Had a wonderful time

Golden Princess Cruise Review to South Pacific - Australia

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 31

Overall rating:

4.8 out of 5
Golden Princess

13 Night New Zealand (Melbourne Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 29, 2018

Ship: Golden Princess

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: D324

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

A great experience overall for our first cruise. We had two more sea days than anticipated which was a bit disappointing of course as we missed two whole ports. The weather let us down the first5 days, no ones fault and not the end of the world but naturally disappointing. We did the ships tour which we loved. All in all, it was fantastic, the staff, the food, the cabin and the entertainment. The Golden is a beautiful ship.

Embarkation

5 out of 5
No problem, all was very organised and orderly, staff all very friendly.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
We mostly ate in the Donatella Room, had the same table and waitress each night, almost always the food was great. A couple of ordinary meals but certainly nothing to worry about. Had dinner at the buffet one night as we couldn't be bothered dressing up...wasn't happy. Food was very ordinary, never did it again. Buffet was great for breakfast and to get a salad for lunch. Ate at both Sabatinis and the The Grill, both fantastic.

Explorer's Lounge

5 out of 5

Loved this bar, it was our favourite. Loved the atmosphere and the dancing at night with live music, great fun.

Lobby Bar

5 out of 5

You are calling this the lobby bar, I want to review the Vine Bar. We used to go here most nights before dinner for a glass of wine and some sushi or other little snacks they offered. We loved it and our waiter was fantastic.

Lobby Bar

5 out of 5

You are calling this the lobby bar, I want to review the Vine Bar. We used to go here most nights before dinner for a glass of wine and some sushi or other little snacks they offered. We loved it and our waiter was fantastic.

Lobby Bar

5 out of 5

You are calling this the lobby bar, I want to review the Vine Bar. We used to go here most nights before dinner for a glass of wine and some sushi or other little snacks they offered. We loved it and our waiter was fantastic.

Lobby Bar

5 out of 5

You are calling this the lobby bar, I want to review the Vine Bar. We used to go here most nights before dinner for a glass of wine and some sushi or other little snacks they offered. We loved it and our waiter was fantastic.

Lobby Bar

5 out of 5

You are calling this the lobby bar, I want to review the Vine Bar. We used to go here most nights before dinner for a glass of wine and some sushi or other little snacks they offered. We loved it and our waiter was fantastic.

Lobby Bar

5 out of 5

You are calling this the lobby bar, I want to review the Vine Bar. We used to go here most nights before dinner for a glass of wine and some sushi or other little snacks they offered. We loved it and our waiter was fantastic.

Lobby Bar

5 out of 5

You are calling this the lobby bar, I want to review the Vine Bar. We used to go here most nights before dinner for a glass of wine and some sushi or other little snacks they offered. We loved it and our waiter was fantastic.

Lobby Bar

5 out of 5

You are calling this the lobby bar, I want to review the Vine Bar. We used to go here most nights before dinner for a glass of wine and some sushi or other little snacks they offered. We loved it and our waiter was fantastic.

Lobby Bar

5 out of 5

You are calling this the lobby bar, I want to review the Vine Bar. We used to go here most nights before dinner for a glass of wine and some sushi or other little snacks they offered. We loved it and our waiter was fantastic.

Lobby Bar

5 out of 5

You are calling this the lobby bar, I want to review the Vine Bar. We used to go here most nights before dinner for a glass of wine and some sushi or other little snacks they offered. We loved it and our waiter was fantastic.

Lobby Bar

5 out of 5

You are calling this the lobby bar, I want to review the Vine Bar. We used to go here most nights before dinner for a glass of wine and some sushi or other little snacks they offered. We loved it and our waiter was fantastic.

Lobby Bar

5 out of 5

You are calling this the lobby bar, I want to review the Vine Bar. We used to go here most nights before dinner for a glass of wine and some sushi or other little snacks they offered. We loved it and our waiter was fantastic.

Lobby Bar

5 out of 5

You are calling this the lobby bar, I want to review the Vine Bar. We used to go here most nights before dinner for a glass of wine and some sushi or other little snacks they offered. We loved it and our waiter was fantastic.

Lobby Bar

5 out of 5

You are calling this the lobby bar, I want to review the Vine Bar. We used to go here most nights before dinner for a glass of wine and some sushi or other little snacks they offered. We loved it and our waiter was fantastic.

Lobby Bar

5 out of 5

You are calling this the lobby bar, I want to review the Vine Bar. We used to go here most nights before dinner for a glass of wine and some sushi or other little snacks they offered. We loved it and our waiter was fantastic.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5
Great gym, lots of activities if you wanted them, one wet day we played the horses, trivia and bingo, enjoyed them all as an occasional thing to do.

Entertainment

5 out of 5
We really enjoyed all the enetertainment we saw. The main on our cruise was Mosiac and we watched them most nights. We went to a couple of shows that were also great. The coking show on the second last day was fantastic, we loved it, very funny. All the musicians were good, no complaints there.

Atrium

3 out of 5

The Atrium/International Cafe was almost always totally impossible to get a seat. We never got there. It is very annoying that people will sit playing cards or reading a book in the space for hours on end. perhaps a polite notice could be put up (like at the pool with banana lounges), that people please respect that other people would like to also have a coffee or snack here so limit the time to 30 mins or something....or maybe just ban them reading books or playing cards in that spot. There were many many people we spoke to felt the same way about this particular space. A bit frustrating.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Everyone was awesome. We had Alan looking after our room, he was good. We had Ivana as the main waitress for us in Donatellos and we thought she was fantastic. Micheal Angelo in the Vine Bar was also excellent as was the main waiter at Trade Winds bar upstairs.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Everything was always spotless. Being such a large ship and first time cruisers, it did take us several days to work it all out.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
We had mini suite, thought is was fantastic. The one thing that was disappointing was that the blow wave did not work in our room which is pretty important to me. I bought my own blow wave but the voltage change made it pretty useless. As the wall dryer was unable to be fixed, a portable one was supplied but it was worse than my own blow dryer so I struggled th whole trip. The bed was fantastic, cabin temp all good, bathroom good, plenty of storage, fridge was cold, all great. TV was pretty ordinary, when the weather was not great it would have been good to have some choice and relax in your room for an hour or two.

Ports of call

Melbourne, Australia Did not visit port

We live here.

Port Chalmers (Dunedin), New Zealand

4 out of 5
Nice spot, had to get a taxi back as the bus line was ridiculous getting back. That meant we had wasted the return fare and the taxi cost $50.

Akaroa, New Zealand

5 out of 5
Loved this place, did a small private which was excellent. Tenders no problem.

Wellington, New Zealand

5 out of 5
Loved this port also. Buses were great, no problems anywhere this day.

Gisborne, New Zealand

4 out of 5
Big country town, not a great deal to offer. Had a nice day here but again the line to get back to the ship for the tenders was over an hour long. Had a couple more drinks while we waited but would have preferred to be back on the ship sitting at the bar and having a swim.

Tauranga, New Zealand

5 out of 5
Did a tour to Rotorua this day, great place, great town. No issues anywhere, loved it.

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
All good, probably a little slow but no complaints, all well managed.
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