Golden Princess 10/17/2004 review

[GregandKel]

Just got back from the Golden Princess southern caribean cruise Oct 17-24th 2004.

 

THE GOOD: :D Princess was excellent in service and in assistance with excursions. The staff is out of their head(in a good way) and the princess Idol/Karaoke contest was really funny. The not so newlywed game is a must.

 

The food was top rate and we will be booking again for October of 2005(we got engaged on this cruise and will be honeymooning for our next).

 

If anyone is planning an excursion, i reccommend highly the horse back riding on the beach in St. Lucia!!! Insist on the Belle Cheval stables for your excursion. I have never seen a more beautiful beach and "Grandee" our guide was hilarious. BTW, the stable saves horses from destruction, fattens them up and gets them healthy and then uses them for the light work of getting you to one of the most beautiful beaches ever!!! It really was right out of a movie!!!!

 

The ship was clean and every time I turned around someone was asking me if I needed something. Boarding and docking were smooth and organized.

 

Bravo to the staff and ship officers!

 

The Bad: :( We arent the biggest club couple in the world, but we wanted to go out for the night, have a few drinks, and cut a rug (im 32, shes 28). But after having a Latin Night, I would think at least 1 night in the skywalker club wouldnt have 9 Latin langauge songs in a row twice in one night. I am all for multinational cruisers and the diversity of the passengers, but to dedicate so much time in a club to latin music emptied the place the two nights we went. It was disappointing.

 

I would like to see a bigger room service menu, but we just asked for things that werent there and they made it happen!!

 

Thats is really all the bad we could come up with. Anybody else on that cruise have some thoughts??

 

GregandKel

 

Thats the only bad

[ladysail2]

Greg and Kel, I was on the cruise with you. I agree that the ship was clean, well kept and the staff was very nice.

Congratulations on your engagement!

Perhaps all the latin music happening in the club was because there were apparently over 1000 Purto Ricans on board. That fact was announced during the lifeboat drill. Latin is music is nice, but I agree that a variety is nice too.

Wasn't St. Lucia beautiful, so green and lush. I didn't go horseback riding, but did a tour with 'Vincent'.

Enjoy your honeymoon next year, and all the planning that will lead up to it!

[nu2cruz]

Glad to hear you had a good time & congratulations on the engagement!

 

Could you give us some info on what you did in the other ports? We'll be doing this itinerary in January.

 

Thanks!

[OCruisers]

GregandKel .... Thanks for telling us about your cruise! What other shore excursions did you do?

 

Congradulations on your engagement!! On which ship will you all be sailing in October for the honeymoon?

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[GregandKel]

Thanks for all of the congratulations!!. This board is great!

 

In Barbados (first Port) we did a sea Kayak and Snorkel with the turtles.:D Ive been to places that give you the disclaimer and all about no guarantees that youll see anything. But we took so many pics with our underwater camera and pet the turtles so many times it was great!!!! We have pics of each of us underwater and petting the turtles!

No pens or anything, just your boat load of snorkelers in the water and turtles all around you!!! Barbados beaches near the kayaking and snorkeling were beautiful, but after snorkeleing we had a taxi driver take us to some local beaches that were close, and they were terrible. The Frommers book is in need of a serious update. If you havent been there, Barbados seemed to be the most "third-world" to us. The Taxi driver left us, :mad: so we were a little bitter, but over all, I wouldnt miss Barbados if we didnt go again.

 

Rhino Rider in St Martin (its like a Jet Ski but faster and wont turn over on you). We got a brief instructional (the things are idiot proof) and then our guide Killian took us out on the water. The water was choppy that day which made for some unexpected jumps over the waves. Our butts took a beating but we didnt stop laughing and yelling the whole day (Yeeehaw!!!!) Then we snorkeled on a secluded beacj with a small reef.

St Martin is the most beautiful place and we took a taxi ride to Orient Beach on the French side. Great beach there, cool Kontiki bar area, and there is a cafe with great shrimp Scampi that is decorated with New York and New jersey street signs and police patches all over it run by some new Yorkers (We're from Jersey so it was cool to see) Lots of places to eatn lots to see ad alot of fun. :eek: Theres a nude beach there, and we stopped in. Wasnt really a big deal, but overall, I would higly reccomend Orient Beach.

 

We did the St Lucia Horse Back Riding as I mentioned. Cannot say enough good things about that! and then we haggled in the shopping area for our collections (Kel collected a real gold charm and a shot glass at each place, and I bought a wooden mask for my wall from each place)

 

St Thomas- That was Kels birthday so we shopped all morning and dropped outr stuff off at the ship. Then we paid a taxi driver (Our driver Titus was awesome, I have his Cell # if you need him) about $40.00 and he took us all over St Thomas. Then we shopped some more and he waited for us and took us back to the ship. It was foggy and overcast while we were there so we will go back again, call titus, and shop some more!

 

I am thinking about a Mexican Riviera cruise for the HoneyMoon. I have always wanted to see Cabo San Lucas. Anyone got info or a review???

[calikak]

Congrats, GregandKel! My DH and I got engaged on our first cruise, on the Regal in 2001, and so did our two friends who were travelling with us. The two guys had planned to both propose on the same night, sort of as moral support for each other, I guess. If I'd found the ring, my DH was going to say that he was holding it for the other guy, and vice versa. Our friends also did their honeymoon on a cruise, on the Tahitian Princess, and they had an incredible time.

[pandabebe]

GregandKel – I was on the Golden 10/17/04 as well and went with 10 of my very close friends. Here is my review of the cruise:

 

 

 

The Good: :D

 

 

· I love the ship itself. It’s very clean and well-kept.

 

· The 4 fresh water pools are open 24/7 and it is very easy to find a quiet corner to relax and sun tan.

 

· I love the variety of food that they offer in the Horizon Court. I love the Horizon Court’s breakfast menu – fresh fruit, amazing French toast and tons of smoked salmon

 

· The cabins felt slightly larger on the Golden – there’s definitely more closet space on the Golden than there is on her sister ship the Grand.

 

 

 

The Bad: :mad:

(I have a lot of complaints about my most recent cruise but I still love the cruise line and would sail with Princess again)

 

 

 

· Dining room service was inconsistent. We had a few “free bottle of wine” vouchers and every waiter had a different set of rules as to how you could use the voucher.

 

· Food and service at Sabatinis was terrible. The waitress was literally throwing food on our plates. She was so rushed that she bumped into us several times. And I didn’t enjoy the food – the only good thing was the pasta, pizza and dessert. In my opinion, save your $20 and eat in the main dinning rooms – the specialty restaurants on other cruise line are much better!

 

· Terrible service at the Purser’s Desk. This is my one major complaint about the cruise and I am planning on contacting Princess in regards to this:

 

 

Incident #1 – while rushing out of my cabin to meet my tour group I noticed that my toilet did not flush. I couldn’t find my cabin steward in the hallway so I went down to the Purser’s Desk and asked the officer to find my steward and inform him of the problem. I couldn’t remember my cabin steward’s full name but told the officer I was staying in cabin A631. The officer told me that he could not help me – his response: “Do you know how many cabin stewards we have on this ship? I can’t help you if you only know his first name.” I was quite surprised w/ the officer’s response – I thought the cruise line would have a record of who was assigned to each cabin. Anyway, as I walked down the stairs I saw a Tour Desk operator and asked if she could help me. Within seconds she was able to pull up all my information on the computer and informed my cabin steward of the problem. She even told me that the Purser’s Desk should be able to handle these types of problems w/ ease and that she was surprised that the office did not help me.

 

 

Incident #2 – I filed a complaint w/ the Purser’s Desk because my bf and I had paid for a transfer from the airport to pier but the Princess Representative responsible for meeting us at the airport left without us. Background info: we had met up with the Princess Rep, given her our transfer tickets and then discovered that we were missing a suitcase. She told us to file a report with the airline company and then come back down to the baggage claim to meet her. When we returned to the baggage claim we were told by the airline staff and other cruise reps that our Rep had left long time ago. Anyway, we took a taxi to the pier and I filed a report with the Purser’s Desk because I felt it was unfair that I had paid for the taxi ride when I had already paid for a transfer. The officer took a report of my incident (including a lost luggage report and a request for a tux for my bf) and then told me she would call me the next day for an update. However, I never heard from the officer re: my taxi refund and we found out at 5:30 on formal night that she never processed our rental tux request. When I went to the Purser’s Desk to ask her about the rental tux and my taxi refund she looked at me and told me “It’s not my responsibility”. Thank god there was another Officer who immediately took over my case. Within 10 minutes he was able to rectify the situation, refund my money and arrange the rental tux.

 

 

Nonetheless I had a good time. I would still cruise with Princess but I hope the quality of service would improve by that time.

[10s Team]

Thanks for the review, GregandKel - and congrats! Very romantic and exciting.

 

We are thinking of taking back-to-back cruises on the Grand in December 2005. We are currently Celebrity cruisers, but have heard good things about Princess (and we love the itineraries.) Has anyone cruised Celebrity AND Princess (specifically, the Grand) and do you have any comparisons? Since we are considering back-to-back, we want to make sure we'll enjoy Princess. We just got off the Celebrity Summit two weeks ago. This is their large millenium class ship. Excellent ship, service and food. We're not clubbers, so the shows and dancing/music won't be an issue, but having the pools stay open 24/7 on the Grand is a definite plus. We definitely do not like to maintain a schedule while on vacation and don't like to fight the crowds. We're fairly easy to please with service - we don't require a lot of attention, just basic courtesy.

 

Any comments/help would be appreciated. Oh, we are considering a mini-suite, but we didn't know about the "open verandahs." Any comments on the cabins and verandahs?

 

Thanks,

 

Debbie

[LouinMA]

Let me add my congratulations as well !!

 

We were on the AOS that same week and were right next to you in San Juan, St MArtin, St Thomas and again at SJ. We were on the Golden a few years ago and loved the ship. As big as it is, the AOS was bigger, but not as nice.

 

We also had 1000 guests from San Juan and did have lots of Latin music, but the other lounges had lots of musical variety to choose.

 

After the side by side comparison we prefer to cruise Princess,

 

Lou,

[mamoni]

10s Team- I just took my first cruise on the Golden Princess, sister of the Grand. Prior to that we were on 3 M Class cruises on Celebrity. I was really worried about trying Princess since my husband and I just love X. Put your worries away, you'll like Princess too. I definetly missed my Aqua spa, Specialty restaurant (sorry, but Sabbatini's doesn't even come close to the Olympic or Normandie) and thought the gym on the Celebrity ship was better laid out with better equipment. What we really enjoyed about Princess was the any time dining and not having to stick to a set schedule. We also got a mini-suite, but got one on the Emerld deck that is covered (E728 even has an extended balcony). Our preference would still be Celebrity, but I don't think you'll be disappointed with the Grand class on Princess.

[10s Team]

10s Team- I just took my first cruise on the Golden Princess, sister of the Grand. Prior to that we were on 3 M Class cruises on Celebrity. I was really worried about trying Princess since my husband and I just love X. Put your worries away, you'll like Princess too. I definetly missed my Aqua spa, Specialty restaurant (sorry, but Sabbatini's doesn't even come close to the Olympic or Normandie) and thought the gym on the Celebrity ship was better laid out with better equipment. What we really enjoyed about Princess was the any time dining and not having to stick to a set schedule. We also got a mini-suite, but got one on the Emerld deck that is covered (E728 even has an extended balcony). Our preference would still be Celebrity, but I don't think you'll be disappointed with the Grand class on Princess.

Mamoni - thank you SO much for your comments. Actually, I goofed up and we ARE looking at the Golden. We looked at the Grand, too, but just love the itinerary on the Golden. We just didn't want to have a shock after so many cruises on X. It doesn't sound like we'll be disappointed at all. We did enjoy the Normandie, but our cruise success won't hinge on the food - as long as we can eat when we want. Personal choice dining sounds perfect. I'll have the TA check availability for cabin E728. Thanks so much for your help. I appreciate the feedback.

 

Deb

[10s Team]

Mamoni - we got a good quote from our TA on E722. I'm asking her to look at E728. Looking on the Princess website, the deck detail shows the decks to be the same size. What does "extended" mean? I really like that concept, especially for the same rate! Thanks,

 

 

Debbie

[OCruisers]

GregandKel .... Thanks so much for responding on your shore excursions! Enjoyed reading what you did in each port! Please don't think you are alone with your experience with a bad taxi driver in Barbados. Taxi "rip-offs/scams" seem to happen there. :( ... especially to cruisers!

We love Barbados (beautiful island) ... just don't like the majority of their taxi drivers! :rolleyes:

 

pandabebe .... Enjoyed reading your review! Sounds like you had a real problem with Customer Service. Please do let us know if/when you get a response from Princess.

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[Loll]

Greg&Kel - congratulations on your engagement. My husband & I are sailing on the Golden 11/14/04 and are really looking forward to it :D

 

Do you know of anyone who did the dolphin encounter excursion on Antigua? Not sure if I should do it as I have heard some very bad reviews about the company that runs it. Any info would be very welcome.

 

What films were showing when you were sailing?

 

Lorraine

[mamoni]

Mamoni - we got a good quote from our TA on E722. I'm asking her to look at E728. Looking on the Princess website, the deck detail shows the decks to be the same size. What does "extended" mean? I really like that concept, especially for the same rate! Thanks,

 

 

Debbie

 

 

Debbie- E728 and E729 have a wrap around portion to the balcony and you can fit two lounge chairs out there as well as the standard table and chair that the other balconies have. They are the last ones on either side of the ship and you also have a view of part of the wake from the back of the ship. They tend to be some of the first cabins gobbled up--we booked ours almost a year out to get it. If you can't manage to book one of those I'm sure you'll be happy with E722. These cabins are in the Aft part of this ship, but we had NO problem with any movement of the boat and really liked how quiet it was back there. Besides, I really liked having the balcony covered while still getting my mini!