Diamond Review 9/25 A522 Quad

[sfpd3000]

Embarkation - Got to terminal at around 10:45 and got our boarding passes. We boarded the ship around 12:35. We headed straight for the International Dining Room and the Head Waiter Roberto welcomed us with open arms. There were about 10 tables occupied during the lunch hour. They close around 1:30, and I did see them turning people away. BCS819 boarded before us and they were told the dining room wasn't open.

We received all our luggage before dinner. However, one member of our travelling party had a piece of luggage missing. We missed the welcome aboard show trying to track down that one piece of luggage.

 

Entertainment - Like I said, we missed the welcome aboard show with Jim McDonald, though we did catch the slide show at the end. Piano Man was excellent on the second night (they repeat it on the 3rd night). Lorenzo Clark (Comedy/Magic) at Explorer's Lounge on night 2 was good. We caught a movie on night 3 - Stepford's Wives. Jim McDonald did a second show (different) on Night 4 - again with a different set of slides. Ventriloquist Dan Horn (night 5) was hilarious. Greg Bonham sang on night 6 - totally butchered Andrea Bocelli's "Time to Say Goodbye." Comedian Steve Morris rounded it out on night 7. Princess Idol was excellent. We were disappointed that there was only one show/dance production. I did not think Cruise Director Billy Hygate was that good. The assistant cruise directors weren't that good either.

 

Dining - They staffed a dining room inquiry desk in front of Sabatini's on embarkation afternoon. He had a sign posted "Traditional Dining Room - Full." All he was good for was putting people on a waiting list "for the maitre d' to review." Our problem was we (the 4 of us) were confirmed for 1st seating; the other 4 in our party were not (waitlist #1 and #5). They would not give us a table for 8 in traditional. He gave us a phone at the desk and told us to reserve a table in PC for that night - we got Sterling. He also told us to see the maitre d' after dinner. We saw Fabio, the maitre d', after dinner. He promised to get a list of dining locations by morning. We never got it. We waited until 4pm on day 2 and finally called DINE to confirm. We were told we had no reservations in the computer. We had to make our reservations for the rest of the week at that time.

We were rushed through dinner at Sterling on Wednesday. They told us, "We need your table by 8:00." On Friday night, they put us in separate tables.

Positives: cheese cake (dining room embarkation lunch), swans in chocolate lake (dining room lunch on Friday), ossobucco in Vivaldi, love boat dream, onion rings in Sterling, good lunch buffet on Mazatlan day (pastrami sandwich, beef ribs)

Negatives: chicken kiev (dry), Sterling's NY Steak (dry), only 3 onion rings at Stelings, rushing through dinner on Wed

 

Excursions - Las Caletas at Puerto Vallarta was good. They did encounter a fight among passengers on the boat ride returning from there. Randi's was fun. We thought there wasn't enough time given at Cabo.

 

Stateroom - Nester our Room Steward was good. He got all our luggage into our cabin on embarkation. The other members of our party found their luggage still outside their cabin. Negatives: 1 patter for 4 people? Room got a little cramped once the top bunks were lowered. When that happened the only person able to see TV from bed was the one in the lower bunk closest to the balcony.

 

Disembarkation - We got off by deck order. The higher the deck, the earlier you got off. Since we were in Aloha, we got off around 9:00. My cousins in Caribe got off about 45 min later. We had to wait over 3 hours for my aunt and uncle, who were in Plaza.

Positives - swift and no hassle disembark

Negatives - my cousin's luggage was damaged

[sfpd3000]

Misc - I bought a soda card for $20; no hassle about buying a souvenir cup also. Ask for a large cup when you get soda, otherwise they'll give you a small cup - good for about 3 sips with the amount of ice they put in. Bartenders tended to be rude. Aren't I supposed to get a straw with soda? And how hard is it to get a coke with a lemon wedge? And I'm still waiting for my drink that I ordered in Princess theater on Wed night.

 

For the captain's cocktail party, the only non-alcoholic drink was pina colata. I seem to recall having fruit punch on RCCL.

 

How come we did not get to meet the captain and take a picture with him?

 

We asked the boutique people if they sold contact lens solutions (see above lost luggage), and they said no. We eventually found it ourselves on the shelf.

 

They charge $10 for aerobics on board. It was free on RCCL.

 

If you eat at Horizon Court for lunch, watch and see if they clear tables right away. I noticed they tended to pass right by and see if another person would clean up. Zuzana from Slovakia (Starboard side - lunch) was an exception. She cleared your dishes right away and was always first to clean the tables. Always with a SMILE. Another was Geanina of Romania. She was a drink server, but would clear dishes right away - with a SMILE. I wrote them both up for "You Made A Difference" cards.

 

We had our order taken by an asst waiter in training for dinner at Vivaldi's on the last night. My cousin ordered the cold cantalope soup. She got asparagus soup - she's allergic to asparagus.

[Palomino]

I am glad to hear that the dining room was open for lunch on embarkation day. I think I'll try to head over there as well.

[sfpd3000]

Granted, we did get to eat at 6pm everynight. But that idiot maitre d' Fabio lied to us and didn't do a thing for us. If it weren't for the stuff I learned from these boards, we probably would have eaten at 8pm everynight. He was supposed to have confirmed our dinner reservations and he did not do a damn thing. ALL TALK and NO WORK.

[Druke I]

Reference only one (1) patter for four (4) people.

 

You can always stop by the Purser's Desk, and obtain a copy. We often do that, so my wife can have hers, and I can have mine. We do the same thing with the cruise evaluation forms, as we sometimes have differing opinions of what was good and what could be imporved.

[bardgal]

sfpd3000 - THANKS FOR THE REVIEW!!!!!

[dpayne1962]

We were also on the 9/25 Diamond and had similar dining experience. Anytime really doesn't work that great.

In regards to disembarkation. We had Aloha and our adult children had emerald. Emerald was going to disembark about 1 hour after us, but we were all going home in the same car. I just asked our room steward for more luggage tags for Aloha deck and gave them to our kids for their luggage and we all walked off at the same time.

[sfpd3000]

druke-yes, I did go to purser's desk and get a few extra copies of each patter. However it should have been obvious to leave more than one patter for a room of four.

 

dpayne-I did suggest to my aunt and uncle to get some of my cousins' tags on Caribe, but they were unwilling. or afraid to.

[spingal]

Just to clarify - they do not charge for aerobics. They do charge $10 pp for pilates and spinning. The other aerobic classes are free.

 

At least that is what the patters for last week said -- a few folks on the 9/25 cruise sent them to me.

 

;)

[bcs819]

Alan,

Sorry to hear about your dining troubles. We saw you one night in Pacific Moon and you didn't look too happy. Zuzana was our waitress in Sterling and she was fabulous then, too. Thanks for taking the time to write your review. I agree about the Patters, it would have been nice if there had been a copy for everyone in the cabin.

Bernie

[SharkieRools]

Reference only one (1) patter for four (4) people.

 

You can always stop by the Purser's Desk, and obtain a copy. We often do that, so my wife can have hers, and I can have mine. We do the same thing with the cruise evaluation forms, as we sometimes have differing opinions of what was good and what could be imporved.

 

In addition, I've always asked our Steward the first day to leave X many copies of the patter each night, and they've always complied. :cool:

[sfpd3000]

Some more misc items come to mind:

 

1. The floors aren't clearly labeled. Many times, I climb the stairs and have no clue what floor I'm on.

 

2. The center elevators aren't synchronized. Each of the two glass elevators has its own up/down button. The non-glass elevators have their own up/down button.

 

3. I still have trouble remembering that the aft stairs don't go down to the 5th floor.

[CruizerMom]

Thanks for the review!

 

How was the cabin with 4 people in it? Did you enjoy the balcony?

 

We are on the Diamond next month and are in A525, there are 3 of us. Is it really crowded?

[skarletohara]

We too were on this sailing. I posted a review but not here. I don't know how to copy and paste!!!

 

Glad to see we're all on the same page with the anytime dining. Those maitre d's were a pain in the you know what, exept on the last night when

he asked me for my name, and I told him it was Italian, well, he was Italian

and that made him happy, so then we could have anything we wanted!

Go figure.

 

We did have a great time on this cruise

 

SF, I do have a curiosity about the Las Caletas. We must have been on the same boat. I don't remember a fight breaking out. Was it AFTER getting off the boat, perhaps? There was a rowdy group sitting next to us on Las Caletas and they were blotto. The young man looked like Eminem or Vanilla Ice and was using vulgar language at Las Caletas, and then when mom and I were getting back on board the Diamond we did notice "Eminem hopping over

the security gate near the ship. He clumsily hopped over it and landed on

his rear end. Mom and I just continued getting back on the ship instead of

hanging around to find out if he got in trouble with the authorities, so when

you said fight, instantly my mind went to that guy and his family!

[bcs819]

Skarlet-

Highlight what you want to copy and press CTRL_C. CLick where you want to paste and then press CTRL-V. I am very interested in your review as we were on the same sailing.

Bernie

[NASH99]

If it weren't for the stuff I learned from these boards,

 

Not enough STUFF it appears. I have only cruised twice and some of your complaints are cruise 101 type complaints. Every floor on the ship has a 3x2 foot map of the ship to show the way. Patters? I'm sure they are not accustomed to four people in a cabin that can read. It's usually 2 kids and 2 adults. And the kids want to play on the elveator. :eek:

 

Thanks for your review and I'm sorry your cruise was not what you expected.

Steve

[bcs819]

"I'm sure they are not accustomed to four people in a cabin that can read."

 

That may have been so on the first or second day but good cabin stewards know who's in the cabin, and address the cabin accordingly. Besides, wouldn't they at least then expect TWO people could read? That being said, I have been on these boards for several years, and truly, this is the first time it even occurred to me that I could ask for more. Everyone usually talks about robes, and bed pads and loungers for the balcony. I, personally, am glad he mentioned such a 'cruise 101 complaint' as it is something I will do from now on. I thought it was an excellent observation. I guess I just assumed with everything else the stewards had to do they got one for each cabin and that was it. Patters were not as easily accessible as you might think. I stopped at Crooners Bar one night because we couldn't remember what venue the comedian was in, and they didn't have one. We went to the Purser's desk, and they had already 'recycled' the one for the day and had the new ones out. Only in CLub Fusion did they have them out, and then they were in plexiglass frames that you could look at, but obviously not take with you.

[NASH99]

bcs819....Thanks for your review and I'm sorry your cruise was not what you expected.

Steve

[nho9504]

I read 2 other reviews on the same sailing, that they mentioned about the luggage tags are distributed by flight departure time. Your reveiw said it is by deck.

 

Does that mean the normal procedure is by deck, but if you have a flight to catch, you go to purser office to get the Red tag or whatever tag to denote early disembarkation ?

 

Thanks for the review. It seems the dining arrangement on Diamond is sorely in need of improvements.

[bcs819]

NH -

The ship is emptied by deck. The only exception to this is if you have an early flight (before 1pm). The Patters will tell you what day to go to the Purser's desk with your flight tix, email confirmation, or travel itinerary adn they will give you special tags to get off first. Everyone else is called off by deck, from the top down.

[sfpd3000]

skarlet-my brother and cousins were on the Las Caletas excursion. This is all second hand information. All they told me was that a fight broke out (pushing and shoving and swearing) on the boat on the way back to Puerto Vallarta. It's probably the same people that you're describing because they I was told they were drunk. The fight was broken up quickly by the workers on your boat.

 

CruizerMOm- The cabin was a little tight when the top bunks came down, but otherwise it was fine. The balcony was a nice addition. Like I said, once the top bunks come down, the only person who can watch TV from bed is the one in the bottom bunk nearest the balcony.