Notes from a Golden B2B

[jasbo49]

Just to cut to the chase, we had a good time, but thought there were some problems that should be pointed out on our back-to-back sailings Oct. 13 and Oct. 17.

 

I'm not going to try to "review" every aspect, and I'm probably not going to finish this in one sitting, but I figured if I wait until I have two hours to spare, I'll never get started. So here goes with our observations. And just a warning: There'll be more negative than positive, simply because the negative is easier to notice. Again, overall we had a good time.

 

WHEN DO WE SAIL? WHO KNOWS? I believe our two sailings were about the fourth and fifth consecutive cruises that the Golden left hours after the advertised sailing time. Instead of leaving San Pedro at 4, we left at midnight and about 10 p.m. If they have work to do, that's fine, but Princess should let people know. There were people up on deck and hanging at their balconies, awaiting a sailaway that didn't happen for hours. I even asked a couple crewmen at about 3 or so when we would sail. They said 4 o'clock. My guess is they hadn't been informed either.

 

MORE CREDIBILITY ISSUES: The excursion brochure (and the online description) said our tour would "visit Baja California's oldest operating winery." But instead of going to a winery, where grapes are crushed, fermented and bottled, the tour went to a tasting room in downtown Ensenada. That's not a winery and is a lot less interesting. Also, I found that the one perk of being Gold has been taken away on short cruises. Not only is there no cocktail party, but there's no drink voucher. Captain's Circle host told me they'd done away with that for Gold and Ruby on cruises under 5 days.

 

SOME HAPPY NEWS: This is starting to sound like non-stop whining, so I'd better toss in some good stuff. While I thought the Horizon Court buffet was lacking at lunch, I thought breakfast there hit the mark in almost every way. The scrambled eggs may have been some kind of dehydrated, reconstituted compound like on other cruise lines, but they sure didn't taste like it. They were better than Carnival's or Celebrity's, not soggy, not overdone, just right. And there were several varieties: Plain, with cheese, with tomatoes and onions. Really pretty good. Also, there were fried eggs available, and a couple kinds of potatoes. Lots of bacon and sausage, pancakes, waffles and French toast. My kind of breakfast food.

 

BACK TO THE HARANGUE: We really grew tired of sales pitches during dinner in the MDR. In addition to trying to sell you after-dinner wines, they really were pushing their wine tastings. One dinner we were approached no less than four times about signing up for a $25 tasting the next day. Peskier than an Ensenada street vendor. And any time I'd order a glass of wine with dinner, they tried to talk me into a bottle.

 

GOOD COMPANY: I'd have to say we met more interesting and enjoyable people during this 7-day stint than any other cruise I can remember. We always asked for a table for two at dinner, but ate with others whenever we went to the MDR for breakfast or lunch, and we really enjoyed the company.

 

CABIN PROS AND CONS: We had an Emerald deck mini-suite for the first four days and a Caribe balcony the last three days. Really enjoyed the extra room in the mini, and the fact that if someone wanted to go to bed early or get up early, there were two semi-separate spaces. The bed was nice and comfy in the mini, and the nearly full-size bathroom was great. I was bummed to find the shower was still cramped. Even though you're standing in a full tub, the grab bar and shampoo-soap dispensers made it kind of tight for a guy who's 6-1 and 225. The matresses in the Caribe cabin seemed to be two different kinds, one pretty nice and the other old and springy.

 

Well, that's it for now. As I said, I'm not going to try to address everything. We didn't go to the casino, didn't do any spa stuff, didn't sit for photos. Most of my other notes relate to problems at the buffet and other food stuff, and maybe some thoughts on entertainment and the crew. I'll wait and toss those in later.

 

Jim

[ar1950]

Happy to hear your thoughts. We will be doing a similar B2B on the Golden coming up soon. Thanks for taking the time to post.

[paul929207]

I guess a drawback to the short b2b like yours is they have few days to try to sell all the stuff and for you they had to try twice. Our b2b's have involved longer legs, usually 12 days or longer. So we never felt much selling pressure

[shredie]

I was on the oct 13 sailing. We heard three different stories from crew about why we left port so late.

[Working 2 Cruise]

Funny, but I didn't experience any over selling on my 4 day cruise in January...

 

I won't begin to describe my last cruise on Carnival... Needless to say, I will never cruise on Carnival again. It had to be, by far, the worst cruise I have ever taken... We were offered a free cruise last year, but we didn't take it!

 

As far as the late departure, that's understandable... it seems that the Golden has had problems with this lately.

 

Sorry you had a bad cruise.

[Coveguy4]

With all the OBC Princess is giving with these short cruises, they are promoting more ways to spend their gift to us. It might seem pushy to some, especially on a back to back. I'm sure Princess is just trying to make it easier for us to use it up...lol

[paul929207]

With all the OBC Princess is giving with these short cruises, they are promoting more ways to spend their gift to us. It might seem pushy to some, especially on a back to back. I'm sure Princess is just trying to make it easier for us to use it up...lol

Gosh they sure are nice helping us cruisers spend money on these ships. :)

[JF - retired RRT]

MORE CREDIBILITY ISSUES: The excursion brochure (and the online description) said our tour would "visit Baja California's oldest operating winery." But instead of going to a winery, where grapes are crushed, fermented and bottled, the tour went to a tasting room in downtown Ensenada. That's not a winery and is a lot less interesting.

Anytime an excursion doesn't measure up, complain to the excursion desk. They will often give you a discount or your money back.

 

 

 

CABIN PROS AND CONS: We had an Emerald deck mini-suite for the first four days and a Caribe balcony the last three days. Really enjoyed the extra room in the mini, and the fact that if someone wanted to go to bed early or get up early, there were two semi-separate spaces. The bed was nice and comfy in the mini, and the nearly full-size bathroom was great. I was bummed to find the shower was still cramped.

Try the very last mini on Dolphin deck. It was originally designed for handicapped, but didn't qualify (door angle or something). The shower is ENORMOUS!

See here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1959727

Jim

 

See comments above.:D

[Pam in CA]

Sorry you had such bad experiences on the Golden.

 

The reason why the ship left late was to clear mussels out of the thruster intakes. This is a major issue on ships sailing in Alaska. The only things a delayed departure would impact would be shops and the casino not open. Otherwise, the ship would have sailed and done circles out at sea at very slow speeds to arrive at the next port on time. Princess would much rather do that than pay port charges for the extra time spent in port. Chances are, it probably cost Princess $00,000's in extra port charges.

 

The 3- and 4-day cruises are very cheap. In order to break even, Princess needs to increase onboard spending to break even. I've never been bothered by the sales pitches because I understand the economics and just wave away anyone trying to sell me something. It's not a big deal.

 

I never go to the Captain's Circle party so I didn't miss it on my 4-day cruise in January nor did I care about a drink voucher. I was already paying very little for the cruise.

[Thrak]

Given the itinerary there was really no loss of cruising from the delay. Just treat the extra port time as more sea time without having the sea on all sides of the ship. I spend a fair amount of time inside anyway and I could pretend I was at sea even on Lido deck. Remember, at least you are onboard!

[jasbo49]

Hello all. Apparently the Princess faithful don't like hearing anything critical. I was 30 minutes into take 2 when I hit the wrong button and lost it all. But given the defensive tone of many here, I think I'll just keep the rest to myself. I really don't need the lectures.

 

I'll just say that the buffet is build for chaos. If no one ever points out problems, Princess won't know what to fix.

 

Jim

[rdsqrl]

Please continue. I'm definitely one of the P.F. but I'm always interested in reading people's reviews/comments. Your complaints so far don't strike me as either unfair or particularly vituperative, so carry on. (You want to hear vituperative, ask me about the design of the Royal and the Regal!)

[DrivesLikeMario]

Totally agree with your scrambled eggs comment. Had the worst eggs ever on Celebrity. They were completely inedible. I love Princess'. They aren't like you'd make at home, but put a slice of cheddar cheese over the top of them and they're delicious!

 

Thanks for the review. With short cruises, you just don't get a 'real' cruising experience. I've learned to let the little things slide, but you're right - they should fix the things you noted. ;)

[NavyVeteran]

MORE CREDIBILITY ISSUES: The excursion brochure (and the online description) said our tour would "visit Baja California's oldest operating winery." But instead of going to a winery, where grapes are crushed, fermented and bottled, the tour went to a tasting room in downtown Ensenada. That's not a winery and is a lot less interesting.

 

I've had several cases in 19 cruises on Princess where shore excursions were not - in my opinion - as described. If you have a legitimate complaint that the excursion does not match the description (as yours appears to be), then talk to the Shore Excursion Desk as soon after the excursion as possible. They have usually been helpful - including providing partial or full refunds in some cases.

 

Hello all. Apparently the Princess faithful don't like hearing anything critical. I was 30 minutes into take 2 when I hit the wrong button and lost it all. But given the defensive tone of many here, I think I'll just keep the rest to myself. I really don't need the lectures.

 

I am one of the Princess Faithful who appreciates constructive negative comments. As you said, you enjoyed the cruise. There is so much they do right that it's hardly worth reporting on it every time. I appreciate hearing about the things that can be improved - especially if they are things that I can adjust for on my next cruise.

[shredie]

Hello all. Apparently the Princess faithful don't like hearing anything critical. I was 30 minutes into take 2 when I hit the wrong button and lost it all. But given the defensive tone of many here, I think I'll just keep the rest to myself. I really don't need the lectures.

Did I miss something?

 

I'll just say that the buffet is build for chaos. If no one ever points out problems, Princess won't know what to fix.

 

 

The buffet on the Golden is the old style. The newer ones have a separate dessert area and are more efficient. Perhaps the Golden will get a new one in some future drydock.

[RickEk]

Hello all. Apparently the Princess faithful don't like hearing anything critical. I was 30 minutes into take 2 when I hit the wrong button and lost it all. But given the defensive tone of many here, I think I'll just keep the rest to myself. I really don't need the lectures.

 

I'll just say that the buffet is build for chaos. If no one ever points out problems, Princess won't know what to fix.

 

Jim

 

I had to go back and reread the comments after your review and thought that, for the most part, everyone was very respectful of your opinion. I certainly would like to hear more. But then, I board Golden Princess tomorrow and will see for myself.

 

Did I miss something?

 

The buffet on the Golden is the old style. The newer ones have a separate dessert area and are more efficient. Perhaps the Golden will get a new one in some future drydock.

 

Exactly, some of the Grand-class ships have the new buffet setup and it works well. They certainly have learned and have made improvements. Hopefully Golden Princess will get updated on her next drydock.

[caribill]

Just to cut to the chase, we had a good time, but thought there were some problems that should be pointed out on our back-to-back sailings Oct. 13 and Oct. 17.

 

I'm not going to try to "review" every aspect, and I'm probably not going to finish this in one sitting, but I figured if I wait until I have two hours to spare, I'll never get started. So here goes with our observations. And just a warning: There'll be more negative than positive, simply because the negative is easier to notice. Again, overall we had a good time.

 

 

I hope you made the appropriate comments on the post cruise survey Princess should have e-mailed to you.

[cruisingberger]

Thank you for the review of the excursion. My DH asked me to book this for our sailing next month but I was skeptical. Now I know better and saved a few dollars. Think I'll stay on the ship and do my own wine tasting:D!

[jasbo49]

I hope you made the appropriate comments on the post cruise survey Princess should have e-mailed to you.

 

Yes, I was pretty clear on the survey, though they seemed to have a word limit on some of their "essay questions." My wife wanted to fill one out too -- since they sent us each one -- but when she went to fill it out, it said they'd already heard from us. Oh, well.

 

To respond to other comments along the way:

 

-- I did visit the shore excursions desk after the tour and the guy there really didn't seem to understand or care about the distinction between a winery and a tasting room. I should point out too that the excursion (Bodegas de Santo Tomas) was actually pretty enjoyable, largely because of Belen, the tour guide. Just wish we'd gone to an actual winery.

 

-- For those who suggested I shouldn't complain about the late sailing (I guess that was the part I read as a lecture), my main complaint was that people weren't told. I knew we were leaving late on the first leg, because I'd read it here on CC. Most people didn't have a clue.

 

Also, I disagree that the only things we missed were shops and casinos and sailing around in circles; we missed the event of sailaway, the sense of beginning a journey. It's hard to celebrate that at 11:54 p.m. (OK, keep it clean.)

 

-- It's nice for some people that they are not bothered by repeated sales pitches at the dinner table, but we were.

 

So now that I'm over my little snit about getting lectured, I'll try to finish up later. Thanks for hearing me out.

 

Jim

[RickEk]

Thank you for the review of the excursion. My DH asked me to book this for our sailing next month but I was skeptical. Now I know better and saved a few dollars. Think I'll stay on the ship and do my own wine tasting:D!

 

Take the Two Winery Tour... on that one you actually visit two wineries with a tour of the facilities of the larger one. Great tour, inexpensive, we do it every time we're in Ensenada. You'll also get a complimentary bottle of wine.

[jasbo49]

Thank you for the review of the excursion. My DH asked me to book this for our sailing next month but I was skeptical. Now I know better and saved a few dollars. Think I'll stay on the ship and do my own wine tasting:D!

 

I missed your post while I was writing mine. Even though we didn't go to the actual winery, we enjoyed the tour. We had a smart and enthusiastic guide, Belen, who made it fun. In addition to the tasting room, which was not that exciting, it went to Riviera del Pacifico, a depression-era casino, now a civic center and museum with some interesting shopping in the courtyard. And we got a mini-tour of Ensenada.

 

While it wasn't all we'd hoped for, it's hard to beat $29 for a three-hour ship-sanctioned tour.

 

Jim

[2 to cruise]

When the ship leaves late, those of us that like our "adult beverages" and/or just a non-alcoholic drink are paying more port tax on our drinks.

[RickEk]

 

-- For those who suggested I shouldn't complain about the late sailing (I guess that was the part I read as a lecture), my main complaint was that people weren't told. I knew we were leaving late on the first leg, because I'd read it here on CC. Most people didn't have a clue.

 

Also, I disagree that the only things we missed were shops and casinos and sailing around in circles; we missed the event of sailaway, the sense of beginning a journey. It's hard to celebrate that at 11:54 p.m. (OK, keep it clean.)

 

 

I completely concur with the disappointment of having to miss sailaway. That is a big part of cruising for me. A couple of years ago, we were late sailing out of LA on Sapphire Princess because the fuel barge was late. We were at dinner when we noticed that we'd started to sailaway. Very anticlimactic. Hopefully we'll sail on time today! :)

[jasbo49]

OK, time to finish up. I'll apologize in advance, again, for talking more about problems than bright spots. As a former newspaper editor, I find looking for trouble comes naturally.

 

THE BUFFET FROM HELL: Apparently newer Princess ships have better organization and traffic patterns, but those sailing on the Golden should know this is one poorly designed and chaotic buffet. You can enter the main food line from either of two directions, but once you get to the middle, you'll run into people who came in the other way. No matter which way you go, you're convinced that everyone else is going the wrong direction -- or maybe you are.

 

While breakfast was good, lunch sometimes had little that looked appetizing, just a lot of generic-looking stuff on trays. One day I decided since nothing looked good, I'd just have a big salad. My plan was foiled when I discovered there was no lettuce. There were six or eight bowls of spinach, but no lettuce of any kind. I asked the buffet host whether they could scare some up and he went back to inquire. I asked three different people over a 10-minute period, and no one could seem to find any lettuce. I finally piled a bunch of spinach on my plate and of course that's when the lettuce showed up -- along with a dozen other people who pounced on it. They had all been waiting for lettuce too, but not saying anything.

 

The Horizon Court lunch buffet is open until 3:30 p.m., according to the Princess Prattle. So why is it that if you arrive at 2, they're pulling the trays and closing it down? My wife asked one day, and they said they were getting ready for tea. I wouldn't think it would take them an hour and a half to remove the lunch food and replace it with crumpets or whatever they serve, but if it does, they should note in their newsletter that lunch is available only until 2.

 

YOU CAN TRASH CARNIVAL, BUT: On Princess, if you don't want the buffet and the MDR isn't open for lunch, your only choices are burgers, pizza and a pre-made sandwich at the International Café. On the same Carnival ships that many bad-mouth, you'd have a sandwich deli, Mongolian grill and burrito bar as choices along with burgers and pizza. Princess should offer some of these custom stations along with the other options.

 

ENTERTAINMENT SO-SO: We really enjoyed the British Invasion production show, and thought Caliente was pretty good. The mariachi group that played around the ship was fitting on a cruise to Mexico. The comic and the magician, however, were not so hot. I'm not sure whether this fits under entertainment or not, but I wish there had been some kind of enrichment activities or lectures. I know you'd get more of that in Alaska, or on a canal or transatlantic cruise, but some kind of talks that weren't aimed at selling anything would be nice.

 

QUARRELSOME CREW? Most of the crew we interacted with were great, but my wife and I each witnessed shouting matches between crew members. I'm sure people working long hours in close quarters are going to have problems now and then, but they really should keep it away from the customers. On the bright side, both of our room stewards and most of the waiters were great. One waitress, Sladjana ("No one can pronounce it; they just call me lasagna") was particularly fun.

 

STRAY FOOD NOTES: If you've got two hours to blow, go to breakfast in the MDR. I'm serious; it took two hours for us to order, receive and eat our food. Someone at our table suggested, "Maybe we should order lunch too while we're here." As you've probably read elsewhere, if you like real coffee, you should buy a coffee card. The stuff they serve at the buffet and in the MDR is from a syrup. In other words, it's instant coffee, and it tastes like Folgers Crystals, or whatever. I'd heard the card was $31, but on our cruise it was $29, probably because it was a short cruise.

 

IN TRANSIT: It's really no fault of Princess, but the process of getting out of our cabin, waiting to get off, going through Customs and getting back on the ship took three hours. That was largely because of a backup at Customs, and most of our wait was in comfort, but it's still three lost hours. My advice to anyone waiting for disembarkation or waiting for the turnaround on a B2B is to go to the back of the Wheelhouse Bar. It was nice and quiet and comfortable.

 

So, to wrap it up, despite all our fault finding, we got a couple of future cruise certificates and will cruise Princess again. I think I'll be more careful to pick a ship without the hellish buffet, though. And I'd say we're finished with the shorties.

 

Jim

[jasbo49]

Hopefully we'll sail on time today! :)

 

Let us know if you get a chance, OK? I'm curious to know. I never did figure out whether the ship sailed on time for the Oct. 20 cruise.

 

Jim