Live from the Golden

[cynbar]

Now that I've posted a picture of our favorite bar waiter, I can't resist adding a picture of our cabin steward. His name is James Berdos, and he was the best we've had, a real gentleman. You can find him on the port side of the Dolphin deck, in the 600 block. His contract expires in July, but he said he'd be back after a break. He's been with Princess for 17 yrs!! In answer to a question above, there is no complete changeover of staff at any one time -- everyone's contract expires at a different time, so every cruise has some new staff. Here is James:

[calikak]

We're in D618 on the May 22 sailing, so I'm glad to hear he's so great! Actually, there's a whole mess of us from our roll call that ended up in that section. We'll have to let him know that you said nice things about him! :)

[Lindypc]

Beth, we're going to know so many people on this sailing that it will be like a homecoming reunion! I'm excited about James! I'll have to show him this picture. Cynbar, thank-you so much for all your postings--it makes us more excited. And we're in 614 & 616!:D

[sunprincess]

I am on the Golden in July. Will it be the same staff or do they have a change over before re-positioning to Europe. Hope we get a friendly bunch. Do the waiters sing at mealtimes like they do on Royal Caribbean.

 

The turn over of cruise staff is not usually a huge number all at once. They all have rotations based on their contracts. I know many of them will still be on in July. Hopefully you will enjoy.

They do singing for special occassions, as birthday, anniversary, honeymoon.

Some of the waiters do their own entertaining.......:)

[sunprincess]

I was recently on the Golden B2B in March for a reunion. We had an awesome time. Maurizio was singing then. He is excellent. ""

 

Wow! Is he still on the Golden? We stopped by every night to hear him sing and play and we bought his CD. Don't miss this entertainer he is fantastic.

 

Yes, Maurizio was still singing away. He certainly draws quite the crowd:)

[blackegg]

Hello Goldeners.......

 

I just checked the "Live" web-cam and it shows the Golden Princess in NYC.

 

Wasn't it supposed to sail for Southampton yesterday?

 

 

Jim

Blackegg

[JanMD]

The ship was delayed by the storm off the east coast. It was going 5 knts in the atlantic ocean to avoid the storm off of the mid- atlanitc area. It is leaving NY today. One day behind schedule.

Jan

[LeaninLeeward]

I wondered what ship it was. Saw a couple delayed cruisers interviewed on GMA this morning, they didn't mention the ship.

 

Thanks for the info.

LL

[Case1096]

I wondered what ship it was. Saw a couple delayed cruisers interviewed on GMA this morning, they didn't mention the ship.

 

Thanks for the info.

LL

 

Doesn't GMA run from 7-9? They didn't start letting people off the Golden that morning until 9:15. It was one of the worst disembarkations I have ever been through. A fight also broke out in the lobby by the Purser's desk. I expected one of them to pick up the phone and call security, but they just watched like everyone else!

[Logie]

Oh my gosh this cracks me up about the fight in the lobby. I was on that sailing and I personally thought it was a great adventure and once the arrangements were made to get back home a day later let the party begin

 

I am sure people were stressed out but I was amazingly surprised I did not see anyone screaming or yelling and have yet to see the negative post about the cruise being "ruined" due to this.

 

I thought disembarcation was handeled perfectly and was glad to see they were not allowing people to cut in line ahead of their tag color. There was plenty of porter service available and I ordered car service to be waiting for us when we disembarked. The car had 2 flat tires but that was another story.

 

The crew was excellent and I had a great steward and waiters from table 55 Harry and Nelson were awesome. Ask for them and tell them the group with the Dom and the funny glasses sent you!!!

 

The Golden is still a great ship and a lot of fun!!!

[blackegg]

Hello 5/22ers:

 

Have a great cruise. You are a fun-loving bunch.

 

When you disembark on 6/1, we'll be there to board.

 

Please send us your impressions as we are B2B cruising your same itinerary on June 11.

 

Happy Sailing,

 

 

Jim

Blackegg

[Bob & Barb]

And we embark that day (6-1) with Jim, too -- and will also be awaiting your posts. See if you can catch up with Wayne and Trudy -- a great couple of CCer's. I met them on the Diamond last September. They'll probably be at your sailaway party! :D

 

Bob

[calikak]

Hi all! Here I am in the internet cafe onboard the Golden! Since I'm platinum and I have almost an hour until dinner, and the DH is in the room getting ready, I thought I'd post to say hello. Some first impressions:

 

1. Embarkation: we got to the pier at about 10:15 AM. It's only 1.75 hours from central London if you're going on a Sunday (no traffic) and you stop for gas (aka petrol) on the way. Huge KUDOS to our transfer service, not sure I'm allowed to post about them here under the new rules, but there's tons of info about who they are on our roll call for this sailing. Can't say enough nice things about them! Cheryl, if you're reading this, thanks SOOOOO MUCH for helping us organize this!

 

Once we got to the pier, there was already a crowd there. It appeared that the staff didn't yet understand how to use the computer system, because despite being in the platinum line and having our paperwork already filled out and all that, it still took a while at the desk. Once you're through the long line for check-in, there's a nice seating area where you can wait to board. They give you a card with a letter on it that they say is pink but is actually orange, and they call you by letter (in alphabetical order, of course :D). We were "D" and didn't board until after noon, so seriously folks, either get there at the crack of dawn or expect a bit of a wait. The only thing that was out of the ordinary is that there was a group that took a tour of the ship (I think they we dignitaries of some sort) before we could board, so it's possible that slowed things down a bit.

 

2. My mom is sitting here with me, she just had a manicure from a lovely Jamaican woman. Her nails look gorgeous and she says it was a great manicure!

 

3. The buffet had the absolute best salad bar I've ever seen on any buffet, and I've been on 3 Princess ships in the last month, so I know of what I speak. :D Huge selection of salad items, the hot items were great as well. Very impressed with the buffet!

 

4. Our cabin steward is a wonderfully helpful guy from the Phillipenes (he's the same guy mentioned above, I think his name is James). Ditto what others have said about him. We left the room for 5 mintues and he did the turndown service already! Very friendly, directed us right to the laundry room, got us a bucket of ice. He'll probably be getting an extra tip from us later!

 

5. Cocktail party thrown by our TA was great, Mom got to meet lots of new people. Can't wait for our CC party tomorrow, there are well over 100 of us! Just in case anyone from this sailing is just now reading this thread, it's at 11 AM tomorrow in Skywalkers! :D

 

6. Pre-ordered champagne arrived promptly (hooray for our cabin steward!).

 

I have to say, having been on the Sun and Dawn in the last month, this ship is much more efficiently run than either of those. The only bad thing I've encountered thus far is that we were given a gold card instead of platinum (this is our 6th cruise and the 5th was only last weekend, so we expected a problem) but the Captain's Circle girl already knew about us and we didn't have to explain about our situation at all, she gave us our new cards instantly. The other issue we've heard about is that not enough tuxes were brought onboard today for the renters, but the purser's desk promised our friend who rented one that there would be enough. More on that tomorrow....

 

OK, gotta run, my mom needs to mooch off my free internet. :D More tomorrow!

[spongerob]

Thanks, Beth. I'm bookmarking this thread to keep up with your adventures.

[lkmamom]

Oh Hi Beth and all!!!!!

 

Thanks so much for doing this, I have thought about all of you all day. Have a wonderful cruise and thanks again for all of the details. We love hearing from you:)

 

Linda

[cynbar]

Hi Beth, so glad to hear you're having a great time!! We LOVED the Golden last month, and we've taken a number of cruises at this point, so that's really saying something. PLease say hello to James from us, and tell him how we've been talking him up everywhere we go --- we are the Barkley and Soares couples from D626 and 620, respectively. I'll be checking in often to see how all of you are doing----

[cnmiranda]

Hi Beth, thanks so much for checking in from the Golden. If you come back to this thread, how was is the dining room menu? Was it different or with a "European" flare? Have a great vacation:D:D:D

[Lindypc]

Hi Beth, so glad to hear you're having a great time!! We LOVED the Golden last month, and we've taken a number of cruises at this point, so that's really saying something. PLease say hello to James from us, and tell him how we've been talking him up everywhere we go --- we are the Barkley and Soares couples from D626 and 620, respectively. I'll be checking in often to see how all of you are doing----

 

 

Cynbar, Thanks for telling us your names & cabin number. I showed James your posting about how wonderful he was (brought my laptop) and he couldn't recognize 'cynbar'! He asked me to find out the info so you have already done it.

 

So far, we are having a wonderful time. Having been on the Grand in Jan. I find several differences but spent most of my time yesterday doing laundry from 6 magnificent days in Paris & London. Today, I am 1. resting and 2. exploring. Also looking forward to meeting all our CC friends at our get together although am staying by Beth & Sue who were already old friends after all our communications!

[calikak]

Hi again! Thought I'd check in while DH is sleeping (his idea of a heaven is sleeping until noon :D), since I finished my breakfast already and my cup of coffee isn't empty. Dining room staff last night were great! We're at table 209 2nd seating traditional. Gigi is our assistant waiter. I asked him if I could keep copies of the menus each night and he said "No problem." He's from Romania. Our regular waiter is Rado, from Krakow, and he is equally cool. Dinner was the same sail-away menu we had on the Sun and Dawn this month (prime rib, shell pasta, Zander, ham, seafood turnover). The prime rib was excellent, and so was the horseradish. Both my dad and my DH like end cuts, and they had no trouble getting them, one of the many reasons I love cruising! :)

 

Lots of you from the later European cruises were wondering about weather. We're in the Channel now and the weather is currently partly sunny. Last night we had pretty strong winds (32 knots was what the in-room TV said) but the seas weren't as rough as you would expect with winds that high, just 1.5-4 ft waves. You can definitely tell you're on a ship, but I haven't seen anyone falling over or looking green. DH is faithfully taking his bonine just the same, though. In London this week, we had a mix of rain and clear. It reminded me a lot of our weather in the Pacific NW, but maybe a wee bit cooler (not much, though). Will keep you posted as we head further north, since I would imagine that Scotland will be quite a bit cooler. Will also keep you posted on how the whole tuxedo thing works out.

 

Must go drag DH out of bed now for our CC get-together! I've already met Lynne and Sue (they're like old friends already) and looking forward to meeting everyone else!

[betonic]

Have a great cruise and thanks for posting about the Golden. We're going to be on her B2B in November. I'm looking forward to your review when you get back.

 

Saludos,

Nicole

[spongerob]

Beth, what time did you leave the pier? Is there much to see once the cruise begins, or are you in open water quickly? Just wondering if it's a good idea to plan an on-deck sailaway party.

[Infocus]

Wonderful updates, Beth- It is like someone describing a gourmet dinner- certainly wets my appetite for my own time on the Golden!

[lkmamom]

Hi Beth,

 

I can't wait!!! Thanks for the updates. Question, one of the fellow cruisers on our sailing in July remembers reading about a luggage weight restriction of 44 pounds. They are taking a precruise Princess Ireland excursion, could this weight restriction be in regards to that? Please tell me that there is not a 44 pound restriction for this cruise in general, I am in big trouble if that is so:eek: I will need to ask for your packing help because I know that you are an expert!!:)

Hope that you are having fun, say hi to all for us!!

Linda

[cruissett]

:) Thanks so much for all the great information on the Golden. We'll be on her in October and can't wait. So glad to hear that the food was good and the staff was friendly. Keep the information coming.

 

Nancy

[britsbest]

Hi Beth,

 

I can't wait!!! Thanks for the updates. Question, one of the fellow cruisers on our sailing in July remembers reading about a luggage weight restriction of 44 pounds. They are taking a precruise Princess Ireland excursion, could this weight restriction be in regards to that? Please tell me that there is not a 44 pound restriction for this cruise in general, I am in big trouble if that is so:eek: I will need to ask for your packing help because I know that you are an expert!!:)

Hope that you are having fun, say hi to all for us!!

Linda

 

 

I could be wrong ( It has been known!) but the luggage weight restrictions are due to airlines. If travelling charter the restrictions are a lot meaner than when travelling scheduled. Chech with your T A on which airline you are travelling and then check with them. Last year we travelled out on a Princess charter on Virgin Atlantic and even though the restrictions when travelling Virgin scheduled are the more generous 2 cases no matter what weight, because it was a charter we were restricted to 30 kilos. We returned with American and there was no problem with having 4 cases- the Princess fluffy dressing gowns took up one case!

Enjoy- hope that makes sense !!