Diamond Princess cruise review

Cruise #42 was abroad Diamond Princess. Here's the itinerary of this cruise:

It's been a while since our last Princess cruise and it was great to be back abroad my favorite cruise line. Checking in at the Port of Kobe was very easy. Before we know it, we were already heading onto the ship and bringing our carryon to our stateroom.

Things I liked about this cruise:

• Cabin space and layout
  
• Handheld shower head with decent water pressure
  
• Service throughout the ship
  
• Escargots in the main dining room (the best I have had thus far in all of the ships' restaurants)
  
• Dinner rolls in the main dining room
  

Things I disliked about this cruise:

• Bed was a bit harder than I would have liked, but it didn't give me any back problems. Perhaps harder bed is the way to go?
  
• Shower curtain instead of door (like other cruise line)
  
• Breakfast was the same every day, lack of variety was quite disappointing
  
• Room temperature, although not steamy or stuffy like some have experienced, it was certainly warmer than I would have liked. It was not cold/cool in the room.
  
• Casino was closed most of the time, with very limited number of slot machines when it was finally open. In a way it was good, it saved us some money 😀
  

Disembarkation was also very easy. Overall, we had a wonderful time abroad Diamond Princess and it was definitely a great experience to visit so many exciting ports.

The first port stop for this cruise was Kochi Japan. Do not confuse this with Kochi India. Here's some information about this port:

Shinko port = 高知新港

Ship schedule: http://www.pref.kochi.lg.jp/soshiki/175201/cruise7.html

Cruise port guide of Japan: http://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/cruise/detail/052/index.html

There is no easy way to get into town so we decided to take the cruise line's shuttle. They charged $10 per person and the shuttle took us to the Harimayabashi Bus Terminal within 15-20 minutes. From there, you could catch the My Yu bus. We didn't do this bus tour as we initially planned, so I can't say if it was good or not, but the day pass is only 1000 yen per person (and it is half price for foreigners with passports). Here's a map of where the bus goes:

After getting off the shuttle bus, it was very easy to walk around town. Our walk took us through the following points of interest (going from right to left in the google map):

Some pictures we took in Kochi

• Harimayabashi Shoutengai (shopping) はりまや橋商店街
  
  
• Harimaya Bridge はりまや橋
  
  
• Obiyamachi (shopping) 帯屋町
  
  
• Hirome (eating) ひろめ市場
  
  
• Kochi Castle 高知城
  
  

The cost to go inside Kochi Castle was 420 yen per person. They do ask you to remove your shoes when inside the castle though. They will provide a plastic bag for you to carry your shoes in.

After visiting the Kochi Castle, we went to the Hirome market to eat lunch. Kochi is famous for Katsuo no Tataki (鰹のタタキ) and dumplings.

The first place we visited was:

The second place we visited was:

The dumpling was 450 yen for each order (7 pieces).

And that's how we spent our day in Kochi Japan. A great start to our 7 night Japan Explorer cruise.

We had a heat problem on the Diamond 2 years ago--they refused us a fan and couldn't get our room cool to save our necks. It did improve, but was consistently too warm.

Our second stop on this cruise was Hiroshima. Here's some information about this port:

There are two wharfs in Hiroshima, our ship docked at the Itsukaichi Wharf (五日市埠頭)

Ship schedule: http://www.pref.hiroshima.lg.jp/site/kouwan/cruise-joho.html

Port information: http://www.hiroshima-minato.jp/cruise.html

We took the cruise line's shuttle from Itsukaichi Wharf to Itsukaichi station. The cost was $10 and it took around 10-15 minutes. From there, it was very easy to catch JR train or Hiroshima Electric Railway.

There are two major sites to visit when you dock at Hiroshima. One is to visit the Atomic Bomb Dome, the other is to visit Miyajima and Itsukushima Shrine.

After getting off the shuttle bus, we walked up one set of stairs and then turned left and walked half a block and then walked down the stairs to catch the Hiroshima Electric Railway. Additional information including the route map can be found here: http://www.hiroden.co.jp/en/s-routemap.html

From Hiroden-Itsukaichi Station to Genbaku Dome-mae (Atomic Bomb Dome), it was only 240 yen per person. There were 18 stops in between the two stations and it took about half an hour to complete the journey.

Their website gave you instructions on how to ride the electric railway. There was an employee standing near the exit, so we handed him the money instead of putting it in the box as described on the website. Once off the electric railway, the Atomic Bomb was literally across the street from the station stop.

We were going to tour the site on our own, but we found a volunteer guide there who was asking other foreigners if they want a free tour of the area. So we approached her and asked her to give us a tour. Her English was not very good, but we were able to understand most of what she said and she had a binder with information about the site that made it easier to understand what she was trying to say.

Here are a few pictures we took around the area:

 

 

The admission fee for Itsukushima Shrine is 300 yen per person. Here are a few pictures we took there:

 



 

This is the famous Torii gate

For dinner, we had the famous Okonomiyaki. Additional information about this restaurant can be found here: https://tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g1022438-d7525766-r568235725-Okonomiyaki_Kishibe-Hatsukaichi_Hiroshima_Prefecture_Chugoku.html

Our third stop on this cruise was Beppu. Here's some information about this port:

Ship schedule: https://www.city.beppu.oita.jp/doc/sangyou/kankou/kankousen/h30.pdf

Cruise port guide of Japan: http://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/cruise/detail/066/index.html

There are two main attractions that we were interested in visiting:

Beppu hell tour / "Jigoku Meguri": http://www.beppu-jigoku.com/

Takasakiyama Monkey park: http://www.takasakiyama.jp/takasakiyama/en/

But given the limited amount of time we have in Beppu and the fact that it was raining when we got there, we decided to visit the seven hells only.

We did not purchase the cruise line shuttle for this port, as the shuttle was going to Beppu station. After we got off the ship, we purchased the ticket to Jigoku Meguri from the booths set up at the terminal. If you show them the coupon below, you would pay only 1800 yen per person for the ticket, instead of the normal admission fee of 2000 yen.

After we got the admission tickets, we walked out from the cruise terminal and found the bus station across the street in front of the building with the Honda sign. The bus we took was bus #26/26A. Detailed bus itinerary information can be found on this website:

http://www.beppuni.com/bus/route/routelist.html

To find out which bus to take between any stations, you can use the following website:

http://www.busnavi-oita.com/locale/?localize=en

Our bus stop was 深町 Fukamachi. We were going to Chinoike Jigoku, here's the weekday schedule:

Upon entering the bus, you should grab a ticket as it will help you figure out how much your bus fare is. When you are ready to get off, the board in the front of the bus will tell you the fare corresponding to your ticket number. For this ride from cruise terminal to first hell, our fare was 260 yen per person.

Here are a few pictures from the first two jigoku we visited:

After we finished the first two hells, we took the bus again to the next area (Kannawa 鉄輪). For this ride, the cost was 190 yen per person. Here's the weekday schedule:

From here, we visit all the remaining jigoku. Here are the pictures from our visit:

Food cooked using steam of onsen

Once we were done with the visit, it's time to go back to the ship. We took bus #20 and the cost was 230 yen per person.

Our fourth stop on this cruise was Kagoshima. Here's some information about this port:

Ship schedule: http://www.pref.kagoshima.jp/ah09/infra/port/minato/cruising/30nyukouyotei.html

Cruise port guide of Japan: http://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/cruise/detail/070/index.html

The most popular destination in Kagoshima is probably the active volcano Mt. Sakurajima. We took the cruise line's shuttle for 10 dollars per person to get from the cruise port to the Dolphin port. From there, it was a short walk to the ferry to Mt. Sakurajima. You don't pay the ferry fee of 160 yen per person until you arrive Sakurajima. The ferry took about 15 minutes. Additional information about this ferry can be found here: http://www.city.kagoshima.lg.jp/sakurajima-ferry/english/guides.html

There is a one hour bus tour near the ferry terminal in Sakurajima. The cost is 500 yen per person:

In addition to this one hour bus tour around the major sights, there are two additional routes that take you further from the ferry terminal:

While this one hour bus tour seems like a good deal, in reality it is not a great way to see the area. First of all, you have to wait on a line to get onto a bus. We waited over an hour for the bus because they were only running two buses around the islands and once the bus is filled, you have to wait for the next one. After the first two buses were filled, there were still many people left, so we didn't get on until the third bus (an hour later). There are three stops along the route that you can get off to take pictures. But once you get off, the question is whether you can get back on to the same bus. If not, you would need to wait another hour to catch the next bus. We had to get off the bus quickly, take a few pictures and then jump back onto the bus immediately to ensure we could return via the same bus. So I would not say this is the best way to see Sakurajima.

Here are some pictures we took during this rushed 1 hour bus tour:

After the bus tour, we paid another 160 yen to take the ferry back to the main island (Kagoshima) and walked to a popular ramen place (Tontoro Ramen, 山之口町9-41, 9-41 Yamanokuchicho):

From there, we walked to the shopping area (Tenmonkan) in route to the Dolphin Port to catch our shuttle back to the cruise ship.

There is actually another bus tour that we found, but because we were afraid that we might not catch it in time (with having to take a shuttle), we didn't actually go through with it. Here's the information about that bus tour: http://www.kotsu-city-kagoshima.jp/en/e-tourism/e-bus-tabi/

This is the last Japan stop on this cruise. Next stop will be Busan, South Korea.

Our fifth and final stop on this cruise was Busan, South Korea. Here's some information about this port:

Ship schedule: http://www.busanpa.com/bpt/Board.do?mCode=MN0066

There are several places of interest here, including

• Haedong Yonggungsa Temple
  
• Busan Gamcheon Culture Village
  
• Nampodong Street (Downtown) / Gukje Market
  
• Jagalchi Market (International fish market)
  
• Busan Tower (Yongdusan Park)
  
• Nurimaru APEC House
  
• Beomeosa Temple
  

Some of these sites are quite far from the cruise port, so we decided to hire a local tour guide. We formed a group through cruise critic and 18 people were on in our small group in Busan. We booked this through a company called Trazy. This company was very easy to deal with, they answered all of our questions quickly and thoroughly. It was very easy to set up and customize our tour. We ended up going to the first five places listed above. Trazy arranged the tour through a company called BusanMate and we were very fortunate to get Dony as our tour guide. There are several reviews online about this tour and all the good reviews mentioned Dony as the tour guide.

Our group met in front of the library at 12:00 as the ship was docking in Busan. From there, we went to the dining room to get a tender ticket, which is Princess' way of controlling how many people can get off independently at a time. After that, we went through immigration and by the time we were done, it was 12:40 when we met our tour guide, who was already waiting for us at the terminal.

The bus was very comfortable and it took us to Haedone Yonggungsa Temple first, here are some pictures taken from that location:

After visiting the temple, we went to Gamcheon Culture Village. This is Busan’s most colorful and artistic spot, which is formed by houses built in staircase-fashion on the foothills of a coastal mountain. Here are some pictures taken from this location:

Our next stop is the Jagalchi market and Gukje market. We were also given free time to eat dinner in this location. Here are some pictures of this stop:

Our final stop is the Busan Tower. The group decided to leave a bit early and didn't wait for the meteor show at the Busan Tower.

This is a picture of me and Dony:

The bus took us back to the cruise terminal safely and we took a group picture before we called it a night:

That evening, before the ship left Busan, we were treated to some fireworks:

We were very happy with the private tour we set up with BusanMate through Trazy.

After disembarking from Diamond Princess, we took the Port Liner to Kobe Airport. The cost was 280 yen per person. Here's the website for more information about Port Liner: http://www.knt-liner.co.jp/en/

When taking the Port Liner, make sure you are taking the train from the correct platform and that it is going to Kobe airport, as there are two routes on the same platform.

At Kobe Airport station, after going down an escalator, we were waiting for the shuttle bus to take us to the High Speed Ferry. Here's a picture of the bus stop with the schedule of when the bus will be there:

http://www.kobe-access.jp/eng/

The cost of this ferry service is only 500 yen per person for foreign visitors. Do not purchase the ticket from the machine, instead you should purchase it at the counter by showing them your passport and you will get the special discount ticket.

Thanks for your trip report. We are departing on August 4th and wanted to find out about shuttles, Princess here in the US has no information about the shuttles in each port.

Thanks for your trip report. We are departing on August 4th and wanted to find out about shuttles, Princess here in the US has no information about the shuttles in each port.

Here's a link to the shuttle information for the ports we visited:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1L6GNS6F2w39sghXyik7ylmCwd7K5Th9p/view?usp=sharing

What was your cabin shower like on the Diamond Princess.

I was just on the Diamond Princess from the 11th to 19th July in L248 and my shower did not spray any water and it could not be fixed by maintenance. It was like this also in October 2017 and also in C535 in January 2018. Here is a video -

What was your cabin shower like on the Diamond Princess.

 

I was just on the Diamond Princess from the 11th to 19th July in L248 and my shower did not spray any water and it could not be fixed by maintenance. It was like this also in October 2017 and also in C535 in January 2018. Here is a video -

- I am just wondering how many showers on Diamond Princess do not spray water like this and just dribble. I am going back in October and hope it is fixed or want to know what locations on the ship have this issue.

I think our shower was about as bad as yours. There was no water pressure to speak of...definitely not as good as the newer ships we have been on.