I sailed on the Golden Princess Jan 10, 2004 Eastern Caribbean.

This ship was kept up very nicely for being a few years old. All of Princess ships are so nicely kept up. The Golden Princess had a lot of things to do maybe too much to do. Although I had a nice time on this ship, but it was just too big for me. This was my 20th cruise 6th with Princess. I wanted to try a big ship because I heard so many people talk about how nice a big ship is. Well, it's good to go on it if the cost is cheap. We only paid $520 for outside cabin for P203 which was in a great location in the front of the ship. No, I could not feel any motion on the big ship which I disappointed  

Food:
The Horizon Court buffet was good. I thought the food was better on the Sun Princess which I just went on two months before this cruise. Dinner was very good. Im always to full for dinner anyways. We ate at the "eat wherever dinning" which we all loved. You could go whenever you wanted. Since we had such good service from our waiter and buss boy we asked for them all time and always had the same table by the window table 14. The Golden Princess dining rooms were just like the Sun class ships. Very cozy! Not big or loud like on other cruise lines. In the Horizon Court from 3-4pm they have free ice cream. If you were still hungry after dinner, the Horizon court had dinner up to 10:30 pm. Some times they had the same food as in the dining room. After 10:30 p.m. they brought out sandwiches. I would eat every two hrs on this ship. You will never go hungry on princess like you do on other cruise lines. Food is everywhere! The pizza was very good at the pool area.

The Golden Princess did not have the Sterling Steak House, but had some other pay restaurant instead which looked nasty. This place was never crowded. And the main walkway cut right though the restaurant. This pay restaurant was only $8. The Sterling Steak House was so awesome on the Sun Class Ships. So I was disappointed they did not have the Steak Houses on the big ships..

Entertainment:
The Entertainment was very good on Princess. They use to suck, but have gotten a lot better since Carnival bought out Princess. Some people we saw were: STU MOSS(Comedian), Sarge(Comedian), David Deeble(Comedy/Juggler), Gaetano (Magic & Illusions), Ed Fernandez (Comedy Hypnotist) They also had some evening movies in the Vista Lounge.

Cabin:
Our cabin was P203 outside front of the ship. I like the front so I can feel motion. With this cabin we never really felt motion. So I was disappointed in that. You have lots' of space for your clothes. This cabin is so big. I was use to the Sprit of Alaska on Cruise West. Their cabin was the size of princess bath room. Don't complain about the bathroom being small because on the Cruise West their bathroom was the size of princess shower. So Princess has some big bathrooms and cabins.

Why I don't like this ship?
I did not like this ship just because it was too big. Things were to spread out and you had to walk far to get somewhere. You had no deck chairs on promenade deck because the walkway is to narrow. Instead, they had a few benches. It sure isn't like the Sun class ships. Too many people everywhere. You can never get away from people on this ship. People are everywhere. Even at 1:30 in the morning I saw people. At the dinner buffet at 10:20 it was always packed up there. Whenever you went to the dinner buffet at 10:20 on the Sun Class Ships, you were basically eating with just the crew. You can tell there is an extra 650 passengers than the Sun Class Ships. Another bad thing about this ship is you could not go in the front of the ship to see the bow. The only area where you could see forward was in front of the basketball court looking though glass and you still could not see forward. The only good area to see forward was on promenade deck, but was closed after dark. I like to see forward and look for animals with the wind in my face. Not on this ship! Golden, Grand, Star, Diamond and Sapphire Princess would be terrible for Alaska. You could not see anything. My family booked a balcony on the Diamond which is just a little bigger than the Golden. Since you could not look forward on this ship, the balcony we choose was facing forward. But Princess just changed the forward balconies because on their sea trails the wind was blowing furniture around. So instead of the front balcony, Princess will just have a window for the front. So we booked a north bound on the Dawn Princess instead of the Diamond. The Dawn is just like the Sun. The Sun Class Ships are the perfect size. Since I don't like the bigger ships, I asked the caption why princess keeps building bigger ships. He Said "Princess gets a lot more money with the bigger ships."One more thing, If you have a balcony on the Golden Princess you may be looking down on another balcony or a balcony above you may be looking down on you. The Golden's balconies don't go strait down but, stick out more by each level. One good thing about the bigger ships are you always have seats to sit at the buffet compared to the Sun class ships.

The Golden Princess is a nice ship with a ton of things to do. It's great for the Caribbean or Mexico, but wont be good at all for Alaska. My family and I booked a cruise to Alaska on the Dawn Princess a north bound. After we get off the Dawn, my sister, bother and I will go on Cruise West The Sprit of Alaska where you can actually see stuff. Feel free to write me if you have any questions. Im very picky on my ships and one of my hobbles is cruising which I know a lot about. Most people love the big ships since there is so much to do, but for me I like the smaller ones where it seems like your on a ship.

Brian Lashchuk