Golden Princess Alaska Cruise Tour, May 9th - May 19th 2018 The Good, Bad, and Ugly

As the wife and I were sitting at the dinner table around July of 2017 the subject of our 25th wedding anniversary came up.

We both decided that we would like to do something special for this occasion. I don’t remember at this time which one of us suggested a cruise (It probably was me), however we had recently received a mailing on Princess Alaska cruise tours promoting their Sip and Sail offer.Having done two previous Alaska cruises but never a land tour, this was an appealing choice.

After going to the Princess website we decided on the May 9th 2018 date for our adventure! I contacted Amanda our Princess Cruise Consultant on August 15th and booked the 10 Day Denali Explorer Sip & sail promotion with Captains Circle Launch Savings. To book this cruise, we used one of our Future Cruise Credits which we had purchased on our last cruise.

As we booked so early, we had the opportunity to select a Caribe Deck Balcony cabin, C242. We love these cabins because of their larger half covered balconies, perfect for Alaska.

The cruise reserved, I started looking for flights and much to my surprise I discovered that using Princess EZ Air with transfers was the way to go. We departed Omaha NE on a non-stop to Seattle, then on to Fairbanks arriving at 10:30 pm.

The next 3 days were spent touring Fairbanks, and Denali Nat. park, ending with a 5 hour train journey to Whittier to board the Golden Princess.

We arrived at the port around 6:30pm and were in our cabin within a short time as our check-in was accomplished before we left the train, and we were given our cruise cards at that time.

A full review with photographs will be posted as soon as I get my overgrown lawn under control, and all of my photos uploaded.

But for now.

The Good: Hubbard Glacier, Alaska

Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

Puppy's in the Piazza, Skagway

Sunny weather in Ketchikan

The Bad: Crew attitude

Food Quality (dining room)

Entertainment (Stage shows)

The UGLY: Drips in hallways, and throughout the ship (hopefully water)

Strong sewage odor in the forward parts of the ship!

Long lines at the Customer Service Desk

Regardless of these issues, we still had a good time on this cruise and would repeat it again, but perhaps not on this ship!

Your Mileage my differ.

Thanks for your review.

Short and Sweet...:)

Welcome back

Srpilo

Thank you for posting this. We are in the Caribe deck as well but in inside rooms. The AC/Heat issues that I had read about are concerning as we don't have a balcony to air out if need-be. How was the AC/Heat in your cabin?

The odor is a bit disturbing as well, now I need to research what activities are in the forward part. They have under a month to figure it out! This will be my dad's first cruise and we chose it over HAL....

We are a group of 26 sailing this July and now I am pretty concerned. I don’t like the dripping water and smell issues that I’m reading about. I hope they address these issues in the coming weeks. Is that even feasible?

As the wife and I were sitting at the dinner table around July of 2017 the subject of our 25th wedding anniversary came up.

We both decided that we would like to do something special for this occasion. I don’t remember at this time which one of us suggested a cruise (It probably was me), however we had recently received a mailing on Princess Alaska cruise tours promoting their Sip and Sail offer.Having done two previous Alaska cruises but never a land tour, this was an appealing choice.

 

After going to the Princess website we decided on the May 9th 2018 date for our adventure! I contacted Amanda our Princess Cruise Consultant on August 15th and booked the 10 Day Denali Explorer Sip & sail promotion with Captains Circle Launch Savings. To book this cruise, we used one of our Future Cruise Credits which we had purchased on our last cruise.

 

As we booked so early, we had the opportunity to select a Caribe Deck Balcony cabin, C242. We love these cabins because of their larger half covered balconies, perfect for Alaska.

 

The cruise reserved, I started looking for flights and much to my surprise I discovered that using Princess EZ Air with transfers was the way to go. We departed Omaha NE on a non-stop to Seattle, then on to Fairbanks arriving at 10:30 pm.

 

The next 3 days were spent touring Fairbanks, and Denali Nat. park, ending with a 5 hour train journey to Whittier to board the Golden Princess.

We arrived at the port around 6:30pm and were in our cabin within a short time as our check-in was accomplished before we left the train, and we were given our cruise cards at that time.

 

A full review with photographs will be posted as soon as I get my overgrown lawn under control, and all of my photos uploaded.

 

But for now.

 

The Good: Hubbard Glacier, Alaska

Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

Puppy's in the Piazza, Skagway

Sunny weather in Ketchikan

 

 

 

The Bad: Crew attitude

Food Quality (dining room)

Entertainment (Stage shows)

 

 

The UGLY: Drips in hallways, and throughout the ship (hopefully water)

Strong sewage odor in the forward parts of the ship!

Long lines at the Customer Service Desk

 

 

Regardless of these issues, we still had a good time on this cruise and would repeat it again, but perhaps not on this ship!

 

Your Mileage my differ.

We were also on this cruise and all I can say is

YOU NAILED IT,

Looking forward to full review. Thank you.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We were on the Golden last year for 75 days and booked a Caribe balcony. We found the ship to be in good condition and loved the extended balcony. No smells or drips where we were in the center section of the ship.

Sent from my HUAWEI GRA-L09 using Forums mobile app

Thanks for sharing your thought on your cruise.

We were also on this cruise and all I can say is

YOU NAILED IT,

We got off the ship May 12. The day that you got on the ship and all of the problems that you mentioned were with us during the Pacific crossing. I don't know if damage was done during dry dock but leaks were everywhere. The crew seemed to be trying hard but loosing the battle against an aging ship that is going to P&O in 2020 (New logo under paint on the bow).

Thanks for the review, all one can say we sailed in feb 18 and no real issues, now after dry dock issues all over the place.... what did they do in drydock ?????.... we like the golden and are hoping these issue are fixed by Nov 18 for our next cruise.....

Is it like getting your car serviced and things which were working are now not working..

cheers Don.

OP;

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.....:):):)

Bob

Thank you for your review. I am going on the golden princess next week and trying to find out who the cruise director is. We enjoy the entertainment in the evenings. Thank you.

I believe it will be Marcus. I think he has just been promoted to the position but am not sure. I thoroughly enjoyed him and the assistant directors.

Thanks for the report.

Read the excellent review posted by Jeck titled

Poorest cruise ever on Princess.

Read the excellent review posted by Jeck titled

Poorest cruise ever on Princess.

For some reason, I am not able to find this. Is this review in the Princess board?

Sorry not on the boards but under Golden Princess Cruise reviews. There are several that reflect recent voyages.

Something must have happened during drydock on the Golden Princess. Aside from a few leaks, we had the best overall ship experience on our 77 nights on the Golden Princess last fall that we’ve ever had on Princess...except for the Pacific Princess which is in a class by itself. The ship, the crew, the food (given that the new menus are lame) were all good.

Do you know if they offer the game show "Match your Mate" on each Princess cruise? I did say that was one thing I wanted to see and we will book a dinner reservation for ATD accordingly for that night....we will be doing NB on June 16th. As I could see from another princess ship doing NB, it was on Glacier Bay/Formal Night.

Do you know if they offer the game show "Match your Mate" on each Princess cruise? I did say that was one thing I wanted to see and we will book a dinner reservation for ATD accordingly for that night....we will be doing NB on June 16th. As I could see from another princess ship doing NB, it was on Glacier Bay/Formal Night.

I will be going southbound the week before you. I will let you know provided I have WiFi.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Do you know if they offer the game show "Match your Mate" on each Princess cruise? I did say that was one thing I wanted to see and we will book a dinner reservation for ATD accordingly for that night....we will be doing NB on June 16th. As I could see from another princess ship doing NB, it was on Glacier Bay/Formal Night.

Sounds like that is what Princess calls the Marriage Game or a similar name. Three couples with mostly embarrassing questions/answers. Much fun. Usually offered on one evening on Princess cruises that are at least seven days.

My wife and I will be doing the DB3 tour next year.1 night in Fairbanks and 2 nights in Denali then to Whittier for the cruise. My question is how much is the traveling time going to Denali from Fairbanks and from Denali to Whittier.