Golden Princess New Zealand 11th to 24th February 2016 - Complete Picture Review!

[Hawka]

Reading that I do wish I was back on her

[hopestotravelmore]

Finally it was time for our dinner reservation. My father is Italian and I love Italian food so I was looking forward to eating at Sabatini’s. I had read so much about this restaurant here on CC. Sabatini’s was like my little bit of an Italian Villa. It was a beautifully decorated restaurant. I adored the paintings of the Italian countryside decorating the walls. This place reminded me of my beloved Italy.

 

Remember I told you that James and I visited the International Café for afternoon tea, Horizon Court for cheeses, sliced meats and those yummy rolls that Princess make. Confession time… we had the cheese and meats twice. So by this time our tummies were full and we had to have a dinner at Sabatini’s. Not any easy feat, I’m telling you.

 

The waiter sat us done and gave us the menu. We told him we only want the mains. You should have seen his face. He was shocked. “Fancy not wanting to eat our beautiful Antipasti or Pasta. You only want Secondi Piatti? Unbelievable!” He was not a happy man.

 

He told us we had to start with their Herbed Focaccia Grissini, Rosemary flatbread with Prosciutto and marinated green and black olives. We moaned and said OK. Just to keep him happy we ate it. I must say it was yummy.

Then out came our mains. James had Tris d’ Aragosta – Lobster 3 ways. He said it was delicious. I had Petto di Pollo con Asiago e Pomodoorini – Chicken supreme stuffed with eggplant, asiago and sun dried tomatoes. The waiter came back and asked if we enjoyed our meal. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I thought my chicken was dry. So I smiled sweetly and lied. It was delicious. There were not too many other people. Around 10 of us were having a meal here tonight.

 

Then we were asked what we would like for dessert. I sunk down low in the chair and said no dessert. He nearly fell over with shock and tried to talk us into having some. He even brought over the head waiter and told him how we were not eating much. Both men thought we were silly Australians. They told us to come back another night for dessert, but we never went back. Next time, I hope to go to Sabatini’s with an empty stomach or pray that we do not have the same waiter again. Still, the staff were lovely and the surrounds were impressive.

 

After dinner it was a quick trip to the outside area of the Promenade Deck for a smoke (James, not me) and then we called it an early night. We are not party people so we never made it up to the 17th deck for nightclub dancing.

 

The night’s entertainment was MUTS movie – The Walk and A Walk in the Woods and Leap Year were playing in the Princess Theatre and Vista Lounge.

Welcome Aboard Show at 10pm with Comedienne Jo Little. Apparently she was a funny woman but we were too tired to attend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hawka]

i never went to the disco but i did go up there a couple of times to sit and relax and read a book etc fell asleep there and woke to sea fog , was amazing as could not see the bridge just about from the aft due to how thick the fog was

[MicCanberra]

Sabatini's looks awesome and the food sounds good, too bad you were too full to really appreciate it.

[QE2_Fan]

Oh you're a crack up! I've only just read your introduction and I'm hooked!

We've mist booked a short MEL/SYD Cruise on Golden Princess next month so will enjoy hearing ..and seeing what you have to say about her!

 

By the way I wouldn't worry about terrorists on your journey, I'd be worried about those kiwis and their sheep lol!!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Hawka]

 

 

Then we took that romantic walk around the Promenade Deck. We promised ourselves that we would do this walk every day. Did we keep that promise? No, we only managed to complete the walk twice again. We even took our first selfie to send to the kids. They thought Mum and Dad were rather childish. See kids, the old folks can have fun too!

 

I promised myself to walk that deck every day too didn't happen though sometimes due to it being shut at the front didn't help, hope you did do the ultimate tour I did I enjoyed it even when we doing the should has broken down for a little while which we didn't know Till we were in the galley the captain on my cruise was a different person

I never made it to a specialty restaurant I was going to do the ones you mentioned but just enjoyed my MDR experience with the waiters we had they were awesome

Edited March 2, 2016 by Hawka

[crochetcruise]

HopesToTravelMore,

 

THANK YOU! The screenshot of the Messenger App explaining how to logout successfully, answers a concern of mine-knowing HOW to successfully log out of the Internet on board. I've written down the step-by-step instructions on my Cruising Notepad #2, I need to buy another notepad, this one's nearly full, and I've already finished 1 other! SO much useful information on Cruise Critic.

[MicCanberra]

I always try not to make promises I know I cannot keep, for that reason, I never commit to walking on a cruise ship or going to the Gym or even trying to watch what I eat. I indulge in the food and drink (alcoholic and not), and do not worry about how much I may put on.

[OzKiwiJJ]

I always try not to make promises I know I cannot keep, for that reason, I never commit to walking on a cruise ship or going to the Gym or even trying to watch what I eat. I indulge in the food and drink (alcoholic and not), and do not worry about how much I may put on.

 

Ditto :D

[Hawka]

I always try not to make promises I know I cannot keep, for that reason, I never commit to walking on a cruise ship or going to the Gym or even trying to watch what I eat. I indulge in the food and drink (alcoholic and not), and do not worry about how much I may put on.

 

my promise didnt last long :D but i did do it a 2 or 3 times though did do a few half way around walks to get to different areas of the ship a different way i did do the gym twice for a few minutes here or there i did eat and i did drink non alcoholic and alcoholic i did enjoy every second of my cruise my walks were to be for watching out for dolphins and whales if lucky [wasnt though others did see ] a bit for trying to keep the weight down i had already lost prior to the cruise which i did put back only half of what i lost so not too bad , i did see flying fish which i had only ever seen on tv on doco's

but yes i think i wont promise myself ever to do the walk around the deck ever again on a cruise in case i don't get to do it due to doing other stuff that you do on cruises :):o

[MicCanberra]

my promise didnt last long :D but i did do it a 2 or 3 times though did do a few half way around walks to get to different areas of the ship a different way i did do the gym twice for a few minutes here or there i did eat and i did drink non alcoholic and alcoholic i did enjoy every second of my cruise my walks were to be for watching out for dolphins and whales if lucky [wasnt though others did see ] a bit for trying to keep the weight down i had already lost prior to the cruise which i did put back only half of what i lost so not too bad , i did see flying fish which i had only ever seen on tv on doco's

but yes i think i wont promise myself ever to do the walk around the deck ever again on a cruise in case i don't get to do it due to doing other stuff that you do on cruises :):o

 

People should do whatever hey wish when it comes to the exercising or not. Some people enjoy it and others not so much.:D

[DebbieMacG]

Great review so far, thank you :)

[jimbri]

Wonderful review and photos!

[Hawka]

People should do whatever hey wish when it comes to the exercising or not. Some people enjoy it and others not so much.:D

 

true :) i did enjoy the walks i did do on the ship though got to the front before they shut it off while it was very foggy , totally weird as you could not tell the ship was moving at all when it was calm i just about could not see the bridge from the back of the ship was awesome

[greenie082756]

This is a wonderful review. It is so nice to read a first timers experience.

 

My DH and I have been on the Golden twice and it is a beautiful ship indeed.

 

I am so glad that you had a wonderful time.

 

As far as the eating too much, yep, we did that on our round trip cruise to Hawaii. We learned near the end how to keep it under control and to exercise as much as possible. The promenade deck is easy to do and the view, well, you can't beat it! :)

 

I will continue reading your experience as it is very entertaining!!

Thank you for taking the time to do it. :D

[MicCanberra]

The only real exercise I get on the ship is using the stairs, and going back and forth from our balcony and the bar. Unless you count bending my elbows (food and drink) as exercise.;)

[bapaleg]

Thank you for posting your review. We are doing Sydney to aukland next year. Can you please post your patters if you still have them. Also can you tell me what tours you took at these ports. It would really help

[pkt1976]

I love your review so far and will enjoy following along!

[hopestotravelmore]

Oh you're a crack up! I've only just read your introduction and I'm hooked!

We've mist booked a short MEL/SYD Cruise on Golden Princess next month so will enjoy hearing ..and seeing what you have to say about her!

 

By the way I wouldn't worry about terrorists on your journey, I'd be worried about those kiwis and their sheep lol!!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

QE2_Fan love your comment about the Kiwis and their sheep. very funny.

[hopestotravelmore]

Thank you for posting your review. We are doing Sydney to aukland next year. Can you please post your patters if you still have them. Also can you tell me what tours you took at these ports. It would really help

 

Hi Bapaleg. I will post the patters as I kept them all. I live in the middle of Victoria and our internet is sooooooooooo slow. The ships satellite internet is much faster. I didnt realize it would take so long to do this review. I have to resize all the pictures then add them to photobucket then put them on here. and I work off the farm so its a slow process.

 

I will do posts on all the ports and what we did.

[hopestotravelmore]

I love your review so far and will enjoy following along!

 

Thankyou Pkt

[TracieABD]

Maureen-

I have mad respect for you. I have been on CC for years, posted a few times, written a live from or two--- AND STILL CANNOT POST A PICTURE! You are amazing to me! My new hero!

 

Thank you for the fun start of what will become an epic review---

 

Can't wait for more!

Tracie-Lynn:)

[hopestotravelmore]

Friday Feb. 12 Todays Weather 23

 

At Sea: Speed 19.7 Knots Slight seas with short/low SW’ly swell

 

Today was another first for us - our first sea day. While planning a cruise, I wanted to experience a number of sea days. Reading Cruise Critic, I discovered that you either hate sea days or you love them. What would we be like? I am sure James would love sea days as any chance he gets he goes fishing and sits on the Murray River for days. Me I think that is so boring, I need to be doing something at least for part of a day. So I thought that while James sits by the pool doing nothing, I could explore the ship, join in any activities and just people watch. This holiday should cater for both our needs.

 

In Australia, we have this travel show called ‘Getaway’ and I can remember years ago watching an episode where they were on a P&O cruise to the South Pacific. It wasn’t the beauty of the Islands, or the beautiful sunsets that I remember, it was watching 100’s, and I mean 100’s of passengers hanging out on the pool deck with countless children jumping over the sun lounges disturbing someone’s quiet time. Hell what quiet time could they be having on that overcrowded pool deck? No way would you get me on a cruise or sitting by the main pool I thought back then.

 

While planning I asked questions like – “Where is the quietest place besides your cabin to sit on the ship?” The response - Terrace Pool; some areas of the Promenade deck and Skywalkers nightclub during the day. I studied the ship map so I could familiarize myself with these places. I didn’t want 100’s of people ruining my quiet time on board.

 

I have mentioned that James is a smoker. So when he wakes he usually heads straight to Deck 15 beside the Tradewinds Bar. This is where you will find all the smokers. Also on certain parts of the Promenade Deck (deck7) they are allowed to smoke. If I lost him, I usually head up to Deck 15 and sure enough he was up there chatting to one of his unhealthy kind. Jokes! I shouldn’t be awful as I have an addiction to – chocolate and coke. And over the years I have put on weight. But my addiction won’t kill others I tell him.

 

We spent most of our first sea day (and everyday) on Deck 14, by Neptune’s Reef and Pool. Such a wonderful stimulating place to sit and watch all the action around me. Shock Horror, say what?! I loved our time spent on Deck 14/15. OMG! Can you believe what I am saying? It’s such a cool place. I only saw around 10 children on this cruise and 5 of them loved swimming in the Calypso Pool. They were all well behaved children.

 

 

 

Deck 14 – Neptune’s Reef and Pool

 

 

 

Deck 14 Prego (pizzeria), Sundaes (ice cream bar), Trident Grill (hamburger bar)

 

So what action did I discover on Deck 14 that has me raving about this place?

 

1. People watching - I was in my element observing others. The kids think I am rather rude watching people but its fun and half the time I am making up silly stories about each of these nice folks. Lol If they only knew some of stories I had invented about them, I would find myself being chased around the ship by an angry mob. Smiles!

2. MUTS – Movies under the Stars (or Sun) was heaven. I am a movie buff, so if there is a movie on board that’s where you will find me. Today’s movies were Kate and Leopold and Star Trek: Into the Darkness. I had seen both so didn’t bother watching them. 5.15pm James Taylor live at the Beacon Theatre concert was shown on Muts also. A great concert.

3. Entertainment – There was plenty. Besides the above two, they also advertised a Wet Wild and Wacky Pool games but no one entered. Pumpin’ Poolside tunes with DJ IV Real began at 12.30pm and at 2pm was Poolside Jam with Mosaic. These guys were a great band who sang some cool songs. At one stage people were up dancing to their music. We enjoyed Mosaic a number of times throughout the cruise.

4. Atmosphere – It just had a great vibe and was a fantastic sun deck to work on that tan, read or snooze. If the sun got to hot (which it did) you could sit under the roof line in the shade.

5. Almost forgot – It was close to all that terrific food. On Level 14 there was the Horizon Court (buffet), Prego Pizzeria for delicious pizza, Trident Grill for hot chips, hot dogs and burgers and Sundaes Ice Cream bar for soft serve ice-cream in a cone or cup. All this yummy food was included in your cruise price. You could get drinks at Sundaes (milk shakes) and at the bars – Tradewinds and Calypso. Drinks where charged to your card. Also waiters came around often asking if you would like a drink. Like I said heaven!

 

 

Calypso Bar

[hopestotravelmore]

I didn’t just lie around the pool all day, I also ran around collecting stamps on my Treasure Hunt Card. You had to visit certain places throughout the ship and get your card stamped. There was a $1000.00 prize draw at 12.15pm but you had to be present to win and silly me forgot.

Places to visit for the stamp were the Lotus Spa.

 

 

 

I discovered the Fitness Centre and Salon next to the Lotus Spa but never returned. Once again Shock Horror!

 

 

 

 

I never visited the Lotus Spa but did get a free 10 minute shoulder massage while taking photos. And felt guilty I didn’t go back.

[hopestotravelmore]

Other places we had to visit for that stamp where:

 

The Art Gallery – I was really impressed with all the lovely art but I didn’t buy any. Most nights when we returned to our room we always found Art Auction Pamphlets and cards inviting us to these. But we never went.

 

 

 

The Photo Video Galley. Here is a place I haunted a lot. Silly me, didn’t listen to all those reviews I read here about what a waste of time buying the photos is. I was told that you could always ask someone to take those pictures for you. But since it was our first cruise I had to buy our photos. I didn’t get the photo package at $199 I felt it was too much money. So instead I brought 7 photos each ranging in price from $11.00 to $30.00 most being $14.95. I love our photos and can’t wait to frame them. James got really mad at me for dragging him along to get these pictures done. But how could you refuse sweet old me? Being the sucker I am, I also brought the Reflections DVD (2 Disc Set) for $64.99 This DVD was on the actual cruise and all the ports we visited. Some passengers even appear in this DVD. I know, I am a bloody fool. We didn’t even appear in it.

 

 

The Grand Casino - We used the Casino many times. Not what you all think! We don’t gamble. But the Casino was used for a muster drill and I walked through the Casino to get to the Princess Theatre.

 

 

Shore Excursions Desk: Never lined up here as I had booked all our excursions online either through Princess website or privately