Took a long time to board, about an hour, even though we are platinum level so should have priority. This was because it was part of a longer cruise so the people going to Singapore (majority of the ship) boarded first. This was a bit disappointing, although we were still on board by midday. The Golden princess is a lovely ship. In only two days it was difficult to navigate our way around as the deck plans seem more complicated than Sea Princess and other ships we have been on. Lots of hidden places to explore on this ship so I’d like a longer cruise to make the most of it! We really liked the setup of the Sanctuary but it was too cold and windy to use to on our one sea day unfortunately. Nobody else was using it either. The ship funrbishment didn’t seem too tired but I can see it will really benefit from a returb. Our cabin had a few signs of wear and tear but overall better than I’ve seen on P & o aus ships. I like shopping and I didn’t find much to buy on this ship. The small souvenir/general shop had very limited variety and they didn’t even have any magnets which was disappointing as we usually collect magnets of each ship we go on. The clothes shop didn’t have much variety either in my opinion. The perfume/ skin care shop was ok but in our two days I didn’t see any specials. In fact no specials much at all in the shops. This was a much older crowd than we have cruised with before, even for princess. Must be the itinerary. Even a staff member mentioned there were a lot of seniors and veterans on board. The sail away party was very subdued. There didn’t seem to be many people around although the ship was full occupancy. We had booked the two day cruise for a quick getaway but hadn’t realised it was a segment of a longer cruise. No where in booking did it mention this. It was part of a 7 day cruise to Fremantle and a 15 day cruise to Singapore. Most passengers were doing the 15 day cruise and we really noticed a very strange atmosphere. Maybe because we were getting off as their cruise was just starting. If I had known this was part of a longer cruise I may not have booked it. My advice was check the princess cruise calendar and see if your cruise is a separate cruise or part of another cruise. We will in future. Went to Sabinitis on the first night. No need to book. There were only 4 small tables that night. Nice food and service. They brought around lemincello in souvenir shot glasses you could buy for $3 each which we enjoyed. The Crown Grill was nice too. Busier on the second night but not booked out that I could see. My husband’s steak was huge but not cooked as requested. We didn’t say anything. I had the lobster which was nice. Recommend the chefs plate of desserts. Would have preferred cheeses but not on the menu, although the waitress said she could get it from the upstairs restaurant for us. Overall a great two days. Which we had gone 7 to get a better feel of this cruise though. Read Less

The Golden Princess was in the worst shape we've ever encountered in over 25 years of cruising. Rust was abundant everywhere and railing's varnish was extremely weathered leaving bare wood in many areas. Up on the sports deck the deck covering was torn in several places and was definitely a hazard. The ship went into dry dock in Singapore, but that's no excuse for not properly maintaining it. Also it was difficult to believe it was refurbished in 2015; there were none of the fixes and upgrades Princess normally makes. It almost seemed that this ship was destined to be transferred to P&O, but Princess decided to keep it instead. We chose this cruise for it's itinerary, unfortunately we were unable to complete it as published. Weather was a factor and crossing the Great Australian Bight was very rough with waves up to 6 meters (18 feet). We suspect there was also some mechanical problems as even in smooth seas we were not able to achieve more than 19 knots. This put the published itinerary at the maximum capability of the ship, leaving no room for error. Crossing the Bight we were forced to reduce speed to 15 knots for a better ride and so we missed the port stop at Margaret River. We also had to leave Freemantle early, a large disappointment. In Bali, a tender port, Princess sub-contracted some of the tender service with a substandard operator, delaying our departure over 2 hours. They were unable to make up the time over the next 2 days and had to adjust our stay in Kuala Lampur accordingly. The crew was friendly enough and the entertainment was some of the best we've seen. The enrichment speaker was excellent, but the port and excursion briefings were marginal. The menus continue to degrade as Princess is trying to push their specialty restaurants and their new Club Dining option. We ate at both specialty restaurants; the Crown Grill was excellent, but Sabatini's suffered from bad design and location, and a degraded menu. Sabatini's is located right next to the Wheel House Bar and so it's impossible to establish any kind of atmosphere as the bands next door bleed through. The restaurant layout also only allows for one window booth even though there are 3 windows. These problems Princess normally fixes during refurbishment, but failed to do so in this case. We would not book on this particular ship ever again and would not choose an itinerary which crosses the Great Australian Bight. No matter what time of year, crossing the Bight can be very rough. The best part of this cruise was our fellow passengers, who were mostly Australian. Very outgoing and a lot of fun, they actually made the great entertainment better. Read Less

No wheelchair access to our balcony what a waiste of our money we spent and princess cruises can send me emails on our reveiw on our trip but did not have the decency to inform us that we couldn't use our balcony ie wheelchair access in which we paid good money for us to use this................. Thank you very much princess cruises.!! Fair enough we couldn't get off at port aurther because of no wheelchair access but even when we got to hobart we had to pay for a disabled taxi this cost us another $200.00 to see the sights. Read Less

We chose Princess because we have loved the experiences with them until this past 12 months. We always found the food choices were a bit better than other cruiselines but now I can say the food quality was down. We were only a few days into the cruise when the captain took ill. We noticed washing of hands with soap and water before entering the food service area had been added. Also noticed it was suppose to be policed by staff but a lot of guests insisted they had already washed their hands elsewhere and were allowed to proceed into the food area!? Not to long after you could start to hear coughing throughout the ship. Then it all started to happen...... guests one by one were becoming ill. The medical centre became quite busy and people were wearing masks to and from the medical centre. I took very ill and had injections. Was put on a drip. Was so ill i couldn’t leave my room for days and got escorted off the ship in Singapore quite rudely and abruptly. I was promised an easy smooth disembarkation without having to queue up because if my illness but instead i was treated poorly and put into a queue anyway, amongst all the other guests who were not ill. It was disgusting. Read Less