Golden Princess June 18 to June 25

[Bebet]

Generally had a good time. Whenever I was about to grouse about something, I just told myself, I didn't have to cook or clean anything for a week! I was part of a group of 12. We were also celebrating a wedding on the ship.

 

My flight from Texas to Seattle on Southwest. No complaints there. I had early bird check in so we got right on the plane and had good seats. Planes very comfortable and staff friendly. All the flights and connection were on time, if not early. No baggage fee!

 

Seattle: Took the princess transfer from the airport to the Westin hotel. A nice place, central to a lot of things. The kids went to Pikes Market. We went to the Tap HOuse for dinner and drinks. It was really good. (Pike st. and Pine st.)

 

Embarkation: Transfer to the ship was O.K, painless. We were on the ship with in 30 minutes and our room was ready. My bottle of smuggled Baileys made it.

We were in rooms Baja 631, 635, 637. Great rooms. My kids were down in Baja 525, an inside cabin. We were able to open the doors between the cabins to walk back and forth. Made it easy to check on my mom.

 

Horizon Court for breakfasts and lunches. O.K, nothing too exciting/tasty. Much preferred The International Cafe. Not to be missed.

 

Staff. Mostly friendly. Tired looking. Over eager at times. Barely finish something off my plate and they snatched it up quickly. Room steward was great Ernilito. Funny thing here is that I tipped him some cash at the end of the cruise for our room and the kids room before I remembered the kids had a different room steward. Oh well, tipped him too.

 

Dining room staff very attentive to the point of distraction. Please let the water cups get at least half full before refilling them. The photographers were a bit of a nuisance, just smile and say no thank you. Dinner meals were hit and miss. My favorite and my ds's favorite was lobster night (second formal). That was the best lobster I have had on a cruise ship. My ds ate two helpings.

 

The wedding: On Sunday, my nephew got married. It was done by the Captain and was nicely done. We had a dinner at the Crown Grill afterwards and I have to say that the steaks my dh and I got were the worst we ever had! So glad we didn't pay for them. The others complained a bit about theirs but they ate them. While taking pictures off the bow of the ship the brides veil blew off, floated in the wind about 15 seconds them made its way back to the ship and was snatched by one of the girls before flying off again. I wish I had seen it.

 

Juneau: My son (20) did a tour with Above and Beyond. He hiked up to the Mendinhall glacier and got to walk on it and do some ice climbing and saw an ice cave. He had an amazing time. I was afraid he was going to get back to the ship late. I called the company the morning we arrived in Juneau. They assured me he would be back on time, that the other 4 people in the group had to be back on their ships at the same time. He was 6 minutes late. They were already paging him and threatening to leave. He and two others came running up the gangway just in time. Worse 6 minutes of the trip. My dd(18)

went with two of her cousins to the Mendenhall glacier, went whale watching and to a salmon bake. Had a great time. They went with another private company, not a ships tour. My dh and I went with a Princess tour to a gourmet cooking school (excellent), the Mendenhall glacier, really neat and a beer tasting at the flight deck. AFter drinking a lot of beer we walked back to the ship stopping along the way for two king crab legs at Tracy's crab shack). My mom celebrated her birthday this day and the staff of the dining room did it up nice for her.

 

Skagway. Rented a car (127.00) (got to the Avis rental place at 10:00, no line) and drove up to Emerald lake at an easy pace, stopping along the way for pictures. Saw the back side of a small black bear. We stopped and bought great sandwhiches at the Lemon Rose and took them with us. We stopped in Carcross (sp) and used the facilities and shopped a little.

 

Chef's table: we were able to get into the Chefs table. It was awesome. The best meal I've had on a cruise ship. Wish all the meals were like this one. Tried a few new things. Steak tartar, caviar. The dessert dish was made of spun sugar. Try to do this if you can. There were only twelve of us. six were from one family, we had four and there was one other couple. I called after I had been on the ship for one hour. No big interview or anything, they just asked if we had allergies.

 

Glacier bay. A bit disappointing for all of us. But it was beautiful. We saw/heard some good loud calving. It was really peaceful in the bay.

 

Ketchikan: We took our time getting off and just walked around and shopped. Found a good deal on a new jacket for dh. Fleece lined and waterproof. 20.00.

 

Victoria: took the ships tour to tour the city and high tea at the Empress Hotel. It was a lot of fun and very tasty. Be sure and don't eat dinner that night, there was a lot of good food at the tea.

 

Entertainment: O.K. was nice to listen to the music of the shows that were showcased. Did not do the Motown one. The illusionist was boring in my opinion. The comedian, Carlos Oscar is not to be missed. He did a few short shows then one in the Princess theater to standing room only. He is supposed to be there all summer. I'm looking forward to seeing him on TV sometime soon. My dd loved watching the movies from the hot tub.

 

Disembarkation: a bit crowed. We were in the 8:15 group. We had booked a ships tour of Seattle as we did not have flights out home until after three. We had a tour of Seattle and a trip the space needle and a stop at Pikes Market. Three was a marathon running that morning so we had to go around a few places to get where we needed to go.

 

Trip back on Southwest. Again, uneventful (unless you count the yapping chihuahua in the seat behind me. Got home early. Had to wait another hour for my dh to get in on his flight as he took a different airline than we did.

 

Overall, I found Princess O.k, don't think they were better or worse than RCL. I have done 3 cruises with them (RCL) on two different ships. I would have to really want the ships itinerary to consider cruising with them again, but, then again, that is how I feel about RCL.

[whatcruiseisnext]

You were disappointed in Glacier bay? Why? Please tell!

[Bebet]

I obviously did not do enough research on glacier bay. I expected to see a lot more glaciers. My fault for not reading up more on it. Marjorie glacier was awesome. The other one, not so much.

[Luvsprincess]

Can you tell me about the cookng school. Do you get to participate in the cooking or is of us watching the chefs?

[flashdog_1]

Thank you so much for sharing! I do have a question or two for you. Why was Glacier Bay a disappointment? Was this your first glacier viewing from a ship and the captain could not bring Golden in as close as you'd hoped, or what? Thanks

[lovin'life]

Wow....I was on this cruise. Glacier Bay was unbelievable. Of course, maybe because this was our first cruise, everything was pretty much above the top! We thought the park rangers did an excellent job with their descriptions of what we were seeing. Glacier Bay was truly awesome, and the day was beautiful. We actually got sunburned while sitting on our balcony!

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.....:):):)

 

Bob

[itzmered]

We were on this cruise also. At first when we were getting close to Marjorie Glacier I thought this is it. I thought this was supposed to be a HUGE glacier. Then when I saw the small boat that was sitting to the side between Marjorie and Grand Pacific I was in awe of just how large they both really were. I thought it was beautiful but at first the perspective from a large cruise ship and having nothing to compare it to is a little misleading. So I can understand what the OP is saying.

[Golfermom2]

We are in B630 on 7/2 so I'm glad to hear your cabins were good! We are also doing the ships Seattle tour - did you enjoy it and have enough time to see stuff?

[Bebet]

This was not my first cruise. I had higher expectations with Princess, as well as the Glacier.

The park rangers did do a good job with their commentary.

 

The cooking school was just an observation, he explained what he was doing and why. Cooked a fish pasta dish, a salad and flat bread. We got to taste everything, ask questions, shop in her little store. we had some wine while he was cooking. A pleasant hour.