Golden Princess 03 November 07 - Review

[bobbyd6363]

Pre-Cruise

We stayed at the Westin Long Beach the day prior to our departure (2Nov07). The Westin is very nice and those heavenly beds are to die for! Man! If you cant get a good night's sleep in that bed there is something wrong with you!

Embarkation

We headed down to the San Pedro terminal at 1045AM vie Super Shuttle. We had two mini-vans to haul us to the ship. The lead van went directly to the ship but our van headed to the airport! My best friend called me trying to find out where we were because they were already at the ship and we were headed to LAX! I turned our driver around and we finally got to the ship. We unloaded our bags with the porter and headed to check in.

They were passing our embarkation numbers by cabin when we checked in and we were in group four. We waited about 20 minutes and they called our number and we boarded rather quickly! I have to say checking in went rather quickly and we side stepped the obligatory photographer and went directly aboard.

Life Boat Drill

This was a unique event for me because typically a life boat drill takes place with everyone hauling their life vests down to their prospective life boat station. On the Golden Princess we were directed by alphabetic numbers on our vests (A, B, C, D etc). I was in group "C" which was directed to the Wheel House Bar. Every life boat station on the Golden Princess was indoors! The roll wasn’t called either. The recorded announcement stated that Princess has a sophisticated means of determining whether or not everyone was at their life boat station. Yeah right! LOL!

We were expecting to leave port during the life boat drill but too many people were late so the ship was held up for half an hour and we finally left port around 5PM.

Ship Details

The Golden Princess is laid out rather oddly. I cannot tell you how many times I got lost! I have to state right here that I have been on 26 cruises on various cruise lines and this is the first time I couldn’t find my way around! I must be getting old!

The pools were ok. The solarium pool as usual drew the biggest bunch of chair hogs and the hot tubs were also the personal play pool of the all the children onboard. I still don’t understand why this is the case on every ship I sail but inevitably the children take possession of the hot tubs and therefore blocking the adults from enjoying them. The good thing is that the Golden Princess has many hot tubs onboard and I found the hot tubs aft on Sports deck aft by the oasis bar were typically adults only.

The fitness center was tiny when compared to other ships of this size. In comparison, the fitness center is pretty much the same as it is on the Island Princess but puny when it is compared to say the Zuiderdam or Voyager of the Seas.

Pretty much everything else about this ship is forgettable. I don’t know what it is but I am just not finding very much about the Golden Princess to be worth mentioning.

Dining

The service on the Golden Princess was abysmal. We (unfortunately) chose “Anytime” dining. BIG MISTAKE! The service in Donatello and Bernini dining rooms were horrible. For example, we were seated in Donatello at 615PM and our order wasn’t taken until 7PM! If this were a “real world” restaurant, they wouldn’t be in business very long! The waiters and assistant waiters were never in a hurry to do anything. However, we were constantly bombarded with shipboard propaganda that we were going to have “Excellent” service. HA! Throw that together with absolutely boring food! The food on Golden Princess was simply bland. That is being nice. I think the food was pretty horrible and almost airline quality.

Continuing my rant about the horrible dining room service let me mention some other issues. Typically when you are seated you are given a menu and then the assistant waiter brings bread and water to your table, then asks if there are any soft drink requests. We found ourselves asking for refills of water and bread which never materialized. Over the span of a week we ate in the Donatello and Bernini dining rooms on 5 of the 7 nights and found the service consistently bad. One thing I found sorely missing was the absence of a wine steward or bar tender. If you asked for wine or cocktails, the waiter or assistant waiter had to leave the dining room and get them from a bar. All I can say is good luck getting that drink BEFORE dinner is over.

The only place you are going to fine “Excellent” service on the Golden Princess is in the specialty restaurants. We dined in Sabatini’s and the Desert Rose during the week and had amazing service. Gabriel in Sabatini’s made us laugh and was very nice and attentive to our needs and Miguel was our waiter in the Desert Rose. Miguel was also very funny and we had a great time with him. Overall I find it sad that you have to pay to get great service! Is this a sign of things to come? I honestly think that the “automatic tipping” is creating a very lazy service staff. True – there are shining examples of great waiters but these stars are taking up the slack of many that are simple going through the motions. One last example of bad service was our last morning before debarking. We had breakfast in Donatello and as we were seated we could clearly hear the waiter one table over complaining that he hadn’t gotten tipped by a single passenger! Umm get a clue dude! If your service sucks you DON’T GET TIPPED! I did turn off my automatic tips as did pretty much everyone in my group. We tipped individuals as we saw fit.

We got really lucky on the 6th night of our cruise by finding Jorge and Leo (table 61) in the Donatello dining room. They were awesome! These two pulled it together and provided us service that had been sorely missing all week! We were so thrilled we immediately reserved their table for the next night too! Jorge sang to us and made jokes. He even teamed up with several of my group to play a joke on me and another of my party! My hat is off to Jorge and Leo for saving our cruise!

I never really ate in the Horizon Court except one morning I had cereal and a sandwich here and there. I found the Horizon Court layout to be poorly designed with bottle necks everywhere and very badly handled foot traffic.

Cabin

I was in cabin C602 which is a category BA on Caribe deck ten. My cabin attendant was Rosalie. I asked her to put my beds together to make them into a queen sized bed and to add an egg crate top. As always I expect my sheets to be changed daily and I did ask for a new duvet. I found that my sheets weren’t being changed and that my duvet was dirty and smelled like dirty socks. I asked again to have my sheets and duvet changed which they weren’t. I eventually had to call the pursers desk to complain. While I waited for clean sheets and duvet I took a pen and wrote the date on them and did so every day until FINALLY on day five they were changed except the duvet.

I know the cabin attendants work like dogs on these ships. I found out that my cabin attendant was responsible for seventeen cabins! SEVENTEEN!?! She didn’t have an assistant and didn’t get a break all day. I recall that most times you see your cabin attendant and then they are gone the rest of the day until evening you would see them again right before dinner. My cabin attendant was ALWAYS there! She always had something to do in those cabins. Bless her heart – I felt bad for her. I also found out she was never allowed off the ship and the only thing she got for her efforts was that she got to eat in the Horizon Court. WOW! What a treat! Barring the problems with my sheets and duvet I still tipped her.

Speaking of cabin attendants, the morning we returned to San Pedro I was up early and she asked if she could go ahead and clean my room before the new passengers came aboard. I stayed out of her way and watched her from the balcony. She changed the sheets and pillow cases but DID NOT change the duvet! JEEZ! How many people have slept under or on that duvet?! I feel like I need shots or something now.

Entertainment

I can’t really speak for the shows because I never saw one while onboard. However, I did see the comedian (forgot his name) and he was pretty darn funny.

Casino

The casino was a typical cruise ship casino with table games like roulette, black jack and craps. The Golden Princess also has two Texas Holdem tables which are computerized and doesn’t rake a share of the pot. They alternated between limit and no-limit without warning so pay attention to how you are betting!

My only complaint is about the casino cage. I would like to point out something that really bothers me more than the poor dining room service. I have always traveled with traveler’s checks and I am sure like everyone else, I don’t sign my name the same time every single time. If you recall, one must sign each travelers check before you depart the bank and if you cash them, you have to counter sign them in front of the cashier. Well I took several hundred dollars worth of traveler’s checks to the casino so I could play craps. When I couldn’t sign my name the same way on these checks the casino cage attendant asked me “if you can’t sign your name correctly every time, then why do you use traveler’s checks?”! Umm, I didn’t know it was the cruise line’s casino personnel’s job to tell ME how and what I should use for travel cash! That was the ultimate in rude to me and unforgivable!

Purser’s Desk

Purser’s Desk service was pretty darn cold and impersonal. I have met nicer people at an emergency room check in desk! Not a single smile in the bunch! Not even a hello or how are you! These people ARE the front line faces for Princess Cruises. Don’t you think they should give “EXCELLENT” service? Morticians are warmer.

Puerto Vallarta

We never book excursions through the ship and we enjoy researching and doing our own thing in port. We found the El Eden Zipline tour and my group partook in trying to kill ourselves! LOL! Honestly, we had a blast! The tour was a lot of fun and zipping along at 45MPH 500 feet off the ground is a rush! I don’t recommend this one to people with asthma or heat problems! I have asthma and climbing up those stairs to the tops of those hills almost did me in! A couple of my group had to drop out because all that climbing was too much!

Mazatlan

As I mentioned above we like to research and do our own thing in port. In Mazatlan we booked a tour of the city with Mazatlan Frank. We were very lucky to actually get Frank himself to be our tour guide. Frank showed us around Mazatlan via a 24 passenger open air trolley. We saw the cliff divers and a beautiful cathedral. Then it was off to lunch (included) and some time at a resort pool and beach. If you can get him BOOK HIM!! Frank rocks!

Cabo San Lucas

Pulling into anchor in Cabo is beautiful! However, be warned that if you are on Caribe or Dolphin deck mid-ships you will get a very rude awakening with they lower those tenders!! The davits are right below those cabins and are very loud!

My big complaint about Cabo is that you have to tender into port and the ship was only in Cabo from 7AM to 1PM and you have to catch the last tender back to the ship at 1230. Pretty much nothing opens in Cabo until 11AM. Not to mention Cabo has some of the most aggressive street vendors I have ever seen!

Summary

Overall on a scale of one to ten I would give this cruise a five. I am NOT impressed with the Golden Princess and her crew. There were shining moments but not enough to make this cruise memorable. I honestly feel that “automatic tipping” is creating poor service everywhere and that “anytime” dining just plain sucks.

Comments? Questions? Flames? Fire away!

[jagmanss1]

My wife and I were on this same sailing as Bobbyd and agree with his assessment and have comments of my own....

Pre-Cruise

We also stayed at the Westin Long Beach and although it was in a great location and nice area within walking distance to all Restuarants, We didn't really care for it. If we had not gotten such A good rate I would not stay again. I felt the room to be your standard 2 double bed and nothing special, No fan in bathroom, No balconies, No free shuttle service, They charge hotel guests a parking fee and not even A continental breakfast.... The pool area run down and this is billed to be A 5 star Hotel.... If big beutiful atriums and decor of the commom areas are your thing than this is the place...

We stayed at the Quality Inn orlando Airport the night before our flight to LAX and they were clean and had 2 queen beds, Nicley landscaped pool area, balonies, free continental breakfast in an open seating area, Free shuttle service to the area and airport, Free parking of our car for 8 days.... Now this is my kinda place for only $69 per night.... Hey!! We only need to sleep there.... But the little extras are nice....

Embarkation

We had friends of ours take us to the port around noon and there were hardley any lines and were on within 10 min...

Side Note: To those wondering if you can bring beer onboard.... I tested what I have read on these boards... I bought an 18 pack of Bud cans and put A luggage tag on it and asked the porter if this can get to my cabin and he said no problem, I tipped him and went on my way thinking yeah that will be the last I see of that... Not so... To my amazement it not only arrived But was the first piece of luggage that arrived:D Nice!!!

Ship Details

Pretty much the same as Bobbyd.... Found this ship hard to navigate... We were on the Island Princess 2 yrs ago and thought this would be about the same... Not even close.... We found that our favorite spot to go for pre-Dinner drinks was the Martini bar on deck 7 which is really called the promanade bar on the deck plans and still don't really know what it is called, But they made the best lemon drop martini's on the ship... We found nothing was ever clearly marked as to what loung you were at.... we looked on the side of the doors,Behind the doors and found no signs ever... Hmm.. Maybe I'm going blind... :eek:

I will continue my comments about Dining, Cabin, Entertainment,Ports later in another post

[flamomo]

I guess I am the lone dissenter so far (and maybe forever), but we really enjoyed this cruise -with the exception of it being a difficult ship to find our way around, and our airheaded steward(ess). We were satisfied with the food, the entertainment, the staff that we had any dealings with, our accomodations, and the disembarkation process that Princess had in place on this ship. It was, for the first time, not like a cattle call with the herd milling around the gangway area, clogging the corridors and stairs. I think they finally figured out a way to do it logically.

Because my cabinmate was Platinum status, we got right thru the check-in procedure and were onboard within 10 minutes of getting off the bus from the hotel. Our luggage was delivered quickly.

I would have to give it an 8 1/2 on a 1-10 scale, as compared to our other Princess cruises.

[ORV]

Thanks for the review, it certainly tells us a lot.

[marilynbn]

Well what a bummer! Up until this review I have only heard great things about the Golden. This will only be our second cruise with Princess. I have been looking forward to the trip we are taking in Janurary but now...

I hope that this perspective was not shared by many others. I certainly know from reading these boards that people can have VERY opposite experiences and opinions when on the same sailing.

 

Can you elaborate more about the difficulty in navigating around the ship?

Marilyn

[esmo]

We are scheduled to take our very first cruise ever on the Golden on December 8th. I certainly hope we have a better first impression than is related in the OP review. I have been a little concerned because there seems to be so few reviews/comments on the Golden compared to the CB or Grand.

 

I guess we will see what we see and hope for the best. I am hoping we will have a great time and the experience will convince my DH (and myself) that cruising is the best vacation value.

 

Esmo

[beatriz22]

Well,we re going to keep an open mind but Im faxing this to princess...hoepfully our cruise in march will be way better!!! question, so normally there'ss no sail away party bec of the muster drill?? was there 1 and when?? thnx

[Clutterlady]

Thank you for the review.

 

My first Princess cruise was on the Golden and I fell in love with the ship and Princess. Didn't find it any more difficult in navigation than the Carnival and NCL ships we were on!?!

 

The Horizon court is set up in stations, so there shouldn't be any need to stand in line. Not sure what the standing in line is all about??

 

Food and service was the best out of our recent cruises.

 

Just as we went with an open mind on our cruises with Carnival and NCL, we still had a good time and refused to let the little things ruin our vacation.

[bobbyd6363]

Marylyn - don’t get me wrong. I LOVE to cruise! Like I said I have been on 26 cruises and this was my second on Princess. I had almost 30 people in my group of Martians and there are a lot of folks that were not happy with the climate of the crew onboard. I am sort of a Polly Anna when it comes to things and I do tend to look on the brighter side but this cruise for me was NOT impressive.

Nothing really stood out from the Golden Princess except the fact that the crew is absolutely the coldest and most impersonal that I have ever come across! We sailed on the Island Princess two years ago to Hawaii and were very, very happy with that crew and ship. I am convinced that the automatic tipping and anytime dining is seriously compromising the quality of service one gets onboard. It was VERY evident for us.

However, I do want to point out that there are pockets of stellar performance among the Golden Princess crew. For example, in my review I call out Jorge and Leo (table 61) in the Donatello dining room, Catlin (bartender) at the Outrigger Bar, Miguel (waiter) in the Desert Rose restaurant and .Gabriel (waiter) in Sabatini’s.

You will note my friend Mary Lou’s (flamomo) comment that she didn’t have problems with the service but did have problems navigating the ship.

As for difficulty navigating the ship, it’s really hard to describe what actually the problem was. I think it mostly had to do with poor or lack of signage for bars, decks etc. I recall that most ships have different color carpet for the forward and aft sections of the ship. I found that mostly when I got off the elevator or was looking for stairs I couldn’t seem to tell which side was port or starboard or where forward and aft were. I also had lots of trouble finding the spa and the terrace pool.

Feel free to ask my any questions!

[JustCruizeIt59]

Jagmanss1 (Steve)--Congrats on getting the beer on board. Forgot to ask about that. I was one of the friends who dropped him off at the pier with that 18 pack.

[dlp252]

The Horizon court is set up in stations, so there shouldn't be any need to stand in line. Not sure what the standing in line is all about??

 

I was on the Golden the week before they were and this was the first time I've ever seen lines in Horizon Court--not all the time, but there was at least once that I recall that there was a very LONG line just to get to the plates.

[bobbyd6363]

We are scheduled to take our very first cruise ever on the Golden on December 8th. I certainly hope we have a better first impression than is related in the OP review. I have been a little concerned because there seems to be so few reviews/comments on the Golden compared to the CB or Grand.

 

I guess we will see what we see and hope for the best. I am hoping we will have a great time and the experience will convince my DH (and myself) that cruising is the best vacation value.

Esmo

 

Esmo – you are correct that there are very few reviews of the Golden Princess! I actually half expected my review to get deleted by CC. I also posted the same review to the CC Member’s Reviews but am still awaiting confirmation that it was accepted. My group has a thread for the Golden Princess 2 November 2007 sailing and if you search for my user name (bobbyd6363) you should find it. We actually had someone post to our thread that had recently been aboard a sailing of the Golden Princess that was upset that the food, service and ship were not up to par. We dismissed it and I do have to admit that the group I was with made our own fun and saved the cruise in general.

Tell your DH that cruising is the best vacation around. I don’t want to dampen your spirits but do want you to be armed with enough information to make your cruise better! I recommend table 61 with Jorge and Leo in the Donatello dining room, eat as many times as you can in the specialty restaurants and harass your cabin attendant to make certain your bed linens are changed immediately and constantly!! You will have a great cruise! When you return from your sailing please look me up and tell me I was wrong!

Feel free to send me any and all questions!

[bobbyd6363]

Well,we re going to keep an open mind but Im faxing this to princess...hoepfully our cruise in march will be way better!!! question, so normally there'ss no sail away party bec of the muster drill?? was there 1 and when?? thnx

 

beatrizz22 - there was a sail away party up on deck AFTER the muster drill. However, normally the Golden Princess sets sail during the muster drill and I did confirm this with the cruise staff.

[bobbyd6363]

Thank you for the review.

 

The Horizon court is set up in stations, so there shouldn't be any need to stand in line. Not sure what the standing in line is all about??

 

Food and service was the best out of our recent cruises.

 

Just as we went with an open mind on our cruises with Carnival and NCL, we still had a good time and refused to let the little things ruin our vacation.

 

Clutterlady - first let me say that I totally agree with you that one shouldn’t let the little things ruin your vacation! Let me stress to you that these things did NOT ruin my vacation! We had a crazy bunch of people that made up for the lacking service. We have fun regardless but I had to point out the flaws I saw and my honest opinion that there was a serious lack of quality of service and poor attitudes abounded among the staff.

As for the Horizon Court, the food was pretty good i have to admit and I do have to say that the desert cart I raided one afternoon was wonderful! LOL! I had a nougat cheese cake that was not available in the dining room that night and IT WAS TO DIE FOR!

Now as for the layout and design of the Horizon Court - it sucks. The stations are too close together and with two entrances to that mess it got confusing and you will and I did bump into people going in many, many different directions. I think the buffet areas of the Carnival, RCL and HAL ships are much better with duplicate stations on the port and starboard side allowing free flowing traffic in ANY direction.

Any more questions? Fire away!

[bobbyd6363]

I was on the Golden the week before they were and this was the first time I've ever seen lines in Horizon Court--not all the time, but there was at least once that I recall that there was a very LONG line just to get to the plates.

 

dlp252 - I agree that there were times when lines were incredibly long stretching out the sliding doors toward the pool. Going back to what I said about the poor layout/design of the Horizon Court, there is really only one way to approach the buffet line and that is from the pool area. Since most people don’t realize there are two entrances to the food stations they just queue up in the single line to get plates. Unbeknownst to them there is another entrance that will allow people into the food stations that will cause a mess of traffic confusion among the stations as the other people enter the other side of the stations. What a mess. I avoided the lines and went for pizza and burgers by the Mermaid's Tail bar.

[marilynbn]

So you're saying that the Horizon Court has only one side of the ship in use? That IS odd. We were recently on the Sea Princess, a smaller ship, and there were two sides, port & starboard, to choose from in their Horizon Court. That would certainly muck things up! Marilyn

[bobbyd6363]

 

 

Side Note: To those wondering if you can bring beer onboard.... I tested what I have read on these boards... I bought an 18 pack of Bud cans and put A luggage tag on it and asked the porter if this can get to my cabin and he said no problem, I tipped him and went on my way thinking yeah that will be the last I see of that... Not so... To my amazement it not only arrived But was the first piece of luggage that arrived:D Nice!!!

 

jagmanss1 - I noticed many people had put their baggage tags on cases of water! I saw several cases of Evian water up and down the hall on Caribe deck next to people's luggage! I did bring on two 12 packs of Diet Coke in my roll on so I guess next time I will just stick and baggage tag on it!! WOOT!

[bobbyd6363]

So you're saying that the Horizon Court has only one side of the ship in use? That IS odd. We were recently on the Sea Princess, a smaller ship, and there were two sides, port & starboard, to choose from in their Horizon Court. That would certainly muck things up! Marilyn

 

Marilyn - there WERE two sides the the Horizon Court. However, both sides were NEVER open at the same time when I went through there say at dinner and lunch. So the lines were long and the traffic among the stations was congested. My honest opinion is the food is about the same quality as you will find at Sizzler or Country Buffet.

[marilynbn]

We usually only eat at the buffets for breakfast when we cruise...did you ever eat there for breakfast? If so how was the quality and selection? Thanks...your answers are so quick I feel like we are IM'ing! Marilyn :D

[sultan_sfo]

Yes -- port and starboard carpeting do have different colors -- blue and red. And as soon as one enters the cabin hallway from the elevators or stairs, there are arrows right in front of you showing aft and fore! Being city dwellers, we don't mind getting lost occasionally. /Sultan

 

 

I found that mostly when I got off the elevator or was looking for stairs I couldn’t seem to tell which side was port or starboard or where forward and aft were. I also had lots of trouble finding the spa and the terrace pool.

 

Feel free to ask my any questions!

[bobbyd6363]

We usually only eat at the buffets for breakfast when we cruise...did you ever eat there for breakfast? If so how was the quality and selection? Thanks...your answers are so quick I feel like we are IM'ing! Marilyn :D

 

Marilyn - I did have breakfast in the Horizon Court the morning we were in Cabo. The food is your typical breakfast fare of cereal, yogurt, fruit etc. The hot food was all buffet style with no eggs to order. Sort of reminded me of a breakfast buffet I had at a hotel in England. There were pre-made omelets, scrambled eggs and fried eggs on toast. Again, the food seemed to be pretty much your standard fare you would find at Sizzler and Hometown Buffet.

 

As for Im'ing - LOL I am at work and bored! LOL!

[marilynbn]

Yes, these boards are great for those times when we're bored!

 

A couple more questions then for you just so you don't fall asleep at your desk. :)

 

1. What were the machines at the fitness center like? Old and antiquated or newer? How about the treadmills?

2. What category stateroom did you have and how was it for space and comfort?

 

Thanks again, Marilyn

[cricketdog]

We were on the Golden Princess in September and October and loved our experience on this Princess ship. My wife loved it so much that she tried to get on for the Thanksgiving week sailing, but it is waitlisted. I am sorry that you had such a bad experience on The Golden. These 2 sailings were our first time on Golden Princess and we thought that it was our best experience cruising with princess. We have been on 7 other princess ships, and thought that the crew members that we encountered were some of the very best. We are even emailing a few and hope to meet them in the future. Please keep on cruising and Happy Sailings.

 

Cricketdog

[jagmanss1]

Yes -- port and starboard carpeting do have different colors -- blue and red. And as soon as one enters the cabin hallway from the elevators or stairs, there are arrows right in front of you showing aft and fore! Being city dwellers, we don't mind getting lost occasionally. /Sultan

 

It is true that the carpeting is Blue with red boarder for port and just blue for starboard, but this only applied to cabin hallways, I did get A tip off these boards and it worked only in the cabin hallways.... Look down and you will see some pattern that looks like sails boats the sail has a point and points forward so you will know whether you are going aft or towards the front... This came in very handy and worked

[bobbyd6363]

Yes, these boards are great for those times when we're bored!

 

A couple more questions then for you just so you don't fall asleep at your desk. :)

 

1. What were the machines at the fitness center like? Old and antiquated or newer? How about the treadmills?

2. What category stateroom did you have and how was it for space and comfort?

 

Marilyn

 

1. The weight machines were pretty new and clean. I did find the fitness center to be rather small for such a large ship. I honestly think the fitness center aboard the Island Princess is bigger but neither the Island nor the Golden can compare to the fitness centers aboard the Voyager of the Seas or Carnival Destiny! Also the foot traffic was pretty intense through there too.

 

2. I was in cabin C602, a BA category on the port side of the ship. The cabin was comfortable and adequate. That is about all I can say for that standard balcony cabin. Not impressive but it was a place to sleep and shower! :)