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Princess Cruise Line

MS Golden Princess

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Norman Shar
# previous cruises: 1
Date of Trip: January 27, 2002
Itinerary: Caribbean - Eastern

We enjoyed the cruise. Since it was our first cruise we didn't really know what to expect. We were overwhelmed with all the activities and tried to do a little of everything. When the cruise was almost over, we realized we had not taken time to just sit, relax, and enjoy the sea.

Even though the Princess Platter specifically asks people to NOT place towels on lounge chairs to reserve them, "everyone did." We found this very annoying -- we never did get to sit near the pool or on certain sides of the ship because empty chairs had towels on them. I suggest your staff just pick up towels so deck seating can be enjoyed by everyone.

We had no complaints here. We were on diets and were able to maintain them by self control and your various choices.

Staffers don't mind telling us how overworked they are.

When we went on board, we purchased a $20 bottle for free coke refills. What they didn't tell us was how hard it was to get it refilled! You have to wait for someone to be behind a "bar" counter and be willing to refill your container. When they did, they had a bad attitude and acted like they were really put out to do so. We assume it is because they do not receive a gratuity for this---even though we already paid for it!

Our biggest complaint about the service is this: From our travel service, we paid $20/day for gratuities. Service was wonderful if you slipped the staffer an additional tip. Are they not aware that we ALREADY paid for their gratuity? Because if we did not offer additional tips, they were very unfriendly and unattentive. We saved to be able to make this trip -- additional tips in order to receive superior service should be addressed to the staff.

We had a mini suite and found plenty of closet room. Our only complaint was that there was no iron. When we requested one, we were told to take our clothes to the laundry (of course, for an additional fee). I would suggest people bringing a small travel iron or steamer.

Entertainers were pretty good. Nothing to shout about but relatively ok for the circumstances.

The offshore excursions to St. Maarten and St. Thomas were disappointing to say the least. There were very few beaches and coastlines that you could experience. You could not really experience the islands -- just a mad dash of shoppers.

Fellow passengers were in their own world just like we were probably in ours.