Just back from the Med on the Grand

[Rascal1]

Hi, I am a newbie to posting but have regularly used the forums to learn from other people's experiences and their wealth of cruising knowledge, having just returned from the Grand Princess I thought I would share my experience in case it helps anyone. I have only been on the Coral about 4 years ago so can only compare my Grand experience to that of the Coral.

 

In summary the whole holiday was fantastic, yes the Grand is looking tired in places but did it affect my enjoyment, not a chance. We embarked at Southampton on Saturday 5th June, embarkation was a breeze from joining the line to leave our car we were in our cabin within 40 minutes. We'd saved our pennies to have a Suite on Caribe Deck so that helped but even without the luxury of separate check in, the queues were not too bad and it was well organised.

 

The crew were all very friendly and helpful. Jessy, our Steward was fantastic, the only 'issues' we had in the cabin were a few bulbs which went out but were replaced immediately and we have a problem with the safe which was sorted within 20 minutes of ringing the pursers desk. I would recommend Caribe deck due to the larger balcony which was nice being part covered.

 

The food was excellent, we tend to eat in the Horizon Court most nights as we like to try the different fish, pasta and salads, we don't eat massive meals so didn't fancy full menus every night. We did eat in the Steakhouse on 2 nights and the steaks were superb, the best I've tasted, well worth the cover charge.

 

The entertainment was good, we saw a couple of shows and comedy vocalists and enjoyed them. However most nights we tried to catch Paul Burton's show in the Promenade bar, whilst he may not be everyone's taste we thought he was very talented and funny. They can also make very decent and addictive cocktails in that bar too.

 

We did Princess excursions in Naples and Rome. Both were very well organised and the tour guides were knowledgeable. In Rome we did the Elite tour, very tiring but had a welcome break at lunch for a lovely restaurant. In Naples we did Vesuvius Hike and Pompeii. A warning to anyone thinking of doing Vesuvius is it is steep, fantastic when you get to the top but on a hot day is very tough going.

 

The only disappointment was the Ultimate Ships Tour, after reading various posts, we rushed to the Pursers desk, signed up but it was cancelled due to lack of interest. Not a fault of Princess but I was looking forward to it.

 

Talking to an Officer he confirmed the Ship will go into drydock in April 2011 where the Atrium will be updated and International Vines added. Another passenger said the casino is being changed to accommodate more cabins, but don't know whether that was just a rumour.

 

The casino was very smokey, they did have a couple of smoke free evenings, personally we would have liked more but again that's just personal preference.

 

They did show the England World Cup games on Movies under the Stars and the Vista Lounge, the crew made it feel like a party atmosphere, shame the England players didn't perform as well as the crew.

 

Disembarkation was very smooth, no problems at all.

 

For anyone who is sailing on the Grand worried about the state of the Ship, don't be, as long as you can overlook some frayed carpets and other bits of wear and tear which are to be expected after so long, I am sure you will enjoy her. We certainly did and would jump at the chance to go back soon.

 

Happy to answer any specific questions anyone has.

 

Thanks

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts. Glad you had a great cruise. Those casino related cabins you mentioned are "Window" suites that are added on the starboard side when they move the casino up to the promenade deck. In place of the casino on Fiesta deck they put the WS suites on the starboard side and the Crown Grill (new addition) on the port side. At least this is what they did on the Golden.....:):):)

 

Bob

[poppydog]

Thanks Rascal1 we are on the Grand in 17 days our first cruise of the Med and we are doing the Rome Elite tour. Can I ask was the coach airconditioned and have toilets. Really glad to hear you had a good time, nice to hear good comments. We have a balcony on Caribe deck C501 really looking forward to it not sure what the cabin is like I sure it will be great.

 

We are going from Southampton, how did you find going through the Bay of Biscay. Any other info you think we should know please do.

 

Thank you

[Rascal1]

Hi, The coach was air-conditioned but without toilets. We stopped at some services about 15 minutes from Rome as the guide said there wasn't any public toilets in Rome. There were toilets at the Colosseum and Vatican Museum but depending on how quickly your group is moving you may get separated if you end up queuing to use them. At the end of the day we had some spare time outside and the gift shop had toilets which the public could use, the guide told us about the shop's toilets so it seems like a regular occurrence. The tour did move at speed and we didn't have any time to look round the museum shops, much to my husbands delight! The great thing we found being on the tours was avoiding all the queues to visit places, the most we queued was 5 minutes to go through Security at the Vatican Museum.

We thought the ship was moving more in the bay of Biscay on the way out than we remembered the Coral moving, but that could have been getting used to sea legs again. It was as flat on the way back to Southampton and didn't notice it at all. We did have a Force 7 Gale one day, and they shut the stairs so you couldn't walk all the way round the promenade deck but even then the ship handled it well and people seemed to be getting on with their normal routine and we didn't hear of anyone being poorly from sea sickness.

Going from Southampton was great, the weather was sunny but the wind was cool when you are sailing out and once we had cleared the Solent (?) so you may need something warmer to wear if you want to sit out on your balcony in the first few evenings once you are out of the sun, if did get much warmer in the evenings when you passed the Bay of Biscay. Hope this helps, but anything else let me know.

[Rascal1]

Forgot to add, thanks Bob for your reply about the casino and rooms, the officer mentioned the Golden so I think it will be the same.

[berlingo]

Thanks very much for your great review, so nice to hear positive things about the Grand. We are sailing on her the beginning of next month and we were getting a bit worried!

 

Notice that you tried the Steakhouse, can you recall what the cost was and did they do any special offers?

 

Regards Julia

[bazwelsh]

:) Hi Rascal1

 

Do you know if the ship does packages for childrens drinks? do you know how much they are and how they work? sorry if you didn't take children, I thought I'd ask anyway.

 

We're also on Caribe deck and there are four of us, the youngest being 16 so I think the larger balcony will be just great!

 

Glad you had a super time.

 

(Bit worried about the Bay of Biscay - you hear uncomfortable stories!)

[shrimpywoo]

hi,

pleased you had a lovely time, im on Grand on the 3rd and can't wait. Can you tell me is the Painted Desert Restaurant (one of the ones with a surcharge) a mexican or is it actually the steak house? Thanks heaps

[Rascal1]

Hi,

The Painted Desert is the Steakhouse, there is a $20 per person cover charge which covers anything off the menu, but as usual you do pay for drinks. The waiters were really helpful if you needed any ingredients explaining, the steak was cooked perfectly to order. We did hear one couple ask for the Seabass (which was one of the main courses) as a starter in a smaller portion and the waiter was happy to oblige. Didn't see any special offers, the charge didn't seem to change. During sea days the 'pub lunch' is served here, we didn't do the pub lunch but it always seemed busy.

 

We didn't take children but they do a soda package, I've found the patter which gave the details from the start of the cruise and they were offering unlimited soda for either $4.25 per day or $59.50 for whole cruise. It included a 'souvenir tumbler' and covered coca cola, diet coke, sprite, tonic water, ginger ale and soda water. Don't think the daily price changed throughout the cruise but I don't know if the cruise price came down in proportion as we went through the cruise.

[poppydog]

Hi, The coach was air-conditioned but without toilets. We stopped at some services about 15 minutes from Rome as the guide said there wasn't any public toilets in Rome. There were toilets at the Colosseum and Vatican Museum but depending on how quickly your group is moving you may get separated if you end up queuing to use them. At the end of the day we had some spare time outside and the gift shop had toilets which the public could use, the guide told us about the shop's toilets so it seems like a regular occurrence. The tour did move at speed and we didn't have any time to look round the museum shops, much to my husbands delight! The great thing we found being on the tours was avoiding all the queues to visit places, the most we queued was 5 minutes to go through Security at the Vatican Museum.

We thought the ship was moving more in the bay of Biscay on the way out than we remembered the Coral moving, but that could have been getting used to sea legs again. It was as flat on the way back to Southampton and didn't notice it at all. We did have a Force 7 Gale one day, and they shut the stairs so you couldn't walk all the way round the promenade deck but even then the ship handled it well and people seemed to be getting on with their normal routine and we didn't hear of anyone being poorly from sea sickness.

Going from Southampton was great, the weather was sunny but the wind was cool when you are sailing out and once we had cleared the Solent (?) so you may need something warmer to wear if you want to sit out on your balcony in the first few evenings once you are out of the sun, if did get much warmer in the evenings when you passed the Bay of Biscay. Hope this helps, but anything else let me know.

 

Thanks Rascal1 for all the info it will really help. What days were your formal nights we're trying to pick a day to have UBD and book the Sterling Steakhouse.

[Rascal1]

Hi, Counting embarkation from Southampton as Day 1, we had 3 formal nights (all sea days), on day 3 (night before Malaga) , day 11 (night before Gibraltar) and day 13. To be honest 3 was probably a bit too much, especially with having them on day 11 and day 13. But that's just my opinion, lots of people liked having 3.

[poppydog]

Hi, Counting embarkation from Southampton as Day 1, we had 3 formal nights (all sea days), on day 3 (night before Malaga) , day 11 (night before Gibraltar) and day 13. To be honest 3 was probably a bit too much, especially with having them on day 11 and day 13. But that's just my opinion, lots of people liked having 3.

 

Thanks Rascal1 for your replies Im sure I will think of some more things to ask you before I leave

[caber]

Hi Rascal1,

 

Thanks for the report.

 

One question - As there is no Vines or International Cafe, what alternative eating places does it have apart from the main dining rooms, Horizon buffet and paying restaurants.

 

Can you recommend any?

[Rascal1]

Hi, The places to eat are the standard ones, main restaurants, horizon buffet, 2 speciality restaurants, pizza & burger by the main pool and room service. You could get coffee from the bars and they did normally have pastries on the counter in the morning, can't recall seeing them in the afternoon. We didn't use the sanctuary but think they may also do some snacks. There is afternoon tea in the one of the main restaurants and there is free ice cream from 11.30am by the pool. we certainly didn't struggle to find any food :)

[mise]

hi can you tell me what time did you disembark the ship back in southampton? and what would be the latest time you can get of.

[Rascal1]

Hi, a couple of days before the end of the cruise, we received a form asking us about our onwards journey information as princess didn't have a note of it, at the same time they offered us transfers etc, but our car was at Southampton so we ticked the private car box and handed the form back. I think it was the second to last day we received disembarkation information, based on your onwards journey you received a colour and number for disembarkation, each colour and number was given a meeting point and time. In total there were 25 different 'groups' which seemed to be split based on transfer time for airports, coach timings and then independent arrangements seemed to be based on deck and cabin numbers. The earliest group met at 7.45am and the last group met at 9.30am. Our meeting time was 8.50am and we were called at that time to go through security, it was very well organised, we were in our car driving home by 9.15. Everyone was asked to be out of their cabin by 8am so you could either go to your meeting point early and just wait or you could use the horizon court until 9.30 and the Da Vinci dining room until 8am. Even if you had independent arrangement you couldn't get off the ship when you wanted to, you needed to go at your 'allotted time'. The ship actually got into port sometime early morning, I was asleep but I believe it was about 5 to 6am. Sorry if this is long winded but hopefully makes sense.

[caber]

Thanks Rascal1,

your information is great.:)

[mise]

thanks rascal 1 that's just the info i needed.

[Vixxi]

Hi Rascal, Could you tell me what time you arrived at the docks to start your cruise please? Princess tells us one thing but other posts recommend getting there earlier. We've never cruised before and are so excited that we're keen to get on board as early as possible. Thanks for your posts so far, we'll be on the same cruise as you in July so it's excellent to get first hand info.

[Apostle]

Hi, Does the Grand still have the $2.99 cocktail menu afer 8pm.

 

Thanks

[Rascal1]

Hi,

 

Sorry for delay in replying, have been at work earning pennies for the next cruise! As we stopped overnight in Southampton and were excited we decided to get there at 10.30 and thought if we have to queue we may as well queue there rather than wait in the hotel room. We were in a private car with parking arranged at the port through CPS, we were directed to a short stay car park until CPS were ready for us. We didn't need to wait long, at 11am they were ready for us, some cars had already been queuing but it was well organised and it didn't take long for for our turn to give the car keys over and go to check in. At about 11.30 we were on board and our cabin was ready. People were already checking in at 11am so I think if we hadn't been parking with CPS you could have started checking in before 11am but not sure how much before 11.30 you could get on board.

I didn't see any cocktails in the normal bars for $2.99, there were cocktails of the day but these were still normal price, either that or I just picked the pricey ones. For suite, elite and platinum passengers, each night you were invited to the Skywalkers lounge from 5 to 7pm and the cocktail of the day there was $2.99 but didn't see it anywhere else.

I'm very jealous of you having your cruises to look forward to:)