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Dissertations from Diamond Proncess repo to Japan Mar 2018


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Friday 23rd March.

 

We boarded Diamond yesterday. It was one if the fastest embarkations we've ever had on Princess. We arrived at the OPT around 10:45 and were onboard around 11:20. Our cabin was ready so we dropped off our carry-ons and went up to the Sanctuary to book our sunloungers. We got the ones we wanted - under the solid roof so we should be able to sit there even if it's showery.

 

It's great not to have to cart the lifejackets to the "Passenger Safety Briefing" - it's not a muster drill anymore!

 

The food has been very good as usual and there was some noticeable heat in the Mexican soup we had for lunch. Usually spicy means bland on Princess but not this time.

 

Who says you can't get the Gold and Silver wine packages on the Aussie cruises? Just on the off-chance I asked about them and, yes, they were available. The 12 bottle Gold package is $336, less than $28 per bottle, for wines up to $45. Great value!

 

I suspect there are some rather unhappy people onboard. The TV system isn't working so no movies or anything. They are trying to fix it. We received a letter during embarkation about this and had an update from the Captain this morning. It doesn't bother us though, we rarely use the cabin TV.

 

Note: I have limited internet access so will only be popping in here briefly but I will try to note and answer questions when I can.

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I found their new safety announcement in January rather poxy, childish and completely stupid. It was so ridiculous that I did not pay attention to it and laughed at it. It was more cringe worthy than promoting safety. It is something I noticed in January with the altered "love boat theme song" tune used to sing the introduction with lyrics changed to make a safety announcement.

 

People like me do not pay attention to sh-- like that and I find it too childish and immature for a supposed line that caters to sophisticated adults.

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I found their new safety announcement in January rather poxy, childish and completely stupid. It was so ridiculous that I did not pay attention to it and laughed at it. It was more cringe worthy than promoting safety. It is something I noticed in January with the altered "love boat theme song" tune used to sing the introduction with lyrics changed to make a safety announcement.

 

People like me do not pay attention to sh-- like that and I find it too childish and immature for a supposed line that caters to sophisticated adults.

 

Just as well the boat did not sink then.:eek:

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Gee, aren't you lucky.:rolleyes:

 

Yes very lucky, though I do genuinely feel for the unfortunate people who have to suffer from this new "joke of a safety announcement" that has descended to an all time low. I think that turning something that should be taken seriously into a joke or what Princess may think is entertainment detracts from the safety message they are trying to put across by making passengers shake their heads in bewilderment at it instead of head the safety message.

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Have to disagree with you, Brisbane41. The safety announcements were lighthearted and amusing but when came to the serious stuff it was very well done. The lifejacket demonstration and water evacuation technique demo was excellent. It was much better than the Celebrity equivalent. Personally I mark it a plus for Princess.

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Currently we are just off the coast from Mackay and are just starting to pass the Whitsundays. So we are now cruising inside the Great Barrier Reef which means the seas are a bit calmer. That makes my DH happier.

 

Late yesterday afternoon we spotted a huge pod of dolphins. We were travelling a bit faster than the pod so we didn't see them for long unfortunately.

 

We've had a few issues onboard. Our cabin air con wasn't working properly, far too warm, so I haven't slept well the last two nights. Hopefully it's fixed now. Also our cold water pressure was pathetic so showers weren't great. It looks like that has been fixed also. The TV system still isn't working. We are getting twice daily updates from the Captain on this issue.

 

We've also had fun and games with our wine purchases. The credits for using the wine package have been slow coming through. They seem to take at least 24 hours to process them. Much different to Royal. Luckily it's easy to check the account on Princess @Sea.

 

We also had a bottle of pinot noir go missing yesterday lunchtime. We ended up with 3-4 people hunting for it including one of the head waiters. It was finally discovered in the cool room with the white wines. So it was "we've found your wine but it's chilled". Oops! Luckily pinots are quite nice lightly chilled so that didn't bother us, much to the relief of the waiters. Ok it was a mistake on their part but it was handled very well. I'm now putting my initials on every bottle, just in case. Also in the early evening we received a complimentary coffee card delivered to our cabin. We're very happy with that!

 

It's our first formal night tonight and the first production show - We Will Rock You. We have traditional dining at a table for eight. We have great table companions and, so far, we have been chatting late into the evening. We'll have finish dinner promptly tonight as the last show us at 9:30.

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Have a wonderful cruise OzKiwiJJ. We love the Diamond. Cruising through the GBR is such a delight. Hopefully you don't encounter too much rough weather in the coming days. Such a pain to have had all those issues. But hopefully all sorted now. We had similar issues with our water pressure on the Golden earlier this month but it was soon fixed.

 

I agree with you about the safety announcements. It was done well, we thought.

 

Look forward to reading more about your cruise.

 

Leigh

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Just so you know you can fix the water pressure. I have had the issue twice on my last two cruises on Diamond Princess and honestly a person can urinate with greater strength than what those showers can dribble out. The water pressure was so weak that it stuck to the shower head and dribbled down the nozzle, hose and down the wall. That was at full pelt. If you change the function of the shower from spray to jet then you will get something you can use to wash with but it is not much use for cleaning.

 

There is one better fix however. If you unscrew the hose from the top of the shower nozzle and inspect inside you will find a black semi-circle/spherical water saving device. All you have to do is take this out of the hose and replace the nozzle and the shower pressure will be somewhat greater. I believe the ship has also weakened the pressure deliberately for some unknown reason so you will never get great pressure even with this water saving device removed. I would like to be able to inspect the access pipes to the cabin in the passageway to find out of they have anything there.

 

Rest assured if you remove the water saving deice from the hose you will get much better water pressure than the pitiful dribble that the showers currently perform.

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Thanks for the updates Stu, above all enjoy your cruise on Diamond, nice ship, but then me being a Princess tragic most of their ships are nice, except perhaps Sun and Sea, ready to retire.:halo:

 

Yes advice re shower is spot on, more than a couple of times I have done a bit of plumbing, like the water saver bit.

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I was on Diamond early March , no issues with water pressure thankfully. Or TV , so hope everything gets fixed and you have a wonderful trip . I will miss the Diamond being in our waters.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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I was on Diamond early March , no issues with water pressure thankfully. Or TV , so hope everything gets fixed and you have a wonderful trip . I will miss the Diamond being in our waters.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Perhaps that is because you were in a cabin where once upon a time the previous occupants decided to take it upon themselves to remove the water saving device from the shower nozzle for you!!!;p;p

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Perhaps that is because you were in a cabin where once upon a time the previous occupants decided to take it upon themselves to remove the water saving device from the shower nozzle for you!!!;p;p

 

 

 

E731 thanks who-ever then :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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Thanks for posting OZKiwi, we did a beautiful cruise on the Diamond in 2013, Beijing to Vancouver before they made all the changes.

Enjoy your cruise, I am reading a daily report of the cruise on the Princess board as well:)

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Greetings from just off Cape Melville in Far North Queensland.

 

We had some serious rain last night and this morning but it's OK now. Very warm and humid though.

 

The air-con is OK now, I slept well last night, and the cold water pressure has improved but the shower is still a bit pathetic (I might have to do a bit of plumbing - thanks Brisbane41). The TV system is fixed and Princess gave everyone $50 on borad credit in compensation. We're very happy with that!

 

We've been going to morning trivia and doing fairly well. So far we've been in the top 20% of scores. We haven't won but we're happy with our scores given there are just the two of us against teams of up to six people.

 

The show last night, Born to be Wild (I got it wrong yesterday), was great fun. Very high energy. It was themed on a pink cadillac and Route 66. Great music and some stunning US scenery backgrounds.

 

We haven't spent a lot of time listening to the entertainment around the ship yet but what we have heard has been great. It definately suits our tastes.

 

The meals have been very good overall. The French onion soup last night was the one of the best I've ever had. The wine list is quite different than what we've seen on other Aussie cruises. More Australian wines including some old favourites. Less US wines. A couple of the European wines we've wanted have been "out of stock" but apparently some wine supplies were loaded in Sydney and are still bring entered into the inventory. We shall see!

 

We're starting to feel very relaxed.

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Thanks, David. We saw quite a bit of the coast and some islands yesterday afternoon but the Torres Strait transit started at 8am so we missed most of it. We saw a couple of islands during our morning walk but that was all. Quite different to the transit we did on Golden two years ago where we went through around lunchtime and had a great commentary from the pilot. Pity, it's a very beautiful area.

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Greetings from the Arafura Sea. It's day 5, our 4th sea day in a row, which means it's Monday - yes? As you can probably guess we're solidly into cruise mode and are losing track of which day it is. :)

 

We're into a nice sea day routine - breakfast, a walk, coffee (the Piazza cafe makes a reasonable espresso), trivia, lunch, and then a lazy afternoon up in the Sanctuary reading and watching the sea go by.

 

Our toilet wasn't flushing properly this morning but was fixed by mid-morning. Princess is still not quite with it with the wine card credits but we're getting there! I think we confuse them as sometimescwe order two wines at once, a white and a red, so we have suitable wines to match the food we've chosen. Apparently the wine card is new to Diamond so we're helping to iron out the glitches.

 

We're having a late dinner at Sabatinis tonight, using our three for free meal voucher. We'll have to go to the early show, a Buddy Holly tribute show, as we probably won't finish dinner in time for the late show.

 

Life is good on the ocean waves!

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