Golden Princess Review Alaska RT Seattle Inside Passage 5-3-14 to 5-10-14

To start off I want to apologize for taking over two months

from the time I returned from cruise to start this review. I had

every intention of writing it right away for those going on the same

cruise later on in May, June and July however, time got away from

me.

This cruise was a Christmas/Birthday/Mother's day gift for my

awesome 76 year old mother. I am her 47 year old daughter and we are

from Lufkin, Texas. She has said for years how she would love to go on

an Alaskan Cruise some day. In September 2013 I went on a cruise to the Bahamas

and was able to check something off of my bucket list (swimming with dolphins).

When I got back I was determined to help mom check something off her bucket list as well.

If I had it to do all over again, I would have researched the land tours and we would have

went on a train tour of Alaska instead. Maybe someday we can go back and do that.

This cruise was mom's second cruise and my fourth. This was our first cruise on Princess

cruise line. Okay..enough of the background stuff. Let me get

started. (I will warn you now.. I am long winded.... which also transfers to my writing... LOL)

PRE CRUISE

On Friday, May 2nd we drove to Houston Bush airport to board a

plane to Seattle, WA. Mom is not a big fan of flying however,

she did not get sick on the plane and handled it well. I booked a

transfer to our hotel with SHUTTLE EXPRESS. On our way to find

the pickup area mom had a small mishap on the escalator. One of

her legs was caught between the suit case and the step. She was

in a panic that she might fall. We avoided the escalators for the

rest of the trip. Our driver dropped us off at our hotel-Quality

Inn and Suites, just in time for us to check-in. We flew in a day

early to see Seattle before our cruise and to elevate the stress of

possibly missing the ship.

After dropping our luggage off in our room and resting up a bit we decided to

walk to the Space Needle area. I failed to mention that I booked this cruise

in October 2013 giving me seven + months to research

and plan everything. I wanted to surprise my mom in Seattle with a visit to the

Chihuly Glass and Gardens. (right next to the Space Needle). We could

actually see the Space Needle from our hotel and the walk was a

few short blocks away. Mom loved the glass museum as I suspected

that she would. I highly recommend it. One of the staffers

took our photo for free and gave each of us a plastic card to use

in a machine to send the photo to our email. We were able to keep

the card as a souvenir. They took two different photos for us.

I took over 700 photos on this trip. I will share some of them

here in my review and also post the link to my pocket bucket for

you to see more if you like. (I did not upload all 700 however)

After touring Chihuly Glass & Gardens we walked over to the

Space Needle. Mom thought the top rotated and that she might

get motion sickness so she did not want to go to the top. She

shopped in the gift shop while I went to the top and took photos.

I keep thinking of the movie Sleepless in Seattle. Seattle is

a beautiful place in my opinion. I really loved it! I have lived

in Dallas, Nashville and Houston. I have visited other big cities

such as Chicago, San Diego, Memphis, San Francisco, Orlando etc.,

San Diego and Seattle are by far my favorites. It showered for

a short time while we were at the Space Needle however, it was

done by the time we walked back to the hotel. Our hotel called a

cab to take us to PF Changs in downtown Seattle for dinner.

PF Changs is one of my favorite restaurants. We had $50 in

free gift cards to use there. Mom enjoyed dinner here very much.

We walked around a bit in the downtown area near PF Changs while

we waited for the hotel shuttle to pick us up and take us back to

the hotel for the evening.

View of Mt Rainier from the plane.

Mom at Hotel in Seattle, WA

MOM and I at the Chihuly Glass & Garden

View of the Space Needle from the Chihuly Glass & Garden

Beautiful Glass display at Chihuly Garden and Glass

Free Photo from Space Needle

I forgot to mention that you get a free photo to send to your email from the Space Needle as well. There are several backgrounds to choose from.

Mom Shopping for flowers at the Pike Place Market - Seattle, WA

Flowers we purchased for our stateroom

Free Princess tote bag for each of us on our bed when arrived in our stateroom

Stateroom P239

We were on the PLAZA deck in Stateroom P239

Our room was near the International Cafe and on the same floor as our

dining room which was very convenient. This is a photo of the television desk and mirror area.

First meal from the buffet

Embarkation Day

The next morning we had free breakfast at the hotel. Their free

shuttle took us to Pike Place Market. Our first stop was the

Original Starbucks to pick up a gift for my best friends daughter.

(a coffee mug exclusively from this location) We had a little over

two hours to tour the market. That is not enough time to see

all of it but, we saw the places I researched ahead of time. My

mother loves flowers. We enjoyed seeing all the flowers and

shopping for a bouquet to take on the ship with us for our stateroom.

Mom picked out a nice $5 one. I bought two extra unique looking

tulips to add to the bunch. We enjoyed the flowers all week.

We picked up a few souveniers at the market including magnents

from Seattle Watercolors. We picked up some pastries to snack

on later from LaPanier bakery. They have delicious French Macrons,

Crossiants and other pastries. The smell as you walk in is just

divine. If you do visit here, don't let the line deter you..it is so

worth it. A healthier option but, just as delicious is Elleno's Greek

Yogurt. I ordered the cookies & cream flavored yogurt. Mom tried

the carmel apple flavor. Around 11am I called a cab to take us

back to the hotel. The hotel has a $7 shuttle ride to the cruise

terminal. Of course the line at the cruise terminal was very long

however, it moved faster than I expected. I believe it took about

two hours for us to get through the line and in our stateroom.

While we are waiting to board ship we discover that one our

our Cruise Critic Roll call members was right behind us in line,

SeaDeck2 and her mom. It was so great meeting them. We saw

them again several other times through out the week as well.

After finding our room, it did not take long for us to meet our

wonderful steward Rafeal. I requested a vase for our flowers and

he did brought us one later in the day. While waiting for our

luggage to arrive we decided to grab some lunch from the buffet.

More on embarkation day tomorrow.

Isn't the Chihuly exhibit incredible? Love your photos. What did your mother think of it?

Isn't the Chihuly exhibit incredible? Love your photos. What did your mother think of it?

Glad you like the photos mapleleaves... much more to come. Yes, we absolutely loved Chihuly Garden and Glass... it was beautiful. We watched a video about the designer, Mr. Chihuly as well while we were there. He is amazing and his work is awesome. Mom really enjoyed her surprise visit here. :D

After lunch we collected the Treasure Hunt

stamps on the map for the Shopping Event drawing.

Went back to our room and waited for the Muster Drill

which was delayed due to passengers arriving late. Our

bags arrived to our room by this time as well.

My Cruise Critic roll call was suppose to have a Meet & Greet

after the Muster Drill however, it was raining

and cold outside where the first meeting spot

was to be. Mom did not want to be outside in the cold.

The other meeting spot was a lounge and another

meeting or event was being held here, so we never did

meet up with the others. We did meet another CC roll call

member, Ginny Ray and her husband while looking

for the others. They are a very friendly couple.

We talked to them multiple times throughout the week.

By this time we were tired and ready to go back to our room to

unpack and rest before dinner.

We chose Anytime Dining for the week and decided to

have dinner at 7 pm the first night. Mom and I both

enjoy meeting new people and ask to be seated

with others every night. For the appetizer, I chose the Red

Snapper Mojito which I did not like and it was replaced

with the spring rolls with a great peanut sauce. Mom

enjoyed her trio of melons appetizer. We both chose

the Cream of Porcini Mushroom Soup, which I liked much

more than mom did. My mother loves Grilled Salmon and

I am really surprised she did not order it every night for

dinner. She did order it the first night and seemed to like

it. I ordered the Seared Basa Filet with Pineapple-Papaya Salsa,

which was disappointing. I did not like the texture of the fish

or the potato that was served with it. Our desserts were much

better. I had the Orange Souffle and mom had the Hazelnut

Ice Cream. After dinner we went back to the room to watch

some tv and to go to bed early. Mom normally goes to bed

around 9:30pm at home.. we did stay up past her bed time on

this trip several nights. At 9:30pm on the ship however, it is

11:30pm or 12:30am back home. We were still

adjusting to that time difference.

Red Snapper Mojito appetizer - the avocados were great..the rest not so much.

Trio of Melons appetizer

Cream of Porcini Mushroom Soup

GRILLED SALMON

Seared Basa Filet with Pineapple-Papaya Salsa

Warm Passion Fruit Souffle (not Orange Souffle as I previously stated in my review)

HAZELNUT ICE CREAM

In the middle of the night I noticed the boat was rocking a lot

more than I had ever experienced on a cruise. By morning when

we decided to get up it was still pretty rough. I took motion sickness

tablets and did not have any problems. Mom however, was sick

the minute she got out of bed. I really did not want her to miss

the shopping talk as they were giving away charms for our DI

bracelets and prizes as well. I picked up breakfast at the

International Cafe (very close to our room). I also went to the

buffet area to pick up some yogurt for mom, as I thought it

might be easy on her tummy. We did make it to the shopping

talk however, mom did not last long and had to leave to go

back to the room as she was dizzy and sick to her stomach.

The nurse came by to give her a shot and told her to sleep it

off for a few hours. She said by the evening mom would

feel like dancing.

Mom insisted I go back to the shopping talk and

of course I did not win anything. I did pick up our charms.

After a buffet lunch alone, I attended the Gemstone

show (boring) and picked up a 2nd (different) set of charms. I went back

to the room to check on Mom. Before the cruise Mom wanted to get the patch

for sea sickness but, I read conflicting reviews on Cruise Critics

regarding the patch. Since I had never needed one on any other

cruise I had been on, I thought the motion sickness tablets would be

enough. The problem was she could not keep them down long enough

for them to work. I am glad the shot the nurse gave her worked

as the vacation I had worked so hard to pay for would have been

a complete bust. By the time we decided to get ready for our first

formal night, mom was feeling much better (as the nurse promised).

We went to the dining room at 6 pm and sat at a table with six

other people. Our table mates were very friendly and we

enjoyed talking to them. Dinner was much better on this night.

Mom and I ordered mainly the same thing;

Crab Meat and Monterey Jack Quiche (which I really liked),

Shrimp Daniele for the entree, and for desert I had the Creme

Burlee' which was excellent. Mom had the Oreo cookie crusted

Peanut butter chocolate pie which she thought was excellent as

well. Mom is a big fan of peanut butter. I was relieved that

she felt better and could enjoy the pie as well.

Mom wanted to see the movie Gravity which showing on the tv

in our stateroom. Unfortunately, mom feel asleep before Gravity

was over but, I told her how it ended.

A note regarding the buffet. We ate

the majority of our breakfast and lunch meals in the buffet.

I found it very difficult to find a table that was not out near

the pool area where it was colder. This is one complaint I have

with the Golden Princess.

The mini quiches served during lunch most days are very good.

They were really one of my favorite items on the buffet. I do not

recommend the Seafood Potpie however. I was not a fan at all.

I do wish we would have attended more of the shows or comedians

at night but, it just did not work at that way. I intended to

watch some of the Movies out by the pool area also but, it was just

too cold for us at night. It was nice and cozy in our stateroom with

several channels to chose from showing movies.

Day 2-Juneau next... (hopefully tomorrow)

All dressed up for Formal Night

Crab Meat and Monterey Jack Quiche

Shrimp Daniele

French Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

Oreo cookie crusted Peanut butter chocolate pie

Great review. Looking forward to the continuation. We are doing this trip in Sept.

Thank you for your review.

Keith

You are very welcome Starlaker and Keith1010... I am glad someone is reading it :-D

Day 3 Juneau

Thankfully, Mom was feeling back to her old self when we

woke up on Monday. The rocking of the boat

had settled down quite a bit. We were able to

enjoy breakfast from the buffet. I liked the

breakfast better than the lunch. They did serve biscuits & gravy

at the buffet on the GOLDEN Princess. This is a

question I have seen several times on Cruise Critics.

I did see them offered on two occasions, once

with a cheese sauce type gravy and once with white

gravy (no sausage). I noticed if the biscuits

are not fresh, they are really too hard to eat.

The one day that I managed to get a fresh one

it was very good with the white gravy.

The ship was scheduled to arrive at 12 pm in Juneau

with our excursion through Princess to start soon

after arrival. It was announced that the ship

would be arriving an hour late.

Mom and I spent some time on deck looking

out at the ocean and taking a few photos.

We did try the pizza (the one and only time on

this trip) for lunch. I heard rave reviews about

the pizza here on on CC. We tried the cheese and

the pepperoni. Not bad for a quick lunch. We picked

up desserts from the International Cafe as well.

(tiramisu in a glass cup and the pistachio cup=both

very good)

Once we arrived in Juneau we were told our excursion

had been delayed, not sure how long, at least

an hour. Mom and I walked over to the Juneau

Trading Co. to do some shopping. Once we walked

back over to the excursion waiting area we were

told to stay in the area but, they were

still not sure when our excursion would begin.

My first choice was a whale watching tour in

Juneau however, mom wanted to see the Glacier

Gardens with the upside down trees. This was

her trip so, I really wanted her to see what

she wanted to see. I booked the Mendenhall Glacier,

Tramway & Rain forest Garden JNU-130

(not realizing that Rain forest Garden and Glacier

Gardens are NOT the same thing). I should have booked

JNU-330 instead and we could have bought our Tram ticket

separately.

Anyway, around 2:45pm we finally boarded the bus for

our excursion. Our first stop was the Rain forest

Garden. Since it was very early Spring, we did

not see any flowers blooming other than Skunk

Cabbage. The lady who runs the Rain forest

Garden is very nice, she served delicious apple

muffins and tea. The rain forest part itself

is very scenic. We were provided with a paper guide

for the trees and plants. They were marked with a

numbered marker corresponding with the paper

guide. This was interesting however, as I said

the flowers were not blooming yet. Our time

here only lasted about 30 minutes. The next

stop was Mendenhall Glacier. Juneau was

unseasonably warm this day. As advised we

dressed in layers and the bus ride was hot too

(the air conditioner was not working real

well). As you will see in my photos, the jackets

and bigger coats came off. We both really

enjoyed Mendenhall Glacier and walked down

to the lake as close as we could get. They had

it roped off where you could not walk up to the

glacier. I noticed a sign with something about

a "nesting" area. We opted not to walk down

the trail as we do not move fast enough to

walk a mile or two and back in the time allotted.

I do wish we would have walked partially down

the trail however, as a few people from our

bus saw a bear and a porcupine. The visitor

center here is very nice and we spent time

inside looking out at the glacier. One of the

staffers spotted mountain goats on the mountain

and he helped us find them in the telescope.

Next our bus driver took us back to town and

dropped us off in the shopping area. I had a list

of stores I wanted to visit. One of the things

I failed to do in Juneau was use some of the

great coupons in the free coupon book. With us

flying home after the cruise we really did not

have a ton of room for purchases anyway. I

ended up ordering stuff after I got back from two

stores. I was looking for the Glacier Silt Soap

at the Glacier Smoothie Soap shop.The shop was not

open yet. The man doing construction on the shop

gave me the name of two stores in Skagway where

we could purchase it. House of Russia was another

great shop where I purchased the Matryoska doll

ornaments and key chains. Right next door is Caribou Crossing,

which has items that are made in Alaska.

Mom and I both enjoyed this shop. Somewhere

we picked up a second (different) free coupon

book with awesome coupons for cheap souvenirs

as well. We had time to shop at Alaska Shirt

Company and Alaska-Juneau Mining Company

before we went to ride the tram.

The tram ticket came with our excursion and we

were told we could use it whenever we wanted

to. That was the last thing we did going back to

the ship. The scenic view from the tram of

Juneau and the ship port area was really cool.

The guide on our way down gave us a lot of cool

facts about Juneau. Once we arrived at

the top, mom and I were really too tired to do

much walking around. We did check out the

gift shop and enjoyed the view of Juneau from

the mountain. We made it back to the ship

with plenty of time to spare (about 8:30 ish).

It was 9 pm when we entered the dining room for

dinner (12 am our time!). This was my favorite

night because our waiter Arthur was awesome.

He was so fun and friendly. We both ordered the

King Crab Leg appetizer. I was so happy King Crab

was on the menu as it is one of my things to eat.

Arthur brought us both an extra serving each after

he served us our soup. (just because he knew how

much I enjoyed them) Because we were so late to

dinner, we were seated at a big table by ourselves.

I ordered the Cock-A-Leekie soup

which was not bad despite the crazy name.

For an entree, once again we ordered the same

thing, the Surf and Turf. This was hands down

one of the best entree's we had all week. The

Bearnaise sauce for the steak was excellent.

For dessert mom had a Rhubarb layered cake

type thing that I did not take a photo of and

can not remember the exact name. I ordered

the heart shaped Princess chocolate cake.

After all that food we should have ran a

marathon around the deck. We felt like we

already had with all the shopping & sight seeing

so, we were happy to hit have our heads

hit the pillow.

MOM AND I AT RAIN FOREST GARDEN

MOM AT MENDENHALL GLACIER

ME IN FRONT OF MENDENHALL GLACIER

MENDENHALL GLACIER

MT ROBERTS TRAMWAY

VIEW OF THE GOLDEN PRINCESS FROM THE TRAM

Enjoying our King Crab Leg Appetizers

Surf and Turf

ARTHUR the Great Waiter

Thanks for the report!