Back to Princess.......Diamond Princess Thoughts??

[isujim]

As of now we are planning to book the Diamond Princess when fall 2008 itineraries are released on a 15 day roundtrip Hawaii cruise. We are going to give Princess another try..........

 

If any regulars have any thoughts on this ship or itinerary I would greatly appreciate your thoughts. We have narrowed our choice to the Serenade of the Seas 15 day or the Diamond Princess. We really are leaning heavily toward the Diamond.

 

I don't want a RC vs. Princess...........I know all about RC.........but if Spongerob or any of the regulars have been on the Diamond, I would greatly appreciate your thoughts.........

 

itineraries will be released within 45 days or so..........so any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance

[srphnx]

I don't do ford vs. chevy (RCI vs Princess) comparrisons as they are by default likely to be wrong at some level All fleets have winners and losers.

 

Diamond is a winner. Period. The food is excellent, the ship sparkling and the staff happy. Look at my sig, I have about 70 days on her so far and many more planned.

[isujim]

I appreciate your thoughts.............from what research I have done......it sure looks like a winner to us.:)

[Sailfish]

We cruised on the Diamond on 2/17-2/24 and had a carefree vacation. The ship was awesome, and both of us remarked what an easy voyage it was - no hassles at all the entire week.

 

No vacation is perfect - you get what you pay for (and we didn't pay much) and there are the issues with little things. Not this time. We cruise more often with Royal Caribbean than any of others as we are Diamond members. But our last cruise with Royal Caribbean was not the best; not bad enough to say we won't return however, it made us rethink our loyalty.

 

We have cruised with other lines as well, including Princess. The Diamond is among the nicer ships we have been aboard, though I still am going to say I am partial to Royal Caribbean when it comes to ship design and entertainment. But the Diamond and the Star Princess are now among our favorites.

 

I would have to say we encountered fewer kids (they were there as it was a school holiday, just not so many) and more people in our age group on the Diamond (late 30's early 40's) than on Carnival or Royal Caribbean the same week (more older folks). It was probably a less active crowd than we are used to, but that was fine with us - we were there to decompress!

[seattlec5]

Having just been on the Diamond again last month, I can say she is still a beauty and in good shape. Since your sig shows you have been on the Caribbean Princess, the Diamond is very similar. The main difference is one deck less of cabins for a total capacity of 2600-ish, so she never feels crowded. Other subtle differences are the placement of the Skywalker's bar on the top level and the Club Fusion with the little known and used Wakeview bar just below it. The service was overall very good in all areas with one minor exception that was handled quickly. Food was comparible with other recent Princess cruises on various ships, by which I mean the main dining rooms were good and Sterling Steakhouse and Sabatini's were very good in my subjective opinion. Overall a very nicely designed ship that I wish I had more sea days on last time to enjoy her more. With a round trip to Hawaii you should have plenty of opportunity to enjoy the ship and not become bored.

[dave100]

We did the LA to Hawaii cruise last year and the year before on the Island Princess. If you don't mind the 4 to 5 days at sea going and coming it is a great relaxing cruise. It is very nice visiting a different island in Hawaii each day. I have sailed on the Diamond before and like the ship very much. It is a big ship with plenty to do.

[isujim]

I appreciate all the feedback........

 

Yes we were on the Caribbean Princess and to be honest it wasn't my favorite ship;) ......but many of the choices we made on the ship were our fault and not the fault of Princess.........we are very open and look forward to a great experience if we end up with the Diamond as our choice and it looks like it will be. We did Hawaii on Celebrity and really fell in love with Hawaii.

 

One of the things I've always complimented Princess on is they have the best itineraries of any cruise line I've seen.........to me that is one of their strengths.......

[Coral]

I have been on the Sapphire...Close enough.

 

It will definitely feel less crowded compared to the Caribbean Princess. Plus - IMO, they took the Grand class design and fixed some of the flaws but it does have a feel of a Grand class ship (though with design adjustments).

 

The main issue I noticed with this class of ship is the dining. They took 2 large dining rooms and made it into 4 smaller dining rooms. For some reason, I don't think it handles the crowds as well as having 2 large dining rooms. I would be tempted to go with Traditional dining. I don't think PC/Anytime dining would be a problem with a port intensive trip but with all those sea days....

 

Too bad you are missing the Island Princess sailing to Hawaii. That class of ship is really close to the Radiance class and IMO - is one of the best that Princess has.

[isujim]

Thanks......we thought about the Island Princess but just couldn't ( or wouldn't) be able to work it in..........Of course we are assuming when the new itineraries are released the Diamond will still be doing the 15 day Hawaii.

 

We chose Pc/anytime before and that was one of our mistakes......I guess traditional is hard to break for us and we will definetly be choosing that.

 

Thanks for your input.........greatly appreciated.

[Coral]

 

We chose Pc/anytime before and that was one of our mistakes......I guess traditional is hard to break for us and we will definetly be choosing that.

 

Thanks for your input.........greatly appreciated.

 

PC/Anytime works great on port intensive itineraries and on ships with fewer passengers (Sun and Dawn Princess, etc...). On the Grand class, I just don't think it works well on itineraries with lots of sea days.

 

Good luck on your return to Princess. Of all the Grand class ships - these are the best IMO.

[Lynda90]

I have been on the Diamond several times and it is, perhaps, my favorite ship. If you select this ship for your cruise, you will not be disappointed. The only thing negative I can say, is that I'm not on it right now! :p :p

[Julia’s Journey’s]

I too love the Diamond and have enjoyed all our trips on her. We never found the ship crowded and love spending time in skywalkers reading and hanging out during the day.

[mii]

Having been on the Sapphire(sister) I am looking forward to my cruise on the Diamond this coming Nov. on a Hawaiian cruise. I really like the lay-out of the ship so am looking forward to sailing on the Diamond. I have been reading everything that I could lay my hands about the Diamond since it was 2004 that I was on the Sapphire. I agree with the 4 smaller dining rooms. I had anytime dining on the Sapphire when they had the 4 smaller rooms and sometimes it was a mess getting in but we handled it just fine.

 

Marilyn

[PescadoAmarillo]

Have been on the Diamond and the Sapphire for 61 days, 2 long cruises with lots of sea days. Anytime dining worked absolutely perfectly. They are definitely our 2 favorite Princess ships but you do feel the bumps on rough sea days.

[isujim]

Not that I expected any negative comments........;) but I appreciate everyone's thoughts and help.........I really do..........