Grand Princess 12/17-24/05

[clucky]

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

This was a seriously disappointing vacation. We love cruising, this was our sixth, the 2nd on the Grand. We loved it so much last time, that we immediately rebooked for 2005. Big mistake. Captain Andy, tho personable, did NOT run a tight ship. The crew was disinterested and grumpy...plodded thru their jobs...THERE WAS NO MAJIC!!! The food in the dining room was pretty good, tho the food was much less expensive than before...it was prepared well. The service was mediocre...we had 3 different waiters...all of whom were "ok," but did not go beyond the minimun. The main problem we noticed was the middle management seemed to have the European "we are royalty, you are CRAP" attitude. One of the junior head waiters (snippy 20 something) actually asked our table to leave dinner on lobster night because she wanted to make sure we cleared the table by 8pm. It was 7pm at the time. We were late for dinner because of Captn Andy's tender disaster...He took literally 3 hours to get us from Cozumel pier to the ship. We were the closest ship! A turtle could have swam it in 5 minutes. We cleared our table by 5 of 8pm. LA TI DA!

The careless neglect of all of the personel resulted in frustrating long lines that were unnecessary every day of that cursed cruise.

It seemed it was either the crew's first, or last cruise. Have you heard never buy a car built on either Monday morning or Friday afternoon because it might be a lemon? The Grand and all her crew make up one big fat LEMON! We really are considering joining a class action suit if anyone else on that cruise is interested. We need a vacation more now than before!

The captain let us stand out in the 45 F blowing rain in Galveston while 7 cranky old grannies s l o w l y checked in 2,900 people at the Hotel Galvez. We fought our way to them to ask why had they not called for help hours ago (2 hours into the line when it had moved about 50 feet, maybe..), & were tersely told, "I am just checking in passengers!" Finally, after many, many, many of us called the corporate headquarters to ask what was going on (it was already after the Grand was supposed to leave), a few Princess timidly appeared & clucked around...did nothing. I was told by Jessica from LA corporate that Princess was doing their best..but because of the severe weather and traffic, check in was slow. I answered that while the weather was very unpleasant, it had not slowed traffic, & there was not that much congestion...The problem was that Princess does not care about their passengers, does not respect that these people had chosen to give Princess hard earned $ in order to relax and be pampered for a week...DID NOT HAPPEN!!!!

Jessica said that Princess had called in more operaters to take complaint calls in LA. Does that make sense? How about calling in some additional people to speed up the check in where it counts? GRRRRRRRRR

Sadly, the week continued on its fated downward spiral. We were so looking forward to watching movies under the stars...2, yes 2 nites of the week they showed Tina Turner music videos. Can you believe it? The one night that there was a decent movie - Batman Begins there were not enough seats, & no one would go get more. By the way, the main show that evening was a guy from OK doing rope & hangar tricks....

2nd rate, lousy, crummy, the whole thing stank. Captain Andy messed around in Galveston so that we did not leave port till after 8pm - 4 hours late. No hope of making our first port of call Costa Maya by 10 am Monday. However, he took the ship at 22.5 knots thru the night and into the next day. (The limit is supposed to be 22 knots.) At lunch, the ship was lurching so badly, that you could hardly eat, stand, or do anything. Dramamine was gone from the shelves...People were vomiting...one little girl threw up in the buffet line right in front of us. ICK. So, we got to Costa Maya by around noon. Many had shore tours that they were rushed thru, and maybe had 30 minutes for beach time, or to snorkel. For some reason, Captain Andy decided to leave CM 2 hours earlier than posted, so we left around 4:30pm.

Our bath towels were ratty, worn & no towel animals..the shops were poorly stocked...The endless "Coke" was terrible..watery...cheap cola mix. The coffee was bitter, as well as the tea in the buffet area. Carnival's incidious sponge cake was creeping onto the buffet table....danger of more crappy food. The only juices in the am were watery, bitter orange, or overly sweet watery cran-apple. The eggs were a study in tastelessness...except they did taste old...

More details...the drinks in the bar were spotty. Some bartenders were fine & made a good drink, others were snotty & gave you crap to drink. The photographers were few & not very good. The dinner bread was left over from a camp somewhere in the past.

You could break a foot by dropping either the pancakes or French toast on it.

On the very limited upside, the Sterling Steakhouse was very good. The fruits were fine. Cheeses were very nice...not much variety tho. We loved our balcony. The little filets that were always on the menu were very nice. Can't think of anything else positive to say. We were the 3rd to last group to be called off the ship, then there was a long line for suitcase carts...typical. Hurry up & wait because the persons in charge don't care enough to think ahead to avoid you standing in line for hours. I think that sums it up.

[LARGIN]

glad you had a good time... :rolleyes:

[Oxo]

Hope you book with another cruise line. They need your business, not this board.

[chrysalis]

sorry to hear that the Captain did not have time to do your towel animals.....he must have been too busy lurching the ship and watering down the coke.

[mii]

WOW that is depressing.Princess does not do towel animals.

 

marilyn

[SaylorGirl]

Clucky . . I can't think of a thing to say! Better luck next time!

[Casshew]

You sound like a cranky old granny to me :rolleyes:

[Mandee]

I would just like to say that not everything is Captain Andy's fault. I have sailed with him twice (last week on the Grand, the week after you sailed) and he has been nice and in my opinion, ran a good ship. This is coming from someone who cruised the week the generators broke...

 

And the top speed of Grand class ships is 22.5 knots, not 22.

[VegasGreen]

Anyone else read the "preview" of this post and have a funny feeling it would be a first time poster???

 

I'm sorry the Captain didn't check people in at the Galvez fast enough.. (???)

 

Good luck on that Class Action Suit. I hope that was a glimmer of humor in your post. It was, right?

[madelinerose]

Happy New Year, clucky :rolleyes:

[bdjam]

I expect to get flamed by those who feel negative reports should not be bashed, but remember folks, some of you appointed me Princess Cheerleader, and I’m only doing my job:

THERE WAS NO MAJIC

I’ve never had MAJIC on my cruise either – or maybe I have and I just don’t know what it is?

The main problem we noticed was the middle management seemed to have the European "we are royalty, you are CRAP" attitude.

If this is true, I wonder in the first place how they were treated to get that attitude?

We really are considering joining a class action suit if anyone else on that cruise is interested.

It would be interesting to know what the basis for this lawsuit is going to be – how did Princess Cruises breach the contract it had with you?

7 cranky old grannies s l o w l y checked in 2,900 people

I’m sure these ladies wouldn’t like being called names, especially after a day having to deal with 2900 wet, cranky passengers.

I was told by Jessica from LA corporate that Princess was doing their best..but because of the severe weather and traffic, check in was slow. I answered that while the weather was very unpleasant, it had not slowed traffic, & there was not that much congestion...

How was Jessica in Los Angeles supposed to know what was going on in Texas and if you knew already, why did you call her to ask?

The problem was that Princess does not care about their passengers, does not respect that these people had chosen to give Princess hard earned $ in order to relax and be pampered for a week...DID NOT HAPPEN!!!!

Wow, they sure cared about me when I was on Dawn Princess and they PAMPERED me for 10 days!

We were so looking forward to watching movies under the stars...2, yes 2 nites of the week they showed Tina Turner music videos. Can you believe it?

I’m shocked – what good is the thing? They should take it off poor Grand Princess – probably would help with the electrical issues.

Captain Andy messed around in Galveston so that we did not leave port till after 8pm - 4 hours late.

Was Captain Andy hanging out in the Galveston clubs AGAIN?

However, he took the ship at 22.5 knots thru the night and into the next day. (The limit is supposed to be 22 knots.) At lunch, the ship was lurching so badly, that you could hardly eat, stand, or do anything. Dramamine was gone from the shelves...People were vomiting...one little girl threw up in the buffet line right in front of us. ICK.

I wonder if Captain Andy got a speeding ticket? But seriously, folks, cruising speed and top speed are two different things and cruise ships can maintain a top speed a number of knots above the normal cruising speed. And usually driving a ship through rough water makes for a more stable ride. But, as apparently they’ve had to announce on Grand Princess, it is a ship, not a hotel. A ship travels from place to place – that means it moves. As for the little girl, I think she should be included in the class action suit for throwing up in the buffet line. ICK.

no towel animals

I personally hate the idea of towel animals but I guess it could ruin a cruise (although if you were on Grand Princess in the past, you should know there are no towel animals). I would sue. As for the food, its all subjective, but I would sue.

The dinner bread was left over from a camp somewhere in the past. You could break a foot by dropping either the pancakes or French toast on it.

What camp would that be? And maybe the little girl who threw up in the buffet dropped French Toast on her foot and it hurt so bad she threw up. ICK.

We loved our balcony

Don’t tell the judge…you’ll lose your case.

 

And people say I have a bad attitude... :rolleyes:

[houstoncruisers2001]

The "class action lawsuit" line really cracked me up. LA TI DA.

[surfklutz]

I think she has some very valid points. This is not what she paid for - this is not what she expected. I would be upset by many of the things she pointed out. She obviously paid more than minimum rate - she had a balcony.

 

Slow check in is pretty inexcusable...they know how many people to expect and they know how many people are needed to take care of it in a timely manner.

 

Being treated in a rude manner by crew or officers is also inexcusable. We are, afterall, the ones who pay their salary in the end.

 

Ratty towel - inexcusable.

Tina Turner twice- no one should be subject to that!

 

Complain please - you have that right and that responsibility to let Princess know where they need improvement.

[bdjam]

Complain please - you have that right and that responsibility to let Princess know where they need improvement.

Did you read the original post? I think if it was written rationally, it might be something to take seriously. Obviously, if the poster is on the level, they didn’t get what they expected. However, they may have expected just a bit much from their cruise. For example, complaining about leaving late – and accusing the Captain of messing around – when there were electrical problems on the ship is over the top. This cruiser was lucky that they left at all. Then complaining because the ship was going too fast? No towel animals? Maybe the towels were too ratty to put animals together? And then suing about it?

Legitimate and rational complaints are one thing – this post is something else again.

[surfklutz]

I agree - legitimate complaints should be registered. Petty complaint are better left out if you want to maintain credibility. She had a bit of both.

[bdjam]

I agree - legitimate complaints should be registered. Petty complaint are better left out if you want to maintain credibility. She had a bit of both.

A bit?? :rolleyes:

[spongerob]

Oh, I'm in tears...this has to be another of those phantom cruise reviews like the one that briefly showed up a couple weeks ago...LOL. Best laugh I've had in ages. Thanks to all who added to the humor.

 

Maybe the ship was late leaving the port because Captain Andy hadn't finished dragging all the luggage on board...:p

[Cruiseteach]

I can't wait to hear Judge Judy when the poster sues for no towel animals!

[bdjam]

Maybe the ship was late leaving the port because Captain Andy hadn't finished dragging all the luggage on board...:p

Either that or he was below deck trying to get the ratty towels into animal shapes.

[senior lady]

I like the comment that the food in the dinning room was ok, but it was much less expensive than before?????

 

I've never paid for food in the dining room, has anyone else???

 

I think that was the first clue that this poster was a little:eek:

[TorontoTL]

It is a bit hard to believe things were really that horrible. I've never been on a cruise that has been that bad, and I've been on a couple of really low cost cruises. The poster has some valid points but I agree, there is a great deal of credibility lost when some of her points are made that are just plain silly. I'm sure there are others on this board that were on the same cruise that could support or refute some of her issues aren't there?

[Cindy]

I guess Clucky was a little disappointed in this cruise. :rolleyes:

[Casshew]

I think that was the first clue that this poster was a little:eek:

 

LOL :D

[oceanlovinmama]

Oh come on guys....the poor woman obviously needed a vacation but how could she relax when she was so busy noticing everything that was wrong? Her poor travelling companion!!! First of all, I don't care where you are or what you're on, if you're away from home, and not cooking and not making the bed or washing the ratty towels, LIFE IS GOOD:D Unfortunately she made up her mind from the beginning that this cruise would suck.....too bad, as I always so...Don't worry be happy!! or Don't sweat the small stuff!! but, seriously, no towel animals????? I love them!!

[Hulagirl]

Truly I have to chime in on this one!!!

 

We were also on this cruise and did have a very good time. Yes, we were late leaving due to the check in problems. I can't blame the Captain at all about this and it truly is unfair to point fingers at him. When we were at the most traveled luncheon we sat with the Head Purser. There was another couple who were also at our table that started in on this man about that day. I did feel bad for him as it wasn't his fault either. He told us that it was the Port Authority that had instructed Princess to check in everyone at the Hotel. So all I can go on is this. We were lucky enough to have stayed at the Galvez the two nights before the cruise and were checked in very quickly. I know that at 5:00 PM the Captain announced that 900 people still hadn't boarded, so the ship waited and yes we did leave late. I felt for those people and were glad for them when they finally were able to board. Yes there were lines all week at the Pursers desk. Princess gave every single person onboard a $50 credit to their shipboard account for the trouble. I guess not everyone was happy with that, but we felt pleased to have received it.

 

It was funny, to us, when during the muster drill the Captain announced that this was a ship and it did move! That night and the following morning we did move, and fast. But by noon it seemed to calm down considerably. I was one person who felt queasy that morning, but by noon time I felt so much better. There were little white bags on all the garbage cans and I'm sure they were used. But had we gone slower we wouldn't have gotten to Costa Maya anywhere near our time. As it was, we were docking at 11:30 AM and our excursion had been moved to 1:30 or near that time. We still had our full 3.5 hour excursion, and we didn't leave at 4:30.

 

Guess we were lucky in Cozumel it didn't take us 3 hours to tender back to the ship. They were running large and full tenders back and forth. All in all, from the time we got in line at the pier, to when we walked on the ship it was 40 minutes. From what I have read from others we felt that wasn't bad at all. I just can't believe the tendering problem is only with Princess. In Grand Cayman the line was down the street for the RCI ships, so they also had to have problems.

 

Now the one area that I do agree on is the Maitre' d's in the dining room this time. I have a feeling the one mentioned above is Lucia and I will say she wasn't good at all. We also did have problems with them being rude and not helpful at all. This is the first time in my 16 cruises with Princess that we have encountered a problem in this area. But once seated, we had excellent waiters and have no complaints at all with any of them. During the course of the week, we had several different ones and I can't say enough good about them. The food seemed up to par with the norm for Princess. Needless to say, we had no problem eating it. Don't know what the less expensive comment was, but it seemed the same to me. The dining room staff did seem to have a problem during the middle of the cruise. It was like they had all been reprimanded for something, but we don't know for sure. We commented about it but after a while they seemed to relax. There was definitely something going on, but we will never know.

 

The MUTS thing did surprise me. I didn't think I would even enjoy it at all, but have to admit, my daughter and I went to one movie at night and had a good time. Reminded me of the days of going to the drive in, only with it being a bit windy. The Tina Turner concert thing was the first and last night only. Maybe they have found that not that many people go those 2 nights to this and that is their reasoning for showing the concerts then. Don't know, but would be my guess. Everyone has different tastes in movies and they can't always pick to show what all of us would like.

 

I could go on, but I won't. This wasn't a terrible cruise. I saw many extended families on this cruise that were having a wonderful time. We had over 700 kids (we had one 16 year old with us) and you would have never known that many kids were on board! Everyone seemed so very well behaved which we commented on several times. The room steward we had was one of the best. We ask for little, but she always had anything there we did ask for. We had a Grand Suite for this cruise, and I know it took her longer to clean the larger room, but she was excellent. So no way can I agree that all the staff was bad.

 

I'm sorry if anyone had a bad cruise. We enjoyed ourselves and I think most others did also. Hopefully the poster can try another line and enjoy them. We have been happy with Princess so far and will keep cruising with them. I think if you go on a cruise thinking everything will be perfect you will be disappointed. Granted embarkation was a problem, but the rest of the cruise wasn't.

 

Now this is all my opinion, so please take it for that.

 

Hulagirl