TheSkipper

Hi Lisa, Welcome home. Since I thought the Diamond was one of the best of our 44 cruises to date, I'll be watching for your review to see what it was that caused you concern.

We have logged a total of 44 cruises to date with two more booked. Loved everyone of them! :cool:

Hey Guys, Not on a cruise! Except we "cruised" out tonight for some Mexican food with friends! I think this was a date we had planned to be aboard the Diamond, but moved it up into January when we put that group together. Next cruise is a European river cruise out of Amsterdam on July 30th. :cool:

Hey Guys, Not on a cruise! Except we "cruised" out tonight for some Mexican food with friends! I think this was a date we had planned to be aboard the Diamond, but moved it up into January when we put that group together. Next cruise is a European river cruise out of Amsterdam on July 30th. :cool:

Looks like Catalina to me!

Looks like Catalina to me!

Give your TA a call and check. We have already booked trans-canal with Princess for May 3, 2006. Did it in January. :wink:

We used to use traveler's checks all the time, but with the advent of ATM machines world-wide, found they we more of a pain in the butt. Also almost all resturants, merchants etc. will take your credit card. Two years ago in Munich, I spent and entire morning trying to cash a couple hundred in travelers checks and had to go to three banks and then took a beating on the exchange rate and in fees which they charged. Later on the same trip, I walked up to an ATM in Prague and in a minute (or less) had the money I wanted at the correct exchange rate and no hassle. Depending on the ship you are going on, you may not even need money for tips, more and more are charging tips to you onboard account. The last few times we took traveler's checks (we get them free from AAA) we just ended up bringing them home with us.

Hi Shari, The only time I thought the Diamond was really big was in the showroom which I thought was on the small side. You had to arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the show to get a seat. No, the shower heads are not the European, hand-held type used on Celebrity.

How about Antiqua??

Dan, Sounds like you have your answer. I have not begun to go through the pics. Roe was in charge of still pics and I was shooting video. Actually I was just giving our new digital video camera a trial run prior to our European River Cruise in July. Still have a lot to learn about it. BTW, this was probably the most stable ship we have sailed on. Felt no motion in our stateroom; however we were midships. The only thing I noticed in the aft section was that if you put your hand on a rail you could feel a very slight vibrabion from the engines.. I think you are gonna love the Sapphire. :wink:

Hi All, Well, we are home again, safe and sound. Getting off the ship was a bit of a chore. Immigration is really slowing down the process at San Pedro. Last of the 2800 passengers did not clear the ship until around Noon! Dead tired, so bed beckons. Will think about the review after the Super Bowl. :wink:

Hello to all, Our last day at sea aboard the beautiful Diamond Princess. This is the most beautiful ship we have ever sailed on, with the possible exception of Silver Wind. in our 44 cruises. The wood work and general fit and finish are fantastic!! Overall a great cruise. You will love this ship when you sail on her. The Internet Cafe has 29 computer and a coffee bar! The Fusion Club has dozens of flat screened TV's. All in all, Princess has a real winner here. We have already booked on the Coral Princess for a trans-canal, Ft. Lauderdale to San Francisco in May 2006! Home tomorrow.

Dan, You are, of course, correct! Star is a "Grand" class, so I guess I've been on two of her sisters, the Grand Princess and the Golden Princess, both great ships IMHO. :grin:

Thanks for all the wonderful wishes!! We are taking 35 friends with us, boarding a chartered bus and heading to San Pedro at 7:00AM on Saturday morning. Our Travel Agent provided us with custom t-shirts with our group logo, personalized luggage tags and name badges, so we should be a "stand-out" bunch! I put this cruise together as a fund raiser for our church and it looks like we will make about 5K, so I would call that a sucsess! I've got to select some movies to take and show on the bus. I guess Titanic would not be the best choice. Perhaps for the return trip after they are back on dry land. Shari2 will let you know what we think of the Diamond. We are Elite Captain's Club members with Princess. This will be our 18th cruise with them. They have the best perks at sea for this level. Free laundry and dry cleaning and unlimited internet access! Plus a lot of other little things like a free stocked mini-bar in your stateroom. Well, since I have not packed a thing yet, I guess I'd better get off line and get serious about this cruise. :wink:

Did this cruise aboard the Legend of the Seas last September and will be sailing on the Diamond Princess this Saturday. My wife, who keeps track of these things tells me that this will be our 14th cruise to these ports. In Cabo do the glass bottom boat thing. Just get off the ship and you will find lots of vendors on the dock, no need to pay shipboard prices. In Matzalan, I think I would head for one of the large hotels and hang out there. The Golden Zone is the shopping area and IMHO not to exciting. A cab to Old Town might be fun. I plan to do that next week just to shoot some new digital video. All cab fares are posted at the pier, but be sure to verify with the driver before getting into the car! In Puerto Vallarta, probably a general area tour would be your best bet, You can do it through the ship or just pick up a cab as you exit the pier and negotiate a tour package price. We usually grab a van to the downtown area and stroll along the beach area, very nice. One side of the main drag is shopping and the other is a very lovely pedestrin walkway along the beach. Hope this helps a little. :wink:

Once again Jeff is right. You are talking about the North Atlantic here and the possibliity of rough seas is very real. Go to the center of the ship, no question about it! We usually go for a stateroom midships and as low down as we can go unless we decide we want a balcony room for some reason. On a December cruise rountrip to Hawaii, we were midships and both of my wife's sisters and their husbands were way forward on the same deck. Guess who got seasick the first night out?? Both sisters! Enjoy you cruise/ :grin:

I totally agree with Jeff and put Princess right up at the top of my list of the best "mainline" cruise lines in a price range that most of us can afford. We have cruised Princess 16 times and will embark on the Diamond Princess on Saturday! They have by far the best Captain's Club perks for regulars. Their "Elite" perks are the best in the industry including unlimited free internet usage, free laundry and dry cleaning, stocked bar and a whole buch of other little goodies. Celebrity has a few little things that We like better that Princess, but on the whole I thin, Princess has taken the number one spot for us. Have not sailed on the "Star" but have sailed on the "Sun" which is a sister-ship in that class and I'm sure you will have a great cruise. :wink:

Just ran across this news release and thought I'd pass it along. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Nearly 120 passengers and crew members became sick with a stomach virus aboard a ship that returned to port Saturday after a five-day Caribbean cruise, Royal Caribbean International officials said. The outbreak of a Norwalk-type virus aboard the Enchantment of the Seas sickened 108 passengers and eight crew members, said company spokesman Michael Sheehan. It was traced to a man who had symptoms two days before boarding the ship Monday, he said. A special cleaning of the 1,950-passenger ship was expected to delay a scheduled departure Saturday for a few hours, officials said. Symptoms of Norwalk-like viruses include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea and last up to 48 hours. No special medical treatment is required. Such viruses affect 23 million Americans a year and were blamed for a rash of cruise ship illnesses more than a year ago that prompted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites) to investigate several lines. In September, 84 passengers aboard a cruise ship from Alaska fell ill with a Norwalk-like virus.

Ellie, Over the years we have (and still have) two sets of walkie talkies. They have worked on every ship we have been aboard. Do we really use them?? NO. Since we are a couple we are usually together anyway, so find we just do not other with them. If you leave them on all day on standby, you will eat up batteries very fast. However, with that said, with an eighteen year old to keep track of, might be a good idea to have a set. As for cell phones in the Western Carib, forget them. Most work from US ports like St. Thomas and San Juan, but not where you are heading. :wink:

When we first started cruising (43 cruises ago) we did not buy insurance. However as we have aged we have begun to buy it. Have seen two helecopter evacuations from ships that we sailed on and recently had a friend have a heart attack while scuba diving and who spent weeks in a hospital on Grand Caymon Island. Their comment " without insurance we would have been bankrupted." The done place I do not get my insurance is from the cruise line. I prefer a third party issued policy. Just recently I put together a group of 40 folks from our church on a Diamond Princess cruise coming up in about three weeks. Our TA offerred us insurance which was based on the cost of the cruise and not age related which was a savings for most of us over what Princess offerred. Just found out a few days ago that one of the ladies who was going with us had passed away and her family (who are also going) would have lost 50% of what they had paid for her; however, by the time I talked to the TA the insurance had already kicked in and reimbursment was on it's way. Hope this helps,

Not to worry, the Pats will not be in the Super Bowl. They have to go through Pittsburgh to do that and it's not going to happen! Remember what happened when they played the Steelers earlier this year??? On a serious note, I have been at sea a couple of times during the Super Bowl and never had a problem catching the action. :wink:

Excellent review Shari. One of these days I'll get busy on mine. No rush since you have covered it so well.

Shari2: After three weeks and one day we found our cat today! What a Christmas present! Can't tell you how many people have been looking for him. A neighbor spotted him this morning (Christmas morning) about a block from our hours and we had quite a chase but we did get him and he is home safe and sound (minus his collar, so much for "break-away" collars). Hope you are having a great Holiday! We certainly are :grin:

Hey Jason, For number 2, I think you mean airports, no ports???? :rolleyes: