Grand - Pacific Northwest review 9/23-9/30

[cruise2relax]

We booked this cruise when it came out as it was differentand very appealing to us. It must havebeen to many others as it sold out fairly early. That being said, while travelling in Napa,Sonoma and San Francisco prior to the cruise, we were notified of an upgradefrom our Caribe balcony to a Dolphin mini suite. First time that has ever happened to us. Not complaining!

 

 

We left from the pier 27 cruise terminal. Very well organized and easy. We arrived around 10:45am (took an Uber) andwe were on board at 11:15am. Again, nocomplaints with that. The staff stilltries so very hard to direct you to the buffet. We did not bite and instead hung around for the dining room which openedat 11:30am. Always our favorite way tostart a cruise. Room were ready at1:00pm and our luggage was already there.

 

 

The ship. Okay so theGrand Princess is one of the older vessels in the fleet. That does not give Princess a pass on it. Most of the general everyday maintenance isfine and well kept. It is the deeperstuff that needs addressing. Twoexamples of what I mean. One, in theWheelhouse Bar, the bar stools lack any and all cushion/support in theseat. You literally sink through. Two, the sofa in our mini suite is anembarrassment. The condition is so pooryou would not find it in a frat house. You cannot sit on it as there is no cushion and you sink almost to thefloor. It is the type of dirty that nolonger can become clean. These arethings Princess should be addressing constantly not waiting for dry docks.There are a number of first timers on this cruise. We have the benefit of sailing on 25 cruiseswith Princess over 20 years so we can take it with a grain of salt. Not sure how I would be impacted to cruiseagain with Princess if this were my first cruise with them. On the flip side, the new Princess beds areterrific. HUGE improvement in comfortand quality of the linens is notable. Good job.

 

 

Food and service. Princess still cannot get anytime dining right. They keep encroaching on it through Clubclass and making one anytime dining room a traditional early seating. The wait times have been more on this shipthat others. Not sure why. Service of the food and the quality isconsistent with our prior experiences and we are pleased with it. Of note, the wine menu changed as of thiscruise and prompted massive confusion as they are still trying to use up theold inventory and the servers do not know the new inventory yet. Unclear if this was the problem with beverageservice in the dining rooms but it was terrible. On our first two occasions, we did not getour glass of wine until half way through dinner. We learned to wait to order food until we gotour drinks. This was not unique to us,it was happening to everyone around us.

 

 

We chose to try the new Sabatini’s and we were very pleased. First, why is that you call the dining linefor a reservation, they always tell you nothing is available before 8pm? We agreed to the 8pm reservation and went at7pm and were seated immediately because they were nowhere near busy or full. Again, poor move as you are losing business. Anyway, the menu was explained by the waiterand off we went. We had the burrata andthe fried squash for appetizers, both delicious and larger in size thanexpected. We both had the cheese soupwhich was a real treat. Our two pastaswere the seafood pasta and beef cheek pasta. My beef cheek pasta won that round. We followed with the Porchetta and the veal wallet (it is a cordon bleutype of prep). Both really good butagain large portion. Really well doneand delicious. We would go there againand we were fans of the old menu. Theonly misstep was the dessert, kind of flavorless. But then again I may have overwhelmed mytaste buds by that point.

 

 

Ports:

Astoria, Oregon: what a surprise. I did not have any expectations as I couldnot find a lot of information on this port prior to the trip. We were lucky with a sunny beautiful day inport. Lovely small city at the mouth ofthe Columbia River and the Pacific. Wewalked to town along the Riverwalk in the morning and took in a seafood andwine pairing and cooking lesson (our only Princess tour) at Baked Alaskarestaurant. Well done and a veryenjoyable day in this port. It is quitebeautiful and would not mind exploring it further.

 

 

Seattle, Washington: we have spent time in Seattle before sowe have kind of done the things that most would do. We took part in a food tour of downtown withSavor Seattle. I was hoping we woulddock at Pier 66 rather than Pier 91 since this was not a turn around day. No such luck. Great weather though.

 

 

Vancouver, Canada: dockedat Canada Place downtown. Also did adowntown food tour. More great weather. I will point out, having never stopped herebefore, the cruise ship terminal is confusing, not well marked for directionscoming and going.

 

 

Victoria, BC: More great weather, nice port. We did not plan anything other than to walkabout as we were only in port for half a day. Although lovely, I would plan a tour if I return. Not a lot to do just walking around.

 

 

We had a medical helicopter evac on the morning of the lastsea day. At that point the captain saidit might delay our arrival to San Francisco. I found this odd as he had 24 hours to make up the time. We have experienced this before with far moreout of the way problems for evac (think turning around on a transatlanticcrossing). True to his word, the shipwas 3 hours late into San Francisco. Almost missed a noon flight. Whatwas maddening was the lack of explanation outside of the medical evac. If we missed a slot to et into port, tell methat. People were flipping about flightsas the ship was moving very slowly all day and night. Really did not make sense based on what wastold to us. May have been a goodexplanation, but did not hear one.

 

 

All in all a solid trip, liked the itinerary a lot. There were some large groups onboard thatmade for some challenges with certain bars and dining rooms but we learned tonavigate.

 

 

Side note: if anyone from Princess is reading this, the princess@sea app is comingalong nicely but why can you not put thedining room menus on this app? You putmost of the patter on it, it really should not be complicated.

[LazyMary]

Thank you for your review......

 

Side note: if anyone from Princess is reading this, the princess@sea app is coming along nicely but why can you not put the dining room menus on this app? You put most of the patter on it, it really should not be complicated.

Totally agree about putting the menu in the patter

[MTJSR]

Thank your taking the time to share your thoughts!

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Buckeye10640]

Just off the Coral a few weeks ago. I said the same thing....why not put the menus on the app? I will say we had no problem with waits for anytime dining on our sailing and I liked not being pinned down to a specific time. Glad to hear you liked Astoria...we just booked the Northern CA for next year and I wondered about that port.

 

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[justafem]

We were on the same cruise. A few things to add. We booked a suite and were personally escorted to the ship by a crew member. They brought us immediately to Club Class for lunch, stating our rooms would not be ready until 1 PM. We were able to enter our room at noon.

 

We traded our minibar for two coffee cards. No problem using them, but they never collected the minibar. The staff is not happy with having to scan cards every time for free teas, coffees and sodas (if you have the soda package). It takes so much more time than a simple punch or showing a sticker.

 

Our experience in Club Class was a bit...well, disorganized. While we were immediately seated, drinks were slow to come and sometimes forgotten until we reminded them. Then there was a problem with the wine by the glass selection, nothing on the menu was available. The extra dishes were never prepared in the section, they came from the kitchen and seemed to be lacking the experience we had the first time in Club Class last year, seemed more industrial, less personalized and even less tasty. The service was exceptional though. Very attentive. I felt spoiled!

 

It felt like there was less staff. The multitasking has always happened, but Grounds at the international cafe was seriously understaffed most of the time. Many times the barista was taking orders and making the drinks, with no other person helping. Other times there were too many people behind the counter and they were in each others way. I didn't know that coffee cards COULD NOT be used at the Coffee and Cones location on deck 14. I wanted to try something not offered at Grounds, but was told (after scanning my card) that I would be charged. I declined and ran down to the international.

 

One thing I did discover, but didn't take advantage of, was that the servers on deck 15 will not only bring soda and cocktails, they will also go to Grounds for drinks. That blew my mind!

 

There seemed to be far less announcements for the Art gallery and the Spa. A welcome change.

 

The ship was late to every port. And left late too. In Vancouver there was a medical emergency, so we didn't leave port until 1 AM. Then there was a medi-evac on the last sea day. We lost 3 hours and the time was never made up, so we were late getting into SF. I viewed it as extra time on the ship.

 

The casino didn't open after Seattle until we left Victoria. Ok by me as I actually left the ship $8 whole dollars richer than when I came on (grins).

 

I think the service desk misplaced our disimbarkment papers. I handed them in at the same time as I gave the Canada declaration forms. I requested to be in the first group off, but we were the last. I really think our disembarkment papers went in the same file as the Canada declaration forms, so it looked to Princess that we didn't fill them out at all.

 

On another note, in Astoria, we took the first shuttle into town at 9 AM. Nothing was open. Most shops had hours from 11 or cute little notes about "we're open when we're open" type. I wanted to spend some tourist money, but with nothing available, we went back to the ship after walking the main streets. If I were a business owner, I'd sure be open when a ship pulled in.

 

I completely agree with the terminal in Vancouver. It was a mess to try to figure out where to go to even get out of the station. Unmarked street exit and completely unhelpful port employees. We wandered aimlessly, trying to escape the building. When we FINALLY discovered the escalator sign being blocked by a group of port employees.

 

Don't go to Chinatown in Vancouver if you're used to SF. Not what I was expecting at all!

 

Oh, Canadians are more than willing to take American dollars, they just don't give you any exchange rate. They want a straight exchange, so we lost 30% until we found a exchange. Lesson learned!

 

I know it sounds like I'm complaining. I'm not, we REALLY enjoyed the cruise, the weather was phenomenal. It was just different than what we've experienced before on the same ship. I think I like more sea days. For pax who like port intensive cruises, this is definitely your itinerary!

[cruise2relax]

Thank you Justafem - for the comments on the Vancouver cruise terminal, I was beginning to think I had lost it.

Edited October 1, 2018 by cruise2relax
mistake

[IndiTravler]

We were on the cruise taking it easy. Some of my comments:

 

Astoria. - Super easy to rent a car from Enterprise. They were running a shuttle for pickup and drop off near the end of the walk from the ship. Big sign -- couldn't miss it. We took the car down the coast all the way to the Tillamook Creamery for ice cream!

 

Seattle -- FYI the cost for a RT cab between Pier 91/ship and the Space Needle was about the same price as one person on the Princess Shuttle. We also went out for a nice dinner.

 

Vancouver -- we took a taxi to Granville Island where there were tons of local shops, markets, and restaurants. Note the shops and markets closed at 7pm.

 

Victoria -- the place doesn't open till 10:00 -- good place for a princess tour when your ship is leaving at 2pm. But we still had fun walking downtown (we'd already been to the gardens and didn't want to do tea or whale watching).

 

We also experienced the $1 for $1 exchange rate from a taxi in Victoria PLUS getting my change in Canadian dollars. Have some small bills with you in Canada to minimize any loss. I would still do it again as the loss was less then spending time to find and ATM and dealing with leftover Canadian dollars. Visa was widely accepted even on small dollar purchases and that was my one and only experience with cash.

 

Yes, we had extra time on board, but it wasn't fun.

As someone with a flight home, I really wish the Captain had managed to make up some time and/or pull directly into the SF dock (rather than turning around and backing in).

 

Final note, either the dock workers and/or the ship luggage movers were REALLY hard on the suitcases. Broke a handle boarding and tore a wheel off leaving. Glad is was the same suitcase.

[Cruise Raider]

Great reviews from someone that recently sailed on the Grand. As a matter of fact, we were originally booked on this sailing early in the game at a phenomenal price but we ended up getting an even better deal on a sailing up to Alaska earlier in the month. We usually love our sea days so this longer cruise with more of those days was just what the doctor ordered so we cancelled this sailing after making that decision.

 

I agree completely about the anytime dining. We used to like it but are now considering moving back to traditional dining. However, on our sailing, the early dining was moved up to 5 PM and that just cuts into our day too sharply. We would be ok with a 6 PM dining time, but that wasn't available and hard to get a table at that time in the anytime dining. They are really making the dining times very inconvenient. I don't think that is a positive move on their part.

 

Too bad about the Club Class dining eliminating the table side preparation. We had taken advantage of that on previous cruises and just loved it. We have another sailing in a suite booked on the Grand next year and will be disappointed if they've cut back on that experience. It is the reason we booked a suite.

 

And yes, some of the sofas are ready for the dump. I cannot understand how they cannot see that and haven't replaced them by now. But, I also agree the new beds are most wonderful!!

 

Glad to hear you all had a great time with nice weather.

[LSGDRG]

Thanks for posting the review. I will be on the Grand next year doing this same itinerary. I hope that maybe the ship will be spruced up during the upcoming dry dock

[robbi5]

Thank you for the nice review. I just got off the Grand on 9/23. I agree- She’s a pretty nice older ship but there are a few things that need to be upgraded. I loved the new mattress and thought the Princess@Sea app worked the best ever. It would be great if they could post the dining room menus. It would help us decide where we want to eat.

 

Thanks for posting and score on the upgrade.

[judyjudy56]

Thanks for the review. We are doing the same itinerary in October next year. We will be in a suite. Hope the club class dining will be better then.

 

 

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[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review......:):):)

Bob

[Vexorg]

I saw the Grand pulling into the dock at Seattle from my workplace, and noted that it seemed later than I'd expect to see it. I've seen Princess ships on port calls dock at Bell Street Pier before, so I'm not sure why they chose to dock at Smith Cove this time. Grand Princess will be making one more port call visit to Seattle next Wednesday and docking at Smith Cove again, but in that case there's another ship scheduled for Bell Street Pier.

 

And agreed on Vancouver. Canada Place is a really cool port (especially if you're lucky enough to be leaving at night) but they just don't seem to have their act together when it comes to embarking and disembarking. If you've ever experienced the disaster that is a three-ship turnaround day at Canada Place you'll know what I'm talking about.

[FunForUs]

 

Too bad about the Club Class dining eliminating the table side preparation. We had taken advantage of that on previous cruises and just loved it. We have another sailing in a suite booked on the Grand next year and will be disappointed if they've cut back on that experience. It is the reason we booked a suite.

 

 

Hi Cruise Raider, we were in Club Class on this sailing. The maître d' prepared something every night we were there; mostly pastas but one night we had crepe suzettes. We went to the Crown Grill a couple of nights so don't know about those. Shirley