Review: Princess Cruises - Diamond Princess - [April 30 , 2005]

[Net Reviews]

Review By:

Reviewer Comments:

3 night Coastal cruise, Los Angeles to Vancouver, 4/30-5/3.

This was a spur of the moment trip, always wanted to visit Vancouver, so
decided to sail up, spend a couple of days there, and fly back.

Had been on the Diamond just 6 months ago, October Mexican Riviera
cruise, so I pretty much knew what to expect on board. Since I booked
five days before sailing, never bothered with docs. (I had already
filled out the passenger information forms online, so I told my TA not
to worry about rush orders/FedEx/etc.) I just printed our res info and
PIF's from the Princess web site, just in case.

Boarding was very easy in my case, being Platinum member of Captain's
Circle. (Very easy to attain, Platinum level is reached after only 5
cruises.) At noon, the special line for Platinum members had just one
party ahead of us. The regular lines were much longer. In any case, I
recommend filling out info forms online. Speeds up the process
considerably.

The ship is a year old and still looks brand new. Caught a whiff of
fresh paint here and there, so maintenance seems to be on top of things.

Standard cabins (in/out/balcony) are well designed and nicely
decorated in muted colors. As the ships get bigger, the bathrooms seem
to get smaller. I'm a bit less in terms of size/weight than the average
passenger, and still found the shower to be very small, compared to
older ships. Our Aloha Deck balcony was nice. Not as large as those on
Caribe Deck, but more private. Balconies are "stepped" on this ship.
Baja, Caribe, and Dolphin Deck balconies are visible from the Aloha and
Lido balconies.

Princess generally does a very good job with food for a line that is
positioning itself as mass market, I was not disappointed. Buffet tip
for newbies: there are two buffets on Lido Deck, separate and
identical, port side and starboard side. Each has two entrances, fore
and aft. Passengers tend to line up at the first entrance, and there is
usually no line if you walk a little further to the second.

Service, however, was different from my cruise on the Diamond 6 months
ago. Not bad, but not up to Princess's usual standards-bare minimum to
get the job done. The typical response to our cheerful "good day"
greetings, "thank you's," or requests was either a grunt or a blank
stare. Could have been changes of staff, or transition from sunny
Mexico to a colder clime, or the fact that it was a transitional cruise;
but everyone seemed to have a case of the blahs. First time a cabin
steward never introduced himself on embarkation day, or said to let him
know if we needed anything - small things left undone, trash not emptied,
ice bucket not replenished, etc. Cheerful exceptions were the super
vivacious hostess at the Captain's Circle desk and a very nice dealer in
the casino (Katya?) The latter told me that many of the staff were a
little sad to leave Mexico. She said "passengers on the Mexico cruises
are mostly fun and nice... In Alaska we get lots of old people who
complain a lot."

Announcements on board were kept to a blissful minimum. There was a
daily announcement from the Bridge, and just one or two from the Cruise
director. There were no guest surveys given out at the end of this
cruise, so we were spared the usual chat about how to fill them out.

It was my first time ever on a cruise that wasn't a warm weather
destination, and the experience was valuable. I had always thought I'd
do an Alaska or NY/Southampton cruise someday. Now I don't think so.
During this cruise I realized how much I enjoy the sunny day/swimming
pool/lounge chair lizard routine, and how little there seems to do on
board (on sea days) without it. Relaxing and enjoying watching the
waves go by is much more fun (for me) when it's warm and sunny.

Disembarkation was very easy for us, as we only had a small carry-on
bags. The disembarkation procedure leaflet said that passengers with just
carry on baggage could leave at any time. This was not the case six
months ago. Nice move, hopefully Princess will allow this on all their
cruises.

I must put in a plug for my TA of five years, Debbie Schroeder of
www.daysofftravel.com - she's a gem. Quick responses to phone calls
and e mails, very nice, a full service TA with very competitive pricing.
What more can one ask for?

I must also mention how much I enjoyed Vancouver, a beautiful city with
very friendly people. Worth a trip by itself. If you're flying home
from Vancouver, the airport is nicely designed. You'll go through U.S.
customs and immigration before boarding, so allow ample time.

Passengers booked for this Alaska season should look forward to a good
time on a nicely designed ship that still sparkles as if it were new.