We sailed on the Golden Princess for the Inner Passage cruise on June 21-28 with a group of seven.

EMBARKING: We arrived at the Seattle port at about 11 am and it was quite crowded already. When the line starts to move, they take the seated passengers first, then those who are lined up in the ropes. For putting 2,800 passengers on a ship, we thought the process was seamless. Boarding started at noon. We were in the rope area and we were still in our cabin by 12:30. We went to the Horizon buffet versus the dining room just to have a quick lunch. One frustration was in having our bags delivered to the cabin. They did not arrive until after the drill, hence we had an hour of "down" time that I could have spend unpacking before sail away. I read in other reviews that the ship was late in departing, but we departed a few minutes before the scheduled 4 PM departure time.

THE SHIP: We were in cabin Carbe 531, midship, level 10, balcony. We were originally booked in an interior room, but a week before the cruise, Vacations To Go called asking if we wanted to upgrade to a balcony for $199 each. There were three of us in the cabin. The room arrangement was 2 twins with the bunk over the twin bed against the wall. When it was down, it did not get in the way of anything, and there was ample room to sit on both beds without hitting your head. If there was 4 of us, having the second bunk down may have made the room challenging to get around. We had a very large balcony, about 9 by 9, or 81 sq. feet. In our opinion, this should be the last season for the Golden to sail without being refurbished. While the carpeting is in good condition, the chair, curtains, and linens need to be replaced. There was a slight locker room smell around the closet area. We were surprised that there was not a top sheet, just a duvet topping. While the ship is very clean, the public areas are also showing their wear. It's been 13 years, time for a remodel. We also had a problem with our toilet...it stopped flushing on the second day of the cruise, and our shower overflowed and needed repair. Speaking of the shower, we brought 4 large binder clips to put on the bottom and had no problem with the dreaded shower curtain sticking to us. We also bought in Seattle 40 cheap plastic hangers to hang all our clothes. (About 20 are provided by Princess). There was ample hanging space for the 3 of us to hang everything and use the shelves and drawers for smaller items. There is shampoo, shower gel and lotion in the bathrooms. Read more