Review of The Golden Princess Melbourne-Tasmania December 2017

[trishh]

I was travelling with my husband and 2 kids (17 and 20) on a6 day round Tassie on the Golden. We took the train from home to Southern CrossStation, and then hopped on the 109 tram to Port Melbourne. The 109 tram fromthe city to Port Melbourne was jam packed but since it was only for 15-20 minswe coped. It only took us around 45 mins from leaving home to hopping on board.

Embarkation was fairly straightforward and quicker thannormal since there was no customs and immigration. We just had to fill out thehealth declaration forms and on we went.

We were in a Premium Balcony C752, and our kids were in aninside just across the hall C746. The cabins were both in pretty goodcondition, however for the first time in many years our room steward was notthat great. Our carpet was rarely vacuumed even though it obviously needed it,there were marks on the desktops left uncleaned, and she rarely left wineglasses even though I asked every day. I know ‘First world problems’!

We ate lunch for the first day on deck 14 enjoying thepizza, and burgers which were both very good. Unfortunately Horizon Court hasgone downhill, and although I know food is subjective, in my view it was notvery good at all.

Every morning we went to the MDR for breakfast and it wasfresh, hot and tasty. We had anytime dining, but only made it to the MDR forthe last 4 nights once we finally gave up on Horizon Court. I found the food tobe fairly good and the service was spot on as normal. I didn’t see the Crab Shack or pub lunchoffered on any day, and I didn’t try any of the speciality restaurants. We weregoing to do the Chefs dinner but got a call on the second last day to say thatthere hadn’t been enough interest so they weren’t going to run it. I suppose the$120 PP put most people off. Our plan had been to order the balcony dinner ifthe chefs dinner didn’t go ahead, but since we’d spent over $200 enjoyinglobster the night before in Hobart, we didn’t go ahead with it.

There was No Buy One get one free offered at any time duringthe cruise.

I felt that the ship was in an overall good condition andhad no complaints about it at all. Unlike reports from other ships we did haveto take our life jackets to the muster drill.

The entertainment staff were mostly lacking in personality,and the cruise director had no personality or talent. The only time I saw the cruise directorinteracting with passengers was when she was walking through the ship with herboss Tim Donavan, apart from that she would sweep through and not make eyecontact or speak to anyone. I’ve sailed before with Tim Donavan and he wouldposition himself at the bar and chat to everyone and anyone. There were acouple of entertainment staff worth mentioning, Iris and Juan, but even theylacked the talent that I’ve seen on other cruises. In saying all of that theentertainment staff don’t have a huge impact on my cruise, but I suppose I wassurprised at how bad most of them were.

I don’t go to see production shows but had read a blog whichmentioned that the comedian was worth seeing, but it was obviously not the oneon our cruise. The Comedian was absolutely terrible-he even said himself that heknew we’d all be putting it in our surveys how bad he was.

We had an overnight in Hobart which was lovely, and we alsowent to Phillip Island. Note to others, if you tender into Phillip Island beaware that Rhyll is tiny and the shuttle buses are $15 return to Cowes. Princessfailed to mention where we’d be tendering and there were a lot of people,including myself, who went ashore with no cash. Rhyll does not have an ATM sothere were a lot of unhappy passengers. I spoke to the man taking the cash forthe buses and asked him if I could pay him when I got back from Cowes andluckily he said Yes.

 

Overall we had a pretty good cruise and have booked again forChristmas and New Year 2018. I’ll be able to scan copies of the patters overthe next few days so please let me know if there’s anything in particular you’dlike to see.

[MicCanberra]

Thanks for the review.

Glad you had a good cruise.

[Keith1010]

I enjoyed reading your review and I am also glad to hear that you enjoyed the cruise.

 

Keith

[GUT2407]

Thanks Trish

[Marley155]

Thank you for taking the time to review. We are doing this cruise in March (except for Phillip Island).

[Dobby_The_Ship_Elf]

The entertainment staff were mostly lacking in personality,and the cruise director had no personality or talent. The only time I saw the cruise director interacting with passengers was when she was walking through the ship with her boss Tim Donavan, apart from that she would sweep through and not make eye contact or speak to anyone. I’ve sailed before with Tim Donavan and he would position himself at the bar and chat to everyone and anyone. There were a couple of entertainment staff worth mentioning, Yris and Juan, but even they lacked the talent that I’ve seen on other cruises. In saying all of that the entertainment staff don’t have a huge impact on my cruise, but I suppose I was surprised at how bad most of them were.

 

We were on the cruise before you and I concur that some of the CD staff were very 'ordinary' particularly Elliot. I do know that a couple from our cruise were flying home as soon as we berthed in Melbourne.

 

As for Jen, our cruise was her first as CD, she was firmly under the wing of Tim learning the ropes regarding scheduling events, timing etc.

 

I actually spent quite a bit of time talking with both Tim & Jen and they were both great, although she did admit to being very nervous.

 

Perhaps if new CD staff had just got on in Melbourne she was in full manager mode when you saw her.

 

Did you find that there seemed to be a lot of 'plumbing issues' hand basin's, broken toilets etc that never got fixed over the duration of your cruise?

[Porky55]

trishh

Interesting review.

We sailed on Golden in September to PNG / Sth Pacific and found her quite beautiful. All was well run - Tim must have been CD - great entertainment and definitely no plumbing issues (Dobby_The_Ship_Elf)

[emoji57] Though a recent cruise to Tassie ( we were in front of Golden) on Diamond Princess had plumbing problems, fixed immediately if you’re interested [emoji6]

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[MicCanberra]

Good to hear that they fixed things immediately on the Diamond. Still my favourite of the Princess ships.

[trishh]

We were on the cruise before you and I concur that some of the CD staff were very 'ordinary' particularly Elliot. I do know that a couple from our cruise were flying home as soon as we berthed in Melbourne.

 

As for Jen, our cruise was her first as CD, she was firmly under the wing of Tim learning the ropes regarding scheduling events, timing etc.

 

I actually spent quite a bit of time talking with both Tim & Jen and they were both great, although she did admit to being very nervous.

 

Perhaps if new CD staff had just got on in Melbourne she was in full manager mode when you saw her.

 

Did you find that there seemed to be a lot of 'plumbing issues' hand basin's, broken toilets etc that never got fixed over the duration of your cruise?

No plumbing issues that I was aware of during our cruise.

Trish

[erewhon]

Thank you for reviewing your cruise.