Princess Cruises, Golden Princess Review

Overall Rating

9/20/08 We were on the Baja Deck with a balcony. The room was of nice size and very clean. Our Room Steward was very efficient and helpful if we needed her.
We ate every night but one in the dining room (due to arriving in Victoria late) and our waiter was was absolutely wonderful. He was our highlight of our trip on the Golden Princess. He was very polite and kind with a warm heart and humor. Entertainment in the evening was enjoyable except one night when they had a comedian/juggler on. Oh my gosh!! He was so Bad I felt so sorry for him. We got up and left after the first ten or fifteen minutes or so without trying to be rude. The other comedians were very funny and we did enjoy them.

Food at the buffet was absolutely horrible! Lines were long if you ate at the buffet or just wanted to grab a hot dog or hamburger on the lido deck. The pizza >was soggy and just as bad as the buffet food.
There was not enough activities to keep you going on the Alaskan cruise on the days you were at sea.
The Naturalist on board seemed very knowledgeable however; when a whale was spotted you had to count on your co-passengers to shout it out and hope you were within ear distance. He told us we had a good chance of seeing the Northern Lights, so we all stayed up after midnight at the back of the ship, and he was never heard from or seen, not to mention anyone not seeing the Norther Lights.

The tours in Alaska are quite pricey. The ports of call were nice but you were not given much time at all in Victoria, Canada. We had our farewell dinner on a Thursday night instead of the last night out because of arriving so late in Victoria. I found this cruise on the Golden Princess to be quite boring and am sure I would not ever go on Princess Cruises again. Six of us went and one couple bought the transfer package as all of us did and was not able to print it out before leaving home because Princess Line was having problems with their computers and when they got to the airport in Seattle they had to pay to take a taxi to the port to get on the ship. Once in their room they found their return only transfer back from the ship to the airport like it should have been. It was a bit frustrating for them and they are Gold Card Holders with Princess. They also stated they would probably not use Princess anymore. Food was the biggest factor. Hand sanitizer should be used from the time you get on board. The food however in the dining room was good, and if it wasn't you were more than welcome to send it back. Staff that took your soft drink orders took quite awhile to bring you your coke etc. back. We would be done with lunch before our soda would arrive.