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Princess Cruise Line

MS Golden Princess

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: J. Petty
# previous cruises: 21 to 30
Date of Trip: April 26, 2003
Itinerary: Transatlantic

Beautiful, comfortable ship, just right for 8 lazy days at sea. Only 1/3 full, so plenty of space to rattle around in.

Nice public rooms. The main lounge (Princess Theater) is one of the best I've been in, with good viewing from just about anywhere. Restaurants are nicely decorated, but quite dark. Movies were in either the Princess Lounge or the Vista Lounge, and worked OK in both. Fairly good library. Promenade wraps around if you go up a flight of stairs forward; too narrow for deck chairs; some kind of fake wood composite material for decking; amazing views forward from the very tip of the bow and aft over the massive wake. Self-service laundry on each deck (washers $1, dryers .50).

Excellent food, much better than 3 previous Princess cruises or Celebrity Zenith last November. Tons of good seafood (good scallops 4 times in 9 days, lobster, crab, shrimp). Outstanding service from our team of Sorin and Luminita, both from Romania. Never a problem getting a table for 2 in the 1 "Anytime" dining room that was in use, but then we always eat early (around 6:15 PM). Buffet had lots of tasty items and a very good salad bar. Grill had good onion rings besides the usual items.

Cabin B5018 (BC): decent cabin, but nothing out of the ordinary except having a balcony. Empty refrigerator for storing our goodies. Open closet area instead of usual small closets with doors. Lots of hangers. Fairly small shower with light curtain, but it didn't attack me.

I don't often attend entertainment, so I'm not an expert. The magician was very good. Everyone raved about the guest comics, a couple who had been voted best on British TV.

Plenty of sports activities, plus the usual cooking demonstrations and trivia contests and so on. 4 pools. I tried the "Calypso Reef" pool under the glass roof, and it was very nice for laps. I would have tried the "swim against the current" pool, but I never saw it in operation. Movies in the lounges, lots more movies on TV. Reading. Listening to the waves. Eating. Eating. Eating.

Usual mix of transatlantic passengers: older, more experienced travelers, few children. Lots of nationalities.