Just got back from the 16 day Diamond Princess cruise originating in Singapore and terminating in Beijing. Overall I was very pleased with the itinerary and ship.

Our embarkation in Singapore went off smoothly though an indication of issues later on. It seems that the Diamond is a large ship for this part of the world and due to its size is limited in direct access to numerous ports. The implication is that it has to dock in commercial ports in sevral countries and then yu get bused to the primary city of interest. So in Singapore the ship docked in the commercial port and we boarded buses at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Center to be transported to the ship. This went off pretty smoothly though once we reached the ship there were lines to board. Luckily the rain shower had just passed so no big deal.

The ship though showing some age was well maintained. There is no reason why railings in elivators and in some of the stairways should be peeling but they were. I think this might be due to the sanitizing being sone due to outbreaks of the noro virus. Read more