Diamond Princess Cruise Reviews - Reviews

It's important to start by saying that I had a great time. The staff were overall friendly and professional.

While it was upsetting that we had to remove a port from the itinerary due to Typhoon Malakas, I do not expect the crew to be able to control the weather. We were compensated fairly for the change, and the changed itinerary successfully accomplished its goal of avoiding most of the harsh weather.

However not a day went by that I did not discover some minor annoyance that could easily be avoided. This list is not comprehensive but will serve as examples:

- I was given several gift cards for Princess the day before leaving on my vacation; there was no way to apply these to my shipboard account online and the process of applying them in person was arduous. Eventually I had to entrust the cards to guest services to be processed by some other party and be notified later that it had gone through.

- It is widely advertised that one can access the Princess Patter and other information online through the Wi-Fi, however it is both incomplete and dreadfully slow rendering it all but useless. The site lacks simple information such as a Deck Plan or a complete list of Bar, Restaurant, and Club hours. In fact even the printed version of the Patter only contains a partial list.

- At least one of the beverages in the menu (namely, Monster Energy Drink) was not actually available. On the second day of the cruise I asked around every bar and apparently got the very last can on the entire ship! I inquired again after each port, but it had not been restocked.

- The nightly show times are such that they conflict with dinner times, so that if one wants to eat dinner at their assigned time they only have one showtime to choose from. Additionally (at my showtime at least) the theater was not large enough to accommodate all the people who wished to see the show, leaving several dozen people standing along the back and side walls and many more turning around and leaving after seeing the crowd.

- During one free-seating night we arrived right when the restaurant opened and waited an hour before receiving the first course of our meal. We rushed to make it right when they opened so that we could hurry on to other attractions; I feel like the effort and that hour of waiting were wasted.

- I purchased a ship-to-airport transfer that indicated that my boarding pass would be delivered to my room and my luggage would be checked through to the airline. Neither happened, instead I was required to collect my luggage and load it on a bus, then check my own bags and check-in and collect my own boarding pass. I apparently paid $48 per person for a bus ride; I could have gotten a taxi for cheaper...

- The elevators in the main atrium were divided into two unlinked banks. People would constantly summon both sets resulting in a second elevator unnecessarily stopping at the deck after the people got in the first one.

- The TV in the room had several HDMI ports, but no way to switch the input. I brought a laptop to play movies on, but was forced to watch them on the small laptop screen and waste the big HDTV in the room (I had already seen all the movies that interested me on the in-room entertainment system).

- Outlets in the stateroom were all far away from the bed, so I couldn't easily charge the laptop while watching a movie on it in bed.

Obviously these are mostly minor complaints, but they add up and most of them are very easy to fix. A bit of effort tackling at least the low-hanging fruit (e.g. useless web portal, no gift card option on Cruise Personalizer, accurate bar menu) would easily improve customer satisfaction.

None of previous Princess Cruises were so poor than this. The most of the crews seem unhappy beeing there. Almost no one smiles, no "good morning", etc. Some attendents were really unpleasant to serve you.

Entertainment repeated. No fun at all.

Also repeated menu in Horizon restaurant.

This was the worst cruise ever did in the last 23 years.

Those comments also apply  to M631 (Sept 25th departure).

The itinerary, excursions and all services provided on board Diamond Princess was excellent but the on-line reservation of Internet time did not register by Diamond Princess to honor the 60 minute bonus that was supposed to come with the reservation.  When Kia, Supervisor of Customer Service was contacted.  He understood the problem after reviewing a copy of my reservation of thee 400 minutes that is supposed to come with 60 minutes bonus.  On the bottom of that page which I printed a copy to show Kia, there were no "SUBMIT" buttom for the customer to make the payment.  This is the same as the excursions as customers could choose to pay at the time of making the reservation or when the customer goes on board Diamond Princess.  There was no way to prepay even if I wanted to which is the fault of Diamond Princess' website.  I thought the first time I go on the Internet on the Diamond Princess, I would find that I have the 60 minute bonus.  However, I did not know how to locate that, so I went ahead and paid for the 400 minutes.  I then went to the Internet Cafe Supervisor and then to Kia, the Supervisor of Customer Service on the Diamond Princess who contacted Princess headquarters.  All three of them came back with the same response, "we found no record that the customer pre-paid for the Internet"  I already knew that fact before I even went to the Internet Cafe Supervisor. Kia and the Headquarters.  It was Princess Cruise Company's responsibility to fix their website so that the customer knew to pre-pay which is not consistent with the way Princess handles their excursion.  This confuses customers when inconsistent methods of payment is established by Princess.  After the cruise, we met another couple from San Diego who had similar problem with pre-ordering 4 cases of bottled water which was never registered or delivered to the stateroom until they straightened it out with the Princess Cuises.  

      My position is that Princess owes me credit of 60 minutes x 49 cents = U.S.$294.00.  Since Diamond Princess refused to authenticate my pre-order, I had to purchase another 400 minutes and left about U.S. $10 worth of minutes not used at the end of the cruise.  I am looking for an amicable resolution of this matter.  I was more than willing to pre-pay the 400 minutes plus 60 minutes bonus, but Princess website did not provide any avenue for me to make that payment.  Why would I prepaid tens and thousands of dollars and not willing to prepay the approximately $190 for the 400 minutes in order to get 60 minutes credit.  Does that sound logically to any of you at Princess?  Princess Cruises need to review their website and correct the problems it poses for all you past and future customers.  I am waiting for Princess to resolve this issue with me.  

The ship was set up to cater to Japanese customers.  English was not the first language.  I did not expect this adaptation.  Some issues were not true to web site and response was its Japanese season.  Any of the concerns we had were resolved to our satisfaction.  The bulk of the passengers were Japanese and not always friendly.  A different attitude from previos cruises I have participated in.  Overall a good experience, could have been great with a few adjustments for English speaking customers.

I enjoyed my time on the Diamond Princess as we cruised the Japan inland sea and around the bottom of Kyushu. The ride was very smooth. The inland sea was calm like the inside passage in Alaska. The open ocean days were also very calm.

The food and beverage was good as usual on a Princess cruise. Sushi bar on board was good. The only disappointment would be that the steak house restaurant was moved into one of the buffet dining rooms instead of on it's own like the Italian restaurant. The entertainment was okay, not great but good.

I have a young child who was very happy with the Pelican activities and she looked forward to going every day.

Seemed like an older crowd on this cruise. Overall a very calm and relaxing cruise.

Port of Nagasaki was wonderfull! City of Kochi was also nice old city and people were so nice. Over all cruise was enjoyable but some passengers of second part of cruise were very rude and has no concern for other passengers😡 It is best way to visit All islands of Japan. 

Having sailed on the Royal Princess a couple times (along with plenty of cruises on other lines), I didn't feel this cruise was up to par with what I expect from Princess. Boarding/disembarking was smooth and the ship was clean, but I didn't find the same level of service, food quality or port information. Our cabin attendant seemed annoyed when we slept in on sea days and forgot details such as towels on occasion. I do appreciate the laundry rooms available on board. The buffet food was good, but did not have a lot of variety. Sailing Japan with many Japanese guests meant the buffet had more Japanese options and few of the other cuisines typically offered. The Steakhouse charged $29 for our overcooked steaks (up from the $25 I paid last year) to sit in a section of the buffet which didn't have the same upscale feel . It was also lacking in details such as the flavored salts and attentive service. The Italian Restaurant food was marvelous, but our waiter disappeared halfway through the meal and we were served patchwork from other staff. The regular dining room was fine, but anytime dining was not an option. The ports were good, but frustrating from a schedule viewpoint. It's impossible to see much of Busan in a few hours, so you're pretty much forced to take a Princess tour. Our day in Nagasaki was cut short because we were assigned late times to disembark for the long immigration lines. The ship advertises a day in Miyazaki, but docks an over an hour away in Aburatsu, a much smaller port with little offered (although we did enjoy Obi Castle). There were no real port talks or even maps offered and when we asked onboard for more info about Aburatsu we were told the staff was going ashore that day to find out more about the port (I realize this is the first time Princess has stopped here, but shouldn't they be prepared for their already booked guests?). We found, however, that the locals in most ports were excited to have us and tried to offer us guidance. We also didn't find the same quality/quantity of onboard activities/entertainment/amenities on board, however that could probably be attributed to being on a much smaller ship than the Royal (we sure missed the International Café for a quick bite). Despite all these details, we had an enjoyable time and I do recommend cruising around Japan which is a lovely country.

Fabulous cruise!!  To begin with, the Diamond Princess is a beautiful ship.  This is our 6th cruise with Princess and I rate this ship up there as one of the best.  The only thing I missed was the full service International Cafe.  As far as the itinerary goes, it gave us a wonderful exposure to Australia (west coast) and a good sampling of Asia.  I think I would prefer to have skipped Bali and added more time in Thailand a/or Vietnam where we could have experienced some beaches.  All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise.

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. 

As my wife and I had been on two Norwegian Cruises and river cruises with Viking and Avalon and we thought that the food choices and preparation was better on our previous cruises, than on Princess. There was with great frequency, food suited more to Asians than to Americans. Americans constituted 1500 of the 2200 passengers for this cruise.  There was not enough anytime dining choices where late during the evening (9-11 pm) you could get short order meal items or a hot sandwich like you could on Norwegian/Viking.  There were more draft beer choices on Norwegian.  There was more to do and far as sports on Norwegian to include regulation shuffle board and basketballs that were correctly inflated and with basketball rims with nets.  The promenade deck on Norwegian had markings that got all walkers and runners going in the same direction.  There was no such organization on Princess.  As far as itinerary, I think there could have been one more port in Australia and one less port in New Zealand.  Our cabin steward was very polite, but there were no towel animals as were on Norwegian and the river cruises.

14 days of pleasure and relaxation. 

As anticipated, Princess, in my estimation still delivers everything promised and more.

Very well organized in every aspect. Everything on board was perfect and all shore excursions were as described and very enjoyable.

United Cruises proved to be a very good booking agent and will certainly use them again for all future cruises!

We thoroughly enjoyed the cruise.  The only negative would be the selection of food in the International Dining Room.  Being from the United States we kept looking for a dish that we recognized.  We had difficulty with payment for the side tours.  We had brought AUD funds to pay for the tours but were not allowed to so.

We did our own air but used a Princess pre cruise package which included transfer to hotel, hotel stay, transfer to ship and transfer ship to airport. When we notified Princess of our return flight they rejected our transfer because our flight departed at 11:40AM. We planned to take a cab. During the cruise we talked to passengers who took Princess air and had departures before noon. Talked to the front desk who were very vague, wanted to know passenger names and cabin numbers. Absolutely ridiculous! When final debarkation material was released we found 4 airport transfers prior to noon. Went to front desk who sold us 2 transfers. Left us with the clear message, if you don't use their air, they are not willing to help you!

With the exception of the continual and endless Japanese ,Korean, and Soviet immigration and customs examinations, the Japan cruise on Diamond Princess was wonderful .The Japanese people are warm, friendly and welcoming.  From the room steward thru the dining room staff, the crew was eager to please and they did an exceptional job.  Having so many Japanese touches including foods, cultural folkloric shows, etc. was wonderful. The shows had a top flight singer, pianist and the excellent zany duo-Mr. and Mrs. Smith!  Hopefully Princess will slightly alter the itinerary so that pax will not have hours wait for laborious customs and immigration process. Tours were missed and ran very late due to the in and out itinerary from Japan to Russia and Korea.  

Food was fairly basic. Red meat wasn't the best I have eaten. Service was great, ship is great. Great wine list. I had tried to obtain wine list before trip to no avail so I purchased 16 bottles of wine in Sydney and paid Princess $15 corkage per bottle. After arriving on ship and seeing the wine list I realized i would have been very happy with the selections and price.

Yes, the cruise on the Diamond was very good. Service and courtesy of the staff was excellent. Food was very good, Quality of the Lamb was suspect. Overall very good. The "BIG RUB" was the disembarkation of the Ship to Airport to meet time restraint you set up?? Disembarkation was supposed to be at 8:00am. Actually leaving time was 8:22am. The Bus left pier at 9:03 am. Arrived Airport 9:40 am. WestJet take off time 10:15, cut off time was 9:15 to check in for flight. Of course I did not make it in a timely manner!.. The Ship did call me in advance and warn me to be on time for disembarkation. I was there at 7:40 and no one was there at my silver 1 meeting place. Other passengers were departing early but we had to wait for our Silver 1 call? Princess personnel assured me that I would make my connection. I went to the passenger desk ahead of time to check on my time line and they said I would make it. I had a direct flight back home. I arrived home 12 hours later after taking two extra flights. Princess made these reservatins and should have known that we could not have made these connections? I was not the only passengers that missed their connections? Other problems were created due to your lack of experience. You always praise the "Experience on Princess" Bull crap, I am not a happy cruiser. I don't think I will be using Princess for my future cruise? Dissatisfied customer. Oscar Portillo

My main issue with this cruise was the service. I am quite unimpressed with Princess's decision to hire crew from eastern Europe and Asia, particularly since their English language skills were not up to par. I'm not blaming the individual crew members for anything - they did the best they could. However, the people doing the hiring should pick more wisely. 1. Most of the wait staff were east Asians with poor communication skills. When the staff doesn't understand what "on-the-rocks" means while taking a drink order, there is clearly a problem! 2. We were traveling with a handicapped person, and we were given tables with steps to get to them even though they knew we had someone in a wheelchair. 3. In general, the service was mediocre - not what we expected after cruising with Royal Caribbean... 4. One of our stops (Juneau) was very short. Since we already had 3 full days on the ship itself, it would have been nice to have more time at the few stops we did make. While the landscape in Alaska is beautiful, and the glaciers are spectacular, the reality of the cruise was that there was simply not enough good staff to make this a truly memorable event.

Enjoyed the cruise - good service all round. Pleasant and helpful crew members Cabin service - Reynaldo - was excellent in getting our room cleaned and always very pleasant and knowledgeable. The waiters gave good service

The ship is going in for dry dock renovations in a few months, and you can see signs of wear and necessary upgrades. Overall the trip was good and the service and staff were very good. If you are not a frequent cruiser, you are in a different class of patrons. Also the shore excursions were not of consistent quality. Some were great, others were an expensive ride around the block! There is no way to know, but we elected to do our own homework and do most cities on our own.

Overall the ship was ok. The ship seemed to be old but it is very well maintained. Every area was kept clean and polished.