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This was our first cruise. We were celebrating our 25th anniversary and we booked a mini suite. Two weeks before sailing we were upgraded 5 levels to a full suite. It even had a name, "the Venice suite". We boarded in Ft. Lauderdale on Nov. 8th in the rain. We had taken a shuttle from the Best Western Marina and when we got to Port Everglades at about 11:20 there were lots of people there. We got in line thinking this will take forever but in reality it went very fast. We got in line according to our deck name and because we had done check in online we got to go in the express line. We got our room and credit card then went through security and walked the gangway to the ship by 12:00. They took our picture and we walked on the ship.
Our mouths dropped as we came into the atrium area because it was so beautiful. We didn't have much time to look because we were whisked to the elevators to go to our room. We were on the Emerald Deck at the very back of the ship. Our door was open and you walk in on marble floors and a wet bar to our left. Ahead was the living room with a couch and table and chair. Across was a big bed and 2 nightstands. To the right was a double size balcony with 2 lounge chairs, 2 chairs and 2 tables. It was huge. The bathroom was fabulous with all marble tile and a jacuzzi bathtub and a separate glass enclosed shower. In the next room was a sink and counter and toilet all in marble again. This was very beautiful. Outside of the bathroom was a walk-in closet and drawers. Lots of space. Also a writing desk and chair area.
We then decided to go have lunch and look around. Went to the Horizon Court buffet and had a great lunch and bought the coke card for $22.00 including the container. Toured the ship and were very impressed with its beauty. Came back to our room and were pleasantly surprised to find wine, red roses and strawberries from our family and a bouquet of flowers from the ship. We were overwhelmed.
We went to meet our fellow cruise critics as planned but only 2 couples showed up. They were from Maine and very nice. We ended up having dinner with them every night but two. I'm going to have to try to make this shorter.
The Donatello dining room was great. The food got better every night. Our waiters were Allan and Lazarro who were perfect at what they did. We had rack of lamb, lobster, prime rib and fabulous desserts. We did try the Desert Rose one night and I wasn't that impressed. The service wasn't that good nor the food. We heard they were changing this to a steakhouse.
We went to a show almost every night and they were great. Lights, camera, action was wonderful and the juggling show and comedy show. They also had a marriage game show that was very funny and karaoke night. We went dancing in the Skywalker lounge that was fun. We tried most of the pools and loved them. People do save deck chairs though and that was a problem.
We were supposed to be in St. Maarten on tuesday but it rained so much we were unable to go so we went to St.Thomas early and it poured there for two days. We did go ashore to do a little shopping but the weather was miserable. Half our cruise had rain but we made the best of it. Friday we were in Princess Cays and it was sunny and blue water. We were there about 5 hours and I could of spent many more.
Overall, we had a great time and I would highly recommend the Golden Princess to anyone. They were right about the logons "the big ship with the small ship feel". There were 2700 passengers but it was never crowded. We ran into the same people all the time. I cannot wait to begin planning our next cruise.
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