Not as good as expected

Diamond Princess Cruise Review to South Pacific - Australia

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 0
Helpful Votes: 7

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Diamond Princess

Invalid-38249

Sail date: January 17, 2009

Ship: Diamond Princess

Cabin type: Oceanview

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 15 years ago

Review summary

The ship is wonderfully maintained. As it was my boyfriend's first cruise, he was very impressed by its size and the number of amenities it offered: 4 pools, 10 spas, 6 restaurants, casino and endless bars. However, as it was my 9th cruise, I was less impressed. Yes the service was amazing, but it is on every cruise--some even more than this one. Our room steward knew us by name anytime he saw us around the ship. The itinerary was okay. Keep in mind that the Fjords day is an at sea day only. So you have 3 at sea days in a row, which can lead to a bit of cabin fever, even on such a large ship. If you're going on your first cruise, like my boyfriend, and are above the age of 35 (unlike us) this would be a good destination/ship.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5
This was my biggest disappointment. As an experienced cruiser I was looking forward to the exotic, carefully perpared meals that I've experienced on Holland America, Royal Caribbean and others. I was prepared to gain the usual 5 vacation lbs with excellent chocolates and exquisite entres. However, we were so bored with the menu we could barely bring ourselves to go eat. The menus never changed. Food in the restaurants had very small portions and uncreative items that I could prepare any day of the week. The best meal we had was a mini T-day dinner. Like I said, very uncreative. A chilled soup arrived in a smoothie glass with a straw. Prawn cocktails were still a bit frozen and unusually small.

Entertainment

3 out of 5
Cruise directors did their best. There was plenty of piano man, singing and other music. A couple of comedians, but few hit the mark. The bar staff was the most entertaining of them all. Themed parties got a few people out of their rooms, not many. Princess does have a cool school at sea program that adds a bit of educational experiences.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Staff was excellent. The best part of the cruise was getting to know the staff.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5
Ship is large. Met new people even on the last day. Layout is interesting. To get to our rooms we had to walk through the art gallery. One of the Alternative restaurants seemed to be a late add-on as it is simply sectioned off from the 24 hour buffet on the top deck.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
Stateroom was nice. But, for a newer ship, we expected things to be a bit, well, newer. For example the tv was older than you'd find in most hotel rooms today.

Pros: Customer Service

Cons: Food

Recommends Diamond Princess? No.

Was this review helpful? 7

2 Comments

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise.

Gwbigdog    2 years ago