These photos and general review of the Diamond Princess cruise ship cover the inside spaces. For exterior spaces on the ship please read Outside Diamond Princess.
After three incredible and unforgettable days in China we gathered our belongings from the hotel, boarded our coach, and started off on the journey towards Tianjin where we would be starting the cruise portion of our honeymoon on Princess Cruises‘ ship Diamond Princess. What should have been a straightforward trip to the port, however, involved a few diversions as some of the roads were suddenly closed due to the arrival of a dignitary of some sort. Nevertheless, our driver knew what he was doing and found another route that got us to the port in plenty of time and we even had time for a rest stop in the middle of nowhere at some toilets which was handy (Peking duck may not have agreed with me) and an experience to try to overlook (cubicles but just a shared trough running along the floor through all of them to squat over and no toilet paper (luckily we had some tissues)).
Inside Cabin
It was our honeymoon and we were spending a lot of money (for us at the time) on the cruise so we were making savings where we thought they wouldn’t matter. For that reason we had chosen an inside cabin as we’d been told (and we’d assumed anyway) that we wouldn’t really spend a lot of time in it. Our later cruise experiences indicate this is not really true; if you get an inside cabin you may not spend much time there unless you’re a fan of four walls and lots of mirrors but if you have a balcony and decent views then it’s somewhere great to sit so our preference is not for inside rooms these days.
Not too easy to get any decent photos of the inside room on the Diamond Princess because of all the mirrors and our aversion to seeing ourselves or having anyone else see us either. Anyway, double bed, side cabinets, lots of desk space, lots of room to hang up and store clothing, and a perfectly fine toilet with shower.
Atrium
The central point of the cruise ship covering decks five through seven was the atrium. The lower two decks both served dining rooms and shops and customer services while the upper deck of the atrium was the place to filter out to find the bars and lounges.
The Plaza deck (deck five) of the atrium often hosted events such as music or food demonstrations or the champagne waterfall. We’d seen a talk by a magician in one of the lounges on one of the days (history of Houdini although I can’t remember the magician’s name) and attended his close-up sleight-of-hand demonstration in the atrium a couple of days later. We arrived early and picked a chair at the back but were immediately singled out, dragged to his table, and took part in the show. Mortifying, but fascinating.
Crooners Bar
Along one side of the top of the atrium was Crooners, a piano and Martinis bar, home to Sammy Goldstein. We had many very enjoyable evenings listening to his music and trying the various cocktails from the extensive list, and we bought a deck of playing cards with recipes on them that we still take on board every ship we cruise on. Crooners was also a good place to sit and read during the day while at sea on the cruise, something you can’t really do these days on the larger Royal-class ships as the noise from the atrium destroys the peaceful atmosphere.
Wheelhouse Bar
The bar in which we spent the most amount of our time was probably the Wheelhouse Bar, also on deck seven. The lighting and seating was very cosy, they occasionally had trivia challenges, sometimes had musicians performing, and at other times it was quieter than elsewhere so provided a welcoming place to sit and talk with friends we’d made on the trip.
Club Fusion
Still on the same deck at the aft of the ship (and the very first location I took a photograph of while on board the Diamond Princess) was Club Fusion, a large area not typically used as a club as such on our trip but more for dancing lessons (we watched but didn’t take part), exercising (likewise), some musical performances (nope), and bingo (not our thing either).
One of the funniest memories of our Far East honeymoon cruise was entering Club Fusion late one evening and seeing a mad rush of waiting staff trying to run without actually running in our general direction to be the first to take a drinks order; the reason for this was that we were possibly the youngest people on board and by 21:00 most nights almost the only people not in their cabins. We were told that on the longer cruises to more exotic locations it was typically older, retired people who took them and they apparently needed lots of sleep. Almost every evening we would take a stroll from lounge to lounge and bar to bar and have our pick of music, drinks, and seating location.
One of the great places to visit once we realised it was there was the intimate Wake View Bar, accessed by a spiral staircase near the stage in Club Fusion then heading down.
Explorers Lounge
Situated about halfway between Club Fusion and the top of the atrium was Explorers which served as the location for most daily trivia quizzes (of which we won quite a few, brag, brag) as well as some smaller shows, some live music, and art auctions. We got to see comedian Kelly Monteith one evening who was good but who clearly found the somewhat elderly and quiet room a tough crowd.
Art Gallery
We like art so enjoyed the art auctions and walking through the art gallery regularly on the lowest deck. Sadly, we couldn’t afford any pieces at the time but we would rectify that in later years and on later cruises.
Skywalkers Nightlcub
Every night without fail we ended up in Skywalkers Nightclub, sometimes the only people there and only once with anything even remotely close to a crowd being present. The DJ would sometimes leave his booth to come ask us for music choices and seemed put out that we mostly left it up to him to decide. My regular late night of Jack Daniels and Coke became well-known with the crew very quickly and I would sometimes only have to enter a bar or the nightclub and give the nod for them to be able to bring my drink and to have memorised my card number, much to the annoyance of some other people we had befriended at the time who were elite level, in a suite, yet still had to produce their cards and were never remembered; just another of those little memorable things for us about the cruise.
One the best memories of the cruise, or any bit of travelling, was leaving Singapore and sitting up in Skywalkers Nightclub. As we looked back across a mostly black sea and sky with distant lights of the country just visible a storm started up that lit up the horizon; drinking, listening to music, and watching flashes arc across the sky and huge clouds become lit from behind was mesmerising.
Other Interior Locations
On the landings of every stairwell and in many hallways there were artworks displayed and there were self-service laundromats on every deck with significant numbers of cabins. Some of the other places inside the Diamond Princess cruise ship were the casino, theatre, and smokers/sports lounge, all on deck six, and the dining rooms on decks five and six. We only visited the theatre as part of our muster drill and for one show, not really enjoying it enough to consider trying to arrange dining around it from that point on. We’re not gamblers so the casino held no interest but we did use the slot machines once and we did drop some coins in the machine that pushes money on shelves until something drops off, winning some dice in the process.
