Boarded the Diamond Princess today for our 12 day cruise to New Zealand. Our first time on Princess, although we have cruised Holland America many times. This is a larger ship then others we have been on and the layout is a lot more complicated. But it is much newer. The room (verandah) is quite nice. Compared to the Holland America ship we were on 2 months ago, this room is a bit smaller with a smaller bathroom, but better closet space. Several dining rooms rather than one large one. We are looking forward to a different experience on Princess than on H.A. The cruise stops at Melbourne and Hobart in Australia before heading to New Zealand. We have been to both places on our ground trip, but will still go ashore to do some things we had not done on our own. We have days at sea between stops so the blog may skip a day or two over the next 2 weeks.