We took two seven-day cruises back-to-back on Golden Princess retaining the same cabin and found our whole experience simply OUTSTANDING. Embarkation was like greased lightning. We arrived by taxi at 1230 and were in our mini-suite in 20 minutes. We had our baggage less than 20 minutes later. The mini-suite is very roomy with lots of storage and a superb balcony albeit without top cover. The bathroom is huge by cruising standards. The food quality and service everywhere were excellent. The specialty restaurant Sabatini ($20 cover charge per person) is a once-in-a-lifetime, three hour, sampling meal. Desert Rose, the other specialty restaurant ($15 cover charge per person) is a great steakhouse.
The ship has four top-rate pools, each with two whirlpools and lots of room. With a full ship, we never felt crowded and all spaces were spotlessly clean. The bedroom mattresses are European twins placed together to form a Queen bed. Each mattress is relatively soft with a firm edge. When together, they form a hard ridge in the middle. We recommended that they fix that in their next re-fit.
We booked numerous excursions through Princess and we were entirely satisfied. The transition from one cruise to the next was a piece of cake. We received clear and simple direction to be processed by Immigration then spent a relaxed day on board while people disembarked and others joined the ship. Our disembarkation was smooth, rapid and very efficient at the end of our two-week stay.