GRAND PRINCESS or BLAND PRINCESS?

[SeaMystique]

Why is flying in and out of San Francisco problematic?

 

Here are temperature averages for July. San Frsncisco and Alaska. Are they incorrect?.

 

Averages for San Francisco in July

 

July San Francisco

Weather Lowdown

July is summer time in San Francisco, USA, and the temperatures are fairly stable throughout the month. The average temperature during the day is 140C with the average high and low temperatures ranging from a daytime high of 230C to an overnight low of 150C. ...

 

Southeast Alaska

Average July temperatures

High °FLow °FPlaceHigh °CLow °C

6453Annette Island1812

6447Glacier Bay188

7048Haines219

6351Juneau1711

6451Ketchikan1811

6052Sitka1611

6451Wrangell1811

6049Yakutat16

 

 

Mark Twain once said, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Frqncisco." It's either true (it has been in my experience) or one of the most persistent urban legends in history.

I've been in 80 degree sunshine in Fairbanks, too. In August.

[Cruisin Rick]

Dawn Princess (launched in 1997) is actually the next ship to leave the fleet, going to P&O Australia in Summer 2017. And Golden Princess is being permanently re-deployed to the Pacific Rim to replace Dawn. Don't expect Grand to leave anytime soon unless the just announced fourth Royal-class ship cascades several other ships down the pecking order. San Francisco has always been where Princess has stashed the oldest well-worn member of the North American fleet (Sky Princess, the previous Regal Princess, Sea Princess).

 

I think it's probably because they can sell out each cruise with no problem out of SF so putting their older ships there causes no booking losses for them.

[Britinsac]

Sorry to hear you and your mom encountered so many problems on the Grand. I was just on the ship in November with my family. I did a mini-review for my Island roll call group:

 

"Well I made it home from my Grand Princess California Coastal cruise. We had pretty good weather for November, just a little cool and bumpy on the last sea day home.

 

We had 375 Elite passengers on this cruise, but I was able to make the cut-off for the MTP party. Our captain, Roger Bilton, was very nice and personable. He told us that he prefers the luncheons, but that it just wasn't possible due to the high number of port days.

 

I also wanted to say that the Past Passenger Party was much nicer than the one we had on the Emerald last month. One could either take a drink from the tray, or special order a drink. Additionally, both hot and cold appetizers were served. They also had the little glass jars, with the spicy cracker mix, on the tables.

 

The reason that I am mentioning this is because of Shogun's comment that after cruising on the Emerald last month, he had booked a cruise with another cruise line. It's not that the Emerald was bad, but she just seemed to have more cut backs than the Grand did.

 

Our group of seven had an excellent time on the Grand. For an older ship, I thought she was still in pretty good shape. Our cruise director was David Cole, so we had a good selection of on-board activities. I also enjoyed the One Five club. The last time I had sailed on the Grand, she still had the Skywalker's, lol. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I did like the ship and I would sail on her again."

 

I had such a good time that my DH and I will be back on her next week.

 

Additionally, we had no problem with our toilet or air conditioning, so our cabin is on Deck 12 aft, near where I was booked in November.

 

I understand there is a different captain now. Maybe that has something to do with it? Anyway, still looking forward to a good cruise and thank you for your review.

 

 

__________________

 

We are looking forward to it too! I am a bit worried about the size of the waves this week in SF Harbor though - could be a tad rocky on the way down!

[Britinsac]

EEK! Sorry you had a bad time!

 

I will say this, a lot of European accents do come across brusque (at best) and is unintentional.

 

Not on Princy but on HAL we were in port (Tahiti) and one of the crew asked me to take their picture with their camera (which was one of the ship's cameras and had more options than I have snide comments about people). It was simply laid about (but expensive) and I was ON the options.

 

Since she was the ship's photographer I was all "you want X Y & Z" the way they are when trying to get our picture and to be sure I got what she wanted in the pic as how many times would she get to Tahiti and I didn't want to not have something she wanted in the pic with them, she withered me w a look that could've frozen the Sun solid and said, "Just take the picture, you know how to do it."

 

I complied (with a little less of my soul intact!), she thanked me, took the camera and went on their way.

 

Getting back to the Westerdam we ran into them again, she asked if we had a good time, reviewed the fun they had that day and again thanked me for taking the pic for her.

 

But for rest of the cruise, sorry it wasn't all you hoped!

We Brits get called out for being stern or sarcastic all the time... I object... I am not stern at all.

[cruisequeen4ever]

We had an outstanding cruise on the Grand in June, but the crew is constantly changing over. It's sad your Christmas cruise lacked the Christmas cruise spirit!

[Go-Bucks!]

Good point, not to mention all the plumbing issues. :(

 

 

Just did 15 days on the Grand in Nov/Dec. Found no plumbing or leaking issues at all (sure was glad that all the posts about leaking and buckets were wrong!).

 

The crew was very, very friendly and helpful. Even had officers walking around talking to passengers - that's the first time I've seen that on Princess; they do that alot on Celebrity. Never saw any "attitudes" from crew.

 

Our only issue was when we first arrived in our cabin and found that it hadn't been cleaned yet. I was quite surprised, but the steward came in immediately and cleaned it while we went to lunch.

[iceleven]

Just did 15 days on the Grand in Nov/Dec. Found no plumbing or leaking issues at all (sure was glad that all the posts about leaking and buckets were wrong!).

 

The crew was very, very friendly and helpful. Even had officers walking around talking to passengers - that's the first time I've seen that on Princess; they do that alot on Celebrity. Never saw any "attitudes" from crew.

 

Our only issue was when we first arrived in our cabin and found that it hadn't been cleaned yet. I was quite surprised, but the steward came in immediately and cleaned it while we went to lunch.

 

We were on this same cruise with you and found the crew absolutely wonderful in every way. The ship could use some new furniture in some public places as they were saggy and beginning to look a bit thread bare.

 

We also had a suite, one of the Window suites and our cabin was not quite fully put together as they usually are. We actually saw our steward running down the hall and out of sight as we were opening our cabin door. As it turned out, a different steward shows up a little later, introduces himself and explains to us that the other steward was leaving the ship (end of contract?) and that he would be taking over.

 

Nearly every day he would apologize to us for not getting to our cabin to clean it until the afternoon because he worked alone and had to work two floors. We made every effort to keep our cabin neat and not give him much to do other than replace towels and linens. We even left a Do Not Disturb sign on the door during the day a couple of times (15 day cruise) so that he could just skip our cabin. I felt badly for him. I think Princess really needs to increase their crew count. At least allow cabin assistants spread about the ship and on each floor. Other cruise lines have stewards with assistants. I don't know why Princess doesn't. And yes, I understand that may increase the cost of a cruise...but not by much. They are paid so very little, ya know.:(

[Go-Bucks!]

The ship could use some new furniture in some public places as they were saggy and beginning to look a bit thread bare.

 

Yes, our sofa was a mess. Most uncomfortable one I've ever sat on, but we put our bed pillows on it and stuck the sofa pillows underneath the cushions so we wouldn't slide off. :p Didn't make the vacation any worse, but they should really get new furniture in some places.

 

We made every effort to keep our cabin neat and not give him much to do other than replace towels and linens.

 

We did the same thing - we kept the cabin clean and all he had to do was minor cleaning.

 

Other cruise lines have stewards with assistants. I don't know why Princess doesn't.

 

We also felt sorry for our steward - he often didn't get his morning cleaning done until mid afternoon. He had many cabins and worked alone. Celebrity has assistants and the work gets done very quickly.

Edited January 8, 2016 by Go-Bucks!

[MTJSR]

We were on this same cruise with you and found the crew absolutely wonderful in every way.

 

As the O.P., I could have taken the high road and just posted a review that everything onboard was perfect, crew outstanding and nothing was out of place ever. Well that would have just been a "fluff" piece for Princess. The truth was that the crew was wonderful overall and we even tipped extra to our waiters, and cabin steward. But there were some issues and they will never get better, if we just ignore them.

 

If we really want Princess to remain a notch above NCL, Carnival etc then we need to review honestly!

[Cruise Raider]

I understand that a review posted on this forum is subject to negative comments. Those that had an awesome time don’t really want to hear that someone else saw things differently. My review with areas of concern, does not make their review wrong!

 

As a very loyal Princess patron, I am hoping I’m giving Princess some priceless real time feedback for what my service experience was like in the very specific locations I mention. In the hospitality and restaurant industries, they have “secret shoppers” that do anonymous reviews for a price. We help Princess (and us) when we are fair and appropriate with our feedback.

 

Keep in mind, everything else about this cruise was great. Which is why we will keep booking Princess cruises for years to come.

 

I totally did not take this as you simply whining. I think your points were valid and you noted that there were some things that you felt fell short of a great vacation experience.

I was on the cruise right before the one you sailed on. While we had nothing for praise for the incredible staff / crew, we felt as though the ship is in dire need of refurbishing. We thought it had a very dirty and unkempt feeling about it. Our balcony was not unusable by any means but those blue mats they put down on the balcony floors are just disgusting ... they washed all the debris off from the deck above (we were on the Caribe deck) and it would get stuck in the holes in that mat. Much of the furniture desperately needed replacing and the public bathrooms were just gross. We had stained sheets and robes placed in our cabin....definitely not our stains.

I have 2 more cruises booked on this ship but will cancel one of them. The other one we will go on, only because we arranged a group to go on this cruise for my SIL's 50th birthday and she really wants to sail out of SF.

At least I will know what to expect as they won't be doing a refurbishment until the end of the year. :(

 

Sorry to hear about your experiences with the staff. Our experience there was just the opposite but definitely do not criticize you for pointing our yours. We just kept on referring to them as the staff of 'yes' as they seemed to bend over backwards for us. I certainly would have had a different impression if anyone came over to lecture me at the dinner table.

[Colo Cruiser]

Just did 15 days on the Grand in Nov/Dec. Found no plumbing or leaking issues at all (sure was glad that all the posts about leaking and buckets were wrong!).

 

 

While I am glad you did not experience any plumbing issues,and I am sure during your cruise you were not on every deck at all times, calling out previous posters real experience reports is not cool. :(

[iceleven]

As the O.P., I could have taken the high road and just posted a review that everything onboard was perfect, crew outstanding and nothing was out of place ever. Well that would have just been a "fluff" piece for Princess. The truth was that the crew was wonderful overall and we even tipped extra to our waiters, and cabin steward. But there were some issues and they will never get better, if we just ignore them.

 

If we really want Princess to remain a notch above NCL, Carnival etc then we need to review honestly!

 

Oh, I do agree with you. My added comments were only there for balance and only expressing my experience--not to say yours were not true for you. I also shared my not so perfect experiences on the Grand in Nov/Dec. I am all for constructive criticism as I believe yours was intended. LOL, I am a constant whiner about the lousy quality of beds on Princess. People do need to complain about some things that are obvious in order to initiate some improvements.

 

One thing that some might not be aware of, or have forgotten, is that my cruise, and GoBucks, was the 15 day cruise to Hawaii where we only got one island stop due to a minor fire that affected the ship's propulsion. Initially the crew, especially the Captain, had to deal with some passengers who were horribly surly.

 

Those of us who decided to stay with the ship and not take the optional early disembarkation in Honolulu had the crew caring for us 24/7. Since we never got off the ship for 12-13 days, in our eyes, they were fantastic. Maybe we wore them out. Having passengers on the ship all of the time, with continuous needs and demands, has to be more difficult for them than when there are many ports of call and passengers get off.

 

I overheard a conversation that spoke of how the crew really loved working for our captain and that is why they always seemed so "up." There was always an enormous amount of respect between the crew and the captain. I understand our captain left the ship at the same time we all did in SF on the 10th. I'm sure his replacement is a well-respected captain but perhaps it took a week or two to get the ship running smoothly. I'm sure there was crew leaving the ship and replacements coming on, as well. Sometimes it takes a few weeks for things to begin running smoothly. I think this is why some people's experiences can vary so widely.

 

We're booked on the Grand again this May and again in the fall. I'll sail any ship that leaves SF. Right now it's the Grand and we'll just keep our fingers crossed we get to get off the ship this time. :D

[MTJSR]

Oh, I do agree with you. My added comments were only there for balance and only expressing my experience--not to say yours were not true for you. I also shared my not so perfect experiences on the Grand in Nov/Dec. I am all for constructive criticism as I believe yours was intended. LOL, I am a constant whiner about the lousy quality of beds on Princess.

 

I overheard a conversation that spoke of how the crew really loved working for our captain and that is why they always seemed so "up." There was always an enormous amount of respect between the crew and the captain.

 

Thank for your comments and sharing your cruise details! To be honest and have a little fun here, I/we all know that Princess reads this board. But, Im not convinced Princess treats the email surveys with as much "concern" as they might with a "live real time publicly posted" review.:eek:

 

You mention the Captain and his/her influence on the crew. I totally agree but others have challenged the thought, as they do not directly supervise that low in the chain of command. I also think the Cruise Director matters and with Dave Cole onboard (who is great!!!) I was more surprised with the issues, we encountered.

 

I'm not that sad we had some issues, we are all human and these things happen. I've moved on and am planning where to travel to next:D

 

.

Edited January 9, 2016 by MTJSR