Diamond Princess Review
Rating by category
Additional details
Japan has been near the top of my husband's bucket list for many years, so this year we booked a B2B cruise on Diamond Princess, it coincided with a special birthday. I had read a few reviews so thought I had a good understanding of what to expect, i.e. the majority of passengers would be Japanese. We arrived in Tokyo 2 days in advance and quickly realised it was not what we were expecting. It is a modern city with, from what we saw, very little traditional or historical culture. We stayed in a beautiful hotel, the New Otani which I wholeheartedly recommend.
Embarkation in Yokohama went very smoothly and we were quickly on the ship. We had a balcony cabin on B deck. Typical B class cabin, with the addition of a kettle which we greatly appreciated. Wouldn't have thought it beyond the realms of Princess' thinking to provide their western guests with a mug or cup and saucer for their drinks rather than the tiny Japanese cups with no handles. As usual, we packed two mugs (usually used for early morning room service) and with tea bags and milk from the Horizon Court, managed very well.
Our only complaint was the pillows, one was too low and two you were almost sitting up. They were also rock hard. Rod our steward found a smaller one so that solved that problem.
Cabin Review
Balcony
Typical balcony cabin on Princess ships
Port Reviews
Nagasaki
We bought a day pass on the local tram and used it to go to the Peace Park. Very easy from the ship and cost about £7.50 for the two of us. On the 9th of each month, there is a peace vigil to remember those killed and also to promote the disbandonment of atomic bombs. School children were also there to pay their homage. Found the whole thing very moving even if we did get back to the ship looking like drowned rats.
Taipei (Keelung)
Took the highlight excursion to Taipei. Had a really lovely day. There was some character to this city unlike others we had visited. Would recommend visiting from Keelung, either by yourself or with an excursion.
Kobe
Took the debark tour. Found it very good, visiting the castle and shrine, but left the ship ridiculously early for the very late flight. An hour later wouldn't have made that much difference to them.