Grand Princess Review 1/15-1/22

Grand Review 1/15-22

Background – I went on this trip with my long-time boyfriend. We are in our early 30’s. I have cruised three times prior to this one on HAL and RC. This is a long review so you may want to get a drink and use the restroom before you start reading!

Enterprise Car Rental pre/post cruise: We arrived at IAH, got the rental car easily and headed directly to Galveston to return it. The operation in Galveston isn’t the best, but for the money we saved it was definitely worth it. The Enterprise place in Galveston is on the right hand side of the street. We missed it the first time – it is directly after you go over this little overpass (there is a Days Inn on your right just before it). We waited about 20 minutes for a van to take us to the pier. It was crowded – next time we will just call a taxi. Getting a car on the return trip was a breeze! There is a booth set up for Enterprise right there at the pier and they had a car and all our paperwork printed out and waiting for us. All in all it took less than 10 minutes for my boyfriend to get the car and pull around to pick me and the luggage up. When we returned the car at IAH that night somehow the people in Galveston had messed up the paperwork and our rental was free! We lucked out. I would definitely recommend renting a car.

Overall: We had a fabulous time! It was a wonderful 7 days and we would do it again in a heartbeat. The best thing about this cruise was definitely my fellow passengers. It was a very congenial group. We met and spent time with people of all ages. Anytime dining was great too. When you go in they ask you if you want to sit at a table with others or by yourself. We chose to sit with others every night and loved it! We always had great conversations and we enjoyed meeting all sorts of people. We met a few of the people on our roll-call and enjoyed them very much. It helped break the ice the first day by meeting people you already knew some about. Nice folks – we ran into them a couple of times.

Food: This is my one downer for this cruise. It certainly wasn’t bad – but no where near as good as on HAL. The dinner selections were hit and miss. We ate as Sabatinis, which I also would not do again. We are used to fine dining, and felt the experience lacking some. They made a big deal over the amount of food rather than the quality. I also felt service was severely lacking at Sabatinis which surprised me since others raved about it. The reason it took us over 2 hours to eat is that we had to wait so long between each of the appetizers and courses. However, the seafood soup was great as well the Sea Bass. Buffets were generally pretty good. Now here is my one big huge complaint about this cruise. I am a low-carb person but was totally looking forward to a week of great breads and rolls. One problem – all of the butter has been frozen and tasted a bit rancid/freezer burned. YUCK!!! The third day there was fresh butter in the dining rooms, but the buffet and room service served awful tasting frozen butter. For most of you this will not be a problem, but butter quality is an important thing for me! On the up side, I saved a bunch of calories and carbs by not eating the bread! Anytime dining is great – never had to wait, never needed reservations since there were just two of us.

Room: We had Baja 209 – a balcony room – the third cabin from the front on the starboard side. We loved it! Plenty of room, balcony had two chairs that reclined and a table where we had coffee every morning and wine every night. If I were to go on this cruise again I would try to book a port side room just b/c that was the side where all the tendering took place and usually faced the pier which I think is cool. Our cabin steward, Eduardo, was great.

Ship: Amazingly, the ship did not feel large at all. The decks are broken up well so you don’t feel like you are walking long distances. We loved the aft hot tub at sail away from port days – you gotta try it! The ship was well kept and easy to navigate. We almost always took the stairs b/c it was easier than waiting for an elevator, but always got one when we needed it. No problems to speak of there. MUTS was great. That pool is always the most crowded area b/c of the MUTS. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. The last day at sea it was difficult to get a chair at that area b/c everyone was sunning and watching the movie. Many people were saving chairs, but gave them up if asked. There was a lot of movement on the boat – we had rough seas almost every day. I have a history of getting seasick, but only once did I feel nausea and it was after spending a day and a very rocky boat in Grand Cayman. I tried Bonine and it made me very sleepy so I discontinued the use of it and was fine. The only time I ever felt like I was on a ship with 2600 people was at the sail away party. There were tons of people dancing and drinking – it was a blast. After that I never noticed any crowded areas at all.

Entertainment: Cruise staff was unimpressive, but that’s not an important part of the cruise to me. They had lots of inside jokes and poor stage presence. The Cruise Director was the worst of the bunch – he had this nervous habit of touching his face all the time and it was very distracting – especially on the TV programs about the ports. They all seemed to really enjoy themselves but didn’t realize the rest of us didn’t think they were that cute. The entertainment was great – surprisingly from what I read here ahead of time. I am a theatre person so my expectations tend to be higher than most. The dancers were great – edgy dance numbers and costumes were a bit risqué for a cruise but I think it was a good risk for them to take. They hypnotist was great! Skip the “adult show” b/c it is basically a repeat of the earlier show but he talks about the penis a lot. Magician was just OK. The comedian was really good. He totally understood his audience and catered to them. Princess Idol was fun. One girl actually brought her own CD to sing to – although she was a good singer, we were glad she didn’t win!

Belize: You really do need to do your homework and plan something for Belize. It is not a place where you just get off the ship and troll around town. It is very underdeveloped, and seemed a bit harsh. We went cave tubing with Wet and Wild and had a blast. You definitely should book cave tubing with a company outside of the ship for reasons you will see later. When we arrived in Belize it was cool and windy. All of the ships snorkeling excursions were cancelled. We met Marvin at the pier and it turned out that we were the only reservation they had for the day and he felt it was just too cold to go, but he did tell me that the ship tour was still going. They ended up re-booking us on a ruins tour instead of cave tubing – but suddenly a group of 8 from the Grand showed up wanting to go cave tubing, and suddenly the trip was back on! Wet and Wild is very reputable. Marvin took good care of us – even called me on the phone in the van b/c they accidentally charged me $10 too much (confusion when we booked the other tour when we thought cave tubing was a no-go). He also called and spoke to me on the way back from the caves just to see if we had a good time. Before I booked this tour I was terribly concerned about the short time in port and getting back to the ship in time. We didn’t leave the pier until 2:10 pm due to the late booking of our group and members running off to buy stuff before the trip. Let me tell you now that you should erase any concern about time out of your mind right now. We passed the cruise tours on our way there and also on our way back. There is plenty of time to do this tour. When I asked what would happen if our van broke down, the driver held up his cell phone and said, “We have many friends.” The tubing itself was great! As I mentioned, we were late starting out so we went pretty fast through the forest. We did eat leaves, considered eating termites, and all those things reported by other groups. The caves were awesome – so much fun! We passed the cruise tour on the path and again in the caves (they had 3 tour busses full of people). We actually took a longer hike and a longer river route than the cruise – which was great. If I were to do it again – I would definitely book with Wet and Wild. The van was nice, Carlos, one of our guides, is adorable – he gives you all sorts of info on Belize so sit near the front of the van. They got us back to the pier ahead of the cruise groups at about 6PM. Although they did not solicit, we tipped them well for giving us such a great trip.

Costa Maya: Probably my favorite port of call! We got off the ship around 9 am, walked right outside of the tourist village and paid $45 a piece for a Mayan ruins tour to Choccoboan (sp?). The van was nice and there was a HUGE sign asking us to tip the driver for service. Well, he got us there and back, but never uttered a single word about the area or the ruins, or the weather. It was 67 miles in complete and utter silence. Couldn’t find anything to tip for – so we didn’t. The ruins were great – just walk along with other groups so you can hear the guide telling about the area. One hour was plenty of time for us there. When we got back to the pier we rented a golf cart ($15 per hour) and went to Majahual. We drove through the town and just loved the vibrancy of the area. We parked and drank beers on the beach and ate awesome cerviche and guacamole and chips. We ordered from Tapas which is actually on the other side of the road from the beach, but they come to the beach and wait on you there. A couple we met at the pier asked to hitch a ride with us and we happily agreed. They ordered nachos – but they were just a step up from the kind you buy at the movie theatre – you have to dip in the cheese, etc. I wished we has more time to shop in Costa Maya, but the sun and the sand and the beers kept us pretty well occupied.

Grand Cayman: Another windy/choppy seas day. We were told that we were the first ship to dock in 5 days. We had booked a sting ray city tour through Captain Bryans, but when we got there they told us it was too choppy to go and they had cancelled the tour. They happily offered to book us on a city tour (lame – been there and done that before), so we just went back to the pier to see what else there was to do. I noticed a guy from Native Ways holding up a sign for sting ray city and it turned out that they were still going so we signed up, paid $25 and off we went. The seas were really rough and this was one of the only times I felt a little woozy and seasick. The Native Ways boat was not so nice – went really slow and lots of black smoke and fumes in the back making us glad we were in the front. Sting Ray City was great – only 5 boats total there. The waves came over us twice. But otherwise it was fine. The guides were great – holding the stingrays and letting us hold them too. Not much in the way of educating us prior to getting in the water, but once we were in it was great. Got back on the ship and watched sail away from the aft hot tub – seriously, check it out!

Cozumel: Went to Paradise Beach – only so-so in my book. It was really crowded and not very big. We did very much enjoy the pineapple drinks – share one with your mate rather than each getting your own. Afterwards we went to Carlos and Charlie’s. Be very specific with your taxi driver that you want to go to the one in town or else they will take you to the one at the other pier. That’s where we ended up, and let me tell you, those Carnival passengers were thoroughly entertaining! It was a little wild, and oh so enjoyable to see the looks on the faces of the patrons who unwittingly went in thinking it was just a plain old Mexican restaurant. Yes. We saw lots of body parts, table dancing, and what not. The beers were $3.00 and about an hour was all I could take. I would like to have done some shopping in Cozumel, but again we had to hurry off to the ship.

Retrospect Knowledge: Liquor is about a dollar cheaper in Grand Cayman than Cozumel. Buy Kailua in Cozumel b/c they have these cool Mayan bottles for the same price as the regular shaped bottles in Grand Cayman. Take two bathing suits and your own towels – just makes it easier to have a spare in the event that your cruise provided each towels are wet from your sail away hot tubing experience and you want to hot tub again around 2 am. Tip your room steward right of the bat – it is nice to do, and we got great service (probably would have without the tip but it made us feel good). Don’t sweat the small stuff – aside from the butter issue – I think I was pretty successful at this! Get to know your fellow passengers even if they seem really different from you. We so enjoyed Robbie and Vivian, Cory and Cindy, Jane and Otis…this list goes on! Don’t try to do everything – just accept that you are going to miss shows you wanted to see b/c there is just so much to do. If I think of anything else I will post it later.

I got so much good information on the Grand from this board, so this is me giving back. Hope this information is helpful. I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

It sounds as though you had a fun cruise, kiddo! We leave on Saturday.

Did you order room service at all? Did you attempt to order something other than what was listed on the "room service menu"?

I was amused to hear that Paradise Beach was only "so-so". I'm getting sick of the way they've taken over the Cozumel board!;)

Did you do very much drinking on board? A favorite bar? Drink specials?

I really enjoyed your review. Many thanks for taking the time to post it!:D

I was on this same cruise and think you did a good job sumarizing it.

It was my first Princess Cruise. I wanted to try a larger ship. Couldn't tell much difference, as Princess does a good job of handling the size. Did notice the selection of food was disapointing. I am used to facing a tough decision when it comes to the dining room menu, but I actually resorted to the strip steak twice because nothing on the day's menu interested me...

Also, my father is in a wheelchair and I believe the cruise personnel were less than helpful. Knowing he was wheelchair-bound, they put us at a corner table that was up a step and a long walk. They repeatedly took us to tables that required a step at breakfast and lunch. The buffet tables almost all require you to use steep ramps. And the hallways have high fire-door portals. So he could rarely get himself anywhere by himself...

We only ordered room service once -- at 1 AM. We got a cheeseburger in about 7 minutes. Burger was great for 1 am but probably would not have liked it if we ordered it earlier before all the drinks! We never asked for anything not on the menu -- the menu is not very extensive. If you want a cheese plate or just snacky things you have to go to the buffet, or ask roomservice. We never asked -- I'm kinda shy about that. Oh -- great pate the first formal night on the buffet -- never had it again and we did ask for that but they didn't have it. We ordered off the continental breakfast menu every day and ate on the balcony. By the end of the week we were just ordering coffee and juice b/c the rolls were not so great (and I had that butter issue)!

Our bill ended up being $325 at the end of the cruise. This included $140 in tips, $40 for Sabatinis, and $20 for bingo. The rest was for drinks. We never really found one watering hole. Skywalkers was fine -- but we have lots of clubs like that in DC so nothing special for us. We liked to sit in the hot tub and order drinks or just picked them up wherever on our way to an activity or event. We were active cruisers this time -- only sat around sunning on the last day. There was a small stage and bar mid-ship where they did princess idol try-outs and game shows. We spent a lot of time there. I became a huge pina colada fan on this cruise! The strawberry margaritas were good too -- had one at the sail-away party that pretty much put me to be for the night! The wine tasting was ok -- I only liked one of the wines but for $7.50 and a free cute little glass it was worth it.

Not sure why there was so much hype about Paradise Beach. It was small and crowded and lots of smokers. The sand was not very fine at all. I was expecting something akin to a Hawaii type beach, but this was more of a Jersey feel. I did enjoy seeing the men walking around in Speedo's! This one older gentelman had a speedo and a fanny pack on -- what a hoot!

Thanks Sunrise for a great review! We leave 2/5/05 and have booked Marvin's - a relief after your review. Been wondering about Paradise Beach - there were so many positive reviews that it is good to hear an honest appraisal about PB and other ports you visited. Your review also focuses on the positive and downplays the negatives - this is a real bonus when there are so many of us out here who are anticipating great fun on our upcoming cruises.

Sunrise...great review. Sailing on the Grand on 2/19 and sounds like it will be a good time.

I totally agree with you when it comes to food on cruises..sure there is a lot of it, but honestly its just good most of the time.

Question for you...how was embarkation and disembarkation? Never sailed out of Galveston before, but I heard it can be a pain. We are flying into Hobby the night before and then the next day we are doing the Enterprise rental car deal as well.

Any tips of navigating the madness that they call the Galveston cruise terminal?

....

Thanks for the thorough review. We are on the Grand in December. I am getting a very high price (I think) from Enterprise for 2 one-way rentals. How did you arrange?

Rich

Embarkation was a breeze -- but I was worried at first as there was a huge crowd trying to get into the building at the pier. Once inside a line began to form to go through security. It took about 20 minutes. After that it was smooth sailing through the rest of the check in. Don't get frustrated when you first get there and you will be fine. We arrived at about 2PM. Disembarkation was a different story. There was a lot of hurry up and wait. We got up at 6:30 AM, went to breakfast at 7 AM and didn't end up getting called for customs until around 8:45. Then we got called to get off the ship around 10 AM. Lots of waiting around after going through customs. The area outside the terminal was a madhouse -- pick a nice place on the wall, park your luggage and wait for your car to come around.

I think I got lucky with Enterprise. We were quoted $13.99 to Galveston and $29.99 back to Houston. When we were getting the car at IAH, the guy at the counter told us we got a really good deal and that he should have charged us more, but since that was what we were quoted that is what he was going to charge us -- we thought that whole discussion was a little weird. The poeple at IAH were very frustrated with the lack of organization at the Enterprise in Galveston so I imagine as more and more people begin renting cars, the system will get better. The guy at IAH told us they had to go to Galveston and pick up the one-way rentals, so I can see where they might be raising prices. I would call a couple of times to get quotes. I talked to a really young sounding girl, so I am guessing her lack of expereince helped me get the deal I got.

The guy at IAH told us they had to go to Galveston and pick up the one-way rentals, so I can see where they might be raising prices.

That just sounds weird to me - why would they have to go to Galveston to pick up the cars, when presumably there are just as many one-way rentals from Galveston to IAH or HOU?! I can't imagine many people renting a car to get to the pier, then somehow getting back to the airport a different way :rolleyes:

Trish

Grand Review 1/15-22

 

 

Grand Cayman: Another windy/choppy seas day. We were told that we were the first ship to dock in 5 days. We had booked a sting ray city tour through Captain Bryans, .

Do you recall if ship's time at Grand Cayman equalled local?

I believe the Grand was on Central time as was Grand Cayman. Watch the little TV show in the morning of your arrival and they will clarify this.

Oh -- don't ask for the time from travelers on other cruise ships. The ones sailing from Florida are on Eastern time and will get you really confused. We did a mad dash from Carlos and Charlies in Cozumel after asking another cruise passenger the time (they were out of Tampa and gave us Eastern time).

That just sounds weird to me - why would they have to go to Galveston to pick up the cars, when presumably there are just as many one-way rentals from Galveston to IAH or HOU?! I can't imagine many people renting a car to get to the pier, then somehow getting back to the airport a different way.

We've also booked with Enterprise. I booked rentals on-line and then called to ask if it was okay to do a one-way. Both the woman at IAH and the guy in Galveston told me that IAH, Hobby and Galveston are all considered the same 'zone' so there are no one-way drop charges involved.