When my parents invited me to come along the 14 night Hawaii sailing on the Golden Princess, I couldn't believe my good fortune! It was my dream since childhood to see Hawaii, and although I had only cruised 3 times before (1 RCCL, 2 NCL) I knew that I would love this. My longest cruise prior was only 5 days!!! I did take Bonine, since I was unsure how I would do on all those sea days, but there really was no need. Anyway, I flew out of Seattle on the Friday prior, staying over night at my parents' place in Vegas, then we drove down to San Pedro Saturday night, staying at the Doubletree. The hotel was good enough, but I loved being able to watch the ship come in early Sunday morning, from the hotel's pier/dock. Embarkation was the easiest, quickest I had ever experienced, and we were welcomed on to the ship to the sight/sound of Christmas decorations and Carolers in the atrium. We found out cabin, a balcony on the Aloha deck, right across from the elevators (loved that ease of access) and just below Horizon Court. I thought that noise would be an issue, but it wasn't at all. In fact, I loved the location since it was so quick to get up to the pool/lido area. Our first meal was at Horizon court. Overall, I found the food to be so-so; some hits (the salmon sandwich, grits) but mostly misses, and I rarely ate there after the first day. Of course, my suitcases took the longest to arrive-had to keep checking back, my paranoid self! We took time to unpack, and enjoy the balcony-we managed pretty well for 3 adults, and yes, that shower is very "snug" for a "fluffy" girl like myself, but it did the job! My Dad graciously slept on the pull down most nights-much to my mom's and I delight and humor! What a good sport! Mom and I hurried to sign up for the Sanctuary, after hearing about the need to do so on the CC board, but the staff were super casual about it, and we decided not to book more than 2 days, to see if we liked it. We later cancelled it, as most days were partly sunny at best, and we found that the pool area outside the gym/spa was quiet and relaxing enough for free! Anyway, we had anytime dining, and we felt the wait staff were pretty shy and not too outgoing the first night, so the second night we tried a different table/dining room, but ended up going back to the original table and reserving it for the whole cruise-our waiter just had to warm up and get used to us and we ended up really enjoying him. Overall the food in the dining room was pretty good-some icky soups and dry meat, but when taking advice from my waiter as to recommendations and having meat done medium instead of my usual rare, proved to be very sound advice indeed. The wait staff and Head Waiter were very accommodating to my diet, who had special dietary needs, so I would give the dining room experience as a whole a 4 star rating. Favorites: eggplant, goat cheese souffle, herb crusted lamb, the fettuccine and most of the pasta dishes, in fact, and many (too many) desserts.

I did breakfast only 2 times in the dining room-not really my taste-I much preferred a small bite at the International Cafe with my morning iced coffee drink. I loved just waking up slowly, sitting in the peaceful atrium in the morning, while my folks did the dining room. By the way, the chicken salad is as good as all say! Coffee card-totally worth it!

I thought overall there was a nice variety of activities daily, and I especially loved the Hawaiian themed ones (ukulele, lei making) and I participated in many trivia session and things like "shout out for the movies" and scattered categories-I won several different games, and treasure my Princess prizes (tote, cap, wallet, medal). I tried the high tea a couple of times, and while the scones were delish, and it was relaxing, it was just too much, with dinner a couple of hours away. The pizza was great, as was the chicken and kielbasas at the Trident Grill, and the soft serve hit the spot for me on occasion! MUTS for me was a highlight-during the day there were Hawaiian themed movies, and I would find a nice spot and sometimes doze off-I think I finally learned how to relax on this cruise! At night, the blankets were rarely enough to keep warm while enjoying MUTS and a couple of times I had to leave, I was so cold. Read more