Joseph Drew

Age: 36
Number of Cruises: 10
Cruise Line: Princess Cruises
Ship: Golden Princess
Sailing Date: December 8th, 2001
Itinerary: Eastern Caribbean

Introduction

I’ve been cruising since age 15, thanks to my Grandparents who introduced me to the Sitmar line and a 14-day cruise to Alaska for my 15th birthday. Since then I’ve cruised on and off, sailing HAL, Princess and Celebrity. My most recent voyage was a 12-day Royal Princess cruise this past summer to Western Europe and Iberia. This was my partner John’s first cruise. With all first cruises you need a fast encore. John’s 40th birthday was coming up and I decided to surprise him with another cruise. The only thing John would know is that he was going on a cruise… He didn’t know where and hopefully would never figure out that some of his buddies would be coming along as well.

After much research and trying to fit everyone’s budget and lifestyle I came up with the Golden Princess and an Eastern Caribbean sailing. The Golden worked well for everyone value wise, it offered personal choice dining, and the reviews from other passengers looked favorable. I was a little apprehensive about another Princess cruise so close to our last.

Summary:

For all of you who don’t want to wade through my babblings. Here are my grades for the cruise.

Staff: B+
Embarkation: A-
Stateroom: A
Personal Choice: B
The Ship: B
Food: B+
Entertainment: B
Disembarkation: A

Oh the Carpet: C- J

Pre Cruise:

We arrived in Ft Lauderdale the night before and stayed at the Marriott Marina courtesy of a great deal on Priceline. We enjoyed a quick bite at the hotel’s bar and went off to bed. The next morning we awoke to a view of the Golden Princess. We had a nice breakfast, a walk around the grounds and headed off to the pier.

Embarkation:

Mistake number one: Don’t arrive too early. We were at the pier at about 11:15am and there we already a hundred or so passengers waiting to get on the ship. No big deal. We all were boarded in about 15 minutes. I talked with others who arrived after 12:30pm and they said there was no wait and they just walked on the ship.

First Impressions:

I have seen many pictures of the Golden on the net and was pretty familiar with the set up. However, I was impressed with the atrium. Beautiful mosaic tiles, wonderful metal work on the elevator shafts, and the very nice curving staircases. All the finishes looked first rate.

Our Stateroom:

We booked a mini-suite on the Dolphin deck. I am very glad we did. The stateroom was a perfect size. Nice bathroom with a tub, quality fixtures, cute mosaic tile and lots of storage. I did avail myself to a bath one day. Good size, even for my 6’ 1” body. The sleeping area is a nice size with a desk, two side tables with dimming lights (loved those dimmers). The sitting area had a decent sofa, nice coffee table and a side chair. The sitting and sleeping area share a built-in that accommodates two televisions and the refrigerator and lots of counter space… I guess this is where the bar USED to be before Princess eliminated this amenity. The balcony was a treat. Two reclining chairs and a small bistro set for dining. Cheap plastic, but hey, it worked. Balconies on this floor are completely exposed to the Caribbe, Baja and Aloha decks above. This really never bothered me and I noticed that not a lot of people used their balconies for any extended period of time. Wonder why? It was nice to look directly down at the water and look up at the stars at night.

The stateroom was nice to space to entertain as well. We usually all met before dinner to share a drink and chat.

Our cabin steward, Angelo was great. Extremely professional. We never saw the guy. The stateroom was always kept in great shape with lots of new towels! He also did the best birthday decorations of any cabin steward on the ship. Three balloons, streamers and a nice birthday sign for John. Good job, Angelo.

The Surprise:

As John was getting settled in our stateroom, little by little his friends came by to surprise him. And he was surprised. I’m glad we were able to pull this off! Along with me and John, were Alex, Eric, Bill, Mark and the other John. A nice group of seven. We all did what we wanted during the day but always met for dinner. Everyone seemed to find something to fill their day. Here’s to Princess for having a ship that caters to so many different personalities.

The Ship:

Many have commented on the ship and its public areas. Just a few comments from me. I found the public areas to be very nice, but bland. I think all of us were impressed. The highlight was the atrium and pool areas.

The two large pools were very nice, good size. Beautiful tile work. The spa pool was very enjoyable. The swim against the current feature was a great feature. That pool was adjacent to the gym (good variety of equipment) and the men and women’s sauna and steam rooms. The pool and whirlpools located on the aft of the ship were a nice quiet area. An oversized chess set was nearby as well. There were quality loungers in the Calypso pool area. Not much teak deck spaces on this ship. After much searching we found the Princess Links golf course, very cute.

The Promenade deck had ‘simulated’ teak. The promenade deck was a nice walking space except for the aft portion. Very small space to walk around. This seemed like an after thought.

The bars and lounges were ok, but nothing that had a ‘wow’ factor. I was not really impressed with any of the artwork in these spaces… Most of the art seemed kind of amateurish. The Princess Theater was impressive and had a quality sound system. It was always a popular room.

Skywalker’s (the ‘disco’ located in the spoiler of the ship) was a fun space. The moving walkway to the entrance added to the excitement. The disco offered lots of unique sitting areas and a very creative interior design.

The Vista Lounge was ok, but many columns affected the site lines. I played some bingo there and that’s about it. The library offered an excellent variety of books. The stores along the atrium offered your basic cruise clothing, jewels, and cologne. Stores were very nicely furnished and had an upscale feel. The dining rooms were virtually identical single story spaces. Tables were nicely spread out and the dining rooms never seemed too loud.

The Carpet:

Why do I even mention it? I just found it strange that the carpet really never matched the tile. The tile work, be it marble or mosaics, just clashed with the strange patterned color carpets. I think the interior design team went to sleep during this phase of the project. No big deal, but the ship would look so much better if some attention was given to coordination. It’s just something that needled at me.

Personal Choice and the Food

We opted for Princess’ Personal Choice Dining. The first night, I said I’d never do this again! The concept is that you can choose when and where you want to eat from 5:30 to 10pm. Well all seven of us decide to eat around 7:30pm. We arrive at the Donnatello dining room to find herds of people waiting… sitting on the floor and cluttering the entrance. We asked for a table for 7 and are told it will be a 45-minute wait. Oh my. I requested the same size table in the Bernini dining room and I was told the same thing. The Maitre D’ looked very frazzle along with all the passengers. We finally get our table and our waiter, if you want to call him that, is not to be seen. When he finally shows up, he greets us and says things are a little unorganized tonight, but we will get to you. OK. No water, no menus, no nothing for 15 minutes. Finally a menu. Then our table mate Mark, remarks to the waiter that he looks just like Doogie Houser. We all agree and the waiter is not that pleased. I don’t think he was turned off by the comment, I just think he was a lousy waiter. Suffice it to say we did not have an enjoyable first dinner.

I wrote down a name of waitress that a fellow Golden Princess reviewer, Jeff Coud, had on his cruise [thank God] and asked if we could make a reservation in her section. The Maitre D’ said fine, but only at 6:30pm or 9pm… 9 just seemed too late and 6:30 way too early. We opted for 6:30 just this once to see if the service would be any better. We were very happy. Great service. What you would expect. Esther, from Mexico was terrific. Alex, one of our gang, enjoyed speaking Spanish with her each evening. We convinced the Maitre D’ to give us a table in her section for the rest of the cruise at 8pm. That worked out fine. A wait staff can make your cruise, or ruin it.

The food was very good, not awesome. We all thought the fish was a little dry and the beef was not up to par. Soups were wonderful. I found all the pasta dishes to be excellent. ( I had a taste of each one) We all agreed the lobster was the best. The desserts were very good as well. No problem getting a steak knife, or extra spoon. And the ice cream was never melted! Stay away from the Brandy Alexander Pie. Three of us had it and we all ‘hated it’! No taste. Remember to order a cappuccino or a mocha. They are great.

A general comment about Personal Choice on this voyage: Arriving to dinner each night we would see lots of people waiting for a table. I mean lots. And these people didn’t seem all that happy. Personal choice worked for us, but when I chatted with others, they weren’t all that happy. My suggestion is make a reservation for a table early on in your voyage and don’t assume you can walk into the dining room and get a table when you want it.

We ate breakfast most days in our stateroom. Remember to write in anything you don’t see on the menu. The omelets and pancakes were very tasty. Lunch was usually pizza or something from the Horizon Court buffet. Buffet food was good. But I found that area to be crowded almost always and a lot of rude people pushing and shoving to get their food.

We all ate one night at the Desert Rose, a Princess alternative restaurant. For $8 a head you get a great Tex-Mex meal and a quality margarita. These were good. We had a great waiter and a good country band doing their thing. We thoroughly enjoyed this experience.

We did Sabatini’s (The Italian alternative restaurant) for brunch one day. For $15 a head you get all the champagne you wanted and great buffet of sushi (Italian??), cold shrimp, crab legs, smoke fish and cheeses, plus an egg dish, a salad dish, a main course, and dessert. It was good food. But, based on all the great comments I’ve heard about Sabatini’s, I was a bit under whelmed. It was nice, but not all that memorable. Dinner probably would have been a better choice.

The Passengers

Let me just say I was surprised how crowded the ship was. I heard it was sold out (2700 +). Many have commented on how well the ship handles the capacity. Well I found all the sun areas of the ship extremely crowded. There really wasn’t an area to escape and be quiet. This wasn’t a cruise designed for the quiet crowd. I did find a space here and there to relax, but it just seemed so much more crowded compared to other ships I’ve sailed. Maybe it was the itinerary or the great weather, but it seemed all 2700 passengers were always up top. Thank goodness for our balcony… It was a great retreat. My other traveling mates loved the crowds and really got into the activities and met tons of new cruise friends.

The Staff

The cruise director, Alastair and assistant director, Frankie were terrific. They did this morning TV show called “Big G TV”.  It was so campy.  Not to be missed. Alastair is from the British Isles and Frankie is from Hershey, Penn. What a combination. They read letters, went over the Princess Patter, lip-synced songs and just made you laugh.

The Purser’s Desk personnel were friendly and professional.

No bad comments about the staff. First rate.

Entertainment:

We saw a few shows. “Lights, Camera, Action’ was horrible. We all ‘Hated it’, Well not quite, John tells me he liked it. The Broadway montage was much better. Karaoke was fun, but that depends on the passengers. We didn’t see the comedian. All you Maurizio fans out there, we enjoyed his tunes in the Atrium. This was his last cruise. Don’t know when he’ll be back.

The Ports of Call: (summarized version!)

St Martin: Rented a Jeep, saw the beaches, saw a dead guy (that’s another story), had a great French lunch.

St Thomas: Went over to St John on the ferry. Explored the beaches and the small, cute town. St John is a gem. Wish we had more time. We took the ferry back into town shopped a bit.

Princess Cays: Very nice island. I was very impressed. It didn’t appear to have too much hurricane damage. Lots to do. Beautiful day.

Disembarkation

Leaving the ship was a breeze. Everyone was gone by 9am or so. Princess really excels at this.

Conclusion:

I hope you can tell that we all had a great time on the Golden Princess. For what we all paid for our cruise, it was a tremendous value. No trip is perfect and nothing will satisfy your every need. Princess puts out a quality product. I really saw no significant cost cutting or cheapening of the cruise experience.

For me, too much Princess for now. Time to try some other line. I would recommend this ship, but my lasting impression was how crowded it seemed. Maybe it’s just me, but there seemed to be too many people on board.

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