Thank you for honest and informative appraisal. We sail on her 22day repositioning cruise to Japan via SE Asia 21/2/25 which I believe is sold out. So looking forward it. I have read many reviews, mostly good, some disparaging ones, you can’t please everyone however! Hope you manage a longer 🛳️ on her next time 😊
Did a 23 day cruise on the diamond from Sydney to China was one of the best cruses i have done great ship food Entertaiment shore excursions two days in Hong Kong would highly recommend this ship they had a free grill on the pool deck chicken Bergers hot dogs and some of the cocktails were great.
We love your very informative and frank reviews. Our appetite for the Diamond has been heightened after watching your video. We sail in just over a week! Thanks again for your great support for the Australian cruise industry.
We cruise on Diamond in December, cannot wait although my hubby will be sad at no International Cafe… he loves his coffee. We will certainly be spend a lunch or dinner or two at Izumi
Hey Adrian, 100% agree with you that Diamond Princess is the best ship in the fleet. We have sail on the Diamond 4 times, one of those was a Christmas and New Years 19 night Singapore to Sydney cruise back in 2005. She has had many changes over the years and have been able to enjoy them all. Also her sister ship the Sapphire Princess that we spent a 16 night Beijing to Singapore cruise on is just as good. Both ship have such an open atmosphere that ships these days kind of lack and with the rear facing outdoor seating areas on the Diamond and Sapphire that are a relaxing spot to sit and enjoy a drink. As you mentioned about the fire and the name change, did you know that before the fire and during the hull construction the ship builder place a Diamond gem in the bottom of the hull on the original Diamond Princess and a Sapphire gem in the bottom of the hull on the original Sapphire Princess, these were never changed after the fire like the names were. Hope you get to experience these two wonderful ships again and for longer soon, as so do I. Keep up the great content.
One of our favourite Princess ships. If you like dancing and live music there are many venues such as Club Fusion, Explorers Lounge, Wheelhouse Bar and Crooners Bar with activities most nights. Most of these venues are found only on the Grand Class ships. On the newer Royal Class Princess ships most of the dancing and live music is in the atrium/piazza only. We also love the ambience of the atrium which has a Greek or Roman Palace feel.
My favourite too! 24 nt repositioning cruise from Sydney to Beijing in 2013 and Japan in 2018. Hong Kong to Singapore in 2015 on Sapphire. Love them! Miss the International Café though.
My first encounter with the Diamond Princess was when I was taking my first cruise on the Carnival Panorama (my first time not on a Princess ship). The Diamond Princess was anchored just outside the port in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico before she was brought back online from the pandemic shutdown. When sunset arrived, the Diamond Princess looked as if she was sailing off into the sunset and I managed to get several photos of her. I thought it was amusing that my best photo from my first Carnival cruise was of a Princess ship. When Princess brought the Diamond back online, they had her home porting out of San Diego for a couple months, so I wanted to take one of the cruises as she’s not likely to be back in Southern California for the foreseeable future. I thought it would be a shame to have this amazing photo of this ship and not have it seen, so I brought a couple prints of it and left them at Guest Services for the Captain and the Cruise Director. I had no expectation beyond a thank you note, but I ended up invited to dine at the Captain’s table on one of the formal nights and a tour of the bridge and given a crest of the ship, a Stanley bear, and a model of the ship to take home. It truly was the best cruise I’ve ever taken. The Captain asked if I’d be willing to send the digital file so he could have it made into large prints to hang in the officer and crew dining rooms, which I was more than happy to do. I never got confirmation it was done, but it makes me smile thinking my photo is being enjoyed by her crew. I was so touched by my experience on the Diamond Princess that I returned to the port the following week after my cruise end to capture her return to San Diego in additional photos. I even got my request for air clearance approved for drone shots with the government. My sunrise photo of her return to San Diego is another special one in my collection that compliments the sunset in Mexico. I put together a short video of my drone footage that is up on my RU-vid channel. Needless to say the Diamond Princess occupies a very special place in my heart.
Hi Adrian, Good review. We had 3 weeks on her in May to June around Japan. There was plenty of Japanese food in the buffet. I didn't like the open walk through in the Japanese restaurant. Definitely our favourite Princess ship. I didn't use the Japanese bath but I saw the entrance. There is a free adult only pool, with two spas outside near the Day Spa. Also a sauna in the ladies showers and toilets. Which I used a lot. Happy cruising 🛳 ❤ from Queensland
Thanks for the review Adrian. It was good to see you onboard. My first ever cruise was on the DP in 2012 so she is a sentimental favourite. Pity they haven’t added the International Cafe yet. The Japanese cultural influences make it extra special. We eventually worked out how to use the electronic toilets 😂. I agree that it is a good ship for classic cruising without feeling crowded. The passenger to space ratio is one of the best you’ll find.
Hi Adrian. Not sure if you can help me. I'm sailing on the Diamond soon which unfortunately I was convinced to book with a US company (not again!). I have since found your channel. With my booking the company is telling me I have to pay USD$60 per day for Princess Plus. Would this be correct that I can't pay the AUD$65 per day as I am an Australian citizen? Thanks for your help in anticipation.
Great video, I did a 14 night circumnavigation of Japan this year on HAL’s Westerdam and loved Japan. I will definitely go back to Japan and sail on the Diamond Princess but for a longer cruise or maybe back to back cruises.
Wow, thanks for that review. My experience on Diamond was very different so I may have to give her another chance. The food was very disappointing on my cruise.
Thanks for the review. We sail on her in 16 days to NZ. My favourite has been the Coral princess till now however will see how the Diamond princess goes.
Coral P is No 1 with us, but Diamond runs a very close 2nd. On our last Diamond P cruise around Japan we reckoned her crew was the best of any of our 23 Princess cruises we've sailed on - (Regal P being the worst)!! You just can't beat a wrap around promenade deck, one of the reasons why Island P is not top rated with us despite sailing on her several times. And you are spot on when mentioning there's no International Café!!! We're looking forward to the Diamond P NZ Xmas/New Years Eve cruise in 71 days.
Hi Adrian, I think we were on the same time! It was our first time on Diamond and we'll be doing a review on our channel shortly. Spoiler: we loved it! I can't go back on this beautiful ship. You've gotta love that medallion technology too, so much better than digging out a cruise card to get your cabin door open! I was looking for Alfredo's the whole time we were on, one of the waiters in the MDR told us it was going to happen but now I can see why all the other crew just looked at me blankly when I asked!
Have sailed on Diamond and Saphire and think that these two ships are the best ships in fleets. Like you have said plenty of room and enjoy the smaller number of guests for size of ship.
Did my second Cruise on the Diamond Princess in 2019 around Japan and Taiwan. Loved the Izumi , Onsen, experience, which on a Japan Cruise was mandated to be naked matching the 90% Japanese customers on board. Found unfortunately that Princess did not change their food offering too much US based, probably matching the “standard” Princess offering. I think cruise lines should have food offerings more based on where the ships operate.
We think we must have been on the same cruise to Melbourne (Much too short) Agree with your comments but thought the buffet was a bit small and lacked variety, we spent a lot of time looking for the international Cafe We are booked on two more Diamond cruises in Nov & Feb The one hidden feature is the Grand Suite Cabin 11748 (check out the u tube video) there is only one and it is half the width of the ship, we were lucky to secure it for next Feb - my wifes 70th Birthday We wish we had known you were on the ship we wouldhave certainly said hello.
I'm working on it... it's not a full tour, but nearly complete. The cruise was just too short to record every inch of the ship, but I managed to get most of it captured.
terrific ship and Grand class even better. the newer ships just dont have the character and vibe but still great experiences with Princess. These are "right size" ships
are you going on the Discovery Princess for the 25/26 season ? It will be the first time Australia gets a relatively new ship only 3 years old when it gets here
It is not the first time we have had a new ship. My husband and I sailed on Majestic Princess from Auckland to Sydney in 2018 when she was only one year old!
My wife and I were on this cruise, and an adjacent 2 night short hop (so 4 nights total). Our experience was not as good as what Adrian describes. The Medallion App was glitchy, meals were a bit hit and miss, and staff sometimes quite inattentive. Specialty Dining was, I thought, quite expensive - if you didn't have an inclusive package. The additional cost for dining at Sabatinis was twice as much as it was just two years ago (on other Princess ships). I agree absolutely with Adrian, though, about the spaciousness of the ship. (But) I think that he was overgenerous with his description of the Promenade deck experience. A deck change is required forward (from Deck 7 up to Deck 8); and over the period that we were embarked, Deck 8 was often closed due to slightly rough sea state, and not reopened even when the sea moderated. (And the smoking area seemed too well populated - by crew and pax - whenever I walked the deck.). It's difficult to make a definitive judgment based on just 4 nights, but our experience was very much less positive than our Pre-Covid and immediate Post-Covid experiences with Princess.
Meals weren't up to the standard I had experienced previously either and I mentioned this. We were totally spoiled on Royal Princess earlier this year. The promenade deck stairs are standard for the Grand Class ships, but this doesn't make it any less of a wraparound deck. This is also the case on the Radiance Class and Voyager Class ships of Royal Caribbean. If you're familiar with the Royal Class ships, you'll know what a step backwards they were in terms of their promenade deck offering.
A couple of questions. Is it cheaper to book shore excursions before travel. Also if you look at the non alcoholics drinks the price says $27.42 per person per day but if you go into terms and conditions it says "The Classic Soda Package is USD $14.99 per day plus 18% service charge (totaling $17.69 per day) for all itineraries except Australia. The package is AUD $23 per day which includes a service charge for all Australian based vessels." why is there a difference?
The shore excursion cost is the same, whether booked before the cruise via the Princess website or onboard. The sorts of price differences you note are evident across other examples as well. It's true of specialty dining and casual dining venues, some of which are USD$14.99 but come to AUD$23 on local sailings. I don't know the reason, I'm sure they've pegged the cost taking into account currency fluctuations, but apart from that I have no other knowledge about it.
The design of the buffet is very dated and compact, typical of the Grand Class ships unfortunately. I didn't eat there during our 2 night cruise, so didn't have anything to say about it.
