Diamond princess help needed

[Mrgoodbar]

Hi all, I am thinking of booking the diamond next spring to Mexico. Since she was reconfigured for sailing from Japan, anyone been on this ship lately from the US?  Also, thinking about booking an aft suite but noticed they are right above what look like vents, should I be aware of any issues in this area?  Price is considerably less than the Discovery but still not cheap.  Any help is appreciated!

 

Thanks!

[cr8tiv1]

36 minutes ago, Mrgoodbar said:

Hi all, I am thinking of booking the diamond next spring to Mexico. Since she was reconfigured for sailing from Japan, anyone been on this ship lately from the US?  Also, thinking about booking an aft suite but noticed they are right above what look like vents, should I be aware of any issues in this area?  Price is considerably less than the Discovery but still not cheap.  Any help is appreciated!

 

Thanks!

 

She will be leaving San Diego by late February; returning to voyages around Japan.  She has not yet resumed cruising.  That mentioned, I am sure past passengers will be able to answer your questions.

[VibeGuy]

Nobody has been onboard Diamond since March 2020, and it had been several years since she sailed North American itineraries before that. 
 

The most obvious differences from her Grand and Gem class sisters are really quite nice - wider promenade,  midship pool has a retractable cover, the midship dining rooms are split along the middle fore-aft.  The Japanese bath at the aft is an addition. The old coffee and Internet cafe has been redone into a sushi bar.  I love that there are lots of alcoves and nooks to relax in.  I especially love the Wake View bar for small group gatherings.   There hasn’t been any reconfiguration for Japan other than the added spa area aft and a different merchandise mix in the shops. 
 

Downsides:

Diamond has never had an International Cafe, which is a bit of a loss.  Same with Crown Grill.  The “Sterling Steakhouse” setup on the back end of the Horizon Court has never felt all that deluxe.   
 

That said, Diamond and Sapphire are my two favorite ships in the fleet *especially for west coast cruising* because the covered midship pool gives you more options in case of inclement weather. 

Edited April 25, 2022 by VibeGuy

[rheathslc]

5 hours ago, Mrgoodbar said:

Hi all, I am thinking of booking the diamond next spring to Mexico. Since she was reconfigured for sailing from Japan, anyone been on this ship lately from the US?  Also, thinking about booking an aft suite but noticed they are right above what look like vents, should I be aware of any issues in this area?  Price is considerably less than the Discovery but still not cheap.  Any help is appreciated!

 

Thanks!

We are booked in an aft suite on the Diamond for two 5-day B2B cruises in September 2022 which I think are among her first cruises back in service since the shut down. I have done a ton of research and we picked a Vista Suite, D739, which is on the far starboard side and not directly next to a vent. There are some reports of there being noise and/or occasional food smells from the vents from some passengers but most people I've seen reviews from say it's not too much of an issue. A lot of people consider any of the aft cabins, suite or not, the best on the ship. I HAVE seen numerous complaints about the aft cabins on Emerald deck though as they are directly above one of the lounges and people can hear loud music late into the night.

[VibeGuy]

It’s rare there’s anything happening in Fusion past 10:30 or so, so those guests must have a very different definition of “late into the night”. My bigger concern about aft balconies on Emerald at the moment is that promenade starboard aft is being used for crew smoking at night and it can really be smelled in some cabins.  

[Ronnieslady]

1 hour ago, VibeGuy said:

It’s rare there’s anything happening in Fusion past 10:30 or so, so those guests must have a very different definition of “late into the night”. My bigger concern about aft balconies on Emerald at the moment is that promenade starboard aft is being used for crew smoking at night and it can really be smelled in some cabins.  

It’s a shame the Grand is using the whole aft on deck 7 (unusable for passengers) for crew to smoke any time day & night.  All the aft balconies are effected.   Such a shame!!

[rheathslc]

9 hours ago, VibeGuy said:

It’s rare there’s anything happening in Fusion past 10:30 or so, so those guests must have a very different definition of “late into the night”. My bigger concern about aft balconies on Emerald at the moment is that promenade starboard aft is being used for crew smoking at night and it can really be smelled in some cabins.  

I had that issue on the Ruby in November. CruiseDeckPlans showed that the starboard side was used for crew smoking area so we switched our Emerald deck mini-suite to the port side only to discover once onboard and after complaining about the smell that they had just recently switched the crew smoking area to port side. Ugh. We didn't want to move to a Dolphin deck mini-suite (all that was available) late on day 2 of a 5 day.  We booked the Emerald deck mini on purpose for the covered balcony. They did comp us a nice bottle of wine for our inconvenience though.

[wcflats]

We’re booked for diamond September 11, 2022. For seven days Mexico..for some time now the excursions for all of those ports say no excursions for this port at the moment check back later. Has been that way for awhile.  Not sure what’s going on.

[donswife]

1 hour ago, wcflats said:

We’re booked for diamond September 11, 2022. For seven days Mexico..for some time now the excursions for all of those ports say no excursions for this port at the moment check back later. Has been that way for awhile.  Not sure what’s going on.

I just tried to look at excursions for Diamond Sept 6 and also Sapphire in October,  and got blank screens for both.