Golden -your experiences

[DanaPointBob]

I think part of the differing opinions of the Golden (mine falls in the middle), is that everyone has different expectations and tolerances when it comes to a cruise. I am willing to overlook some deferred maintenance, as long as the A/C and the plumbing work, and the staff and food are good. Yes, I think she is due for a drydock, but I am more than willing to sail on her until then.

 

Agreed!

 

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[KarateMan]

LMAO! Best shape of the entire fleet? Seriously.... Perhaps an Optometrist might help.

 

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I would bet my eyes are sharper than yours, plus I have got age on my side here. I have got to be one of the youngest elite cruisers on Princess so its not as if I spend little time on ships. I am also under 40. My standards are very high. I never stay in hotels that are rated less than 5 star. I never fly with budget airlines and I despise cheapness and backpacker accommodation. I refuse to ride in taxis and only book chauffer driven cars. I have high standards and I would never be afraid to publicly criticise a cruise line if it were not up to my expectations. I am probably a harsh critic. In fact I have deemed Island Princess unfit for further cruises after its upcoming refit due to its shameful grab of public space.

 

I want to point out that I was also on Diamond Princess this August and it is just out of refit doing Japan at the time. In all honesty I could say Golden Princess was on par with Diamond Princess.

 

The ship was in Fantastic shape.

[DanaPointBob]

I would bet my eyes are sharper than yours, plus I have got age on my side here. I have got to be one of the youngest elite cruisers on Princess so its not as if I spend little time on ships. I am also under 40. My standards are very high. I never stay in hotels that are rated less than 5 star. I never fly with budget airlines and I despise cheapness and backpacker accommodation. I refuse to ride in taxis and only book chauffer driven cars. I have high standards and I would never be afraid to publicly criticise a cruise line if it were not up to my expectations. I am probably a harsh critic. In fact I have deemed Island Princess unfit for further cruises after its upcoming refit due to its shameful grab of public space.

 

I want to point out that I was also on Diamond Princess this August and it is just out of refit doing Japan at the time. In all honesty I could say Golden Princess was on par with Diamond Princess.

 

The ship was in Fantastic shape.

 

Sorry I missed all that. I was too busy still laughing about the comment that the Golden was in the best shape of the entire fleet. LOL

 

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[KarateMan]

Sorry I missed all that. I was too busy still laughing about the comment that the Golden was in the best shape of the entire fleet. LOL

 

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I actually find it laughable and quite bizarre that anyone would think the ship is in dire need of a dry dock.

[By The Bay]

OK "Gentlemen", back to your corners.:)

[pablo222]

I could honestly say I think the ship was in the best shape of the entire Princess fleet. An outstanding ship with a great cruise experience.

 

Can you post the dates you were on each of the other Princess ships,

so we can judge your comments?

[KarateMan]

OK "Gentlemen", back to your corners.:)

 

I am actually laughing at some of the negative posts I read. It doesn't make me angry, they just make me laugh uncontrollably.

 

I was on the Golden Princess for 31 nights just this year around South America. From people who know what I post I am not afraid to speak my mind and wont hold back criticism where it is due.

 

Complaints about the ship being in a state of disrepair are literally making me laugh.

[cvpends]

I just disembarked Golden and found her to be perfect! They are doing a ton of maintenance such as varnish and painting things, and she looks even better than a year ago. Staff was entirely friendly and proficient, and food and entertainment awesome!

[shredie]

I was on the Golden Princess for 31 nights just this year around South America. From people who know what I post I am not afraid to speak my mind and wont hold back criticism where it is due.

 

LOL! So true! I agree with you that the Golden is in good shape, though maybe not the best in the fleet. (Not sure how you would determine that anyway.) My theory is that all those short coastals she has been doing are bringing on more passengers (approx. 2000 x 8 times a month) so there is a bigger pool of reviewers. More reviews=more attention, so the focus on her faults is magnified. The Golden has not been my favorite ship, but I've been on her so much lately, I've come to appreciate her more.

[gabbyisadog]

Thanks for all the varying points of view. We are going with friends so we will enjoy the trip. I let you know what I think upon my return.

[KarateMan]

LOL! So true! I agree with you that the Golden is in good shape, though maybe not the best in the fleet. (Not sure how you would determine that anyway.) My theory is that all those short coastals she has been doing are bringing on more passengers (approx. 2000 x 8 times a month) so there is a bigger pool of reviewers. More reviews=more attention, so the focus on her faults is magnified. The Golden has not been my favorite ship, but I've been on her so much lately, I've come to appreciate her more.

 

All I can say was 31 nights around South America is that I had a great time on the ship and could not fault the ship in any way at all.

 

All of the so called faults that many people posting here claim to have seen I did not see at all. I had plenty of time to find faults and would have found them but did not find any. I even had several consecutive sea days on that cruise so if there were faults they would not have escaped me.

[pablo222]

I would bet my eyes are sharper than yours, plus I have got age on my side here. I have got to be one of the youngest elite cruisers on Princess so its not as if I spend little time on ships. I am also under 40. My standards are very high. I never stay in hotels that are rated less than 5 star. I never fly with budget airlines and I despise cheapness and backpacker accommodation. I refuse to ride in taxis and only book chauffer driven cars. I have high standards and I would never be afraid to publicly criticise a cruise line if it were not up to my expectations.

 

I don't understand why you cruise on Princess at all.

 

Princess is a main-stream cruise line, marketed to people

with average income (the group I place myself in).

 

If I were claiming that I never stay at less than a 5-star hotel,

I would not be following up with my posts about Princess. I'd

be talking about Seaborn, etc.

[cvpends]

I don't understand why you cruise on Princess at all.

 

Princess is a main-stream cruise line, marketed to people

with average income (the group I place myself in).

 

If I were claiming that I never stay at less than a 5-star hotel,

I would not be following up with my posts about Princess. I'd

be talking about Seaborn, etc.

Like ;)

[Tinknock50]

For what it's worth.....I just heard through my Roll Call that the Golden will be going through dry dock April 16th through May 2nd. Cool since I will be boarding her June 1st.:)

 

Just so they don't muck up the design as so many cruise lines have done with their ships.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

For what it's worth.....I just heard through my Roll Call that the Golden will be going through dry dock April 16th through May 2nd. Cool since I will be boarding her June 1st.:)

 

Just so they don't muck up the design as so many cruise lines have done with their ships.

 

Hopefully they'll improve the traffic flow in the HC buffet. The food stations are so close together that many treat it as a "single line" cafeteria, slowing things down considerably. I understand this has been addressed on other Grand-class ships in drydock.

[cvpends]

Hopefully they'll improve the traffic flow in the HC buffet. The food stations are so close together that many treat it as a "single line" cafeteria, slowing things down considerably. I understand this has been addressed on other Grand-class ships in drydock.

 

 

On Golden this week, both ends of each side of HC were.used as entrances with hand sanitizer and someone handing out plates. People just wandered around gathering what they wanted . Having four entrance points was much faster and there was absolutely never a line . I thought this was a good improvement over the previous times I was on that ship .

Edited November 29, 2014 by cvpends

[SoCal Cruiser78]

On Golden this week, both ends of each side of HC were.used as entrances with hand sanitizer and someone handing out plates. People just wandered around gathering what they wanted . Having four entrance points was much faster and there was absolutely never a line . I thought this was a good improvement over the previous times I was on that ship .

 

That does sound like an improvement. When I was on her in September, often just one side of one entrance was used (just ONE entrance point total), more or less forcing everyone to start out in one line. The ship was full that cruise, so perhaps they were understaffed.

 

I still think the stations are too close together, though, and would benefit from being spread out a bit.

Edited November 29, 2014 by Ryndam2002

[cvpends]

That does sound like an improvement. When I was on her in September, often just one side of one entrance was used (just ONE entrance point total), more or less forcing everyone to start out in one line. The ship was full that cruise, so perhaps they were understaffed.

 

I still think the stations are too close together, though, and would benefit from being spread out a bit.

I agree. It would be nice if they would add the external bread/dessert station like the one on Star.

[Tinknock50]

Hopefully they'll improve the traffic flow in the HC buffet. The food stations are so close together that many treat it as a "single line" cafeteria, slowing things down considerably. I understand this has been addressed on other Grand-class ships in drydock.

 

Sounds like that would be a good change. Let's hope they do that instead of messing something else up.

Edited November 29, 2014 by Tinknock50

[shredie]

I agree. It would be nice if they would add the external bread/dessert station like the one on Star.

 

Yes. That one change makes a huge difference in the crowd flow.

[gabbyisadog]

I think I am in for a long 16 days. At least I am not decorating the house for Christmas or doing holiday entertaining.

 

Well I am back . Ship definitely needs the dry dock. She is shabby in many areas. We were in D705, a mini suite which would be a balcony cabin on HAL or celebrity. Chair was stained, two gouges in couch. Balcony furniture old and worn. Sheets were clean but I founf a hole or two plus some permanent stains. Need new duvet covers.

 

Towels were good. Room attendant was great. He cleaned the best he could. Stuff is just old and worn.

 

I did not complain, I knew what to expect from this thread and reviews. It was an inexpensive cruise and I got what I paid for.

 

Never a line at anytime dining. There were 5 of us and we always went right in at around 6-6:30. Food in dining room was much better than expected. salads not crisp. Chocolate deserts were wonderful. Waiter, head waiters were terrific.

 

Internation cafe had good coffee drinks and snacks.

Not a buffet user except for an omelet at breakfast. It seems efficient. No lines.

 

Wonderful speaker on DNA and cases solved using it.

 

No organized bridge or card room.

 

Entertainment a mixed bag. They place a lot of emphasis on movies which is obviously very cost effective for them.

 

Did private excursions.

 

Had a good time.

[Brisbane41]

It is an outstanding ship in excellent condition and gives an excellent cruise experience. So far I have never been disappointed on a Princess Cruise ever.

[Auntiejo]

We were on a 5 day CA coastal over Thanksgiving. There's no question that the Golden is a bit old and worn, but overall I thought the grave reports of her condition were exaggerated. We went with realistic expectations and had exactly the experience we expected. Is it my favorite Princess ship? No. But we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and would sail her again without a second thought.

[Kinkacruiser]

Having sailed on her half a dozen times over the last year I can simply say she is a tired ship in desperate need of drydock.

 

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Must be time to pass her onto to Australia :rolleyes:

 

(she's here for the '15 summer season and we're booked)

Edited December 25, 2014 by Kinkacruiser

[cvpends]

Must be time to pass her onto to Australia :rolleyes:

 

(she's here for the '15 summer season and we're booked)

 

 

I have sailed Golden thrice in the last year, and adore her. Worry not!