Christmas cruise

Golden Princess Cruise Review

XTSea

Contributor Level: Second Mate

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 4

Helpful Votes: 59

Overall rating:

3.7 out of 5

13 Night New Zealand (Auckland Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 16, 2019

Ship: Golden Princess

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: B706

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

Had a good time. Weather wasn't friendly which did impact on cruise. Captain decided to divert ship from going south to Fjorjland and Dunedin due to weather forecast. Instead we went to Picton. I can understand why he did it, but a bit hasty and over cautious. As it turned out, weather would've been fine when we'd have got there. Despite this, we had a fun cruise. Met lovely fellow passengers.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Platinum member, so priority embarkation.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Would have given 5 stars if they offered any of the summer fruits in season. Fruit selection was pineapple, melon and canned peaches and apricots. Plus some other basics like Apple, banana, oranges. It's summertime. Where's the strawberries, nectarines, peaches, apricots, cherries, kiwifruit???? Otherwise, food in Horizon and Canaletto dining room was excellent.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

What we expected.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Stage shows were average. Standout was Colin Salter playing in the Promenade Bar each night. Brilliant.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Couldn't fault any of the staff we encountered.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Ship clean, but showing its age. Fittings in our room creaked and groaned during moderate seas (I thought it was our neighbours).

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

B706. Comfortable, clean. Just tired. ......

Ship tip

Air conditioning harbours bugs. Sleep with balcony door open if possible. Take medication for sore throats, coughs.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Akaroa, New Zealand

4 out of 5

Pleasant port but very expensive to get to Christchurch.

Thumbs Up 1

Port Chalmers (Dunedin), New Zealand

1 out of 5

Same as Fjorjland. Got diverted unnecessarily.

Thumbs Up 1

Tauranga, New Zealand

4 out of 5

Pleasant port.

Thumbs Up 1

Melbourne, Australia

5 out of 5

Napier, New Zealand

1 out of 5

Never went.??! .

Thumbs Up 1

Cruise Fjordland National Park

1 out of 5

Captain diverted ship due to forecast. It would've been fine if he'd gone, but I understand he had to make an early decision.

Thumbs Up 1

Wellington, New Zealand

4 out of 5

Lots to do

Thumbs Up 1

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

No problem.

4 Comments

cruisereckoning 4 years ago

Thanks for the review and so glad you enjoyed.

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Lizzyb81 4 years ago

Thinking back to the cruise do you believe that the coughing sore throat that people had on the ship the start of the coronavirus?

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judip56 4 years ago

Summerholiday, yes I agree you don’t really know the reason behind the changes but trust the Captains decision. We went in Feb last years and missed Fiordland and Gisborne so we are going again in 23 days, hopefully the smoke from our fires will be gone and we get in to the Fiords.

Thumbs Up 1

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Summerholiday 4 years ago

That's a shame we went the day before you and where lucky to go to all the weather was changing rapidly so I guess we where lucky .. the captain obviously had his reasons for not going into ports and fiordlands can change in a heart beat so I wouldn't question why it was obvious to keep all safe ... Just means you need to book another and return we had an awesome Christmas cruise to New Zealand hope u enjoyed yours also 🤷🏼‍♀️

Thumbs Up 1

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Other reviews of this sailing

11 of us (family) cruised on the Golden princess We all had Wonderful Time

Enjoyed the cruise but the weather was rubbish

Christmas cruise