My wife and I recently returned from our fifth sailing on "Princess" via the "Diamond Princess". I regret to say that this trip was one large disappointment! We had sailed on the "Coral Princess" in December 2007 and were extremely pleased with that voyage. The service and food were great. Therefore we looked forward to our 12 night cruise on the "Diamond Princess" from Sydney to Auckland with great expectations. We were part of a "Tauck Tour" group of 35. Upon first view the "Diamond" appeared tired and worn. Our first impression proved to be correct. Our Mini-Suite cabin (D314) was in rather poor condition. The bathroom floor tile was dirt encrusted and disgusting. There was mold and dirt in the shower/tub area. The bottom of the bathroom door had a piece of the door missing! You could see inside the actual bottom of the door and view dirt, dust, and debris. The doors on the cabinets were misaligned so that when you opened the refrigerator you caught your fingers on the door. Many of the crew seemed angry, surly, and sullen. The level of service was frankly beyond belief. A request for daily ice and/or fruit proved too difficult for our steward. Dry Cleaning requested with "express" same day service (at a 50% surcharge) resulted in taking two days! Oh yes.. they still charged the 50% surcharge and it took three requests with "passenger services" to finally correct the error. The food was just bad... poor poor quality... poor selection.. poor presentation.. The food available at the "Horizon Court" after 10PM was a joke... no selection of anything interesting.. just a small (and I do mean small) selection of cut up fruit, some cubes of cheese, and a few tiny sandwiches. A request for some Milk and Cookies resulted in my being told to "order that from room service". Unbelievable! This NEVER NEVER happened on our other sailings with "Princess" . It was our feeling that the current economic state resulted in Princess lowering their charges for the sailing and therefore they started cost-cutting measures. This belief was shared by the other members of the "Tauck" group. One night we dined in the upcharge, "Sabatini's". We waited almost 30 minutes before we were served water and someone took our cocktail order! I complained about the poor service and it improved a bit and then again went straight downhill. All in all... one big disappointment. When we returned home, I sent a detailed letter to the CEO of Princess and detailed our poor experience. At the same time, I requested a refund of our $200 advance deposit paid in December 2007 and never utilized. It took almost SEVEN (7) weeks and a second letter, and several telephone calls, to finally receive a credit back to my credit card of the $200 deposit. The response we finally did receive was a typical "drop dead" letter apologizing for our bad bad experience. Obviously, we shall NEVER sail with Princess again... no way.. no time.. at ANY price... We are more then any price! It is our feeling that "Princess" just does not care about the level of service now provided. We think this is penny wise and pound foolish. We would be interested in learning of others who have had poor experiences with the new "Princess" cruise line.