on the Grand in October and getting worried

[madjohn]

We too are booked on the 12/20 to Hawaii sailing and really looking forward to it. Where did you find the info about the December drydock?

 

Wish I was good with putting in address. It is on the sf port page. I will try later to get it into the roll call. Have you checked in there yet?

[vmom]

I just got off the Grand this morning after a wonderful week.

 

I too had read some of the reviews you are referring to and was a bit worried, however, all the worries were for nothing.

 

The ship looked great. The cabin colors are slightly dated, the peach and blue that most of the cabins were decorated in. They look pretty much the same as the last few cruises I have.

 

All of the public areas look great. The renovation last year completely transformed the atrium area and it now looks like the atriums in the other Grand class of ships.

 

The service was on the whole very good. Food was on the whole very good. I loved some of the fish dishes but was disappointed in the steak on the last night. That was the only dish that I was disappointed in.

 

We really enjoyed the live music. The music of Soundtrack and the band with the lead female singer that did most of the parties was quite good.

 

I would not have any hesitation on cruising the Grand.

[HeidiHo]

I also just got off the Grand this morning and for the most part was very pleased. I wouldn't hesitate to sail the Grand again.

[pris993]

OP thanks for asking the question. We cruised on the Grand when it was brand new from Istanbul to Barcelona in l998. We have booked it for a 7 day coastal in September... to check it out.

 

Glad to hear many of you have enjoyed your cruises recently on the Grand.

 

Ref changes in food and menues that is happening on all ships.

 

We were on the Ruby last spring, love the Ruby, second time aboard. We were not impressed with the MDR, so decided to skip it. Enjoyed Sabatini's a couple of nights, enjoyed a late lunch some days from items from the buffet - enjoyed the international cafe. Never missed the MDR for 7 days.

[caribill]

Wish I was good with putting in address.

 

o Highlight the address in the address bar (where it says http://.....)

o CTRL C at the same time to copy it

o Go to the Cruise Critic post you are making

o CTRL V at the same time to paste it into the message

[OhioDogLover]

We were on the Grand for a B2B 12/7-22. We had been on her in January, 2008 also. Both sailings were just fine. I am not a big fan of the new menus, but I get what they feel they have to do. I don't eat steak, so that wasn't an issue for me, but thought the desserts were pedestrian a lot of the time. (Of course, I don't really need to eat dessert anyway.) Let's face it, the mass market cruise lines don't serve the same food they did back 40 years ago. That's just the way it is. For what we paid for the cruise, I thought we got a good value and we sure had a great time in December. We did not find the ship to be run down or shabby. Our cabins (we switched from the suite to an obs OV halfway through, talk about a shock) were in good condition. No problems with either one.

Just my opinion.

Ohiodoglover

[donh1]

We were on the Grand for a B2B 12/7-22. We had been on her in January, 2008 also. Both sailings were just fine. I am not a big fan of the new menus, but I get what they feel they have to do. I don't eat steak, so that wasn't an issue for me, but thought the desserts were pedestrian a lot of the time. (Of course, I don't really need to eat dessert anyway.) Let's face it, the mass market cruise lines don't serve the same food they did back 40 years ago. That's just the way it is. For what we paid for the cruise, I thought we got a good value and we sure had a great time in December. We did not find the ship to be run down or shabby. Our cabins (we switched from the suite to an obs OV halfway through, talk about a shock) were in good condition. No problems with either one.

Just my opinion.

Ohiodoglover

 

 

Am I the only one who looked up the word pedestrian. Learned something new today.....

[Pia1913]

Am I the only one who looked up the word pedestrian. Learned something new today.....

 

LOL. As a former Engish major, I think you are probably not the only one. However, most people would have just used the word "ordinary" in lieu of pedestrian.

 

Ohio Dog Lover - are you an educator?

[trikeman]

Am I the only one who looked up the word pedestrian. Learned something new today.....

 

Nope.

[ksm77]

We were on the Grand transatlantic in November. There are some things that need to be replaced. We had no problem with our cabin but our balcony was in need of work. The furniture badly needed to be replaced. The blue mat that used to be on the balcony floor is gone. Our balcony had water standing on the floor the entire cruise.

 

The public restrooms needed updating. Many of the sinks did not work and most of the time at least one of the toilets would be out of order. This was a problem in high traffic areas of the ship. Near the theatre, around the pools.

 

The covered pool area upstairs was one of our favorite places to sit during the day but the furniture and cushions needed to be replaced here.

 

I brought attention to these things because it is what I noticed. The rest of the ship seemed in great shape. We enjoyed the food and entertainment. The service was good not great. We enjoyed going to the platinum/elite lounge before dinner every night. It was in the One5 lounge. We also enjoyed Alfredo's the new pizza place.

 

The food is not as good as it once was, but I think the cruiselines are using this tactic to get more cruisers to book the for a fee restaurants. I don't think this is just on the Grand. We have tried the steak restaurant, Italian, and the New Orleans restaurant on other ships. The Italian was the only one I would go back to. I think they have now raised the price so we would not go. For us to pay extra for food on a cruise ship it needs to be over the top.

 

We enjoyed our cruise on the Grand, while I have liked other Princess ships better it did not keep me from having a great trip.

[vmom]

We got off the grand on Saturday. I did not see any toilets out of order and saw only one sink out of order so the toilet and sink issue appears to have been fixed.

[madjohn]

http://sf-port.org/index.aspx?page=2029

 

Well If I did this right you will see port cruise schedule for SF. At the very bottom it shows the Grand going into dry dock on 12/10/13

[jonesmen]

We got off the Grand this past Saturday. We were very pleased with the new features - particularly the International Cafe. Alfredos was a nice option as well. The staff was working constantly on maintenance while we were on board...varnishing wood, replacing carpet, scraping and painting, etc.

 

The food in general was very good, but nothing was outstanding. The quality has seemed to diminish, and the Horizon Court was particularly disappointing.

 

All in all, though, we would sail on the Grand again in a heartbeat!