Golden Review, Photos & Full Ship Video Tour (Coming soon!)

[Guest zafra63]

The full ship video tour is complete - thank you for your patience.

 

Questions welcome.

 

 

 

What a wonderful experience to watch the video. Thanks so much, what a great job to create this. Looking forward to our cruises in October and November B2B, Pacific and New Zealand. Thanks again for this wonderful experience.

[Bearspice]

The full ship video tour is complete - thank you for your patience.

 

Questions welcome.

 

 

Thank you - I'm going on the Golden Princess in November and this makes me even more excited. Can't wait.

[Sheebah]

What a wonderful experience to watch the video. Thanks so much, what a great job to create this. Looking forward to our cruises in October and November B2B, Pacific and New Zealand. Thanks again for this wonderful experience.

 

Thank you for the kind words. Your b2b sounds lovely. How long will u be on the ship?

[Sheebah]

Hello!

 

Thank you all for following along. I know it took a considerable amount of time to get this posted as we edited our videos and wrote about the ports.

 

Here's a little info about our last day in Port, in Victoria. We'll post our food slideshow soon!

 

Our port call in Victoria was scheduled to be a short one, from 7am to 1pm. Rather than spending a hefty amount of cash on the ship led tour to enjoy Tea the Empress Hotel and a city tour, we booked direct with the hotel by email a month in advance. The price is still steep at around $60pp (half off for kidlets), but I believe the ship tour was $120! We made the earliest possible reservation for approximately 11:00 or 11:30am and took a cab straight from the ship to town. Booking the ship's bus is more costly for a party of four and takes much longer. Our cab driver was friendly and quickly and ushered us to corner adjacent to the hotel. We arrived early so we went to Rogers Chocolates for some souvenirs and wandered through a Canadian souvenir shop where we bought some scarves and jewelry and browsed children's souvenirs.

 

After that quick shopping trip, we then walked the short block back down to the Empress and made our way inside the lovely lobby. There was a long line to enter, but we were quickly escorted to our beautiful table (with a view of the harbor!), and introduced to our wonderful server. Our son was presented with the half price "Prince and Princess" menu and we each chose our tea flavor. After a few short minutes our server brought some delicious strawberries and traditional clotted cream. The cream was not too sweet, which was wonderful! The server saw me sneaking a dollop into my team and said "don't worry, people do it all the time!".

 

When our sweets and sandwiches were presented, we quickly realized we would NEVER finish the food. Even though we'd planned this to be our mid-day meal, there were far too many sweets for our tummies to handle. So, I started with the savory sandwiches- YUM, and nibbled on the sweets, many made from ingredients grown on property. My son's meal was more child appropriate, with adorable cookies on sticks kid friendly sandwiches (think nutella, and ham and cheese). He was in heaven and behaved like a true gentleman at tea. We were quickly STUFFED and ready to wrap up our tea time to return to the ship. To our delight, the server brought us each a large box of tea bags to take with us and boxed up our leftovers to take back to the ship.

 

After snapping some final photos in the gardens of the hotel, We quickly found a cab and returned to the ship. With a few minutes to spare, we bought my hubby and son matching Canada jerseys in the gift shop on the pier. The gift shop was jammed and the selection was good, and service very friendly.

 

We hobbled back to the ship in a sugar daze, and settled in four our final afternoon and day at sea.

 

The final day on the ship was spent swimming and resting, and closed with the BEST dinner of the whole cruise. The crab legs were superb and we hugged and tipped our servers and hung out with them in the dining room as all the other guests left for the evening. It was a special way to prepare for debarkation, and to share those last moments together as a family without the distractions of our cell phones, work, and daily obligations.

 

Disembarkation was smooth, and while self assist debarkation was difficult with our heavier than usual bags, we were in our car and on the road before 9am.

 

Overall this cruise was wonderful. The relaxed pace of a 10-day itinerary, the warm pools, the friendly staff, and the better-than-average food were all highlights, second only to getting to experience our favorite Alaskan port, Haines, again!

 

Stay tuned...our food slideshow should be coming soon to wrap up this review.

[meh56]

Can you tell me the cost of the taxi in Victoria and if you can pay with a credit card or US cash...Also do you know how close the Princess Bus stop is to the hotel.

[Sheebah]

Can you tell me the cost of the taxi in Victoria and if you can pay with a credit card or US cash...Also do you know how close the Princess Bus stop is to the hotel.

 

I believe the taxi was $10 each way...for all 4 of us. We paid US cash. Not sure if they accept credit cards. Also not sure about the bus drop off point but I imagine it's near the Empress hotel.

In our 3 visits to Victoria we've used a cab every time. If the busses were free, it would be a different story.

[Colo Cruiser]

Yummy goodies at the Empress!

Love Victoria.

My mom and dad lived there for awhile. Being from England they loved the English charm. :)

[Woobstr112G]

Hello!

 

Thank you all for following along. I know it took a considerable amount of time to get this posted as we edited our videos and wrote about the ports.

 

Here's a little info about our last day in Port, in Victoria. We'll post our food slideshow soon!

 

Our port call in Victoria was scheduled to be a short one, from 7am to 1pm. Rather than spending a hefty amount of cash on the ship led tour to enjoy Tea the Empress Hotel and a city tour, we booked direct with the hotel by email a month in advance. The price is still steep at around $60pp (half off for kidlets), but I believe the ship tour was $120! We made the earliest possible reservation for approximately 11:00 or 11:30am and took a cab straight from the ship to town. Booking the ship's bus is more costly for a party of four and takes much longer. Our cab driver was friendly and quickly and ushered us to corner adjacent to the hotel. We arrived early so we went to Rogers Chocolates for some souvenirs and wandered through a Canadian souvenir shop where we bought some scarves and jewelry and browsed children's souvenirs.

 

After that quick shopping trip, we then walked the short block back down to the Empress and made our way inside the lovely lobby. There was a long line to enter, but we were quickly escorted to our beautiful table (with a view of the harbor!), and introduced to our wonderful server. Our son was presented with the half price "Prince and Princess" menu and we each chose our tea flavor. After a few short minutes our server brought some delicious strawberries and traditional clotted cream. The cream was not too sweet, which was wonderful! The server saw me sneaking a dollop into my team and said "don't worry, people do it all the time!".

 

When our sweets and sandwiches were presented, we quickly realized we would NEVER finish the food. Even though we'd planned this to be our mid-day meal, there were far too many sweets for our tummies to handle. So, I started with the savory sandwiches- YUM, and nibbled on the sweets, many made from ingredients grown on property. My son's meal was more child appropriate, with adorable cookies on sticks kid friendly sandwiches (think nutella, and ham and cheese). He was in heaven and behaved like a true gentleman at tea. We were quickly STUFFED and ready to wrap up our tea time to return to the ship. To our delight, the server brought us each a large box of tea bags to take with us and boxed up our leftovers to take back to the ship.

 

After snapping some final photos in the gardens of the hotel, We quickly found a cab and returned to the ship. With a few minutes to spare, we bought my hubby and son matching Canada jerseys in the gift shop on the pier. The gift shop was jammed and the selection was good, and service very friendly.

 

We hobbled back to the ship in a sugar daze, and settled in four our final afternoon and day at sea.

 

The final day on the ship was spent swimming and resting, and closed with the BEST dinner of the whole cruise. The crab legs were superb and we hugged and tipped our servers and hung out with them in the dining room as all the other guests left for the evening. It was a special way to prepare for debarkation, and to share those last moments together as a family without the distractions of our cell phones, work, and daily obligations.

 

Disembarkation was smooth, and while self assist debarkation was difficult with our heavier than usual bags, we were in our car and on the road before 9am.

 

Overall this cruise was wonderful. The relaxed pace of a 10-day itinerary, the warm pools, the friendly staff, and the better-than-average food were all highlights, second only to getting to experience our favorite Alaskan port, Haines, again!

 

Stay tuned...our food slideshow should be coming soon to wrap up this review.

 

Sounds like a great day in Victoria.....:):):)

 

Bob

[Guest zafra63]

Thank you for the kind words. Your b2b sounds lovely. How long will u be on the ship?

 

 

We will be doing 26 days in total, what is nice. Always lovely to stay on board and being in transit, to see people pack and go home, knowing it is not over as yet. By the way, I have copied the link from your video and put it on our roll calls, that was very much appreciated by some, nice to see how the ship looks like before cruising. Keep up the great work, happy cruising in the future.

[Sheebah]

Yummy goodies at the Empress!

Love Victoria.

My mom and dad lived there for awhile. Being from England they loved the English charm. :)

 

I bet they did. I'd love a week with a rental car to explore that island. So much to see!

[Sheebah]

Sounds like a great day in Victoria.....:):):)

 

Bob

 

Indeed, it was. My first time to the empress.

[Sheebah]

The food slideshow is done!! Enjoy, questions welcome.

 

[Colo Cruiser]

Aaaaaamaaaaaazing. :D

[Nancyquilts]

Thank you both so much for posting that incredible video of the ship. I was watching it with closed captions, and it was interesting that YouTube hires people for that with no clue of the English language. You might get a charge out of seeing how they mangled your words.

[VK3DQ]

Hi Folks

 

Many thanks for this thread and the posting of various info and photos.

 

We (my wife Jean and her mum Elsie and I John) decided that we would cancel a 12 night cruise that we had booked on board Celebrity Solstice in favor of a 14 night cruise on Golden Princess (see below)

 

(March 8th 2016)

Ports: Melbourne, Australia | Mare, New Caledonia | Mystery Island, Vanuatu | Vila, Vanuatu | Champagne Bay, Vanuatu | Wala, Vanuatu | Luganville, Vanuatu | Melbourne, Australia

 

 

We have cruised twice on the Solstice and once on Rhapsody of The Seas and enjoyed them both we cruised with P&O many years ago on the Oriana (1)

 

 

This will be our first cruise aboard Princess and we are looking forward to it very much, Golden Princess seems to fit our wish list very well

 

I would like comments however regarding the "standard coffee) I am a coffee freak and life is far too short for bad coffee :D

 

 

We have booked a mini-suite for the three of us so hopefully we wont be too crowded

 

Any tips / hints specific to Golden Princess would be most welcome

 

 

Best Regards

 

John Jean and Elsie

[Sheebah]

Thank you both so much for posting that incredible video of the ship. I was watching it with closed captions, and it was interesting that YouTube hires people for that with no clue of the English language. You might get a charge out of seeing how they mangled your words.

 

First and foremost, thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. YouTube automates it's cc and WOW were you right. My husband is correcting the captions as we speak, even though it was a riot to watch! Oooh my!

[Sheebah]

Aaaaaamaaaaaazing. :D

 

Thank you! Doesn't it make you miss being pampered onboard? Sigh...cooking for oneself is the pits compared to cruising.

[Sheebah]

Hi Folks

 

Many thanks for this thread and the posting of various info and photos.

 

We (my wife Jean and her mum Elsie and I John) decided that we would cancel a 12 night cruise that we had booked on board Celebrity Solstice in favor of a 14 night cruise on Golden Princess (see below)

 

(March 8th 2016)

Ports: Melbourne, Australia | Mare, New Caledonia | Mystery Island, Vanuatu | Vila, Vanuatu | Champagne Bay, Vanuatu | Wala, Vanuatu | Luganville, Vanuatu | Melbourne, Australia

 

 

We have cruised twice on the Solstice and once on Rhapsody of The Seas and enjoyed them both we cruised with P&O many years ago on the Oriana (1)

 

 

This will be our first cruise aboard Princess and we are looking forward to it very much, Golden Princess seems to fit our wish list very well

 

I would like comments however regarding the "standard coffee) I am a coffee freak and life is far too short for bad coffee :D

 

 

We have booked a mini-suite for the three of us so hopefully we wont be too crowded

 

Any tips / hints specific to Golden Princess would be most welcome

 

 

Best Regards

 

John Jean and Elsie

 

Wow! That itinerary sounds like the trip of a lifetime. Your mini should be ample for 3, as long as privacy isn't a big requirement. Your balcony will be wonderful on that sailing.

 

Tips on enjoying golden to the fullest:

 

1) enjoy teatime! It's the finest of all the mass market lines....although it feels a bit rushed.

 

2) buy the coffee card- coffee in the international cafe is wonderful and they serve free brewed coffee if you have the card (but they won't stamp the card)

 

3) pack your swimsuit - the pools are heated and generally uncrowded onboard

 

Hopefully others will chime in with more tips!!

[crochetcruise]

Wow! That itinerary sounds like the trip of a lifetime. Your mini should be ample for 3, as long as privacy isn't a big requirement. Your balcony will be wonderful on that sailing.

 

Tips on enjoying golden to the fullest:

 

1) enjoy teatime! It's the finest of all the mass market lines....although it feels a bit rushed.

 

2) buy the coffee card- coffee in the international cafe is wonderful and they serve free brewed coffee if you have the card (but they won't stamp the card)

 

3) pack your swimsuit - the pools are heated and generally uncrowded onboard

 

Hopefully others will chime in with more tips!!

 

Remember your sun protection! Was told you get a worse sunburn from the reflection off the water, don't know how true this is as I'm now very paranoid about sunburn-a couple of nasty episodes as a kid.

 

Do they do Afternoon Tea in the Dining Room on Embarkation Day please? As I'm in a Window Suite, I can have Afternoon Tea served in the Suite and I was thinking of checking out the Dining Room to get an idea of what to expect.

 

I showed your Golden Princess tour to a friend of mine who is booked in an inside stateroom on the Plaza deck, he's wildly excited at what's in store for us. He's a work colleague, and I've offered, within limitations for privacy, to invite him to the Window Suite so he gets to "enjoy" having a Window! Have already told him to turn the tv on to the Bridge cam and mute the sound overnight so he gets some idea when the sun is up. He had a whole list of questions for me today, I fired the answers straight back at him courtesy of Cruise Critic. Have told him about the website, don't know if he's joined up yet. He did say Sailaway for us might be best on the Skywalker where I can easily turn to get the angled photos as we cast off and reverse into the Harbour. Not worried about having a drink, it's the photos I want!

 

 

 

Crochetcruise

[Colo Cruiser]

Do they do Afternoon Tea in the Dining Room on Embarkation Day please? As I'm in a Window Suite, I can have Afternoon Tea served in the Suite and I was thinking of checking out the Dining Room to get an idea of what to expect.

 

 

Not on embarkation day, too much stuff going on. :)

[Sheebah]

Not on embarkation day, too much stuff going on. :)

 

Remember your sun protection! Was told you get a worse sunburn from the reflection off the water, don't know how true this is as I'm now very paranoid about sunburn-a couple of nasty episodes as a kid.

 

Do they do Afternoon Tea in the Dining Room on Embarkation Day please? As I'm in a Window Suite, I can have Afternoon Tea served in the Suite and I was thinking of checking out the Dining Room to get an idea of what to expect.

 

I showed your Golden Princess tour to a friend of mine who is booked in an inside stateroom on the Plaza deck, he's wildly excited at what's in store for us. He's a work colleague, and I've offered, within limitations for privacy, to invite him to the Window Suite so he gets to "enjoy" having a Window! Have already told him to turn the tv on to the Bridge cam and mute the sound overnight so he gets some idea when the sun is up. He had a whole list of questions for me today, I fired the answers straight back at him courtesy of Cruise Critic. Have told him about the website, don't know if he's joined up yet. He did say Sailaway for us might be best on the Skywalker where I can easily turn to get the angled photos as we cast off and reverse into the Harbour. Not worried about having a drink, it's the photos I want!

 

Crochetcruise

 

EXCELLENT advice with the sunscreen. I got burned in the hot tubs on a few occasions, and since this wasn't a tropical cruise, I was not prepared for that.

Thank you for sharing the video with your colleague. The inside cabin is quite spacious, though we always prefer a balcony or mini. Not affordable for our family on this cruise, but we are still glad we went. Skywalkers seems like a great place for sailaway, if it is too cold to be outside where you can get optimal photos.

[Hobart18]

Hi Sheebah,

I have been watching with great interest to see how many people have been able to watch your fabulous You Tube video of the 2015 Full Tour of the Golden Princess, you have had several thousand views already, this is a great testerment to your talents and you have done a great service to Princess and to the many new cruisers that will be sailing on her when she deploys down under. I think we should all send an email to Carnival/Princess Australia to get behind you doing further videos of their ships especially the Dawn Princess refurbishment which no one has yet produced especially as many Oz and New Zealand cruisers have already been on her in the last few years and are waiting quite eagerly to see what she now looks like.

I have already started the ball rolling and emailed Princess in Sydney to let them know of the great service you have done for Princess just out of the love of your cruising, this is a great PR service on your behalf.

Keep up the good work, I look forward to your further videos on your future cruises.

Best Wishes from downunder :):)

[Sheebah]

Hi Sheebah,

I have been watching with great interest to see how many people have been able to watch your fabulous You Tube video of the 2015 Full Tour of the Golden Princess, you have had several thousand views already, this is a great testerment to your talents and you have done a great service to Princess and to the many new cruisers that will be sailing on her when she deploys down under. I think we should all send an email to Carnival/Princess Australia to get behind you doing further videos of their ships especially the Dawn Princess refurbishment which no one has yet produced especially as many Oz and New Zealand cruisers have already been on her in the last few years and are waiting quite eagerly to see what she now looks like.

I have already started the ball rolling and emailed Princess in Sydney to let them know of the great service you have done for Princess just out of the love of your cruising, this is a great PR service on your behalf.

Keep up the good work, I look forward to your further videos on your future cruises.

Best Wishes from downunder :):)

 

I'm speechless! Thank you ever so much for the compliments on our videos and for taking that incredibly kind step. My husband takes the video quality very seriously and will also be very touched by this gesture.

 

Hope that all is well for you and yours down under! Cheers and happy cruising from sunny (and dry) California!

 

Ps- if I hear from Princess, you'll be the first to hear.

[BratDet]

Even the covered pool area is pretty cold, but not horrible. Hope to swim tomorrow to justify having packed a bathing suit. Absolutely amazing weather this , amazing visibility overall (except fog yesterday on our way to Victoria.) Not a drop of rain!

[bhopal21]

Even the covered pool area is pretty cold, but not horrible. Hope to swim tomorrow to justify having packed a bathing suit.

 

 

That's disappointing as Princess used to always have the pools warm until a couple of years ago.

 

Mike:)