Golden Princess (Our Thoughts)

[VK3DQ]

Hi Folks

 

After we came home from our Christmas Cruise on Golden Princess we completed the requested survey form ... at the time I was not a happy camper , so will have been a little harsh in my responses ...

 

So here we are a month or so down the track , and beginning to emerge from the fog of illness and pain .... so pen to paper for a few "honest" comments

 

 

""Notes on Golden Princess

21St December 2015

 

John & Jean Fisher & Elsie Newman

 

 

Hello Folks

When reconsidering the survey we filled in with regards to our Christmas Cruise on board Golden Princess we feel that some of our comments were perhaps a little harsh and in need of clarification

 

At the time of completing the survey we were most upset regarding my medical removal from the ship and subsequent events, which to be fair in some regards need to be separated from our report on the ship itself

 

Our recent cruising history had included several cruises with Celebrity on board Solstice and with RCCL on Board Rhapsody Of the Seas.

Prior to this we have cruised extensively including with P&O , and the Old Orient Line before the merger with P&O , British India , Union Castle Line , Bergen Line , and Empressa Insulana (Lisbon)

With a few later including Chandris and Sitmar on their UK to Australia Service.

I Include this information so you are aware we are well acquainted with ships and cursing.

 

On boarding Golden Princess in Melbourne our overall impression of the ship was favorable whilst we knew she was a little older than the Solstice and slightly smaller we found Golden Princess to be comfortable and the decor to our liking

Our Mini-suite D623 was fine and suited our requirements, a few little signs of wear and tare but nothing to make a fuss about at all

 

Furniture was fine and the beds nice and comfortable and the small fridge worked fine keeping drinks nice and cold

Shower and Bathroom were as expected and Closet space was good

 

The Public rooms in the ship are nicely furnished and there are a good variety of bars and lounges , a few spots did become crowded including the international cafe and at some times the Horizon Court

 

Service in the main was very good

 

The outer decks including the pool decks were very nice and well thought out ..

 

The Public restrooms need updating … compared to the Solstice they are in need of some TLC

 

Food...

I'm sorry Folks, we all agree That Celebrity and Royal Caribbean have you well beaten in Quality and Variety of food in All venues apart from the grill on the outer deck (their chips are great)

The Main Dining rooms are very nice rooms but the variety , quality and presentation of meals is we feel well below what we expected

This was a real surprise to us to be honest

 

The Buffet we thought offered a better quality and variety than the Main dining rooms …..

Very unusual for me to prefer the buffet , one of my great pleasures whilst on ship is breakfast in the main dining room …. sorry it needs more work to reach the standard

 

The exception was the afternoon tea .. a nicely done civilized afternoon tea ..enjoyable

Vanilla Ice cream in the Dining room was horrid , the soft serve outside was far better.

And all of the Curtis Stone items were as far as our party was concerned totally uneatable , sorry , Curtis Stones belly pork ...well I love belly pork , but never again … ohhh dear I can laugh a little after the event.

 

 

 

We are painting a picture of a nice ship sadly let down by its catering , Australians are used to quality food to survive in the Australian market Golden Princess will have to lift her game.

 

Staff were all pleasant and helpful , some odd instances of language difficulties but no real issues.

Room service with my morning coffee was always prompt

The Main dining room however again needs attention in its reception and Planning of table requests .. a few delays a few pagers … could have been a little better .. but once inside all was fine , staff friendly and helpful.

 

Cabin staff very good ….Looked after us well.

 

Front desk .. well lets not go there this time .. I'm trying to be constructive and objective (little grin)

 

Entertainment is were Princess has The other lines in Australia done like dinners...

We were very pleased will all aspects of the entertainment on board well done.

The program is more in tune to the cultural heritage of our region and God bless them not so focused on the USA …....

 

In Conclusion Golden Princess is a nice ship , work needs to be done on the food, a few items need to be attended to.......

The food IS a deal breaker at the moment, the food at my local pub far outshines Golden Princess...sorry but true

 

Ok feel free to shoot me

 

Regards

John Fisher""

 

 

As it says .. please feel free to shoot me :D

 

 

Best Regards

 

John

[OzKiwiJJ]

Food...

I'm sorry Folks, we all agree That Celebrity and Royal Caribbean have you well beaten in Quality and Variety of food in All venues apart from the grill on the outer deck (their chips are great)

The Main Dining rooms are very nice rooms but the variety , quality and presentation of meals is we feel well below what we expected

This was a real surprise to us to be honest

 

 

That's a worry! :(

 

We had great food and variety in the MDR on Sun Princess at Christmas 2014. The quality wasn't as good on Dawn in August last year but there was still the same good variety. We felt that the variety on Royal Caribbean last March and Celebrity last Christmas fell short of Princess and the quality was variable.

 

Oh dear, I hope I'm going to like the food on Golden, we're booked on a three week cruise on her. :confused: :eek:

[Kinkacruiser]

Thank you, John for taking the time to post an honest critique.

I've not seen too many positives the Curtis Stone dishes, so hopefully there will be some 'fine tuning' achieved there.

[GUT2407]

Thank you, John for taking the time to post an honest critique.

I've not seen too many positives the Curtis Stone dishes, so hopefully there will be some 'fine tuning' achieved there.

 

I too was un impressed with the Curtis Tone dishes, in my opinion not as good as the every day options that were taken off to make room for them. Now if they'd left he everyday menu alone and ADDED the Curtis Stone dishes it would have Ben fine.

 

The veal wasn't as good as the standard Lamb version. The Pirk Belly in the buffet (prior to Stone starting in MDR) was better than the Curtis Stone version, the Chicken Pot Pievwas OK on the nights they actually filled the thing with chicken, it's in a dish, I guess an inch and a half high, at least twice there was less than a quarter of that of filling, other times the dish was filled about 3/4 of the way to the pastry, which was great.

 

The Curtis Stone in the MDR doesn't make me inclined to rush out and try Share.

[sewgood]

Thanks for your balanced review.

I have travelled on both Princess and Celebrity and agree with what you said about them.

Though I have found being a regular cruiser on Princess that the food quality can vary from cruise to cruise. On three seperate cruises on the Diamond I loved the food on the first and was not impressed on the second and the food was great on the third.:confused: I have come to the conclusion it must depend on the excutive chef on board.

The best cruise food I have ever had was on the Pacific Sun my first cruise.:D

[OzKiwiJJ]

Thanks for your balanced review.

I have travelled on both Princess and Celebrity and agree with what you said about them.

Though I have found being a regular cruiser on Princess that the food quality can vary from cruise to cruise. On three seperate cruises on the Diamond I loved the food on the first and was not impressed on the second and the food was great on the third.:confused: I have come to the conclusion it must depend on the excutive chef on board.

The best cruise food I have ever had was on the Pacific Sun my first cruise.:D

 

Yes, I think it very much depends on the executive chef. The one on Sun Princess was brilliant.

[rockdoctor]

Although Princes has it's warts, and Celebrity and Royal Caribbean have excellent food, IMHO there is a distinct difference in the philosophy of the pair. RCI cruises tend to be about the ship while Princess endeavors to showing guests the world. On RCI port lectures are about where the Diamond International store is while on Princess it's more of a learning experience. Princess is about the itinerary, the excursions and the length of time in port. Do you want to travel and see the world or do you want to simply take your luxurious accomodations to different places.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Although Princes has it's warts, and Celebrity and Royal Caribbean have excellent food, IMHO there is a distinct difference in the philosophy of the pair. RCI cruises tend to be about the ship while Princess endeavors to showing guests the world. On RCI port lectures are about where the Diamond International store is while on Princess it's more of a learning experience. Princess is about the itinerary, the excursions and the length of time in port. Do you want to travel and see the world or do you want to simply take your luxurious accomodations to different places.

 

We found Princess and Celebrity much of a muchness. Some things are better on Princess and some things are better on Celebrity. I didn't do any excursions with Celebrity but we were disappointed with the two Princess excursions that we have done so far.

 

And as far as I can tell, in this region at least, Celebrity and Princess stay similar lengths of time on the various ports.

[GUT2407]

We found Princess and Celebrity much of a muchness. Some things are better on Princess and some things are better on Celebrity. I didn't do any excursions with Celebrity but we were disappointed with the two Princess excursions that we have done so far.

 

And as far as I can tell, in this region at least, Celebrity and Princess stay similar lengths of time on the various ports.

 

We totally agree, save the very few Princess excursions we have done (and that's over 10 years ago) were fine.

[Dulcibella]

We were on the same Golden Princess cruise and I think my views align with the original post. Lots of good things but the food was a disappointment compared to our one and only previous cruise on Sea Princess a few years ago. I appreciate it is difficult to feed so many people but ... I too was very unimpressed with the Curtis Stone pork belly.

 

We ate at the Crab Shack and I did not like the hush puppies, the prawns were ok when the batter was removed, the bisque or was it chowder (the soup) was not good, I had a much better seafood soup in the cafe of Te Papa (museum at Wellington), and the crab was luke warm.

 

On the other hand we had excellent food at the Crown Grill.

[Aus Traveller]

Although Princes has it's warts, and Celebrity and Royal Caribbean have excellent food, IMHO there is a distinct difference in the philosophy of the pair. RCI cruises tend to be about the ship while Princess endeavors to showing guests the world. On RCI port lectures are about where the Diamond International store is while on Princess it's more of a learning experience. Princess is about the itinerary, the excursions and the length of time in port. Do you want to travel and see the world or do you want to simply take your luxurious accomodations to different places.

On Princess the Port Lecturer is an Enrichment Lecturer who is on a contract for a few months. They are there to help you do your your own thing and are totally separate from the Shore Excursions Office. Over the last few years "Shopping Hosts" have been introduced. The first time we saw one was 15 years ago in the Caribbean. They talk about where to shop in port and also might highlight things for sale on board. When passengers buy from the recommended shops in the ports, a percentage of the purchase price goes to the cruiseline and another percentage goes personally to the shopping host. The shops involved in the scheme, pay to be in it. When we have shopped in the Caribbean we go to shops not in the scheme where the prices are around 20% lower. On one cruise, one of the photographers was telling us he wanted to work for the company who runs the shopping host scheme because the hosts make really serious money. They might in the Caribbean, but I can't see it happening with the Aus/NZ ports.

 

The person on Celebrity who was mentioned might have been a Shopping Host, not a port lecturer. The presentation could have been promoted as a port lecture, or as a port shopping lecture.:)

[Kiwi Kruzer]

On Princess the Port Lecturer is an Enrichment Lecturer who is on a contract for a few months. They are there to help you do your your own thing and are totally separate from the Shore Excursions Office. Over the last few years "Shopping Hosts" have been introduced. The first time we saw one was 15 years ago in the Caribbean. They talk about where to shop in port and also might highlight things for sale on board. When passengers buy from the recommended shops in the ports, a percentage of the purchase price goes to the cruiseline and another percentage goes personally to the shopping host. The shops involved in the scheme, pay to be in it. When we have shopped in the Caribbean we go to shops not in the scheme where the prices are around 20% lower. On one cruise, one of the photographers was telling us he wanted to work for the company who runs the shopping host scheme because the hosts make really serious money. They might in the Caribbean, but I can't see it happening with the Aus/NZ ports.

 

The person on Celebrity who was mentioned might have been a Shopping Host, not a port lecturer. The presentation could have been promoted as a port lecture, or as a port shopping lecture.:)

 

 

It might not with Au/NZ passengers, but the Americans flock to the local jewelers who pay to have space on board and set up stalls to sell Opals, Paua Shell , Greenstone , etc.

[hawkers]

On the other hand we had excellent food at the Crown Grill.

 

 

We board on Friday & look forward to also trying the Crown Grill! What was the cover charge per person. I note on the website it's US$25 but what's the charge when on board charges are in Aus$?

Thanks Gail

[Dulcibella]

On the other hand we had excellent food at the Crown Grill.

 

 

We board on Friday & look forward to also trying the Crown Grill! What was the cover charge per person. I note on the website it's US$25 but what's the charge when on board charges are in Aus$?

Thanks Gail

 

 

The cover charge was $Au25. We had vouchers from our travel agent :) so it was free.

 

We booked on the first day for the first night and has no trouble getting a table. Later on in the cruise though it was booked out. At the very least make your reservation early.

[Dulcibella]

On Princess the Port Lecturer is an Enrichment Lecturer who is on a contract for a few months. They are there to help you do your your own thing and are totally separate from the Shore Excursions Office. Over the last few years "Shopping Hosts" have been introduced. The first time we saw one was 15 years ago in the Caribbean. They talk about where to shop in port and also might highlight things for sale on board. When passengers buy from the recommended shops in the ports, a percentage of the purchase price goes to the cruiseline and another percentage goes personally to the shopping host. The shops involved in the scheme, pay to be in it. When we have shopped in the Caribbean we go to shops not in the scheme where the prices are around 20% lower. On one cruise, one of the photographers was telling us he wanted to work for the company who runs the shopping host scheme because the hosts make really serious money. They might in the Caribbean, but I can't see it happening with the Aus/NZ ports.

 

The person on Celebrity who was mentioned might have been a Shopping Host, not a port lecturer. The presentation could have been promoted as a port lecture, or as a port shopping lecture.:)

 

 

The port lecturer on Golden princess over Christmas was excellent. He was definitely telling you what to see in port independent of the tours. He showed maps, talked about the distances and time involved to see different things. Even for places I had been several times before he had interesting, new and worthwhile things to say.

There was also a shopping guide with some Princess guarantee. The shops were listed in the port guide with a map. There may have been an associated talk but it wasn't something that interested me. There were a couple of shops per port.

[hawkers]

Thank you! We will book as soon as we can. Definitely want to try it.

[NSWP]

We were on the same Golden Princess cruise and I think my views align with the original post. Lots of good things but the food was a disappointment compared to our one and only previous cruise on Sea Princess a few years ago. I appreciate it is difficult to feed so many people but ... I too was very unimpressed with the Curtis Stone pork belly.

 

We ate at the Crab Shack and I did not like the hush puppies, the prawns were ok when the batter was removed, the bisque or was it chowder (the soup) was not good, I had a much better seafood soup in the cafe of Te Papa (museum at Wellington), and the crab was luke warm.

 

On the other hand we had excellent food at the Crown Grill.

Ye gods, Hush Puppies? I wear them on my feet, are they edible?

[Dulcibella]

Ye gods, Hush Puppies? I wear them on my feet, are they edible?

 

In my view they were not :)

[LC1950]

Ye gods, Hush Puppies? I wear them on my feet, are they edible?

Yes actually. It's an American term for a very savoury mince but not on toast. On a bread roll with lettuce I believe. I have a delicious recipe for the savoury mince (lots of chilli and other spices) and have made it often (LOL goes brilliantly in a jaffle for an easy Sunday night's "tea"). I'd share it with you except I can't find my "tried and true" recipe folder - we've recently moved house and said folder is packed in a box somewhere in the garage still. :mad:

 

Only done 3 Princess cruises (and 4th is upcoming, in April this year). Have found the food varied on all 3 cruises (one on the Sun, 2 on the Dawn). Great or fair-to-middlin'. It definitely depends on the head chef on board for your cruise IMO. If he (or she) is a great chef, the food will be very good to almost excellent .... or vice versa. :rolleyes:

 

My next Princess cruise will include *cough* "Chef" Curtis Stone's input. Certainly NOT looking forward to that. As the face of the Coles stupidmarket chain ... will he be feeding the MDR on $10 a meal as he used to do on their TV ads a few years back? LOL I remember all the home cooks who actually have to feed their family each day phoo-hoooing those $10 a meal "recipes". :rolleyes: But the Americans seem to love "Chef" Curtis Stone, don't they?

 

Anyway, I'm going for the itinerary and as long as there's plenty of fruit and vegies on board, I certainly won't starve (or get scurvy either ;)).

[NSWP]

Yes actually. It's an American term for a very savoury mince but not on toast. On a bread roll with lettuce I believe. I have a delicious recipe for the savoury mince (lots of chilli and other spices) and have made it often (LOL goes brilliantly in a jaffle for an easy Sunday night's "tea"). I'd share it with you except I can't find my "tried and true" recipe folder - we've recently moved house and said folder is packed in a box somewhere in the garage still. :mad:

 

Only done 3 Princess cruises (and 4th is upcoming, in April this year). Have found the food varied on all 3 cruises (one on the Sun, 2 on the Dawn). Great or fair-to-middlin'. It definitely depends on the head chef on board for your cruise IMO. If he (or she) is a great chef, the food will be very good to almost excellent .... or vice versa. :rolleyes:

 

My next Princess cruise will include *cough* "Chef" Curtis Stone's input. Certainly NOT looking forward to that. As the face of the Coles stupidmarket chain ... will he be feeding the MDR on $10 a meal as he used to do on their TV ads a few years back? LOL I remember all the home cooks who actually have to feed their family each day phoo-hoooing those $10 a meal "recipes". :rolleyes: But the Americans seem to love "Chef" Curtis Stone, don't they?

 

Anyway, I'm going for the itinerary and as long as there's plenty of fruit and vegies on board, I certainly won't starve (or get scurvy either ;)).

Thank you, yes I am partial to a bit of savoury mince on toast, make it now and again, now I know what the edible hush puppies are! As for food standards on the ships, yes the galley teams are only as good as their Executive Chef, if he/she is slack, the finished product will not be there. I too have had great food on Princess and ordinary food. I have found the quality/quantity of food in the Princess ships operating from overseas, i.e. Crown, Ruby, Golden, Coral, Star etc and carrying mostly North Americans is superior to the food served on the Australian Princess ships I have been on, Sun Princess, Dawn Princess. Maybe they have their better catering teams on the American ships and a bigger food budget to keep the North Americans happy.

 

 

 

Worst food I have had on a ship was on Celebrity Solstice to NZ, two years ago, overrated after all the hype re her arrival and luke warm food in buffet and MDR.

Edited January 31, 2016 by NSWP

[GUT2407]

Yes actually. It's an American term for a very savoury mince but not on toast. On a bread roll with lettuce I believe. I have a delicious recipe for the savoury mince (lots of chilli and other spices) and have made it often (LOL goes brilliantly in a jaffle for an easy Sunday night's "tea"). I'd share it with you except I can't find my "tried and true" recipe folder - we've recently moved house and said folder is packed in a box somewhere in the garage still. :mad:

 

Only done 3 Princess cruises (and 4th is upcoming, in April this year). Have found the food varied on all 3 cruises (one on the Sun, 2 on the Dawn). Great or fair-to-middlin'. It definitely depends on the head chef on board for your cruise IMO. If he (or she) is a great chef, the food will be very good to almost excellent .... or vice versa. :rolleyes:

 

My next Princess cruise will include *cough* "Chef" Curtis Stone's input. Certainly NOT looking forward to that. As the face of the Coles stupidmarket chain ... will he be feeding the MDR on $10 a meal as he used to do on their TV ads a few years back? LOL I remember all the home cooks who actually have to feed their family each day phoo-hoooing those $10 a meal "recipes". :rolleyes: But the Americans seem to love "Chef" Curtis Stone, don't they?

 

Anyway, I'm going for the itinerary and as long as there's plenty of fruit and vegies on board, I certainly won't starve (or get scurvy either ;)).

 

Hate to break it to you, but if you look at any lines financials they spend about $10! Per person per DAY on food.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Yes actually. It's an American term for a very savoury mince but not on toast.

 

Not according to what I've read. The Wikipedia definition is "A hushpuppy (or cornbread ball) is a savory food made from cornmeal batter that is deep fried or baked rolled as a small ball or occasionally other shapes. Hushpuppies are frequently served as a side dish."

 

Jamie Oliver says "Hush puppies are little savoury doughnuts and I think they’re quite cool. I was told their name comes from the time of the Great Depression, when loads of people were going hungry. When they did get a bit of food, their hungry dogs would hang around whining, so they’d throw these little buns to them to keep them quiet. That might be an old wives’ tale, but if it is, I don’t care because I like the story. "

[LC1950]

LOL Gut, at least that $10 is per person and not for a family, 2 members of which might be teenage lads with neverending stomachs. ;)

[GUT2407]

Not according to what I've read. The Wikipedia definition is "A hushpuppy (or cornbread ball) is a savory food made from cornmeal batter that is deep fried or baked rolled as a small ball or occasionally other shapes. Hushpuppies are frequently served as a side dish."

 

Jamie Oliver says "Hush puppies are little savoury doughnuts and I think they’re quite cool. I was told their name comes from the time of the Great Depression, when loads of people were going hungry. When they did get a bit of food, their hungry dogs would hang around whining, so they’d throw these little buns to them to keep them quiet. That might be an old wives’ tale, but if it is, I don’t care because I like the story. "

 

So that version is a bit like Yorkshire Pud, fill you up on the "bread" type thing to make the more expensive food go further.

[GUT2407]

I thought the mince n a roll was a "PO Boy".