I sailed on Diamond Princess in Japan and this video gives you my VERY honest review of Diamond Princess. Is Diamond Princess a good ship and is Diamond Princess worth it? I answer these questions and more in my honest review. I give a review of Diamond Princess by reviewing the ship, the food on Diamond Princess, the ship’s Entertainment, the Ports, and the Service onboard Diamond Princess. I review specialty dining venues Sterling Steakhouse and Sabatini’s Italian Restaurant, in addition to the main buffet, main dining room, Kai Sushi, Princess Pizza, and much more! I also talk about Princess Cruises’ Medallion and OceanNow food delivery.
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This Princess Cruise on Diamond Princess will take me to Aburatsu (Miyazaki), Japan; Busan, South Korea; and Nagasaki, Japan. This was my first time ever in Japan and my first time on Princess Cruises.
The Diamond Princess is part of the Gem class of cruise ships for Princess Cruises. Diamond Princess debuted in 2004 and was built by Mitsubishi in Nagasaki, Japan. Diamond Princess features several specialty dining venues, including Kai Sushi, Sterling Steakhouse, and Sabatini’s Italian.
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00:00 Introduction
02:23 Ship Review
12:07 Food Review
18:07 Entertainment Review
21:48 Ports Review
24:36 Service Review
20 Comments
I've never been on a cruise. My first will be on NCL "Pride of America". I'm thinking the second "Diamond Princess" will be the next.
Great review of the Diamond. She was the first Princess ship I sailed on in 2007, long before she was remodeled for her home port in Asia. She and her sister, the Sapphire, have been my favorite for many years. I have to say that you were very fortunate to get upgraded to a mini suite. The size of the room is wonderful, as well as the very outdated bath, but you would be verrry disappointed in the showers in the categories below mini! They are possibly the smallest of any cruise line. Comedians have always made jokes about the “friendly shower curtain” and rightfully so!😁
There have been many changes that I find disappointing, with the food selection and quality being the main thing, but I still love Princess.
I’m so happy you had such a great experience and hope you won’t be disappointed in the future!
One thing about the Plus and Premier packages that I find to be a big draw is the included gratuities. We have always gone with the Plus and it is possible that we have not quite gotten our money’s worth, but it is so worth the freedom to try things we might not normally try and not worry if we don’t like it. On a longer cruise, though, I would have to seriously compute if it would be worth it.
I look forward to your future, well balanced, reviews! Lois
Just a great review / video!!! QUESTION When you got to Busan, did Princess have shuttle service to the city center or to public transport?
Glad you enjoyed Princess – they are my most cruised line and I feel they hold true to traditional cruising, with a lot of unique itineraries and the enrichment/cultural focus. They also have the best space/passenger ratios I have experienced also. And agreed on the great value their packages have – my most recent cruise was on Carnival, and they wanted $65 a day just for drinks – no wifi or gratuities or any other perks. Princess Plus is cheaper from the get go plus all of the other added benefits.
Just found you … am interested in cruising Japan, have never done a Princess cruise. Thanks for the honest comments, good video and excellent info. Am going to put this on my "to do" list.
I am so happy with your review and score as I am going on my first Princess next year, now I am doubly looking forward to it x
So glad you enjoyed Princess! Star Princess was my first cruise 20 years ago, and our fav cruise lines now are Princess (classic, traditional, Medallion technology, and mini-suites!) and Celebrity (modern, contemporary, and stylish) – choice depends on itinerary! Happy sailing!⚓️🚢😊
Always appreciate your reviews. Really too enjoy your videos and the lack of drama…really, really appreciate that! As long as I can enjoy some good food, find a relaxing spot on deck, learn some great tidbits of local culture and history, and have a clean a quiet room for a good night's sleep, I am a happy cruiser! Looks like you really did have an amazing experience! Bruce and Otis
I love watching your content because you truly seem like a genuine man who just wants to share his love of cruising and culture with the world. It's a breath of fresh air with so many YouTubers who are inauthentic and trying to be someone they are not. Can't wait to see the next Princess trip! Sky Princess and Enchanted Princess look absolutely beautiful.
Too bad you didn't go on a cruise before 2018 and compare after Covid. You should take Norwegian Jewell in Japan. Alots more ports in Japan.
Destination Cruises are the BEST! And Princess excels at them. I am Elite on Princess and have so many great memories.
Wow, I caught your excitement! Your experience was exactly like ours, when we did Crown Princess in Alaska this year. It was a great itinerary, so we thought what the heck, we'd give Princess a try. Hadn't sailed on a Princess ship since 1994. We were blown away, ship was older like yours, but well maintained. Food, service and entertainment were excellent. We loved the medallion too! Waiting for the new Star Princess to sail, will definitely be booking her. Our first Princess cruise was on Star Princess in 1993. I guess it's always a good idea to step out of your comfort zone once in awhile, you never know what you'll experience. Happy sailing Zach!
Zach, I am so happy you had a wonderful time on Princess. I love Princess, even if there are a few naysayers. I have sailed since 1972 ..80 times on various cruise ships and cruise lines but my love is Princess. Thanks for your usual wonderful review🚢😊
This was amazing!!! Thank you so much for your in-depth overview! My husband and I are headed on this exact ship on two days. We typically only do Royal but this opportunity came up and we jumped on it – I’ve been nervous to try a new ship but after watching this I’m really excited – thank you, thank you! Loved hearing your experience!
Wonderful review ! Very well thought out.
This makes me want to try Princess more and more. Thanks for all your great content Zach 🤘🏻
I'm glad you had such a great experience. I'm looking at taking a Japan cruise on Princess next year if I can make the price work.
I really appreciate your views on cruising Zach and take them to heart when deciding what's next. I'll be on my first Princess cruise in January in the Caribbean and will consider Japan for later in the year. The long flights are my thing to mentally and physically overcome. I don't drink alcohol, so have settled on the option of ordering soda ahead to the room rather than a drink package. The Internet for my cell phone is also available ala cart for $115, but I had to really dig to find that info. They love their premier packages! But for a non drinker, it's a huge waste of money. I'm excited about the comfy beds you talk about! As a fellow solo traveler, I appreciate your thoughts about being on your own too. Thanks again Zack and I look forward to your Japan excursion video.
Was on the Diamond Princess as well in July 2019 from Yokohama (Tokyo), our 2nd cruise after being on the Costa Victoria from Mauritius. The Diamond Princess ship is probably one of the few especially designed for the Japanese market. It has an Onsen (Japanese hot bath) which as a none Japanese is an interesting experience to try. It did not have the medallion technology however at that time., which they obviously used the Covid down time to upgrade this. Food wise I would have expected more Japanese food seeing the biggest number of passengers are Japanese. However in the main dining room there seems not much Japanese food choices. Overall we enjoyed the cruise a lot, typical Japanese service attitude. The key here is to be open minded and expect something different then the typical Caribbean or Alaska cruise. way more international and we made a number of new Japanese friends on the ship.
Loved this one, Zach. I agree with your comments about the ship not feeling crowded – I've never cruised on this ship, but have found that other Princess ships do handle crowds REALLY well. I've been on both the older (Coral) and the newer (Regal) and they never feel busy – there's just so many spaces to go and relax with a drink that they never felt busy.
Coral's also got some really themed lounges, which sounds like a pretty similar vibe to what you had on here!
Glad to see you enjoy princess and I agreed with almost all of your comments. I am a long time princess cruise or having been on 16 cruises with them. Just recently tried out royal Caribbean and it was nice but man did I miss princess.