longer available, I would highly suggest you use the Dine My Way options on the App to reserve your preferred seating times for each day of your upcoming cruise well prior to embarkation day if at all possible.

 

 

Dine My Way℠ - Personalized Cruise Dining - Princess Cruises

 

Unfortunately, since we only cruise with Princess in cabins that offer the Reserve Collection dining option, that's about all I can suggest. However, from past visual sightings while on other recent Princess sailings, the "no reservation" MDR lines can get a little long, especially during the prime dining hours between 6 and 7:30 pm.

 

But if I see or hear anything different on either of our cruises, I will definitely let you know.

[Tranquility Base]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

 

But if I see or hear anything different on either of our cruises, I will definitely let you know.

Many thanks; and yes I do appreciate you won’t be experiencing this first hand.

 

At this stage I think we’ll risk the uncovered balcony in favour of the relaxed & very flexible dining in Reserve class as well.

 

cheers.

[Ken the cruiser]

For those interested we just received more information about "Dine My Way" where guests can start making their reservations once their cruise is paid in full. 

 

 

Another interesting note for those following this thread that also cruise with Celebrity and/or NCL.

 

From Breakfast in Bed to a Late-Night Snack

 

We offer 24-hour complimentary room service when you want to enjoy a quiet moment in your cabin eating a delicious club sandwich or maybe that slice of chocolate fudge cake you can’t forget. Treat yourself to breakfast in bed, or stay in for an intimate dinner, and perhaps even cocktails, in the comfort of your stateroom. 24-hour room service is just a phone call away.

 

Charges apply on select menu items.

 

24-hr Room Service - Princess Cruises

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

20 hours ago, Tranquility Base said:

Many thanks; and yes I do appreciate you won’t be experiencing this first hand.

 

At this stage I think we’ll risk the uncovered balcony in favour of the relaxed & very flexible dining in Reserve class as well.

 

cheers.

FWIW choosing which side of the ship has a lower percentage chance of direct afternoon sunshine on our balcony, especially on sea days, plays a big role for us regarding which side of the ship we will book. Of course, on this cruise there wasn't much of a difference with all of the port days, but we still leaned towards the starboard side.

 

 

But it definitely did on our recent 33-day transpacific cruise in April/May from Syndey to Vancouver by way of Hawaii. Even though there were aft-facing cabins available when we booked the TP cruise, we wound up choosing one on the starboard side where we saw the morning sunrise, but also avoided the afternoon sun as well as the west to east winds on rough sea days, which there were a few.

 

[nimiq]

Will be following this thread with interest as Japan cruise is on the bucket list for the future.

‘Thanks in advance for sharing. 
Sea ya 

‘Eric 

[chubbypiggy]

59 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

But it definitely did on our recent 33-day transpacific cruise in April/May from Syndey to Vancouver by way of Hawaii. Even though there were aft-facing cabins available when we booked the TP cruise, we wound up choosing one on the starboard side where we saw the morning sunrise, but also avoided the afternoon sun as well as the west to east winds on rough sea days, which there were a few.

 

We were on the same Transpacific cruise with you (Majestic); we only did the 27 days, got off at L.A.  We had cabin R515 on the starboard side; so nice having the morning sunrise.  ☺️

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, chubbypiggy said:

We were on the same Transpacific cruise with you (Majestic); we only did the 27 days, got off at L.A.  We had cabin R515 on the starboard side; so nice having the morning sunrise.  ☺️

We were actually on the Celebrity Eclipse. My Live From thread is in my expanded signature below. 

[Ken the cruiser]

38 minutes ago, chubbypiggy said:

We were on the same Transpacific cruise with you (Majestic); we only did the 27 days, got off at L.A.  We had cabin R515 on the starboard side; so nice having the morning sunrise.  ☺️

Even though we were on separate TPs, any transoceanic cruise on either a Princess or Celebrity ship is awesome, especially if you have the time and enjoy a lot of sea days! 😀