Not a great trip for our first with Princess

Item: Golden Princess
Rating: 3.5
Author: peterjules

Golden Princess Cruise Review to South Pacific - Australia

peterjules

Contributor Level: Second Mate

22 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 6

Helpful Votes: 223

Overall rating:

3.5 out of 5

13 Night New Zealand (Melbourne Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 25, 2019

Ship: Golden Princess

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: D329

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

We normally travel with Celebrity but decided to have a change of cruiseline. I think we picked the incorrect ship to try Princess out with. We found that many of the passengers were much older than our 60 years and the ship seemed to cater for that age group. One passenger who has done many Princess cruises said that this cruise was not the norm. Sad that we picked this one as we cannot compare apples with apples. However, I would like to do another cruise with Princess just to see if we had picked the wrong one!

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Very speedy as we had priority embarkation. We were on the ship within 10 minutes of arrival at the port.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

The food was ok but felt it was geared to the older passengers. The drinks menu was available at every bar and after a couple of days, lost its mystery.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Heaps of trivia (which many people seemed to enjoy), lots of bingo, a wine tasting but did not really grab us. Did play trivia once but the Vista lounge was always full.

Entertainment

2 out of 5

Again, the entertainment seemed to be aimed at the older passengers. Skywalk Bar had more popular music but this was late at night. Was cello and piano player in the main atrium on most days and found this a little depressing. On the first day the ships entertainment crew played in the Atrium and we thought, wow this is going to be great. But they only played there once again in the 13 days. Even the bar staff were not impressed with the entertainment in the Atrium.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

The bar staff at the Vines bar were fantastic. We made it our "regular bar". The crew at the other bars always looked run off their feet and did not smile much. Our cabin attendant was excellent. We visited the customer service desk on too many occasions (sea pass kept failing) and it was a bit hit or miss with the staff there. Some were excellent, others were blase. We were charged several times for drinks when we had a drinks package and had to get this rectified. When attending the service desk, we heard on quite a few occasions "Our system is down we cannot help you at the moment".

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

For a ship that was refurbished in 2018, it was in average condition. There were often toilets that were under maintenance, taps under maintenance and the lifts were slow and wait times were lengthy. Felt that the ship felt cluttered around the main atrium area.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

We had a club class mini suite and it was very comfortable with heaps of room for storage. Only downside was the shower over the bath. A bit cumbersome getting in and out of the bath.

Ship tip

Check your account often!

Thumbs up

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

Very quick... was very surprised how quickly we were off the ship.

Traveler Photos

Club class mini suite - Heaps of room ... and more importantly, space

9 Comments

JazzyClarinet12 5 years ago

To add another dynamic to the mix, I'm 18 and I have really enjoyed cruising on the Golden Princess. This was during the Australian Summer though, when school holidays would allow more younger families to cruise. I didn't have any issues with food. I was really impressed with the musicians on board and the entertainment. I know that quite a few of the musicians on our cruise had their contacts, on Golden, ending in mid-March. Experiences can differ drastically from cruise to cruise through.

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melzie82 5 years ago

Wow! Myself and my partner are 36 and 37, and we love princess cruises, especially the golden.... for an olden gal, she's unique. I'm not sure what you mean by food designed for older people... i quite enjoy the horizon court, restaurants and speciality dinning areas. I do agree that some.... not all... but d say 65% of the entertainment is more baised on the people in there finest years of life. We arnt party people, so we only go to skywalkers for the view and a quiet place to talk or read.

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mj4gold 5 years ago

My wife is 45 I'm 53 we love princess.we have been on carnival not for us. Royal Caribbean it was ok. I think it's the time of year you travel to how old the people are.and how much a cruise costs. Alot of cruisers are retired.but I have to say when I was on the Crown last March it was a slower and much older crowd for the most part but that didn't stop us from having a great cruise.

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Shh813 5 years ago

I don’t understand about the food being geared towards the older passengers? What kind of food do older passengers eat?

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Shh813 5 years ago

I don’t understand about the food being geared towards the older passengers? What kind of food do older passengers eat?

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ItaB 5 years ago

Really really loved Anthem of the seas. We have had our first cruise in February out of Bayonne NJ. From getting to the terminal to sadly leaving it 12 days later it was fantastic.

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1CruiseGram 5 years ago

We were on the Golden Princess and found the same thing.

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jiminnevada 5 years ago

Princess has lost us due to the same opinion. Very sad. 😞

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typ 5 years ago

Loved the Regal princess!

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Other reviews of this sailing

The cruise was a great way to see the land scape

Great cruise for older people 55+