Golden Or Dawn Mexican Rivera And Why?

[LindaMae]

Happy Holiday to my Fellow Cruisers :)

 

We are thinking about either of the ships for March or April. What is the difference (other than cost), and why did you like the one you chose? Heard a great review from David on the Dawn. What about the Golden-does it have the pool in the back for adults? We have done 26 cruises and did the Vision-RCL to Mexico. Want to try different things, and Princess offer wonderful service with different itineraries. Which decks for cabins? Are the insides OK for friends that will be going with us. We like a balcony to hear the noise of the water at night.

 

Did the Crown in November and it had the best service I have ever had on a ship!!;)

 

LindaMae

[Atomica]

Although we haven't been yet, we chose the Golden for a couple reasons: we sailed on the Crown in September, and really liked that size of ship, the cruise departs on a Saturday, and leaves from LA, which is a little easier for us to get to than San Diego.

 

However, the Dawn has a couple good things going for it: it leaves from San Diego (arguably nicer than San Pedro), and you spend more time in Cabo San Lucas than the Golden does.

 

It's probably going to boil down to personal preference. I've read lots of positive experiences from people sailing on both ships.

[bhopal21]

We chose the Golden simply because the cruise begins and ends on a Saturday and we ddidn't want to have to return to the east coast late on a Sunday evening and then go to work the next day.;)

 

Mike:)

[ARRTrain]

We chose the Dawn. We wanted the longer stay in Cabo. The really long stay at Vallarta was cool too. Princess has a tour in Vallarta that does a late night candle light dinner. No one under 12 allowed, though. Couldn't go.

 

It was cheaper to fly from Alaska to San Diego than it was to fly the shorter distance to LA.

[Colo Cruiser]

Other then the longer stay in Cabo I would choose the Golden, just a much better experience in my book, but there are people that love both. :)

[Lorabelle]

We just got off the Dawn about a week ago. I really enjoyed the ship. The food was very good. I found it better than when we sailed the Grand in January.

 

We chose the Dawn over the Golden mainly due to price. We got a good deal on a balcony room, which we prefer. But I do like the fact that they have a longer day in Cabo. We did an ATV tour that we scheduled on our own. We would not have been able to do that tour on the shorter day there.

 

If you're flying in for your cruise, getting from the airport to the ship is much, much easier in San Diego. The airport is only about 5 minutes from the ship.

 

Lori

[Druke I]

I personally would pick the Dawn Princess.

 

I prefer the smaller size of the Dawn - and am not a fan of the Grand class ships.

 

San Diego is a much prettier port than San Pedro.

[cruze610]

Both ships are great. But I prefer the Dawn over the Golden. I will be doing this ininerary on the Dawn on 1/13/08 and cant wait. It will be my 3rd time on a sun class ship and I think of all the ships in the fleet, they are my favorite. But it is really personal preference. BOTH ARE GREAT. either way, you cant go wrong. Enjoy

[willysgrandma]

We chose the Dawn fo March 30 for two reasons:

 

She is in Cabo all day, where the Golden isn't.

 

We love San Diego and are adding a few days on to visit again.

[Jayjoans]

We chose the Golden because we have enjoyed the larger class ships on RCCL. Knowing what I know now about Princess, we probably would have chosen the Dawn out of San Diego and opted for more time in Cabo. The Golden was not that impressive (actually a bit tired), so if it cost less to go on the Dawn and you get to spend a day in Cabo rather than a few hours, we would have booked the Dawn.

[dobie]

Golden definitely for us over the Dawn. The Dawn does not have the covered indoor pool that the Golden does and we enjoy being able to sit by the pool and hot tubs, read, and not worry about the cold or the sun. When we were on the Dawn for an Acapulco-Vancouver cruise we ran into bad weather, cold, rain, wind....and there was not enough space for all of the passengers to be inside..without the covered pool we felt a bit trapped. They actually had a golf putting contest in the lobby on the carpet, and it was so crowded!

We were on the Emerald in Oct and would not repeat that ship, either, too many people, too little space, no covered pool. She is like the Golden but has a whole extra deck of cabins, which made a huge difference.

If you are not a pool type person, the Dawn is smaller and should be fine...

[Gallivanting Souls]

Happy Holiday to my Fellow Cruisers :)

 

We are thinking about either of the ships for March or April. What is the difference (other than cost), and why did you like the one you chose? Big snip

Loved the Dawn. Princess made me feel like a queen! Haven't been on the Golden, although we did see her in Cabo. With both at the peir it's like Barbie and her sister Skipper. Both beautiful, just smaller. Another reason I can think of if you are planning on flying from SAC is express jet. They fly (I believe from there to SAN) cheap! Dawn has a nice long time time at port in PV!

[newmexicoNita]

Loved the Dawn. Princess made me feel like a queen! Haven't been on the Golden, although we did see her in Cabo. With both at the peir it's like Barbie and her sister Skipper. Both beautiful, just smaller. Another reason I can think of if you are planning on flying from SAC is express jet. They fly (I believe from there to SAN) cheap! Dawn has a nice long time time at port in PV!

EXpress Jet, cheap, from Alburquerque to Sac the rate is 1/2 again what other lines are charging or were about a month ago. They do fly direct, non stop but the price is not cheap.

 

Nita

[pris993]

I have gone on the Dawn twice to Mexico out of San Francisco round trip. First time had a fantastic time, so booked again. Next trip, service was so, so. Second trip we had a mini suite which made up for the difference in service, first trip had balcony cabin, balconies are very small on this ship.

 

Took the Golden on a Transatlantic from Southampton to New York. Enjoyed the ship alot. Had a mini suite again.

 

We like the big ship experience, we would do the Golden over the Dawn for that reason.

[leeuwarden]

we have been on both, we think the dawn is better (smaller ship) and i tought the food was better on the dawn.

[LindaMae]

Thank you all for your responses so quickly!!:) We will make our decision in January during wave month-hope to get a good deal then.

 

Please keep them coming in for all us sea lovers to hear about your experiences.

 

And continue with "Happy Holidays!" And dreams for days on a cruise!!:):)

[dclark]

I was on the Golden last xmas and just near everything was good to excellent, one of the best cruises I have ever had. For New Years (I leave in 10 days!), I chose the Dawn and I urge anyone who is cruising Mexico to do the same.Here is my reason:

The Dawn is the last "small" Princess ship to sail out of North America. She will be leaving soon for good for Australia. You can always sail on a Grand + size ship, but your chance to sail on a smaller one will be gone for good, unless you do a pricey south pacific cruise or similar. I started cruising on the Sovereign when she was a few months old, then the Elation, when she was new, moved up to the Explorer of the Seas did a few CCL Conquest size ships, then the Golden. Big ships are the present and future and although they have their pluses, so do smaller ships. It seems that the bigger the ship, the more corners are cut, but that imho. I have to repeat that I loved the Golden. Sail the Golden and you fly into yucky LAX, leave and leave an ugly port, spend more time on ocean that offers horrible pool side weather before you get to Mexico,less time in port and you get to wonder if you made a mistake at sailing on the Dawn before she is gone.

[bdjam]

I chose the Dawn and I urge anyone who is cruising Mexico to do the same.Here is my reason:

The Dawn is the last "small" Princess ship to sail out of North America. She will be leaving soon for good for Australia.

I’m partial to smaller ships, and this would be a good reason for me to sail Dawn Princess – get her before she’s gone. Not only is she one of the last of the 2000 passenger ships (only Coral and Island will remain and who knows for how long), but she and her sister Sun Princess introduced many of the amenities that we take for granted today on ships…it’s good to experience the history.

That being said, San Diego is a much easier port from which to embark and disembark. The airport is literally a five minute ride from the pier as opposed to crossing all of LA to get to San Pedro. It was so much easier than LAX, if I ever have a choice between the two, I’ll pick San Diego.

As stated the San Diego itinerary has more time in Cabo and PV. That is a plus for some as well.

Do Dawn Princess – Golden Princess will be around for years and even if you end up not liking the smaller ship, you’ll still have a great cruise.

[Solara]

Thank you all for your responses so quickly!!:) We will make our decision in January during wave month-hope to get a good deal then.

 

Please keep them coming in for all us sea lovers to hear about your experiences.

 

And continue with "Happy Holidays!" And dreams for days on a cruise!!:):)

What is wave month????

[christinelee]

DAWN!

1. San Diego (is there a more beautiful city in the USA?)

2. Longer in Cabo

3. smaller ship

4. Longer in Puerto Vallarta

5. Returns to San Diego

6. Cheaper

Need More?

[H20 Lover]

We picked the Dawn due to it being in port longer in Cabo & PV. Looking forward to sailing out of San Diego as well. I'm looking forward to seeing if I like the smaller ship.

[klash1]

Don't know if this is any help. But is a review of our cruise on the Golden Princess December 1 to December 8 this year.

 

:)Golden Princess - Mexican Riviera We were on the Golden Princess on the December 1/2007 Mexican Riviera Cruise. This was our 3rd Cruise. The first with Princess. Our 2 previous cruises were with Celebrity(Zenith) and Royal Caribbean(Mariner of the Seas).

 

EMBARKATION: We took the Super Shuttle from LAX to the cruise terminal for $17.00 per person. Our flight arrived in LA at 10:27 a.m. and by 12 Noon were were on the Ship having a drink and lunch.I was very impressed with the way Princess had us thru and on board so quickly.

 

 

PUBLIC ROOMS AND THE SHIP: The Golden Princess is still in very nice shape but if you look hard enough you will see areas that need attention. Some examples are Rust showing up thru paint and also some areas needed varnish.It seemed to us that they did not spend much time cleaning the glass on the outside. We noticed that in the Horizon Court and also on our Balcony glass.A year ago when we were on the Mariner of the Seas when they were in Port the Exterior Windows were being washed and rust spots being touched up.

 

 

OUR CABIN: We were in Mini-suite E727 which is right near the rear of the ship on Emerald Deck. The Mini-suites are wonderful. So much more space and my Wife loved the large bathtub compared to the normal tight shower space. We had loads of storage space left that we didn't use. Our Cabin Steward was Jerry from the Philippines and we met him as soon as we got to our Cabin. What a great guy. We really enjoyed his friendship and his wonderful service. We never had 1 complaint with the cabin service. The last night of the cruise we had lots of rocking and rolling due to the weather but talking to different people in the morning it was the same all over the ship.

 

POOLS AND SHIP ACTIVITIES We spent most of our pool time at the Lotus Spa Pool and it was wonderful. It is not a big pool but it has shallow areas in it that we liked. It also has the swim against the current feature that we didn't try but We watched people having fun with it. The Pools I believe are heated. The temperatures of all the pools was usually around 28 to 30 degrees Celsius.There are 2 main pools on Deck 14 and one has a sliding dome cover which is an excellent idea for cool or rainy days. There were lots of activities going on all the time. We enjoyed the shows very much. There were 2 Comedians, an Illusionist, and a Ventriloquist that we watched.

 

 

DINING: We wanted late traditional dining but ended up with anytime dining. We went to the Bernini the first night and asked for table for 2. We got table #60 and our Waiter was Aldelfo from Philippines and Assistant was Joseph also from Philippines. They were so good that we asked MaitreD if we could reserve that table for the Cruise. He gave it to us with the understanding that if we were not there by 5:45 p.m it might be gone. We dined there 5 nights out of the seven and got our same table every time.Aldefo and Joseph did a wonderful job and were so friendly. We had lots of fun with them once we got to know them a little. The Dining Room food was good. We had a couple of dishes that we felt were lacking in flavor. The portions were large and if you wanted more there was never a problem. I had 2 Lobsters on Lobster night and our Waiter was the one who asked if we wanted another one.We ate all our breakfasts and lunches at the Horizon Court. As most other reviews say it is a bit of a traffic snarl around there. We tried to stagger our time abit and found it made a big difference. We loved the food there. There was such a large selection and it changed every day. We felt that most of the Buffet food actually had better flavor than the dining room food.

 

 

PORTS: As we have seen so much of Mexico we didn't go on any shore excursions. We got off at every Port and did our walk about with a little shopping and then back on the ship for relaxation.

 

DISEMBARKATION: Princess wins here hands down at least on this cruise they did. We gathered at the Vista Lounge 10 minutes before our scheduled time and we were walking off right on time.Picked up our luggage and straight onto a bus to LAX. We bought transfers on board from Princess rather than trying to find the Super Shuttle. Our Flight was leaving at 11:05 a.m. so we didn't want any slip-ups.

 

 

OVERALL: We enjoyed the Cruise very much. We would definitely cruise with Princess again. I believe that the Golden may soon need to go in for refurbishing as most other reviews also noted a bit of wear and tear.

Regards Klash1:)

[Princess Chatterer]

I've sailed several times on both ships and I would pick the Dawn any day. Why? Less crowding.

[jlp20]

Happy Holiday to my Fellow Cruisers :)

 

We are thinking about either of the ships for March or April....LindaMae

 

Been on both ships, here are links to reviews and photos:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=672928

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=446272&highlight=dawn

 

In a nutshell:

 

The Dawn is older; the cabins are smaller to make up the room for the miniscule balconies (3 feet deep).

 

The Golden in newer, much larger and has standard sized balconies.

 

My opinion is the Dawn is overpriced for what you get.

[starsjohn]

We picked the Golden for February 08 for one simple reason. We leave the house and less than 3/4 hour later, will be sitting in a deck chair all checked in.

 

I have been on the Dawn and consider it a wonderful ship by all accounts.

 

And, this is the trip that will put us in the Elite program, Yah!