Just off the Diamond on 6/05, don't hate me....

[Northender]

Thanks, Sue - I needed that
[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]



Grand Princess 4/4/04

[where next?]

Oh boy.... [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img] My family (husband, daughter aged 12, son aged 9 and I) returned from our NCL Dawn out of NY for this April school vacation with my husband saying NEVER AGAIN to cruising! We'd sailed the NCL Dawn the year before on it's Western Caribbean itinerary and had a ball! We just did not enjoy the NY to FL and Bahamas itinerary and my husband felt like he was in a cattle call at various times (ie:tendering and meal time). I personally had a great time, the kids had fun, the food and service were great, the shows were top notch, the spa was relaxing and we had a penthouse with a butler and concierge so I really don't know what my husband was complaining about(and he's a glass half full guy)!!! I was in heaven except I agree that the itinerary was not the best.

It took a lot of convincing (and I mean ALOT!!) to get him to agree to the Diamond Princess for next April school vacation (doing the Mexican Riviera). I brought home brochures from Princess and RCCL and basically begged!! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] He finally said okay to Princess because it looks like a classy line, has a lot to do and the pools are freshwater(my kids LOVED the freshwater pools). I hope the food and service are going to be as good as we've had on NCL or begging won't work for a future cruise!!

I also hope that there are some kids on the cruise for my kids to meet. I personally like to travel with people of all ages because I love meeting people but if the "average age" is more my parents age, my kids with either have no one or they'll "own the kid's club"! If all of you 60's cruisers are anything like my parents, a few of you will bring your grandchildren anyway!!

Well, I'm hoping the Diamond Princess will be okay by next April 2005 or I'm in big trouble! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Bobbie

Days until our next cruise - Diamond Princess - April 23, 2005 !!

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff00ff&cdt=2005;4;23;16;0;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]

Cruises so far:
Norwegian Dawn - April 2004
Norwegian Dawn - April 2003

[sue d. miller]

WHERENEXT, You picked a great ship!! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] I would sell my soul for that itinerary, Hubby won't add airfare to a cruise!! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img]Princess is very diverse. Different ages, Many shows, lounges, great kids area, Always some on every cruise, I think there will be several on that date, several intimate spaces. Great food. 24/7 freshwater pools and hot tubs, and 24/7 buffet. And if you like the sound of this, wait until Srphnx finds this, He has sailed her and the Diamond is his favorite ship!! Have a wonderful cruise!! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]

Sue
7 days on Star Princess 10/24

GROWING OLD IS MANDATORY..... GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL

[srphnx]

We will baby sit the Diamond for you, look at the facts, she is booked solid for months, the 1% of people upset aren't even upset at Diamond, they are mad at wind, rain, Princess corp etc.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by WHERE NEXT?:
Oh boy.... [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img] My family (husband, daughter aged 12, son aged 9 and I) returned from our NCL Dawn out of NY for this April school vacation with my husband saying NEVER AGAIN to cruising! We'd sailed the NCL Dawn the year before on it's Western Caribbean itinerary and had a ball! We just did not enjoy the NY to FL and Bahamas itinerary and my husband felt like he was in a cattle call at various times (ie:tendering and meal time). I personally had a great time, the kids had fun, the food and service were great, the shows were top notch, the spa was relaxing and we had a penthouse with a butler and concierge so I really don't know what my husband was complaining about(and he's a glass half full guy)!!! I was in heaven except I agree that the itinerary was not the best.

It took a lot of convincing (and I mean ALOT!!) to get him to agree to the Diamond Princess for next April school vacation (doing the Mexican Riviera). I brought home brochures from Princess and RCCL and basically begged!! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] He finally said okay to Princess because it looks like a classy line, has a lot to do and the pools are freshwater(my kids LOVED the freshwater pools). I hope the food and service are going to be as good as we've had on NCL or begging won't work for a future cruise!!

I also hope that there are some kids on the cruise for my kids to meet. I personally like to travel with people of all ages because I love meeting people but if the "average age" is more my parents age, my kids with either have no one or they'll "own the kid's club"! If all of you 60's cruisers are anything like my parents, a few of you will bring your grandchildren anyway!!

Well, I'm hoping the Diamond Princess will be okay by next April 2005 or I'm in big trouble! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Bobbie

Days until our next cruise - Diamond Princess - April 23, 2005 !!

[url="http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff00ff&cdt=2005;4;23;16;0;00&timezone=GMT-0500"]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff00ff&cdt=2005;4;23;16;0;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/url]

Cruises so far:
Norwegian Dawn - April 2004
Norwegian Dawn - April 2003<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[B] Life is at it's best when your address floats [/B]
Two MORE open Bookings.
[B]<FONT color=red>Alaska</FONT>[/B]
Diamond Princess 05/04 ~~ Mercury 06/02
Rhapsody o.t. Seas 05/98 ~~ Legend o.t. Seas 09/95
[B]<FONT color=red>Mexican Riviera</FONT>[/B]
Diamond Princess 12/04
Diamond Princess 11/04 ~~ Diamond Princess 04/04
Sea Princess 01/02 ~~ Vision o.t. Seas 04/02[B]<FONT color=red>
West Coast-Baja Mexico</FONT>[/B]
Ecstacy 09/01
[B]<FONT color=red>Eastern Carribean</FONT>[/B]
Century 12/97
[B]<FONT color=red>Western Carribean</FONT>[/B]
Century 9/96

[Northender]

Where Next - you can be sure that the kids will have plenty of company. On the Grand this past April 4th sailing, they were plenty to go around. Kids clubs, teen clubs, etc. Some parents - and yes grandparents - only saw their kids at meals and bedtime [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] I know they had things for the pre-school agers too as I saw them heading out one morning with their cute little T-shirts. I think it is always school break somewhere in the country no matter when you travel.



Grand Princess 4/4/04

[AmyBeth68]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by WHERE NEXT?:
Oh boy.... [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img] My family (husband, daughter aged 12, son aged 9 and I) returned from our NCL Dawn out of NY for this April school vacation with my husband saying NEVER AGAIN to cruising! We'd sailed the NCL Dawn the year before on it's Western Caribbean itinerary and had a ball! We just did not enjoy the NY to FL and Bahamas itinerary and my husband felt like he was in a cattle call at various times (ie:tendering and meal time). I personally had a great time, the kids had fun, the food and service were great, the shows were top notch, the spa was relaxing and we had a penthouse with a butler and concierge so I really don't know what my husband was complaining about(and he's a glass half full guy)!!! I was in heaven except I agree that the itinerary was not the best.

It took a lot of convincing (and I mean ALOT!!) to get him to agree to the Diamond Princess for next April school vacation (doing the Mexican Riviera). I brought home brochures from Princess and RCCL and basically begged!! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] He finally said okay to Princess because it looks like a classy line, has a lot to do and the pools are freshwater(my kids LOVED the freshwater pools). I hope the food and service are going to be as good as we've had on NCL or begging won't work for a future cruise!!

I also hope that there are some kids on the cruise for my kids to meet. I personally like to travel with people of all ages because I love meeting people but if the "average age" is more my parents age, my kids with either have no one or they'll "own the kid's club"! If all of you 60's cruisers are anything like my parents, a few of you will bring your grandchildren anyway!!

Well, I'm hoping the Diamond Princess will be okay by next April 2005 or I'm in big trouble! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Bobbie

Days until our next cruise - Diamond Princess - April 23, 2005 !!
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Bobbie..."Hi". We've been chatting a bit over on the roll call board. Seriously, the Diamond will be our third cruise with Princess in three years. Our kids chose another cruise with Princess over every other possible vacation for next April. Princess has met or exceeded my expectations in all areas on both cruises with the one exception of the production shows on the Golden. And frankly I am not terribly concerned about that anyway because all the other venues offered excellent alternatives to the shows. I consider myself to be very discerning when it comes to food, and true it is subjective, but Princess consistently provided good to excellent meals on both cruises. I actually saw an improvement over the previous year in terms of food. My husband and I are in our mid-30s and enjoy good music, dancing, cocktails and dressing to the nines each night...we get all this and so much more on our Princess vacations. Princess offers relaxed elegance and a nice well-staffed children's program for some alone time with your husband.

So, just hang in there and see what happens over the next few months. I truly believe the Diamond will work out the kinks and provide us with yet another wonderful vacation. We look forward to meeting you and your family on board!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mother, mother ocean, I have heard you call. Wanted to sail upon your waters since I was three feet tall. You've seen it all, you've seen it all." Jimmy Buffett

Cruises:
RCCL Song of America May 1994
Grand Princess April 2003
Golden Princess April 2004

Next Cruise:
Diamond Princess April 2005

[where next?]

Hi [B]Sue, srphnx, Northender and Amybeth,[/B]

I knew I was in good hands on the Princess boards! Thank you for the words of encouragement. I think I made a good choice too and am looking forward to heading west. The water may be cold but that's okay...I'll be off on another adventure and that's what makes my soul happy. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

I look forward to learning alot on these boards and will hopefully meet some of you one day on a cruise.

[B]Amybeth...[/B]we'll be meeting before we know it. April 2005 will come in no time!! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[B]Srphnx...[/B]I look forward to your insight since you'll be on the Diamond a few times!

Bobbie

Days until our next cruise - Diamond Princess - April 23, 2005 !!

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff00ff&cdt=2005;4;23;16;0;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]

Cruises so far:
Norwegian Dawn - April 2004
Norwegian Dawn - April 2003

[Jem4life]

We all have to remember that different people have different opinions about the same situations! My hubby and I were on the Diamond 5/8 to Alaska and loved every minute of it! I think some people put such super high expectations on things and then when everything doesn't go just quite "their" way, they have something to complain about. Sure we pay a lot of hard earned $ for vacations/cruises... just enjoy yourselves! That's the key. I know... there are legitmate complaints but I am sure these situations are few and far between when you think of the vast numbers of vacationers on the Princess line every year. As soon as we got home from our recent (and 1st) cruise, we were on line checking in to booking another one and as I've seen, most cruisers comes back again and again. Can't be all that bad then! I would cruise the Diamond again in a minute!

God bless!
Jean

Diamond Princess to Alaska
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=8b0000&cdt=2004;5;8;16;00;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img]

[where next?]

[B]Jem4life.....[/B]Life is better when you have a cruise booked, isn't it?! I had our next one booked probably two weeks after we got home from our previous cruise. Anyone who thinks cruising isn't an addiction hasn't been on one yet...IMHO!! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img] That's why my name is "WHERENEXT?"!

Bobbie

Days until our next cruise - Diamond Princess - April 23, 2005 !!

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff00ff&cdt=2005;4;23;16;0;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]

Cruises so far:
Norwegian Dawn - April 2004
Norwegian Dawn - April 2003

[gardencat]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> But sometimes posts are not at all objective <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

How can a personal review of a personal cruise be objective? [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img]"I liked the food "or "I didn't like the food" is a subjective judgement how can you make that objective?
If you want objective, read the ship statistics: it is so long, built in such and such a year and is a certain tonnage. Any report on service, food, decor etc. is bound to be subjective!!

[Kayla's Mom]

Cydspal,

Thank you for your review. I, for one, truly apprecriate your honesty.

Can you tell me more about the kids club -- what went right and what went wrong. We were very disappointed on NCL in April with their kids club. The young women working there could not have cared less and plopped the kids in front of movies every night -- inlcuding two nights with the same movie! They even played "the quiet game" where the kids had to remain seated and be perfectly silent for 20 minutes. I could not beleive it -- esepcially since I paid $700 for my daughter to have this bad treatment! It was total contrast to the wonderful kids' club on RCCI we experienced. I blamed it on the NCL Star winding down and crew being ready to leave Hawaii.

We've decided to try Princess as we didn't want to repeat the identical RCCI itinerary, but now I am worried. Do you think the poor kids club has anything to limited numbers of kids?

RCCI Legend of the Seas to Alaska 8/02
NCL Star to Hawaii 04/04

Next up:
Island Princess to Alaska 8/13/05

[srphnx]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by WHERE NEXT?:
Hi _Sue, srphnx, Northender and Amybeth,_

I knew I was in good hands on the Princess boards! Thank you for the words of encouragement. I think I made a good choice too and am looking forward to heading west. The water may be cold but that's okay...I'll be off on another adventure and that's what makes my soul happy. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

I look forward to learning alot on these boards and will hopefully meet some of you one day on a cruise.

_Amybeth..._we'll be meeting before we know it. April 2005 will come in no time!! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

_Srphnx..._I look forward to your insight since you'll be on the Diamond a few times!

[B]4 times in 8 months, working on number 5 in August right now, we were going to give Saphire a try but we don't want our gem getting jealous.[/B]

Bobbie

Days until our next cruise - Diamond Princess - April 23, 2005 !!

[url="http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff00ff&cdt=2005;4;23;16;0;00&timezone=GMT-0500"]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff00ff&cdt=2005;4;23;16;0;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/url]

Cruises so far:
Norwegian Dawn - April 2004
Norwegian Dawn - April 2003<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[B] Life is at it's best when your address floats [/B]
Two MORE open Bookings.
[B]<FONT color=red>Alaska</FONT>[/B]
Diamond Princess 05/04 ~~ Mercury 06/02
Rhapsody o.t. Seas 05/98 ~~ Legend o.t. Seas 09/95
[B]<FONT color=red>Mexican Riviera</FONT>[/B]
Diamond Princess 12/04
Diamond Princess 11/04 ~~ Diamond Princess 04/04
Sea Princess 01/02 ~~ Vision o.t. Seas 04/02[B]<FONT color=red>
West Coast-Baja Mexico</FONT>[/B]
Ecstacy 09/01
[B]<FONT color=red>Eastern Carribean</FONT>[/B]
Century 12/97
[B]<FONT color=red>Western Carribean</FONT>[/B]
Century 9/96

[tadjr]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gardencat:

How can a personal review of a personal cruise be objective? [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img]"I liked the food "or "I didn't like the food" is a subjective judgement how can you make that objective?

I think the thinking is more along the lines of "I didnt like the food BECAUSE", not just you didnt like it. If you didnt like it, thats fine, just let everyone know WHY you didnt like it. Was it too salty, cold, small portions? There has to be a reason why you didnt like it. Share what the reason was other than you didnt like it. This applies to all parts of the review. Of course no two people are going to think the same thing, but instead of just saying it was bad or good, say WHY it was bad or good so other people can decide if the reason you didnt like it would be a valid reason why maybe they wouldnt like it. Otherwise, just posting negatives does nothing to help others understand where you are coming from and why things didnt meet your expectations unless your expectations were too high to begin with. Giving EXAMPLES allows everyone else a starting point to compare your experiences with.

[sfpd3000]

cydspal,
We're in a quad on Aloha in Sept. You mentioned that the cabin was small. 1)How small is small? I know you had a party of four, just like us. I'm assuming there wasn't much room to maneuver. 2)Were the other 2 beds pulled down from the ceiling? 3)How big was the bathroom?
Thanks

[lentillady]

Never flame you for being open and honest! Observations about passenger age was the same for us a few years ago on a Crown Princess cruise from Anchorage to Vancouver...the lounges closed down pretty early at night. We loved Alaska too...go see the glaciers (e.g., Glacier Bay) next time.

Tom

Lentil Lady

Crown Princess AK 1995 (20 yr Anniversary)
Sun Princess W Carib 1999 (Son's Grad)
Upcoming: Diamond Princess 2004 Mex Riveria (30 yr Anniversary)