Our cruise experience started in Singapore where we stayed at the Ibis hotel for 2 nights and as the Diamond Princess was coming out of a refurbishing in Singapore we decided to check in earlier than recommended by the cruise line.

This turned out to be to our advantage as our check in went very smoothly and quickly unlike horror stories relayed by other passengers who checked in later and got caught in a mixture of queues waiting for shuttle buses in the hot Singapore heat.

Once on board, our inside cabin was well laid out and quite functional and as our bags had already been delivered to the cabin unpacking was completed well before most people boarded the ship. Read more