Golden Review 8/2 - 8/9

[jewel825]

We just got off the Golden Princess this morning and arrived home a couple of hours ago. Had a fantastic time with 3 generations of family (13 of us total). I'm just going to give a quick review on how it went.

 

Embarkation: The best way to describe it is "organized chaos". They seemed to have order to what was going on but people were everywhere and long lines to do just about everything from security, check in and then boarding the ship. It took us about 2 hours from drop off at the pier to stepping on the ship. I've seen it worse on previous cruises with Carnival and seen it better with previous cruises with Royal Caribbean so I'd say it was average.

 

Staterooms: Small! These are by far the smallest staterooms I've ever seen. We had a balcony room on the 11th Floor (Baja deck) and we were definitely cozy in there. That being said, it was by far the best layout of a stateroom that I've ever seen. We've always traveled with 4 of us in one room (DH and 2 DDs ages 13 and 10). I loved the closet off to the front sectioned off from the rest of the room. Our room was never too messy with stuff spread out because we could contain most of everything to that closet section. Our steward brought us extra hangers so I basically hung up everything that I could! The balcony was great and we opened the door between the balconies with my BIL which was great for us! The 2 extra beds came out of the ceiling which worked out better than I ever would have imagined. The room did get quite crowded when they were down but it didn't take any extra floor space and I was amazed at the great layout of everything in that room. Our steward put them up every day so we were back to a regular room during the day.

 

Food: I loved the Main Dining Room dinners. We had traditional early seating for our group and always had great service and food. No complaints. I also loved the International Cafe, pizza place and the burgers and dogs outside by the pool. All very yummy! However, I was not a fan of the buffet. It was "okay" at breakfast and awful at lunch. I'm not a food snob by any means but I had trouble even building a salad at the salad bar. Just not good which was surprising considering every other food venue was so good.

 

Ports: We didn't have any planned excursions in Juneau so we just walked around the town and spent a couple of hours in the Red Dog Saloon. It was nice to get off the ship and be right there without needing a taxi or shuttle to get anywhere. In Skagway, we did the Suspension Bridge tour up on White Pass which was awesome. We had a great tour guide and he really made it fun. On our way back into town we stopped in Liarsville for a Salmon Bake which was yummy. In Ketchikan we did the Ride the Ducks tour which was perfect since we only had a few hours in port and it filled in the time nicely. We had rain in both Juneau and Ketchikan but just fog and then some sun in Skagway. Definitely not Caribbean type weather! In Victoria, we just stayed on board since it was such a quick stop. The kids wanted to all go swimming after dinner so it worked out best for us to just stay on the ship.

 

The Ship Itself: I had read plenty of reviews on this ship that there was wear and tear and it was looking worn down. I actually looked around to see those stains and torn carpeting and found nothing! It was in great shape and you could tell the crew took pride in making her shine. We spent a lot of time in the hot tubs and found it so fun to be relaxing in the water as we were going through Glacier Bay. There were plenty of pools and hot tubs on board so they were never crowded and we always got in wherever and whenever we wanted to. The crew was constantly coming around checking the water levels and temperature to make sure it was where it should be. We got a kick out of watching a movie on the big screen while lounging in the hot tub.

 

The crew: All of the people we dealt with were pleasant and professional. I found they worked hard and did a great job. However, I never encountered anyone who went out of their way to do anything special. There were no names that stuck out to me or any service that was exceptional.

 

The Spa and Gym: I got a hot stone massage and it was heaven! I don't know how else to describe it. I do a massage on every ship we go on and this was the first time that she didn't try and sell me a bunch of products I didn't want. She never even mentioned anything - she just brought me some water after the massage and she told me to relax a little while before leaving. That's the way it should be!

 

My DH hit the gym on most days and it was small with a weird layout. He's 6'2" which is tall but not THAT tall and he would hit his head on the ceiling on the elliptical machines. He had to hunch over to use those. Then they didn't always open the gym on time in the mornings and long lines would form as people would get on the machines and lines would form behind the people on them. That got frustrating and sometimes he'd just leave and try again the next day.

 

Casino: I spent a lot of time in there and had so much fun. It's funny when you hit the casino on a cruise ship because you tend to see the same people in there each time playing the same games so you get to know people very well. I tend to meet the most people in casinos than any other place on the ship! The dealers were also friendly and fun to play with. This is the first time I actually came out ahead in the casino which made the experience even better!

 

Debarkation: We had to be out of our room by 8:00 AM and in our lounge by 8:30. We left our room around 7:40 to head to breakfast expecting the buffet to be a total zoo and we were pleasantly surprised. There were no lines and we were able to get a table to accommodate our entire group without waiting at all. It was easiest buffet to maneuver our entire trip! I"m guessing we just managed to time it right and most people ate earlier. Whatever the case was, it was nice for us! We then headed down to our lounge to wait. They had us off the ship and through customs with our luggage by 9:00 AM. Living in the Seattle area, we got home quickly!

 

Overall experience: A wonderful time spent with family and I am ready to plan another cruise!

[Working 2 Cruise]

Glad you had a great time! I love the Golden and will miss her when she moves to Australia...:mad:

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review.

What time did you get to the pier?

 

I'll bet the people in the casino were saying the same thing about you! :D

[jewel825]

Glad you had a great time! I love the Golden and will miss her when she moves to Australia...:mad:

 

I'd love to do an Australian cruise someday!

[jewel825]

Thanks for the review.

What time did you get to the pier?

 

I'll bet the people in the casino were saying the same thing about you! :D

 

We got to the pier around 11:30. Looking around at the way they organized things, I wanted to change the way they were set up. First off, they make you fill out the health questionnaire right before going to check in but you walk past the "preferred check in" line before you hit the tables with the health questionnaires so everyone kept getting into the check in line (myself included) only to be told by a snotty woman that we needed to go past the check in lines to go fill out the the health questionnaires that we should have known about. Huh? Rude. Everyone was confused what she was talking about and she wasn't in the mood to explain, she just pointed at the tables with her mean scowl.

 

Then we had some kind of preferred check in pass (not sure why but I think it was from our travel agent) and we had to go back to the snotty woman to get into her line that she was blocking. She rolled her eyes and yelled at me to STOP and not go further until I showed this preferred check in paperwork which I had in my hand which I had just showed her right before she yelled at me for the health questionnaire. Honestly, she was the only rude Princess person I saw that entire week. I felt like a rookie cruiser because I never knew where to go or what line to get in next. I should mention that I did get hollered at by the security people too while we were waiting in line to go through the metal detector for taking a photo. I had not idea that pictures weren't allowed in the security line - my bad.

 

Then after we checked in, we went to get into the long queue for boarding (it reminded me of Disneyland where it zig zagged back and forth a trillion times in a small area). A Princess guy standing there (he was pleasant) told us to not get in line but to have a seat past the boarding line queue and wait until they were ready for us. He had a bunch of us go sit down there and then all the people who checked in after us all got into line before all the people sitting there. People were getting pissy who were sitting around us when they saw that happening and everyone jumped up at once and all tried to get in line at once. It was like fish swimming against the current. We just sat back and waited for it to clear before we got in that line. Not a huge deal but if each place you needed to go to was in the right order without having to back track on everything, it would go much smoother.

 

As far as the casino people - we would see each other on board outside the casino and ask each other if we were meeting up later. :)

[IECalCruiser]

Glad you had a great time! I love the Golden and will miss her when she moves to Australia...:mad:

Actually, it appears that the Golden might split time between Alaska in the Summer and Australia the rest of the year, sort of like the Diamond used to do between Alaska and Asia. She is leaving Sydney on April 19, 2016 and arriving back in LA on May 16, 2016. We might consider that cruise :)

[dchip]

Actually, it appears that the Golden might split time between Alaska in the Summer and Australia the rest of the year, sort of like the Diamond used to do between Alaska and Asia. She is leaving Sydney on April 19, 2016 and arriving back in LA on May 16, 2016. We might consider that cruise :)

 

We are booked on that cruise for our 50th anniversary!!

 

Cheers, Denise

[caribill]

Honestly, she was the only rude Princess person I saw that entire week.

 

She and the other personnel in the cruise terminal are not Princess employes. They work for the port and just wear the outfit for the cruise company they are checking in that day.

[jewel825]

She and the other personnel in the cruise terminal are not Princess employes. They work for the port and just wear the outfit for the cruise company they are checking in that day.

 

Good to know - she certainly didn't have a crew member attitude. It seemed like everyone else in the terminal was very friendly. While waiting in one of the lines, one of the guys was joking with my kids about all the desserts they could eat and another one asked my daughter what her age was and joking with her about the boys in the teen club. Very friendly and fun.

 

I should also mention when leaving port yesterday, we had pre arranged transportation from a shuttle company and another van (a trillion vans showed up at the same time) tried to steal our business telling us we were his passengers. When we mentioned that we had prepaid our shuttle, he fessed up and said he was not our driver. I guess it's very common there for shuttle companies to do this and it gets pretty cut throat. Our porter who was helping us with our bags caught it first and told us how ruthless they were. Then when our driver finally did show up we couldn't really confirm if he was the right guy! The manager of the port came up to me (she was wandering around making sure things were going smoothly) and asked me to email her later after we got home to confirm whether this guy was legitimate or not since it's been such a huge problem at the port. It turns out our scheduled driver lost his car keys and the company sent this other driver in to pick us up. Sounds kind of hokey to me but we got home with no problems. I did like the fact that the port management was out there monitoring what was going on. It does seem to go a lot smoother in Fort Lauderdale where we have never had any issues.

[Pam in CA]

She and the other personnel in the cruise terminal are not Princess employes. They work for the port and just wear the outfit for the cruise company they are checking in that day.

Right. One day they're "Princess," the next they're "Holland America," the next they could be Carnival, RCL or whatever other line sails from that port.

 

That said, they wear a Princess logo and represent Princess. No excuse for rudeness under any circumstance.

[CatsareCool]

The Princess personnel at the Seattle the cruise terminal do work directly for Princess. One of the very few ports where that is the case.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[I object 2]

Jewel, thanks for the great review. We board the Golden Princess in 3 weeks. Can't wait!!! Would you please let me know who was your cruise director? For some reason, all of the pre-cruise emails that are normally on my cruise Personalizer are missing.

[jewel825]

Jewel, thanks for the great review. We board the Golden Princess in 3 weeks. Can't wait!!! Would you please let me know who was your cruise director? For some reason, all of the pre-cruise emails that are normally on my cruise Personalizer are missing.

 

I have no idea! For some reason, I never saw or heard the cruise director the entire cruise. This is the first time that has ever happened. I heard a lot of announcements from the captain and I also heard a lot from the speakers going through Glacier Bay but the cruise director must have been way in the background because he/she left zero impression on me. Sorry!

[Colo Cruiser]

Jewel, thanks for the great review. We board the Golden Princess in 3 weeks. Can't wait!!! Would you please let me know who was your cruise director? For some reason, all of the pre-cruise emails that are normally on my cruise Personalizer are missing.

 

Just call Princess to have them add them back on.

[jsiegel]

Jewel, thanks for the great review. We board the Golden Princess in 3 weeks. Can't wait!!! Would you please let me know who was your cruise director? For some reason, all of the pre-cruise emails that are normally on my cruise Personalizer are missing.

 

The email with the cruise director's name comes at 14 days before the cruise. I just got mine on Saturday. It lists Billy Hygate as the CD.

 

Jackie

[Vexorg]

Thanks for the review. Me and some friends will be going on this one in about three weeks.

 

Just out of curiosity, how did you get to the port? I've been trying to figure out how to get six people to the port from Kirkland, and although I have a plan, it's kind of convoluted (go drop everyone off in two cars, drive back and then have the drivers take a taxi back to the ship.) Obviously a shuttle would be easiest, but it's rather expensive to do it that way.

[rkmw]

thanks for the review and when the ship comes down under in october 2015 we might try her out

[Woobstr112G]

Just had a chance to read your review. Thanks for taking the time to post it.....:):):)

 

Bob

[jewel825]

Thanks for the review. Me and some friends will be going on this one in about three weeks.

 

Just out of curiosity, how did you get to the port? I've been trying to figure out how to get six people to the port from Kirkland, and although I have a plan, it's kind of convoluted (go drop everyone off in two cars, drive back and then have the drivers take a taxi back to the ship.) Obviously a shuttle would be easiest, but it's rather expensive to do it that way.

 

We had a lot of out of town family stay at a hotel in Kirkland so we all met there on the morning of the cruise and a shuttle drove 10 of us to the port. This took approximately 40 minutes to get from the hotel to the port. Then going home we did the same thing all being dropped off at the hotel. We only live a few miles from the hotel so it was easy for us to get to/from home. My inlaws arranged it all so I'm not sure what the cost was - sorry.

[jewel825]

thanks for the review and when the ship comes down under in october 2015 we might try her out

 

I would love to do an Australian cruise! Actually, I'd love just a trip down there to see both Australia and New Zealand. I wouldn't even mind skipping the cruise! If I could just get that airfare into something affordable, I'd jump all over it!

[jewel825]

Just had a chance to read your review. Thanks for taking the time to post it.....:):):)

 

Bob

 

Thanks for reading Bob. It looks like you have a great cruise coming up on your T/A. I would love to try one of those!

[rkmw]

I would love to do an Australian cruise! Actually, I'd love just a trip down there to see both Australia and New Zealand. I wouldn't even mind skipping the cruise! If I could just get that airfare into something affordable, I'd jump all over it!

 

we are having quite a few ships cruising out of australian ports late 2015-16 season so there could be some good bargains about

[I object 2]

Just call Princess to have them add them back on.

 

Called Princess several days apart requesting they reload them but it hasn't happened. In fact, my call ticket was still open. :(

[Duane T]

Ditto. Great Review. We were on the Golden this past December/January. The captain and crew were great. The ship was ok, we never encountered the problems of other reviewers but a few of our dinner tablemates had problems in their Aloha deck mid-ship cabins. But overall a nice South American adventure.