Just back from 1st Princess cruise...

[OzCruise]

DH and I are novice cruisers, and just arrived back from our first Princess cruise Sydney-Auckland on the Diamond Princess. After being obsessive readers of the CC boards for the past few months, here's our take on a few of the Big Issues:

 

Embarkation/disembark: No big deal...was blown away by how well organised it all was. Chatted to some friendly people in the queues. Heard some others complain about how long it took, but guess we were just lucky.

 

Mini-suite (Dolphin deck): Loved it - lots of space, comfy bed and attentive cabin steward. Uncovered balcony wasn't a problem - we were blessed with good weather, and loved the panoramic starscape at night. No-one poured water/rubbish on us from above, no sewerage smells, and we chatted to neighbours. We remembered to put something on before venturing out each time.

 

Horizon buffet : Ate breakfast there most days (apart from balcony b'fast one day). Big selection, hot stuff was hot, cold stuff was cold, and plenty of everything. Multiple island layout was good - can go straight to what you want (eggs, bacon, french toast), rather than being forced to go past all the stuff you should be eating (fruit, bran cereals etc). Coffee was crap, but then we had been warned! I stuck to hot chocolate with a slug of Baileys Irish Cream...

 

Personal Choice: Tried most of the restaurants, including the Sterling. Savoy was our favourite - great staff (Mirella and Alex). Dined at table for two every time, never waited (we usually ate after 8.00pm). Heard complaints from some that queuing was a problem for trad dining. The food was great everywhere - not too rich /bland /hot /cold /big /small /fancy/uninspired.

 

Formal night: Good fun. Saw a couple of people in jeans, but sky didn't fall, seas didn't boil and the sight of casual dress didn't ruin our entire holiday.

 

Entertainment: Went to two shows - pretty good. Heard some people disappointed that getting a seat in the theatre was a problem. String quartet was good, went to a few trivia sessions, cooking demo and galley tour, but that's about it. Too busy sitting on balcony, reading, sleeping and eating for anything else.

 

Kids: We saw 5 kids on board during trip - cute.

 

Tours: Didn't do any. Been to all places before, so had a leisurely stroll around in the mornings, and back on board for lunch. Heard some horror stories of tours gone wrong (cyclone in Cairns, the lost bus driver)

 

Smoking: Was surprised at smoking allowed in casino (we're not smokers). Was horrified to see a couple of smokers flicking butts off balconies.

 

Drinks: Both moderate drinkers - found prices on board very good, especially compared to Aussie restaurant prices. Slurped a few cocktails, champagne, wine with dinner...Didn't bother with bringing our own, we always found a good choice, always the right amount of ice/alcohol/frou frou/bubbles, and the glasses were clean.

 

Other passengers: Full ship, about 1400 from US, 600 of us Aussies, couple of hundred Brits, and a wide selection of others. Met some great people, everyone friendly and good-natured. We overheard (not eavesdropping, just SOME VERY LOUD CONVERSATION) :

 

"I usually post gifts back home, but you couldn't really trust the Australians, could you?" :eek:

 

"When do we get to New Zealand?" (Lady in Christchurch - AFTER day cruising Fiordland, and port stop in Dunedin)

 

"So what nationality are the Maoris?"

 

Book another Princess cruise? You betcha!:D

[cactusrose]

Sound like you had a wonderful time. Love the overheard stories. We'll be on the Diamond on the 14th and can hardly wait. Nice to know she is still a great ship.

[Lynda90]

Thanks for your review; I enjoyed your entertaining descriptions. The Diamond is a beautiful ship; will be on her again in September.;)

[RevSmith]

Nice little review...right to the point. Being from Australia and now living in the states, it was refreshing reading your style of writing. Thanks.

[TorontoTL]

Sounds like you had a great first cruise. I'm jealous that the ship had a string quartet. I haven't been on a ship with a string quartet since my first Princess cruise on the Golden almost three years ago.

[spongerob]

Thanks for your comments. I'm glad you enjoyed your first cruise.

[Coolmama_1]

Your cruise sounds like it was so much fun! I too like the overheard conversations! It doesn't take much to entertain me!:D THanks for sharing.

[kaykay51]

for your review of the Diamond

We sail her in Feb to the Mexican Riviera and can't wait! We have an aft balcony on Dolphin. This is our second Princess cruise and loved the first one so much we booked our second while still on the ship.!

Kay

[mii]

It sure sounds like you had a great cruise and you let nothing bother you. Thanks for the review.

 

Marilyn

[bjkTX]

and fun to read. Hope we get to cruise with you sometime.

[OzCruise]

Hi Bjktx,

 

Notice you've been to Alaska on Diamond Princess - we're thinking of doing that next year (2007)...or maybe Hawaii...or perhaps Panama...or...:confused:

 

Seriously, heard that Alaska can be crowded and have been advised to go on a 'small ship'.

 

What was your experience?

[Von]

We were also on the same cruise and I agree with all you have written Ozcriuse. For a ship with that number of people on board it was interesting to think about the organisation and how well run it was, considering the wants, needs and expectaions on many... Being NZ'er we didn't do any tours either just wandered about on shore and enjoyed being on the ship .

 

We were also on Dolphin deck but in an inside cabin, While we had no idea what the weather was like or what the time was when we woke, a quick look at the web cam on the TV gave us the information. Most evenings we had pre dinner drinks in the Wheelhouse bar with very pleasent easy listening music. There was music for all tastes, and indeed the classical quartet was most enjoyable.

 

We were a party of 8 so tried all the resturants including Sterling Steak House and Sabitinis where we celebrated my birthday. The extra charge of $20 was well worth it for a special occassion. Our favourite was Sante Fa with the Savory a close 2nd.

 

Birthday ballons and a Happy Birthday poster on our cabin door greeted me on the 26th. Along with a cake and the waiters in Sabitinis singing Happy Birthday made it a rather special day

 

Comments on CC from those on the earlier DP cruises this year did have some uncomfortable weather between Aus and NZ so we were indeed very lucky with the weather although I did over hear several comments about how rough it was! According to the cruise director it was by far the best weather they had had this season. I reckon we could have almost walked on the water between Lyttelton and Tauranga is was so flat.

 

I did go to an enjoyable CC "meet and greet" that Rick organised but only saw 3 or 4 from this group during the rest of the cruise. With 2700 passengers I guess thats understandable. So if any of you are reading this, it was nice to meet you all and hope you had a great time in NZ. I know Rick did!

 

DP is a huge ship, grand, elegant, beautifully furnished, with courteous and willing crew, along with good food made it a very pleasent cruise. While we did enjoy being on DP do have to admit a smaller ship with less passengers would be our first choice tho.

 

Von

[bjkTX]

The Diamond in Alaska certainly wasn't a small ship - but like the other two Princess ships we've been on (Grand and Golden) we never felt crowded - never waited in line for anything.

 

The inside passage cruise we took (round trip from Seattle) was perfect for the Diamond. In some ports there were several other ships with us, but it was never a problem. I guess a lot depends on the weather when you go to Alaska. We went in May and had the best possible weather all week - and when you combine that with the beauty all around you, the soaring eagles that you take for granted after a few days, the waterfalls coming down the mountains (and in Texas we don't see many mountains so we were in visual overload for the whole trip), the unvelievable blue of the glaciers, the quaint towns, and the wonderful people - it's an amazing experience. But there are SO many choices, inside, outside, cruise tours etc etc etc, it's hard to decide which cruise to take - which I guess is why people go back many times. We might....

 

Our next cruise will be on a similar size ship since we plan to re-do our first cruise and go to Canada/New England out of NYC next fall.

 

Having said that, the one thing that I felt when we went to Alaska is IF we ever did it again we'd want to go on a smaller ship that could go to more places - a bit more of the real Alaska. We sailed around in Glacier Bay one day and that was great, but the size of the ship did keep us from getting as close to some things as we would have liked.

 

In 2 years or so we want to do the full transit Panama Canal cruise so we'll certainly need a bit smaller ship for that one. Options are very limited on Princess for that cruise it appears - but we have been so happy on Princess, and we probably won't do many more cruises after that one, so we'll go on whatever they have available :-)

 

If I win the lottery, or convince DW to get a second job when I retire we'd love to do more cruises - but the odds of either of those happening are about even. :-)