live from the Golden Princess Feb 28 to Mar 14

[flamomo]

Mark, I am sorry for you that your cruise is almost over, but VERY excited that ours will begin tomorrow. I will begin my air travel to LA in a few hours.

I wanted to thank you one more time for your great "Live from ........". You did an outstanding job of making us readers feel like we were almost there with you.

I will be looking forward to seeing your pictures in the near future.

 

Mary Lou

[west coast cruiser]

We board the Golden tomorrow. It was great reading your "live froms" every day .

Thank you so much for taking the time to do them.

WCC

[MTJSR]

Safe travels everyone!

 

Tomorrow we will enter the San Pedro channel at 6:30am and off off the ship by 10:45am, we get one last chance to pig out before you take over where we left off.

 

FYI, if you walk to the aft end elevators on your deck and then go up to deck 14, you will come out right at the Horizon Court. A lot easier to get an elevator than forward or midship.

 

A lot cooler today, water a little choppy, but not bad. Ensenada from 1pm to 8pm today.

 

More later!

 

Mark

[JoJo5656]

Yes, thank you so much for keeping us all informed! We will now wait for two more weeks and watch this everyday to see if another Cruise Critic member keeps the information flowing! Glad you had a great time..can't wait for ours!!

[Kreuser]

Our itinerary says that we are scheduled to be in Ensenada (on 3/27) from 1 PM till 8 PM. Vada, are you scheduled for a shorter stop? I was surprised to read your post saying you'd only be there a few hours. Or did you mean you would only be off the ship and into Ensenada for a few hours, and then spend the remaining time onboard?

Overall, I am less than enthused about Ensenada, because we were underimpressed when we stopped there a couple of years ago. Might just check out the straw market on the pier, and go back on the ship this time. That way we can finish packing, and have a relaxing last evening onboard.

I call 7 hours a few hours. Sorry for the mix up! I will be going to the shops there on the pier and right back on the ship. I enjoy the shops, but seldom buy anything. I can't count how many times we have been to Ensenada, and it is what it is. I always tell people to keep their expectations low and they'll be OK. :D

 

Almost time to turn the ship over to the new passengers. Funny how you consider your room "YOUR ROOM"! We had opted for the Express Off and we received our "tickets" last night. We are in group 1. I suppose that is yet one more perk of being a suite guest.

Speaking of which, both Jerry and I have stood in the Suite pax line at the Passenger's Svc. desk and have been ignored. It happened to me twice. I was the next person in line, and another passenger walked up to the regular line and was helped before I was. I felt downright invisible! I did not call attention to what had just happened either time. It wasn't that big of a deal.

 

I had noticed a note somewhere that there was no cover charge for lunch in the Crown Grille yesterday. That was why I waited at the Pax. Svc desk. I wanted to verify that because I couldn't find that info again in the Patter. She made a call, knew I was inquiring about lunch, and that is what she stated on the phone. She was told it was $25.

Then at dinner, we found out that Mark and our other tablemates had eaten there for no charge. :( Oh well, these things happen. But do keep your eyes open for this in the regular Patter schedule towards the end of your cruise. It's such a lovely restaurant!

 

Time truly does fly when you're having fun. We will bid a fond farewell to the Golden Princess and turn her over to you.

 

Vada

[mycruz]

We have just pulled into Ensendada and there is a Carnival ship already here. Should be fun watching how many people are running towards the Paradise when it gets ready to sail!

 

So sorry to see the cruise end and back to reality in the morning. I have to agree that for the most part the crew on this ship have been very attentive. My only dissappointment was that it was not "smoke free" in the casino last night even though it was a formal night. I also agree the sales pitches and up-sells have really become almost to the point unbearable on the Princess Line. Regardless, we bought more FCC's and looking forward to our next sailing in September.

 

 

 

To those boarding this great ship, take good care and have a wonderful time.

[kckitties]

Time truly does fly when you're having fun. We will bid a fond farewell to the Golden Princess and turn her over to you.

 

Vada

 

Thank you Vada, Mark and the rest of you Golden cruisers! This has been a wonderfully informative thread. I'm anxious to board in October!

 

Vada, I'll be emailing you!

 

Rosanne

[MTJSR]

Saturday, 2pm

 

We are sitting in Ensenada right now. The Carnival Paradise is sitting 90 degrees to our bow on the starboard side. There are two little buildings that supposedly have stores in them below on the dock. The shuttle into town is two dollars each way. We were told this morning at bingo that they sell ****** and other pharmaceuticals cheap. The first people off the ship were all men over 60. (just kidding)

 

The room stewards are preparing for your embarkation tomorrow. Ours was washing patio doors and bringing in new duvets and placing them (bagged) under the beds. He is running around like a crazy man. Please anyone on Caribe port side midship (we are in C318) take good care of Jerry. I know he will take good care of you. Your room service guy Goran is one of the best also.

 

Bingo this morning was $4,200.00 won by a little ole lady. What ever you do, listen to the callers instructions. If you call bingo and you don't have it you have to get up and dance the chicken dance.

 

Much different feel onboard right now. Very glum! I think people are realizing it is over. It will be interesting to see how many people show up in the dinning rooms tonight. Last chance to hand out those extra tip dollars. I bet I am one of only a few who show up.

 

More later!

 

Mark

[MTJSR]

Saturday, 7:45pm

 

We just had our final dinner in the Canaletto dinning room and I wanted to make sure I told you that you can order a baked potato with your dinner, just ask! It took me a week to learn this. Also, up in the horizon court in the morning you can get omelets to order, just ask! Took me two weeks to learn this one. Otherwise the pre made one's might be cold.

 

Bags are in the hallway and the Carnival Paradise just sailed by. We went downstairs to deck 6 and met with Dave and Leialoha (ELUA). Bought their cd's and talked for awhile. Please take the time and introduce yourselves to both of them. They are the coolest, nicest couple. I would love to have their lifestyle. Imagine 10 months a year cruising the world.

 

It's now 9pm and we are hugging the coast. Lights along the way, looks like power plants. That Carnival ship is going real slow, I think it's next stop is Catalina.

 

FYI, Ensenada has lots of seals, some were lying on the concrete pier where the golden was. Forgot to mention, while we were in Ensenada they painted the starboard side of the ship. The black tire bumpers from the docks we went to, just chewed up the paint.

 

FYI, when you board and if you plan to do the “Treasure Hunt” make sure you get all the “STAMPS” believe it or not, people forget that part. You cannot win the drawing if you don't.

 

Well, I wish everyone a fantastic vacation, like we just had. My advise once again, is to take the time to be sociable with the crew, it invites the sharing of good information and clues to having an even better time onboard.

 

This is a beautiful ship with a wonderful crew. We will be back very soon!

 

Mark

[bmench]

I have a question do they happen to have smoked salmon on the menu?

Thanks for all the information that you have given us all were really getting excited 2 more weeks for us.

[Dsnyland]

Thanks for all the great information, what a great thread. Leaving 12/08/2010 on the Golden.

[janacin]

I have a question do they happen to have smoked salmon on the menu?

Thanks for all the information that you have given us all were really getting excited 2 more weeks for us.

 

We recently returned from this cruise. Almost every morning there is plenty of lox in the Horizon Court for breakfast. If there is not, just ask for it and some will be brought out.

[Kreuser]

Lucky us! DD was at the pier to pick us up at 7:15, but the ship wasn't even cleared until 8:00! But we were among the first off and home by 9:30! (Ron was driving)

 

It's good to be home and I'm super tired. It was wonderful though only having to hang up clean clothes and not having to wash dirty ones! Loved the free laundry and internet!!

 

We had such a fantastic balcony for entertaining, etc., but the weather was too cool. Even Jerry, who runs hot, got very little use out of it.

 

I enjoyed our cruise, Jerry not so much. But his allergies were bad and he didn't like the breakfast that was offered in the buffet. He didn't learn about the omelets that were made to order until the very last night of the cruise!

 

I don't think I mentioned that I was not able to participate in the lei making classes because I did not pick up a ticket from the Hawaii Desk on the first or second day of the cruise. If you are interested, make that a priority because they will not be offered again later in the cruise.

 

Safe travels everyone!!

 

Vada

[Cruisin' Chick]

Glad we had decent weather for your return:

 

[kusscate]

Saturday, 7:45pm

 

We just had our final dinner in the Canaletto dinning room and I wanted to make sure I told you that you can order a baked potato with your dinner, just ask! It took me a week to learn this. Also, up in the horizon court in the morning you can get omelets to order, just ask! Took me two weeks to learn this one. Otherwise the pre made one's might be cold.

 

Bags are in the hallway and the Carnival Paradise just sailed by. We went downstairs to deck 6 and met with Dave and Leialoha (ELUA). Bought their cd's and talked for awhile. Please take the time and introduce yourselves to both of them. They are the coolest, nicest couple. I would love to have their lifestyle. Imagine 10 months a year cruising the world.

 

It's now 9pm and we are hugging the coast. Lights along the way, looks like power plants. That Carnival ship is going real slow, I think it's next stop is Catalina.

 

FYI, Ensenada has lots of seals, some were lying on the concrete pier where the golden was. Forgot to mention, while we were in Ensenada they painted the starboard side of the ship. The black tire bumpers from the docks we went to, just chewed up the paint.

 

FYI, when you board and if you plan to do the “Treasure Hunt” make sure you get all the “STAMPS” believe it or not, people forget that part. You cannot win the drawing if you don't.

 

Well, I wish everyone a fantastic vacation, like we just had. My advise once again, is to take the time to be sociable with the crew, it invites the sharing of good information and clues to having an even better time onboard.

 

This is a beautiful ship with a wonderful crew. We will be back very soon!

 

Mark

 

Mark, thank you for all of the good tidbits. And for the email. I am so glad you had such a great cruise (we always do too!). I hope you had a good trip home. Did you notice I made today a beautiful day for you? The beauty of living here is that even after a great cruise, we get to come home to a lovely place (and tired dogs from our wonderful kennel -- they don't miss us and we don't miss them).

Catherine from Danville

[bmench]

I too would like to thank you for keeping us informed during your cruise we all learned from your experiences hope to see some pictures uploaded soon.

Thank you, Becky

[MTJSR]

Mark, thank you for all of the good tidbits. And for the email. I am so glad you had such a great cruise (we always do too!). I hope you had a good trip home. Did you notice I made today a beautiful day for you? The beauty of living here is that even after a great cruise, we get to come home to a lovely place (and tired dogs from our wonderful kennel -- they don't miss us and we don't miss them).

Catherine from Danville

 

You are very welcome! We drove up from L.A seemed to take forever, but we finally got home at about 7pm. We were last off the ship (Purple 3) Fortunately I was traveling with platinum members (parents) so waiting in the Bernini dinning room with munchies to eat was not so bad. Pictures will be up soon. I was going thru them today and I managed to get some real good ones. Enjoy!

 

Mark from San Ramon

[mycruz]

Just walked in the door myself, stayed over one night to celebrate my sister's birthday. We were Purple 3 also, and enjoyed the Bernini Dining room while we waited! The easiest embrakation and disembraktion I have ever experienced!

 

It was such a relaxing cruise, I really enjoyed all the sea days. Now it's time to plan for our next adventure!

[BosoxI]

We recently returned from this cruise. Almost every morning there is plenty of lox in the Horizon Court for breakfast. If there is not, just ask for it and some will be brought out.

 

And that is one of my staples while on a cruise, but eater beware. On a recent voyage my wife returned to our cabin with a smoked salmon sandwich for lunch. I ate it, and paid a price for the next 12 hours or so. I suspect that sandwich had been made with the remains of salmon put out for breakfast and not eaten. I learned my lesson the hard way.:(

[MTJSR]

For those interested, here is the link to the first set of photos. They are in reverse order starting with Ensenada.

 

Mark

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46613321@N03/

[roxiepotter]

thankyou for putting your pics up for us all to see , we are going on our very first cruise in sept this year , and love the idea of seeing what other guests see, and not what the promotion people wont you to see , for me i like to see what people are wearing so as i dont bring all the wrong gear ha ha ha , as a woman this is very important , you look like you had a brill holiday , and cannot wait to take our pics , we are from england and as i have already said our first cruise , so very nervous , but so so excited . we chose this cruise for it 4 days at sea before hitting dry land , so as to become accustomed to the ship , so any advice you have for us would be greatfully appreciate, once again thank for shareing your pic . yours jackie and mike from north east england

[CruisinLow]

Great pictures Mark. Thanks for sharing with us.

[scmomofboys]

Wonderful pictures! Thanks so much for them and your wonderful "live from" thread. All are greatly appreciated.

[bmench]

Thank you Mark for posting your pictures for all of us to see. They were wonderful it was nice of you to share them with us, we will be on our way next Sunday and really looking forward to this cruise you have whetted our appetite and have given us insight as to what to look forward to. Hopefully the weather will be good for us. Again thank you!!!!!!!

 

Becky

[Bucky3]

Mark,your pictures are just wonderful. Thank you so much for posting them and for all the great information you provided during your cruise.

 

Just a FYI in the future if you don't already know: You wrote that you were the last to disembark. We live in NoCa too and always drive to the port in LA for a RT cruise. When we get our colored disembarkation tags, if we are given a late time, DH takes the tags and goes to the Passenger Service Desk and asks for an earlier time. We have never had a problem doing this. They have always just exchanged the tags for an earlier time. Hubby likes to get on the road as early as possible! He's like a horse heading for the barn!

 

Mahalo and Aloha!