Golden Princess Review

4.0 / 5.0
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Veteran Cruisers Book 1st Princess Cruise and 1st Alaskan Cruise

Review for Alaska Cruise on Golden Princess
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6-10 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: May 2013
Cabin: Balcony

BACKGROUND INFORMATION- My wife and I were celebrating our 25th Anniversary on the May 19th sailing of the Golden Princess. Granted, our anniversary did not fall until August, but in planning our trip, we had to make many financial decisions to bring the cruise within our budget. One of those decisions was whether to travel earlier and take a balcony; or wait until later in the season when the prices went up and potentially have to forego the balcony. After consulting with friends who had sailed previously, we felt the balcony was a non-negotiable on the Alaskan Cruise so we made our decision then to sail earlier in the season in order to save around $600 per person vs. the July/August rates. Typically, the room is not a big consideration in our cruise decisions, because we aren’t in our room a lot and we would rather take 2-3 cruises in an inside cabin rather than 1 cruise with a mini-suite. As we were sailing up Tracy Arm Fjord on the 4th day of our cruise, my wife turned to me and thanked me for making the choice of a balcony. We are in our early 50’s and have cruised 9 times, but this was our first Princess Cruise and our first Alaskan cruise.

HOTEL INFORMATION- We made our own air reservations and flew into Seattle on the Friday before our cruise left on Sunday. The initial 2 nights were at the Downtown Westin hotel which we had secured through competitive pricing on online hotel websites. The Westin location was absolutely perfect for all downtown activities, including Top Pot doughnuts! You simply walked out the front entrance and could be on a trolley to South Lake Union, a monorail to the Space Needle, or the light rail station to head to a Mariners game. It was no more than a 5 block walk to Pike Place, and about a 10 block walk if you chose to the Space Needle. On the back end of our cruise, we had reservations near the airport for 3 nights through a Friends and Family discount with a popular hotel chain. The Fairfield Inn near the airport was a nice choice and the rate was great for us due to the discount, and the front desk staff was superb. They offered complimentary shuttle service to and from the airport. It was very easy to just catch a shuttle to the airport, jump on the light rail, and you were downtown for a mere $2.75.

ACTIVITIES- All of our cruises have been in the Caribbean, so our activities on Sea Days tend to be plant me next to the pool with my I-Pod and my sunscreen and I’m good to go for the day. The activities on an Alaskan cruise require a little more willingness to interact with the group at large. There is a good amount of activities aboard the ship to occupy the time on Sea Days. We especially liked the horse racing on the Piazza. That was fun. There was a passenger fashion show that was alight, but it cost me money as my wife then needed to go shopping. For me, it was just harder to find things to do on the Sea Days than a Caribbean cruise.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin BE

B239- Baja Deck Starboard Side near the front of the boat. It was a nice location because it was a 3 stairway walk up to get to the Lido Deck. Or, you could go 3 floors down and be in the middle section of the boat. We were able to walk 90% of our time rather than spend time waiting on elevators that may never come. I might go one deck lower next time. We did not notice any real movement in the boat by being on the front-my wife was worried about that. It was a nice balcony cabin.

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