Golden Princess questions

[UDcc123]

We're looking at a possible cruise on the Golden Princess in December. It looks like a beautiful ship, but I was wondering whether anyone had travelled on it and could provide their insight.

 

I've previous travelled on RCCL Adventure of the Seas & the Carnival Valor, so that would be my basis of comparison.

Thanks

[lgt]

We have been on the Golden twice last year. She is a beautiful ship. Maintained well, easy to find your way around. Carries alot of passengers, but never really feels crowded. The food was much improved from RC and Carnival. Service was 150% better. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. The 2 Southern Carib. itineraries (if its still the same as sumer & fall 04) were the best in the Carib. that we've been on (12 cruises). Not sure what else you'd like to know, but we had our 17 y/o dd and her friend with us in summer. There were lots of other teens. Most seem well behaved and our dd had a great time. Said it was her favorite cruise.

[wspatton]

We're looking at a possible cruise on the Golden Princess in December. It looks like a beautiful ship, but I was wondering whether anyone had travelled on it and could provide their insight.

 

I've previous travelled on RCCL Adventure of the Seas & the Carnival Valor, so that would be my basis of comparison.

Thanks

 

My wife & I did the Golden last May, and then in December we took the kids (20 & 22) on the Carnival Inspiration for a short introduction to Cruising for them.

 

The Golden was a great first cruise for us. It really set the standard I think. Here is my review, for what it is wortI had hoped that I would be able to save this form and add to it over the course of several days, but apparently I can't. So I will just list some various impressions. Please note that these are one person's opinion, and that I don't have a basis for comparison, since this was my first cruise.

 

Weather was a little cloudy, hope you have more sun. Did not cause any problems though.

 

Ports are really good. We enjoyed the snorkeling on St. Johns and St. Kitts (Champagne, Cat & Nevis Sailaway respectively).

 

Grenada was very good too. Did the Explorer (bus is hot though, don't get back row)

 

Isla Margarita - we just hit the straw market at the boat (one of our favorites: lots of cheap trinkets made by the locals). Also 12 oz cans of Stoli for $2.00

 

Aruba Outstanding! Did the 4WD safari - loved it. Shopping very good in Aruba. Recommend PearlGems for Tahitian Pearls, and Gemini for Tanzanite.

 

When you go through customs on return and they ask you where you bought your jewelry, the right answer is St. Thomas. They want to know you spent the money at the less developed islands rather than Aruba.

 

Nevis Sailaway: This was probably our favorite excursion, in spite of the fact that we had a couple of quick showers during the sail. The Cat is a short walk from the Ship; and you are on board and heading out of the harbor in minutes. This is a good opportunity to get a photo of the ship.

 

The ride to the snorkeling area takes about 30 minutes I guess. Not too rough when we did it, the Cat is a very stable boat (it is considerably larger than the Cat we had for the Champagne Cat on St. Thomas.)

 

Snorkeling was outstanding. Saw Sea Turtle, Barracuda, Parrotfish, and tons of all those little ones that are every color and pattern imaginable. Also Sea Urchins and various Coral.

 

Had plenty of time to snorkel, then they blew the conch shell horn and it was time for a 40 minute ride to Nevis. Plenty of beer, rum etc. was available after snorkeling. We arrived at Nevis and they had little hut where you could get the beverage of your choice (all beverages are included in price )

 

They served a very good and plentiful lunch of grilled Chicken Quarter, Hot dog, and a couple of types of Island salads that were real tasty.

 

After eating you had about an hour to walk, or swim or lay out. There was no snorkeling opportunity at Nevis (no structure for fish of coral).

 

The ride back to the ship was fun, everyone was real relaxed. Lively Music being played and the younger folks enjoyed dancing and continued beverages.

 

If you wanted it to be a "lively" rum excursion, you certainly could, but that was probably less than 1/3 of the crowd. The rest just had 0-4 or so drinks over the course of 3 hours and took it easy, laying out in the sun on the bow of the Cat.

 

Hope this gives you a flavor of the excursion. I would highly recommend this one.

 

PS: the crew was very safety conscious, yet fun.

 

Formal Nights were Tuesday (after St. Kitts) and Friday (after Aruba).

 

We ate in the Steakhouse (Still called the Desert Rose - it has not changed names yet), but not in the Italian. Steaks were good - I would recommend the Prime Rib. I had the NY Strip and although very good, I would try something else next time. Everyone who I talked to who went to Sabatini's loved it (be prepared to stuff yourself.)

 

Cabin: Very adequate. Lots of storage space. Bed was very comfortable. Next time I will either get a balcony or an inside cabin. You are just not in your room enough that a window really matters. However one of our new cruise friends reported that she observed the balconies being a pretty active place late at night. (wink wink nudge nudge)

 

Dining: We had Personal Choice, and loved it. Ate once by ourselves, once with one couple, once with 2 other couples, and the rest with 3 other couples. NEVER had to wait. Service was very good.

 

Gambling: I am not a gambler so I don't know for sure, but the Slots seemed very stingy. Black jack was fun, but the dealers seemed rather amateurish. All in all, I don't think I will spend much time in the future gambling.

 

Deck Chairs: No problem noted with Chair hogs. Never had any trouble finding a pair of chairs. We seemed to gravitate to the aft pool (adults only), not only for sunning but as a place for a drink and to eat breakfast.

 

Overall: We loved our first cruise! The main thing you have to do is go there with an open mind and don't sweat the small stuff! If you wanted to get your panties all bunched up, you could ... but it sure seems like a waste of time to me.

[amapola]

When you go through customs on return and they ask you where you bought your jewelry, the right answer is St. Thomas. They want to know you spent the money at the less developed islands rather than Aruba.

 

Two comments on this:

(1) Most of the time I've just been waved through with my properly filled out Customs declaration, but if the Customs agent decides to check, you have to present receipts for your purchases. I don't think you can just say "I got it in St. Thomas."

 

(2) The duty-free allowance is higher for purchases made in St. Thomas because it is a US territorial possession.

 

Oh, and one other comment. Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't go around advising people to lie. :eek:

[karen2cruz]

We were just on her in January, in a Dolphin deck mini-suite. Had easy embarkation (20 minutes). Ship is lovely and crew is great. This was our best cruise to date. Can't wait to do the alternate itinerary. Liked it more than the Mariner of the Seas on RCCL. Loved San Juan too.

 

We were booked on her sister ship, the Grand Princess, for April 2006 Western Caribbean; but Princess moved up the European itinerary by 3 weeks - boo hoo.

 

Have a great cruise!

[wspatton]

Two comments on this:

(1) Most of the time I've just been waved through with my properly filled out Customs declaration, but if the Customs agent decides to check, you have to present receipts for your purchases. I don't think you can just say "I got it in St. Thomas."

 

(2) The duty-free allowance is higher for purchases made in St. Thomas because it is a US territorial possession.

 

Oh, and one other comment. Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't go around advising people to lie. :eek:

 

Your point is well taken, I should have just related my own experience:

 

In San Juan Customs, when the agent looked at my properly completed Declarations form, he asked me "Where did you buy this jewelry?"

 

I responded, "In Aruba." He frowned, and looked at my Declarations page for a long couple of moments, then waved me through.

 

I had the distinct impression that if had purchased the jewelry in St. Thomas and had therefore responded, "In St. Thomas..." that he would have not frowned before waving me through.

 

Thanks for allowing me to clarify.

[Tak8]

The Golden is a beautiful ship. Advantages over Royal: 24 hour pools, service and food was better. Disadvantages: You lose the rock climbing wall and ice skating rink. I enjoy Princess more than any cruiseline I have been on.

[enymarsh]

We love the Golden too! We've been on her twice and still feel that we could go again. The ship has so many places to "be" that you never feel like there's too many people onboard. I liked the "swim-against-the-current" pool that's near the spa (forward). It always had available lounge chairs on the deck above it, both in the sun and the shade.

 

A big advantage for us (from RCL) was that the buffet never closes. We always seem to want something to eat right at that off time between 3:30 and 5:30. On Princess there's so many options at that time that we've never been disappointed.

 

One thing that you'll probably notice is that the atrium isn't very impressive. RCL really has the prettiest atriums with the most wow factor of most lines, and Princess uses that space for other things so the atrium only spans 3 decks.

[amapola]

Your point is well taken, I should have just related my own experience:

 

Oops, sorry :o . I obviously misunderstood your original statement. Thanks for clearing it up! :)

[wwinfl91]

We cruised on the Golden in the Med in 2003. We were a little worried it might be too big a ship for us to enjoy but we were very happy with the way the ship was laid out. It has lots of places where you can find some private time. It also was laid out so that it seemed like we would meet someone at lunch or dinner and then see that person later on during the cruise. It seemed like a much smaller ship when it came to seeing and meeting people. It also was an easy ship to find your way around which is always an advantage. The only thing we didn't really like was to get from our cabin to most of the rest of the ship we ended up walking through the art gallery area and to be honest we didn't feel like the art being displayed was worth looking at for the most part. The people who ran the art gallery got to know us very well and finally after 6 or 7 days quit trying to sell us something.

 

No more seriously this was our first Princess cruise and we have since been on the Island Princess, which we also liked a lot and have signed up to do another Princess cruise in sometime in 2006.

 

Go on the Golden and have a great next cruise.