Diamond Princess Review

4.0 / 5.0
922 reviews

It was good to be back on the Diamond at first.......

Review for Asia Cruise on Diamond Princess
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Yaya_in_Oz
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Sep 2018
Cabin: Interior

This was my second cruise on the Diamond Princess. I cruised around Hokkaido in Aug 2017 and liked it so much that I decided I’d like to cruise around the other islands.

This cruise was advertised as 13 days but it was 2 cruises (8 days/5days). Embarkation was very efficient but somehow my luggage tag came off and despite having a name tag, I was told my surname was common so they did not attempt to find the owner just left my case near the passenger services desk until some hours later I came looking for it. I took it myself half way round the ship to my room to be sure.

One improvement was that I didn’t have to take my life jacket to muster and I thoroughly enjoyed the safety video featuring the cast of the “Love Boat”.

Cabin Review

Interior

Cabin ID

As a solo traveller, my budget only extends to an interior cabin. When I booked I could only reserve a cabin category. I'd never been at the back of the boat before and I liked how it rocked me to sleep! The bed was comfy and I slept very well. The cabin steward was excellent and room service were cheerful as they brought me my breakfast each morning. I like how you can order breakfast on your phone. The room was plenty big enough for one person. I inspected the room carefully. It was very clean and tidy and all I could find were a few paint chips on the architrave in the bathroom and a small tear about an inch long near the seam of the doona. I pointed this out to the cabin steward who tore the cover so it would not be used again and replaced it. Once I'm dressed I usually don't spend much time in the cabin.

Port Reviews

Tokyo (Yokohama)

On my port day in Yokohama, I visited Sankeien Garden. It takes about 20-25 mins to get there on the No. 8 bus a few blocks from the port. The Tourist Info in the Cruise Terminal are wonderful. They have maps, leaflets, costs, things written down in Japanese etc. The port is very close to some attractions so you can get of the ship and just walk around. Cruise terminal has free wifi.

On the final day after transferring to Narita, I took the train (Keisei Line, 480yen return, 3 trains an hour, 1 stop from terminal 2) and wandered along a delightful old shopping street to Narita-San Temple which has quite a large collection of buildings and nice gardens. Its also wheelchair accessible so after climbing all those steps, I came back down using various lifts and ramps. I'm so glad I did this as I'd felt robbed of time onshore during the cruise.

Busan, South Korea

On my first visit to Busan, I took the shore excursion to the Tongdosa Temple and the United Nations Cemetery. We drove through the different areas of Busan out to the north, so I had a good view of the suburbs, then up into the hills to the temple. We also stopped at the UN Cemetery. We had a Korean veteran on board from the UK. We got to visit our own countries section and saw a short film.

The second time to Busan was late afternoon. The shuttle bus (US$10) dropped us off in front of the Foret Hotel which is near the fish market and shopping area. There is many modern shops and lots of food vendor stalls. I also wandered up to the nearby park and went up the observation tower (US$8). Escalators take you up into the park but you have to walk down the steps.

Cruise terminal has free wifi. There was also a free shuttle that took you to the train station which was fairly close by if you wanted to take a train or do the hop on hop off bus. There was a white van just outside the terminal that had an ATM or you could change money. I changed some yen but they had a board up with about 10 major currencies that they exchanged.

Kagoshima

I went on the shore excursion that visited the samurai gardens in Chiran and the Peace Museum for Kamikaze Pilots. Although many exhibits were in Japanese, they had translated some of the letters, poems etc, that the pilots wrote before they flew off to their death and there was a short film in English.

Kagoshima looked a very scenic port and I would have liked to have spent more time there. Cruise terminal has free wifi.

The shuttle bus (US$10) dropped people off at the Dolphin Port where quite a few took the ferry across to Sakurajima, the active volcano. This is much cheaper than doing the shore excursion.You can see it puffing out ash from the ship if its clear.

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