Diamond Princess Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We are a couple in our mid fifties on our third only cruise, the first two being on the Costa Deliziosa and the Queen Mary. We choose a cruise mainly on its itinerary and secondly on the quality of the boat. This 16 night cruise through Asia on the Diamond Princess more than satisfied both of our criteria - it was a very good mix of rest and relaxation on a beautiful boat, together with the opportunity to experience short bursts of Asian culture whilst in the various ports.
Embarkation - As instructed by Princess, we were to check in at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre (staggered times between 12noon and 3pm depending on one's stateroom - luckily ours was at 12)and then we were bussed to the Port which was about 30min away. A different experience to walking directly onto the ship, but the process was handled relatively efficiently.
Dining - Lots and lots of choice here!! We found the service in all outlets to be exceptional, as was the quality of food. Of course the food in the serviced dining rooms was a notch or two above the buffet but for buffet food, we had no complaints. We prefer the relaxed pace of eating in the main Dining room compared to the Horizon Court, so whenever possible we ate there as our first choice. For breakfast and lunch, the International Dining Room is Open seating so you can either choose to eat on your own or share a table with others. At all times, we were accommodated at which ever table type we requested, however there didn't appear to be any 'Tables for 2' so if you wanted to eat on your own, they usually sat you at a table for 4 and cleared the other two places. We choose Late Traditional Dining (8:15), again in the International Dining Room, and shared the same table for six each night and received excellent service from our two waiters. We did request if it was possible to try one of the Anytime Dining rooms one night and they said yes, that was fine, so we had one night in the Santa Fe - we found the tables for two to be very close together, the service to be rushed and overall, the experience was not as enjoyable. We know lots of people who do prefer this type of dining, but for us, we prefer the traditional dining. It appeared that you could make reservations at the Anytime Dining rooms on this particular cruise.