A Grand Adventure! Grand Princess California Coastal Complete Photo Review 9/18-9/25

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

DAY 10: DEBARKATION DAY AND TRAVEL HOME CONTINUED....

 

Some nice views of the Rockies as you approach DEN, to be sure. The airport is located outside the city, so a long way from anything and on rather flat land (but still high elevation and the 15,000-foot runways there prove that) but lots and lots of activity going on there all day long. Pretty large and modern airport.

 

More of the flight to DEN

 

 

 

As I said, we had a few hours to kill there, so I hung out and went on the free airport wifi and watched some TV as I was just beginning to feel better after being sick for most of the cruise. My cough and runny nose lasted a few more days after getting back home but I was better later that week. Sucks being sick on a cruise but it could always be worse. I had a nuisance cold and I know some people get violently ill and it wrecks their entire time.

 

Anyway, we got our connecting flight home to PHL around 1600 or so local, dealt with a little delay in departure, but made up time and gained two hours on the trip home eastbound, getting home before midnight eastern time. Watching the sun go down quickly on an eastbound flight is cool. Also, seeing the thunderstorms that were 50-100 miles off our right side and the lightning with them was cool as well, just a little chop as we passed through the weather system located over the Ohio Valley.

 

 

So, after our long journey back home, another vacation was over and it was back to reality the next day, which would be an early day for me. But we did have a good time on vacation, but as with all good things, it did have to come to an end.

 

So, that wraps up my complete cruise vacation review, start to finish. I hope you had a great time reading along with my adventures and thank you all for your good comments. Any comments or questions are welcome of course. My next cruise is upcoming in just a couple of weeks, on the Carnival Victory out of the port of Miami. I will be doing a review on that one as well, so be sure to check that out on the Carnival boards. I will do a short wrap-up and rating of this vacation overall in the next post, so check that out as well.

 

Thanks for reading and happy cruising!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

OVERALL COMMENTARY/SHIP RATINGS/MISCELLANEOUS STUFF

 

I always like to add an editorial section at the end of my cruise reviews, so here goes. I like to talk about some observations that I may have made on the overall experience, and rate areas of the ship, crew, ports, etc based on my perspective. So here goes with that.

 

First, I do have to mention that this cruise featured a more mature demographic than what you would get on a Caribbean or Mexican cruise. It leaned heavily to 50 and above, entertainment-wise and music-wise, as that made up probably 3/4 of the folks on the sailing. There were some people my my age range and some families with kids, but outnumbered by retired folks. It closely mirrored the demographic of the pax on my Alaska cruise to Alaska some time ago on Norwegian out of Seattle. Just know that going in if you are a single, younger party animal, most stuff on the ship is geared to a more mature audience. Also, there is stuff for kids to do on there but the ship is not overrun by kids and teens as sometimes they are on other sailings. Saying that.....

 

PORT OF EMBARKATION - A

 

Part of the reason we picked this cruise was the unique aspect of it leaving from the port of San Francisco, which I had never spend significant time in before and wanted to see. It was nice. They don't have a ton of room to operate there but they do a good job getting people on and off the ship quickly and efficiently here. Good choice of port, nice experience.

 

THE CHECK-IN AND BOARDING PROCESS - A

 

Once again, they did a good job getting people on the ship quickly and it was smooth. We pre-paid everything and had all our paperwork done ahead of time so it was easy, but even the general check-in lanes did not seem to be too crowded. They also did a great job handling the many people with mobility issues who were on this cruise. Princess left me with a good impression here, and some cruise lines are just not as good at this kind of thing as others.

 

THE SHIP - B

 

The Grand is an older ship, getting ready for a dry dock in a few weeks, so a lot of stuff is dated on it and not as modernized as other vessels. However, they do a good job with what they have to work with. The layout is a little odd, with the Botticelli dining room location but in general, the ship is not hard to navigate and the venues are in good condition and accessible. I love the 5 pools and 10 hot tubs and the things such as sports court and basketball hoops machine that I showed a while back. The Piazza is also a neat concept. Our cabin was also really roomy and I liked the layout of the bathroom and closets being sort of separate from the rest of the room so that made the cabin feel larger. For an outside guarantee, we got a nice unobstructed cabin with a good view and in a good location. Can't complain but they need to do better with TV programming. No network broadcast channels, only a few cable news outlets and internal ship programming but the bridge info channels were nice.

 

THE FOOD - B

 

The buffet food was generally good with excellent variety and you could almost always find something open, until the late hours of the night. The pizza was the best pizza I have ever had on a cruise. The bbq joint upstairs was good as well but some of the stuff was too salty, like the hot dogs and the fries were always cold. But the bar service was great, and the dining room was pretty good as well. Not the best I have ever had on a cruise but can't really say anything was inedible. They do a great job overall with food service on any cruise, considering the thousands of people and tastes they have to serve all the time. Enjoyable. The mocktails they offered as part of the soda package were great as well. I didn't get that many but each one I got was awesome. Nice touch.

 

SERVICE ONBOARD - A-

 

Almost everyone on the ship was great. Some were just going through the motions it seemed, but they were all professional with the rare exception of the server at the British lunch in the Crown Grill on the first sea day. I talked about that ad nauseam though, and hopefully they take care of the situation so they don't lose any more potential business at their specialty restaurants. Our room steward, Grace, did a great job and our dining room staff, Mirabel and Marlon, did a good job as well. The bar service was always prompt and they got me what I wanted quickly and with a smile. Generally only soda but still a good job. The excursions staff was good as well.

 

ENTERTAINMENT - B-

 

Not to say that the entertainment was bad, but for my tastes, it was a little not to my liking. They had deck parties but they were not usually that exciting and they only did one big comedy show, and the comedian was just not that great. The stage shows and the cooking show/crew talent shows were probably the highlights of the entertainment. Also, just very little entertainment after 2200 most nights. Many people noticed that and were not happy. Also, a lot of shows overlapped with dinner and we missed some stuff due to that. At least do late comedy hours or stage shows or something, it is lousy that the ship pretty much shut down after 2230 most nights outside of the very empty club and casino. Even most food service shut down later in the evening. That is my main complaint about that but we still made do with what they offered.

 

PORTS - A

 

Got to see a few places I have never been to, was great. The excursions that Princess offered for sale were very good and although one was a little expensive it was a good value and we had a good time on it. We got to see some stuff in Santa Barbara, Orange County, and Ensenada that I didn't even know existed beforehand. Really neat stuff to see in all areas. We went off on our own in San Diego but that was a great time as well. The weather was excellent in every port we visited, California livin' baby. LOL. That was also a big reason why we chose this cruise and we were not disappointed.

 

CREW - A

 

Captain Ronald Wilson is a longtime seaman, and he really handled this ship well. Very accessible, made sure everything was smooth running, managed the staff well, kept people in the loop so to speak, did a great job making us feel welcome. Maitre'd Beppe Castino, another guy with decades at sea, was the best maitre'd I have ever had on a cruise. Guy seems to love his job and was everywhere on the ship. The cruise director, Daniel Falconer, did a pretty good job as well in his role. Overall, the leadership was excellent and the culture of service among staff seemed to be good and again, we felt really welcome onboard and it was a good time had in general.

 

DEBARKATION PROCESS - A

 

I have had some really bad debarkation experiences on cruises and this was good. Get everybody off the ship quickly, orderly and without any issues and it was great. They did this and we were quickly off and back at the airport for our trip home. That also helps get the ship ready for the next group of passengers, which helps get the next cruise started on a good note. Good job here and left us with a good impression start to finish of Princess.

 

So, that about does it. I can't think of much more to talk about concerning all this, if anyone has questions or comments I would be glad to answer them. Thanks for reading this entire review, I hope you enjoyed it and my pictures, and hopefully it helped you plan a cruise in the future or allowed you to just get to see how a cruise like this goes from beginning to end. Have a good holiday season and happy cruising all!

 

Edited November 11, 2016 by FlyingCruiserNJ

[Cruisin Broad]

Enjoyed the review! Thanks for taking the time to share your photos and adventures with us. I'll be cruising on the Grand in February 2018. (I know, such a long time to wait.) I noticed you mentioned the casino was small, but do you think it was smaller than on other ships you've cruised? My friends and I love to play roulette and occasionally we play the slot machines just to pass the time.

 

Enjoy your upcoming cruise. Wish I had one scheduled for 2017, but there's still time to schedule one.

[FraudBroad]

Once again thanks for taking the time to share an excellent review! Enjoy your cruise next month!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[AF-1]

Thank you for posting this great review. Your pictures told the story. I like how you graded each part of the cruise.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Enjoyed the review! Thanks for taking the time to share your photos and adventures with us. I'll be cruising on the Grand in February 2018. (I know' date=' such a long time to wait.) I noticed you mentioned the casino was small, but do you think it was smaller than on other ships you've cruised? My friends and I love to play roulette and occasionally we play the slot machines just to pass the time.

 

Enjoy your upcoming cruise. Wish I had one scheduled for 2017, but there's still time to schedule one.[/quote']

 

I am glad you enjoyed it. I know the Grand is going in for a dry dock soon and I don't know how different it will be come February but hopefully this at least gave you an idea of what the ship will be like. And believe me, that 12 or whatever weeks will go by very quickly and will be here in no time. I figured the casino was small and it did not feature the kinds of penny slot options I am used to seeing on other ships and most of the 25 cent and above were not occupied so a waste of space there. They did have some table games for sure and they had people playing them when I was in there or passed by but it didn't seem to be a happening place like you see on some other ships. Kind of disappointed me although I don't usually spend a ton of time in a casino on a cruise anyway. I will surely enjoy my Victory cruise in a few weeks. Trying to get everything packed now so the pre-cruise rush to get ready isn't an issue this time. I have sailed on that ship many years ago and enjoyed it on a southern itinerary I think, will really enjoy the ocean suite I booked this time around. Enjoy your cruise and happy holidays!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Once again thanks for taking the time to share an excellent review! Enjoy your cruise next month!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

It was totally my pleasure to put it all together. I am glad you enjoyed yet another review of mine. I hope they get better each time I do one. I absolutely will enjoy my little 4-day midweek cruise on the Victory in a few weeks, although it will be from a more familiar port to me and a little closer to home, lol. Can't wait to spend some time in an ocean suite, get some warm chocolate melting cake (haven't had any in a while now) and sail the Victory yet again and of course, put another awesome review together afterwards.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Thank you for posting this great review. Your pictures told the story. I like how you graded each part of the cruise.

 

I am glad you liked the grading system at the end of the review. I talk about all this stuff as I go along in the review, but I try to consolidate my final ratings in one place at the end. I figure I forgot to include a thing or two but at least I got to the very important stuff that people seem to always be interested in, and I try to give an honest assessment of each area. Peoples' perceptions vary and even though I have my opinion on what I experienced, other people may see it differently but I try to give my best observations on what I saw and felt about these important areas. Thanks for reading along with me the entire way, and thanks for the good words about my pics. A good story can only go so far in helping people formulate mental images but seeing pics of the stuff that I was talking about brings it all together, I hope. I know the best reviews on this site utilize written words and pictures to tell a great story. Happy cruising!

[ar1950]

Thanks for the review. Nice to hear the Princess cruise perspective from someone who hasn't done a ton of Princess cruises, but, has been on other lines. BTW, the comment about DIA being a large airport, it probably is not nearly as big as say ATL. Someday try to spend some actual time in Denver (in the summer time). Lots to see there. We moved away 30 years ago, but, still go back from time to time.

 

Thanks again for the review.

[Cruisin Broad]

FlyingCruiserNJ, thanks again for the response. As long as my friends and I get to cruise together, we'll be happy whether the casino is up to our standards or not. Happy Thanksgiving to you as well.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Thanks for the review. Nice to hear the Princess cruise perspective from someone who hasn't done a ton of Princess cruises, but, has been on other lines. BTW, the comment about DIA being a large airport, it probably is not nearly as big as say ATL. Someday try to spend some actual time in Denver (in the summer time). Lots to see there. We moved away 30 years ago, but, still go back from time to time.

 

Thanks again for the review.

 

I had been on Princess many years ago on a sister ship to the Grand, but it was only my second cruise ever, which was just plain overwhelming considering it was to Alaska and my first one was just to the Bahamas on a Fantasy class Carnival ship. But as with anything, there were things I liked more about Princess and a few things that were not as good but I feel like I did my best in giving a fair and honest assessment of my experiences from my point of view. I am glad you liked my presentation. About DEN, from what I saw of it, it appears to be very similar to ATL in layout, midfield terminals and I guess underground subway peoplemovers. But it is a couple decades newer than ATL, and due to its elevation and unpredictable weather, even more spread out with runways going in all directions to compensate. It seemed to be a good airport, albeit appeared to be way away from the main city of Denver though. Maybe one day I will check Denver out for a day trip or an overnight or something. I have heard lots of good things about the area. Happy Thanksgiving!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

FlyingCruiserNJ' date=' thanks again for the response. As long as my friends and I get to cruise together, we'll be happy whether the casino is up to our standards or not. Happy Thanksgiving to you as well.[/quote']

 

It did not seem as big as the casinos on the newer, modern Carnival ships or probably Royal Caribbean ships but you should be able to find something to do in there to entertain you. It just wasn't my favorite casino experience. I am not huge into table games (don't like to throw that kind of $$$ on one or two hands) and I just felt that for us who just like to go in there and spend a couple hours and donate $20 or whatever a few times, it could have offered more to choose from. Really, plenty else to do onboard for sure just as long as you aren't a night owl as most entertainment is early in the day and early in the evening. Perhaps even book anytime dining or early dining so you don't miss the nighttime shows as they really are earlier than I have seen in the past on other ships. And thank you for the holiday wishes, cannot wait for some good turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes with nice cherry pie right afterwards. :D

[EllieinNJ]

Hi Jerseyite. I'm usually an NCL girl but did do the Golden Princess to Alaska back in 2010 and loved her. My daughter lives in Berkeley (near SF) so would like to visit her and also do a cruise at the same time and found this same itinerary for Oct. Just wanted to ask you, is there an excursion to LA from Long Beach? Disneyland?, Universal?

[ar1950]

......................... It seemed to be a good airport, albeit appeared to be way away from the main city of Denver though. .................................. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Denver International Airport was opened in 1994 to replace Stapleton International Airport, mostly because Denver needed a larger airport, but, partially because there were so many noise complaints from people living around Stapleton. DIA was built 25 miles away from downtown Denver to compensate for both issues (Stapleton was 6 miles away). Of course now there are housing developments being built around DIA so I am sure there will be lots of noise complaints coming in the future.

 

Also happy Thanksgiving to you and your mom.

Edited November 23, 2016 by ar1950

[HleeCruiser]

Well done!! Thanks for taking the time to provide your cruise experience. Loved all the info about your entire cruise.

 

Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Henry

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Hi Jerseyite. I'm usually an NCL girl but did do the Golden Princess to Alaska back in 2010 and loved her. My daughter lives in Berkeley (near SF) so would like to visit her and also do a cruise at the same time and found this same itinerary for Oct. Just wanted to ask you, is there an excursion to LA from Long Beach? Disneyland?, Universal?

 

I did the Golden also back in 2007, back when the on board golf simulator was still in operation, lol. It was a nice ship and my first real big ship experience. It is cool that you can combine a visit with a cruise when you go out to CA, have fun. I was originally going to visit some relatives in CA before this cruise but it didn't work out so we just did the days in SF and the cruise. i remember they did not offer many excursions in Long Beach but I think they did have something that showed people the attractions in the city of LA but we figured the Orange County tour offered more to see, even though it was more expensive. I can't remember for sure what else was offered, sorry. We booked our orange County tour weeks before sailing. Whatever you decide to do if you take the cruise, I am sure you will have a good time. Thanks for checking out my review, from one Jerseyite to another and have a great Thanksgiving.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Denver International Airport was opened in 1994 to replace Stapleton International Airport, mostly because Denver needed a larger airport, but, partially because there were so many noise complaints from people living around Stapleton. DIA was built 25 miles away from downtown Denver to compensate for both issues (Stapleton was 6 miles away). Of course now there are housing developments being built around DIA so I am sure there will be lots of noise complaints coming in the future.

 

Also happy Thanksgiving to you and your mom.

 

 

Being the nerd I am, I do remember when they closed the old Stapleton airport and opened up the modern current day DEN. I actually just read some stuff online about the history of Stapleton and what the site looks like now. The trend does seem to be to build new facilities on large plots of land away from cities and to link them up via highways or transit. Expansion is easier then. Look at the mess that places like PHL and the NYC airports are and that's because of there just not being enough land area to work with or expand on. Anyway, hope you are having a great Thanksgiving.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Well done!! Thanks for taking the time to provide your cruise experience. Loved all the info about your entire cruise.

 

Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Henry

 

Thank you very much and I am glad you enjoyed the review. I love writing about my experiences quute a bit and I am glad people are finding these reviews to be enjoyable to read. Happy Thanksgiving to you as well!