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Princess Cruise Line

MS Golden Princess

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Teresa Sorensen
# previous cruises: 3
Date of Trip: May 22, 2005
Itinerary: Europe

This was the British Isles cruise starting in London with stops is Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. It was a dream cruise for me with ancestors from all of these places. The Irish sea can get a bit rough but I had no problems - husband had a little bit. inclement weather and the seas caused us not to get to stop at the tender ports of Holyhead, Wales, and Kirkwall, Scotland.

The Golden Princess is a huge ship and has places for everyone. We never felt overcrowded except a couple of shows you needed to be there 30 minutes ahead to get seating - all seats were excellent though. The casino was huge - we didn't spend a lot of time there personally. We hot tubbed one day but weather was in the 40's to 60's during this cruise so a bit chilly for swimming!

We had anytime dining and it worked out great - we did call in reservations in the morning if we knew what time we wanted to eat - never had to wait. We ate at both Sabatinnis and Desert Rose - the specialty restaurants and thought they were worth the extra cost. The Lido had the same food as the restaurants - only breakfast was a bit limited. We thought the food and service were great. Enjoyed the wine tasting and tea time also.

We were in a balcony cabin - Baha 703 and loved the location - near the elevators and laundry. No noise, just the peaceful sounds of ocean lapping! The cabin was very clean and although not luxurious, it was comfortable and had plenty of storage space. We did have problems hearing announcements in the room for some reason. We really loved having a balcony (our first time!)

Overall the entertainment was great - we had Irish step dancers, bagpiper playing Danny Boy (my husband is Dan!) and English humor - how do you beat that! One pianist was fantastic - he was invited to play for Jerry Lee Lewis's birthday - very similar skills and was only 23 - also a young soprano with the voice of an angel!

The ship show staff was pretty typical of most cruise lines. Music was good in the lounges but we like Holland America better for this.

We stopped in Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, and Edinburg (since the other ports weren't possible). Tour prices were high and we only went on one in Belfast - a crafts tour which we enjoyed but would have liked more shopping time. Otherwise we went on our own and had no problems between using taxis and buses. Just a note - Dublin used Euros but the other ports used English pounds. The countryside was beautiful in all our stops! Loch Lomond and Sterling Castle were some favorite stops.

We thought most of the passengers were in the 60-80 age range. We found some in our age group - 50's and a few younger 20's to 40's but only 45 children on board out of about 2500 passengers!

So things were pretty subdued but very relaxing to us! We will keep in touch with one couple we met.