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

[Cruisin' Chick]

Love all the posts and photos, BUT, I have never heard anyone referred to their daughter as "the girl". i.e.: Her name or, "our daughter"!!!!!

 

I just prefer not to use her name. Others use DD and DH, but I use "the girl" and "the hubby." In the course of this report, I do use daughter or teen to mix it up.:)

[Cruisin' Chick]

To me, I love that Princess has a mini-fridge in every cabin. I know that it won’t be as cold as the normal fridge, but for cooling down sodas, it works for me. The cabin steward brought us a fresh bucket of ice every day (I didn’t request it and I don’t think hubby did, either).

 

Night stands by the beds:

 

In our bathroom were not only the expected toiletries of shampoo, conditioner, lotion and soap, but also a “shell” holding a loofah, linen mist spray, eye gel mask, emery board, shower cap and Q-tips/cotton balls. I had thought Princess was giving out more toiletries than before. But as I soon realized, the VIP Fairy was sprinkling us with elite dust.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

The shower:

 

[karatemom2]

Love all the posts and photos, BUT, I have never heard anyone referred to their daughter as "the girl". i.e.: Her name or, "our daughter"!!!!!

 

 

What's the big deal? She's clearly referencing her daughter. It's not really different then using a nickname or pet name. People use all sorts of different abbreviations on this board in lieu of actual names. I don't think it is any less personal than labeling family members DD, DS or DH.

 

 

Great review Patty! Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences and photos!!

[Cruisin' Chick]

Thanks, Mary. I missed being on a cruise with you. Believe it or not, only went to trivia only twice (will get there in my story, eventually). Going slowly because I had to switch to another photo sharing site, which didn't keep my order.:( Plus Cruise Critic is acting glitchy, and the post of my cabin photos got lost in cyberspace so I had to redo.

[PathfinderEss]

Really enjoying your review.

[Pam in CA]

Loving the review and photos so far. This is like reading a serialized novel. :)

[Cruisin' Chick]

thanks for the nice comments. Back to the voluminous:D words and photos.

 

Our cabin was almost as aft as you can get.

 

 

The nice thing was that we were just steps away from the door leading to the aft deck. Once there, you can go some steps to deck14 (Lido) and enter the back part of the Horizon Court.

After doing a little unpacking, I called the dining line to find out where to ask for a change from early traditional to late traditional (when we had booked, it was either “early seating” or “anytime.” And we had decided we didn’t care for anytime dining on our last cruise). We headed for the Bernini dining room and talked to the crew member taking down the requests on behalf of the maitre’d. We were told we would be notified tomorrow, but today we should go to our currently assigned table.

Then we went to the passenger services desk and asked if they knew about the drawing. Nope, so I was asked for the name of my contact in Santa Clarita. Had to go back to cabin to get that and called him with the name.

Upon returning to our cabin, we found our crates waiting for us outside our door. Our suitcases arranged pretty soon after that.

The girl had already gone up to the Remix room to try to find one of her friends from previous cruise. I filled out the registration card and dropped that off so she’ll be able to take part in any activities there.

We had lunch in the Horizon, and were asked several times if we wanted to buy the drink sticker. Since we brought on our own sodas (I don’t like coke), we didn’t see the need. And hopefully the girl will remember we had Dr. Pepper and Dew in the fridge. Never got asked after first day, except for our waiter’s recommendation when the girl bought a drink. I said she’s not going to buy enough drinks each day (including ports) to warrant it. And she wasn’t requesting it. Only other sales pitch I can remember is the limoncello and souvenir glasses at one dinner.

The Chick in the Horizon Court:

 

 

 

When the girl returned, we took our traditional life jacket photos and then carried our life jackets to the Vista Lounge. All cards were scanned upon entering as far as I know. Of course, while waiting for muster drill, there’s at least one or two people trying out the whistle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

A friend's sharp eyes got a mistake of mine: my second Hawaiian cruise was 12/22/10 to 1/5/11. I may have been a professional proofreader years ago, but I can never catch all of my mistakes.:o

 

Back to posting.

 

 

The rest of the afternoon is usually spent in the usual exploring of the shop for those new to it (as we were on two years ago, we just did minor exploring) with the usually treasure hunts and drawings if you’re present. We also had coupon books left on the table, but we never ended up using any of them. (I wish I had looked the first day as I would have put in an entry for the free Internet package add on). But we didn’t intend to do any duty shopping for luxury stuff or booze.

We made our way up to the pool area for the sailaway. Found the cruise critic group. Girl bought a virgin cocktail (mojito, I think), but didn’t finish it so I did. When the ship started moving, we went to the railing and watched the ship move through the channel to the open sea. And yes, I had already started the consumption of ginger. (thank you, World Market!)

 

 

Before the chair hogs get to 'em:

 

[Pam in CA]

Of course' date=' while waiting for muster drill, there’s at least one or two people trying out the whistle.[/quote']Ewwww! That's downright stupid and a great way to get Noro or something equally nasty.

[Cruisin' Chick]

We went to dinner at 5:30pm at our assigned table. It was a table for six, but we ended up by ourselves (the girl didn’t go with us. And who knows what happened to our tablemates). We didn’t tell the waiter about the possibility of being elsewhere the next day, which I felt some regret about.

Hubby had the Slow-Roasted Corn-Fed Prime Rib with Natural Rosemary Jus and Horseradish Cream while I had the Pan-Seared Corn-fed Chicken with Thyme Jus.

The always available chicken:

Prime Rib:

 

 

 

 

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

 

Desserts:

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

Ewwww! That's downright stupid and a great way to get Noro or something equally nasty.

 

Isn't there one in every crowd?:rolleyes: And after hearing the local news report on how bad the flu is... (thank goodness, the three of us got our shots already)

[Cruisin' Chick]

I rarely get a chance to see movies in movie theaters, so I’m one of those who will try to get caught up with watching some while on a cruise. And this cruise was no exception. Unfortunately, we never made it to MUTS at night – we either were pooped, went to a show, wasn’t interested in the movie, or it was too cold and/or windy.

The guide to the TV programming was often perused by the girl and me. Here’s the channel line-up:

 

 

 

 

BTW, channel 21 would show movies such as Lilo and Stich, Elf, and some of the featured movies late at night. Found this out by mistake as I didn't see any info about this anywhere.

 

I’ll try to scan in all the Patters and either post them here or give a link to my photo page. But I’ll also give a quick summary of entertainment here.

Featured on the in- cabin TV on December 19:

The Art Channel – The Girl with Pearl Earrings, Stolen, About the Artist

The Family Movie Channel -- Alvin & Chipmucks – Chipwrecked, The Adventures of TinTin, The Muppets

The Princess Movie Channel -- Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol, My Week with Marilyn

The Romance Movie Channel -- Morning Glory, The Proposal

The Golden TV Channel -- How I Met Your Mother, Mike and Molly, Whitney

Discovery Channel – Animal Planet’s Most Outrageous, Dirty Jobs, World’s Toughest Expeditions

 

 

 

Shown on MUTS: Paul McCartney concert, Pink concert, Polar Express at 7, Men in Black 3 at 9:15pm. Also The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was shown a couple times this night in the Vista Lounge.

As with every night, dancing in the Explorers Lounge (the ship’s band this time was New Deal, which seemed to be rocking it nicely) and dancing in Skywalkers with a DJ.

The show was “One Night Only” in the Princess Theater, but we were spent from the process of embarkation, etc., and our girl hadn’t found her friend yet, so we all ended up back in the cabin and watched “My Week with Marilyn.” The girl and I saw it before, but not hubby.

Here’s the daily Captain’s Log recap:

Los Angeles.1621-- All mooring lines onboard, the Golden Princess commenced thrusting away from berth and proceeding astern towards the turning basin; 1628—Commerce swing bow to port; 1632 –Swing complete; 1655 – Vessel abeam of harbor breakwaters; 1658—Portside pilot ladder rigged and ready; 1706 – “full away on passage” was given to the ECR, meaning that we formally finished the manoeuvre; 1906 – Golden Princess checked out from San Pedro traffic, courses set towards Hilo, Hawaii.

 

[Amuse Bouche]

This is great, and I love that you are posting photos that people don't usually take, but everyone has questions about.

 

I also think that you referring to your daughter as "the girl" is cute and funny. I have 5 daughters, and we call them the girl with appropriate adjectives in front of it, depending what their latest issues are. They are all 22 to 31. :-D the drama girl, the mean girl, the high maintenance girl, Miss perfect, the workaholic girl...etc.

Oh, but the 22 yr old is still "the baby girl" Always will be.

[DawnBerg]

Soooo very happy you are writing this report! Hubby and I are on this cruise in Feb and it is our very first cruise ever. The pictures are the best!!! Been hoping to find some pictures of inside cabins with people's "stuff" in them lol. Makes it easier to judge size and makes it much easier on my mind knowing how much "stuff" can really fit. The pictures of the food are great too. Helps a ton to see what you are actually going to be eating while onboard. Can't wait to read more!!

[DMCinSJC]

Absolutely loving the review so far -

 

My family was on this cruise, I keep looking at your pictures to see if we are in the background...we have some pretty interesting characters in the background of some of our pictures.

 

Cant wait to see the rest!

[Cruisin' Chick]

This is great, and I love that you are posting photos that people don't usually take, but everyone has questions about.

 

I also think that you referring to your daughter as "the girl" is cute and funny. I have 5 daughters, and we call them the girl with appropriate adjectives in front of it, depending what their latest issues are. They are all 22 to 31. :-D the drama girl, the mean girl, the high maintenance girl, Miss perfect, the workaholic girl...etc.

Oh, but the 22 yr old is still "the baby girl" Always will be.

 

Love your descriptions of your girls! Since I just have one child, she's a combo of all of those sometimes:rolleyes::o. But then some of her friends are too.

 

Soooo very happy you are writing this report! Hubby and I are on this cruise in Feb and it is our very first cruise ever. The pictures are the best!!! Been hoping to find some pictures of inside cabins with people's "stuff" in them lol. Makes it easier to judge size and makes it much easier on my mind knowing how much "stuff" can really fit. The pictures of the food are great too. Helps a ton to see what you are actually going to be eating while onboard. Can't wait to read more!!

 

Much thanks for your comments. I thought it was useful to show how much space you really do have so I'm glad you like seeing our stuff. Unfortunately I'm the Oscar to my hubby's Felix. We still had a couple of drawers in one night stand and the bottom drawer in the desk that went unused (I thought hubby might use it, but he doesn't bring as much stuff as his "girls"). I used the end shelving that's attached to the desk for my medicine cabinet and for the laundry/sewing kit/extra batteries. Hubby takes along a large laundry bag that we use for our "needs to be laundried" items, but I forgot to bring one (along with clothespins-- making mental note to add to my packing list) for the hand washables, so that was that pile in the closet.

 

Sometimes I would remember afterwards that I forgot to take photos of the food so I'll be missing a few of those, including our trip to Sabinitinis (I just couldn't bring myself to take the camera out then). I had to slightly angle away the shots I took of the menus.

 

Still organizing day two...hopefully I'll be ready in a jiffy for more.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Absolutely loving the review so far -

 

My family was on this cruise, I keep looking at your pictures to see if we are in the background...we have some pretty interesting characters in the background of some of our pictures.

 

Cant wait to see the rest!

 

Let me know if you spot yourself. And I hope you put up your photos (but now that you see the orange haired teen, the bald hubby and me -- you know what we look like). Unfortunately I didn't make it to any of the Cruise critic get-togethers, other than briefly at the sailaway. I do have a couple of photos of Laurie to post (one I already embarrassed her on FB with, I'm sure).

[Cruisin' Chick]

Here's my first attempt at posting Patters. Wish me luck.

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

First day, second page:

[Cruisin' Chick]

First day, third page:

[Cruisin' Chick]

First day, fourth page:

[MandD]

I think when the Crown Grill has its pub lunch' date=' it's without additional charge, but I look through the Patters to verify. .[/quote']

 

Yes, Patty, that's right. No charge for pub lunch.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Yes, Patty, that's right. No charge for pub lunch.

 

I seemed to remember seeing that there was no charge on the previous cruise, but didn't know for sure if that was still the case. Thanks for clarifying.