First Cruise: Diamond Princess - 4 Days Malaysia (Penang, Langkawi, Port Klang)

[yflyer]

While cruises are a regular fixture of the travel and tourism scene here, my family and I have never been on a cruise. While we have taken short holidays to regional destinations, we have usually flown to our destination.

While exploring options for a short break at the end of December in 2016, I suggested to Mrs yflyer, "Why not a cruise? The kids have never been...it's quite fun...I think they will enjoy it!"

Mrs yflyer was also new to cruises, but got quite enthusiastic as she did her usual thorough research, and proposed the Diamond Princess, on a 4d cruise to Penang, Langkawi and Port Klang.

"I've always wanted to try Princess Cruises" she said. The Diamond Princess wasn't the largest ship sailing out of Singapore, nor the newest, but it was still an impressive vessel with large cabins and good catering (Important for her and our kids) and facilities, and the itinerary and dates looked ideal too, she thought.

So this TR remains at sea level from start to finish. Regulars on SQTalk are probably already used to yflyer TR's taking a while to get airborne...a full ten posts into my recent TR on the SQ A350, the plane still hadn't even taken off yet ()...and here in this TR, we never even take off...

All that said, it was quite interesting to compare and contrast the cruise experience with the flight experience. And as always, we not only ate well onboard, but also ventured on shore to sample a few of the culinary delights that Penang and Port Klang had to offer too.

[yflyer]

So in the late morning of 12 December last year, the four of us piled into a Maxicab and headed to the Marina Bay Cruise Centre to embark on our holiday.

"We never did get to watch the movie Titanic before the cruise..." I remarked. To get them into the mood, you know...

"Aren't you glad you took swimming lessons?" I told my younger girl. She nodded, and resumed viewing whatever she was viewing on her iPhone.

"Every cruise ship your dad has been on has sunk..." I announced as we approached the Cruise Centre.

"Whaaaat???"...finally Miss yflyer no.2 raised her head from her iPhone...

Well that was technically true...while our family had never been on a cruise together, I explained that as a child, I did go on a cruise once, on the Rasa Sayang, one of the ships operating in the 1970's...and while that cruise went without a hitch, there was an incident several years later where the ship caught fire. And years after that, while undergoing refurbishment in a shipyard in Europe, it again caught fire and sank, thankfully without any passengers onboard.

"Which is why it is important to go through the safety briefing and drills". No different from flying. And on cruises they do take the safety briefings very seriously.

Our first glimpse of the Diamond Princess was through the trees after turning off the MCE...



The scale of cruise ships is always amazing. Massive. We were docked across from one of Royal Carribean's ships. The two ships were both setting sail that day, which meant that the cruise centre was quite busy.

[yflyer]

The taxi drop-off at the Cruise Centre...



You dropped your luggage outside, then headed into the huge hall for security, check-in and immigration.



There were two cruise ships leaving at around the same time, so the hall was quite busy, but I thought that the large number of travellers was reasonably well managed. The whole operation was geared towards processing thousands of passengers fairly efficiently.

It wasn't a process without queues and waiting. We did spend at least 45 minutes in a snaking check-in line, but there was good flow control and crowd/queue management in place.

Compared to the airline check-in process, the whole setup is on a different scale...with the Diamond Princess having a maximum pax capacity of 2670 (Think 6 or 7 A380's worth of pax).

Of course the check-in window of several hours is much larger -- people mostly don't show up all at once at the last minute, and you only need to go through this once, on embarkation.

It was a pretty well managed process, and not too bad in the context of an extended voyage.



Finally, we boarded the ship...



...via a covered walkway...not all that different from an aerobridge...



...where our photos were taken for security (And matched to our individual cruise ID cards) as we boarded. Our passports were retained at check-in, and our cruise ID cards would be used for identification and payment for items onboard, and as your ID when you disembarked at the different stops on the cruise.

The beauty of this system is that at each of the cruise stops, you could get off the ship and visit Penang, Langkawi, and Klang just by strolling off the ship. No customs or immigration checks necessary, apart from a quick scan of the ID and visual photo ID compare by the ship security staff. A super fast and convenient system!

[yflyer]

A first glimpse of the ship's main atrium...



Some Christmas decor was already up...and the atmosphere on the ship was quite festive...



Photos of the ship's Captain and crew, with full bio's available in the literature handed out.



Would love to know this kind of info for the tech crew on my commercial flights too!

And on the promenade deck, a plate showing the shipyard and date of delivery of the Diamond Princess: Mitsubishi Shipyards in Japan, in 2004.



The Japanese connection on this ship was quite strong. Apart from features like a proper Japanese bath facility onboard, and an onboard speciality sushi restaurant, there was English/Japanese signage and washlets in all the bathrooms onboard.

The ship operated many cruises in Japanese waters, but from the plaques and commemorative photos and memorabilia on display, this ship had been far and wide, to Mexico, Australia, the USA and elsewhere.







While there were elevators onboard, what I really liked about the ship was the fact that there were three sets of wide staircases located in the fore, mid and aft sections of the ship.



Not just useful in emergencies, these staircases, with thick carpeting and shiny wood and metal railings, would make it very convenient to navigate within the huge vessel, not to mention give pax an opportunity to exercise a little, to balance all the dining and feasting that would happen onboard in the next few days.

Other than taking a lift to get to our cabin on the first day, I used the staircases exclusively for the rest of the cruise. Considering how much I ate, I certainly needed the exercise!

[yflyer]

Upon boarding, we were guided to our cabin. The ship was a maze of corridors. It took a while to get orientated to where everything was on the ship.



I am convinced that at the end of the cruise, some other pax still didn't know which end of the ship was fore and which was aft...

The choice of cabins is a big decision, which probably has a great bearing on the cruise experience. There is a huge variety of cabins onboard...balcony/no balcony...inner room outer room, not to mention different levels, and the availability of speciality suites and family rooms on some vessels as well.

We chose a balcony mini-suite...

[yflyer]

When it comes to cabins on cruises, it is all about expectations, if this were a hotel room on the ground, it would have been tiny, but for a cruise ship, our accomodations would be considered spacious.

Apart from the bed and separate sitting area, there was a small wardrobe space...



The cupboard had a mini-safe, and 4 life jackets.



Bathroom with shower/tub and WC with washlet.



The sofa opened out into a sofa bed, and there was also fold-out bunk bed, which would be folded down for the staff each evening as part of the cabin service.



The sitting area opened out into a small balcony.



The balcony was great...I think it made a great difference to our enjoyment of the cruise to be able to step outside to enjoy fresh air, and watch the world go by, whether during the day, or at night.



Our cabin was on the starboard side, which was great on this cruise, as the ship always docked with the starboard side facing shore....this gave us great views of the docking process and activities onshore at each stop, and possibly better cellular coverage as well.

Speaking of cellular or wifi coverage, the onboard wifi internet is prohibitively expensive, so we did not use it. We relied on shore-based cellular data roaming plans, which gave us very occasional coverage while sailing close to shore, but pretty decent coverage when docked onshore.

Overall impressions of the cabin: the decor was decent. It was a comfortable cabin to spend time in. That said, the interior design was not leading edge -- maybe even slightly dated. I think newer cruise ships would have more modern styling in the rooms. Air conditioning was not particularly cold in the room either. Not a cabin design that would win awards, and not one that I would consider state of the art, but everything was well maintained and the spaciousness of the mini-suite, compared to the regular cabins, was something we appreciated.

A couple of glasses of complimentary sparking wine were delivered to our cabin as part of our welcome...a nice touch!

[yflyer]

Mrs yflyer was very curious about what the other cabins were like. It was not possible to view other cabins after boarding, or during the cruise, as the cabins were occupied, but at the end of the cruise, while the disembarkation process was taking place, it was possible to look around the cabins after they were vacated, and as they were being cleaned and turned around for the next cruise sailing.

"The suites are open...you can go have a look...", Mrs yflyer said as we were packing at the end of the cruise.

So I spent a little time at the end of the cruise walking around the ship looking at what the other rooms looked like.

This is a regular balcony room with two single beds...



An inner room with no view...



The next few pics are of a family suite, which is made up of two adjoining rooms...



Sitting area in a family suite...



...which leads to another bedroom...



The family rooms have a stupendously large balcony...





...close to the bow of the ship...

[yflyer]

The most impressive cabin we looked into was the Grand Suite...



Apart from the spaciousness, the decor and fittings in the suite were very luxurious...





Living area...



Dining room...



Bedroom...



Bathroom, with large tub...





Large balcony...





Luxury on the seas indeed...

[yflyer]

Once onboard and settled in our cabins, we stepped out of the cabin to explore the ship.

There were stunning views of the Singapore skyline from the upper decks...





The two cylinders that look like jet engine intakes on top of the cruise ship appear to be purely decorative...



The nice thing about cruise ships compared tor air travel is that the facilities are all available for use immediately after boarding...



...and many were already using the many pools, F&B and other facilities...




Other views...



The front of the ship...with a quiet zone for adults only...



There was also a full buffet available immediately after boarding for any pax who were hungry, served at the main buffet restaurant close to the covered pool area.

[yflyer]

And before leaving port, there was a mandatory safety drill, with all pax heading to the holding area with lifejackets in hand (Those wearing the lifejackets clearly didn't read the in-room safety briefing card, which explicitly said not to wear your life jackets until instructed...)



Detailed safety briefing in the respective muster stations for each group of passengers. Folks seemed to be paying rapt attention, which I found surprising, considering how most people appear to ignore the inflight safety briefing.

[yflyer]

Finally, we left port...



The ship was surprisingly quick and maneuverable, and very smooth in the water too...



A view from the stern of the vessel...



...and from the balcony in our cabin...



We would sail through the night and arrive in Penang the next day...

[aduxsified]

I can see Marina Bay Cruise Centre from my office and everytime I hear the ship honking three times (meaning its reversing in order to leave the port), I always sigh internally. Why can't I be on the ship too
Anyways, having been on Royal Caribbean and Star Cruises, it's a new experience to see pictures from princess cruises! Thanks for this trip report!

[yflyer]

That evening, we had our first dinner in our assigned dining room. Catering on a cruise liner is quite an impressive undertaking. Apart from the buffet and several specialty dining restaurants, there are several dining rooms onboard, which offer a full a la carte menu comprising a few regular signature dishes, and other rotating menu items. While the dishes change daily, the food is prepared centrally, and all the dining rooms share a common menu, although the dining rooms themselves have different decor and themes.

Guests have a choice of dining at a fixed dining room and timing (two different seatings), or the flexibility of "any time" dining which you choose at time of booking. There is also a full buffet available for all, with extended dining hours, and separate specialty restaurants (Japanese, Italian, Steakhouse. A small additional charge applies for the specialty restaurant), which can be booked separately if desired.

This is an example menu...





Red snapper mojito ceviche as a starter...



Creamed artichoke bisque...



Grilled salmon with herb and lemon butter...



Princess gourmet beef burger...



Country chicken...



Fettucini Alfredo, one of their signature pastas...



While food, coffee & tea were all inclusive, wine, cocktails and beverages were on a chargeable basis...

Pretty decent wines and cocktails were available...





All-you-can-drink beverage plans were also available, including soft drink/mocktail/hot chocolate plans which we signed the kids up for.

[yflyer]

Quite a substantial list of dessert choices...



Chocolate Mousse...which the staff referred to as "Love Boat"...



French vanilla bean creme brulee...



New York Cheesecake...



You could also purchase, for just $4 (Or was it $3? Can't remember...) an after dinner shot of various liqueurs, served in a signature Princess shot glass which was yours to keep as a souvenir.

My choice of was a B-52, a layered cocktail shot comprising coffee liqueur (e.g. Kahlua), Irish Cream, and Grand Marnier...



Overall, a very high standard of cuisine in the full service dining rooms, with warm and attentive service by mainly Asian and Filipino staff.

Note that any kind of cuisine onboard a large cruise ship is subject to the constraints of being at sea, and the sheer number of pax to be fed. It would be unrealistic to expect Michelin-starred dining onboard this type of cruise. But within those constraints, I thought Princess did an admirable job of providing a very good restaurant dining experience onboard, delivered at an industrial scale but without compromising taste or service quality.

[yflyer]

I can see Marina Bay Cruise Centre from my office and everytime I hear the ship honking three times (meaning its reversing in order to leave the port), I always sigh internally. Why can't I be on the ship too
Anyways, having been on Royal Caribbean and Star Cruises, it's a new experience to see pictures from princess cruises! Thanks for this trip report!

Thanks for reading, aduxsified!

Over the years, I've observed these cruise liners docked in Singapore and in other countries, and was always very envious of those onboard. I always wondered what it was like to be on these large cruise ships...it was great to be able to finally check out out last month!