There is a full fitness center towards the FWD (front) of the ship. The typical equipments are avail

Last week, we went on our 2nd cruise, 1st Alaska Cruise on the Golden Princess cruise ship. Being this my first Alaskan Cruise, not to mention many years since my last cruise, the experience was very positive. I highly recommend anyone to go to Alaska, either by Cruise or Land, there a lot of great nature to see, fresh air to breathe, and valuable natural wonder to be part of. Due to global warming, the glacier, once left behind by the great Ice Age is quickly melting and might not last much longer. Take the opportunity to see it and be aware on how to contribute to saving from global warming.
Princess Cruise Line , owned and operated by Carnival Corporation, is in a premium category of cruise ship. They have approx 11 cruise ships. As of 2011, about 1/2 of their fleet sail for Alaska. Either leaving from San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, or Whittier / Anchorage. The one I was one was the Golden Princess, leaving out of Seattle, Washington. This cruise ship was dry dock renovated a few years ago (2009). The sister ship, Sapphire Princess, also cruise out of Seattle for Alaska, will dry dock for makeover in 2012. Golden Princess Alaska Cruise itinerary:
International Cafe Bar - This was a great addition to the cruise ship. You can order specialty coffee, hot cocoa, hot brew coffee, and a nice large selection of pastries. Fresh hot cookies every few minutes and panni sandwiches!
Trying to do too much - They try to cramp too many features, end up with everyone of it small and lack quality. Basketball 1/2 court size mixed on Tennis Court. Extremely small mini-golf. Their technology arcade has 4 machines, all old games.
Tip #2 - When Booking, select anytime dining! The longest we had to wait for a seat was no more than 20 minutes. But it gave us the flexibility to eat at our leisure time and could request to sit separately.
cheap airline fares to south carolina My overall experience of the Golden Princess was positive. The dining room offers very good meals and great services. cheap airline fares to south carolina The addition cheap airline fares to south carolina of the International Bar Cafe was a great plus. It offer specialty coffee and brew coffee for a additional fee. I recommend people buy the Coffee Card, it will give you 15 specialty Coffee (i.e.: Latte, Espresso, etc.,), unlimited brew coffee, and unlimited hot cocoa drinks. All the pastry (i.e.: cakes, flan, cookies, etc.,) are FREE. The nice specialty snacks are FREE. No coffee cheap airline fares to south carolina card required for these items.
If you are swimming outside by the pool or hanging out watching movies with their Movies Under The Stars (MUTS), you will enjoy the Trident Bar and Grill. There is a pizzeria with fresh bake pizza through out the day. The grill offers top quality burgers, hot dogs, sausages, and fries. All free with the cruise. The Bar and Grill is open between 11AM - 11PM
Beverages is a bit tricky. Rule of thumb: Tap Water, cheap airline fares to south carolina Ice Tea, Lemonade, and pre-made coffee are free of charge. Fountain Soda has a fee. For those who like to drink soda, there is a Soda card which gives you unlimited sofa for $4.50 per day. Upgrading that to premium level $7.00 will allow you access to Milk Shakes, Root Beer Floats, and other premium soda.
Horizon Court food buffet could be better. The food was ok and nothing special. The buffet is small, no where close to compete with any casino @ Las Vegas. A bit disappointing in my opinion. While the food is not horrible, the selections are limited and quality aren't the best. The only benefit is that it is ready available 24 hours a day.
Compared to my previous trip and to my surprise, especially this being Alaska Cruise, the offering cheap airline fares to south carolina of Smoke Salmon was limited. It wasn't even on the room service menu and only offer at the cafe once.
Golden Princess offer two specialty restaurants at additional fee ($20.00 per person). They offer premium dinner and is by reservation only. I didn't try it on this route, but have heard from people on the ship, it was an excellent experience.
The minute you board the ship to the last day of your cruise, entertainment is non-stop. You have one of several lounge you can relax, have a drink, and listen to live band or listen to the music over the ship PA system. At night, there is a nice Sky Bar above the rear (AFT) of the ship. The view is spectacular while you party all night. cheap airline fares to south carolina Bare in mind that while in Alaska, sunset way past 10:00PM, so the sunset view is something that will leave an impression on you.
There are two theaters on ship. The main large Broadway style is towards the front of the ship called the Princess Theater, while the smaller and more intimate Vista Lounge is towards the back of the ship. Both offers good shows, stand up comedy, and musical through out your trip.
There are locations for kids, teens, cheap airline fares to south carolina and young adults to hand out with peers of their age.The teen room is actually pretty neat. Small, but neat. It has a large 55" LCD TV hooked up to playstation 3 with tons of games to keep them busy. Plus a lot of board games and other activities.
Tip #1: If you are going to get a balcony room, I recommend Aloha Deck or Baja Deck. Your balcony is covered and you have the privacy of not having people above you looking down. Otherwise cheap airline fares to south carolina people above you can see you. See sample pictures below
The room we had was located on Aloha level (floor 12) on the AFT left side of the ship (rear left). The room offers the standard typical amenities. There is an LCD TV, Small Refrig, Hair Dryer, several electrical outlets, a small safe, and a balcony. Nothing special or WoW about. It is small, but serve the purpose. We were directly below the Horizon Court and Neptune, cheap airline fares to south carolina but it was isolated well enough, we didn't notice any noise.
There is a full fitness center towards the FWD (front) of the ship. The typical equipments are available. Separated cheap airline fares to south carolina sauna, steam room, and showers are available for males and females. There are also two spas and a small pool.
Towards the front of the ship, directly above the fitness center is an adult only oasis. You can relax in this environment for a small fee. The Sanctuary is an adult only resort relax environment. cheap airline fares to south carolina I did not see too many people utilized this except for the day we were at Glacier Bay National Park.
A common questions I see reading forums and I too ask myself is around what gear to bring on the cruise. I took a boat load, it as a pain to carry around. From now having seen the cruise and have an idea what to expect, here are my opinions:
Go Light! For me, I carried both my camera bodies and two lens, thinking it would save me effort in swapping them. That was a mistake. I rarely need to go beyond 70mm. I hoping to see a great amount of wild life and sea life to make use of the 70mm-200mm F2.8 w/ 1.7x TC, but I took no more than 10 shots with it. Most of my pictures were taken with 17mm-55mm F2.8.
If you have 2.8 or faster, by all mean bring it. I find myself only use flash twice. All of my shots, I took advantage of 1600 ISO and F2.8 when necessary. Flashes, while great, sometime tends not to bring out true colors. I like to use ambient lighting. Pop-Up cheap airline fares to south carolina flash found on the Nikon works fine.
If you have 18-200mm VR lens, go with it. That would the best partner you can have while going on excursion. Outdoors are extremely bright, especially when sunset after 10:00 PM, the added daylight really helps. So the 18-200mm will work nicely. cheap airline fares to south carolina The F2.8 or faster lens will help you with interior shots while you are on the ship or maybe late night shot around ship. For me, next time I think getting an 18-200mm VR lens and 50mm F1.4 would be perfect setup to use.
No Tripod Required! That was my largest dilemma. cheap airline fares to south carolina Should I bring a tripod? I am glade I did not. With what I had carried with me, the additional weight of tripod would kill me. What I used was to hold it steady or use tools around me. Such as rocks, boulders, trash bins, chairs, benches, etc. Brace yourself steady and fire away. I took a shot with the waterfall down to 1s shutterspeed w/o tripod!
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