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Welcome to page one of our Golden Princess review to the Southern Caribbean. We are breaking our review up into a few different articles so that we can better address the various components of our cruise. We will offer this Golden Princess Southern Caribbean Cruise review and compare it to our last two cruise vacations. These two cruises have been enjoyed within the last three years making the comparisons more pertinent.

For those who have read our previous articles about the planning of our Family Cruise Vacation, you will remember that we traveled with our family of eleven having ages from 26 to 85. We chose the Southern Caribbean cruise because of the itinerary, and we chose the Princess Cruise Lines ship the Golden Princess because of the “any time dining” option, the activities and amenities.

As a general comment, this cruise was over-all a very enjoyable and interesting experience. The itinerary was quite taxing - being in a new port each day with no ’ship days’ until the final day. We found that the ship, amenities and services to better in some ways and not as good in other ways than the other two cruises with Carnival and Holland America.

We will start our review with the trip to the cruise port and the embarkation process. Living in Southwestern Ontario we chose to fly to San Juan, Puerto Rico out of the Detroit, Michigan airport. With a very early flight, we chose to over-night at the Howard Johnson in Romulus a short jaunt from the airport. Once there, we new just how short that jaunt was as the planes seemed to be coming down in the parking lot out back.

The motel has a park and fly program with a fenced-in parking area for travelers. The amenities here were very basic but comfortable - nothing fancy. They have shuttles traveling back and forth to the airport every half hour as required. We were too early in leaving to take advantage of the continental breakfast which was put out about an hour after we left.

The landing aircraft were quite noisy as they passed directly overhead and continued until after 11:00 p.m. At peak times, an aircraft was passing over every 50 to 60 seconds. We didn’t have a problem with the noise in the morning as we were one of the first flights out.

The first leg of our flight was on a small aircraft to Cleveland, Ohio for a brief lay-over. This flight was very smooth and comfortable for all. We transferred to a Boeing 737 for the remainder of the flight to San Juan. This flight was comfortable and reasonably smooth as well. The total time from leaving the motel until our arrival by bus to the cruise terminal was about eight hours. Surprisingly, this was not nearly as grueling as it may sound. Tiring yes, but not agonizing.

Upon arrival in San Juan, we were able to collect all of our baggage fairly quickly and proceeded to the bus for the short shuttle to the cruise port. It was a somewhat dreary and drizzly day but that did not dampen our spirits as everyone was excited and in anticipation of our boarding the ship, Golden Princess.

After the bus ride to the cruise terminal, we had to line up outside under a walkway roof to enter into the secure area of the terminal itself. There were three levels of security within the cruise terminal. Inside was a duty-free shop where passengers were allowed to make last minute purchases.

There were of course, the usual line-ups in the terminal to receive the cruise card for your on-board adventures. This wait always seems to be the most antagonizing as the anticipation for your cruise vacation builds. It was apparent that a lot of fellow passengers did not fill out their information on-line to expedite the boarding process. However, to make your wait a little less painful, one of the local staff was passing out samples of spiced rum.

All-in-all, this part of our cruise vacation adventure went smoothly. There is always a blip here and there but at last we were on board and in time to enjoy a late lunch at the buffet. Then it was time to do a little exploring.

For more reviews on other components of our Golden Princess cruise to the Southern Caribbean including the food and dining options, staterooms (with balconies), activities, amenities and ports-of-call, check our Caribbean Cruises Article map (www.a1-discount-cruises.com) often.

Brian A Schmidt is the author and web publisher of a1-discount-cruises.com your #1 source for cruise information, discounts and great deals! Visit http://www.a1-discount-cruises.com to book your fabulous cruise vacation! For more interesting articles visit our Caribbean Cruises Articles Map. If you have any questions or comments please contact us at info@a1-discount-cruises.com using the subject line “Questions”.

The Chandris Line was the precursor of Celebrity Cruises.

One of the ships operated by Chandris was the beautiful Liner America previously owned by the United States Line and initially captained by Demitrios Challioris who had been in charge of a crude oil tanker in Southampton.

Chandris bought the largest passenger liner ever in Greece called the Australis.
The Australis had served extensively as a troop ship during the second world war so underwent a major refit and became a one-class configuration geared to carry 2300 passengers.
The aft promenade decks were extended, a swimming poolwas added, and air conditioning was installed.
She made 3 month voyages around the world from Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Southampton, Casablanca, Las Palmas, Cape Town,(or through the Mediterranean via Gibraltar, Naples, Malta, Piraeus, Port Said and Aden), Freemantle, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, Suva, Tahiti, Acapulco, Balboa, Cristobal, Port Everglades and return to Southampton.

Chandris Lines also had the Australian Government’s prized immigrant contract bringing tens of thousands of new immigrants out to major ports in Australia
The ships were always sold out so that there were 3 sittings for dinner and special sittings for kids.
P&O, a rival cruise line, had ceased the line voyage business to Australia so that the Australis was now known as “the world’s largest express liner”.

In 1977 Australis tried a new itinerary from the South Pacific to points in South America to Portugal.

Interest in Sea Travel at that time was low and Australis and became the sole remaining liner on the trade.

New Immigrants now traveled by jet.

In November of 1977 Australis was laid up.

In 1978 she was sold to US investors.

They mismanaged the ship and their company, Venture Cruises, was declared bankrupt.

Guess who bought the ship in bankruptcy court?

Chandris Lines.

For $4 million less than the amount for which they sold her four months earlier!

The ship was laid up and sold in 1992.

Celebrity Cruises was created by Chandris Lines as a separate luxury cruise line, initially using Chandris’s Galileo, which was renamed Meridian after she was rebuilt. She was joined by the new ships Horizon and Zenith in 1990 and 1992.

In 1989 there was a need in the Cruise Industry for a luxury product at a decent price.

Chandris wanted to establish a worldwide standard for cruising by The company was determined to set a new, worldwide standard for cruising.

Exceptional Cuisine and all its facets became the mainstay of the Celebrity Cruise experience.

Master Chefs serve as the line’s revered culinary and wine consultants since its founding.

In 1995 Celebrity introduced the so called Century Class Fleet with an Industry first:

Luxurious Spa Experiences.

In 1997, Celebrity Cruises merged with Royal Caribbean International, bringing together two extraordinary cruise brands within one corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

Today Royal Caribbean uses 29 Cruise Liners.

Cruising has become so popular that from 2000 to 2002 Royal Caribbean doubled its passenger capacity.

Its newest ships use gas turbine engines reducing exhaust emissions by 95% and have become traveling art shows as well.
They boast original paneling and artifacts from famous transatlantic luxury liners.

In 2001, building on the strengths of both the Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises brands,Royal Celebrity Tours was started to offer truly unique vacations in Alaska, Canada and Europe, combining outstanding cruises with exceptional pre- or post-cruise land tour packages now known as “cruisetours.”

J Shipper loves Celebrity Cruise Lines.
http://www.celebrity-cruise-now.info
and http://www.2qz.com/condo-cruise-ship