Mediocre

Item: Golden Princess
Rating: 4
Author: NixieKnox

Golden Princess Cruise Review to U.S. - Pacific, Northwest

NixieKnox

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 29

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

3 Night Pacific Coastal Northbound (Los Angeles To Vancouver)

Sail date: May 04, 2019

Ship: Golden Princess

Cabin type: Oceanview

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

I have cruised over ten times and on all but Disney of the popular lines. This was my first Princess cruise. I had always wondered if it was more expensive because of the TV show or becuase it was better. Now I know its just the TV show. Service has declined on all lines except Holland America since tipping was made mandatory. Its a shame and pushes me towards all-inclusive resorts instead of cruising because I can get and reward excellent service by rewarding the workers daily.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Check in staff were excellent but no friendly greeting as we boarded just three scoweling faces one getting nad because my hands were too full to flip over my card fast

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Food was okay. They could not accommodate food allergies without planning a day ahead, not even simple things like providing rice pasta instead of wheat pasta. However they had an excellent selection of gluten-free and sugar free desserts in buffet. Rest of buffet had limited selection. No hot chocolate available.

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

While the sanctuary pools seemed to be in bad shape and were drained at 5 pm first day while we were trying to use them, the rest seemed fine. Zumba and other activities were great but most things in the gym were sales pitches for orthotics.

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Dance show was superb

Children's Programs

No kids

Service and Staff

2 out of 5

Room not cleaned, no assistance or drink service in buffet, wrong meals delivered repeatedly in Donatello, crew seemed to avert their eyes or behave as if passengers were a bother instead of greet passengers. At one point I was choking in the buffet and trying to stop coughing long enough to pour some water. Meanwhile 3 buffet staff stood beside the water jugs talking and joking. On my fifth attempt to pour some water, one of them finally offered to help but by then my glass I was pouring it myself. We were on ship for corporate team building and needed to use the aerobics studio for practicing a dance number but we were kicked out at 4 pm because the trainers wanted to set up chairs for a sales pitch the following day. This seemed truly inconsiderate and unnecessary as we offered to set them up when we finished. We were forced to complete our dance rehearsal in the hall in front of the elevators on deck 10. Moore a Filipino cabin steward on deck 10 and an Irish lounge singer were the only crew who went above and beyond for us.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

For an old ship it was very clean

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Cabin was spacious and comfortable for 3.