**Golden Princess May 14, 2011 - Vancouver To Seattle**

[San10s]

Welcome Back Golden Princess Cruisers! :D

 

I hope you had a wonderful cruise. I was watching your port days on many web cams and it looked like you had decent weather.

 

I am looking for your help if you can provide some.... :confused:

 

I know you were not round-trip out of Seattle but I am still looking for any info you might have about the laundry rooms or laundry valet service while on your cruise. There's been all sorts of questions and speculation about what might be available or that for those of us on an extended vacation will be left to wearing very dirty clothing at the latter end of our cruise. :eek:

 

I am leaving early next week so it will change my packing depending on the status of whether or not laundry is available at any time during the week on board the Golden.

 

Did anyone do laundry or send some out and if so....what day and where was the ship at that time?

 

I'd really appreciate any insight you can give me.

 

Thanks!! :D

[Carol & Jim]

Yes there are laundromats onboard, usually one per deck. If you look at a deck plan you'll see them. There are change machines and pay soap dispensers in each also. Irons and ironing boards. And, great conversations can be had while waiting for your laundry to get done!!:D

 

We had great weather in all the ports!

[San10s]

Yes there are laundromats onboard, usually one per deck. If you look at a deck plan you'll see them. There are change machines and pay soap dispensers in each also. Irons and ironing boards. And, great conversations can be had while waiting for your laundry to get done!!:D We had great weather in all the ports!

 

Hi Carol :D

 

Thanks for answering my question but I guess I wasn't clear.....aorry about that.

 

I know that there are the laundromats on board (have used them in the past) but the real issue here is IF they are open and when while cruising to / from Alaska. I am reading that they are closed due to regulations in Alaska and maybe in Seattle as well. If they are not open and if there is not service available from the ship because of being forced to be closeed.....then I have to change plans and take more clothing.

 

Here's the link to the big discussion.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1413000

 

So I am trying to figure out what the situation is on the Golden Princess so that I can either relax and go with the clothes I have packed (less stuff) or if I need to repack and take MORE clothes if laundry is not available.

 

If you have your Princess Patters, it may be stated in there if the laundromat was closed or when it would re-open. :rolleyes:

 

Again, thanks for your reply. :D

[willysgrandma]

I read the post you are talking about and I can assure you I had no problems doing laundry. I washed clothes Wednesday and Thursday and the laundry rooms were open both times I went. My sister did wash on Tuesday and she had no problems either.

 

Hi Carol :D

 

Thanks for answering my question but I guess I wasn't clear.....aorry about that.

 

I know that there are the laundromats on board (have used them in the past) but the real issue here is IF they are open and when while cruising to / from Alaska. I am reading that they are closed due to regulations in Alaska and maybe in Seattle as well. If they are not open and if there is not service available from the ship because of being forced to be closeed.....then I have to change plans and take more clothing.

 

Here's the link to the big discussion.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1413000

 

So I am trying to figure out what the situation is on the Golden Princess so that I can either relax and go with the clothes I have packed (less stuff) or if I need to repack and take MORE clothes if laundry is not available.

 

If you have your Princess Patters, it may be stated in there if the laundromat was closed or when it would re-open. :rolleyes:

 

Again, thanks for your reply. :D

[willysgrandma]

You can say that again - all we kept hearing in every port was how bad the weather was the day before we arrived!

 

All in all, I enjoyed the cruise but felt the embarkation/disembarkation process in almost every port was the worst I ever experienced on an cruise. Customer Service people were inundated with complaints - I was talking to one supervisor and his hand was actually shaking when I was speaking to him - he was totally overwhelmed and I felt sorry for him.

 

 

 

We had great weather in all the ports!

[Carol & Jim]

So sorry we never got together Willysgrandma! Maybe another cruise, you never know!! I totally agree about getting on and off, it was a disaster! Why was it so bad? Couldn't they figure out a ticket plan or something? We almost didn't get off in Victoria, the line was so long I figured by the time you got off, got into town, it would be time to get back on! Sure hope they fix it for the next cruisers.

DH says he doesn't want to do cruises with short stops anymore. Ketchikan and Victoria were just too short a time in port. Better to have more time to do things.

All in all it was a good cruise. Didn't care for the cabin steward but the room service guy who brought breakfast more than made up for cabin steward. He was the most upbeat, friendly guy. It was great to see his smiling face first thing in the morning!!

Now back to reality! Darn it! Planning for the next one!:D

[Carol & Jim]

Oh, and thanks for the Metropolitan hotel reservation! It was a nice hotel, we enjoyed our stay. It was very central to everything and had the shopping center right across the street. Very handy.

[willysgrandma]

It was a nice hotel - thank goodness! But did you hear the loud music from the museum on Friday night? Our room was on that side of the building and we heard the thump thump thump of the bass until they shut down at 11 PM.

 

Having sailed on the Oasis, Allure and Epic, which all hold many more passengers than the Golden Princess, the issue with the ship was two fold.

 

1. They got into port late the two nights they had the crazy lines to get off and everyone was worried about missing excursions.

 

2. All the other lage ships have two x-ray machines at each doorway when you return back to the ship. Had they done that,the lines would have sped up a lot more. They did have two when we got back on in Victoria and that was the port with what I consider a normal line for getting back.

 

Ketchikan was ridiculous!

 

Very poor organization and I hope they fix it for future cruises.

 

Oh, and thanks for the Metropolitan hotel reservation! It was a nice hotel, we enjoyed our stay. It was very central to everything and had the shopping center right across the street. Very handy.

[Carol & Jim]

Oh the music!!!:rolleyes: We saw them setting up earlier in the day and figured it was going to be noisy, and it was. We were over on that side of the hotel also, 1105 I think. Didn't complain, figured it wouldn't do much good and the poor desk clerk must have had tons of calls! Probably should have gone over and joined them, might have been fun. Kind of like a live Slumdog Millionaire concert!!:D

[willysgrandma]

It stopped at 11 PM right on the nose so it wasn't a big deal.

 

I just got off the phone with a Customer Relations woman from Princess in California about a problem we had with our shipboard account. She said they are getting inundated with complaints about the cruise from the surveys that are coming in. She acknowledged that there were a lot of issues being reported to her, not even just the embarkation problem in Vancouver.

 

Oh the music!!!:rolleyes: We saw them setting up earlier in the day and figured it was going to be noisy, and it was. We were over on that side of the hotel also, 1105 I think. Didn't complain, figured it wouldn't do much good and the poor desk clerk must have had tons of calls! Probably should have gone over and joined them, might have been fun. Kind of like a live Slumdog Millionaire concert!!:D

[kath00]

It stopped at 11 PM right on the nose so it wasn't a big deal.

 

I just got off the phone with a Customer Relations woman from Princess in California about a problem we had with our shipboard account. She said they are getting inundated with complaints about the cruise from the surveys that are coming in. She acknowledged that there were a lot of issues being reported to her, not even just the embarkation problem in Vancouver.

 

Wow, I thought the cruise was great, minus getting off/on the ship at ports, which was just waaaay too painful. I don't understand why this could occur though. It really doesn't matter where a ship is. They know exactly how many people are on the ship and how many get off and come back on each time, whether the Golden is in Hawaii or Alaska. I don't get it.

 

We missed the Vancouver mess as we came from the Sapphire so we were on the ship in under 10 minutes at around 10:30am. We just wandered around the empty ship till our party could finally get on.

 

Katherine

[willysgrandma]

As far as my personal experience, the only issue we had was a problem with our onboard account that the supervisor at Passenger Services told me to contact my credit card company and walked away from, and the issues getting on and off the ship, which were the worst I have ever experienced on a ship.

 

But my husband had a group with us on the cruise and they had issues that he had to continue dealing with Passenger Services. For two days he had 16 people swearing they'd never sail Princess again - and some of them had sailed with us before on Princess.

 

- one couple who could not let the 4 hour wait to get on the ship in Vancouver go and complained the entire cruise.

 

-this same couple could not get back on the ship in Juneau, which caused the lines to totally stop for almost a half hour getting back on the ship. When they initially got on board, somehow Security put the wifes photo on her room key AND her husbands. Security stopped them getting back on the ship in Juneau and did not know how to handle it. They made them stand to the side and stopped everyone behind them from getting on the ship until they could figure out what to do. When they started the line again, they had the couple sitting on the steps for nearly an hour before Security finally took them to have new photos taken. (We later met another woman this happened to).

 

- another woman was splashed with hot oil by an employee in Horizon Court resulting in burns on her arm.

 

-another couple had their room flooded by a toilet in the room next door and it took a day for them to get moved to a new room. They had some items that were on the floor of their room destroyed by the flood. They were the most understanding of all.

 

- another gal had the same problem we did with EZ check and being charged for luggage when she shouldn't have been. I think that is the one issue that annoyed me the most, because I asked to speak to a Supervisor on the ship, she came out and said "Take it up with your airline" and walked away. In speaking to the gal in Customer Relations in California, she admitted the ship blew it (especially when I showed them the contract with our credit card company stating we don't pay for luggage). She told me that Princess is well aware of the policy with our particular credit card and the ship erred in charging us.

 

Even though these are minor issues, when people are in a group, the group can feed off the complainers. So we just kept meeting with the Head of Passenger Services until they came up with a creative idea to appease them. They did nothing until DH did a post on Twitter and Facebook - then they finally did something. Never underestimate the power of FB and Twitter!

 

On the first day when DH was talking with the Head of Passenger Services (which we didn't know at the time was the head of PS), this guy said that people need to look at the big picture in relation to their cruise and not focus on the small stuff - which is true. But then he said if people have to focus on the small stuff, perhaps they shouldn't be sailing with Princess. What kind of Supervisor says that? Why not accept responsibility for the issues on the ship instead of blaming the passengers who are inconvenienced?

 

Most of the group were very understanding, but one couple just couldn't let it go - so it's our job to try and smooth things over.

 

But I also talk to strangers when I travel and constantly ask how they are enjoying their vacation. I met another woman who had the same photo i.d. problem with her and her husbands card. And I met another woman who had sailed 28 times with Princess and was on her third cruise on the Golden who was arguing with Passenger Services about a problem with HER card too.

 

As far as I am concerned, I feel those of us that can afford to travel are very lucky and there is really nothing that can ruin a vacation. You can't sweat the small stuff - I wish people would think about how many millions of people would have loved to be able to take a cruise - even one that wasn't "perfect". And Alaska is so awesome - how could ANYTHING ruin that?

 

I thought this cruise was one of the best vacations I ever had. This tied with going to Hawaii - and we did Hawaii on the Pride of Aloha when she first came out and had staff walking off the ship. We were cleaning off own tables in the buffet on that ship because they were so short staffed there was no one to bus dirty tables, LOL.

 

So isn't it ironic that my two favorite cruises both had some hurdles to overcome with the ship yet I still loved them anyway?

[Carol & Jim]

Wow, sorry things didn't work out for your group! That's the drawback to being the group leader. I feel bad when we are traveling with friends and something goes wrong, can't imagine how it would be with 20 or 30!!:eek:

We're pretty laid back about most things on a cruise but the embark/debark thing was just a big bummer! Princess is making it harder for me to stay with them with this strange attitude they have developed.

[willysgrandma]

I thought it was just me thinking that the attitude by some staff on the ship was curious.

 

 

Most of the staff we met were wonderful, especially those with the hardest jobs. Our room stewardess was excellent, we never walked down a hallway without the room stewards saying hello. On the first day in the buffet we be-friended a nice kid. We like to ask the staff where they are from, how long they've been with the cruise line and the ship, their chances for advancement, etc.

 

There was a supervisor who openly watched this kid when we were talking to him and I really felt that I was going to get him in trouble for talking to us. He was not neglecting his duties, he was taking care of anyone who needed their table bussed or drinks, but the Food Captain was very rude in his dealing with not only the waiter but with us. You'd think they would be happy to see the staff engaging the guests.

 

I hadn't sailed Princess in 3 years, so I was just attributing it to the ship, so I don't know if this is the new Princess attitude or if we just had an inexperienced crew - which I am sure hoping that is all it is.