I was impressed with the Diamond Princess, it is a beautiful and modern ship and at no time does it feel too big (well, except when walking down the hall of the decks where only cabins are located, such as ours... the Baja Deck). I have been on 5 previous cruises and this is by far the nicest (and largest) ship I have cruised on so far.

I went with my mom and step-father who live in Tampa. I live in Houston and we met here and then flew to LAX Friday night. They've cruised on Royal Caribbean (which they love) and once on Carnival (which they hate). I've cruised on Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Premiere. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza LAX, which was nice for a night before a cruise and the service was excellent here too. The hotel advised that a towncar would be the same price as a cab at $60 (which as I suspected and confirmed on the return from the port to the airport was about $7 more than a cab which was $53).

We arrived at the port at approximately 12:30 and by the time we watched to make sure our luggage was taken in and we filled out the health form, it was 12:45 when we arrived in the line to check in. It took 10 minutes to get through the line and be checked in and receive our cruise/boarding cards. I thought this was quite fast, certainly faster than I expected. There was no special line for people who had completed their information and printed boarding passes in advance online, but the regular line was so quick this wasn't a big deal. When we were given a group number it was 19 and they were calling 7 at the time so we sat down to wait for our number to be called. It seemed odd to me that they were only on number 7 at about 1:00 but later learned that it was because they had had an annual coast guard inspection that day. Once they called our number to board there was another wait, though not terribly long for security and then we went to the ship. All in all, it wasn't too bad a wait though a little longer than I had expected. I think it would have been less though without that inspection. We went straight to our cabin on the Baja Deck, 737. It was an interior cabin, which I don't mind because we truly spent very little time in the cabin. It'd be nice to have a window or balcony but not worth the cost for the small amount of time you spend in the room. The room was a good size, I have seen smaller and there was a ton of room for your clothes. Also, unlike Royal Caribbean, there is room under the bed to put your bags. The bathroom wasn't a bad size, though the shower was small but honestly, having been on several cruises I didn't expect it to be any larger. First time cruisers might be surprised to learn that the cabins and the bathrooms are not what you might have been accustomed to watching on "The Love Boat" but those of us who have cruised are used to it and again, you aren't in the cabin much anyway. Next we went to eat at the Horizon Court, which has tons of windows for a beautiful view. I've heard complaints about the food here and I guess it's a matter of expectations. Don't expect 5 star dining on a ship that accommodates over 3000 passengers. The food here was very good for lunch. For breakfast it was good and for dinner I couldn't tell you because we never ate here. Read more