Live on Golden Princess.....

[OzKruser]

Hi all

I am aboard Golden Princess on a 13 night NZ cruise, we are half way through and are in Wellington today.

I have posted a bunch of photos on my blog if anyone is interested along with some other information about this trip

 

http://daleyfamilytravelblog.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/golden-princess-new-zealand-cruise.html?m=1

 

If you have any questions please feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer....

[Anthonysyne]

Ha that's awesome. My parents and my uncle and Aunts are on the same cruise. Look out for a guy getting around on a scooter and that's him. Les. Never been on a princess cruise so I'm keen to get an idea of what it's like.

[OzKruser]

That's a coincidence! I will look out for them!

[cheznandy]

Yay, a live from, thanks for posting:)

 

Love the photos too!

 

Chez

[OzKruser]

Thanks Chez! No worries

[OzKruser]

Ha that's awesome. My parents and my uncle and Aunts are on the same cruise. Look out for a guy getting around on a scooter and that's him. Les. Never been on a princess cruise so I'm keen to get an idea of what it's like.

 

 

I think I just saw your parents. Does your mum have short hair? Dad was driving a scooter....

[KiwiFunCruiser]

Thanks for the info and pics so far, very handy as we have 25 days till we sail on her. Hope you have a nice day and enjoy your trip through the sounds.

[Anthonysyne]

Yep that's them.. it's their first cruise.

[Hawka]

i did the cruise before yours loved it

[Hawka]

if you see Martin in the photo area tell him Jenelle says Hi and that my mum loved the photo he took of me , he does the formal photos with the black background , great kid and if you get Daniel from Serbia and Phinyo from Thailand in the dining area's , they are awesome too .

Edited December 15, 2015 by Hawka

[cheznandy]

Yep that's them.. it's their first cruise.

 

You have to love CruiseCritic:p

 

Amazing how small our world is....cruising world anyway!

 

Chez

[Duck Duck Cruise]

Thank you so much for taking the time to post and giving a link to your blog. We are taking this cruise on the Diamond in early March and will be going to some of the same ports. We have Hobbiton reserved and are really looking forward to it. I will be following your blog and look forward to seeing where we will also be. Have a great time!

[Anthonysyne]

You have to love CruiseCritic:p

 

Amazing how small our world is....cruising world anyway!

 

Chez

 

Yes it is. Funny thing is I only installed the app that day.

So how do you find the ship I've only been on a couple of Rccl cruises which are brilliant.

[cheznandy]

Yes it is. Funny thing is I only installed the app that day.

So how do you find the ship I've only been on a couple of Rccl cruises which are brilliant.

 

Sadly, I am not on the ship......I have to wait until 2017 for my turn on the Golden!

Enjoying the blog and photos:)

 

Chez

[OzKruser]

Hi Anthonysne, we have also done rccl and celebrity and a number of Princess cruises before. With Princess you know what you are getting tine and time again, they don't change their offering often so every time we take a Princess cruise it is very familiar and easy to settle in.

If you like rccl you should like Princess. As far as passenger demographic Princess has I believe an older crowd but there are still a number of families on board with children so it works for us either way. It really doesn't bother me either way, at least with older people you don't get the hoons we see on other lines....a lot of people complain that Princess is a floating retirement home but we are not fussed either way.

 

As you can see from my blog, the ship is great, the grand class is larger the sun class which we have had in Australia before excel for the Diamond that visits each year.

There is always entertainment on board and plenty of places to go to relax without feeling crowded.

The food has been good. We are not big buffet fans so we have chosen on many days to just have breakfast at the international cafe on deck 5 consisting of a coffee and a pastry. For lunch we generally try the buffet. We religiously eat dinner in the main dining room. We chose traditional seating (5.30 a little early but oh well) as I had heard a lot of complaints about anytime dining. The menu is little more limited than I remember but the have added three Curtis Stone selections that are available everyday. I have tried the roasted pork belly and would recommend it. My husband tried the osso buco and also liked it. If anyone wants a picture of these items listed on the menu let me know....however I have always found something nice to order that I have liked. Another option for those of you who want to watch what you eat, they have a seasonal fruit plate as a starter which is a good choice to prevent over eating.

One thing I love about Princess that I wish rccl would add is the table service coffee lounges. On deck 5 and 7 you can take a seat and a waiter will come around sync take your order and serve your coffee, tea, hot chocolate etc at your table. You pay for this coffee etc but it is really good, just like a good coffee house and you don't have to drink it in those awful take away cups! Just really relaxing to do this.... We bought the coffee card so we get the coffees s little cheaper overall. You can buy these when you get onboard or order online before you board and they will be ready for you when you get onboard. I absolutely hate the rccl coffee places, long lines to get your order and then only in take away cups....takes all the relaxation out of getting a nice coffee. Lucky on rccl we get to go to the concierge and diamond lounges that have good automatic cappuccino machines so we go there instead.

 

They have also added another specialty dining option called the Crab Shack. They convert an area at the back of the buffet each night. There is a $25 cover charge but it covers three courses.

If you have any other questions please ask away and I will do my best to answer.....

Edited December 15, 2015 by OzKruser

[Hawka]

Breakfast in Donatello's is good too I'm not fussed on the buffets to be honest I'll have it but I had traditional dining and I usually had breakfast at the other restaurant lunch I was off the ship in most cases I did have a burger at the burger place near the pizza place and the restaurant as well as the buffet when I was on the ship

[cheznandy]

Hi Anthonysne, we have also done rccl and celebrity and a number of Princess cruises before. With Princess you know what you are getting tine and time again, they don't change their offering often so every time we take a Princess cruise it is very familiar and easy to settle in.

If you like rccl you should like Princess. As far as passenger demographic Princess has I believe an older crowd but there are still a number of families on board with children so it works for us either way. It really doesn't bother me either way, at least with older people you don't get the hoons we see on other lines....a lot of people complain that Princess is a floating retirement home but we are not fussed either way.

 

As you can see from my blog, the ship is great, the grand class is larger the sun class which we have had in Australia before excel for the Diamond that visits each year.

There is always entertainment on board and plenty of places to go to relax without feeling crowded.

The food has been good. We are not big buffet fans so we have chosen on many days to just have breakfast at the international cafe on deck 5 consisting of a coffee and a pastry. For lunch we generally try the buffet. We religiously eat dinner in the main dining room. We chose traditional seating (5.30 a little early but oh well) as I had heard a lot of complaints about anytime dining. The menu is little more limited than I remember but the have added three Curtis Stone selections that are available everyday. I have tried the roasted pork belly and would recommend it. My husband tried the osso buco and also liked it. If anyone wants a picture of these items listed on the menu let me know....however I have always found something nice to order that I have liked. Another option for those of you who want to watch what you eat, they have a seasonal fruit plate as a starter which is a good choice to prevent over eating.

One thing I love about Princess that I wish rccl would add is the table service coffee lounges. On deck 5 and 7 you can take a seat and a waiter will come around sync take your order and serve your coffee, tea, hot chocolate etc at your table. You pay for this coffee etc but it is really good, just like a good coffee house and you don't have to drink it in those awful take away cups! Just really relaxing to do this.... We bought the coffee card so we get the coffees s little cheaper overall. You can buy these when you get onboard or order online before you board and they will be ready for you when you get onboard. I absolutely hate the rccl coffee places, long lines to get your order and then only in take away cups....takes all the relaxation out of getting a nice coffee. Lucky on rccl we get to go to the concierge and diamond lounges that have good automatic cappuccino machines so we go there instead.

 

They have also added another specialty dining option called the Crab Shack. They convert an area at the back of the buffet each night. There is a $25 cover charge but it covers three courses.

If you have any other questions please ask away and I will do my best to answer.....

 

Ditto....could have written your post haha!

 

Especially about the coffee and places to relax:)

 

Chez

[OzKruser]

I totally agree.

[GUT2407]

Thanks, looks good.

[Russell21]

On the Dawn Princess I had the Curtis Stone Pork Belly and the Osso Bucco referred to earlier, both to die for.

[GUT2407]

On the Dawn Princess I had the Curtis Stone Pork Belly and the Osso Bucco referred to earlier, both to die for.

 

 

I also had the Chicken Pot Pie on Diamond I was underwhelmed, I wonder if the standard is consistent across the line?

[spirit28]

Hi Anthonysne, we have also done rccl and celebrity and a number of Princess cruises before. With Princess you know what you are getting tine and time again, they don't change their offering often so every time we take a Princess cruise it is very familiar and easy to settle in.

If you like rccl you should like Princess. As far as passenger demographic Princess has I believe an older crowd but there are still a number of families on board with children so it works for us either way. It really doesn't bother me either way, at least with older people you don't get the hoons we see on other lines....a lot of people complain that Princess is a floating retirement home but we are not fussed either way.

 

As you can see from my blog, the ship is great, the grand class is larger the sun class which we have had in Australia before excel for the Diamond that visits each year.

There is always entertainment on board and plenty of places to go to relax without feeling crowded.

The food has been good. We are not big buffet fans so we have chosen on many days to just have breakfast at the international cafe on deck 5 consisting of a coffee and a pastry. For lunch we generally try the buffet. We religiously eat dinner in the main dining room. We chose traditional seating (5.30 a little early but oh well) as I had heard a lot of complaints about anytime dining. The menu is little more limited than I remember but the have added three Curtis Stone selections that are available everyday. I have tried the roasted pork belly and would recommend it. My husband tried the osso buco and also liked it. If anyone wants a picture of these items listed on the menu let me know....however I have always found something nice to order that I have liked. Another option for those of you who want to watch what you eat, they have a seasonal fruit plate as a starter which is a good choice to prevent over eating.

One thing I love about Princess that I wish rccl would add is the table service coffee lounges. On deck 5 and 7 you can take a seat and a waiter will come around sync take your order and serve your coffee, tea, hot chocolate etc at your table. You pay for this coffee etc but it is really good, just like a good coffee house and you don't have to drink it in those awful take away cups! Just really relaxing to do this.... We bought the coffee card so we get the coffees s little cheaper overall. You can buy these when you get onboard or order online before you board and they will be ready for you when you get onboard. I absolutely hate the rccl coffee places, long lines to get your order and then only in take away cups....takes all the relaxation out of getting a nice coffee. Lucky on rccl we get to go to the concierge and diamond lounges that have good automatic cappuccino machines so we go there instead.

 

They have also added another specialty dining option called the Crab Shack. They convert an area at the back of the buffet each night. There is a $25 cover charge but it covers three courses.

If you have any other questions please ask away and I will do my best to answer.....

 

Re Anytime Dining - we were on the cruise before this one and tried anytime dining for the first time. Completely underwhelmed by the experience to say the least. Travelling in a group of 5, we thought ATD would be a good compromise that would meet everyone's preferences.

 

There was only one occasion where we had to wait (issued with a beeper), but that was not the issue. We found (compared to traditional dining) that some wait staff seemed completely disinterested, and it was like we were a bother.

 

Things like no drink orders taken before taking food orders, no water refills and a general feeling of being rushed - get them in and get them out sort of attitude.

 

Yes the waiters were flat out with other tables coming and going at different times, but the constant clanging of cutlery etc at the waiter stations contributed in making the whole dining experience very unpleasant. Even the Horizon Court was a more relaxing atmosphere for dining on a couple of occasions!

 

In the end, we found much better service with a less hassled atmosphere in the dining room that had early TD and then converted to ATD after 7:30.

 

We also found that tables on the perimeter of the dinning room seemed more peaceful without the continual foot traffic as dinners came and went.

 

For us next time it will be late TD - I much prefer how you develop relationships with your waiters over the course of the cruise and dinning becomes fun and something to look forward to.

 

Other than that, we really enjoyed the cruise and the Golden - but after a number of princess cruises, it has become all pretty predicable (same décor, same entertainment (how many times can you see British Invasion!!) same everything really - apart from destinations). Might need to taste some other cruise lines for a change of scenery!! The grass is always greener - isn't it?

[GUT2407]

Whereas I dd ATD on Diamond and actually liked it.

[OzKruser]

Whereas I dd ATD on Diamond and actually liked it.

 

 

I know, we did it years ago on the Grand and it was great....I had heard really bad things about it recently across the fleet....probably just depends on the ship....we do it all the time on rccl but with them you can book in advance the times you want each day.....

[Anthonysyne]

Thanks for all the updates. It's hard to compare other cruise lines when you've had a good experience on one.

I've done 2 cruises on Rhapsody and Radiance from Sydney and the first one was Anytime dinning which was fantastic. We had the same waiters no matter what time we booked and the service was brilliant never had our drinks run out of food. The second one was Radiance which was a set time and we had different waiters so didn't quiet get the same experience but the food was also fantastic either in the buffet or dinning rooms.

The coffee well yeah sometimes you had to wait but as a tradie you get used to drinking out of a takeaway cup so that didn't bother me. I generally got mine early in the morning so there wasn't queue's.

The entertainment was completely different on both ships which was surprising.

 

I'd really like to try a princess cruise because it's a pain having to fly to Sydney for Rccl, everyone seems to be having a ball on the golden including my parents but they're in their late 60's so I hope that's not an indicator. With my youngest being 16 there needs to be things for them to do too.