Quick review - Golden Princess - Alaska June 23-30

I’ll try to post a fuller review later but here’s a few quick notes for those curious about the state of the venerable GP.

We just got off the GP, taking her from Whittier to Vancouver, June 23-30. The cruise was excellent. We had a big group and everyone just loved it. The itinerary was marvelous, the weather was incredible and Alaska was ... Alaska. It was a great week.

What of the boat? Well... she’s a good ship. All the wonderful Princess amenities that we enjoy. We had a balcony (first time ever) and that was great. The food was excellent. The staff was incredible. Lots of very good people there.

That all said, she’s clearly an aging boat. There are places the paint has chipped, or the railing is scarred or the carpet is dirty. There were drips. A lot of drips. I never saw buckets but pretty regularly I saw a water drop fall from above, and our deck had a dryer on it constantly (Baja deck 12). I got a whiff of that infamous sewage smell on deck 7 by the theater. A couple of folks said their deck smelled like mildew all week, and I’m guessing that’s from the fairly constant water drips.

For me, these were minor issues that didn’t compromise the cruise at all. If you are more fussy about that kind of thing you might want to rethink this boat. It’s old. Grand and wonderful, but a bit worn here and there and showing her age more than some would like.

Here are a few other notes:

* Horizon Court Buffet was really good. Thought the food there beat the MDR a night or two, and the MDR was good.

* Comedian was great. Can’t remember his name now but he was clean and really funny.

* Don’t care for the lack of sports channels. IT’S THE WORLD CUP. Why can’t I see the games each day?! There is exactly one sports channel (ESPN2) and that doesn’t carry much. #seriously

* The coffee is just awful. How can this be when Princess does so many things so well? It shouldn’t take an act of congress to get a decent cup of Joe on a ship. After a fine meal a cup of coffee is expected and completely necessary. That stuff they mix from syrup isn’t coffee any more than a hamburger is filet mignon. The Int Café was hit or miss. They need to train their baristas better. Sometimes good and sometimes undrinkable. Watched a barista make several drinks in a row without wiping off the steam wand or purging it. If you know espresso machines you know that is dreadful. I’m just amazed that Princess doesn’t get this right.

* A balcony on a Glacier Bay cruise is worth it, imo. The hour at the Margerie (sp?) glacier was one of the peak experiences of the trip. Up on the deck you can’t hear it crack and roar nearly as well as on your private balcony because so many people are talking up. In private it’s incredible. As a bonus we saw a wonderful lighthouse (Cape Mudge) on the way in Friday night.

I’ve been helped here so much that I feel a great obligation to try and help others. If you have questions post them up and I’ll try to answer. I think all in all I’d give the cruise an A+ but I’d give the Golden Princess as a boat about a B-. Does that make sense?

And it’s 103 degrees in Dallas today and I’m suffering very serious cruise withdrawals!

Thank you! Looking forward to the Golden in a couple of months......maybe they'll have the leaks fixed by then.

Thanks for sharing.

Tony

Appreciate your review and totally agree with you about the rating of the cruise and ship. We did the transpacific crossing from Tokyo to Whittier this spring. While our itinerary was an A- or so the ship was definitely lower rated about a B or lower. That said, I really enjoyed the cruise and would be willing to sail on the Golden again. We were lucky to have very few problems and enjoyed our mini suite.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thanks just booked a last minute alaska cruise with the drop and sail! Will be on golden in August! Cant wait.

 

* Don’t care for the lack of sports channels. IT’S THE WORLD CUP. Why can’t I see the games each day?! There is exactly one sports channel (ESPN2) and that doesn’t carry much. #seriously

The ship can only purchase the international feed of sports channels, not the US feeds of Fox/FS1 (or Telemundo). And as an Alaskan cruise spends most of its time in US waters, live sports or entertainment events on international feeds would be mostly blacked out. So which other items in the entertainment budget would you eliminate so you could watch sports for the day and a half the ship is closer to Canada than the US? Fewer movies? One (or more) fewer guest entertainers? One less production show? #fillinyourowninappropriatehashtag

i'm on her in september and i too hope the leaks and sewage smell are fixed.

i understand she's older and i'm okay with chips, scuffs and scrapes but i hope if the golden has a real issue that that would be looked after.

Sounds like a balanced review on GP we are booked in Nov 18 and Feb 19, looking forward to both,

Yes most times in bad weather there seams to leaks around the midships on a few of the decks ( fans in the hallways ) but overall we have had great cruises on the GP and are going to enjoy the next two.

Cheers Don

Thank you for your review! Glad your cruise was amazing. We are looking to a fabulous cruise on the Golden in around 6 weeks!

Thank you for the info on the Golden, I am going to Alaska in September 2019 and I have 2 bookings...one on the Golden, one on the Royal. I am reading as many posts on the likes and dislikes pertaining to both ships. Every time I read a bunch of dislikes I'm ready to cancel one only to find contradictions a week later, I still have plenty of time, just want to get this long awaited cruise right !

Thank you for the info on the Golden, I am going to Alaska in September 2019 and I have 2 bookings...one on the Golden, one on the Royal. I am reading as many posts on the likes and dislikes pertaining to both ships. Every time I read a bunch of dislikes I'm ready to cancel one only to find contradictions a week later, I still have plenty of time, just want to get this long awaited cruise right !

My opinion: the cruise will be a lot more about YOUR attitude than problems on and with the boat. All boats have issues. Obviously we want to minimize those and I hope my post helps you w/some of that. And I think these issues will surely be solved by Sept 2019, but prolly by then new ones will have cropped up. Some people lose their minds when they see a scuff on wall or a handrail that has tarnished brass. Others say "It's okay, I'm in Alaska." If you're in the latter category you will be fine on the Golden. I was!

Thank you for the info on the Golden, I am going to Alaska in September 2019 and I have 2 bookings...one on the Golden, one on the Royal. I am reading as many posts on the likes and dislikes pertaining to both ships. Every time I read a bunch of dislikes I'm ready to cancel one only to find contradictions a week later, I still have plenty of time, just want to get this long awaited cruise right !

To me the main difference is this:

Alaska ports are usually very crowded with multiple ships there each day.

When the Golden comes to town, it will add about 2600 visitors.

When the Royal comes to town, it will add about 3560 visitors.

So if having the town with even more people does not bother you, pick the ship you believe has the best onboard experience.

Amen to the no World Cup! We just got off the Star in Alaska and it had no World Cup either. My son and husband were bummed and had to resort to peeking into the local port or airport bars for TV coverage. And I think Princess could have aired it in Alaska because we were docked next to the Norwegian Bliss and they had World Cup on their huge poolside screen. My guys craned their necks and used binoculars to watch it on that from our balcony.

Thanks for the review. The Golden Princess was the first ship I ever cruised on, when it was only a few months old. I loved it at the time. The thing is, which is either a pro or con, depending on your tastes: Princess has barely changed since then (2001). For me, I'd like to see Princess try something entirely new. But then, they would lose a lot of their client base, so I doubt it will happen.

Thank you for your review - appreciate the fairness you presented.

We sail on her in September.....on Baja deck. I truly hope that there is no need still of a constant fan at that point. If there is then I would wonder about that long term dampness in the same area. I have to believe that Princess will be addressing this? It doesn’t sound like bad weather nor rough seas were part of your journey to create all the leaks you are describing- and yes, I do get that they can happen on occasion.

Scratches, some paint issues - no biggie.

Solid report, thanks for sharing

Srpilo

Amen to the no World Cup! We just got off the Star in Alaska and it had no World Cup either. My son and husband were bummed and had to resort to peeking into the local port or airport bars for TV coverage. And I think Princess could have aired it in Alaska because we were docked next to the Norwegian Bliss and they had World Cup on their huge poolside screen. My guys craned their necks and used binoculars to watch it on that from our balcony.

Was super disappointed. We sailed on Celebrity in 2014 and the WC was everywhere on that boat. The USA was IN that Cup (yes, I'm a bitter US fan) and the boat hosted a super fun watch party for US v Portugal in one of its theaters! I don't know why Princess doesn't pay for the channels necessary to see the WC but that's a huge fail in my book.

I loved loved loved the Golden Princess! I keep seeing negative reviews about her and it makes me so sad.

I've been on 15 cruises and without a doubt this one onboard the Golden Princess (Singapore - Tokyo) was my favourite. I enjoyed your review.

Thanks for sharing! :)

To me the main difference is this:

 

Alaska ports are usually very crowded with multiple ships there each day.

 

When the Golden comes to town, it will add about 2600 visitors.

 

When the Royal comes to town, it will add about 3560 visitors.

 

So if having the town with even more people does not bother you, pick the ship you believe has the best onboard experience.

Actually, if you're worried about crowds I'd be more concerned about avoiding sharing a port day with the Norwegian Bliss, which has 4,000 passengers, and next year the Oasis of the Seas will be sailing Alaska with 5,500 passengers. I also looked at other ships leaving Vancouver the same day as me this month, so I would minimize the zoo-like atmosphere that the terminal there can be with multiple large ships leaving at once. One advantage of the Princess N-S routes is also more time in the ports and more flexible excursion times, so round-trip ships might leave earlier and give you smaller crowds later in the day.

If you want some of the Alaska experience without huge cruise ship crowds, you can look the Alaska state ferry, leaving from Bellingham WA and visiting a lot of smaller towns too small to host cruise ships. I met a couple who sailed as far as Haines and then flew back to Seattle.

Hi All,

I really enjoyed all of your input.. I also don't mind a bit of wear and tear, it's to be expected to a point. Major issues not so much, sewage smells, poor a/c or heating,. Good point on what next year brings in the way of the size of the cruise ships making the rounds. Would suggest making sure your ground tours are booking in advance since there will be more people looking to snatch those spaces up.

I have cruised on Golden Princess twice (March 2017 and January 2018) and am about to cruise on her again in October this year.

The first cruise we experienced that bad smell on deck 7 by the theatre, but on the second cruise there was no smell at all!

I like her, she handles bad seas really well:)

I am embarrassed. I responded that we were sailing on her in September, when in fact it is the Grand. That said, for the right itinerary, I would sail on the Golden again. Good memories