Golden since dry dock?

read somewhere the Golden was going in for a refurb before AK season. Anybody been on her since? Reports?

Heard from a couple this morning at church who just got off the Golden Princess after 29(?) days from Singapore to Anchorage. Crew, food, entertainments were great. Ship had many issues:

) A/C did not work in may cabins or public areas - real issue in hot Asian portions. Many cabins had to leave doors at night to get air flow in cabin

) Many water leaks throughout the ship.

) Refrigerators did not work

) No heat during northern Pacific portion of cruise - snow and cold outside, had to wear parkas inside ship.

) Floor areas were not covered and rust was showing in many places

There seemed to be a lack of ship's personnel to explain why things did not operate. Crew excuse was that ship "heated up" during dry dock and did not have enough time to get A/C working afterward ????

Another problem was in Japan during the B2B day. All B2B passengers had to disembark and returning passengers were crammed in a hot closed room. Many older passengers were not able to stand for the 1.5 plus hours waiting to re board. No water or facilities ( including chairs ). Seemed to be no Princess personnel to coordinate re boarding.

I was on Golden for 16 days from Tokyo to Anchorage. Yes there were lots of leaks. Rumour was that an outside contractor installed the big new flat screen tvs and drilled into water pipes in some places causing water leaks all over. Some people had to move rooms. They were working on fixing these leaks the whole cruise. Cabin A702 the AC was fine. I actually never saw snow and was fine wearing a light down vest while walking outside on various days across the Pacific. However, I live in Vancouver so a cooler part of the world. Anyway ship temperature seemed fine to me.

I also thought the inside of the ship looked pretty good. Some carpets had been replaced. Didn't notice any rust

The day in Osaka was a mess.....everyone had to be off the ship at 4pm. Had to be down to a 0 passenger count as we would be leaving Japan. Unfortunately 2 passengers decided the Japanese rules didn't apply to them and wouldn't leave the ship. This caused all the other passengers to be waiting in uncomfortable surroundings for 90 minutes or so. I agree Princess staff did not assist passengers waiting to reboard and I don't know why it took them so long to break into the offenders room and escort them off. Believe me there were many people who wanted to find out who the culprits were. They caused a lot of distress to a many people.

I enjoyed the cruise very much, the staff was great, dining, International Cafe and coffee, shops and especially the cruise directors staff who went all out to entertain us on 7 long days at sea.

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I was on Golden for 16 days from Tokyo to Anchorage. Yes there were lots of leaks. Rumour was that an outside contractor installed the big new flat screen tvs and drilled into water pipes in some places causing water leaks all over. Some people had to move rooms. They were working on fixing these leaks the whole cruise. Cabin A702 the AC was fine. I actually never saw snow and was fine wearing a light down vest while walking outside on various days across the Pacific. However, I live in Vancouver so a cooler part of the world. Anyway ship temperature seemed fine to me.

 

I also thought the inside of the ship looked pretty good. Some carpets had been replaced. Didn't notice any rust

 

 

The day in Osaka was a mess.....everyone had to be off the ship at 4pm. Had to be down to a 0 passenger count as we would be leaving Japan. Unfortunately 2 passengers decided the Japanese rules didn't apply to them and wouldn't leave the ship. This caused all the other passengers to be waiting in uncomfortable surroundings for 90 minutes or so. I agree Princess staff did not assist passengers waiting to reboard and I don't know why it took them so long to break into the offenders room and escort them off. Believe me there were many people who wanted to find out who the culprits were. They caused a lot of distress to a many people.

 

 

I enjoyed the cruise very much, the staff was great, dining, International Cafe and coffee, shops and especially the cruise directors staff who went all out to entertain us on 7 long days at sea.

 

 

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We were also on the same portion of the cruise. Have to agree with everything you posted. Overall we had a great time. We had an issue with the toilet stopping for a few hours on one day but it was eventually fixed. I think the bathroom looked shabby/tired. Tile floor was replaced but then tile molding around the sink and tub were broken. Beds were fine. Air conditioning worked so so during port days but cooled off underway. Heating worked fine. Found the interior of the ship was cold during port days then when doing the crossing it was stuffy especially in the dining rooms. A few water leaks which were taken care of. The ship looked like any other Grand Class ship. Older looking but comfortable. Had no problems with the staff and the food was just ok.

I see that you have already been given the story. If you would like to check additional reports, go to the "Research" heading at the top of the CruiseCritic homepage. Click "ships" and then do a search for Golden Princess. You will find 5 reviews of cruises that were done after the dry dock. I hope this helps.

I’ve been on 6 different Princess ships. The only newer one was the Royal on a transatlantic voyage. If my recent cruise on the Golden (after recent dry dock Tokyo to Whittier) had been my 1st Princess cruise, it would have been my last Princess cruise.

Bottom line, the ship has not been well maintained. The fact the the Golden is moving to P&O in 2020 should not impact passengers currently sailing on her. Constant problems with HVAC and plumbing, torn upholstery, marked walls, poorly maintained paint and varnish and a general dingy feeling is not acceptable.

For us, the best the Golden had to offer is the extremely comfortable new Princess bedding and the staff in the Crown Grill.

One aspect of Princess that I have always enjoyed was the friendly, attentive crew. While there were exceptions, for the most part the crew did not seem happy nor especially friendly. The cruise director’s staff was upbeat and outgoing although the CD lacked polish. We were fortunate to deal with Mariana at Passenger Services, who always had a smile, no matter how long the lines of unhappy passengers.

Other passengers will disagree with my comments. My assessment is only 1 point of view.

I was on Golden for 16 days from Tokyo to Anchorage. Yes there were lots of leaks. Rumour was that an outside contractor installed the big new flat screen tvs and drilled into water pipes in some places causing water leaks all over. Some people had to move rooms. They were working on fixing these leaks the whole cruise. Cabin A702 the AC was fine. I actually never saw snow and was fine wearing a light down vest while walking outside on various days across the Pacific. However, I live in Vancouver so a cooler part of the world. Anyway ship temperature seemed fine to me.

 

I also thought the inside of the ship looked pretty good. Some carpets had been replaced. Didn't notice any rust

 

 

The day in Osaka was a mess.....everyone had to be off the ship at 4pm. Had to be down to a 0 passenger count as we would be leaving Japan. Unfortunately 2 passengers decided the Japanese rules didn't apply to them and wouldn't leave the ship. This caused all the other passengers to be waiting in uncomfortable surroundings for 90 minutes or so. I agree Princess staff did not assist passengers waiting to reboard and I don't know why it took them so long to break into the offenders room and escort them off. Believe me there were many people who wanted to find out who the culprits were. They caused a lot of distress to a many people.

 

 

I enjoyed the cruise very much, the staff was great, dining, International Cafe and coffee, shops and especially the cruise directors staff who went all out to entertain us on 7 long days at sea.

 

 

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This post makes me feel a bit better about my upcoming July trip on the Golden. I don’t expect perfection, but, I do want working AC/Heat and no leaks. Thanks again.

Oh boy. I'm really nervous about my upcoming cruise to Alaska. This will be my first cruise with Princess and I am so looking forward to it. I hope I didn't make a huge and costly mistake be selecting the Golden.

I asked my TA about these problems. Here is what she said. Take it for what it's worth:

I read some of the stories and chatted with Princess. A supervisor called the post-cruise supervisor (who deals with complaints after a cruise) and she is assured that all the issues have been resolved. I will continue to check updated reviews and call again if they continue.

I asked my TA about these problems. Here is what she said. Take it for what it's worth:

 

I read some of the stories and chatted with Princess. A supervisor called the post-cruise supervisor (who deals with complaints after a cruise) and she is assured that all the issues have been resolved. I will continue to check updated reviews and call again if they continue.

Thank you for sharing. I'm on the Golden next Friday and was pretty confident that these initial post dry dock issues would have been resolved by the time I got on board. It sounds like they are, based on your TA conversation with Princess. Either way, I'm pretty easy going. As long as I don't end up with Norovirus or end up on a "poop" cruise (which was Carnival I believe), I'm pretty confident that I'll have a great experience!

I was on the Yokohama to Vancouver segment in April/May. The issues were there. We could not use our toilet for over 7 hours one day. There were leakages in many location including during a sea day at the busy, crowded piazza right adjacent to Vines. The room was often hot and turning the A/C down did not help.

We were in Baja deck. Due to the noise issue coming from Aloha deck, we were relocated to Caribe deck at Whittier. Their efforts were much appreciated.

Notwithstanding these issues, the Passenger service staff tried very hard to help to resolve some of these issues with actions and follow up telephone calls.

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