The Temple of Heaven in Beijing is large and spacious, but so much of that space was filled with people that our arrival was to ripples of noise from every direction; different types of music overlapping; distant singing; that undulating murmur of thousands of people engaged in conversations. Our guide had already explained that this was one of the main meeting places for locals to come and engage in social activities including exercise, dancing, singing, playing games, and even just avoiding solitude for some of the more elderly citizens. It was a friendly, welcoming riot.

Note: videos in this post have been removed, hopefully temporarily, while a replacement hosting solution that doesn’t use multibillion companies trying to fleece even more profits out of people is sought.

After watching some of the local Chinese men and women performing some Tai Chi we were led, slowly, through a long, covered walkway area, absolutely rammed with people. It was a mix of tour groups (a few international groups such as our own, but the majority coming from elsewhere in mainland China to see their nation’s capital) and locals filling this space, with the latter set using some benches and shade to take part in games of dominoes or Mahjong or cards, singing, dancing, or engaging in crafts including knitting. Fabulously noisy, filled with life. It’s an experience I cannot recommend highly enough if you ever visit Beijing.

Passing through the covered walkway of activities we then approached the most impressive structure in the complex, a building that we originally thought was the Temple of Heaven itself but was in fact the Hall Of Prayer For Good Harvests. No idea what it was used for but if I had to guess I’d say it was perhaps some kind of hall, maybe one in which people could pray and ask for harvests, and most likely good ones. Circular and built on a marbled base, the hall is completely wooden and constructed without using nails. The one seen today dates from the late nineteenth century as the previous building on this spot was struck by lightning and burned down.

As is the way with many of these excursions you’ll take when you choose to cruise, we then had some free time to explore as we wanted before meeting back at the entrance to the public park. The architecture of the buildings was undeniably fabulous but we’d seen plenty of this style in Beijing over the previous few days. On the other hand, the Chinese people taking part in their social activities were utterly enthralling so while many others in our tour group took a look around the halls either side of the most impressive, multi-tiered one we were all stood around at this point my wife and I decided to head for some of the open spaces in which people were dancing or exercising instead.

One thing we spotted around this time was an argument breaking out between a group of men and women in their seventies, seemingly over cheating in dominoes as far as we could tell. Raised voices and a little bit of shoving was surprisingly lovely to witness.

The following video is one that just makes my heart smile. I’m not one for line dancing when it is associated with cowboy hats but older people in China is a whole different matter.

The range of activities was great to see. The Temple of Heaven was a place where you could see that it would suit almost anybody somewhere in the grounds. Right next to the more energetic line dancing there was ballroom dancing on show. We felt at the time and still feel that this sort of group activities place primarily for elder people to meet, enjoy the open air, enjoy the company, enjoy engaging their brains, or get a little bit of physical fitness is something that could really do with appearing in more cities around the world.

The final activity we saw being performed involved lots of ribbon-twirling, just showing that there was a full range of physical exertions or lack thereof on show and represented by the people of Beijing. In addition to looking pretty it was also one of those things that felt very Chinese; not the sort of thing you’d see taking place in a park back home, and isn’t that a fantastic reason to go travelling?

And it wasn’t just the older crowd and tourists from far and wide enjoying everything going on in the Temple of Heaven.

We could easily have spent most of an entire day in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing; it was that engrossing. However, it was now time to meet our bus outside the entrance and bid a fond farewell to the Chinese city. One last sight, and a very pleasing one, was that of a man composing poetry with water on the paving slabs of the ground.

From the Temple of Heaven we had a stop at a restaurant (the one with the seal in the pool on that link) before we were taken down to Tianjin where our very first cruise would commence on Diamond Princess.

We loved seeing the traditions played out, the sense of companionship, the noise and sights, and there was something about seeing mostly middle-aged and older people taking part in public group activities to the enjoyment of other people that reminded me somewhat of our time in China at the Temple of Heaven.

As the day wore on votes were cast and a new mayor was elected, thenceforth to be carried around by other members of the Abingdon morris dancers.

Since my wife had a close connection with one of the morris side members we were granted special dispensation to attend the evening’s entertainment later that day. The surroundings and music were wonderfully medieval and it proved to be a fabulous end to a thoroughly interesting day in Oxfordshire.

There are a few more photos from the election of 2012’s Mayor of Ock Street in Abingdon on Flickr – Abingdon Mayor’s Day 2012.

We popped into the Leeds Gallery next, mainly because one of us needed to pee. This gave us the opportunity for a bit of a look around (no photos though) and a quick stop to hydrate and grab a snack in the café. We were quite impressed with the tilework and general decorations of it.

We followed that up with a visit to the very good Leeds Museum (in a separate post) and with our cultural quotient filled we proceeded to explore the Yorkshire city on foot. As with a lot of big, old cities up north, away from much of the flattening that took place during World War 2, the architecture was fabulous and on a grand scale. Leeds city centre looked to be a quite well-to-do place, full of interesting shops and plenty of indoor shopping arcades.

One section of the pedestrianised shopping precinct in Leeds seemed to be popular with street entertainers including a Morris dancing side. We’ve got a soft spot for the traditions of the Morris so we stayed and watched for a little while, enjoying the interactions with other people.

Religious buildings were dotted around the city, as you’d expect.

Our walk back to the car park after we’d finished with nosing around some of the shops and stopping for a drink took us through more rundown, more modern streets and styles of architecture. There were still some gems among the bland buildings and even a few pieces of sculpture to punctuate that there was still some pride in these more industrialised areas.

A highlight of the trip was getting spotted with my camera by a local guy who then proceeded to pose and asked me to take a photo of him showing off his muscles. A little bit of street portraiture is absolutely fine with me so I was happy to oblige with a shot of this Leeds chap, whoever he was.

We then sat down to a meal, eight to a table, and wine glasses were presented. Then began the wine tasting and it was unlike any wine tasting we’d done before or since. Wine number one arrived and we slurped. Wine number two arrived and we slurped. Wine number one came back around to fill glasses up so we slurped again. Wine number three was also accompanied by wine number two for anyone who wanted more. Wines four and five were presented and wines one through three came around again as well in case anyone wanted a top up, and we did. Wine six was not alone, as I’m sure you can guess. I would estimate that we each came close to drinking two bottles of wine by the time it finished. We were quite merry.

Uruguayan Tango

We’d already seen a fabulous Argentine Tango when we were in Buenos Aires and now we were treated the variation of the dance performed in Uruguay (which to our eyes was the same). The tango dancers were wonderful.

At the end of the performance the two tango dancers approached some of the people who were watching to see if anyone wanted to get up and dance. I was approached. I said yes. I blame the wine. I apologised profusely for standing on the foot of my tango partner. There is photographic evidence of me “dancing” the tango in Uruguay. No, you may not see it.

We’d been sitting with Leandro, one of the videographers on the Star Princess cruise ship and that meant that video was taken of the occasion too. Upon sitting back down I turned to him and said “You will be nice and edit me out of any video, won’t you?” He smiled. On a later excursion we bumped into a couple we’d met around the ship a few times who excitedly told me they’d seen me dancing on the big screen as clips of the trips were played in the theatre while waiting to depart so, yes, there’s video evidence of me “dancing” the tango in Uruguay too. Bloody Leandro.

Arriving at the museum (a large field, part of the Institute of Patagonia) we were first entertained by some local musicians and dancers wearing traditional dress. A lot of people simply walked past them without glancing (knowing the people on our cruise many were probably already looking for a toilet or somewhere selling coffee or both) but we waited a while to appreciate the effort being made and grabbed a few photos.

The open air museum consisted of a large number of old houses or forms of transport or pieces of equipment from the last century or so in the region. Almost all the buildings could be entered, in which there were bits of historical memorabilia around. Our guide was taking those interested in hearing about the various places through the buildings and showing them highlights but we were free to wander off on our own and take photos or explore at our leisure before returning to the coach at a designated time.

I wouldn’t say it was the most interesting of places to visit and we’ve certainly seen better museum pieces, open air or not, but it was enjoyable enough. It was also something a little different from a standard museum or a visit to a church, etc. Whenever we go on cruises we like to try to mix our excursion types up as much as possible so that we’re not stuck seeing the same sort of place over and over again. To give away just how nerdy I am I usually prepare a spreadsheet with lists of excursions and types of things in each so that we can plan for the greatest variety every time.

Note, because visitors to this page are up, up, up: No, this isn’t the new Star Princess (due to launch in 2025). This is the better one that Princess let go before thinking “Hey, what if we made a new cruise ship look like it was swallowing a marble!? And added in restricted areas just for the big spenders!? And a central piazza that’s just a solid wall of noise all day long!? And what if we named it after another ship we’d only very, very recently sent down under just to confuse people using search engines!?” And then you turned up here. And now you’re disappointed. Don’t blame me.

One big difference in the three cruises we’d taken by the end of this cruise was in our rooms; we’d started with an inside state room on Diamond, got a free upgrade to a balcony on the Crown, and decided that since we were splashing out on a big cruise into the southern hemisphere and the difference in price wasn’t huge we’d go that little bit extra and grab a mini suite on the Star Princess. The state room we ended up picking was D201, close to the front of the ship and on the starboard side. The reason we chose the front of the ship was because we love seeing and hearing the waves breaking against the bow of the ship; you just don’t get that so much further back. Also, we love the movement of the ship so central positions where the ship’s movements are less pronounced don’t really appeal to us. The reason we chose the starboard side was because we would be cruising around South America in a clockwise direction which would then place land on our side of the ship whenever we were close enough to it; while we love a good, wide ocean view as much as the next person this would allow us to break up the constant view of the water on occasion, providing more interest.

The mini suite was larger, with an extended section with a sofa and a second television set. We hadn’t thought we’d make use of that section but surprised ourselves with just how much we did. The bathroom was larger and included a full bath over which the standard shower was connected. We never got around to using the bath itself but the extra long drying line came in very useful for our swimming gear as we swam a lot during that cruise. Outside, the balcony was very large indeed. The one downside was that it was uncovered and therefore both looked upon and at the mercy of the elements. This didn’t end up being a problem during our cruise but it’s worth considering if privacy on a balcony is important or you’re going somewhere that weather might play a part. Naturally, there were wonderful, unobstructed views and we saw a spectacular night sky leaving Buenos Aires where we could make out the Milky Way despite a fair bit of light pollution.

Getting anywhere on the ship involved use of the stairwells and elevators, all of which were very much what we’d experienced before. Having our room on the deck we were on meant we walked up and down to our room when heading off to the various entertainment options we were typically interested in on the promenade deck throughout the day. Usually we’re very much walk down, elevator up people.

The piazza was exactly what we’d come to expect as well. Light, bright, but warm colouring. We’ve seen other cruise lines’ atriums that have flashier elements but they always seem to pair them with darker, contrasting parts too that make the areas seem more claustrophobic. We do like the open, clean look on Princess ships. There were occasional demonstrations or activities taking place in the piazza but the only one we spent any time looking at from memory was an Argentine Tango being performed.

The first place we had a drink on Star Princess was in Crooners, the piano and cocktail bar on deck 7 at the top of the piazza. During the day and early evening this was one of the best places to come for a quiet chat and to experience the great cocktail-making skills on display. The bar staff on Star Princess remain to this day the best as a group we’ve ever had the pleasure of being with. Drinks were poured on glasses balanced on chins and elbows, funny chat was commonplace, names and what we’d drunk before were remembered, nothing was too much trouble.

Other areas off the piazza or on deck 7 where most of the onboard activities took place included the theatre where we had our muster drill, Explorer’s Lounge where quizzes, BOGOs (buy one drink, get another for a dollar), and art auctions entertained us, Wheelhouse Bar for more BOGOs and some pleasing jazz from an onboard group, and the art gallery.

The promenade deck on Grand-class Princess ships (i.e. not on the newer Royal-class ships) are full, wraparound decks allowing for complete walking circuits, and they were very popular, particularly early in the evening when it seemed a lot of passengers would work off some calories before going for dinner. We took our promenade walks at a far more sedate pace and always loved the views out to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

On the top deck the big draw for most passengers is naturally the various swimming pools. In common with every cruise we’ve been on getting a lounger anywhere near a pool on a sea day was next to impossible which I wouldn’t mind if the people near the water were going to make use of the facilities but they typically don’t. As a result, because we’re averse to getting out of a pool and dripping everywhere up two decks to get to the lounger we managed to find tucked away down the side somewhere, we tended to do most of our swimming in the small pool by the Sanctuary as most people don’t seem to realise it’s there; it’s not ideal for swimming because of its size but it does in a pinch.

The large screen for movies, some sports activities, sun loungers, and great views to the horizon made up the rest of the attractions of the top decks of the Star Princess cruise ship, and if it wasn’t raining then the Zumba classes were held there too.

Another new feature for us and one thing different on the Star Princess compared to the other Grand-class ships we’d been on (and still have been on) was the positioning of Skywalkers Nightclub. On other ships it’s a little further forward, directly accessible from the rear elevators and stairwell but Star Princess and a few others make use of advances in materials weight during construction to shift the nightclub back where it can be reached on a travelator. From the outside this looks like a long tube connecting the club to the rest of the ship. At night it was lovely to step onto the moving walkway and glide along looking at the ocean views through the glass while a smiling member of staff usually waited at the end to see where we would sit in order to hover for a drinks order.

Skywalkers Nightclub was our regular late night stop after dinner. We got to know the staff there pretty well and always enjoyed the disco despite the penchant of the resident DJ, Pedro, to play latin. He’d play requests that would fill the dancefloor then immediately switch to something he liked and everyone would vanish back to their seats. The inability of the DJ to read a crowd notwithstanding, it was a great end to every evening.

Our review of the cruise as a whole would be that the ports of call were superb and the Royal Princess itself was a beautiful ship inside and out but there were some design and feature choices on the ship we didn’t particularly like (personal preference so your views may differ) and, far more importantly, we were treated to some incredibly un-Princess-like levels of service during the trip that left us vowing to never set foot on the ship again during and just after the cruise. Time has a way of smoothing out those peaks and troughs and looking back through the pictures I’m reminded of some of the better parts of the ship and holiday so… the right price, the right itinerary might change my mind. But the Royal Princess would not be my first choice of ship in the Princess Cruises line.

Embarkation

We’d arranged flights to Italy and transfers to the port and ship with Princess for convenience (and they’re very well-priced, we’ve found) so a 4 a.m. start, drive to Heathrow, and check-in resulted in the holiday starting in traditional British fashion with drinks in the airport before we’d normally even be awake.

The weather was perfect across Europe for our holiday (which always helps) and obligatory phone photos of the landscape and lakes we flew over swiftly followed.

Luggage was retrieved, we found the Princess representatives easily, and with only a little bit of hanging around until everyone from a couple of flights had gathered together we made our way to the coach (quite a walk as I recall) to then take the fairly quick drive to Civitavecchia where the ship was waiting. Unlike everyone else, it seemed, we’d filled in all our paperwork early and walked straight through to pick up our ship card, boarding the ship itself within about three minutes of arriving at the port. Outstanding work.

State Room E102

Our late deal gave us the most forward balcony on the Royal Princess, low down on the port side of the ship. The room was decorated in much the same way as any other Princess ship we’d been on but everything was newer and a little brighter as you’d expect from a more modern ship. The Royal Princess was the first (and at time of writing, only) Royal-class ship we’d been on, with all our previous cruises taking place on Grand-class vessels. The only major layout change in the room we could see was a large, wall-mounted TV opposite the bed rather than the smaller, corner-set ones we’d seen elsewhere. In the bathroom there was a minor change in positioning of the toilet which is usually at 45 degrees to the vanity unit.

We like balconies on our cruises and if you like balconies too then you probably really need to think about any of the Royal-class of ships (Royal, Regal, Majestic from Princess, or Britannia from P&O) as balcony depth is appalling unless you’re willing to really splash out on some of the higher priced rooms. As it was, though, our room was at the flaring point of the ship near the front which gave us an angled, deeper balcony than typical; the three or four cabins further back from us had deeper cabins again; the only “downside” was that our balconies were described as partially obstructed which in this instance meant that the barrier portion of the balcony was metal instead of glass. This was no obstruction at all and it even meant there was a metal shelf that was handy for putting drinks on when we were sitting out there. The balcony was partially covered and partially exposed and the ship’s bridge was above and just behind. If you’re concerned about privacy it’s worth thinking about but it didn’t concern us. We’d read that when the bridge windscreen was cleaned some of the cleaning fluid could drip onto the balconies where we were but for E102 this didn’t seem to be possible as we were set ahead of the bridge.

In Civitavecchia we were docked alongside the Celebrity Eclipse. As we unpacked and enjoyed a drink in our room a sudden thunderstorm hit the area; lightning was flashing across the suddenly dark afternoon sky and the rain came tipping down. With only a half-covered balcony we couldn’t step out to really take in the splendour of nature but we did sit for a while with our bodies sheltered and our legs exposed to the elements; the warm rain coming down was nice but the subsequent drips from the metal overhead were decidedly cooler. The storm passed quickly in time for a pleasing sunset before muster and departure.

So, Royal Princess state room E102 was perfectly adequate (and arguably better than the majority of balcony cabins on board) and it was conveniently located just one deck above the promenade deck making it easy to walk to between them rather than rely on elevators (although it’s a big ship so it’s still a fair distance). One thing I must point out, though, is that if you’re a fan of sleeping in then best find another room. Proximity to the anchor meant an alarm clock was rarely required. This didn’t bother us, but it might bother you.

Piazza

The piazza was huge, light, and a very attractive space with some very familiar bars and shops hanging off it as we’d come to expect from Princess Cruises along with a few new places too. But looks aren’t everything. We came to realise very quickly that one of favourite things to do when we’re on a Princess ship – enjoy a cocktail from Crooners at the top of the piazza in the early evening before (and sometimes after) dinner – was completely ruined on Royal Princess because of new functionality for the atrium area; namely, activities. Specifically, noisy activities. It seemed there was almost always something happening in the piazza with the subsequent noise rising up to fill the space. At times it was difficult to hear yourself think because of a band or dance class taking place. This was a real disappointment for us.

Art Gallery

We’re fond of art, always make a point of attending at least one auction on board, usually buy something, and Princess (or, rather, Park West, who manage art sales on numerous cruise lines) knows this so we were invited to private events during our week on the ship. Yes, we bought again; one of the pieces is shown below but I won’t say which (other than it’s not the sculpture because we’re not made of money). The location of the gallery on deck 7 was a shock to us and we didn’t really like that it was along a main walking area on this class of ship but I understand the reasoning in trying to capture a bit of passing traffic (more on this in a bit). Our experience says that people who like art already know they like art and it’s unlikely you’re going to entice someone in for a sale on the off chance but I suppose it’s possible. The art gallery was by a stairwell above the casino and we did notice the smell of smoke every now and then which was unpleasant. The gallery staff were superb, friendly, and we enjoyed many chats with them both on and off the ship in ports when we bumped into some on occasion (more on friendliness of staff in a bit too).

Club 6

Our favourite venue on the Grand-class ships operated by Princess Cruises is Skywalkers Nightclub; nothing beats some late nights dancing and drinking. So it was an immense disappointment to discover that not only did the Royal Princess not have this club but the club it did have instead, Club 6, had no views out to sea in the evening and was both adjacent to the casino (smoking smell would creep in from time to time) and formed a corridor between the theatre and the piazza. The reasoning – we suspect – is again to capture passing traffic to the club, something that’s not possible for Skywalkers as it’s at the aft and up top of ships. The reality – we found – was that a crowd of people would just suddenly walk through the place a few times each evening talking loudly while you were trying to enjoy the music, blocking most of the routes to and from the dancefloor until they’d cleared. Baffling design decision. We’ve subsequently talked to a DJ who has worked on Princess ships and who made all the same complaints about Club 6 that I’ve done here.

One interesting thing about Club 6 on the Royal Princess, though, was that the resident DJ was Pedro who had also been on our South American cruise aboard the Star Princess. To date we think he’s the only crew member we’ve encountered twice on a trip. If he wasn’t so fixated on playing latin music all the bloody time then this would have been a good thing.

Other Interior Spaces

The food locations were (mostly) all excellent and none more so than the buffet; huge, open, well laid out, fantastic choices; this was one area that was substantially improved over other Princess ships. Quality and range were all excellent. With our recent experiences on P&O, for example, it’s incredible just how good and varied the breakfast is on Princess with regular choices, local dishes, changing dishes sensibly making use of food not eaten the night before, etc. With P&O it will typically be the same five things every day. Wonderful cake choices too.

The blot on the food landscape was the specialty dining in the Crown Grill, something we always like to do on a Princess cruise but… the location was attached to the Wheelhouse Bar which transformed it from a specialty location to a side room in a pub, and a noisy one at that; it was too bright so intimate dining was gone; the waiter didn’t listen to me at all (more on service in a bit). Anyway, awful.

A TV studio replaces one of the lounges on the Royal Princess and it’s a complete waste of space. That’s all I have to say on that. Another lounge had an odd layout of seating that made talking to other people difficult. Pleasant enough artwork was dotted around the ship and the namer of the ship, the Duchess of Cambridge, had her photograph in one of the corridors.

Promenade Deck

We like a nice walk around the promenade deck on other ships. Sadly, this was impossible on Royal Princess with just a few small areas of decking you could step out on and no walking circuit except for up on top of the ship. The deck areas on the promenade deck were pleasant enough but the views were a little limited by the presence of lifeboats. A nice view to the SeaWalk above could be had but that’s little compensation.

SeaWalk

One of the big features of the Royal Princess cruise ship is its SeaWalk, a glass platform jutting out from the side of the ship and allowing views down to the sea. Sort of. It’s mostly over the promenade deck below so there’s no worry about falling through into the water as the wooden decking below would probably cushion any fall. It’s a nice enough gimmick and looks attractive from the ship’s exterior. Except with the lights on in the evening you can’t really see through the glass because of the reflections. What you can see, though, is onto the balconies and into some of the state rooms nearby. And as for what those rooms can see out to? If you like to gaze out at the stars at night (we do) then you’re only going to see a glowing glass obstruction I imagine.

Sports

The sports and gym options seemed to be improved from what we’ve seen on other ships with plenty of equipment and walking and jogging lanes. Not that we tried any; we’re not insane.

One piece of equipment looked like it was installed backwards from the accompanying explanation of how to use it and its proximity to the ship.

Swimming Pools

Swimming pools were generally very good with lots of lounges around. A water fountain area seemed to be a little bit of a waste of space but it was fairly entertaining on a few evenings when a sound and light show was performed. The best discovery, though, was the Retreat pool; adults only, sheltered, large enough to do plenty of laps in, and pretty much ignored by most of the passengers on board which suited us perfectly. We were very pleased to get in plenty of swims on our week on the Royal Princess.

Service

The biggest, biggest, biggest problem we had with our week on board Royal Princess was that the level of service was nothing close to what we had come to expect from Princess Cruises. We were met with indifference from bar staff who would take orders with barely a glance, no chat, no smile, then head off without a word until they’d return to hand over drinks in silence, and this happened in every bar we visited on board; at the Retreat pool we couldn’t even catch the eye of a bar steward when we were the only ones there who went out of his way to wander around looking out to sea and ignoring us.

While the food was good in general the level of service was perfunctory at best in the main dining room, and in the Crown Grill it was atrocious with the waiter getting my order wrong and sighing loudly when it was pointed out. By far the worst service we had was when we had to go to the customer services desk to re-register a credit card that had stopped working because two digits had somehow transposed themselves between us booking the cruise and it being entered in their system somewhere; during a puzzled query as to how this could have happened since the card numbers had only been entered once and had obviously initially worked to get us on board we were met with an eye roll from the customer service person and an accusation that it had to be our fault. It was all I could do to hold my wife in check who was livid at being treated in such a way. We’ve never been treated that badly before or since and it just seemed to be pervasive among all the crew we encountered in some manner or another, again with the exception of the art gallery people who couldn’t have been nicer.

I know that sometimes something isn’t quite right or an encounter might not be perfect but it happened to us throughout the week and we weren’t the only people to experience this; during our disembarkation tour in Athens we were talking to some elite-level passengers who had all the same complaints to raise that we did.

Anyway, to finish: a few more photos and a couple of videos of the Royal Princess cruise ship top deck because despite problems on this cruise she was a pretty ship. It just might be a while before we’re tempted back on her or any of her class though.

The cruise line (and independent tour organisers) offered several evening options for those who didn’t want to stay on board the ship (and why would you?) but the one we were most interested in doing was attending a Russian ballet performance. Princess offered two ballet excursions: a ballet performance and an upgraded ballet performance. Sadly, there was very little information other than the price difference to tell you what the upgrade was so I had to get in touch with their customer services prior to booking to find out. So, if you want to know the difference between the two ballet choices when visiting Saint Petersburg then it’s this: the cheaper one takes place in a modern hall; the more expensive one takes place in a traditional theatre; the former may have better facilities but the latter will have more history. There’s also likely to be a change in quality of ballet performer although, of course, you never can tell what will happen on the night.

We went for the more expensive option which meant we got to see Swan Lake performed at the Alexandrinsky Theatre.

It was warm in the theatre and the seating was very basic but the venue was absolutely gorgeous to be in and there was a great mix of not just tour groups like our own but also many locals. Wonderfully, we got to sit in the second row so had a stunning close-up view of the evening’s entertainment which took place through three acts.

I have no idea if the ballet was performed well because we had nothing to compare it to; all I can say is that we enjoyed every moment of it from the great music from the orchestra in the pit just in front of us to the dancers themselves and even the impressive set designs and way the lighting changed to produce some fabulous special effects. One thing that surprised us all was just how noisy and heavy ballet dancers sound as they run and leap across the stage.

During the first and largest intermission we were guided out to a room at the back with a lovely balcony and some attractive artwork on the ceiling where we were served a glass of champagne.

Photography was not permitted during the show, for obvious reasons, and when photography isn’t permitted then I don’t take photos. The group in front of me in the first row, however, were not so understanding and took some shots during the first act until I and another person in our group leaned forward and got them to stop. As the act came to a close a theatre usher also came up to them and gestured that they would be thrown out if they took photos again and after we’d got back from our champagne break our guide went and talked to their guide and that group and gave some universal sign language for “put your damn cameras away!” I think the message hit home.

I did take one quick photo at the curtain call. The lighting conditions and the fact that all I had on me was my phone didn’t make for the easiest of shots but you can see how lovely the scenery was.

It’s not easy to get a sense of scale in that photo.

Our coach then took us back to the ship where we grabbed a bit more food in the International Café to complement the small amount we’d been able to wolf down before our evening excursion in Saint Petersburg. We checked out Skywalkers briefly and to get a drink before retiring to our room after a long, full day and I shot a few final photos of the area around the port at night.

It was nice to be able to see Keelung under better weather conditions than either we’d experienced in the morning or on our previous visit ten years earlier.

Keelung From The Top Deck

Until this point our visual experience of the port of Keelung had been all facing roughly eastwards as that was the direction our balcony looked out on. Heading up to the top deck gave us a chance to see the western side of the port which included some small passenger ship terminals, a ship alongside us, and a view of the hill in that direction on which there was a landmark sign reminding us which city we were in.

We became quite distracted looking down in the port basin alongside Diamond Princess as we noticed birds skimming slowly over the water’s surface then soaring around and repeating the task. They were clearly after food just below or on the surface but what really caught our attention was that they were raptors rather than seabirds and this was behaviour we hadn’t expected to see in birds of this type. It’s probably a very common act for them but I don’t know much about birds. A little investigation says that they’re most likely to be a Taiwan-specific family of black kites.

Following the top deck of the cruise ship around I took more photos of the more-familiar views of Keelung that we’d been able to see from our balcony. My excuse for taking as many photos as I do – not that I need one or that you care – is that the higher elevation of the shots and constantly changing light makes every shot different even if there’s little to immediately distinguish one from the other. I’m also immensely drawn to architecture and as much so whether that’s the ancient sort such as the prominent Zhupu Altar or modern buildings with their patterns of windows and repetitive structures creating geometric interest, both types of which we could see in this direction.

We continued our circuit of the top deck, snapping more photos of Keelung’s buildings. As we made our way forwards the most noticeable sight on the landscape surrounding the ship was the statue of Guanyin (the Buddhist bodhisattva of compassion) in Zhongzheng Park. The statue is over twenty metres in height.

We started back down around midships and passed a very serene-looking main swimming pool devoid of anyone in or around it.

Our reason for heading down was to catch the afternoon trivia, something of a rarity for us on a port day as we’re most often ashore on a cruise excursion. I’m pleased to say that we won a bottle of fizz for the second time in three days. We would end up skipping the last formal night of the cruise in favour of room service, a few movies on demand, and our two alcoholic prizes a few days later.

Departure From Keelung

With everyone aboard Diamond Princess it was time to cast off and we spent this time out on our balcony. The sun dipping towards the horizon completely transformed the views of Keelung we had, casting warm light and long shadows across the buildings along the waterfront and the landmarks on the hills.

As our cruise ship started to make its slow northbound exit out of Keelung we passed a fair number of Taiwanese naval ships – American-design frigates for the most part – with some having been built specifically for Taiwan under licence and others being modified former US Navy vessels. We were reminded of our overnight cruise into Portsmouth of only one month earlier and passing by all the naval ships in our city as we arrived home.

The local pilot boat kept up the slow pace with us as we left the residential area of Keelung behind and passed the commercial outskirts lined with warehouses, cargo vessels, and large cranes for loading and unloading containers.

As the harbour entrance opened up we were treated to some lovely pastel colours in the evening sky with the sun having just dipped below the horizon on the port side of the ship. On one of the nearest bits of land there was an interesting tower with offsetting circular levels and beyond it, out to sea, we could see the pyramidal and clearly volcanic form of Keelung Islet, these days a tourist destination but formerly a military training spot and historically sacred, said to be haunted by a female ghost.

The final connection to the main island of Taiwan that we passed on the starboard side was a green navigation marker with which I spent far too long trying to time photos with its flash.

The wind had picked up quite a bit as we left the shelter of Keelung and the heat of the day had very quickly become a very cold wind of the post-sunset evening. There was just enough light left in the sky to make our parting rear view of Taiwan a very attractive one and we shivered ourselves back into our room to plan our evening’s entertainment.

Evening Aboard Diamond Princess

Our evening on Diamond Princess after leaving Taiwan turned out to be quite interesting. When we’d got into our room after our excursion in Jiufen there was a letter awaiting us in our room. On one of the previous days we’d noticed that somewhere around the promenade deck there had been a bit of a pong. It wasn’t nice but it was fleeting and we didn’t pay it too much attention until a few days after that when someone else mentioned that they knew people on the same deck as us, forward like us, but on the port side, who’d had the smell near their cabin for a few days. Again, we shrugged, said it was an occasional issue you could get from the vacuum toilet systems on cruise ships, and paid it no mind again. The letter, though, brought it all back because Princess admitted the smell was unacceptable and as a goodwill gesture was refunding cabins in the affected area $250 per person plus offering a 10% discount on any already-booked future cruise or any cruise booked within a couple of years. So, for something that hadn’t bothered us in the slightest we ended up with a hefty onboard credit plus the knowledge that we’d be getting a bargain on our next cruise too. The credit lasted right up until the Effy shop opened once the ship was out to sea and my wife spent it all on a black and white diamond necklace. Well, it was money we weren’t expecting.

Photos from a very acceptable dinner in the main dining room that evening.

We finished the night in Skywalkers, as is our way. On our arrival at the base of the escalator leading up to the club we were shocked to hear the sounds of lots of voices of people enjoying themselves, this being a completely unexpected thing on the ship. A typical night would involve maybe half a dozen of us sitting around, enjoying the music, enjoying the drinks, enjoying the occasional wander outside to stare at the night view from the aft of the ship, enjoying the exclusivity of the venue. In addition to the strange people there were plenty of decorations up and as we looked confused and concerned that we’d stumbled upon something we shouldn’t have a steward explained that this was the staff’s halloween party, mostly for the benefit of the show dancers as it turned out, but that it would be finishing right then so we’d be fine to take our normal seats and get drinks. We did so.

There then followed a battle between us and the DJ. He saw us and worriedly said he hadn’t realised that was the time and that he would stop. We then insisted he didn’t and that he let everyone carry on enjoying themselves because we were enjoying watching them. Oh no, I can’t do that. Oh yes, yes you can, we’re the passengers – the only passengers in this entire place – and you’re supposed to do what makes us happy. Thus it was that we managed to wring an additional half an hour’s entertainment out for the staff and for ourselves, fending off numerous attempts to get us (barely able to walk straight most of the time) to join them (professional dancers) on the floor. The video below (temporarily removed) shows off some of the synchronised fun we avoided taking part in, although my phone struggled to record the video very well in the venue.

That concluded our day in Taiwan. The following day would see us in Okinawa ahead of two sea days to bring this Asian cruise aboard Diamond Princess to an end.

Princess Patter

Every evening you’ll have delivered to your stateroom the Princess Patter, the programme of events for the following day. On the front on port days you’ll find very useful information relating to emergency phone numbers, shuttle buses, tender boat operations, etc. On sea days it’s typically more general with a few spotlights of events you can enjoy aboard ship. You can see the Princess Patter information for our penultimate cruise sea day below. We like to have a good nose at what’s going on around the ship in the printed version in the evening and morning then tend to rely on the digital version during the day that’s available on your phone for free when connected to the ship’s wi-fi in airplane mode. You can see the information on how to do that in the Princess@Sea box on the front page.

Morning Activities

It was great to wake up to yet another blue sky (despite the weather forecast in the Patter) and Diamond Princess was passing the Amami Islands when we emerged from our night’s slumber. There was a pretty strong northerly breeze with a bite to it but it otherwise looked to be another glorious day at sea. They’re all glorious, really.

After breakfast we would normally take part in the morning trivia but we decided to skip it in favour of the Culinary Show taking place at 10:15 in the theatre. We’d been to one of these before on Sapphire Princess (see: Sapphire Princess Food And Drink) and wanted to see how different it would be on a ship catering to the Japanese market in the way that Diamond did. The answer: not very, and probably a side-effect of having a vast number of Italian chefs on the Princess Cruises fleet who then favour the same sort of food specialities to demonstrate. Nevertheless, it was fun, with a very amiable executive chef again in the form of Fabrizio Fazzini. All of his preparation explanations were translated by one of the Japanese staff with the exception of a remark about how extra virgin olive oil doesn’t stay that way long around Italians. “Yeah, I’m not translating that,” she said to loud laughter.

I took video of the culinary demonstration and of the walk through the galley that takes place afterwards and will upload the unedited versions at some point but for now you can see short clips in the sea day activities highlights video at the bottom of this post. You’ll also be able to see some footage of the outlet sale area in the dining room through which you exit after the galley tour and clips of the Bollywood dance class that was taking place in the piazza just afterwards too.

Afternoon Activities

Sea days are swimming days for us. Diamond Princess hadn’t been particularly kind to the avid swimmer by not heating any of its pools but we’d found that south of Japan the shallow depth of the Sanctuary Pool under the sunshine was just about acceptable temperature-wise. We decided we wanted a swim, changed into the appropriate gear, made our way to our favourite pool and discovered it had been netted off. The sea wasn’t rough so there didn’t seem to be a good reason for it and nobody could give me an answer as to when it might be made available so we took the plunge and tried the main outdoor pool for the first time since the first day aboard. It was cold but tolerable so long as you kept moving and kept your shoulders below the water’s surface where the wind was whipping across it occasionally and kept repeating to yourself that the additional blubber that had formed over the preceding fortnight was protecting you like a manatee.

We ended up swimming for about 75 minutes which was about three times as long as we’d initially planned. In the first instance this was because I got talking to a Canadian man as we swam lengths and we swapped cruise experiences as you do with everyone you meet on one of these trips at sea. After he gave in to the need to warm up, my wife and I found ourselves in a quandary. The ice carving demonstration had just started beside the pool. In itself not a problem but it was right beside where we’d put down our clothes and bags. This meant we’d need to walk in front of a gathered crowd and – worse – the ship’s videographers recording the event in order to dry ourselves, grab our clothes, and go. Our sense of propriety forbade the possibility that our near-naked masses might make the final cut of the highlights DVD so we extended our swim until the coast was clear. We grabbed burgers and fries as we tried to get feeling back into our extremities.

We wouldn’t have been allowed to stay in the water much longer anyway as the next activity on this sea day was due to start and it involved the pool we’d been swimming in. This was Scrapheap Challenge “The Boat Float”. Earlier in the cruise there had been the opportunity for passengers to sign up to the challenge of constructing a vessel that could float and be towed around the perimeter of the swimming pool, carrying cans of drink. As with all the group activities on Diamond Princess this was something that the Japanese passengers signed up for in their droves. When it comes to participation we’ve never met a group with a more go-for-it attitude than the people of Japan.

We grabbed a decent viewing location – in the sun for still-needed warmth and good light for photographs but more exposed to the wind to keep us from burning – and took a great deal of enjoyment in seeing the Boat Float challenge proceed.

It was a well-attended event as you can see from the many photos I took. It was also a lot of fun and interesting to see those who were there just to take part and those who really wanted to win. There were two prizes up for grabs, those being for the fastest lap of the pool and for the best design.

Boats came in a variety of styles from those constructed just from inflatables that had been brought along or bought on the ship to those getting more in the spirit of the game made with balloons or cardboard or anything else really.

Mishaps did occur. String untied itself in one instance almost causing the vessel being towed to drift into the centre of the pool out of reach. In a few cases the boats either weren’t quite up to the task of carrying the cans they had been loaded with or the person towing their vessel had tugged too hard and upended it all. In either event the result was the same and the cans sank to the bottom of the pool which led to calls for a brave person – an Australian gentleman as it turned out – to dive in and retrieve the cargo. As we knew how cold the water was we can only salute him.

Winners were eventually crowned and their prizes ended up being the cans of drinks they’d been ferrying around the pool for everyone’s entertainment. Some high intensity boat float action can be seen in the highlights video at the bottom of this post.

Taking advantage of having my big camera with me out on deck and lovely weather conditions I had to have a quick stroll around to see if anything jumped out at me and wanted to be photographed. You’d be surprised how much does, over and over. My wife wouldn’t. We noticed that the pool we’d wanted to swim in was still netted off.

A very casual activity for a sea day for us is wildlife-spotting. We’re not experts by any stretch of the imagination and we certainly don’t go out of our way to look for creatures of any sort when we’re travelling but it’s sometimes hard not to be captivated by what you see crossing your path so if there are reports of pods of dolphins then you look even if you’ve seen them a dozen times before. Similarly, when we spot birds we try to pay attention to them especially when we’re cruising far from home because it’s likely we’ll have never seen them before and life is about experiences and gaining knowledge and a continual quest for one-upmanship. Thus, when we spotted some black and white birds keeping pace with Diamond Princess, sometimes circling around it, more often gently flying alongside, we made our way to the promenade deck for a closer look. We probably watched the birds for a good fifteen minutes and a little research once we got back says they were probably Brown Boobies of the subspecies Sula leucogaster plotus. Knowledge!

Of course, there’s a sea day activity that we always engage in and that’s drinking. After all our outdoors entertainment we grabbed our reading materials (I like physical books, my wife has her Kindle) and a set of playing cards (in case the desire to challenge one another at ten-card brag overwhelmed us) and hit our favourite place to drink on a Princess Cruises ship, Crooners.

Situated at the top of the piazza it’s easy to tell when there’s some activity taking place in it that might be of interest. A typical day will often see some music being played but you might find group dances taking place too (as there had been earlier in the day) and some traditional ship games such as the bean bag toss that started not long after we’d grabbed our seats. Yet again, as with every participation activity on Diamond Princess this was something attended by the Japanese passengers aboard in large numbers again and although the photos don’t show it the number of people waiting to play was probably several dozen. The video at the end of this post contains a little bit of footage of this activity and a rather unusual throwing technique deployed by a frustrated competitor.

Evening Activities

As you can see from the Princess Patter at the top of the page this penultimate cruise day aboard Diamond Princess was a formal night. We don’t mind formal nights, we most often dress up for them, but on this particular day we just weren’t feeling it, even though the last formal night on a cruise is the big one: the one where the champagne fountain at the farewell cocktail party in the piazza takes place, the one where lobster tends to be on the menu. We’d already decided that we were going to do things completely different for a change and order room service, drink the two bottles of champagne we’d won in a couple of trivia games during the cruise, and watch a few movies from the very large selection available.

But this didn’t mean we couldn’t head up to the Elite Lounge in Skywalkers and take advantage of one of the cheaper drinks there and enjoy what was sure to be another spectacularly beautiful sunset at sea. As our drinks arrived we were pleased to see people already there in formal wear and because Diamond Princess caters about 50/50 for Japanese and Western passengers it was especially pleasing to see some people in formal Japanese clothing.

The two films we ended up watching were Table 19 and The Shape of Water, the former (which was okay) because it had been recommended by the Canadian swimmer earlier in the day and the latter (which was fantastic) because it had been a film we’d meant to watch when it came out at the cinema.

That concludes our sea day activities aboard Diamond Princess. We would have one more day on the ocean before this utterly fantastic cruise would come to an end. The video below (temporarily removed) contains edited highlights of some of this day’s activities as explained during this post.