Marvin Feiges

Age: 57
Occupation: Retired
Number of Cruises: 14
Cruise Line: Princess
Name of Ship: Golden Princess
Sailing Date: August 30th, 2002
Itinerary: Western Mediterranean/TransAtlantic

This was our first cruise on Princess. After having cruised on RCCL, Norwegian, Celebrity, Renaissance 14 times we were looking forward to the Golden Princess. The lines reputation is exemplary. This was our second Trans Atlantic. It was a seventeen day cruise. The first was on the Splendour of the Seas and was wonderful. Naturally we continued to compare everything on the Golden to all the other cruises we did in the past.

We started in Venice Italy, definitely not all its cracked up to be. The ship stayed in port for 2 days and we used it as our hotel. I found out that I was allergic to pigeons. There are probably millions of those birds in St. Marks Square. My wife picked up her fourth cameo. What would a trip be without a jewelry purchase? Nobody told us that the restaurant put a cover charge on the bill. We continued on to Florence, Isle of Capri, Monte Carlo, Lisbon, Azores and ended in New York. By a large margin the highlight of the trip was Monte Carlo. We encountered a storm coming across the North Atlantic and the ship was delayed seven hours arriving in New York and we had to spend a night at a hotel in Newark NJ.

The ship was superb. The service was first rate. We had a cabin with a balcony and that was delightful. We really enjoyed the open seating for dinner which gave us a great deal of flexibility in scheduling our activities. There was always somewhere to dance and since my wife and I dance pretty regularly we really took advantage of that opportunity. They even invited us to participate in the passenger talent show, but we declined.

As I mentioned earlier, we were constantly comparing to our experiences on other ships. The food was wonderful. The service was without fault. We celebrated our wedding anniversary while on board and they decorated outside our cabin and sang to us at dinner. The closest cruise line to Princess was RCCL and Celebrity. Each have some advantages and some disadvantages. RCCL probably was somewhat more active and fun oriented. Celebrity’s food was better in some respects. Overall, a great cruise.

I got sick on board and found out that the doctors and staff were fully up to the job. I felt that I could not have better care at a regular big city hospital. This is something we don’t think about much but one never knows.

I like large ships and the Golden Princess is large. Not as large as the Voyager or Explorer of the Seas, but few ships are. One could easily get lost and it took over two weeks to familiarize myself to the layout. One night I was waiting for my wife in a lounge only to find out that she was looking for me and I was in the wrong lounge. I was found by the ships doctor sitting in that lounge. He advised that everyone was looking for me.

The entertainment was typical of all these ships, with the mix of staff singers and dancers and some guest performers. Very good but not great.

I would definitely do Princess again. No disappointment at all.

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