Short review-Golden 1/21-1/28

[NHcruisers]

Our review may be a bit unusual in that while we have sailed RCCL, HAL, Princess, and Celebrity in the past (20+ cruises), in 2000 we moved "up" to Crystal and Radisson and for the most part, haven't looked back (we did go on Celebrity's Infinity in 2002). The reason we went on this cruise was that family members had already booked and convinced us to also book. With some trepidation, we booked. As this was a last minute decision, and the ship was almost full, we originally could only book a non-balcony outside cabin. Thankfully, a full suite (C409, San Sebastian suite) opened up and we grabbed it.

 

We went with realistic expectations based on our past mass market/premium cruise experiences.

 

Here are our thoughts:

 

The fact that this was a "full" sailing should be kept in mind. My guess, 3100-3200 passengers.

 

Embarkation in San Juan: In a word, chaotic, at least it was at 1:30 when we got to the pier. W/O going into the details, a simple re-arrangement of the check in line and security lines would have made this a whole less painful and would have kept the pax aggravation levels down quite a bit.

 

The ship (overall): Excellent. Some great lounges, in particular, Wheelhouse and Explorer's, are among the most attractive we've ever been. Princess has done an excellent job of taking a very large ship and creating intimate spaces which hides very well the overall size of the ship and the number of passengers. Having said this, you are still onboard with 3000+ passengers which is not exactly our preference.

 

Cabin: The full suites are extremely well laid out and the balcony quite large (2 loungers, small table with four chairs, and plenty of room. Furniture is teak.) Great bathroom and great suite overall, one of the best we've had any ship.

 

Food quality in DR: Slightly better than expected. A tad short of Celebrity's, just our opinion. Of course, not a match for the lux lines.

 

Sabatini's: Pretty good, particularly the lobster entree. Way too much food. The appetizers/antipastas were too numerous. IMHO, Sabatini's should reduce the number of these "tastings" and only offer those that are stellar and eliminate the ones that are only so-so. In conclusion, a good experience but one that should be experienced once during a cruise.

 

Desert Rose: Excellent service from Aleena, one of the best wait service persons we've had on any cruise. We ordered the Porterhouse, and two orders were inedible. The filet side was fine, but the strip side was sinewy, tough. We sent them back for filets which were fine.

 

Buffets: Actually the quality was pretty good. However, there is poor layout to the buffet which makes it pretty chaotic.

 

Cabin attendant: You'll do no better than to get Rudolpho as your cabin attendent. We usually have butlers on other lines, Rudolpho was great.

 

Room service; S*cks big time.

 

Purser's desk: Impolite, rude and completely clueless.

 

Ship excursions: None taken

 

Personal choice dining: A major disappointment. We could not make reservations between 6:30 to 8:30, despite staying on a suite. W/O reservations, wait times were typically quoted as 25 to 45 minutes. This is not "anytime dining" and seriously detracted from our cruise experience. Please keep in mjind this was a full ship.

 

Entertainment: Quite good. The group, Jam, who played in the Explorer's Lounge was quite good, actually very, very good. First revue show was quite good, although the second show had a new troupe and it showed. Magician was very good. Overall, very good.

 

Announcements: TOO MANY! Celebrity does a much better job here.

 

Casino: This is one of the roomiest and largest casinos afloat. 16 different tables, one craps, two roulette, maybe 300 or more slot machines. Very well done. And I got comped drinks most of the time!

 

Cruise Director: I don't look to the CD to make my cruise. Omar was fine, meaning ok, neither subtracting or adding to our experience.

 

Overall service: A little lacking in comparison to Celebrity, and far lacking in comparison to lux lines.

 

Visibility of Crew/officers: We got the distinct impression that the officers had no interest in interacting with the pax.

 

Special wine tasting: There are two wine tastings available, we signed up for the higher end one. We left after 15 minutes in disgust. To Princess' credit, they did not charge us.

 

Wine list: Needs serious improvement. A noticeable lack of high end wines, particularly whites. The reds are nothing to write home about either.

 

Overall: Princess is not Crystal or RSSC. We rated the overall cruise experience as "FAIR" and "MET OUR EXPECTATIONS"

 

Conclusion (for us): This cruise cost us about $4700 for a suite on a seven day including insurance. We would prefer spending a little bit more (little bit is our view) to cruise on Radisson. If spending the same amount of money and staying generally in the mass market/premium segment, we would probably prefer Celebrity although we can understand how others might vote differently. But for those that keep booking higher and higher categories on Princess or Celebrity to maximize their cruise experience, you may be better off investigating Radisson or another lux line. The Princess suite amenities are nice, but when the door closes when you leave your suite, the "common" experience is what you would expect from a mass market cruise line.

 

A final comment: Seas were 7.5-12 feet and stated as being "rough". For a 110,000 ton displacement ship, this ship REALLY moved! I've never had a problem on any ship in terms of motion sickness, and did not have one here, but I was VERY surprised at how much this ship "moved" in what I would call moderate seas. This is probably due to the large "sail area", i.e., the profile of this ship offers in windy conditions.

 

Aren't you glad this wasn't a long review?

 

Any questions, please ask.

 

Best regards,

Bill (and Nancy)

[madelinerose]

Bill....Thanks, I thoroughly enjoyed your review. I prefer short and precise comparisions, so yours' was right up my alley.

 

I do have a question about the wine tasting. You said you "left in disgust". Was your reason for leaving due to the wine choices or was there another issue?

 

Thanks again.

[NHcruisers]

M...-

 

We left in disgust because the presenter had poor English speaking ability, but worse, was a VERY poor presenter/speaker and not very knowlegeable in our (informed) opinion. Frankly, we knew more about the subject than he did, which was fine. But his overly repetitive discourse on the first wine (champagne) to be tested lasted over 20 minutes (with five or more tastings to follow!) left us saying "what are we doing here?"

 

Best regards,

Bill

[Casshew]

 

Aren't you glad this wasn't a long review?

 

 

:p Funny!

 

I enjoyed your review, I understand it is written from the perspective of those who prefer the more intimate luxury lines.

 

You were very positive & fair in areas that deserved it, I appreciate that.

 

My only question is how did your family enjoy the cruise/cabins/food in that they are not lux travellers?

[cwtravel]

Thanks for the review.

The Wife and I, along with my parents, are looking at a Europe cruise on the Golden in July. If you have ever been on a European cruise, how do you think Personal Chioce Dining will work vs a Caribbean cruise?

 

Thanks. I know it is a vague question but the choices are between Celebrity, on the Century (a ship the whole family loves) or the Golden (my preferance). My parents are "Traditional" cruisers while THe Wife & I (both in our early 40's) like a more casual cruise experience.

 

Thanks,

Chris

[CarolC]

Bill,

Thank you for this objective review. My husband and I have been cruising Crystal and for reasons similar to yours, have booked a British Isles cruise in

August on the Princess Golden. My husband is partcularly apprehensive abut the size of the ship. We were fortunate enough to secure the Grand Suite. Thanks to the info on this board we hope our expectations are realistic. Your observations were very helpful.

We are looking forward to being with our friends so where we go and how we get there is less important than it is when we are alone.

[rho88]

I was on the same cruise and I agree with your review almost 100%. The difference is that I was also on anytime dinning and never had any problems, but we were only a group of 4. We were seated quickly most of the time or only had to wait 10 min max.

 

And I agree that room service was bad. It took them 1.5 hours and 2 calls to deliver 2 glasses of orange juice at midnight?!? I'm sure they weren't that busy at that time of the day...

 

My general impression is that the crew didn't care much about the passengers. Purser's desk was useless. Other than the usual "hello", I never really had any real conversation with any members of the crew. It wasn't like that on my last cruise on NCL. The crew was nice and friendly, but seemed more interested with their work... I had to go see them for questions, they never came to me to see if I needed any help. Only exception is maybe on the Horizon court where the crew seemed more friendly and we actually shared a few good laughs.

 

here is a link to my pictures: http://community.webshots.com/user/rogerho88

[Logie]

Bill,

Thank you for this objective review. My husband and I have been cruising Crystal and for reasons similar to yours, have booked a British Isles cruise in

August on the Princess Golden. My husband is partcularly apprehensive abut the size of the ship. We were fortunate enough to secure the Grand Suite. Thanks to the info on this board we hope our expectations are realistic. Your observations were very helpful.

We are looking forward to being with our friends so where we go and how we get there is less important than it is when we are alone.

 

I have been on the British Isles on the Golden and it was most enjoyable. I think your disapointments may come from the dining. I like PC dining myself, but I know how to work the system. I suggest if you can afford to or are willing to that on the first night to seek out the head waiter and slip him a $20 and maybe here and there throughout the cruise it will enhance the promptness and service and get you a table each night as you prefer. I am not suggesting that you will not get good service without the tip, but let's be honest $$ talks. I also like to share champagne and wine with the waiters occasionally and they just love it.

 

Also make your reservations for Sterlings and Sabatini's the first day as they fill up. Also in PC dining ask the waiter for his choice each night, they know what is good that night or specialities. I have never been steared wrong by this.

 

Also Princess has an ulitimate balcony dining available, which is very limited-book immediately. It is $50 per person, and it is an intimate white table cloth multi course dinner on your balcony, personal service with a great meal and drinks. If you want a night alone this is a excellent choice and experience.

 

The Wheelhouse Bar is so nice and going to Skywalkers is a must. The view from the back of the ship suspended over the water is beautiful.

 

To the OP this was a great review and very fair of you to be so optimistic and flexible on Princess after sailing the other premium lines!! :)