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Princess Cruises- Diamond Princess
April 24- May 1, 2004
Cast: Mark-60, Annie-59, Joe-45, Darren -34, Keith-31,
Jeremy-30, Rachael-30, Jane -30
This was a family cruise we took with our adult children
and their spouses and friends. Mark and Annie have been on 9 previous cruises on
Princess, Windstar, Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian Caribbean lines.
EMBARKATION: We all met up
on the ship on embarkation day. Mark and Annie stayed at the Marina Hotel in
San Pedro the night before the cruise. The hotel was quite adequate and had a
free shuttle to the cruise ship approximately 10 minutes away. We booked the
hotel independently but many people on the cruise stayed there. The room was
$125/night and included breakfast. There was a very nice restaurant at the hotel
and a few others not far away. Internet access was available on the room TV for
a $10 charge for unlimited usage.
At the embarkation
terminal in San Pedro, porters quickly took your luggage to the ship. Check in
was scheduled for 12 noon. Our party of 8 arrived about 11:30 am and waited in
an air-conditioned comfortable waiting area with sofas and chairs to sit on.
Check in started shortly before noon, with little or no waiting in line. My
understanding was that people who arrived later had brief waits in line before
boarding. TIP: All of us pre-registered online and that sped
up the check in process a lot. It took less than 5 minutes per couple to
check in.
THE SHIP:
The ship
was quite similar in layout to the Grand Princess and the Golden Princess, which
we had previously traveled aboard. The differences were minor and included more
restaurants, larger internet rooms, a miniature gold course and Club Fusion (an
all-purpose room at the back of the ship). Like the other large Princess ships,
there were many bars, the Princess theater for shows, 5 specialty restaurants,
the main dining room, Skywalkers (the disco that stayed open until 4:00am!), a
large gym and spa, jogging track, Club Fusion (a night club), and many swimming
pools and Jacuzzi spas. The ship was easy to get around after a day or so of
orienting. There were laundromats on every deck. This ship also had a cyber golf
center, basketball and volleyball courts and a conservatory. The ship holds
approximately 3,000 passengers, but because the ship is so large you rarely feel
crowoded.
OUR ROOMS:
Annie and
Mark had an outside balcony room and the other three couples had inside cabins
directly across the hall. That made it easy to coordinate activities. All the
room were adequate in size, but I would recommend an outside balcony room to see
the arrival and departures of the ports and the feeling of more space and
light. We were all on Caribe deck, which was right in the middle of the ship.
This made it easy to get everywhere and also minimized the amount of motion from
the ship. The others had inside cabins of similar size but had no windows, which
made a few of them feel a bit closed in. TIP: Go for an outside cabin and a
balcony if you can afford the higher rate. Mid-ship rooms have the least motion.
DINING:
On the
Diamond Princess you have many dining options. One can choose traditional dining
in the International Dining Room. Early seating is 6:00pm and late seating at
8:30pm. One can also make reservations for any of the 5 specialty dining rooms
(Pacific Moon, Sante Fe, Sterling, Vivaldi or Sabatini's) by calling from your
room and booking a reservation for the time of your choice depending on
availability. Each of the specialty restaurants specializes in a different kind
of food. The main dining room, however, includes items from the specialty
restaurants as well, so you never need to leave the main dining room to sample
everything. TIP: Make your reservations for the specialty dining rooms when
you first get on the ship. You'll have more time choices and availability.
Dining is
also always available at the Horizon Court (a huge buffet) and also room service
is available. During the day there is an all day Pizza bar and an all day
Hamburger/ Hot Dog bar by the pools.
On the Lido deck is also an ice
cream shop called Sundaes, but you'll have to pay extra for ice cream there.
TIP: Skip the ice cream. There
is plenty of FREE food and desserts!
We chose
traditional dining with the late seating in the main dining room. The food was
great and it included the items from the various specialty restaurants on
different nights. One night featured Italian food, another Asian, another
Mexican etc. in addition to the usual menu items. Each night there was a choice
of at least 5 entrees along with choices of appetizers, soups, salads, desserts,
etc. We had a round table for eight that made conversation very easy.
We ate breakfast
each morning at the Horizon Court and lunches on the ship were often from the
Pizza or Hamburger bars or the Horizon Court. The food at breakfast and lunch
wasn't as good as the dinners, but still quite adequate. Each afternoon at sea ,
we also went for "tea" which included small sandwiches, pastries and tea or
coffee.
LOTUS SPA:
The Lotus
Spa is like many land-based spas. They offer everything from massages to
pedicures to haircuts to body wraps. These items are pricey, but a great way to
pamper yourself. We all got massages and the women got manicures and pedicures.
It's a very nice, elegant facility with attentive personnel. All kinds of beauty
salon procedures are available. However, beware they will try to sell you
cosmetic products. TIP: Enjoy the massages, but give a polite "no" to the
sales pitch for products. They are WAY overpriced and of marginal effectiveness.
GYMNASIUM:
The gym is
quite large and rarely crowded (everyone is eating!). There are many treadmills,
stairmasters, and other aerobic machines. There are televisions in front of each
treadmill and throughout the gym. There is also a wide range of free weights and
weight machines. There is a group exercise room with scheduled classes for
aerobics, step, yoga, body bump etc. Personal trainers are also available. In
addition to the gym, there is a jogging track around the ship and also
basketball hoops, paddle tennis and volleyball. TIP: Check the schedule for
the times of the exercise classes. They are usually in the mornings on the "at
sea" days.
PORTS AND EXCURSIONS:
Our ports
were Puerto Vallarata, Mazatlan and Cabo san Lucas. There were many many, many
excursions available in all three ports. Again, we found it beneficial to
pre-book our excursions from the Princess web site. Excursions can be booked
onboard as well; however, some of the more popular ones, like swimming with the
dolphins may be filled by that time. Our group was quite adventurous and signed
up for the more physically challenging excursions. In Puerto Vallarta, half the
group did a Jungle Canopy excursion, which involved traversing by cables to
various platforms above the jungle. It was very safe but requires being in good
shape and having a taste for adventure. The other half of our group did a five
mile hike in the mountains outside of the city. The hike was quite challenging
and mostly uphill. It ended with wading across a stream before ending with
lunch. In Mazatlan, we all went to a working ranch about an hour outside of the
city and did horse back riding, swimming, and lunch. It was very relaxing,
beautiful and a nice break from the usual tourist stuff in Mazatlan. In Cabo san
Lucas, some of us went deep sea fishing and caught some large tuna! The rest
went shopping. The deep sea fishing trip leaves early in the morning and last
about half a day. Although our excursions were quite active, there are many that
just involve a bus tour, shopping or visiting historic sights. TIP: Book your
excursions online early to be sure to get the ones you want.
ENTERTAINMENT:
The
entertainment was typical cruise fare based on our earlier cruises. The big
musical shows were every night in the Princess Theater. There was typically an
early show about 8:00pm and a late show about 10:30pm. The shows were musicals
with lots of singing and dancing and very entertaining. Club Fusion at the back
of the ship hosted late comics, a "Princess Idol" competition (my son competed
but lost), a 50's/60's night and various individual singers. The bars and
lounges all had bands of various sorts every night and plenty of dancing or just
easy listening. The disco, called Skywalkers, played rock music from about
11:00pm until 4:00am every night. It's mostly a younger crowd, very loud and
lots of dancing. We thought the nicest lounge was the Wheelhouse Bar and we met
there for cocktails every evening before dinner. Easy listening music and a
great atmosphere. TIP: If you want to get the best seats for the big shows
you need to finish dinner early enough to get to the Princess Theater at least
20 minutes before show time.
DISEMBARKATION:
Disembarkation went very smoothly. People with earlier flights were disembarked
first ( approximately 8:00am) in order to make flights back home. Everyone was
off the ship by 10:00am. A shuttle bus to LAX was available for $25 per person.
There were also plenty of cabs available. A cab ride to LAX was about $45.
OTHER:
The ship
has a large casino, but we didn't frequent it very much. It does get very
crowded late at night after the shows have ended. There was lots of internet
access available in the two internet cafes (a large internet room and also in
the library). There was never a wait to use a computer. High speed internet
access was 35 cents per minute. There were approximately 40 computers available
on board. If you bring your own computer, wireless internet was available in the
main atrium area. The ship also has a wedding chapel and several couples got
married onboard. There is also a cigar bar (Churchill's), a writing room, a
future cruises desk, cyber golf and a large photo gallery. There were also
frequent art auctions, bingo games, and cooking demonstrations. TIP: Check
out the entire ship when you first get onboard so you don't miss out on all that
is available. There is so much to do! It's also essential to read the Princess
Patter every day to not miss anything.
SUMMARY:
We had an
overall wonderful experience. Princess is currently our favorite cruise line.
The ship, the food and the entertainment were all very satisfactory and typical
of what we've had on other Princess cruises. Most things went very smoothly. The
ports were nothing special and all very similar but some interesting excursions
are available. We would recommend this cruise to couples and families of all
ages. We plan to take Princess to Alaska next year. Bon Voyage! Rating:
**** 4 stars out of 5.
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