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Princess Cruise Line

MS Golden Princess

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Thad Constantine
# previous cruises: 5
Date of Trip: July 26, 2008
Itinerary: Alaska-Inside Passage

Alaska is beautiful, and in general Princess definitely is one of the better ways to see this spectacular ship.

I thought the public areas of the Golden Princess were well laid out, and in nice shape. The walk around promenade was great, especially the ability to go all the way to the bow. Some of the decor is a little out of style maybe, but in general the ship looks pretty good. As we were in Alaska, there was not a huge desire for using the pool decks, but they looked well laid out, and it was nice to have one covered pool in the cooler weather.

We ate in both specialty restaurants, as well as doing anytime dining in one of the main restaurants. We also ate one night at the buffet after a long day of excursions. I felt that Princess's food was good, but not great. The night at Sabatini's was probably the best food that we had on the cruise. The Desert Rose was nothing spectacular at all.

The main dining rooms we more than adequate, but we were more wow'd on Celebrity when it came to food, especially presentation. The waiters were perfectly good, though with eating in so many different places, and with anytime dining, we never built up any relationship with any staff.

Our cabin was an obstructed view outside on the 8th (Emerald) Deck. In reality the lifeboat did not obstruct our view too badly, and the added natural light was great. Cabin was a little small, and the showers were tight. Storage was fine for 7 nights, and all in all the cabin was more than adequate.

We did not really attend too many shows, a couple of comedians, which were fine. More time in the casino, or any of the games like bingo, trivia and the like.

Alaska is definitely all about the excursions, and we enjoyed a float plane up to the glaciers as well as an early evening whale watching trip in Juneau. Both were excellent. In Skagway, we took the train excursion up and back down the mountain, and then travelled by ferry over to Haines to do a rafting excursion on the Chilcut and Psirku rivers to see the Eagle Preserve. The train trip was nice, if a little boring. The rafting trip was fun and easy, and the scenery was fabulous. In Ketchikan, we did a combination back woods jeep "safari" with a canoe trip and nature walk. It was fun, but I think I wish we had done the zip line instead, as people were raving about that one. In Victoria, we took a taxi into town and enjoyed walking around, though I wish we had not eaten on board prior as there were some nice looking pubs.

A mixed bag of passengers, lots of families, as well as many older couples. Not a lot of people in their 20's and 30's. The people were in general very nice and considerate.