Live from the Golden May 16 Alaska

[palolake]

I was thinking the same thing, Karen. (you waited for us in Barbados :))

 

Colin,

We're on the Star on June 7th. I think you guys are in Skagway the day ahead of us. Aren't you staying for a while with Vickie and Bernie? I hope their kitchen is done! Have you booked anything for 2010? Brian's cruise?

 

Sorry for the interuption!

 

Cathy

[KansasScrapper]

I was thinking the same thing, Karen. (you waited for us in Barbados :))

 

Colin,

We're on the Star on June 7th. I think you guys are in Skagway the day ahead of us. Aren't you staying for a while with Vickie and Bernie? I hope their kitchen is done! Have you booked anything for 2010? Brian's cruise?

 

Sorry for the interuption!

 

Cathy

 

It's okay as I still haven't gotten an answer to some of my questions. God, they act like they are on a cruise or something and having fun. They have no time for us or our questions, good grief. :):p;):D

[queenslander]

Vicki & Bernie - I've enjoyed your live review!:)

 

Les and I are looking forward to sailing with you on the Island Princess in September - we'll have a fun cruise for sure!:D

 

Joyce

[kimchee1212]

Thanks for the live thread, it's much appreciated. My family and I will be on the Golden next month, and we want to be prepared to book the Crown Grill when we get on board, so our question to you is, which night the 'Alaskan Dinner Night' that they mentioned in the press releases?

 

Thanks :D :D

[vickie_bernie]

Vickie - Did they take port photos when you got off in each port?? Have they done any casual photos? I am hoping they have some new or different backgrounds then what they did/do in the Caribbean.

 

Yes and yes, and backgraounds are similar except for an alaska background I saw with mountains

[vickie_bernie]

Hi Vickie

We're loving reading your posts and "cruising" along with you.

If the Maitre D' is Angelo Balbiani (Balbiano?) tell him hello from Allan and me.

We sailed with him on the Golden to Hawaii in Feb and he spent a lot of time at our table, with us trying to entice him to try our wine. (It was Feb, 18 -Mar. 4 and the Noro broke out near the end of our cruise) Also would you ask him how Fernando's leg is? (Fernando was the head waiter in our section -if he's still there find him. He's Italian and ......;)

Enjoy and keep writing!

Karen

 

Hi Karen, did read this until after we got off because of no internet or way too busy to get access to. Angelo was around a lot, nice enough guy but hard to compare to the wonderful Generoso --

[vickie_bernie]

Just off the Star and there was a nasty FCC lady on that ship too. Was very huffy about people using one FCC per cabin. Insisted that TA's were breaking all the rules by doing that and that it was going to be stopped immediately! Why do they even care???

 

The FCC guy was a bit sharp with many people when we saw him, including our friends. He was friendly with us but then again when he found out we live about five blocks from him he really brightened up.

 

We put in our order for FCC - ordered TWO for Bernie ONLY... we got the envelope today and just left without looking at as we were leaving the ship. Just checked it and they gave us Two all right but one for me and one for bernie, which really ticked me off because I didn't even write my name down on the form, just Bernie's and asked for two! almost tempted to just cancel mine and get a refund.

[vickie_bernie]

Onboard the Sapphire we encountered a truly lovely gal....so sweet, so cute and so helpful.....Guess we really got lucky!

 

Let me understand something......we can not use just 1 FCC to hold a cabin? Please explain!

 

It didn't help that the poor guy didn't have an office - he had a temp. desk set up outside of the sixth floor dining room. Got very noisy. he will soon have a more private space along with the Captain Circle Host right near the Crown Grill.

 

Yes you can use one FCC and the benefits of your credit area also applied to the second person in your cabin. As far as I know this has not changed.

[vickie_bernie]

I'm curious if you have to go through customs when you get into Victoria and if this would effect your one week exemption of declaration of goods when you come back through the border through Seattle.

 

No we just went thru a gate and there were agents there but they didn't really check anything.

[vickie_bernie]

I don't know how it affects Canadiens but customs during a regular cruise stop in Victoria was a HUGE pain in the A** ...long, slow moving lines on the pier waiting to go through....you would have thought we had just sailed from Iraq or something....:eek:

 

Wow - I am surprised - our experience was we walked off and as we entered the building we had passports out but no one looked at them. We were exiting with 8 other friends all of whom are American. One agent did ask our friend in line who had a large backpack on his back what was in it - he responded - and we walked right thru, no one searched the bag.

 

Hopeful our experience is the norm because we really like all people from all over to enjoy themselves and feel welcome in our country.

[vickie_bernie]

We haven't been able to do that we have always had to use the $100 deposit for each person or had to pay the required deposit. We also only got a $50 obc total for the cabin NOT pp. We were also told we got 3 yrs not 4 which I thought was wrong. And BTW they will only refund it back to the CC you used to pay for it with if you do not use it. We were never told that until we were about to lose this one. So I think there is some confusion on it all around within Princess.

 

Okay I just pulled out the form we got

 

It says if you use one of your FCC you can also pass on the benefits to family and friends that you book with. They then have to pay the $100 deposit (at time of booking only) and they get the obc too.

 

OBC is

7-9 days $25 pp inside $50 pp outside

10-15 days $75 pp inside $100 pp Outside

16 plus $125 pp inside $150 pp outside

 

At the bottom it says.

 

*This offer applies to the first two passengers in stateroom only and is not applicable to upper bert passengers. Credit may only be used on a single voyage and expires at the end of that voyage........ If you do not use your future credit in the allocated four yeats, it will automatically be refunded back in the form it was purchased.

 

 

again, we always just get credits in Bernie's name not mine. When we book they take one of his credits and we pay $100 at time of booking for my deposit, we both get the obc.

 

Now the question is since they screwed up and gave me a credit and Bernie one two, should I call and cancel mine?

[vickie_bernie]

OK- I go by the "rules", but however, I am a casual person. Have you seen jeans on non- formal nights in the dining room for anytime dining? Many people can dress up a pair of jeans ( if they know what they are doing). I just need to know what other pants to bring, if need be. It is fun to dress up on the formal nights; everyone looks so nice. I also need to know what to tell my traveling companions who have never cruised beore. We were on the Golden in October 2003- what a great ship! Thanks for the feedback. Can't wait to visit Vines !

 

You will love Vines, it is much nicer than the Emerald/Crown/Ruby as it is much brighter and they have the windows.

 

This was our experience onboard, there were many people who did dress up and ate in the dining room (anytime experience only as we had that, not sure how traditional was). Others.... Many women were in simple dress (certainly not formal formal) many men were just in shirts and ties, with no jacket. Did NOT see anyone in shorts or jeans (not sure if this is because they were turned away or not, just did not see it).

 

The HC was very busy on these formal nights, as well as alternate dining rooms.

 

We had lunch with Rich the CD one day and someone from our group asked about the dress code policy and Rich laughed, he said it is a "hot button" topic and they deal with each incident individual and each ship handles their way. I won't mention what our "next question" was :eek: -- good thing right Rich?

 

On the first and last night we did see many more people dressed casually. The headwaiter commented that it is understandable because of luggage issues.

[vickie_bernie]

Are you able to dock or do you need to tender into any port? Thanks!

 

We docked in every port, Juneau it was about a five min walk to the shops. Skagway, again another five min walk. Ketchican, you got off the ship and tripped over the first diamond store :D, Victoria you can walk it, approx. 20 min.

 

All had transportation avail at a minimal cost

[vickie_bernie]

So glad to see another saga from Vickie and Bernie. I love following you guys around the boards and sometimes we even get to take the same cruises. We feel like we know you by now and love the great information you send our direction. Thanks!

 

We board the Island Princess on Aug. 3 for 7 nights inside passage from Vancouver to Whittier and then get to spend 8 nights on a land tour. We have never been to Seattle, or Vancouver or Alaska so we are very excited.

Have a great time!

 

Have we sailed together, jog my memory???

 

And thanks for the lovely comments, I love sharing my trips too and providing information. We certainly have been appreciative of all the information we have gotten from everyone else.

 

It is too bad but this trip the internet was so intermitten or non existent that I just couldn't post often.

 

Enjoy Vancouver, ask me any questions you may have. There is also many great threads on the West Coast Threads with lots of info.

[vickie_bernie]

Did they offer escargot on the menu or did you just ask as a special order?

 

Escargot is offerend on French night and we did not have this particular night on a our seven night trip. The headwaiter (Jose) was out of this world and when we asked "nicely" about escargot he arranged to get us some for the next night. Of course we were very happy and tipped accordingly.

[vickie_bernie]

Hey Vickie! Sounds like you guys are having a good time. Be sure to leave some of that good weather for us!

 

Did you guys go to the Captain's Circle Party? Was anyone not wearing a jacket? With all the weight of our other clothes, I was hoping Bill could get away with not packing a jacket. I'm really more concerned about the party than formal night. Say hi to Bernie for us.

 

Cathy

 

Hi Cathy and Bill too -- we talked about you both this week and our great experience in Barbados!

 

We did attend the Captain Circle party which was held the night we were in Ketchican. Many had just shirts and ties, including Bernie and our friend Paul. The women wore their feather boas again. The captain loved it. I will post a picture soon.

 

The weather was amazing, we had some rain in Ketchikan but not much. There were even people suntanning up on deck in bikinis :eek: yup guys in bathing suits!!!

[vickie_bernie]

Hi Vickie can you check out the Penthouse suites on Sun Deck deck 15 and let me know whet they look like? Thanks. We booked one for our cruise in September

 

they were still working on them and no one was occupying them yet, we did take a peek but couldn't really report. I am sure they will be lovely.

[vickie_bernie]

Bill and Cathy - when are you going? Gwenda and I leave in two weeks now for Vancouver before we sail for Alaska..................we're not taking anything formal - I'm going to borrow Bernie's tuxedo LOL!!!

 

Colin

 

Hey Colin, Bernie does have suits ! But you are much taller than him.... you will be totally fine without anything formal.

 

Will see you in two weeks at the airport to pick you up! Hopefully our kitchen rennovation will be complete

[vickie_bernie]

On the Sapphire, the Sterling Steakhouse (predecessor to the Crown Grill) is set-up in the back of the Horizon Food Court each and every night. Did the staff of the Golden just realize this? :eek: Seems like Princess lost some revenue here by not having any steakhouse for a number of nights.

 

We've been on three different Princess ships. On each the Hamburger/Pizza places all closed by 7 PM, sometimes it was even earlier like 5 or 6 PM. I agree, it would be great to have them open later. I'm addicted to pizza! :)

 

I am not sure if the pizza place normally closes early on most ships, but our experience from the Grand for 28 days in Jan was that it was open until 11 pm, as we often took advantage of pizza or burger while watching MUTS. The same was true on the Emerald. However it really made sense for it to close at 7 while sailing to Alaska as the area was deserted most evenings because of teh cold temps in the evening.

 

Yes the Steak House was at the back of HC the entire sailing. Moved temp from deck 7 to deck 14.

 

There was a head office rep on board that we met one night and on the last day we were at sea he showed me the Crown Grill still under construction. All I can say is WOW it is stunning, the wood accents the floor and the food bar will take your breath away. I can't wait to sail with her when it is done.

 

I also should comment that the shore excursion desk will be located right behind the Purser's desk - different from the Star's (which is a room to the side). The Golden's area is much more open and much more elaborate. Beautiful... they worker's have done a great job.

[vickie_bernie]

Vicki & Bernie - I've enjoyed your live review!:)

 

Les and I are looking forward to sailing with you on the Island Princess in September - we'll have a fun cruise for sure!:D

 

Joyce

 

Me Too Joyce! Now our planning for that trip starts

[vickie_bernie]

Thanks for the live thread, it's much appreciated. My family and I will be on the Golden next month, and we want to be prepared to book the Crown Grill when we get on board, so our question to you is, which night the 'Alaskan Dinner Night' that they mentioned in the press releases?

 

Thanks :D :D

 

you got me stumped! I never saw an Alaskan Dinner Night. Now we ate in the dining room every night except the last but that was the farewell dinner.

 

Maybe someone else can comment.

 

Note our experience is that not all ships seem to know about the "press release items" for example, not all ships we have been on have lemonade in the HC, not all ships open the dining room on embarkation (even though press release came out over a year ago), not all ships do pub lunches (but that may only be on the larger ships).

[vickie_bernie]

Okay, now I need to vent --

 

WARNING -- the port is still a mess. Please be careful if you have booked an early flight. There was one couple on our shuttle that missed their 11:30 flight, and another couple we met that was waiting for a taxi and was still waiting when we got on our shuttle after an hour in the line.

 

This is NOT princess' fault - there were two ships in port. We got off at 9:45, disembarkation was smooth we retrieved our luggage quickly, went thru customs and them WHAM it was like a huge parking lot packed with cars, buses, shuttles, people, suitcases, limos, wheelchairs and semi trailers (that come from the port and enter the area at the top end near the exit)

 

Now many of you may allready know but we arrived here at the port on May 10th after a cruise and it was a disaster then. We noticed how quiet the pier was when we boarded this cruise on the 16th and thought great things have all been straightened out. Well we were wrong. Yes some things have improved, there seems to be more signs directing you.

 

The taxi lines were long, I would guess with over 200 people in them. We had heard from many drivers of buses and taxis (from our hotel prior to our cruise) that many taxis were refusing to even go to the pier unless they had a fare to the pier. Otherwise they just stayed away.

 

Shuttles are great and plentiful but get stuck in all the traffic getting to the pier.

 

The stagging area for people to wait for their rides, shuttles or buses is not big enough because the groups keep getting bigger while the wait continues.

 

Our shuttle was a half hour late getting there. But the driver was very patient with all the passengers and handled the situation very well. We will definatley use that shuttle company again, especially at their low price of $12 pp.

 

But ultimately we have to face the facts that Seattle is not ready for the pier yet, hopefully they will fix the access to and from the pier to help expediate the transfers.

[vickie_bernie]

Okay back to the ship.

 

Thursday Night, formal night - as mentioned earlier we didn't dress up really formally but we did have dresses on and the men had either suit or at least shirt and tie. The women had their feather boas again.

 

We attended the Captain Circle party, some people in our party had the invite for the 5:15 party but were told it was okay to come to the later one at 7:15. We were a group of 8 and we sat at the back of the Vista lounge, well because we were just having way too much fun.

 

We were greeted by the CD staff and Rich himself - he love the feather boas. The Captain also made a comment!

 

We ate dinner once again in the dining room and Jose our head waiter did not disappoint! I had the lobster, yum. Every night we had wine and the waiter or head waiter were great with suggestions to choose from.

 

That evening we all attended the Show in the Princess Theatre - "The Magic of Gaetano". We have seen him before but we were still amazed! Loved the ending!! But won't give it away.

 

Friends watched Marley and Me the movie in Princess theatre earlier in the day.

[kimchee1212]

thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions! You had a nice time, I assume? :D

[Cruise Junky]

We were in a couple of ports with you on the Zuiderdam. We looked longingly at Golden wanting to jump ship ;)