Diamond Princess - not so great Australia / New Zealand cruise...

[northwestbear]

Currently onboard Diamond Princess on a 12 night Itinerary that left Auckland on 2/18. We missed our port at Akoroa due to Cyclone Gita and had a very bumpy sea day instead. After a very rough 2 day crossing of the Tasman sea and a great day in Hobart, we’ve now been told that despite the warm and sun we are having we cannot port at Melbourne due to “high winds.” So we are puttering

around between the Australia mainland and Tasmania having another sea day. So 8 days at sea on a 12 night cruise... just something to keep in mind for those thinking about this cruise. You may spend a lot of money to come to the other side of the world and see only the inside of the ship.....

 

 

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[paul929207]

Sorry the weather has not been great

[Alimariecruisin]

Oh my, good point! I'd be upset too but the weather tends to do it's own thing...

[vmom]

Sorry to hear about the bad weather. Good reminder tho, bad weather can happen anywhere, anytime and may impact cruise through no-one's fault.

 

Sorry you weren't able to get into Akoroa. Melbourne was the port I liked the least if its any consolation about missing Melbourne.

[Cruise Junky]

I'm sorry the weather hasn't co-operated. It's always so risky travelling such a distance to have to relay on the weather to see a city.

[billco]

We leave next week for a 12 day around New Zealand followed by a 22 day to Tokyo. Do they still have a BOGO Happy Hour? Do you have any insights to share about the Diamond Princess and the ports you were able to visit?

[Thrak]

Bummer .Sorry you had such a disappointing cruise. I love sea days but your cruise did end up with an excess of them for what was advertised. Sadly, the weather never seems to care at all what people want or hope for.

[getting older slowly]

Sorry about the weather, but the New Zealand trips can be turn upside down by the weather, first one due to weather we missed Akoroa, Dunedin and Fiordland, the next trip we missed Fiordland and Auckland.

 

Friends did the same trip a month later than our first trip, smooth across the Tasman and nice weather at every port, it is luck of the draw.

 

Cheers Don

[jjmock]

Sorry to hear of your disappointing experience. We are on Diamond Princess in July for a cruise all around Japan. Aside from the weather and port issues, how are you enjoying the ship itself and service? How’s the dining been?

 

 

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[AF-1]

That sure is bad. Thank you for posting to give people a heads up.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Such a shame your cruise has been so badly affected by adverse weather. It's been an unusual summer down under this year. Cyclones rarely affect NZ, and they've had two so far this season. Not a lot the cruise line can do other than avoid the worst of the weather where possible. Understandably disappointing for you though, after having travelled so far for your NZ cruise. :(

[AZJerry]

We leave next week for a 12 day around New Zealand followed by a 22 day to Tokyo. Do they still have a BOGO Happy Hour? Do you have any insights to share about the Diamond Princess and the ports you were able to visit?

 

This thread is discussing the disappearing BOGO happy hour.

[land lover]

disappointing for sure...needless to say you have the time to post......with all those sea days...

[moki'smommy]

We did 20 days around Japan last summer. Lovely cruise, had a great time. It was a B2B, 11nights + 9 nights. Some overlap of ports, but not much.

[partybarbie]

DH and I were on the Diamond from February 6th thru February 18th. We had a smooth crossing, gorgeous weather, and made all of our ports. I'm disappointed for you, but Melbourne was also my least favorite port. I hope the weather improves for you.

 

For the person that asked, we did have two daily BOGOs. One was late afternoon in the Wheelhouse and the other was around 10:00 pm in Skywalker's.

[Clarea]

Sorry to hear about your poor luck with the weather, and i hope it gets better.

[hazand]

DH and I were on the Diamond from February 6th thru February 18th. We had a smooth crossing, gorgeous weather, and made all of our ports. I'm disappointed for you, but Melbourne was also my least favorite port. I hope the weather improves for you.

 

For the person that asked, we did have two daily BOGOs. One was late afternoon in the Wheelhouse and the other was around 10:00 pm in Skywalker's.

 

Good to hear about BOGO's. Were you offered a wine package thanks? On Diamond in 3 weeks.

[partybarbie]

Good to hear about BOGO's. Were you offered a wine package thanks? On Diamond in 3 weeks.

 

We weren't offered one, but we both had the sip and sail, so that might have had something to do with it. We did have some of the wines by the glass. There was a good pinot noir, and a pretty good tempranillo.

 

As a side note, the drink pricing on this cruise was interesting. All of the prices are in Australian dollars, with most of the fancy mixed drinks being priced at $14.00, the martinis at $11.00, most of the wines under $10.00, and many of the beers around $6.00. Compared to the pricing on the US based ships, it seemed like the mixed drinks are more expensive, while the others are a little cheaper.

[Keith1010]

You just never know when you cruise what it will be like.

 

Keith

[Lynniepoo]

Sorry about the bad weather! As someone who prefers ports to sea days, I would not want 8 days on a ship.

 

I concur with the others though - Melbourne was my least favorite port as well.

[Cruise Junky]

I'm so surprised about the Melbourne comments. It's an amazing city. So sad that some found it their least favourite.

[partybarbie]

I'm so surprised about the Melbourne comments. It's an amazing city. So sad that some found it their least favourite.

 

I did like Melbourne, but if I had to miss a port, that's one that I would pick to miss. We really enjoyed Sydney and the surrounding area, so I didn't feel like I needed to see another large city.

 

One of the major problems was the Princess tour that we picked. We went to the Yarra Valley, Healesville Animal Sanctuary, and wine tasting and lunch at Rochford. Healesville was the only good part of the tour, and our time was very rushed there. The wines at Rochford were mostly "cooking wine" quality. The lunch was served cafeteria style at large tables. The food was just okay. This tour was expensive. In hindsight, I should have booked a private tour. We had nicer private tours in Waihiki and Hobart that cost less money.

 

To the OP, if you are interested at all in wine tasting, I would highly recommend Waivino tours in Waihiki. It was a fabulous day, with only two of us in a ten-passenger van. They charge by the person, and we were the only two booked for that day. You catch the Fuller's ferry over to the Island from Auckland, right next to where the cruise ships dock. It's very easy to do, just Google it. :)

[OzKiwiJJ]

We weren't offered one, but we both had the sip and sail, so that might have had something to do with it. We did have some of the wines by the glass. There was a good pinot noir, and a pretty good tempranillo.

 

As a side note, the drink pricing on this cruise was interesting. All of the prices are in Australian dollars, with most of the fancy mixed drinks being priced at $14.00, the martinis at $11.00, most of the wines under $10.00, and many of the beers around $6.00. Compared to the pricing on the US based ships, it seemed like the mixed drinks are more expensive, while the others are a little cheaper.

 

That's standard pricing for the Australian-based cruises. There are no additional gratuities on those prices. The cocktail prices are actually very reasonable compared with cocktails at bars in Sydney.

 

Wine packages typically aren't offered on Aussie-based cruises, at least I've never seen them offered and I've never enquired about them. However after getting one on Royal last year (which was never advertised and I had to push to get it), I'm going to ask, just in case.

[OzKiwiJJ]

 

To the OP, if you are interested at all in wine tasting, I would highly recommend Waivino tours in Waihiki. It was a fabulous day, with only two of us in a ten-passenger van. They charge by the person, and we were the only two booked for that day. You catch the Fuller's ferry over to the Island from Auckland, right next to where the cruise ships dock. It's very easy to do, just Google it. :)

 

Your reference to Waihiki confused me a bit, until I saw the mention of the ferry from Auckland. Folks will have more success with Google when they search for Waiheke. ;)

[partybarbie]

Your reference to Waihiki confused me a bit, until I saw the mention of the ferry from Auckland. Folks will have more success with Google when they search for Waiheke. ;)

 

LOL, sorry for the misspelling. :D