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Cruise Line: Princess Cruises
Ship: Golden Princess
Date of Cruise: February 1 - February 8, 2003
Eastern
Caribbean on the Golden Princess
By: Kelly Eriks
kalina87@msn.com
This was my first cruise ever, probably my last! We left from Ft. Lauderdale and
went to St. Maarten and St. Thomas, then to Princess Cays. Getting on was very
smooth got on the ship in about 30 mins. (Choose the GUARANTEED room, more than
likely you'll get upgraded to a better room like we had.)
STATEROOM:
Our address for the week for E303. (Emerald Floor) I do have to admit, the room
was nice. We went with 19 other people, so I got to see the other staterooms. I
don't know how people can stay in those cubicles??! Our stateroom was a handicap
room and it was big! Nothing of major beauty, it was just nice like a Super 8
Motel. I didn't feel the service was up to par for a upper class cruise. We
asked for things from our room attendant and it took him 4 days to do it. We
asked for an extra pillow and an ashtray.
BIGGEST PROBLEM:
My biggest problem about the cruise was the food. For dinner every night, we ate
in the main dining room for the first seating. BUT this is suppose to the
highest quality of food. The food WAS good when I did liked it. But if you are
like me and don't eat seafood, you won't have much to choose from the menus.
They only did have lobster once that week. The beef Wellington was awesome. and
the deserts were completely great!! GET THE LOVE BOAT!!! best mousse you'll ever
have! You ever hear of Eggs Benedict?? Well, they basically didn't. You will not
be able to get this AT ALL on the cruise ship, at least not even close to what
you are used to! I found that VERY disappointing! I was really looking forward
to a great breakfast every morning!!
The buffet is TERRIBLE!!!!!! I found the food to be too UNIQUE and some of it
just plainly looked OLD from sitting. The best food was at the grill by the
pool. That is the best chicken sandwich I ever had! I was told by my husband,
when he went on Royal, they don't know the word NO. If you didn't like something
from the menu, they would make you anything you wanted. That was NOT an option
for me. You can suggest something for what you want to eat for the next night,
but who knows if you'll be in the mood for it then!!
If it wasn't for our server Illidrio. I wouldn't have made it all week! He truly
was the greatest!! He is from Portugal. And also, Daniel the main waiter in our
section. He's from Italy and is the sweetest. My sister in law had their 6 month
old with for the trip, and he was the best with her! He would just play with her
for like 20 mins. at a time! Just 2 really great guys! They did whatever they
possibly could to make my dinning experience better!
SHOWS:
I didn't expect to see any shows at all. But we went to them anyways, because
there wasn't much to do since it's an older aged crowd on the ship. The comedy
shows are great and the game shows were great! If you have a chance to see Kevin
Hughes for the comedy show... YOU MUST GO!!!!! I've been to many comedy shows,
and he really does top them all!!! Truly a great comedian, and a very nice guy.
We talked to him after a show and ran into him jogging on the ship!
THE ISLANDS:
We went to St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Princess Cays.
St. Maarten.. Not the pretties of islands. I would never actually stay on the
island. I found the people to be VERY annoying on the island, as most islands. I
will have to admit, cigarettes and alcohol is the CHEAPEST here! We bought 10
carton at $8 each!!!!! (You are allowed to bring home 5 per person) (alcohol
2 per person). Did most of our souvenir shopping here. We did a snorkeling shore
excursion. (something to do with sunken ships... forgot the name) I didn't find
their snorkeling to be any better than Jamaica's HOTEL area for snorkeling.
Barely any fish, and they all pretty much looked the same. But the guys were
really great on the excursion.
St. Thomas.. I found the island to be WAY over priced.
Cigarettes were $16 a carton there, and a bottle of Baileys was only $2 cheaper
there than the states. So not much difference in alcohol.
**** HOWEVER, shore excursion wise.... You must go on the BOB.... It is $120 for
the 4.5 hours. but it is WELL worth it! Basically the BOB is an underwater
motorcycle to closely describe it. I thought I was going to have a problem with
my ears, and I didn't. My ears are very sensitive underwater. You head is 8-9
feet under the water. and you stay 3 feet above the bottom. VERY cool
experience. You only go with a small group for about 25 mins. ( you get to feed
fish too), for the rest of it, you are snorkeling on your own. The owner of the
boat and guy that ran it, forgot his name, but very nice guy! All of the people
who worked this were really great! And I must say, it was just a nice experience
on the trip on the boat itself! Very nice yacht.
Princess Cays... My favorite island. VERY pretty there! Bring your OWN snorkeling
gear. Go to Wal-Mart and spend the $10. It's a little better than what they
have!! Plus, it's $22 for rentals there! Found it to be a little better snorkeling
than St. Thomas and St. Maarten. The only thing that stunk, is that we had to
get back to the ship by 3pm.. didn't like that!
*** BUYING ALCOHOL on the islands & Alcohol on the CRUISE SHIP.............
We wanted to buy our own bottles and bring them on the ship. Didn't chance
sneaking them on, we bought containers and poured them in. Like Vodka, you can
buy a water bottle and put it in there! Best advice, bring a backpack. But the
backpack goes through the scanning device and when they catch a regular bottle,
they WILL NOT let you bring it to your room. They hold it for you and you get it
back the last day you are on the boat! (Which is NO FUN!!!) Also, another thing
I had a problem with on this cruise, is the prices for drinks. All the mixed
drinks averaged about $5-6 each. Which I find is VERY expensive. They should
have a package for this I think! Another thing, soda pop is NOT INCLUDED in the
cruise package. You need to purchase a sticker for $20 to drink all the pop you
want!!!
DAILY ACTIVITIES.......
Didn't do much here...
In our group, there were kids, and they went to the kids area everyday, and they
seemed like they really liked it!
Pool activities... Very good band at the pool!! But the horse racing
activity got a little old EVERYDAY!! But nice pools all in all. A little small
too! Another note....... Claim your chairs EARLY in the day if you want
ANY seats near the main pool area!
RENEWAL OF VOWS:
We got the $150 package. I found it to be worth it. But you don't know what day
and time you will be doing it until the first 2 days of the cruise. It included
a nice bottle of champagne, wine, 1 picture framed, and 2 pictures 5x7's free
(misc. pics... not your renewal pics!) To purchase pictures, they are $21.95 for
an 8x10. They did an OK job... some photographers were better than others....
Our Black and Whites turned out the best. You also get a bouquet of flowers,
were actually really nice.
DISEMBARKATION:
Found it to go pretty smooth. But the only problem was, it went TOO smooth! Kind
of scary when there is a war going on! They didn't check ANY baggage. The only
thing they did check was Birth Certificate and picture id. For going to
different islands, I'm very surprise how terrible security was! We could have
brought home like 100's of cartons of cigarettes and bottles of alcohol!!!
Anyhow, overall. I found the ship to be nice. But not as high standard as it is
suppose to be. For better prices, I would suggest the other cruise lines.
Because the quality will be the same. As far as the boats looks inside. I didn't
find it to be outrageous and glamorous looking. Take this as you want, but I
will never return for a Princess Cruise ever again. And neither will my husband,
with his other 6 cruises he's been on!
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