Opinion of Princess Cruise Line
 

Thinking of taking a cruise over Christmas on Princess Cruise Line....the Golden ship. Has anyone sailed on this and what is your opinion? Many thanks!!!!

We took a Princess several yrs. ago., before Golden, and loved it.

Then we took a Holland America and have passed 50 days total on that line.

Now, we want different ports and Princess is our choice for the Canada-Ft. Laud. repositioning cruise in Oct. '04.

We will have as good a time as on HAL (Celebrity is about the same, too),

Stick with those three (IMHO) and you can't go wrong.

Whatever you choose, you'll have fun!

We sailed on the Golden Princess last year - Venice, Italy to New York. The ship is enormous - a benefit when we ran into Hurricane Gustaf in the Atlantic. Lots to do, many places to eat and the ship never sleeps. Being our first cruise overseas (not the Carribbean), we were extremely happy with the experience

Hope it is also Good- as we are going on it in DEC...!!!

I've been on Princess a few times, not on Golden. Never again! They nickle and dime you to death. Even charge for a Bandaid! You can't sit by the pool in peace because waiters come around every minute selling drinks, but not want to get icetea, not like other ships. Cruise director on loud speaker every minute, too. Naturally we switch to Holland America and Celebrity. But it signing for every single thing doesn't bother you, then you can have fun. They run shore excursions well.

We love princess. There seems to be more to do than on Celebrity. Haven`t been on Holland America. You certainly don`t have to be nickeled and dimed to death. They do go around asking if you want to order a drink when you are by the pool. We didn`t and they didn`t bother us again. On Celebrity we missed talks we wanted to go to as the time was changed and since they didn`t announce it, we missed it. I`m sure it was posted somewhere, but we didn`t see it. I prefer Princess, but we are going on Celebrity again because Princess doesn`t sail to Bermuda now. Went on the Star Princess and it`s a little big for me, but I would go again.

We took our first cruise ever on the Golden last spring, Venice to Barcelona. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We loved personal choice dining, the shows were great-- we scurried to see two each night, the staff was wonderful, and we have no complaints at all. Remember, we were truly novices. But I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Princess. As for nickel and diming, just say no. No one ever pressured us to buy anything and we weren't ever hounded about drinks. Waiters didn't approach us unless we were looking toward them wanting to buy a drink. It was as simple as that.

I have so far enjoyed two cruises on Princess. Neither one was on the Golden. But I was very pleased with the food and service and ports on the Regal to Alaska and the Star to the Mexican Riviera.

The cruise on the Star was a spring break week. The ship was loaded with kids... BUT... Princess did a fantastic job of keeping the kids busy! You would hardly have known there were sooo many of them on board. And by all accounts, the kids were having a wonderful time at their activities.

Princess gets high marks from me!
Carol

We also give high marks to Princess. We sailed on the Sun Princess over Christmas last year and loved it. Just returned from the Golden on Thanksgiving and had a great cruise. We did have a number of children on our Thanksgiving sailing and my guess is that you will also over Christmas.

Just sailed on the Dawn Princess (S. Caribbean 2 Nov) and although we had a great time with our cruiesmates and the ship, we weren't thrilled with the dining room service (Marvin, - Dragon, the assistant waiter was great and should be promoted) and the food: good, but not very good to excellent with the exception of one or two items like the thickly cut veal chop and the French dinner appetizers; Sterling Steakhouse excellent.

We enjoyed the entertainment on board - the comedian was great!

I really enjoyed being on Celebrity (May 2003 Med. cruise on the Millie), but we didn't catch any shows, so I can't compare. The food and service was excellent, not one complaint about the food.

I posted my journal here, but here's the link if interested in reading it.
http://www.luvtotravel.homestead.com/Jrnls.html

Took the Golden last Sept. between Venice and NY. Nice ship. Good food.

Two annoyances:

The no-smoking policy even in signed areas, was not enforced.

And like gyms on all the ships I've been on, the staff was always pushing some expensive miracle diet plan and Pilates lessons.

I can't fault the accommodation or service on Princess nor its access to prime sites in Alaska. For example, we berthed everywhere while HAL, Celebrity and Crystal were tendering and we had extended access to Glacier Bay.

That said, the quality of the food ranged from mostly mediocre to sometimes good and the wine was atrocious.

A lot of space on board was devoted to activities like bingo, the casino and art auctions that do not appeal to me.

For my taste, the entertainment was noisy and vulgar.

Far too many fellow passengers felt that ultra casual dress (e.g. baseball caps on backwards) was ok in the formal dining room at any time (perhaps because this was Alaska?).

The ship was too large to really get to know any fellow passengers...for me, making new acquaintances is one of the joys of travelling.

So Princess will not be my choice in the future, but I am glad to have had the experience.

I'm not sure what your interests are, which may influence which cruise line you choose. But I'll give you my impressions of the Grand Princess, which I believe is the sister ship to the Golden:

- The ship catered to people of all ages, and there was a mix of families, older people, and young couples.
- Good excursions, and good port stops. However, the stop at Costa Maya was a little barren since they just opened up the port to cruises.
- Lots of deck space, and the pools were great.
- Decent service and food, probably the same thing you'd get at an above average restaurant.
- GREAT pizza at the poolside snack bar.

All in all, I think Princess does a good job of catering to a varied clientele. It's not an "old" line like Holland America (or so I've heard), and it's not a "young" line like Carnival. A good middle ground if you're travelling with a group of people with different ages and interests.