Grand Princess: after-cruise thoughts

[daviduk]

We have recently returned from the 6th August Mediterranean cruise on the Grand Princess. We had a great time on a great ship. Here are a few comments:

 

- the ship is very stable and still in good shape. Apart from the pools, it rarely seemed crowded. I didnt like the mass reservation of sunbeds by placing towels on them. On sea days it was almost impossible to find two sun-beds together

 

- the mini-suite was an excellent choice. Would never cruise without a balcony again

 

- the food was better than we expected and was of a consistently high standard. The biggest problem we had was having room for the New York cheesecake! We preferred it to Celebrity food which pretends to be what it isnt

 

- the individual entertainers were very largely excellent - top notch comedians and pianists, but the production shows were not good - they were a little amateurish, small scale and with low entertainment value. I was not struck with the compering of the entertainment - it was far too patronising, humourless and irrelevant.

 

- all the ports were good. We were diverted from Kusadasi to Rhodes. I expected Katakolon to be a bit of a dump, but in fact it has a good selection of shops and there's a reasonable beach with sunbeds and umbrellas and facilities about 10 mins by taxi

 

- excursions - were overpriced and mostly unimaginative. I think Princess can do more to provide accurate and useful advice to passengers about doing their own thing when in port, eg re taxis. It would have been helpful to have been given correct information, for example;

- that there are very few taxis in Myconos

- that it's not two miles from the ship to town in Corfu, but is quite walkable

- that in Katakolon, it's easy to get a taxi to and from the beach

 

Hope this helps. If anyone wants to know anything specific do let me know

[spongerob]

Thanks for your comments, David. There is often a wealth of information about ports of call in their own forum on these boards. It helps you decide if a ship's tour or independent exploring would be appropriate for each port.

[steveg]

Hi daviduk:

I been wanting to send you an email regarding our experience at Gam Gam on Friday night in Venice after having met you and your wife in the artist's show in the Ghetto earlier that day but didn't have your email address. Email me your address. My email is sgurey at (@) lucent.com. It was very nice meeting you and very coincidental how me met and learned of each other's identities.

steveg

[Coolmama_1]

Thanks for your comments. We have been looking at that itinerary for some time.

 

We also always book a mini too. I love the extra room and bigger bathroom.