We came,we saw, we cruised on Golden. Thank you A&NZ CC community for your help!

[RobinBancs]

We did it!  We survived cruise #1 with our kids (6 & 3) on Golden Princess to Tasmania just before Christmas.  Actually, survived is an understatement.  We really enjoyed it and wished it lasted more than 5 days!  Thank you to everyone in the CC community for your help, not only in answering my questions but in answering others in other threads that I read frequently in the months leading up.

 

I want to do a proper review and may get the time now that Christmas and New Year have passed.  Key things that came out for us were.

 

The good

- Embarkation was actually straight forward.  We were in the last allocated group and it was relatively straight forward.  The only queue was at the checkin, but after that we were on the boat before we knew it.

- Mocktails on the soft drinks and more package were great!

- Cruising is THE way to travel with a family member with fibromyalgia.  It works for us

- The staff were fantastic!  Our room steward, wait staff and youth centre workers were amazing.

- Kids club was successful because the kids wanted to go there.  Our kids were difficult to drop off at childcare back home, but call it kids club (and have a Wii) and they were so keen to be there that the threat of not being able to go cams in quite handy.

 

We learned

- 5 days is just not enough.  I found that by the last sea day back I was right into it, but in the back of my mind was that later that afternoon we’d be lacking our bags.  10-15 nights would be perfect for our next one, if our budget can stretch that far.

- The elevator repair team may have one of the busiest jobs on the boat.

- Flying from Adelaide to Melbourne for a group of 4 adds a huge amount of cost to the trip.  We used FF pts for the flights, but by the time we covered meals, accommodation and entertainment for the kids, it added an extra $800 to our expenses plus flights.  We really need to do an Adelaide departure next time, even if we fly back from somewhere else.

 

The not so good

- Travelling with small kids is hard.  You’re constantly on alert for their noise levels everywhere you go, but especially the Hotel room and stateroom.  It wasn’t good for my blood pressure!

- Why would the smoking area on Golden by right outside the kids club?  We walked out the door by Tradewinds and were smacked in the face by smoke.

- I have a low tolerance for people who suffer entitlement syndrome.  I get that the cruising concept encourages that, but the attitude of some guests was really poor at times.  The funniest example was in the line for a tender back to the boat at Port Arthur.  A person who would have been 30th in line (tender capacity of 100) was outraged at the thought that they’re priority embarkation didn’t apply to the tender and they had to “stand in the queue” like everyone else.

[Womble99]

Great to hear that you loved the experience Robin and we feel your pain about the lack of Adelaide departures, however we are departing on Monday for 18 days to sail around NZ on the Golden out of Adelaide!

 

If the cruising bug has caught on there is another Adelaide NZ cruise scheduled for 8 Jan 2020 that may be of interest? Just a little over your 15 night but no flights at all and still within the school holidays.

 

Another option could be the Southern Explorer Perth to Adelaide on the Sun 9 days (interesting itinerary, not quite what I expected) so just the single flight to start the cruise.

 

Our kids have loved cruising as well and seem to be rarely seen outside of the kids club during the day.

[RobinBancs]

Yeah.  The Adelaide to NZ 2020 is on our shortlist, but hoping that it might run in 2021 or 2022 so it times better.  Way too much time has been spent in our house on the Princess Cruise listings filtered to Adelaide 🙂. I like the idea of racking up some loyalty levels with short kid free trips like Adelaide to Melbourne and flying back. 

[GUT2407]

Thanks for the feedback.

 

yep

 

5 days is way too short.

 

cruising is grea5 for anyone with severe pain, (Fibro or otherwise)

 

travelling with littlies adds stress

 

dumb spot to have smoking area

 

 

[Womble99]

1 hour ago, GUT2407 said:

dumb spot to have smoking area

Any place on the ship is a dumb spot really but if they have to have a spot I would vote for the front 5 feet of the Promenade deck at the bow. See how dedicated they really are......

[Sonja01]

Totally agree about the smoking area. Seemed ridiculous to me, DH got sick of hearing me whinge every time we went through that door!

also agree about the added cost of cruising when you live in SA, especially when taking kids as everything is then double the price of course! We’re always on the lookout for Adelaide departures that are interesting and suit our schedules too. I’ve been eying off a couple of CMV cruises 2019-2020 school holidays but they really don’t seem that kid friendly. 

[Womble99]

4 hours ago, Sonja01 said:

Totally agree about the smoking area. Seemed ridiculous to me, DH got sick of hearing me whinge every time we went through that door!

We have always avoided that smokers section by using the door on the other side at the spa reception. For the life of me i can't work out why they chose the port side for the smokers section and left the starboard side non smoking when the kids club is on the port side?

[Miss416]

We cruised on the Golden at the end of November and actually got free flights ADL/MEL return through EZair. Definitely something to keep an eye on, saved us over $500.

[possum52]

So glad to hear you and your family enjoyed your first ever cruise. I understand what you mean about added costs of having to cruise from interstate. Coming from Melbourne, we have been very pleased to be able to cruise from Station Pier on the Golden. 

Never understand why a smoking area is situated near the kids' club. Really utter stupidity. 

Hopefully your family's next cruise is not too far away!

 

Leigh