BOARDING AT TAIPEI

Item: Diamond Princess
Rating: 3.6
Author: SMILEYMILEYS

Diamond Princess Cruise Review

SMILEYMILEYS

Contributor Level: Second Mate

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 4

Overall rating:

3.6 out of 5

Japan Fall Foliage

Sail date: March 07, 2019

Ship: Diamond Princess

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

Japan was wonderful but we would never use the Princess Cruise line ever again.

Embarkation

2 out of 5

Taipei was the worst embarkation ever! After a long flight and long taxi ride from the airport, we found the port terminal busy and unfriendly. My wife was feeling unwell (we later discovered she had a heart problem) and had to queue at the foot of concrete stairs; when we asked for somewhere to sit and wait, my wife was told she could sit on the lower concrete step and we were not allowed upstairs to the lounge area. It should be noted that returning passengers were allowed direct passage to board the ship and the vast seating area upstairs was empty. Eventually after a long wait we started the boarding process where we were treated like children at the check-in desk. The cabin of the Diamond Princess was dated albeit adequate. We hated having to eat from hard plastic plates and hard plastic cups and if I ever hear another rendition of "The Love Boat" I think I will be sick. This was our first and very last Princess cruise.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

The demonstration by the Italian medallion wearing chef was appalling.

Entertainment

2 out of 5

The theatre shows we're poor and we walked out of the Grease Musical it was so bad

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Cannot fault the service and staff who made every effort to please us.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Generally clean and well presented.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Dated but adequate.

Ship tip

Bring your own China cup and/or mug. Be prepared for noisy purile deck games around the atrium if you are thinking of having a quiet relaxing coffee.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Yokohama (Tokyo), Japan

5 out of 5

Princess kept cancelling land tours so we had to settle for one we didn't really want. It was nevertheless a good excursion.

Thumbs Up 0

Keelung (Taipei), Taiwan

2 out of 5

Cannot provide any positive comment as we only embarked and disembarked.

Thumbs Up 0

Nagoya

4 out of 5

Worth a visit.

Thumbs Up 0

Okinawa

5 out of 5

Worth the visit.

Thumbs Up 1

Osaka, Japan

5 out of 5

Worth the visit.

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

3 out of 5

Taipei is a bad port to embark and disembark; Princess Cruises ill-advised us and we should have been offered Tokyo.

7 Comments

Gwbigdog 1 year ago

2019 review thanks

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MountainMama08 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing

Thumbs Up 1

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AuntPinkie 1 year ago

Appreciate your 2019 review.

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WhippetMum 1 year ago

Not sure what you are complaining about? Hope your wife is OK

Thumbs Up 1

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gazstaf 1 year ago

Wow, what a shame for you guys. No good if someone is unwell hope your wife is back to good health. We have done a couple of cruises around Japan two of which were on Diamond Princess and our experiences were very rewarding. The ports, ship and crew were just outstanding. So sorry you had a bad experience 🚢

Thumbs Up 2

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CruzeFan 1 year ago

Try Carnival. You may like it better.

Thumbs Up 1

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javawoody 1 year ago

What did Princess do wrong?

Thumbs Up 1

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