We’ve Taken 50 Cruises—None Were Like This (Diamond Princess in Japan)

We’ve Taken 50 Cruises—None Were Like This (Diamond Princess in Japan)

we’ve been on over 50 cruises but we have never had one quite like this odd definitely memorable absolutely and yes it’s that Diamond Princess that we’re on right now some of you may remember that it made a lot of headlines way back in 2020 in fact there was even an HBO documentary made about this ship but right now all that’s in the past and today it’s running full sale in Japan we just really had to see it for ourselves so we’re going to answer a lot of questions in this video including why did Princess cut two ports after final payment what’s it like cruising in Japan with about 75% Japanese passengers wait until you hear about Sodiggate which has to be the bizarest drink policy we’ve ever seen let’s dive right in hey I’m Mark and I’m Monica and we’ve been traveling full-time for almost 3 years we use cruising to get us around the world so let’s talk about this cruise on the Diamond Princess this ship was built in 2004 it’s got about 2,700 passengers however we’re sailing with about how many right now about 2,800 so over capacity you might think where are the people sleeping are they sleeping at the pool in the gym they’re not basically when you have three and four people in a cabin you can go over capacity and because we’re sailing on Golden Week there are a lot of Japanese families on board this ship is really interesting because it was built in Japan along with the Sapphire Princess there’s an interesting story the Diamond Princess was originally going to be the Sapphire Princess but there was a fire so it’s already got a very intriguing history when it started right now it operates a lot in Asia heavily in Japan and then in Australia as well that means the ship is really very different because it really truly does cater towards Japanese passengers there are a lot of Westerners on board but we’re in the minority in this case 25 to 30% of the ship and it’s really fascinating all the signs are in Japanese and English the menus Japanese and English the bars for people that have been on cruise ships many times this has to be one of the most unique sailings we’ve been on and it makes it different for a lot of reasons there has been a big focus on Japanese food which we love we really can’t get enough of it it’s interesting to have announcements made in English and Japanese and we have two cruise directors one speaking Japanese and one speaking English every now and then there’s an event that’s Japanese only catering to most of the Japanese on board bingo quizzes and then they’ll turn around and do country and western night or other things like some shows that we silent disco silent disco and things like that like we mentioned the food experience you may be wondering if you go on a ship like this which does cater to a different demographic than taking a princess ship out of Miami for instance what we found is it’s almost better in a way because we’re getting the full western menu but then we also get Japanese specialties as well so yes when you go up to your buffet breakfast you’re going to have your western stuff all your eggs and your pancakes and your bagels and all the carbs that we love but you’re also going to have fish and miso soup and things that Japanese really are very used to having but I think it actually gives you more choices as I noticed in the dinner menus we have a complete menu that is been actually quite good but then we also have Japanese specialties and Princess Classic so I think we’re almost being spoiled a bit for choice at dinner i think we have more choices yeah a lot of good choices and a lot of fresh seafood as you might imagine coming out of Japan the sushi was pretty amazing especially for the price which was included in our Princess Plus package for free but even if you paid for it it was only $15 for the dinner per person so really reasonable especially considering the quality couple things that are really unusual about this ship is there’s only two specialty restaurants and arguably really only one dedicated and that’s Sabatinis that’s their go-to Italian restaurant we did it already one night it was $45 a person when we prepaid it in advance on the ship it would be $55 a person there’s a second specialty restaurant it’s a Brazilian steakhouse there’s not a typical steakhouse on board like virtually every other cruise ship it’s actually in the buffet so they close down one half of the buffet and they turn it into the second specialty restaurant instead there’s five different dining rooms and there’s two of them you can make reservations for there’s one dining room that’s set dining times and there’s two more that you can walk into any time that’s changed a lot right new ships now they’re all specialty restaurants included dining is almost an afterthought because they want to upsell you on everything so it actually was neat the fact that it was a lot of choices same menu for the dining and really just two specialty restaurants on the other side in addition with Princess Plus we get two casual dining meals included one was the sushi restaurant and then one we did just lunch and it was a specialty Italian meal in a regular dining room addition to having a spa on board they also have an onsen which is a Japanese bath area it’s an extra charge so it’s interesting that was that’s something I did for the Japanese market as well the decor of the ship is classic you might say a little dated it’s It’s pleasant enough and they have decorations up for golden week you can see the color scheme behind us you see a lot of this color scheme it’s very pine and neutral tasteful so we’ve enjoyed going to some of the different bars and because it’s just total throwback with the huge pillars the interesting lighting on the ceiling it’s been fun for people that have cruised a lot this is very different than we’ve experienced on newer celebrity ships Royal Caribbean ships Oceanania ships it’s a bit of a step back in time it’s like a time capsule would I do it every time probably not but I think it’s fun but it also probably those of you who cruise more in Princess it’s a lot like some of the older Princess ships as well the stateateroom itself it’s actually quite spacious it’s very comfortable the bed is awesome got to say it’s been really comfortable the AC is not that great because it’s an old boat and I just don’t think AC on these older ships works all that great so it’s good enough it’s just not what you would expect but wow the storage has been really great right yeah there’s a lot of storage i would say the bed’s super comfortable there’s plenty of places to put stuff my only complaints about the stateateroom there’s two things one is the blow dryer it’s one of these things that snap into the wall and it looks like it’s from 1972 it works fine does it blow hot air yes i guess that’s good enough and then in the hallway which is between the stateateroom and the bathroom the light in there is triggered by motion and it comes on whenever you go in there even if you’re heading to the bathroom in the middle of the night and so suddenly there’s this bright light that comes on that’s like state-of-the-art technology back in 2004 where the light kind of activates so they were probably everybody was a by that but there’s great storage by the way there’s a closet back there and it’s amazing there’s probably some of the most space that we’ve ever had it’s the biggest hanging closet we’ve ever had it’s an experience at every turn we’re having a great time with it but it’s been fascinating the Japanese on board are so nice is there a lot of interaction no but a lot of smiles sometimes trying to help each other out i find them to be the some of the sweetest people it’s actually fairly quiet for 2,800 people on board you’d be surprised if you’ve ever taken a cruise to the Caribbean out of the US it’s not that so it’s fine in that case but even with a lot of positives something happened after final payment that really left a bad taste in our mouth before we got on the ship before I share with you what happened there let’s talk a bit more overall we love the medallion tech those of you who have been on Princess you have this little medallion and basically you take it with you everywhere it opens the doors you can get information on the screens throughout the ship you can order a drink from almost anywhere and they will bring it to you with location-based technology it’s the first time we’ve been on Princess with Medallion Tech some of you listening probably have done it quite often i think it makes for a better experience i think they execute on it almost perfectly it really works great there’s pizza by the way probably the best New York style pizza we’ve had on a ship anywhere it’s top-notch it’s as good as a lot of pizza we have when we go to New York i really think so really good the grill good tacos really good the grilled chicken good the burgers not very good yet the burgers were poor in my opinion the fries were great entertainment what do you think it’s been a lot of fun we’ve been to a few shows and we’ve enjoyed them we’ve done two of the featured shows so far we have one more to come a little dated still again the costumes i feel like also they’re from the time of the hairdryer a little bed the decks never get too crowded there always seems to be chairs available which is nice but let’s talk about why we almost didn’t get on the ship when we made our final payment 24 hours later we received an email from Princess stating that they have cancelled one of our ports that they have canled another port so we were supposed to go to Wlin in Taiwan yeah they ended up changing it because and it’s understandable in that case there was an earthquake it was going to cause a lot of problem with excursions and a lot of the reason for going there totally fine no complaints there i didn’t love the timing because I had feeling a day before final payment they knew they were going to cancel that port for a long time they were taking short excursions payments we had booked a short excursion the timing was not the greatest overall they did replace it with another port Kong which turned out to be probably better even it was a great port we’re really lucky because we’re on board with some friends of ours who have been there before so we’ve had amazing tour guides throughout it really made the experience special we had a great day in Taipei and a great day in C Kawang thank you the second port that was cancelled was Ishagaki and that was a strange situation because they basically said port congestion this is something that’s been scheduled for several years on the Diamond Princess there is another ship from NCL going into that port just fine we don’t know the full story they knew they were going to cancel that port certainly before a day after final payments were due and no replacement by the way just a C day that was frustrating because that was a port we were really looking forward to we know these things happen we’re experienced cruisers if you’ve never cruised before you got to go into every cruise knowing that you may have a cancellation a port change an early departure late arrival we like to be flexible with it but this really affected us because one the port change on the second day in Taiwan which we loved that meant we had to leave Taipei a lot earlier so we lost two hours and it’s not right next door into getting into the city it takes a while to get there so we really lost two important hours that day if you’re going to take final payment you can’t make all your changes a day after you receive everybody’s money because we had no recourse at that point we’re out our money that really seemed unfair i had multiple phone calls to Princess in the end I ended up getting a $50 onboard credit which I thought was really weak and they clearly knew they were going to make these changes that’s a rant on that does it overshadow everything else no it’s just one of those things that just making you all aware of it could happen and it could happen to you we did have a little situation that sometimes happens on cruise ships hotels at trade shows when you ride the bus when you ride the subway and that’s the neurovirus outbreak so we did have one apparently on board before we got on the ship when we got on the ship what was different yeah this happened to us before on another ship that had a previous outbreak and when we got on they had protocols in place where we could not serve ourselves at the buffets we had to be served each time and there were a lot of things you couldn’t do as far as you couldn’t get your own coffee or your own drinks but it was a few days when we had to just let them serve us it slows everything down we’re really happy that they do it because after several days we were back all the wrap came off everything and we’re back to be able to pick up the tongs etc my tip to all of you is when you go to a buffet I always use my left hand for all of the tongs anything that other people touch and if I pick up anything to eat it’s always with my right hand that just makes it really easy so left hand is off limits when it comes to eating because that’s touched a lot of things that’s how it goes ahead and gets transferred i thought the ship handled it really great it’s so much extra work for the crew when this happens they have to clean everything 10 times over kudos to them because it’s really tough when it happens all right so Sodiggate what happens when your app says it’s included your beverage package says it’s included but the server says it’s not and halfway through the cruise they start trying to charge you for things some of you who are familiar with Princess you may understand their beverage package Princess Plus Princess Premiere you get up to 15 drinks per day it’s a great package it’s one of the best things Princess does however there’s been this change where if you get a canned soda it’s no longer part of your beverage package you can order a $15 cocktail you can order a cocktail that includes a drink coming out of a can a mixer that’s included but if I order a Sprite or a Coke or a Diet Coke and it comes in a can I have to pay for it makes no sense at all now look for the most part sodas are available from the soda gun it’s not a big deal diet Coke Sprite that’s about it it’s really limited on this ship for other beverages I don’t see any flavored waters for me I don’t usually like caffeine and I want it to be sugar-free so let’s say I want a diet Sprite they have it but they won’t use my beverage package they want to charge me for it the problem is halfway through the cruise it was no problem then all of a sudden they started to enforce it so it was very confusing for us because we’re like “Wait I can get an eight or $10 beer but I can’t get a can of soda.” Very strange and the app which we love the Medallion Net it always says beverage package included halfway through the cruise we notice they added a note where it says the soda cans are 25% off but it’s like you can’t even read the whole thing and then underneath it in bold it goes beverage package included whoever came up with this policy at Princess may think they’re a genius it’s idiotic because on board I can tell you guests really confused really frustrated the crewite feel terrible for them because they’re having to constantly explain why they got to collect $2.66 you’re already limiting us to 15 drinks a day by the way we don’t use anywhere close to 15 drinks a day but if you’re putting a cap on it why can’t the can of soda count towards your 15 drinks a day so you know what we’ve been doing instead then we’ll just order beers and cocktails and more expensive drinks the logic is strange all right there’s great energy from the crew i love that they have live musicians in the shows which is great and there’s live music around don’t think it’s going to cater to just one part of the crowd they’re trying to be very universal overall so would we do this cruise again based upon everything you’ve heard would you guys go ahead and book a Japanese cruise would you go on the Diamond Princess what would you feel about if culturally it was much very different on the ship put that in the comments down below if you’ve had that experience before so it’s really fascinating overall and by the way if you’re interested in booking any Princess Cruises or all cruises we’ll put a link down below and there should be one on the screen as well we can personally help book you onto this ship and any other cruise or river cruise ship and we offer not only our personal service and we’ll answer all your questions we can also many times line you up with bonus onboard credit amenities perks even sometimes upgrades go ahead and fill out that quick link it’s all free no charge more than happy to help you get on to your next ocean cruise or river cruise so let’s first of all talk about the ship out of five what would you give it i would give it I’d say a three yep i’m going to go with a three as well clean nice has everything you need it’s just dated so if you’re into modern it’s not going to do it for you could be a three and a half out of five it could be and it for fascinating it’s a five out of five it’s just such a cool experience overall value overall we’ll talk about what we paid in a moment i would give it a four i think it was a pretty good deal food four i think everything we’ve tried even in the main dining room has been from good to exceptional i’ve been very impressed with the food internet I think we basically decided three and a half out of five entertainment i would say five for energy and effort three when you compare it to what else is out there we just went on a celebrity ship we were on a royal before that it’s a tough comparison it’s very hard to compete with those guys and back to food I would say the cocktails I’ve tried have been really good too lots of choices no problem finding all kinds of different ones so that’s a good point that was really good i would say Princess Plus as a package we highly recommend you add this to your sailings right now it’s $60 per person per day it’s going to go up a little bit we’ve heard maybe 65 but we’re talking gratuitities Wi-Fi and bed package no soda cans but worth every penny i think it’s great even if they raise the price a little bit hopefully not too much I still think it’s worth it it just makes the cruise so easy you don’t have to think about anything highly recommend that you do that overall we paid $4,500 for the 10 days on this ship just understand some of the differences with the ship and the experience but you still get to see in our case we saw some of Taiwan see multiple different Japanese ports hopefully you’ll be luckier and they won’t cancel ports would we do it again only if it was a very different itinerary we would probably more likely try different ships out of the region a year from now we’re going to be going on a Celebrity ship in the region that we’re very excited about we’ll be on the Celebrity Millennium in somewhat the same region with a few more stops we’re really excited about that one even though it is also an older ship I believe it’s been updated a bit more modernized overall so that one goes out of Seoul and ends in Japan correct y in Yokohama highly recommend a Japanese cruise or an Asian market cruise they’re amazing there’s a lot of choices you can do them on the contemporary cruise lines where the pricing can be quite reasonable like Celebrity Royal Princess if you want to go more upscale you can do Osamara Viking Oceanania if you don’t mind give this video a like hopefully you got something out of it hopefully you’re entertained by it if you have any questions about our experience put it in the comments down below we’re more than happy to help you any which way we can if you got any cruises that you’re looking at go to that link that you’ll see in the description down below more than happy to personally help you and with that we will see you out there

After 50+ cruises worldwide, our experience on the Diamond Princess in Japan stands out as TOTALLY UNEXPECTED! Join us as we reveal what made this sailing so uniquely different from any other cruise we’ve taken.

Discover what it’s like cruising in Japan with 75% Japanese passengers, the unexpected “Soda Gate” beverage policy that left us shocked, why Princess canceled two ports AFTER final payment, and our honest thoughts on this unique cultural experience. It was an unforgettable cruise.
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In this FULL REVIEW of the Diamond Princess, we cover:
– The ship’s unique Japanese design and amenities (including the onsen!)
– Japanese-influenced dining and entertainment
– What to expect when cruising during Golden Week
– The Japanese cruising experience as Western passengers
– Our honest rating of the ship, food, service, and value
– Why Princess cut two ports and what they did about it
– The bizarre “Soda Gate” drink policy you need to know about
– Why you should always add-on the Princess Plus package

Download our free travel savings guide: https://www.digitalroamads.com/free

Whether you’re planning a cruise in Asia or simply curious about a completely different cruising experience, this review gives you the honest truth about what to expect on the Diamond Princess in Japan.

#DiamondPrincess #JapanCruise #PrincessCruises #CruiseReview #JapaneseCruise #AsianCruise #CruiseTips #JapanTravel #PrincessDiamond #CruiseShipReview #GoldenWeek #cruiselife

00:00 Introduction and Overview
00:56 Cruising on the Diamond Princess
02:30 Dining Experience on Board
03:34 Specialty Restaurants and Dining Options
04:42 Ship Amenities and Decor
05:35 State Room Review
07:11 Medallion Tech and Entertainment
08:09 Port Changes and Issues
11:46 Soda Gate: Beverage Package Issue
14:06 Final Thoughts and Recommendations