We flew to LAX via Air Canada on May 2nd, for the first time we attached our Princess cruise tags to our luggage before arriving at the airport and the Air Canada check in agent spotted them and attached "Priority" tags to our bags. As a result, our luggage was on the carousal before we got to them at LAX. We then took the Super Shuttle to the Crown Plaza in San Pedro. We had heard some horror stories of Super Shuttle touring around LAX until the van was full however we experienced none of this, the van left with 6 passengers and in rush hour traffic we were at the hotel in 45 min. Our room at the Crown Plaza was just fine but likely we would go back to the Double Tree Inn in the future. However a couple of the Crown Plaza's long suits are that there is lots of very friendly staff, at least 4 shuttles to take you anywhere you want to go within 5 miles of the hotel and a Starbucks around the corner. The hotel shuttled us back and forth to a lovely dinner at the 22nd Street Landing and then in the morning to the cruise terminal.

From the time we left our room at the hotel until we were aboard the Golden Princess only 45 minutes had elapsed, so things went very smoothly. Once aboard ship two of our checked items arrived within the hour with the other two some 2 ½ hours later. However we had had lunch and were unpacked shortly after 3 pm and got to enjoy the sail away party at 4pm.

Having been on the Diamond Princess in over Christmas and New Years we were initially inclined to compare the two ships rather than accept them as two distinctly separate ships. Candidly the Golden Princess is showing her 7 years of service but not to the point that should affect anyone's cruise, she is just not as sharp or crisp as a newer vessel often is. However in the newer Gem class of ships we felt that the Princess naval architects and designers had improved the box greatly particularly with regard to the common areas. With all of that said, the Golden Princess is a lovely ship, well fitted out and most enjoyable. Her captain, Tony Harriot and his crew made us quite welcome and I must say that the crew was very accommodating. Our cabin steward Teddy from the Philippines was always happy to provide whatever we wanted. The egg crate that we ordered was not on our bed but Teddy had it in our cabin within minutes of us asking and had it on the bed while we were at the evacuation drill. Our mattress must have been new as it was quite firm and the drapes and carpeting also appeared to be quite new. We had put this trip together on the spur of the moment so took a partially obstructed ocean view cabin. We had some kind of a platform outside of our window which wasn't too obtrusive and while we missed the normal balcony we admitted to ourselves that for six nights and the fact that there really wasn't much scenery we really didn't need the balcony. We had chosen anytime dining and frankly that did prove to be a little bit of a challenge. The issue was that we would go down to the Bernini or the Donatello dining rooms at about 7 to 7:15 pm and had to wait up to 30 minutes for seating. On the third morning I called reservations and explained to them that my wife had MS and couldn't stand 30 minutes waiting for a table. They lady said that I could have a reservation between 5:30 and 6:00 or after 8:00 pm. I told that if that is what we wanted we would have booked traditional dining. I then asked to speak to her supervisor and she put me over to the maitre d' and when I explained the situation to him we were immediately given a standing reservation for 7:15 in the Bernini. The only disappointment was that we for the most part dined by ourselves and we really do prefer the stimulation of dining with other passengers. We found the food prepared under the direction of Executive Chef Jean-Peter Seidel to be excellent and the service to be superb in fact we thought it was better than that we had enjoyed on the Diamond Princess just a few months ago. We also enjoyed the pizza a couple of times for lunch when we were a bit late returning to the ship from a morning excursion. Read more