Golden Princess Trip Notes 2/27-3/6

Thanks to Gary and Linda for their trip report! I was on the same ship with my husband and 4 other couples. I thought I'd add some additional information about the shore excursions and our general impressions of Princess. We had an excellent time. As my husband and I were flying home he asked what was my favorite thing about the trip and I said it's probably easier to list the few things that weren't okay versus the several hundred things that were great! Weather was awesome for us and we had heard the week before there were several cloudy and rainy days. Not the case for us!

2/27 -- San Juan -- we arrived on Saturday the 26th and stayed at the Comfort Inn. It was okay for the price -- fairly clean but somewhat outdated. We walked down the street to the beach and casinos in the morning. We found a taxi driver to take us to Old San Juan for lunch and shopping and he came back to pick us up and take us back to the Comfort Inn to get our luggage and then on to the ship. He was great! Embarkation was a breeze as we arrived about 3 pm. We also purchased liquor in the store in the terminal and how no problems what so ever with getting through security. And yes we purchased Amsteel Light and had to come over with some creative maneuvers to get the bottle open! We spent the evening in SkyWalkers Disco and the ship set sail. That was fantastic. SkyWalkers is a great disco and we had a ton of fun dancing the night away.

2/28 -- St. Thomas -- we shopped around the town in the morning. Friends who had been to St. Thomas a few years ago felt the stores especially the jewelry stores were not willing to bargain as much as they use to. That afternoon we took the KonTiki party raft. We had a great time listening to Calypso music and drinking perhaps too much rum punch. The beach the Kon Tiki took us to was alright -- certainly not Magen's Bay but okay. All and all a fun excursion. That night we ate the Bernini Dining Room. The food is AWESOME. Great variety and something for everyone.

3/1 -- St. Kitts -- A beautiful island!! Pristine, clean and just gorgeous. We took the afternoon sea kayaking adventure and had a blast. The snorkeling that you do prior to kayaking is pretty minimal but just being in that beautiful aqua colored water is heaven! The kayaking was really fun. At times a bit challening as the wind had really kicked up but probably my favorite excursion of all! This was our first formal night and we waited quite a while to have pictures taken but it was worth it. I would advise staying away from the picture setting that is on the staircase near the tour desk. The lights that come off the stairs really make for a lot of shine on your face! Our dinner was wonderful again. We loved Francesco in the Bernini -- he is awesome!

3/2 -- Grenada -- Signed up for the Hike, Soak and Wade excursion. A bit misleading in the fact that it is nearly an hour and 15 minute bus ride just to get to the waterful area. We felt the island was a wreck. I have never seen so much consistent devastation everywhere! I personally don't think the homes were in great shape before the hurrican and there are even worse now. Really made all of us appreciate what we have at home. Once we got to the waterfall and hiked about a mile to it --- we could now realize it was well worth the ride! It was a gigantic waterfall that we all enjoyed sitting under and just getting dowsed with water! The ride back took us to the highest driveable spot on the island and the trees were just like blown down match sticks. By far the most tropical island we visited! I think next time I'd just opt to go to a beach there!

3/4 -- Isla Margarita -- I would to do a beach excursion at 7 am but couldn't rally my cruisemates to get up that early. We all burned the midnight oil every night it seemed. We shopped at the little shopping area -- which I agree with Gary and Linda had some of the best shopping and prices. We also ventured over to this tiny little beach area for about an hour just to cool off. Wish we could have spent more time there. 7-noon just isn't long enough.

3/5 -- Aruba -- Wow what a fun place! Would love to go back as a destination resort. Definitely not enough time there. We were in port with the Carnival Princess and I was jealous they didn't have to leave until 11 pm. We did the De Palm Island excursion as did Gary and Linda however we went in the afternoon. It was fine -- the snorkeling was fun with plenty of colored fish -- a little rocky however as I got thrown into the rocks a few times as I tried to clean my mask! Not really a great beach or a place to just swim but the price includes food and drinks so it made it well worth the cost for our "party" group! Shopping was great and my husband treated me to some nice jewels of which I now have buyers remorse -- hmm... for that price I could have gone on another cruise! ;) Also the second formal night and the lobster was to die for..... my mouth is still watering!

3/6 -- Day at Sea -- Lots of people looking for lots of lounge chairs. We had pretty good luck finding seats although we had to seach!

Side notes -- my group was a pretty active group -- we participated in almost every organized event they had from water volleyball to putting contests, Mr. Golden Princess to the Newlywed Game. We definitely made the most of our vacation. The guys in our group had good luck in the casino at the tables and loved the dealers and they were very friendly and had good senses of humor. We also did Sabitini's and the Steakhouse for the additional charge. Both were excellent except my husbands steak was overcooked in the Steakhouse but my filet was awesome. The food is so good in the dining room you really don't need to try the other restaurants but it's fun to have the change of atmosphere. The pizza is outstanding at the snack bar during the day. The princess colada drink is awesome. I not much of a drinker but one or two of those went down well every day! I truly have no complaints. We are all in age from mid 30's to early 40's. And as much as I missed my kiddos back home I didn't want to leave! Please email if you have any questions -- I'd be more than happy to answer. Our cabin was Aft Aloha deck and it was great with the balcony -- it was kinda fun to have the highest balcony level on the ship! We however really felt the motion of the ship at times but only one once felt a bit quesy!

Can hardly wait to go back!

Kellekae, Thanks for the review and additional info. Just can't get enough :)

I had heard there was to be a new Cruise Director for the Golden starting your week. Was this true or is it still Omar? What's the new guy's name if not? How was he?

Thanks,

~Paul

I had heard there was to be a new Cruise Director for the Golden starting your week. Was this true or is it still Omar? What's the new guy's name if not? How was he?

 

I'll jump in and answer this one. The new cruise director is Paul O'Laughlin. He sort of looks like an Irish Merv Griffin. Seems to have a good sense of humor. Martin, the assistant cruise director (also with a similar accent) seemed to be everywhere at once, trying to get everyone to join into everything. He was particularly good at doing the horse races.

Do you know how long will "Merv" be on-board? ;)

Appreciate the extra info. Will be on the Golden next week

These reviews keep us going.

Gary/Linda --

Thanks for answering as I truly won't have known! All the activities folks are very upbeat and funny, I really liked Shelby -- she is a cutie!