Live From Diamond Princess 11/27/22

[Oakman58]

The river cruise in Puntarenas is excellent.  We did the river cruise on our Panama Canal cruise a few years ago and the number of exotic birds and crocs we saw was outstanding.

[Californian]

On 12/3/2022 at 5:38 PM, Shelly97060 said:

Unfortunately there is no International Cafe.

Is the Good Spirits at Sea on Deck 5 used as the coffee bar in place of the International Cafe?  Is it just a bar or do they have pastries and snacks there, too?

[Shelly97060]

7 hours ago, Californian said:

Is the Good Spirits at Sea on Deck 5 used as the coffee bar in place of the International Cafe?  Is it just a bar or do they have pastries and snacks there, too?

They make the coffee drinks and have the specialty teas at the Good Spirits at Sea bar.  The times I have walked by I haven’t noticed any pastries or snacks. 

[Shelly97060]

We ate at Sterling Steakhouse last night.  I had the Shrimp Bisque and Filet and DH had the Black and Blue Onion Soup and a Filet.   The filets were so tender we could cut them with a fork!  They were very good. For dessert I had the raspberry cream brûlée and DH had the Salted Carmel Cheesecake Cream Brûlée - they were ok, not spectacular. 
 

one disappointment for me was that Lobster was not offered as part of the stand alone seafood offerings.  That is my go to item when I don’t feel like steak.  You could still get surf and turf but that’s too much food for me.

 

Since the restaurant is located in the back portion of the buffet the atmosphere isn’t quite as good as in Crown Grill.   Overall the meal was good and we would eat there again. 

[Shelly97060]

in Fuerte Amador today, the weather is beautiful.

 

 

 

[Shelly97060]

I learned something interesting about the Medallion App yesterday when I tried to go in and purchase internet packages for upcoming voyages ( trying to buy before the price increase)… when you are on a ship you cannot access your other bookings in the app.  As far as future cruises go I could only see the next cruise, none beyond that and I got error messages when trying to pull them up with booking numbers.
 

I emailed the Ocean Medallion Team and they confirmed that’s how it’s suppose to work ( actually they said you can only see the current voyage while on the ship).  I explained that I wanted to purchase internet for cruises in 2023 & 2024 to avoid the increases -  they were able to make the purchase for me using the card I had associated with the medallion app and ensured I got the Elite discount. 
 

just mentioning in case anyone else on a ship is trying to beat the internet price increases and having trouble.

[Tyler T]

Is there a way to access the menus of the main dining rooms before the cruise? I would like to plan specialty dining based on the offerings in the main rooms. I can't find anything in the app (yet).

[LACruiser88]

2 hours ago, Shelly97060 said:

I learned something interesting about the Medallion App yesterday when I tried to go in and purchase internet packages for upcoming voyages ( trying to buy before the price increase)… when you are on a ship you cannot access your other bookings in the app.  As far as future cruises go I could only see the next cruise, none beyond that and I got error messages when trying to pull them up with booking numbers.
 

I emailed the Ocean Medallion Team and they confirmed that’s how it’s suppose to work ( actually they said you can only see the current voyage while on the ship).  I explained that I wanted to purchase internet for cruises in 2023 & 2024 to avoid the increases -  they were able to make the purchase for me using the card I had associated with the medallion app and ensured I got the Elite discount. 
 

just mentioning in case anyone else on a ship is trying to beat the internet price increases and having trouble.

I noticed the same thing on our recent cruise, I could only access our next cruise on the app.  The other 5 booked cruises could not be accessed via the app.

[Shelly97060]

Fuerte Amador is no longer a tender port! We were able to dock which was very nice. The cruise terminal is under construction and though there are no open facilities there yet there is a lot of construction is underway! 
 

once on shore there are two free shuttle buses. One takes you to the Marina and runs about every 20.minutes and one takes you into the city to a shopping mall and it runs about every 30 minutes.   We ended up going to the mall and it was a good way to see some of the city. The mall itself was big and had a number of very high end stores ( Jimmy Choo, Tiffany) as well as many stores you would see in the US (old navy, H & M, Bath and Bodyworks).  There is also a supermarket there with a pharmacy inside the store. 

[Shelly97060]

4 hours ago, Tyler T said:

Is there a way to access the menus of the main dining rooms before the cruise? I would like to plan specialty dining based on the offerings in the main rooms. I can't find anything in the app (yet).

No, you need to wait until you are on the ship and then you can see the menu for that day ( not future dates).

[Tyler T]

38 minutes ago, Shelly97060 said:

No, you need to wait until you are on the ship and then you can see the menu for that day ( not future dates).

Awww. Bummer. Thank you.

[JudithLynne]

I am interested in knowing how one requests an embarkation check-in time.  We set sail on the Diamond on 1-7-2023 to Hawaii.  We are Elites.  We do not have a smart phone as our lifestyle does not call for that, when needed we share an older TracPhone. 

Can we request a time via the Princess website?

Thanks for any help with this.

[Shelly97060]

8 minutes ago, JudithLynne said:

I am interested in knowing how one requests an embarkation check-in time.  We set sail on the Diamond on 1-7-2023 to Hawaii.  We are Elites.  We do not have a smart phone as our lifestyle does not call for that, when needed we share an older TracPhone. 

Can we request a time via the Princess website?

Thanks for any help with this.

Here are some options:

1) You can visit the web version of the app at  https://oceanready-personalinfo-ui.prod.ocean.com/  I haven’t tried picking arrivals there but in theory you should be able to do everything there that you would do on the app. 
2) email askoceanmedallion@carnival.com and ask them to pick the arrival time you want. They will need your name, DOB, sailing date and booking number. You can also call 1-800-774-6237 and ask to speak to the Ocean Medallion Team for assistance.

3) get a friend or your TA to log into the Medallion App as you and select the time for you and  while logged in they can see if anything else needs added to the app to help speed up your boarding.

4) don’t pick an arrival time, Princess will assign one, but since you are Elite whatever time they assign won’t matter much as you will have priority boarding with the other Elite cruisers so show up when you want to. I have been fortunate enough to go on several cruises since the restart of cruising and I have never had anyone check my arrival time.

[teecee60]

38 minutes ago, JudithLynne said:

 We set sail on the Diamond on 1-7-2023 to Hawaii. 

 

Are you aware that Diamond Princess departs on January 6th, 2023, NOT the 7th. 😵

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by teecee60

[JudithLynne]

teecee60....I am aware that we depart on the 6th, looks like I had a senior moment.

 

Shelly97060......What excellent, thorough advice, thank you so much.  We will use option 4.

 

 

[memoak]

2 hours ago, JudithLynne said:

I am interested in knowing how one requests an embarkation check-in time.  We set sail on the Diamond on 1-7-2023 to Hawaii.  We are Elites.  We do not have a smart phone as our lifestyle does not call for that, when needed we share an older TracPhone. 

Can we request a time via the Princess website?

Thanks for any help with this.

I have not been asked for proof of arrival on my 4 cruises post pandemic. Just show up and check in

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

2 hours ago, memoak said:

I have not been asked for proof of arrival on my 4 cruises post pandemic. Just show up and check in

 

Agreed.  Nobody looks or checks it seems. We just show up & get in line.

 

[Cruise Raider]

12 hours ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

 

Agreed.  Nobody looks or checks it seems. We just show up & get in line.

 

We were only asked once and that was on the very first Princess cruise at the return to service last year.  We haven’t been asked since that time.  I know there was a lot of pushback at the beginning so I think it’s optional to choose a time.  

[Shelly97060]

9 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

  I know there was a lot of pushback at the beginning so I think it’s optional to choose a time.  

 If you don’t pick a time Princess picks one for you, but as mentioned it isn’t enforced.

[JudithLynne]

I am thinking that as we are both Elite and Club Class, we should be able to go right to the Priority line.

[Cruise Raider]

2 hours ago, JudithLynne said:

I am thinking that as we are both Elite and Club Class, we should be able to go right to the Priority line.

Yes, that’s how it’s worked for us.  

[JudithLynne]

Thanks.......very reassuring.

[riffatsea]

Definitely elite and suite etc don't need to pick arrival time

 

Can you tell me how to get up to the Skywalker night club on deck 17??

My sailing in January has a Meet n Greet there but I don't see an elevator going up there in the deck plan

Maybe it's just my old eyes?

[VibeGuy]

1 hour ago, riffatsea said:

Can you tell me how to get up to the Skywalker night club on deck 17??

My sailing in January has a Meet n Greet there but I don't see an elevator going up there in the deck plan.

It’s not your eyes - the deck plans are misleading and the Compass maps on the app have a big cocktail glass right on the important part. 

there are stair stacks from the Deck 16 aft elevator lobby, an escalator (aka, the Skywalker) and the two aftmost of the four aft elevators actually go all the way to Skywalkers - unlike most of the Grand/Gem class, Sapphire and Diamond have two port and two starboard aft elevators facing each other, rather than them all facing forward.    If you see a photo of the escalator outflow into Skywalkers, you’ll see heavy glass doors slightly forward, to either side.  The stairs and elevators are right behind them. 
 

For the athletically minded there are also open air stairs from Deck 16  far aft. 
 

[riffatsea]

Thanks for e planning about the escalator and elevators

Hope my group can find their way