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We were on the 10-11-09 sailing to Hawaii. We had six people in our party. My wife and I are in our early 50’s, my parents and my mother and father In-law are in their 80’s. Overall we had a great time on this cruise. We are all veteran cruisers and the Golden Princess and its crew provided us with and great time on this cruise.
On the first sea day we had a Cruise Critic meet and great in the Skywalker Lounge. Thanks tor Donna and Ramona for organizing it. All the senior ships officers attended the gathering and took time to talk to us all. We met a lots of nice people. A special “Hello” to Deb and Don and Linda and Dale. We really enjoyed meeting you guys and having time to hang out.
The ship is in very good shape. All the public areas looked new and were well maintained. Our cabin C218 was a forward balcony. It was clean and adequate for my wife and I. The balcony was the largest we have ever had. We think what made this cruise so nice for us was the service we received on the Golden Princess. The crew was exceptional. All of them were very friendly and wanted to make our cruising experience a great one. The Capitan David Calabrese was very warm and friendly. We saw him around the ship taking time to visit with passengers, we saw Capitan Calabrese more than any other cruise we have taken.He is a very nice man.
The service we received from our dining room(Bernini dinning room) staff was outstanding! Mario the Headwaiter, Francis our waiter, Willmark Asst. Waiter went above and beyond to please us. Mario would prepare special pasta dishes for us each night at dinner. The food in the dining room was beautifully prepared and was delicious! We did not try any of the specialty restaurants, because the service we received from our dining room team was so exceptional we didn’t see the point. My only complaint was the buffet on the Lido deck was below par from what we had experienced on other cruises. We felt the selection and quality was not that special. We also thought the entertainment on board was very good. The Princess singers and dancers were much better than what we saw on Carnival last year and on NCL a few years ago. Cruise director David Cole did and exceptional job with the entertainment line-up. A lot of the activities had the Hawaiian theme and they were well done. We enjoyed the guest astronomer Paul who gave lectures during the sea days. He was very interesting and we learned a lot about the stars and NASA’s future plans.
We have been to Hawaii many times over the years, but it was our first time cruising to the islands. The weather on the cruise was a mixed bag. The first two days out of LA were cool and the seas were rough. My father and mother In-Law got a little sea -sick. The next two days of cruising towards Hilo and all the days cruising in the islands, the weather was great (no rain and temps in the low 80s)! On the days cruising back the weather was cool. Not much pool time.
The ship has a limited amount of wheel chairs available. I used one for my dad to get him around the ship when the seas were rough. It made a big difference. We didn’t take any of the Princess sponsored land tours while in the islands. We rented a car on each island and did our own tours. We did buy the best Hawaiian guide books prior to the cruise. Andrew Doughty has written a guide book on each island. We highly recommend you pick up a copy of these books if you are going to do your own self guided tour. Andrew Doughty tells you where all the best beaches, stores, best waterfalls and attractions that are must sees and what to avoid. The titles of these books are: Hawaii The Big Island Revealed 4th edition, Oahu Revealed 2nd edition, Maui Revealed 4th edition. Kauai Revealed 4th edition. Also,a navigation system is recommended for your drive around the islands. It saves time and makes driving a lot easier. In summary we had a very nice cruise on the Golden Princess.
We would defiantly recommend this cruise and ship for a nice relaxing way to enjoy the Hawaiian Islands.
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