I woke up very early this morning (like a child who can’t wait for Christmas). We couldn’t see the port from our room window, but could from the one at the end of the hall. I went down and looked out and . . . there she was!!! The Golden Princess towered over the buildings between us and the port and it was a magnificent sight!

We boarded the hotel shuttle, along with another Golden-bound couple (Hi Linda and Larry!!!) and headed to the port. A Princess port employee told us we would have to wait outside while the passengers from the previous cruise disembarked. I felt so sorry for them – their cruise was over. But ours was just beginning! We gave our luggage to the attendant and then after about a half-hour (spent talking to other excited passengers and getting tips from the Princess port staff), we were ushered inside to start the embarkation process (about 11:30 I think). We used the Princess online booking form, so all we had to do was fill out the immigration card, and then we got in line to go to one of the many check-in counters (TIP: They direct you to an area with writing desks to fill out your paperwork, but it doesn’t take long to just fill out the immigration card and, if you want a better place in line, you can get in the line immediately and fill out the card while your standing there). We had to wait a long time in this line (about 45 minutes) because the check-in lines were still not open. We soon found out that the Coast Guard was doing a surprise inspection of the Golden and they couldn’t board until it was over. We were told that this doesn’t happen very often (and the ship passed with flying colors!). Things went very smoothly when they finally opened the check-in counters, and after a quick security check (we had no problem carrying the wine on board) and the obligatory snapshot, we were on the ship!!!

The Golden is very impressive, very pretty, and just plain HUGE! I have heard the outside of the ship described as a floating tennis shoe, and they’re right – it’s kind of funny looking. But the inside is very classy and elegant (lots of wood and gold trim – no bright purple and orange carpet like Carnival!!). Our first stop on board was the Purser’s Desk – right there where you walk in. We wanted to ask about a bridge or engine room tour (my husband is an engineer and really wanted to see the "insides" and controls of the ship). We were told that they no longer have bridge tours (after 9/11) and never have done engine room tours, but that one of the engineers would meet with us in a few days and answer any questions we had (see OUR SECRET TOUR below for the rest of this story). We then went off to find our cabin.

We originally booked a guaranteed inside cabin at the lowest level Category N but were upgraded to a Category JJ, located amidships on Caribe Deck (cabin C327) – great location!! The cabin was small, but pretty and well laid out. Lots of drawer space and a nice closet with about 15 wooden hangers. We had heard how notoriously small the bathrooms were, but I thought it was fine and had no problems with the size – including the shower. I also found the hair dryer to be sufficient. The laundry room was 3 doors down from us and there were plenty of washers (1.00 per load), dryers (50 cents) and irons with ironing boards (free). We met our room steward, Jose, who took very good care of us. We didn’t spend much time in the room, because we were just itching to look around, so we headed off to tour the ship and took lots of movies as we explored.

We stopped at the ship’s gym because my husband wanted to check out the treadmills and running facilities. There are 10 or 12 treadmills and they have a sign-up sheet where you can reserve any one of them, but they ask that you to only sign up for a 30 minute block (a lot of people did not follow that rule and put their names down for more than one block, but they must be the same people who reserve deck chairs when they are not supposed to, and who stay on the islands later than the posted time and cause delays – ARGGHHH!). TIP For Runners or Walkers: There is a track (astroturf?) on the Sports Deck, but it is a 1/10 of a mile circle and can make you a bit dizzy. Also, there is a walkway on the Promonade Deck (7) that goes all the way around the ship – (though you have to go up stairs when you get to the front of the ship), but the faux-teak (plastic?) deck is a bit slippery and squeaky.

Then we went to the Horizon Court on Deck 14 for some lunch.

The food at the Horizon Court is fantastic. We are both vegetarian and the salad bar was fresh and abundant. They had some items I have never seen at a salad bar before, (such as sliced asparagus, kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes and pumpkin seeds), along with the usual choices, several dressings, and three kinds of beautiful fresh lettuce. Lunch and dinner buffets usually offered 6 or 8 different vegetarian items. There were also fresh fruit, rolls, and delicious desserts. The drink stations offer hot water, coffee (weak), and iced tea (not very good) taps, along with tea bags, ice, cold water and lemon. (TIP: For fresh iced tea, make a cup of hot tea and then pour it over a tall cup of ice and lemon slices – it’s much better than what they have in the taps).

After lunch we went up on the Lido deck to watch the ship get underway. It is amazing to see how the ship moves sideways out of the berth with such ease (using the massive side thrusters), and soon we were chugging down the causeway past the luxurious houses, lofty condos and jettys. People along the way shouted and waved, and little boats (they’re all little when you’re on the Golden!) playfully circled around us. The folks in the condos saluted us with Princess banners and very loud air-horns, and the big ship answered back with a tremendous bellowing HOOOOOOOT. There were tears in my eyes as we headed out to sea and began our long restful voyage to St. Maarten.

We had dinner that night in one of the dining rooms (I don’t remember which one, because they all seemed the same to me). We had PC dining and arrived at the dining room a little after 6:00. There was no wait and we had no problem getting a nice romantic table for two. The waiters took good care of us but fawned a bit too much. We also found the vegetarian selections in the dining room to be a bit limited and uninspired, so we didn’t eat in the dining room a whole lot on the cruise – just one other regular night and the two formal nights. We never had to wait more than 5 minutes for a table and you can have a seat (and a drink) at the lounge while you wait (TIP: Take a moment to get a posed picture taken on the formal nights – there are several photographers stationed around the atrium and they do a great job. The pictures are fun to look at even if you don’t want to buy. We didn’t plan on buying any pictures, but the formal portraits were so nice we actually didn’t mind spending 21.95 for such a nice keepsake).

After dinner, we went to see the Welcome Aboard show in the Princess Theatre located on Deck 7 forward. The theatre is gorgeous! I think it seats about 750 people and most of the seats are good – no poles to obstruct your view. We were introduced to the cruise director (Alistair Greener, who bears and uncanny resemblance to Paul McCartney) and his staff. Then the ship’s company (dancers and singers) performed a number or two. (Hint: For most shows, the theatre is pretty close to full by 10 minutes before showtime, so I recommend getting there at least 15-20 minutes before – more for the bigger shows. The waiters serve drinks while you wait and the chairs are comfy).

From here on, I will just cover the rest of the cruise by topic (otherwise, this will go on forever!):

ENTERTAINMENT

Highlights:

Lights Camera Action! (Princess Theatre) -- A wonderful production with multi-talented headliner Uber Rossi and the Princess dancers and singers. (TIP: Get to this one early, so as not to miss the hilarious pre-show antics.)

Comedy Variety Showtime with Uber Rossi and Kevin Hughes (Princess Theatre)– My favorite performers on the ship. Kevin does some very funny ship-related and relationship comedy. Uber is just plain amazing!!

Kevin Hughes Relationship Show (Explorer’s Lounge) -- Get there very early for this show – the seats fill up fast. This is one of those, "I know exactly what he’s talking about" relationship comedy bits. Kevin has great insight into what makes men and women tick and how we interact.

Word and Music – A very delightful, if a bit jumbled, Broadway review. The singers and dancers on this cruise were wonderful!

Other entertainment: Gaetano (magician) – pretty cool if you’re into magic shows, but I thought he was too pretentious. Pete Matthews (comic juggler) – crazy, frantic and pretty funny (we only saw a short version of his show the last night, would like to have seen more) Rick Star (comic) – didn’t like him at all, his personality grated on my nerves. Also, did not care for the Shake Rattle and Roll Show.

MOVIES

Shown most afternoons and some evenings in the Princess Theatre, included: Bandits, Harry Potter, Gosford Park, Oceans Eleven, Kate and Leopold, Count of Monte Cristo

TV

Not many channels. One movie channel that ran current movies – they only showed a couple of R-rated movies late at night – most others were PG or PG-13. ESPN, CNN and TBS were available most of the time. There were also 4 ships channels: Princess Information channel (where they replayed a lot of the port and shopping lectures); Princess Overseas TV (with a very funny morning show with Alistaire and Frankie and broadcast of entertainment from the previous day – like the crew talent show); a navigation channel that gave you the ship’s location and nautical info along with a weather log (which was not too helpful because there was no forecast, just current readings); and a the Golden Princess cam channel which was nice for inside cabins, because you could see what was going on outside (this channel also broadcasted all ship’s announcements which were not broadcast in cabins)

CASINO

I am a blackjack fan and had a great time playing and meeting lots of great people!! I played the $5 dollar tables and came out $150 ahead for the cruise (they also had a $25 table and sometimes a $10). A lot of the dealers were reserved at best (mostly the men), but I did find some very nice friendly and helpful ones (most of them women . . . hmmmmmm) and we talked about everything from the game to what it’s like to work on the ship. If you are new to blackjack (or any casino game), tell the dealers, and they will talk you through the game and give very good advice – listen to them – I saw a lot of people waste a lot of money making silly bets because they didn’t know how to play and didn’t ask for help. They also have formal lessons for all the games (I think it’s the first day at sea). There were lots of different slots and poker machines which I never played but I saw quite a few winners (probably because it’s hard not to notice when all the bells and lights go off!!) (TIP: If you are bothered by smoke, you can usually request that a table be designated non-smoking, if all the other people seated there agree)

OTHER SHIPBOARD ACTIVITIES

We attended a couple of trivia contest (which were okay) and the Pyramid Game (which was a blast). We won some coffee cups and key chains. Went to one Bingo session and didn’t win squat – for $20 you get three cards for each game (I think they played 5 or 6). It’s kind of fun, but expensive. I also attended one of the bridge (the card game, not where the captain stands) lectures, and enjoyed it – though it was not very well attended. I heard that they may discontinue the lectures and organized bridge games. There were also all kinds dance lessons and sports events (basketball, shuffleboard, ping pong) which we did not attend.

PORTS

St. Maarten – We had scheduled the afternoon America’s Cup Regatta, so we just went ashore in the morning to walk around. We took the water taxi over to the town (it costs $5.00 for unlimited transfers during the day – the land taxis are 3.00 one way). The town of Phillipsburg is not very nice; there are a lot of liquor, electronics and jewelry stores and a no sidewalks to speak off. There are also a lot of locals constantly in your face trying to sell you something. I got tired of having to watch out for cars and vans everywhere I walked, so we decided to bag the town and go for a walk on the beach, which was nice. We then went back to the ship for a nice quiet lunch, after which we went back to the bottom of the gangway to meet our tour guide for the regatta. Let me start by saying that I HIGHLY recommend the regatta but it is not for everyone!! You must keep in mind that there is usually a lot of wind off St Maarten and that these boats really heel (lean) a lot. There was one person on our boat who had a very hard time keeping her balance (she fell hard one time) and was not happy. But if you have good balance and are not afraid of a little action, then this is for you (we have a sailboat, so I am used to it). Before the race, captain (tour guide) asks each person if there have experience, and if they want to be active of just sit and enjoy. My husband (a life-long sailor) trimmed the mainsheet, and I chose to just sit back and take pictures. (TIP: If you say you want an active job, you may be asked to crank the winches, which is pretty tough work – so if they assign you to the "grinders" and you don’t want to work that hard, tell them you don’t want to do it). There were 3 boats in our race and we came in last, but all the boats finished within 100 feet of each other (I think they do this on purpose -- my husband said he noticed that the captain eased up at one point in the race to let another boat get closer – but maybe that’s just sour grapes ‘cause we lost – tee hee)

St. Thomas – We didn’t book any ship’s tours for this island. St Thomas is much prettier than St. Maarten, bright teal water, and lush green hills dotted with beautiful white houses – so otherworldly, that it’s very funny see all the American icons there, like Wendy’s, Subway, Kmart, Radio Shack etc. I highly recommend taking the cable cars to the top of the mountain (great big hill?) right across from where the ship docks. It costs $15 per person (this is not a ship’s tour, so you don’t need to sign up – just walk across the street and buy tickets) and the view is magnificent. There is a little restaurant at the top where you can get sandwiches and drinks if you want. You can go even higher if you walk up the nature trail to the top of the next hill (there are signs that indicate the local flora and there is a bench at the top) – OH BOY what a view from there!!

Princess Cays – In my opinion, the best stop we made!! Princess Cays is actually a leased portion of the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas. It is nothing but a beautiful white beach with sparkling teal blue water. We rented snorkeling equipment on the island (didn’t have to reserve it) – cost is $18 and includes mask, snorkel, fins and vest -- you can also get fish food and a fish ID card at an additional charge. I had never been snorkeling before and had a FANTASTIC time – I can’t believe I waited this long to do it!! It was just like the nature shows on TV! We saw lots of bright-colored fish and beautiful coral. (TIP: Go early in the morning – the first tender leaves at about 8:00. We were practically by ourselves in the water and it was very peaceful. By 10:00 or 11:00 the water gets very crowded – I was kicked couple of times by exuberant teens and the crowds stir up the silt and it isn’t as much fun later).

POOLS

There are 5 pools on the ship and quite a few hot tubs. The water in all of the pools is quite warm (86 degrees – too warm for me). The aft pool is the smallest and quietest (no children allowed and no hot tub), but it can get a bit windy and chilly on sea days. Then there are 3 main pools, one is under a retractable cover (which they closed during a short rain squall). I think there is also a wave pool located on the Sports Deck, but we never went there. On sea days, if you don’t get a lounge chair before 9:00, you are just plain out of luck because you will find half of them full of people and half full of towels. The saving of chairs thing is OUT OF CONTROL and they really need to do something about it. But on port days, the pools are quiet and there is no problem getting even the best lounge chairs -- so come back early from the ports if you want to spend some quality time at the pool.

OUR SECRET TOUR (shhhhh)

And now the rest of the story: After thinking that we would never hear from the engineer as the purser promised . . . on the third day we found a hand addressed envelope in the mailbox outside our cabin. Inside was a gold engraved Princess note card telling us that the "Captain cordially invites you to tour the bridge, Friday at 4:30" It said that this was not a standard tour and we were asked to tell no one about it while onboard. It was hand-signed by Captain Bernard Warner. Wow! On Friday, we went to a designated area where we found about 10 or 15 other tight-lipped people waiting, and were quietly escorted to the bridge for a quick "veddy-british" hello from the captain and a informative lecture by the First Officer (Kai from Finland). We were then allowed to look around an ask questions. We spent quite a while talking to a ship’s officer-in-training (a young British fellow named Tristan) who was very helpful and pleasant. It was pretty cool. We found out that most of the other invitees got their invitations by asking the captain directly but that they don’t do this on every cruise. So it doesn’t hurt to ask if you really want to see the bridge.

FINAL TIP: BEST PLACE TO RELAX ON THE SHIP

The Skywalkers Lounge (this highest point on the ship) on starboard side looking forward over the rest of the ship. I was surprised at how empty this place was during the day. It is a great birds-eye view, and a nice comfortable, cool, relaxing place to watch the seas and the rest of the ship. The bar up there is not open during the day, so grab a drink before you head up.

DEBARKATION

On the last (and very sad) night, you are asked to have any luggage you don’t want to carry in the hallways before midnight. We packed light and decided to carry (or wheel) our luggage ourselves, which saved time since we didn’t have to go find it amongst the thousands of other bags. They give you color-coded tags which they call in specified order during debarkation process (first to go are people with early flight and tours, then they go by deck -- highest first.

We awoke at about 6:30 on Saturday morning, showered and got everything ready to go. We then went up to the Horizon for a last breakfast (it’s very crowded up there on the last day). Then went back to the cabin, picked up our bags and went up to wait in one of the lounges for our color tag to be called (they start calling colors at about 8:00) The gangways are on Decks 5 and 6 and a lot of people gather around those areas (even with constant announcements asking you not to do that). We sat in the Desert Rose restaurant – not many other people there and it was very relaxing. When they called our color, we marched down the gangway, got through security very quickly and then grabbed a cab to the airport (didn’t have to wait even though we were right in the middle of the rush of exiting passengers). The cab cost us about 12.00 including tip. We were at the airport by 11:00 and had a VERY LONG wait for our 4:00 flight back to Baltimore.

Well that’s all for this review except to say that this was the BEST VACATION I HAVE EVER HAD!!! We had only been on Carnival before this and Princess is about 100 times better. Everyone is so friendly – I was especially impressed at how even the busiest of crew members would stop whatever they were doing when you walked by and offer a hardy and very friendly greeting. I will definitely sail with Princess again!

I have lots more info if you want. Just ask!!