Diamond Princess March 4 review

[cowprintrabbit]

Reposting DH's review here

 

Arrived inSingapore

We stayed at Singapore Conrad (Hilton family) which iswalking distance from the harbor attractions, the flower dome, Marina Baycasino, etc. Great location, very closeto a nice shopping mall, etc. Highly recommended. We took a walk around the bay and checked outsome of the local sites.

Lots of great local restaurants and many choices. You have to love as a US tourist that mostpeople speak English in most places.

It is also very close to the Marina Bay Cruise Center (MBCC)where the cruise ships dock. Only a10-15 taxi ride away. But, if you need alarge mini-van size taxi due to lots of bags, etc. you have to pay thecoalition rate - $55 Singapore dollars which is close to $40 US dollars. Same rate as the airport taxi - $55. No complaints. It is easy and clean.

Boarding the ship at MBCC was quite easy. The lines are short and very fast if you domost of the cruise paperwork in advance online. If you are a suite or premium passenger, there is a premium line, butthe lines are not long for anyone. I doadmit the cruise terminal people are not that nice, but they get the job donequickly.

The real challenge is Singapore immigration. Once you have gone through the Princesscruise process, you must go through the formal Singapore immigrationdeparture. Brutal. It took at least 45 minutes and the lineswere long and slow. They were combinedwith passengers on the existing cruise that spend the day on a tour inSingapore. Once you were in the immigrationlines, no bathrooms, so be prepared. Notlooking for our stop back in Singapore a week from now…

 

The Ship

The Diamond Princess is a little older, medium sizedship. It is not in bad shape, but it isstarting to show its age. We got a greatdeal from American Express and got a full suite special. In all honesty, it not really any better thana mini-suite, but the one delight is the premium mattress and linens with thebed being slightly separated from the main room with some thick curtains thatyou can close at night. This makes itmuch quieter and a little bit cooler atnight in this very hot and humid region. But…if you want your room cooler than70 degrees at night, you are going to need to have the cabin steward put a topsheet on your bed because the air conditioning system cannot combat thehumidity any better than that.

 

Fitness Center

Surprisingly, the ship has a very nice, large and modernfitness center (gym). Lots of equipment, free weights, treadmills, etc. The only disappointment is the gym is onlyopen from 7 AM to 10 PM. You cannot getup early for a workout before an early breakfast if you want L As an alternate, wefound, as runners, you can get a decent run around the ship on deck 7. You dohave to run up and down some stairs at the front of the ship, but if you treatthe ship run as a track workout, the stairs make a nice slowdown interval.

It is kind of fun as a GPS watch records your pace around3:00 minute miles! J

 

Meals

The meal service and quality was…OK. It was not horrible, but it was notgreat. The breakfast and lunch buffetwas usually crowded, but manageable. Thefood was OK, but most dishes were quite bland. We would have to say the buffet was much lower quality compared toprevious Princess cruises or other ships. We also were disappointed that there is no midnight pizza available.Everything is shut down by 10:00 PM. Fordinners, we prefer the sit down formal dining room with a large table to meetother passengers. We found the service tobe VERY slow and we were often still waiting to order dessert almost 2 hourslater. The wait staff did not appear tobe very experienced and their customer service skills were also quitelimited. It was not the end of theworld, but we were disappointed. We nowunderstand why previous reviews for this ship had similar ratings.

 

Ports

We found that most passengers were tired out from the longday cruise organized tours. It iscertainly a very challenging itinerary where most of the ports are 2+hours fromthe desired destination. That means VERYlong bus rides. And lots of logisticalwaits for loaded buses with 45+ cruise passengers. We found that it was much more beneficial andreliable to use privately arranged tours that pick you up at the same ports andlocations as the cruise arranged tours. In general, for only 10% more, you can see all the same sites with aprivate guide and a private car with 20% logistical costs…nice getting back tothe ship in time to get cleaned up and ready for your normal dinner time.

Two ports were tendered and we certainly found there is alack of customer service unless you are on a ship tour. If you are not on a ship tour, it is a battleto get an early tender or get any help whatsoever from the ship personnel. They are focused only on the ship sponsoredtours and practically refuse to answer questions on how to get off the ship orexit the port gates unless you are on their tour. Very disappointing.

 

 

You can see our personal blog posts at mrandmrsxblog.comwhere we have pictures.

 

Phu My

Your smartphone will not work or roam here withoutoutrageous roaming costs…so definately recommend the $8 SIM cards for a 2 GBdata plan if you have an unlocked phone. You can buy these right off the exit of the ship where they are withmany other vendors sell fake watches, shirts, bags, etc. at very lowprices…that can all be negotiated if you are good with vendor negotiation.

The challenge of this port is getting out of the port if youwant to take a private car, taxi or tour.

We chose to take a private tour of restaurants and localmarkets in Saigon using a company called Saigon Delicious with our local guide“Dory” who was amazing. Don’t eatbreakfast because you will be full after this excursion of eating numerouslocal dishes, treats, coffee and soups. Amazing way to spend a day. Youwill not see any other tourist or westerner. Totally safe, totally fun. Thebest choice if you want to explore Saigon as a local if you have seen all theother sites in Ho Chi Minh city previously.

 

 

Ko Samui

95% of Thailand is Buddhist, so we ventured over to see the giantBuddha known as Wat Phrayai.

He is not huge, but he is the landmark on Fan Island whichis an island connected to the island of Ko Samui. He is about 30 feet tall and you can get someviews of the water and beaches from the top.

Now, I have to admit that one the COOLEST elements of thisarea is the scifi metal artists. Theyhave some AMAZING pieces of characters that they have made from various metalparts and welding. I almost wish we could have purchased something and shippedit home…but my wife would have killed me to have a giant terminator statue inthe living room…

From there, before heading back to the ship, we stopped byWat Plai Laem which is an extension of the Buddha Temple and is best known forits famous (large) statue of Kwan Yin who is the 18-arm Buddhist avatar ofMercy.

 

One Day in Bangkok

We also took a private tour for our arrival at the Thaimainland. You get to see all the same sites as a ship tour, at the same pricewith a private guide and a private car. And you get back to the ship about 90 minutes before all the tour bussesmake it back.

The city is pretty much draped in black and white ribbonssince the country is mourning the death of their 9th king who ruledthe country for almost 70 years (world record for a dynasty).

We wanted to have a tea with the Prime Minister, but he wasbusy dealing with the latest Red and Yellow protests. It is interesting that the Red shirtpolitical party is lead by a historic wealthy arms dealer who has organized thefarming population of the country to upset the historical monarchy and Yellowshirt traditionalists. It sounds likeevery country is having the same political problems.

Regardless of protests, the traffic is brutal in Bangkok(like every large city). It felt like acombination of New Delhi and London. Thedrivers swarm everywhere, but they are very polite, follow all rules, neverhonking their horns. Quite efficient.

Of course, we had to visit the Royal Palace and GoldenTemple (Stupa).

It was filled with millions of locals and tourists. The dominated crowd was Chinese and they willpush you out of the way if you are in their way for more than ½ a second.

This is definitely the most famous tourist stop in Bangkokand worth a visit, but you better be prepared for waves of people with noorganization or controls…

From there, we decided we needed a break, so we walked overto the canals and hopped on to one of the customary unique long canal boats.

You really get to see a different part of Bangkok byspending an afternoon cruising around the canals.

I know it is not a great comparison, but for a few minutes,it felt like we were cruising down the Mekong river in Vietnam/Cambodia againwhen seeing all the homes living along the river…

We grabbed a quick lunch near the local flower and vegetablemarket and then headed to Wat Pho.

Now, what is Wat Pho famous for? Well, first, I will first share a pic ofMarco Polo statues. What are they doinghere? The Chinese traders used these giant statues in their empty boats tosettle them and then dropped them off when they loaded up with tea and spicesfrom Thailand. (notice the western style hats on them)

Now, here is the surprise: the reclining Buddha. I have to admit this is an amazing site tosee and had the same allure, magic and experience of visiting the Taj Mahal inIndia. A must see and hard to describeuntil you see it yourself.

 

Phuket Island

The ship tendered at Dolphin Pier so that the ship tours arenot too far away from their desired locations versus docking at the deep waterport. Needless to say, the tendering wasvery long, slow and hot and not well coordinated by the ship.

 

We took a private diving expedition out of Chalong Pierwhich was approximately 20 KM (30 minute tai ride away). You can negotiate tours and taxi rides whenyou walk about 5 minutes out of the port. It is important to be ready to negotiate the fixed price heavily or youwill get ripped off. If you need to leave early and are one of the firsttravelers, they will not be flexible, but later in the day, they are desperatefor business. At 7AM, we were able toget a nice taxi van to take us to the port for 700 Thai baht. We had an awesome 2 tank diving tour off ofRacha Yai which was a 90 minute dive boat ride from Chalang Pier. We had an awesome dive boat (Simian Queen)which was one of the nicest dive boats we have ever used – had benches, tables,multiple western toilets, breakfast, lunch, snacks, drinks…all arranged bySteve, our dive master from Phuket Dash Scuba Dot Com (the actual name of thecompany).

[sawtooth]

Thank you Christine.

Enjoy reading your review.

We cruised the Diamond from Perth to Tokyo through SE Asia.

Liked the choice of the sushi restaurant. Hated the steak restaurant in a cordoned off area in Hotizon Court.

Did wish thst the gym opened earlier.

[easyboy]

The immigration process at Singapore port must really be annoying.

It is really surprising that the MDR service was too slow. Not a typical Princess service. You may be right that most staff may be new.

Enjoying your ports experiences.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Lucky TGO]

Thanks nice review.

Tony

[AF-1]

Thanks for posting; enjoy reading reviews that share good and not so good. It must have been hot everywhere you went.