We chose this holiday for the itinerary as Japan was one of my bucket list places to go. It was actually a holiday of 2 halves as the first 6 days consisted of an escorted land tour with Wendy Woo tours. We saw lots of interesting places on this part of the holiday and really enjoyed being immersed in this totally different culture but it was quite intensive so it was nice to look forward to a more relaxing time by finishing with 8 days on Diamond Princess. We had been on Diamond before about 5 years ago around the Far East but she has had a refit since then to reflect the Japanese guests so we were interested to see what changes had been made.
Embarkation was smooth and efficient - we had not realised that we had moved up to Platinum level (mainly due to the cruises we have done with P &O as these are counted in your Princess rewards) which meant that we had priority boarding. Our booking was for an outside cabin so I was more than thrilled to find that we had been upgraded to a balcony - I honestly thought this would never happen to us! The cabin (C224) was a good size with a lovely big comfortable bed. There is a kettle provided but be aware that only green tea is provided so you must take your own if you don't want this - you cannot get any coffee sachets from the cabin steward or even in the buffet. The cups provided are tiny so we did ask the cabin steward for mugs which he did get for us. It was good to see that a UK plug socket was provided so no need for an adapter. There is a fridge and a large screen TV. The bathroom was small and had the awful shower curtain but was adequate - combined shampoo and conditioner is in a dispenser as was shower gel. The balcony had 2 reclining chairs and a small table and was a fair size. It is overlooked by the balconies above and we could look down on those below us but that was of no concern for us.
The food on board was very good and my gluten free needs were well catered for as always. We ate breakfast and lunch in the buffet and whilst it was always very busy we never failed to find a table and enjoyed the variety of food available. There is of course lots of food to appeal to the Japanese guests but plenty for Western tastes as well. We had second sitting for dinner in the Santa Fe restaurant and had a table for 4 - it was rather nice that those of us who had been on the land tour (76) had been seated with someone from the tour so we were with new friends. Again the food was pretty good although my husband was a little disappointed that there was no steak option always available as he is wary of trying new foods but actually that worked well as he did try different things and lo and behold found he actually liked them! The waiting staff were very friendly and looked after us really well and always ready to have a laugh with us.