6/25/11 Golden princess review

[toddthecow]

First time on Princess, First time in AlaskaWe Started our trip by flying to Seattle two days before the ship was scheduled to sail. For $475 total, we purchased two nights of accommodations at the Seattle Westin Hotel though Princess. That turned out to be an amazing choice. In addition to wonderful accommodations at the Westin, meet and greet by red vested employees at the Seattle baggage claim, being escorted to the group shuttle that took us to the Westin, Cruise day check in/baggage handling and bus transport to the pier was included.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Westin's location allowed us to easily walk to downtown locations including the waterfront, Pikes market and local restaurants in addition to nearby access to the city's free downtown public bus system. While in Seattle we took the Duck tour, a ferry to bainbridge island and spent time walking the city streets and through Pikes market. We would in a minute stay at the Westin again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As instructed by a letter when we checked into the hotel, we tagged our luggage for the ship and by 8am the morning of embarkation we positioned the bags just inside the room next to the door. A representative from the hotel collected them from there. It was so nice that carrying, pulling or pushing them through the hotel was unnecessary. Shortly after the bags were collected we went down to the hotel lobby where Princess reps were stationed to process our boarding passes. We were instructed to return to the lobby at 1045am to board the shuttle. Once there, we were immediately taken to the waiting bus and dropped at the pier. We walked off the bus, through security and into the expedited line to collect our room keys. Viola! We were on the ship. A total of 45 minutes elapsed from the point we boarded the bus at the hotel until we entered our cabin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cabin C314 was our new home for the next week. We had originally booked a category BD but were upgraded to this category BA cabin. I was initially worried when I saw the assignment as the self service laundry was literally across the hall. My worries were totally unnecessary. The room was quiet and well located slightly past mid ship towards the front. We had more than adequate storage for our belongings. Our half covered balcony was well equipped with four chairs and a small table. Our room steward was pleasant and quickly responded to the limited requests we had. Nightly hang tags that offered continental breakfast and fresh fruit were left on the bed with chocolates. The beds were comfortable. Our two complaints regarding the cabin were related to the bathroom and television. The bathroom is very small with a tiny shower. It was functional, but certainly not comfortable. With regard to the TV, there are very, very few channels with spotty satellite. No channel guide existed. I recall Discovery channel, MSNBC, BBC, CNBC, and a few random channels princess advertised on and showed movies for which there was no title/time listing. While we do not vacation to watch TV, it is something we enjoy when relaxing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the first afternoon on board we purchased one Ultimate Kids Package drink card. This was well worth it. We had many sodas and non alcoholic cocktails that would have certainly cost more than the $58 this cost us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before I describe our perception regarding the food I want to preface with the following perspective. I have never found cruise food terrific. I find it very much like banquet food. It usually is presented well and sounds terrific, but the vast majority of it is mediocre. Despite this perspective, the food and dining was a big disappointment. We had anytime dining. We ate the majority of our meals in the Donatello dining room. We found the wait staff friendly and helpful. We never waited to be seated. Some of the time we dined at a table for two and others we joined a table of six or eight. There were always several options and at least a couple that sounded good, but the quality and taste almost always lacked. Particularly bad was the beef and lobster....inedible. In the dining room we did enjoy the mussels, bread/rolls and ice cream. My ultimate favorite was the escargot (which I had almost every night and although wasn't on the menu could be specially ordered in advance.) The waitstaff always encouraged us to order something different but after eating the bread and being there an hour never chose to do so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked through the buffet several times, but only ate there twice. Once for breakfast and once for a late night snack of fresh fruit, crusty roll and cheese. The hot food selections never really appealed to us. The cookies were good though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ate at the international cafe a few times. Again, great cookies and crusty rolls. Never tried any of the other pastries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went to the trident grill and pizza place one day for lunch too. The pizza was decent but hamburger not so good. We LOVED the ice cream place scoops. We learned that all the ice cream is made in the kitchen, even the mix put into the soft serve machine is made from scratch by the chef....yumm!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Given that we were not enjoying the food, especially the beef we opted to dine in the crowne grill restaurant on the 4th night of our cruise. What a let down. My Kansas city strip steak was more than 50% fat. The lobster tough and salty plus the lamb chops terrible. We did love the mussels and the crusty rolls. The ambiance was great and our server was fantastic though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Entertainment on board was fair. We enjoyed the art auctions.....not because we wanted to buy anything but because lots of history regarding the artists were given and was interesting. We enjoyed watching the princess pop star competition and karaoke. The comedian was great. We also really enjoyed the the "British Invasion" show. Many of the lectures are actually sales pitches from the spa. We did not get any spa services or go to the casino.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the end of the trip came we were ready to go home even though we enjoyed the trip. We chose to utilize the EZ check system offered by Princess. For $20 per person they will print your boarding pass and handle your bags. Specifically once you put your luggage out for collection late the last night of the cruise they see that it's checked onto your plane and you do not need to handle or think about it again until you claim it on the baggage belt of your home airport. It's very nice that we didn't have to collect the bags in the cruise port terminal after disembarkation. The only glitch in this system occurred when there was baggage fee on our final bill from princess. We were traveling in first class and therefore didn't need to pay for any checked bags. After standing in line at the passenger service desk they refunded the baggage fee to our credit card. For future reference, it's necessary to write a note on the EZ check paperwork stating that no baggage fee should be charged if you are exempt from the fee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather for our trip was good with temperatures mostly in the 50's. We had some drizzles in port but never felt discouraged or worried by the weather. We wore jeans daily with T-shirts a light sweater and rain jacket or other jacket over the top making shedding layers if too warm easy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other than on formal nights work jeans, t-shirts and sweaters to the dining room as did many of the other passengers.

 

 

 

 

 

The actual disembarkation process was well organized and smooth.

 

 

With regard to our port experiences:

 

Juneau

We pre booked the whale watching and Mendenhall glacier excursion through the princess website. We really enjoyed it. We saw many whales. The whale watching part lasted 3 hours and was held on a comfortable ship designed for this purpose. We were then taken to the Mendenhall glacier where we took a short walk and went through the visitor center for a bit. After the glacier viewing our bus driver gave us the option to be dropped off in the city, which we were happy to take advantage of. The port was essentially a tourist port with many souvenir shops. Nothing special or extraordinary. One huge highlight of this port is a place called Tracy's King crab shack. It's literally a small red shack that sells amazing crab and chowder. We paid $78 for three huge legs and two claws plus a coca cola. AMAZING. If you like crab DO NOT miss this place. It is by far the best crab we have ever eaten. and we LOVE crab. Walking to/from the ship and town only takes 10 or 15 minutes.

 

Skagway is another port that is full or souvenir shops and nothing super special or extraordinary. We pre booked the white pass Yukon railroad excursion on the princess website. The boarding location for the trip was literally right outside of where we walked off the ship. The trip lasts about 3 hours and has spectacular scenery. The rail cars are very basic with school bus type bench seating and large windows. Passengers are permitted to stand on the boarding platforms during the ride to view/photograph the geography, but there is no real outdoor viewing space or car. Bottled water is provided and each car has a heating stove plus a basic toilet/sink room. There are no additional amenities on the train such as a dining car or place to walk/congregate. The total time spent in this port was 5 hours. While the city itself didn't have much to offer in terms of shopping, with more time we would have likely done a second excursion. Walking to/from ship and town only takes 10 or 15 minutes.

 

Ketchikan is another port that is full or souvenir shops and nothing super special or extraordinary. We pre booked the Scenic Misty Fjord flight seeing excursion on the princess website. The boarding location for the trip was very close to where we walked off the ship. We were in this port only 5 hours. We walked around the town then met our shuttle bus near the ship for transport to the boarding location for our flight. We LOVED this excursion. The flight lasted about an hour. We flew at approximately 3000 feet, essentially at the peak of mountain tops. The planes they use are 6 or 10 seaters. You actually land on the water twice during the flight.....I loved it and my face hurt from smiling so much. The town and shops in Ketchikan are literally right there when you walk off the ship

 

Victoria was by far our favorite port. We arrived on July 1st which is Canada day. The city was packed with mostly young people celebrating the holiday. Several of the downtown streets were closed. We took a cab to downtown, walked around and back to the ship. There were many interesting shops, museums and sights to see. The harbor was packed with people waiting for a city sponsored firework show. We were only in port 4 hours which was a huge disappointment. We would return to this city in a second. There seems to be much to see and do. The walk to and from town is at least 1.5 miles, but was very pleasant as the weather was perfect and the city full of interesting houses, buildings and gardens. A nice treat when we returned to the ship was our ability to go to one of the top decks and watch the firework show. We arrived in Victoria at 7pm and knew that with only four hours in port getting off the ship quickley was important. At 8am in the morning I called the "dine line" and arranged for a 5:45p reservation in the anytime dining room. This worked out perfect as when we arrived there was a huge line to be seated.

[Woobstr112G]

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

 

Bob

[wowsmom]

 

With regard to our port experiences:

 

Skagway is another port that is full or souvenir shops and nothing super special or extraordinary. We pre booked the white pass Yukon railroad excursion on the princess website. The boarding location for the trip was literally right outside of where we walked off the ship. The trip lasts about 3 hours and has spectacular scenery. The rail cars are very basic with school bus type bench seating and large windows. Passengers are permitted to stand on the boarding platforms during the ride to view/photograph the geography, but there is no real outdoor viewing space or car. Bottled water is provided and each car has a heating stove plus a basic toilet/sink room. There are no additional amenities on the train such as a dining car or place to walk/congregate. The total time spent in this port was 5 hours. While the city itself didn't have much to offer in terms of shopping, with more time we would have likely done a second excursion. Walking to/from ship and town only takes 10 or 15 minutes.

 

 

 

I'm wondering why you only had 5 hours in Skagway? We're sailing on the Golden at the end of the month and our itinerary shows being in port from 6:00 am until 8:15 pm. :confused:

[mishdoob]

we're going in August and wonder as well, thought we were there for a full day ...

[mishdoob]

thank you for the review!! very informative - will have to look for the Crab Shack!!

[truffles68]

I just got off the Golden Princess this morning & we were in Skagway from 7 am to 7:45pm. I thought the steaks in the dining room were good ( I asked for medium rare) but the lobster was not very tasty ( salty & tough). Also I tried a couple of soups & they were too salty for me. On the whole I felt the service in the dining room (Bernini for dinner : excellent service due to having a good waiter & assistant waiter (same ones everyday & same set table for two everyday )& Donatello was good.

[srpilo]

Good stuff, I enjoyed reading it. Thanks

 

 

 

Srpilo

[Princess Patches]

Thanks for posting your review. Victoria was my favorite port too. You were lucky to be there on Canada Day.

[erewhon]

Thank you for the report of your cruise.