Golden Princess

[alopez2000us]

My family and I will be sailing on the Golden Princess on 6/13/04, to the Southern Caribbean (Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten, St. Thomas). We sailed on the Grand Princess last year, so we feel we are relatively prepared fot the ship itself, but we still have a few ship and itinerary questions:

 

1) Which nights are the formal nights?

 

2) Which night is the Tropical Island night?

 

3) What do you suggest to do at the ports (family of 4 with two teens, ages 14 and 18)? On our own (beaches)?

 

4) Do they allow one to present birth certificates in order to enter the disco? (One of my son's has no drivers license, and will be traveling using his birth certificate).

 

THANKS In ADVANCE!!

 

6/13/2004 Golden Princess

 

 

Golden Princess 6/2004

Grand Princess 7/2003

Paradise 7/2002

Paradise 7/2000

Imagination 10/1999

Ecstasy 10/1998

Carnival Destiny 6/1997

[PeabodyNVL]

Does you son have a photo ID? More and more place are requiring photo IDs. Most jurisdictions have such an ID available through Motor Vehicles, for the purpose of identification.

 

Pea

 

5/9 Golden Princess  

[bob&karen]

When we were on the Golden a few weeks ago, they were requiring picture i.d.s for anyone on the younger-looking side - no exceptions. To be on the safe side I would advise getting a school picture i.d., DMV non-driver's identification, anything, if he wants to be sure to get into the disco at night.

 

B.

 

"These moments we’re left with - may you always remember

These moments are shared, by few

And those harbor lights, lord they’re coming into view

We’ll bid our farewells much too soon

So drink it up, this one’s for you -

Honey, it’s been a lovely cruise."

-- James W. Buffett

 

Carnival Triumph, April '02

Carnival Sensation, January '04

Golden Princess, April '04

 

Carnival Sensation, Golden Princess / Caribbean Princess pix at: Cool Cruisin' Pix

 

e-mail: bobandkarenny@yahoo.com

[pg.]

When your sons board the ship you must show their birth certificates or a passport.This is required, then they ( like you) will be issued a "cruise card" if your son is of age no problem, if your sone is underage the card is marked as such as they will not be allowed in the disco after a certain time nor will they be able to charge drinks( alcohol). So as long as you have their birth certificate it should be ok.

I,m not sure when your formal night will be becasue although we were just on the Golden, we were on a different route(eastern) . They usaully are on "sea days " though( so you have lots of time to get ready!

On St Marten we went to Orient beach, it does have a "nude " end but it is quite a way down the beach and we only saw one person topless( and it was a grandmotherly type not a sexy hot thing) so unless you are very concerned about the chance they might see something I wouldn't worry about it, the beach is fabulous!!!

On St Thomas we went ot Magens Bay. Boring. Go to Coki beach or take the ferry to St Johns, some of the best snorkling in the caribbean, check out the Destinations board for more on St Johns.

We have not donethe other ports but I'm sure if you reseach on these boards you will get lots of good suggestions!

[mringenoldus]

I did this route with a number of young people last October.

 

On Antigua, I highly, HIGHLY recommend Eli's Eco adventure. Everyone fron 7-52 years old thought it was the highlight of the trip. It must be booked in advance at their web site. They only take 10 or so people per day.

 

On St. Lucia, we went to Sandals Grande. It says "couples only" but the reality is if you pay the $40 day pass fee at the pier, they will allow singles. My sons both looked 18 so no one questioned them at all. All food,drink, and watersports is included. We all had lots of fun. My husband took a sailboat out for hours and had a great time. The tube towing was also a big hit. The place is actually as pretty as it looks on the web site.

On Barbados, the cigar factory and Mt. Gay rum factory tours were really interesting. There is also a cave tour.

I also loved St. John. The ferry ride from either Red Hook or Charlotte Amalie is very inexpensive.

We don't take ship tours so all these were arranged independently.

 

CCL Holiday 2000

CCL Elation 2001

CCL Pride 2002

CCL Ecstacy 2003

RCL AOS 2003

Sun Princess May 14 2004!!

Golden Princess 10-2004!!!

[brucejr]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>

3) What do you suggest to do at the ports (family of 4 with two teens, ages 14 and 18)? On our own (beaches)?

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

I'll have a go at answering question 3. For St. Thomas, I suggest you take you teens to Coki Beach and do a discover scuba with Coki Beach Dive Club. It is a great experience and the people there are very nice. If you go to Coki first thing, you can be done by lunch time when more people start to show up. Go next door to Coral World and catch a taxi back to the ship for a quick shower and lunch. Then you will still have time to browse the shops at the dock or other stuff.

 

For me, diving on St. Maarten was a big disappointment, so I'd take a taxi over to the French side and visit Orient Beach. DW and the kids did that last time and had a blast. Orient beach is really big, so you can stay away from the clothing optional end, if you wish. Otherwise, take strong sunscreen for those areas unused to the sun

 

I haven't been to Barbados, St. Lucia, or Antigua, but I'd want to dive at each of these, (Your Milage May Vary).

 

Finally, have a great cruise

 

<font color="FF6600">

if there's a way to construe my post as non-argumentative, please do so.</font>

Cruise photos on my Home page <font color="990066">

Spring Break was on the Grand Princess </font>21, March 2004

So when is the next cruise?

[CruiseFever]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> What do you suggest to do at the ports (family of 4 with two teens, ages 14 and 18)? On our own (beaches)?

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

In Barbados your teens will love the Boatyard Beach Club. Just ask any cab driver you happen upon, they'll know right where to go. Check their website at www.theboatyard.com for more.

 

When first we visited Barbados in March of 2003, we went on a tour of the island and one of the highlights was the Atlantic side of the island with it’s huge waves and people surfing.

 

Our plan was to return there on our holiday cruise last December and spend the day at a beach. Plans change though and we ended up at The Boat Yard.

 

I think planning is really important if for no other reason than to kill time while waiting for a cruise. But when all the planning and research are done and we are on the ship I like to allow time for spontaneity. Our call in Barbados was one of those days when we selected the Boat Yard to invest our time.

 

Some of the gang that our girls had become friends with had said they wanted to go so when the place came up on the short list of close-by beaches we decided to go.

 

The Boat Yard reminds me a lot of Playa Sol in Cozumel for a number of reasons

 

<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>There’s an admission charge- $12.00 per person BUT you get 12 one dollar “chips†to spend as cash there

<LI>There is no enforced “drinking ageâ€- thus the popularity with the underage drinking crowd- persecuted on the shop but legal here

<LI>There were a ton of people

<LI>Many of those people were doing just what the ship said not to do: Parasailing, Waverunners, Devil Worshiping

<LI>It was hot- real hot- average year round temp in Barbados is 80+ degrees

I thought it was a pretty fair deal and after your chips were gone regular drink prices were standard other-than-on-a-cruise-ship prices ($2 for a beer)

 

It was fun but I don’t think I’d like to do it again, we just like quiet, secluded beaches so much. But if it’s a party hardy atmosphere you want, this is the place.

 

There is a LOT of drinking going on, so much that the normally drunken standard-setting Jolly Roger Booze Boat passengers looked stone cold sober in comparison.

 

If you’ve done one of the party boats you can shut your mouth which is probably gaping open in disbelief now.

 

We got there at about 1:00 P.M. and left about 3:30, it was just too crowded for us.

 

It was so crowded that when sitting on the shore looking out at the ocean it was difficult to see it because of all the people.

 

I thought about renting a Jet-ski from one of the black market Jet Ski rental hucksters then going out past them and yelling “Shark!†just for fun but didn’t.

 

But it was fun and cab fare was just $3 per person from the dock.

 

St Maarten can be a lot of fun but the trick is to plan your time wisely. Orient Beach, the Butterfly Farm, and our favorite beach Bae Rouge, is on the other side of the island from where you dock. We made the trek the first three times we went there and felt it worth it as Bae Rouge is, to me, one of the best, most secluded beaches that still has full services in all the islands. Baie Rouge is located on the French side of the island so it’s a bit of drive, but you get to see a whole lot of the island on the way there and back. In fact, on our first trip we hired a cab driver to give us a tour of the island and he went on about the same route we went to for our beach.

 

I say “our beach†because cruise passengers sparsely use it. In fact, we are frequenly the only ones. I think most beach lovers go to the Orient Beach area for their sun and fun.

 

We like this beach because it is just beautiful and not too busy but still offers the amenities a larger beach would have. Chairs and umbrellas are available for rent ($5 each) and full bar service is available. About 10 A.M. they fire up a grill and start cooking too. We’ve yet to eat there but it sure does smell good and lots of people were.

 

To get there we hired a cab at the pier just like everybody else ($7 per person each way) and arranged a time to be picked up later by the same driver. We’ve done this before and had no problem with them showing up; they’re usually early. But you do have a little apprehension until you see that they’ve returned about getting back to the ship on time.

 

I didn’t worry about it much this time though. The thought occurred to me “So what if we’re sitting here on the beach and we see our ship sail off into the distance? There are worse places to be stranded, like back home.â€

 

On our last call in St Maarten we stayed closeby, taking the water taxi ($5) over to do some shopping then spent the day at Everything Cool. It's a beach you can see from the ship which I had previously shyed away from figuring it couldn't be all that great so close to the action. Wrong; it was very nice.

 

We did a ships excursion for Everything Cool but could have easily done it by ourselves. The ships price did include lunch (good), discounts on tshirts, use of a chair, umbrella and beach board thingy as well as two drinks. We plan on returning when we call there again in June. What I really like about St Maarten is spending the later part of the afternoom, right up till time to reboard the ship, on the dock at Sharkeys or one of the other bars, chatting with the other passengers as they return from their day. It's lots of fun to hear of the widely varied stories of what people did there during the day.

 

St Thomas always meant Sapphire Beach to me and I still think it's one of the prettiest beaches around. On our last call there we did the day trip to St John which was fun, stopping at Trunk Bay early in the day for some really nice beach time. This is one that you can buy as an excursion but do on your own just as easy. The price is about the same either way.

 

You'll be going through Immigration before getting off the ship but Princess makes it really easy by assigning each area of the ship certain times to go and it's done in the Vista lounge. Pretty painless.

 

Once off the ship we found a cab driver from friend-recommended East End Taxi Association which is based at the Red Hook Dock (340-775-6975) and told them we wanted to go to Red Hook where a ferry would take us to St John. We weren’t alone and the driver had no problem filling the cab. The ferry to St John ($5) took about 15 minutes where we got another cab and elected to go to Trunk Bay, a U.S. National Park ($4 admission) another 10 to 15 minutes away. I’d say total time from getting off the ship to the beach in St John probably 45 minutes. A lot has to do with timing though.

 

The ferry runs at certain times and being there at the right time, avoiding a wait is the key to making it a quick trip.

 

At the beach, chairs (kind of yucky) are available for rent ($7- probably more than they cost) as well as snorkel gear. Apparently this is a snorklers heaven because by noon there were no less than 50 people in the water doing it.

 

I can sure see why too

 

Trunk Bay is the most beautiful beach I have yet seen, and I was later told that other beaches on the island are nicer.

 

We spent most of the day there, opting to catch the 2:00 ferry back to St Thomas then a cab back to the ship.

 

Hope this helps

 

Happy Cruising

 

Chris

 

www.LifeIsCruising.com

 

Next up:

Caribbean Princess 06/26/04

Star Princess 10/24/04

Diamond Princess 12/22/04

Carnival Miracle 03/13/05

 

[wspatton]

This is all some very useful information... Thanks!