Haven't been on this particular one but I have been on Sapphire Princess and going on Sun Princess in September. I love 'em!

I have nothing but praise for princess. Have done Alaska on Dawn, Australia/NZ on Sapphire and booked on Sun 14 Sept Panama Canal. They really know how to treat their regular passengers with their different levels of status. I am now ELITE which is the top tier and you get some great benefits.

My wife and I are sailing in a few weeks time (June4th) on the newly revamped Sea Princess from Southampton. Interested to read the various comments on Princess cruises, I certainly hope this boat lives up to the hype. Looking forward to the new 'movies under the stars feature' which is supposed to be multiplex quality. I have spoken to friends who sailed on her when she was the Adonia and am sure everything will be superlative. Will post a review later on, anyone else going on this cruise? two weeks around the med. A previous post stated that drinks prices were almost half the price of RCI, we were on Voyager a couple of years ago and at $4.50 a pint/large vodka coke I did not think it was too bad. The brochure pushes the quality of food quite highly, member of the 'chaine des rotisseurs gastronomic society' no less!! we shall see.

Hi Bruceybabe

Not long till you sail on the Sea Princess. We are booked to sail on her in August for 2 weeks round the Med and looking forward to it. Interesting what you say about drinks prices onboard as they don't sound too bad. We found the prices on the Marco Polo horrendous at $8 for a can of domestic (non-American) beer.

It would be much appreciated if you could post a review on your return here:

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/cruise-reviews/princess-cruises/sea-princess/

If you haven't done so already, you can also post a review of your trip on the Thomson Spirit if you wish via the Cruise Reviews link at the top of the page.

luci

Luci
Will certainly post a review as soon as we get back, hopefully very positive. The drinks prices I quoted referred to the RCI Voyager ship, don't know yet what the prices will be like on the Sea Princes, hopefully very similar, the dollar exchange rate being better now than when we went in Nov 2003. Incidentally I have posted reviews of both the Voyager and the Spirit. I have been following the inaguaral Sea Princess cruise which has just returned to Southampton today, via the web cam, unfortunately this only shows the view from the front of the ship, there are no internal cams as their is on some of the other Princess boats. I will be looking to see if anyone from this cruise, or the ones that follow, has posted any reviews at 'ship happens' or elsewhere.
One thing that decided me to book this cruise was the early booking discount, around £1200, this was then discounted again by our local cruise specialist agent here in Blackpool by nearly another £200. I am referring to SAVEnSAIL, check out their website, some good offers.
Also Princess do special occassion offers, Red Letter they call them, if you are celebrating a special wedding anniversary, ie 10-20-25 etc anytime during the year of your cruise, or if you are on honeymoon at the time you get some pretty good benefits free gratis. We are celebrating our pearl wedding (30th) this year and received as a result two cabin upgrades which as we had already booked one upgrade, took us up to deck 11, just below the pool and bars. Also we get a welcome bottle of champagne on arrival plus canapes or petit fours served each eve in our stateroom. We get to take home (not nick this time!) a pair of toweling robes, a framed portrait, 30 mins free pampering in the Lotus spa and finally a complimentary champagne breakfast in bed on the morning of our choice , which in our case will be my birthday. (I might even push for a free cake that eve), mind I think cruise liners are starting to charge for these now. We have got a normal inside by the way so will not be able to comment on the balcony rooms, the cost of these was just a bit too much over budget as it being a two week cruise takes the price up quite a lot, mind it is still no dearer than some of Ocean Village and Island Escape prices for two weeks, and these are only basic 3* boats without the elegant dining etc. Finally we got a free child place up to age 16! However our son is 22 and would not dream of coming away with us anyway plus we have had plenty of years of looking for free child places so it is a nice relief to get away on our own. Still it is quite a saving for a family with a teenage child.

Hi Bruceybabe

I have deleted your double post, no problems.

Interesting what you say about the Red Letter cruise. We are celebrating a major anniversary, but when we looked into this, found that the Red Letter package was only available on certain dates and that your anniversary had fall during the date of the cruise before you were eligble, not just during that year.

However we are eligible for the Celebration Package and will get the same complimentary benefits as you describe, apart from the towelling robes, the spa treatments and only a only category cabin upgrade.

I'd be very grateful if you could confirm what the currency used onboard is. Princess told me it would still be USD on the Southampton sailings.

luci

The currency on board Princess ships no matter where they are in the world is US Dollars, and if you want to use the self serve laundry, you will need quarters(25cents) to use the washers and dryers...take your own washing tablets and some tumble dryer sheets. Also its handy to take some $1.00 notes if you want to tip a dollar a person if you have room service. We also tipped in dollars for the extra tip to our room steward...but they probably dont mind what currency they get.

Just been through the thread and it is still a good read second time.

Decided to Sample Princess by taking the Golden Princess the Round britain 1 July. £550(inside GTY) for 10 night of luxury aint too bad. Also its a friday to sunday out of Southampton so only 5 days off work for 10cruise nights.

We were looking for a deal to warmer areas(med) or the QM Back to Back transatlantic, but some of the better ships are filling up or flight are becoming a problem so we took took this instead and can spend some of the saving on a few extras onboard or a better cruise later in the year.

We are sailing on Golden Princess on 11 July from Southampton, visiting Le Havre, Zeebrugge, Rotterdam, Copenhagen, Oslo and Hamburg. Read a few cruise reviews which are all very positive, ship is huge and we are really looking forward to it.

Anyone else sailing on this voyage?

Can someone give me more info on the Golden Princess. We set sail in July from Southampton for 10 nights. We have booked a standard balcony room on Baja deck. I am trying to find out if the room will have a bath (don't mind if its small, just like a relax sometimes!) as when I booked directly with princess they told me that it did, but thats not the inpression I am getting from the reviews I have read.
Also I am getting mixed opinions about the food, we have traveled on P&O and RCL and thought the food was out of this world. So can you let me know what you think.
One last thing if you can tell me anything about the gym as my husband is a bodybuilder.
Thanks :

Hi If you go to http://www.princess.com/ships then click Golden Princess then staterooms, there is a menu on the right that will allow you to select a deck and room number which will give you full details.

Happy Voyage

chrisie

I've just taken a look and it seems they do have a bath - but you'd need to know the room type first. Can't help you with the food but you can do a virtual tour of the fitness centre too

Are you on the 11/7 sailing to Copenhagen/Oslo?

We are going on the same trip.

Did you book it via Princess in the USA or through a Travel Agent here?

Luci
Cruisecritic.com currently have a very good ongoing daily review of the current Sea Princess cruise, quite detailed and informative including the ports of call, though some are different to the ones on our cruise.
Done by one calling himself Scouser, can be found on the messageboards feature under of course Princess cruises. The Movies under the stars, entertainment, food etc. are well documented, so far quite favourably. The guy is logging his quite detailed comments on a daily basis as the cruise continues, worth a look.

Thanks for the info Bruceybabe, off to have a look.

luci

Me again
Just took a look at cabin plans on the princess web site and it looks as though they don't have actual baths on that deck. it says 'bath with shower' but means a bathroom with a shower s'funny I'd call that a shower room... but there you have it

There should be few up for these trips <£550 inside GTY now till mid august
for 10night on a princess ship. (1st july for us) no idea about the bath though.

That's an excellent price you got there WJ. Is that from Teletext again? I haven't noticed anything that good lately, but then again I haven't really been looking. We're paying considerably more for 14 nights on the Sea Princess in August. There didn't seem to be any deals around for the date we wanted.

luci

Thanks for all your help everyone and yes we are going 11th July, we booked directly through Princess. I have anouther question does anyone know anything about express check in?