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Princess Cruise Line

MS Golden Princess

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Geoffrey Paterson
# previous cruises: 4
Date of Trip: July 11, 2006
Itinerary: Europe

Golden Princess more than met our expectations. We had previously sailed on Dawn Princess and feel that Golden Princess does deserve at least an extra half star. The benefits far outweighed the minor drawbacks which I will mention in the following review.

The Public areas were well designed and it was always possible to find a quiet corner to relax with a drink in spite of there being twenty six hundred passengers on board. Our favorite hangout was the library and we really enjoyed the walks completely around the ship on the promenade deck. We did not use the pool or casino but did quite often enjoy relaxing in the hot tub.

We found the food and dining room service to be well up to Princess standards and alternated between the two main dining rooms. There was never a problem getting a table for two and when we did get put with other people it always worked very well. The first few days we had breakfast and dinner in the one of the main dining rooms, but on the final days we found that the wide range of food offered on the deck buffet was very good and always hot unlike the warm buffet food we had experienced on Dawn Princess.

I had misgivings about our cabin prior to the cruise. Since all outside cabins were taken we settled for an inside cabin, category jj on the Baja deck (B236) I was pleasantly surprised with the layout of the cabin. The fully mirrored walls gave an impression of a much larger space. The real bonus was the generous dressing area and a closet twice the size of the one we had in a balcony room on Dawn Princess. The shower was fine and the cabin so quiet that a good night's sleep always followed after the exertions of the many shore excursions. Any one concerned about settling for an inside cabin should not worry and enjoy the savings which can be spent on the many other shipboard activities.

With 2600 passengers and the main theatre sitting I think about seven hundred people it was necessary to get there early especially for the 8 30 pm show. We only saw two shows in the main theatre, a very humorous and talented magician and a so so comedian. Our one complaint was that the movies shown during the day were exactly the same ones that we saw on Dawn Princess four months earlier.

The main activity that we participated in on the ship involved total relaxation, getting caught up on reading,walking the promenade deck and having informal discussions with fellow passengers, not one of whom seemed to have any serious complaints.

Our ports of call included Edinburgh, Invergordon,Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin, HolyHead and Falmouth. The one drawback entailed the three ports where we needed the ship's tenders to go ashore. I would recommend that Princess Cruises does not include ports where tenders are required for the bigger cruise ships. At Holyhead we had to wait for nearly an hour in the blazing sun waiting for a tender to return us to the ship. One common complaint was that although the brochure includes Dublin as a port of call, the ship actually docks several miles away from the city and Princess charges five dollars per head each way on the shuttle bus, which comes to Forty dollars for two people if they go twice into town. That should really be free and included in the total package. We went to the theatre at night and the taxi was the same as the price of the Princess shuttle bus. Unfortunately none of the tour buses were air conditioned and several of the hour long rides were a challenge for some of the older people .

Since most of the passengers had a common love of cruising they were generally very amenable. We got to know several quite well but did not go as far as exchanging addresses or planning future meetings. I must add that I was very impressed with the way that Princess handled the handicapped passengers. Several of them had their motorized wheel chairs and were able to travel at ease throughout the ship.