We, unfortunately were subjected to the first cruise of this kind that the Golden Princess had ever made to the European ports of call. The entire cruise was a nightmare from start to finish. Princess Cruise Lines was totally unprepared to handle this large a ship with its tremendous amount of passengers. We were at the appointed spot to pick up our shuttle to the ship right on time. The shuttle was 1 1/2 hours late. We stood out in the pouring rain waiting for them to arrive. Everyone was good natured about this and chalked it up to London's weather.
But, the cruise lie ahead and we knew things would go much more smoothly once we were on the ship. Needless, to said we were all sadly mistaken. When we arrived at the ship we saw many, many buses in front of us. We sat on the bus for 2 1/2 hours before we could attempt to board the ship. We got off the bus only to find the terminal full of a mass of humanity. We stood in line or "queue" as they call it for another 2 hours. By this time everyone was getting very agitated. We all felt like lambs being lead to the slaughter. When boarding the ship they took away our passports with no explanation. Which again made everyone feel uncomfortable.
At last we were on the ship. To say the ship was not beautiful would be a lie it is a lovely ship. Our cabin a mini-suite with a balcony was much nicer than we had expected.