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

[Cruisin' Chick]

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

 

I was just stopping by the computer to read my email so I'll have to come back in a few hours and try to answer your questions as best I can.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Here's the disembarkation info from our cruise:

 

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

*Applause!*

 

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

 

*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!!

 

Thanks for the kind comments. :)

[Cruisin' Chick]

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

 

Personally I wouldn't like the 11:55 flight. You can make it if Murphy's Law doesn't decide to mess with you. You never know when the immigration officers are doing one of their full-blown checks or if Joe Blow from Caribe 101 is ignoring all the PAs directed to him, asking him to report to Passenger Services. This could happen even if your ship is the only one in either port (LA or LB).

 

Then you have to get your transportation to the airport. There's usually many Super Shuttle blue shuttles waiting. It's more if there's traffic jams (remember we're talking about a Wednesday) going north. There's been major construction on the 405 for a few years now. One looky loo checking out the workers instead of the cars in front of him could cause an accident, which makes things worse.

 

So always have a back up plan, just in case.

 

We have never availed ourselves of self-disembarkation. Not with all our luggage, guitar case, extra bags of souvenirs, etc. Most of our cruises have been out of LA, which is a drive for us, and we don't book any doctor's appointments or make other special plans for our first day home (other than going out to dinner as our fridge should be bare). Other than that, we'll try to stay post-cruise and sight see (one exception was my first Caribbean cruise when we flew home that afternoon, which actually was good in that case as the tropical storm chasing us in our ports hit Miami as a hurricane just a few hours after we left).

 

You can do as others do and decorate your luggage with colored pom poms to help you find your luggage in the baggage room. And stay away from solid black or burgundy suitcases as they seem to be popular.

 

And yes, we did have some rough seas. More, a lot of rolling back and forth at times. Probably not the worse you can get, but most likely won't be the smoothest cruise, compared to say Alaska. While we were taking the hula class, often Leialoha would warn us to be careful while taking steps as the ship was often swaying at the same time as we were. This is the cruise to take along motion remedies if you are susceptible. And try to get a midships cabin (this time, they were all booked up so we got a far aft, but higher than we have ever booked).

[greenie082756]

:)

Patty I so enjoyed your detailed report of your cruise to Hawaii. Thanks so much I know that was time consuming.

I do have a question about disembarkation schedule. We will be having Princess transfer and our flight out of LA doesn't depart until after 4pm. Do you think we can request to be one of the last ones to disembark? I am really not looking forward to waiting @ the LAX.

[Cruisin' Chick]

:)

Patty I so enjoyed your detailed report of your cruise to Hawaii. Thanks so much I know that was time consuming.

I do have a question about disembarkation schedule. We will be having Princess transfer and our flight out of LA doesn't depart until after 4pm. Do you think we can request to be one of the last ones to disembark? I am really not looking forward to waiting @ the LAX.

 

You can always leave after your color is called. But Princess is one cruiseline that wants the last sailing's passengers off the ship ASAP so that the ship can be ready for the next set (remember, you'll be able to go to your cabins as soon as you board, which isn't the case on some other lines).

 

I'm not familiar with how Princess transfers work so you might want to talk to your TA about other options (shore excursions if available, going on an independent half day tour) -- one big issue will be your luggage, so you'll want an option that will take care of that and will pick you up from San Pedro. If you love aquariums, there's an excellent one in Long Beach that will keep you entertain for hours (and they'll keep your luggage safe for you while you're there), but you'll have to get over there (across the bridge) and then get a taxi to LAX later on.

[shofer]

We did this cruise on Celebrity in 2006 and this brought back all the memories of a great trip. Loved the pictures and your review.

 

Thanks for all the posting you did.

 

Sue

[Alison12]

Hi, just read the disembarkation patter. I think I will carry my own luggage off and noticed there are numerous "walk off" categories, how will I know when I can. I have an LA tour booked with Sunseekers when I disembark as my flight is not til the evening. How can I guarantee I am off in time for my pick up. Have so enjoyed reading this review, thank you for the time you have spent sharing your holiday x

[Cruisin' Chick]

Hi, just read the disembarkation patter. I think I will carry my own luggage off and noticed there are numerous "walk off" categories, how will I know when I can. I have an LA tour booked with Sunseekers when I disembark as my flight is not til the evening. How can I guarantee I am off in time for my pick up. Have so enjoyed reading this review, thank you for the time you have spent sharing your holiday x

 

There is a questionnaire that is left in your cabin at some point for you to note what your post-cruise plans are. As we were just going to catch our hired service, and that wasn't time critical, we didn't bother to turn in the questionnaire. We were assigned yellow 4, which was probably based on our deck and that we had independent plans.

 

You will be given tags based on that questionnaire.

 

Hopefully your tour isn't earlier than 9am. Make sure to have a contact number just in case the disembarkation process starts late.

[Big Tiger Fan]

Patty, Thanks for your reply. Had a chat with our TA and now have a back up plan in place. It's too costly at this point to try to rebook flights.

Have another question for you. Have read a few posts regarding the coffee on board Princess ships. Did you or your hubby drink the coffee on the Golden? What is your verdict? We are big coffee drinkers but do not care for Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts.

Thanks again for all of the wonderful information you gave us. We are looking forward to a wonderful vacation.

Becky

[Cruisin' Chick]

Patty, Thanks for your reply. Had a chat with our TA and now have a back up plan in place. It's too costly at this point to try to rebook flights.

Have another question for you. Have read a few posts regarding the coffee on board Princess ships. Did you or your hubby drink the coffee on the Golden? What is your verdict? We are big coffee drinkers but do not care for Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts.

Thanks again for all of the wonderful information you gave us. We are looking forward to a wonderful vacation.

Becky

 

I'm not a coffee drinker at all. Hubby thinks the coffee is okay, just okay. Many others don't care for it, at least what' available in the Horizon. That the MDR coffee is a bit better. You can bring a traveling mug (he always packs one) and if you find you like the MDR coffee as opposed to the Horizon type, you can ask for a fill up before you leave the MDR. Get one of those coffee cards and treat yourself to the specialty coffees in the International Cafe.

[wha3454]

I see that you have posted several pictures of people surfing. My husband and I are taking this cruise in March and would love to take surf lessons. Did you notice any advertisements for surf lessons? Were there people hanging around the pier or the beach selling surf lessons? Would you recommend certain islands over other ones?

 

I've spent the last couple hours reading your post! Thank you so much for all your insight. Hubby and I have been on several cruises, but this will be our first trip to Hawaii and our first Princess cruise. We really appreciate all your insight!

[Cruisin' Chick]

I see that you have posted several pictures of people surfing. My husband and I are taking this cruise in March and would love to take surf lessons. Did you notice any advertisements for surf lessons? Were there people hanging around the pier or the beach selling surf lessons? Would you recommend certain islands over other ones?

 

I've spent the last couple hours reading your post! Thank you so much for all your insight. Hubby and I have been on several cruises, but this will be our first trip to Hawaii and our first Princess cruise. We really appreciate all your insight!

 

I'm not familiar with companies that offer surfing lessons but I'm sure you'll find plenty of ones. I guess you can google on surfing lessons and Hawaii and come up with some places to start. Or check some tourism websites such as http://www.hawaii.com, http://www.thisweekhawaii.com, etc.

 

I don't think you'll find ones in Hilo (not really a beach port), but certainly in Kauai, walk over to the the shopping center near the port (or catch the trolley), and then walk to the beach there. There's plenty of stands by the beach and I imagine they're offering equipment for rent and possibly lessons.

 

For the other ports (Lahaina and Honolulu), you might want to arrange something ahead of time. But there is a few kiosks selling activities (one is in front of the Wharf Cinema Center) in Lahaina.

[Jasperdo]

Thank you for the great review and photos. And for scanning all the Patters. It brought back fond memories of our Hawaii cruise on the Golden Princess two years ago.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Thank you for the great review and photos. And for scanning all the Patters. It brought back fond memories of our Hawaii cruise on the Golden Princess two years ago.

 

You're welcome. I was inspired by your photos of the IC to try to do a better job photographing various parts of the ship. Still didn't get to all the different locales.

 

I finally got around to writing up a review for the front page of this site and submitted it this morning.

[Cruisin Oma]

What a fount of wonderful information you are! I had two concerns for the hubby (don't have to worry about "the girl" as we aren't bringing ours - lol!) Would he get bored on sea days and probably more important - would he get sea sick? Your princess patters addressed the first question. But for the second, I've read through plenty of reviews, but no one really addressed how the sea days are. Thank you for letting us know. He is a little more susceptible than I am to sea sickness, so I think I will bring ginger ale, get the candied ginger you mentioned, and get him a patch prescription just in case!

 

Very entertaining and thorough review - thank you!

[cr8tiv1]

I was on the cruise a few voyages after her. We had good seas going over and slightly more motion (not bad) on the way back. It is very difficult to tell what the seas will be like from one voyage to another. I had my wrist bands (but really don't think they work), my ginger ale, my candied ginger, ginger tea crystals...but didn't need any of them. I did find that napping helped. Wasn't sure if it was because the night before was a restless sleep due to the motion of the seas.

 

It seems that most recent cruises have been a little calmer.

 

Good luck,

Renee

[sasmisjas]

Thank you Patty for a very comprehensive review! You've put lots of time and effort into it which I'm sure we all appreciate. Only problem is I'm now desperate to take a Hawaiin cruise.

[dakacz]

Loved your review. Very informative. Going on the Golden next year. Now I feel I have a taste of what to look forward to.

[Cruisin' Chick]

What a fount of wonderful information you are! I had two concerns for the hubby (don't have to worry about "the girl" as we aren't bringing ours - lol!) Would he get bored on sea days and probably more important - would he get sea sick? Your princess patters addressed the first question. But for the second, I've read through plenty of reviews, but no one really addressed how the sea days are. Thank you for letting us know. He is a little more susceptible than I am to sea sickness, so I think I will bring ginger ale, get the candied ginger you mentioned, and get him a patch prescription just in case!

 

Very entertaining and thorough review - thank you!

 

Wow, I must have missed these recent posts. Anyway, as stated above, some sailings are smooth on one way (that was the case with my first one on the Island), some are rough or semi-so both ways, and some aren't so bad either way.

 

I'm the susceptible to motion one in my family. If you haven't yet booked, try to get a cabin midships as that will help. Our aft one wasn't so bad, either. I just wouldn't go with a forward cabin in your case on this itinerary. We did have a far forward on our Alaskan cruise on the Sapphire, but I didn't have any problems at all that time.

 

My mother, who is worse than I am, got the patch for her one cruise (a 4-day one) and said she didn't have any problems at all.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I appreciate all the nice comments. Over the years, I've received great info here and hope I'm passing along some myself.:)

[tequilasunrise]

 

The cabins have lots of storage space. Hubby discovered that the beds were too low to stash suitcases and/or crates underneath. We hadn’t checked the bed height on cabin E421' date=' which was our first cabin on the Golden. We were able to put suitcases and crates under the beds on the Island Princess, though. [/font']

 

I've been on this ship 3 times---you can get the suitcases under the beds, but you have to open them, then slide them under. Closed, most will not fit. Glad you had a great time, just a little intel for next time! Thanks for the review, I am really enjoying it! :D

[jimbri]

Great review!

[Cruisin' Chick]

I've been on this ship 3 times---you can get the suitcases under the beds, but you have to open them, then slide them under. Closed, most will not fit. Glad you had a great time, just a little intel for next time! Thanks for the review, I am really enjoying it! :D

 

It was no biggie for us as everything did fit in our closet. But it's good for others to know they can. Our suitcases did fit even when closed on the Island, as did the taller crates. We were on the Golden in 2010 too, but we put everything in the closet then without checking if they would fit under the bed.

 

Great review!

 

Thanks.:)