Golden 24 Sept-28 Sept Birthday Cruise.

[4x4bob]

One day before final payment we grabbed a cabin on the Golden Princess. I was out of ideas on what to get the Wife for her Birthday since she has twice as much stuff as I do. So this solved that problem for me. :D

 

We were really ready to get out of the house for this cruise because we live about 40 miles from the King Fire in North/East California and we were sharing the smoke from that fire.

 

We drove down to San Pedro and stayed at the Crown Plaza Hotel with their Park and Sail program. They will keep your vehicle up to 15 days for a cruise if you stay one night. They also provide a coupon for two drinks and breakfast the next day. Then will provide a van to transport you to the terminal.

 

When we signed in I was having fun with the desk clerks telling them that it took our cruise ship 12 hours to go to Catalina Island. They thought that funny since the island is 22 miles off the coast. Then my Wife told them that I was giving her a cruise for her birthday. The clerk up graded us to a corner suite on the 9th floor. The widows faced the port.

 

And, we found out that the part of the pier across from the Hotel had caught fire Monday and the smell of smoke was still in the air when we checked in. In fact the Wife told me to close the window when I opened it to get a photo of the Coral heading out to sea because the smoke started to come in. So much for getting away from smoke.

 

Tuesday after noon I watched the Coral Princess depart at about 4:30 PM.

Then the next morning at 6:30 AM I watched the Golden Princess come into the dock.

 

The next morning after breakfast we boarded the van for a ride to the port. We arrived at 10:30 and were directed to wait until the boarding clerks arrived. A little after 11:00 we signed in and were directed to the preveleged boarding seating. We were in the front row so we could watch the other passengers arrive. Saw one group of about 30 young women and three or four men in the rear come in. Never saw them again on the cruise. Wondered what program they were with. Also noticed that this cruise had lots of young cruisers traveling with grand parents and parents.

 

Finally on the ship we went and up to the cabin to drop the luggage. The wife went to the buffet and I hurried to the Donitello Dinning room for lunch. I was the last to arrive for a table for eight. Met some nice people to have lunch with. However, I noticed that the lunch menu was not the same as when I was on the Golden last year. The menu had fewer choices.

 

After lunch we grabbed the life jackets and headed to the casino for the drill. Hmm, having a life jacket training session in a casino did that mean we had to take odds on making the tender or life Raft? Just kidding.

 

Then back to the cabin to drop life jackets and head up to deck 14 for sail away party. The wife noticed, she is sharper then me, that there was no live band on the deck playing music. Hmm, wonder what is up? Then the

Captain came on to announce that we would not depart until about 2300 hours.. However, do not worry it will not impact the next day sailing. I did not hear the reason because of the MUTS playing in the background.

 

The next day the Wife asked me why the ship was rocking so much. Note: Looking at a water glass showed no wave action. She was over reacting. We were ripping along at 8.9 knots and the ocean was really calm considering three Hurricanes had just moved up the Baja coast.

 

The 24th was the Wife's Birthday. The cabin steward had hung the balloons and Placed a nice happy birthday sign on the cabin door. Also the steward had placed a notice in the cabin to be given to dinning room staff so she would get a birthday cake.

 

All of this typing is making me want something to drink, will be back in minute.

[4x4bob]

Grr, I had just finish typing another long page and this goofy program asked to sign in again and then dumped my post. Will try again.

 

We grabbed our life jacket and headed to the muster station which was in the casino.. So, having the drill in the casino, does that mean we have to lay odds on our chance to get into a tender or life raft?:eek: Just kidding.

 

After the drill we dump the life jacket back into the cabin and head up to deck 14 for sail away. Now the wife is sharper then me, she asked how come there is not band up here playing? At that point The Captain came on the speaker to tell us that we would not sail until 2300 hours that night....I missed the reason because I was standing by MUTs. The Captain then stated that this will not not impact our next port in any way.

 

Main Dinning Room: Now the Wife and I are real slow to complain about any meal that we did not have to fix and serve our selves, However>>

 

We noticed that the menu was not as complete as the last time we were on the Golden.

 

Also, the staff was not as attentive to the tables.

 

What really wound my chain was after turning in the notice about my Wifes Birthday to the dinning room staff we finished the meal including desert with out the staff bringing her birthday cake out to the table. Also, she did not have Happy Birthday song delivered by the staff at our table. We had all finished eating, then got and departed. Also, would like to mention that we were never offered coffee after desert. I stated to mention it to the head waiter, but the wife asked me to let it go.

 

Shows: We went the first night to watch The Golden Princess Dancers. This was a good show. The next night was The British Invasion. This show was better than when we say it last year. The third night we did not go. Then the Fourth nigh the Golden Princess Dancer preformed again. If I had paid for this show I would have asked for my money back.

 

Catalina: This is a tender port. The ship hired some local boats to help with transfer of the passengers to shore. The ship tenders landed at the dock next to the Catalina Flyer. The local boats landed at the Green Dock which is about a ten minute walk away.

 

Our plan was to ride the local trolley around town. But, we arrived at 9:00 AM and the the trolley did not start to run until 10:00AM. So, we walked around town. After getting lost about 15-20 times.. just kidding. One main street and two or so cross streets make it easy to get around. However, watch out for the golf carts. People rent them and then go zooming around. It looked to me that it was the first time that some had ever driven a golf cart.

 

We walked down to the green dock and watch some fishermen try to catch yellow fin. The water is really clear which was good for our MDR talble mates who went scuba diving off the point to try and find some wrecked ships.

 

Will be back with part 3 in minute. I don't want to get dropped again.

[pkt1976]

great so far!! I'll be on the Golden soon :)

[4x4bob]

Before I forget, while walking around Avlon I noticed an exotic Restaurant. Yup, they advertised Topless Taco's.:p

 

Ensenada: Coming into port The Golden Princess was in a race with the Carnavel Inspiration. We beat them into port.

 

We signed up for a ship tour to La Bufaladora. A little while ago I had read that an effort was underway to kick out the little shops and vendors that line street the last 1/2 mile or so going into the La Bufaladora. Lucky for us they were still there, so after taking the required photos we came back and poked around the shops. One piece of information about the La Bufaladora. It is the worlds largest Blow Hole. However, if the tide is too high or too low the effect is rather limp. Our visit, it was limp.

 

Coming back into town we found a lot of the main streets blocked off for a big bike race that ended at the Port next to our ship. So, Our bus driver had to do some creative driving to get us back to the ship.

 

Good Customer Service from the Customer Service Desk: The first night we checked our Folo to find out that our OBC had not been listed. Thanks to PAM who posts a lot on this board, we had a copy of all of our paper work from Princess.

 

We contacted Mario at the Service Desk who looked at our paper work and then checked our account which showed no OBC. Mario stated that he would contact Princess right away, but their response back would not be until the end of day the next day. Mario then stated that as soon as he hears something he will contact us. The next day we received a hand written note from Mario telling that the OBC was not posted.

 

That is when I found that there was not any Staff Appreciation Cards in our Cabin. So, I had to go hunt one up, fill it out, and then deposit back at the Customer Service Desk.

 

Excitement At Sea: At approx 1158 PM Friday Night a loud whistle sounded in our cabin which caused both the Wife and I hop out of bed. Then over the speaker came: First Responders assemble your team and report to deck 5. Then about five minutes later: First Responders Stand Down.

I am here to tell you if that was the emergency alarm no one would miss hearing it if they were in their cabin.

 

The next day at diner we asked our table mates if the alarm woke them up or not? They said no alarm in their cabin. They were on deck 11 and we were on deck 8.

 

Condition of the Ship: I would rate it at 90% good. Everyday there were elevators that were locked down. From time to time this would cause large groups waiting to get on. Two glass doors mid ship at the elevators on deck 14 were missing. These were part of set of four that opened out on the pool area.

Other then that the crew worked everyday at cleaning the ship. Everything else was in good shape.

 

Disembark: After we exchanged our luggage tags so we could get off at 0830 instead of 1130 everything went real smooth. What was funny we were sent to the Vista Lounge which was reserved for Non-US passengers. Did not bother us, we wanted to get going early.

 

To Sum All of This Up: We had another great cruise with good weather and we met a lot of good people to visit with. Will go back onto the Golden if another good Sale is offered to us.

 

 

Bob

[rocker57]

Thanks for posting your review, we will be on this trip in less than 3 weeks

[candide333]

Wish I had seen your post earlier, we are on the next cruise to Santa Barbara and we did not depart until 7 am the next day. Whatever needed to be fixed in your cruise, was worked on again on ours.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Wish I had seen your post earlier, we are on the next cruise to Santa Barbara and we did not depart until 7 am the next day. Whatever needed to be fixed in your cruise, was worked on again on ours.

 

A bit OT: I was on your cruise. Not sure how much you heard--some parts of the ship said they didn't hear announcements.

 

We were initially told (with no reason given at first) that we would depart at 9PM, then 1 AM and ended up spending the night at the San Pedro pier. There was later just one mention overhead that the reason was to repair a stern thruster. My guess is Princess took advantage of the fact the next day was a sea day to do some needed repair work, since no ports would be delayed or missed. The staff was very tight lipped about it, leading to all sorts of rumors, but no way to know for sure what happened.

Edited October 2, 2014 by Ryndam2002

[candide333]

Maybe Princess is saving money by not sailing in circles all night and the next sea day because the Golden is still in port today at 7:30 pm. But I did not mind the late departure because l was able to use my cellular connection for my iPad until we departed at 7am the next morning.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Maybe Princess is saving money by not sailing in circles all night and the next sea day because the Golden is still in port today at 7:30 pm...

 

That could very well be. There were some unhappy cruisers, though, since the shops and the casino were closed until after we finally sailed the next day.

[Woobstr112G]

OP;

 

Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts.....:):):)

 

Bob

[colibri93]

Excitement At Sea: At approx 1158 PM Friday Night a loud whistle sounded in our cabin which caused both the Wife and I hop out of bed. Then over the speaker came: First Responders assemble your team and report to deck 5. Then about five minutes later: First Responders Stand Down.

I am here to tell you if that was the emergency alarm no one would miss hearing it if they were in their cabin.

 

The next day at diner we asked our table mates if the alarm woke them up or not? They said no alarm in their cabin. They were on deck 11 and we were on deck 8.

[colibri93]

Excitement At Sea: At approx 1158 PM Friday Night a loud whistle sounded in our cabin which caused both the Wife and I hop out of bed. Then over the speaker came: First Responders assemble your team and report to deck 5. Then about five minutes later: First Responders Stand Down.

I am here to tell you if that was the emergency alarm no one would miss hearing it if they were in their cabin.

 

The next day at diner we asked our table mates if the alarm woke them up or not? They said no alarm in their cabin. They were on deck 11 and we were on deck 8.

 

We were on that cruise. These announcements sure woke us up on deck 10. Someone with the microphone must have pressed the wrong button. It was an unpleasant way to be woken up in the middle of the night.

[Working 2 Cruise]

The menus are different for the quickie cruises. Regular menus will be found on the 7 day or longer cruises.

[lovevacadays]

Thank you for your review. Sounds like you had a good cruise. I'm on the Golden in 7 weeks. It will be my first cruise on her.