Embarkation: We did the Bon Voyage Experience to show my son and his wife the ship and to introduce them to the idea of cruising. They were blown away by the ship and had no idea what was inside, the food, the decor, etc. Unfortunately the Seattle Bon Voyage Experience was unorganized and we were sent to the wrong area to meet the Future Cruise Director who was to be our guide for the experience, so she missed us and then we missed a good hour of the experience. Finally the passenger services desk found her, she was very apologetic, took us to the dining room and we were able to have a great lunch in spite of the late time (we were supposed to board a half hour before other passengers). She did comp us a bottle of wine in our suite later in the cruise. Drop off is right at the ship terminal for those taking you to the Smith Cove Terminal, and parking is daily or hourly if you have a car to leave there. Because we were Bon Voyage we were supposed to be first on with those who have Elite Status, but, as I mentioned above, that was not the case for us.

Stateroom: Interestingly enough, we first booked an inside cabin on the plaza deck right near the Piazza, thinking that we would have a place to sleep and the Piazza would be our "living room." Then we got to thinking of all the beautiful scenery we would love to see from our room and we paid extra to move up to a mini-suite on the Dolphin Deck (no covering on those). But three days before we were to sail our travel agent called and said that Princess would like to upgrade us to a Penthouse Suite and gave us 5 choices: we chose C748, Caribe deck, right over the wake. I read many threads about the "dreaded vent" next to that room and C749, or the "dreaded beam" that bisects the C750 and 751 decks, so was apprehensive about the noise, or smell, that had been suggested by other bloggers here. There was virtually NO noise from the vent at sea, and in port is was so minor it would be the equivalent of a small fan running on low speed in a corner of your home, and you forgot about it and it never bothered us. We looked around the corner of our balcony to see the "dreaded beam," and knew we had the right decision to go with the vent. The beam was an inconvenient obstruction, and would limit the ability to entertain on your balcony. Our balcony was 20 feet wide by about 8+ feet deep, with a teak table, 4 padded teak chairs, and two padded teak lounges with blankets. Our steward Jimmy was amazing, refreshing our room many times during the day. And Lena, room service, was so detailed in the way she set up the table clothes and coffee service on the balcony table. The suite amenities were unbelievable, and we took advantage of them all. Note that there is no Lotus Spa on the Golden, so the use of the thermal spa (an amenity mentioned for suite passengers) doesn't exist. But the canapes, chocolate strawberries, free first day mini-bar setup, priority reservations (you need to remind them you are a suite passenger), in room jacuzzi, etc. were fabulous. We would book C748 again in a heart beat!

Food: We found the food was good in the dining rooms, but for some reason was not as spectacular as we had experienced on the Sapphire Princess, or on Holland America cruises. The service in the dining rooms was always good, but please see the "irritation point" below. Read more