Good not GREAT

Diamond Princess Cruise Review to South Pacific - Australia

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 75

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Diamond Princess

7 Night Tasmania (Sydney Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 16, 2016

Ship: Diamond Princess

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: P206

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

Overall the experience was good. Beautiful boat, fairly clean, and personable staff. We did have a few issues in regards to our dining, food, and wine experience. Specifically our server. Our "assistant server" (Komang) was ON POINT. He was always personable, helpful, and would talk to the chef or bar server to clarify any questions. However our "head server" (Andrew), was the complete opposite. When reviewing specials, he simply read from the menu, couldn't describe any of the dishes, and when asked any questions, would simply re-read the menu. In fact, the one time he did say he was going to ask a chef, he went away and never came back. I think Komang should be promoted to head server FOR SURE! The food, was pretty decent. However, it was quite obvious (mostly because of how Andrew was pushing the "specials" that the "specials" were created from left over ingredients from the night before). Lastly, regarding wine -- there were quite a few wines listed on the (very very small wine list) that weren't available throughout the whole trip. Unacceptable. Because the wine selection was so minimal, there was no sommelier on board so no one to really assist us with the proper wine selection for our meals (and yet for some reason Andrew kept pushing us to buy a whole bottle of wine each night). However, as I mentioned, Komang was as helpful as could be, and would ask the bar server for their recommendations or clarifications when needed. He even related his experience with a couple of varietals which ultimately helped us with our choices. 

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
Specials were not that special. Andrew = poor server. Komang = NEEDS A PROMOTION!

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Children's Programs

3 out of 5
don't have children

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Satisfied and ultimately happy, however the public restrooms should be cleaned more often and thoroughly

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Good. The only comment we have was that our attendant did leave some trash (the container for a scraper or knife) in our cabin after cleaning. Also, the location for our daily patter was inconsistent (sometimes in the mail and sometimes on our bed).

Ports of call

Sydney, Australia

5 out of 5

Melbourne, Australia

5 out of 5

Cruise Wineglass Bay & Oyster Bay, Tasmania

3 out of 5
No one's fault we didn't make it here.

Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

5 out of 5

Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia

3 out of 5
There isn't much to do here. Would have liked more excursion options.
Was this review helpful? 75

5 Comments

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise.

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

davethesailor    8 years ago

Apologies Stacy. Upon rereading your post, I agree. I misinterpreted. Sorry.

dogdoc2002    8 years ago

Didn't sound entitled to me. We enjoy wine but don't know much about pairings, I don't think that asking for guidance is a horrible (aka entitled) thing to me

davethesailor    8 years ago

Sound very entitled to me. Next time do Crystal or Cunard with 5 star dining, wine and prices. Maybe that would suit you better. Reminded me of "...We'll the lifeboats be seated by class?..."