We booked our sixth cruise and connections through Flight Centre and all went well. The Diamond Princess is a large ship with up to 2,670 passengers and a crew capacity of 1,100. The ship was well appointed with plenty of dining options and lounge bars. Our balcony cabin, or stateroom as is the preferred name, was clean and well maintained by our steward Mario. The bathroom was small but perfectly adequate.

The itinerary after a smooth embarkation from Singapore included visits to Malaysia (Sabah), Vietnam and Thailand, which were all fine, and the onboard service from the staff was excellent.

The entertainment, on the whole, was poor with the exception of the main productions in the Princess Theatre, and this was probably one of the contributing factors of the underuse of the lounges. The second was almost certainly the brutal air-conditioning, as after a lifetime in the industry I can say that this vessel is a masterclass on how NOT to ventilate a public space. Read more