Review: Diamond Princess 12/04/04

[RYPERO]

Here is my review of the Diamond Princess. This ship has been reviewed so many times so this time I am going to put a spin on it by comparing it to our past Carnival experience.

 

Embarkation: By far this was the easiest embarkation that I have been involved in. We arrived about an hour before we could board and from the time we got out of the car we swarmed with Princess Employees eager to point us in the right direction. Once our luggage was taken we were given a number for boarding and then proceeded to check in. We waited in line behind just one person and once we were checked in we were able to sit and wait for our turn to board. In comparison to our previous cruises with Carnival we typically had to stand in line in order to maintain our boarding position.

 

Cabin: We had a standard balcony on the Aloha deck aft on the starboard side. The room was very nice and well laid out with a nice sized balcony. That said it was much smaller then we have become accustomed to on Carnival. Our room was hard for two people to be moving at the same time and there was only an uncomfortable chair to sit on other then the bed. On Carnival on the newer ships the balcony rooms are wider and longer and are equipped with a coach and table.

 

Ship layout: Princess has mastered the large ship with small ship feel. We never felt crowded and it seemed you could go to a different lounge or bar and forget that there were 3,000 people on board with you. The Princess theatre is undersized as compared with Carnivals however they compensate for this by offering a third showing of the main shows. One awkward part of this ship is the fact that the only public deck that goes front to back is the Promenade deck. Once you get used to this layout the ship is very manageable and quite comfortable.

 

Dining: We had the anytime dining and really enjoyed the many choices of restaraunts that were offered. It is very nice to be able to utilize the main dining room menus in addition to the specialty restaurants. The dining room that we found with the best service was Santa Fe. The head waiter Mauro does a great job with his whole team and he is very accommodating and yet honest (if you have to wait you have to wait) in finding you a table with the proper number of seats for your party regardless of reservations. The service in other dining rooms was good at best and occasionally just bad. Carnival doesn’t offer a dining arrangement like this so I definitely need to give the nod to Princess. The buffet lacked the options of Carnivals but the simplicity definitely helped eliminate any lines. In fact the whole week we never found any line in the Horizon court for breakfast or lunch. We did often have difficulty finding a seat but that is to be expected. One odd layout is the fact that the pizzeria and grill are so far from the rest of dining in the horizon court. This was inconvenient when we had inclement weather since you had to walk so far to eat inside. You also needed to go back to the Horizon court if you wanted a glass of iced tea or water since these are only available inside. On the beverage topic with Carnival we were used to the option of lemonade and fruit punch through out the day in addition to iced tea. Carnival also has these stations more spread out and near the pools. On Carnival they also offered free soft serve ice cream all day where as on the Diamond you needed to pay for ice cream except with dinner. The quality of the food in general was good and probably better then Carnival but that said like on any cruise some items were great and some where not as great but definitely good.

 

Entertainment: This is where in our opinion Princess really separated them selves from Carnival. There was always some sort of entertainment on board and we often found ourselves walking towards one event and stopping on our way when we saw something else that caught our eye and would stop and watch. In the evening there was something for everyone in one of the many lounges ranging from comedy acts to magic acts to karaoke and all sorts of live music. Carnival also offered many of these same choices but never in the same volume. There were also numerous trivia games and games shows put on by the staff throughout the day. The atmosphere was much more relaxed then on Carnival but never boring.

 

This cruise was definitely a great time. We thoroughly enjoyed the Princess experience and felt it was a great value. We look forward to many future Princess cruises, so much so that we booked two open bookings while we were on board. That said we are not ready to give up on Carnival I feel both lines have offered us different experiences and I am sure that there will always be a place in our schedule for both. I also wanted to thank all of you on these boards that have helped to give us the courage to try another cruise line after the great experiences we have had with Carnival.

[benmon]

Thanks for the review. i like to read different reviews. everyone has a different perspective. we sail in 10 days, i have read many reviews, yours was short and sweet and to the point. and thats a good thing.

[Lynda90]

Benmon, you will love being onboard for Christmas. Very festive. I hope they still have the caroling in the atrium area. It was a lot of fun joining in with the staff. They handed out song sheets and champagne. You'll have to let us know if they still do this. Have a wonderful time; I want to go, too!:)

[SHayesShip]

Rypero,

Nice to see your review as a newbie to Princess. PCL is my favorite cruiseline but I still go on CCL occasionally and have a great time.

 

Steve Hayes

[benmon]

Thanks Lynda. We appreciate the info and we also look forward to singing in the atrium with everyone. I don't need the sheet music, but the champagne sound great! This is our 4th Christmas cruise; our 20th overall, first on Princess for Christmas; second time on Princess overall. RCCL never had anything that elaborate as you described for Christmas. Lot's of decorations, Santa roaming the halls for the kids..etc. I can't wait to put up our 20 ft blow up Snowman on our balcony. (Just kidding..it's only 10 ft, 20 would be ridiculous). Once again great review of Princess vs. Carnival. We only sailed Carnival once. The room (owner's suite) was phenomenal. The interinery was ok. NO comment on anything else.

[Lynda90]

BTW, on our cruise that started the day after Thanksgiving, all the decorations were already up. Simply beautiful; especially for pictures.

[NitaBcruising]

RYPERO, thanks for your review! I appreciate the info, as we're going on the Diamond next June.

 

Lynda, why don't you share those pics????? :) I'd love to see the ship decorated for the holidays!