Holiday Aloha Part 'ekolu on the Golden Princess to Hawaii 12/19/12 to 1/2/13

[Cruisin' Chick]

 

 

 

The countdown:

 

The teens coming through:

[Cruisin' Chick]

Getter closer:

 

 

 

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

 

 

 

 

Partying like it's 2013

[Cruisin' Chick]

From the Log of the Cruise:

Throughout the day, the Golden Princess maintained a steady, east north-easterly course across the Pacific Ocean towards Ensenada, Mexico. Position: Latitude: 29° 02.8’N; Longitude: 126° 56.8’W; Course: 074°; speed: 21.2 Knots; Wind: Northerly Force 5/6; Sea state: slight seas with a short low Northly swell; Sky: Cloudy (7/8 cloud coverage); Air temperature: 16.0° C/60.8° F; Barometric Pressure: 1027.5Mb.

[iwannacruznow]

WOW That NYE menu looked great. Would you happen to know if that menu is on every Golden cruise or was it a specail NYE menu?

[Cruisin' Chick]

WOW That NYE menu looked great. Would you happen to know if that menu is on every Golden cruise or was it a specail NYE menu?

 

Someone who's been on the most recent cruise would be in a better situation to answer that. I did see Kruz Princess's thread about the menus on the Sapphire Princess Hawaiian cruise she was on. And there seemed to be some menus that were the same, but in a slightly different order. The formal nights on that cruise were not on the same nights as for my cruise.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Patters for 12/31/12 pg 1

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

12/31/12 pg 2

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

12/31/12 pg 3

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

12/31/12 pg 4

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

Tuesday – January 1, 2013 – Day at Sea

At 9:02 am PST, per the navigation channel: we were at 31°03.22’ N/118°45.44’ W. Sunrise 6:56 am, sunset 4:53 pm.

Air temp 55.2°F, barometer 30.1hg and falling, humidity 66.0%, sea temp 62.6 °F, the pools were around 93.2, 87.8, 88, 91.4°. NW wind, at 8.0 kts across the deck, force 3, breeze, slight sea conditions, partly cloudy

Distance sailed from Los Angeles 4745.8 nautical miles, distance from Honolulu 2185.6, remaining distance to Ensenada 116.2 nautical miles.

There was a Mexican Buffet as well as the British-Style Pub lunch.

At the passenger talent show:

Charley, a teen with a following in the audience, performed an acoustic guitar version of “Hey Now.”

Also, a nine-year-old girl sang “Til There was You”, a young dancer, a comedian (who provided some humorous observations about going on cruises), a “dance impersonator,” an opera singer either in her late teens or early 20s.

Here's the cruise director Sammi emceeing the talent show:

 

 

Then it was time for the Aloha ‘Oe portion of the show. Those in the uke and hula classes performed. I gave my camera to hubby and asked him to record the last number.

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

Hopefully this link will work:

 

 

Even though it wasn’t a formal dinner night, we had the baked Alaska parade tonight:

 

 

 

It's Theo:

 

Art Channel -- Goya’s Ghost, The Agony & the Ecstasy

Family Movie Channel – Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Dog Days, Madagascar 3, Paranorman,

Princess Movie – Gone, My Week with Marilyn

Romance Channel -- Midnight in Paris, Plot with a View

Golden TV Channel – Fitness at Sea, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, Love Boat, The Office, Whiney

On MUTS was a U2 concert film, the Rose Bowl game, the Orange Bowl and Moonrise Kingdom.

Movies playing elsewhere: The Magic of Belle Isle in the afternoon in the Vista Lounge.

Total Recall played in the Vista Lounge for two showings in the evening

At night was the International Crew Talent Show as well as the “If I Were Not Upon The Sea” number. We didn’t go this time (saw this show on our last cruise).

Of course, it was time to put out those suitcases outside the cabin.

From the Log of the Cruise (note: these times and positions are approximate at the time of printing and are subject to weather and traffic conditions while en route).

Throughout the night Golden Princess followed a course of 074° towards Ensenada. 02:00. Clocks were advanced 1 hour to -8 GMT. 15:00 – The local pilot boarded on starboard side to assist in the navigation towards the berth. 1600 – Vessel was all fast along side, gangways landed, and clearance for passengers to go ashore granted by local authorities.

From departure Lahaina until arrival today, Golden Princess streamed a total distance of 2247 nautical miles at an average speed of 19.8 knots.

Position: Latitude: 31° 34.1’N; Longitude: 117° 22.7’W; Course: 065°; Wind: North-Westerly Force 4; sky: Partly Cloudy; Air temperature: 16°C/60.8°F; Speed: 16.5 Knots; 18:35 -- All lines were gone and we commenced thrusting away from the berth.

20:00 – Was given ”full away on passage”. Golden Princess set various courses towards Los Angeles.

[CruisinMinnie]

Loved the video! :)

[Cruisin' Chick]

Thanks! Gonna try to put up next set of Patters in a few minutes.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Patter for 1/1/13 pg 1

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

1/1/13 pg 2

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

1/1/13 pg 3

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

1/1/13 pg 4

 

[cr8tiv1]

Finally...I didn't think you would get this done before I left (LOL). Only one question. What night was the hula and ukulele show? What if you took both classes? Do you perform twice?

 

I have really enjoyed your review and always looked for your almost daily updates. Mahalo Nui Loa for all the time you took to write detailed descriptions and add wonderful photos and Patters.

 

I know that I will have just as wonderful a voyage soon.

 

Renee (displaced local girl)

[Cruisin' Chick]

Finally...I didn't think you would get this done before I left (LOL). Only one question. What night was the hula and ukulele show? What if you took both classes? Do you perform twice?

 

I have really enjoyed your review and always looked for your almost daily updates. Mahalo Nui Loa for all the time you took to write detailed descriptions and add wonderful photos and Patters.

 

I know that I will have just as wonderful a voyage soon.

 

Renee (displaced local girl)

 

The show was on the last day of the cruise. Probably it was held in the afternoon as we were going to be in Ensenada between 4 and 7:30. Two years before, the show was at night during the intermission of Princess Pop Idol (while the ballots were being counted). I'm guessing it's usually at night because during the Elua segment of the Wake show, they talked about it being that night (I guess their segments were taped back in the fall and reused for each cruise).

 

There were some passengers who did take both sets of classes, but Dave and Leialoha informed everyone that you can only perform one or the other at the actual show. That's because the uke players are placed in the back and the front of the stage is for the hula dancers. So it would be a bit crazy to have some go back and forth.

 

The way the show works is: 1) when it's time for the show (after whatever comes before is over -- on 1/1/13, it was the passenger talent show), the uke players take their place by their stands and then the dancers take their places.

 

2) the hula dancers dance their first number, and then move off to the side (you can probably see this in one of the photos).

 

3) Dave comes on stage and cracks a few jokes about how the musicians are going to perform "New York, New York." Then they strum out "Tiny Bubbles." The dancers sway along. Everyone is encouraged to sing.

 

4) Then the dancers move back to their spots. Both the uke players and the dancers perform "Aloha 'Oe."

[Cruisin' Chick]

Wednesday, January 2, 2013 – Back in Los Angeles

From the Log of the Cruise (note: these times and positions are approximate at the time of printing and are subject to weather and traffic conditions while en route).

In the early hours of the morning Golden Princess entered the San Pedro inbound traffic lane and then reduced speed to the 12 knot speed limit. 05:00 Stand by given to Engine Control room for arrival. 05:30 boarding time of our local Los Angeles harbor pilot. 05:50 entering the Los Angeles harbor breakwaters. 06:20 Vessel on her final approach towards berth No.93. 06:36 first lines ashore, commence making fast. 07:00 securely all fast alongside starboard side to berth No 93, Los Angeles.

While hubby was getting ready, I went to the front desk to drop off our “made a difference cards for our wait staff, the head waiter, the cabin steward, and the waiter in Sabatini’s.

 

 

We went to the Horizon Court for once last time, returned to the cabin to gather up our carry-on’s (which included our brand new Platinum cards) and went off to the dining room to wait for our color to be called. Got a phone call from our driver telling us he was at the port and I estimated the time we should be at the shuttle isle for our pick up.

 

 

 

Have to say it’s nice Princess has an organized disembarkation. Even though it looks like from the overflow into the common areas by the windows, they need to rethink numbers (maybe some people take up extra chairs with their stuff). At least, you don’t see people hanging out on stairwells and other pathways (as we used to see on cruises) where they impede those whose colors have been called.

Finally our stuff was in the vehicle as well as three happy relaxed campers on our way back home, with hubby discussing favorite gardening and house repair tips with our driver (turns out both of them are handy around the house). Soon we were back home, unpacking, doing laundry, sorting through two weeks of mail that our mail carrier dropped off that afternoon.

[Amuse Bouche]

*Applause!*

 

Thank you, Cruisin' Chick, for the wonderful review. I enjoyed every word.

[Grumpy1328]

*More applause!*

 

This was the most detailed, comprehensive review I have seen to date. DW and I will be on the Grand in Oct from SFO to do this cruise. I've really enjoyed your review, and especially liked the inclusion of the Patters.

Great Job!!

[Big Tiger Fan]

Patty, Thanks so much for your very detailed review of your cruise to Hawaii. We will be boarding the Golden on March 13 for our first cruise to Hawaii and our first cruise on a Princess ship.

Would you give more details about disembarking? On other ships you are allowed to take your own luggage off the ship with you rather than sitting them outside the night before and trying to find it once on shore. We need to hustle to get to LAX for an 11:55 a.m. flight home. Princess doesn't like our flight time according to their edocuments site. I'm thinking that I'll save time by handling our luggage ourselves. We plan to take the SuperShuttle to the airport. Any comments on that plan?

Also, did you encounter rough seas at any time during your crossing?

Thanks again for so much wonderful information.

Becky