Live from the Grand Princess, Dec 20-30th, Christmas cruise

[Coral]

Lunch meal pics - they told me they were out of rigatoni and it was going to be macaroni. The other is the turkey.

[Coral]

Here are Christmas dinner pics:

 

It was a beef entree of some sort, English pudding, gingerbread soufflé which didn't taste like gingerbread at all and gingerbread cookies which tasted great:

[Coral]

Today's Patter for Cabo Day 1. I am getting ready to go to the show and will post more later after the show.

 

[AVCruzers]

Many thanks for all the comments and photos.   We plan to embark on the 

Grand on Jan. 4 so this information was exciting to read.  We have already cruised 3 cruises this fall on the Majestic so looking forward to the comparisons.   

[mary ann 123]

Hi, wonderful and helpful information. We are cruising on the 30th December. Few questions.

Do they still serve afternoon tea?

How about the British pub lunch?

Do they charge to attend yoga classes or other fitness classes?

I haven't cruised for a number of years so thanks so much!

[Coral]

8 hours ago, mary ann 123 said:

Hi, wonderful and helpful information. We are cruising on the 30th December. Few questions.

Do they still serve afternoon tea?

How about the British pub lunch?

Do they charge to attend yoga classes or other fitness classes?

I haven't cruised for a number of years so thanks so much!

They have served afternoon tea on sea days. I have not seen British pub lunch yet.

[Coral]

Cabo Page 2 patters:

[Coral]

Last night's dinner menu and patters:

 

[Coral]

Cabo first day - weather was perfect!

 

I did the whale watch which I really loved. I have to say Princess's vendor was great. We had 20 individuals in a boat for probably 100. We saw plenty of whales. The biggest problem is that there were a lot of smaller vessels who were not abiding by the rules to keep a distance from the whales. Also - those who stayed on the ship also saw plenty of whales from the ship's deck.

 

I also did a sunset sailboat excursion which I did not like. I didn't like where they wanted us to sit on the sail boat. I was thinking I was just going to slide off and go into the ocean.

 

Here are pictures from the ship we used on the whale boat excursion:

[Coral]

Some notes on entertainment. There is only one show in the Princess Theatre at 9 pm. On Christmas night - they did a Holiday Wishes show. I heard they practiced for 3 weeks and for the most part - it was a very cute show. The 12 days of Christmas was hilarious. I really enjoyed the show. There were some parts that did perplex me. Some songs were not Christmas related and seemed out of place. I did run into a singer and dancer on one of my excursions and they said I was not wrong and it was for those who do not celebrate Christmas. I was thinking "It is a holiday show - it can just be Christmas related". Regardless - the show was great. At the end - it did "snow" from both sides of the theatre.

 

Last night's snow was Instrimentalist Sarah Carter. She had toured on the world tour of Lord of the Dance. She played the piano and was quite good. She wore a costume/outfit that had lights on it and it lit up in different places during the show. That part was distracting. Here is a youtube that was similar to her performance on the ship:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqcpnCkVhbg

 

Here is a picture of the theatre about 2 mintues before the show started. Needless to say we could easily walk up to the show right before and get great seats. When I saw a singer/dancer on one of my shore excursions he was like "please come to the shows"....

 

[Coral]

9 hours ago, AVCruzers said:

Many thanks for all the comments and photos.   We plan to embark on the 

Grand on Jan. 4 so this information was exciting to read.  We have already cruised 3 cruises this fall on the Majestic so looking forward to the comparisons.   

I am traveling with a friend. He keeps looking at the atrium and says "it looks so small compared to the Majestic". He was on that ship right before Thanksgiving.

[Coral]

Some comments on food - I by no means have been starving. I am pretty sure I have gained a few pounds as when I put my jeans on last night for dinner, they were a tad tight. I do have to say the menus are not as good as they used to be and the food quality is not as good.

 

Last night was Italian Night - I asked about my sun dried tomato rolls that I love, they no longer make them. I am pretty sure it was on Italian night that they offered a spinach type salad with pine nuts and a cheese. It was always my favorite salad - it is no longer on the menu. I have yet to see prime rib on the menu. I asked my waiter and he was thinking it was the night we went to the Crown Grill. I don't think it was as we went there that night as the menu looked weak. At home I have access to great beef and know the ship will never compare but my steak at Crown Grill was mediocre. Some one mentioned that their sourcing of foods is not the same - I have no clue if this is good. I mentioned the gingerbread souffle at Christmas dinner. This tasted like vanilla. It even looked like a vanilla souffle. I pointed out to someone and they pointed to the menu and said "it is gingerbread". I wondered if they actually had tried it. On a plus note - I have seen several souffles on this trip and last night was one I had never seen before - it had a nutty type flavor - it was called Gianduja Souffle.

 

I used to love 10 and 14 night cruises to get different menus. Now I sort of cringe as these menus seems boring to me. Though - I can assure you I am not starving.

 

On this trip - I have gone to One5 for the Elite hour before dinner. They had a bbq chicken small piece one night which was cold. I think it was intended that way to be cold - it just seemed weird. They also had what they called a rice ball in a marinara sauce. I didn't get it but a friend did and said it was cold. I tried to ask them what type of rice and they thought it was more like a spaghetti or risotto ball. It was also cold. I do miss the Skywalkers Lounge and the ship looks odd to me with out it but I am enjoying One5. It is a great area to go up and read during the day and be away from people.

 

Service continues to be great. My room steward seems to be playing a game with me of "hide the remote". I don't know if he considers it a game but I am always in search of where it is after he cleans my cabin. Great guy. Wait staff is still amazing.

 

The shore excursion desk is great and helpful. The future cruise person (Barbara) has also been very friendly. The shops are loving when one walks into their shops as they have been very quiet on this trip. Alfredos pizza is great and Katarina (spelling?) from the Ukraine who works there has provided excellent service. I have gotten a burger from Salty Dog and those guys working up there are awesome as well.

 

We are having to clear immigration in San Diego. Everyone must clear before we are allowed back on the ship. It will take place in the Cruise Terminal building. This is probably good as it will make getting off in San Pedro much easier.

 

Off to shower and tackle the day. Sorry - I couldn't post last night.

[Coral]

One last post - we had the Navigator of the Seas in port with us, a Carnival ship and "The World". I never got close enough to get good pictures but here are some I did get of "the World".

 

It was funny - at the pier - the world had champaigne glasses and various drinks  for those waiting for their tenders. Princess has plastic cups and a variety of water for their individuals waiting to go back to the ship (also wash clothes for your face which was appreciated) and the Navigator which seemed to be pretty full didn't have anything. I do have to say the wash clothes from Princess were excellent and I loved having some water while waiting for tender. We are overnighting in Cabo and the last tender stopped at 1 am and resumed this morning. I know crew were going to go last night after their shifts.

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by Coral

[Coral]

One last comment on Cabo - around the pier, everyone was wearing their face masks. I asked someone who worked there and they indicated that was required around the cruise ship pier Once you walked into town, all the employees of stores and those advertising tours were also wearing the face masks. I asked what the requirements were and was told they were required at the pier area, in the stores and in restaurants until you are eating. On the two tours I did yesterday, the employees did keep their masks on for the tour.

[JF - retired RRT]

9 hours ago, mary ann 123 said:

Do they charge to attend yoga classes or other fitness classes?

 

Some classes are free, but most are $$. Pretty sure yoga is $$.

There are sign up sheets (at least that's the way they used to do it) and will have the $$ info.

[loge23]

Not onboard with Princess again until 2/8/22 (Enchanted), but with all of the menu choices that have been posted in these threads, I sadly must agree with Coral's opinions. We noticed a decline in quality back in early pre-Covid 2020 when the dinner rolls didn't taste quite as good as they used to for many, many years. A small sampling, yes, but the beef was also gamey and the pastas at that time were pre-packaged. I understand that they are back to preparing fresh pasta onboard though - one of the last vestiges of the Italian service on Princess. I also must face the facts that I really don't need the dinner rolls anyway, but still.

I see Sabatini's menu has drastically changed and I haven't heard one good thing about the Crown Grille yet, my usual favorite + restaurant, in dozens of accounts. 

Of course we have bigger fish to fry (no pun intended) in the run-up to our cruise with the Omicron plague in full force now. But I must say that we tried a cruise on Brand X in October on the Edge and the food quality and drink service was marvelous. Hopefully Princess will react and rebalance. 

[Coral]

Here is the breakfast special and then the dining room menus for the evening. Looks like we will get prime rib tonight. Tonight is Captain Circle party also. My friend wants to go for the first part and then we will go to dinner.

 

[Coral]

Dinner pics - pistachio creme brûlée was amazing, succotash looked gross (didn't taste):

 

 

[Coral]

Tomorrow's patter and disembark info:

 

 

[caribill]

On 12/26/2021 at 9:30 PM, Coral said:

So I ordered the Gingerbread soufflé and it tasted like vanilla and looked like vanilla. I told them it wasn't Gingerbread and they pointed to the menu and said it was Gingerbread. It was weird.

 

Love the reasoning.

 

I guess if you ordered a steak and they brought you chicken, they could point to the menu and say "See, it is steak."

[capriccio]

21 hours ago, Coral said:

On a plus note - I have seen several souffles on this trip and last night was one I had never seen before - it had a nutty type flavor - it was called Gianduja Souffle.

The nuts in gianduja are hazelnuts.

[Buckeye10640]

18 hours ago, loge23 said:

Not onboard with Princess again until 2/8/22 (Enchanted), but with all of the menu choices that have been posted in these threads, I sadly must agree with Coral's opinions. We noticed a decline in quality back in early pre-Covid 2020 when the dinner rolls didn't taste quite as good as they used to for many, many years. A small sampling, yes, but the beef was also gamey and the pastas at that time were pre-packaged. I understand that they are back to preparing fresh pasta onboard though - one of the last vestiges of the Italian service on Princess. I also must face the facts that I really don't need the dinner rolls anyway, but still.

I see Sabatini's menu has drastically changed and I haven't heard one good thing about the Crown Grille yet, my usual favorite + restaurant, in dozens of accounts. 

Of course we have bigger fish to fry (no pun intended) in the run-up to our cruise with the Omicron plague in full force now. But I must say that we tried a cruise on Brand X in October on the Edge and the food quality and drink service was marvelous. Hopefully Princess will react and rebalance. 

We were on Enchanted 11/30 sailing. Our meal at Crown Grill was the best of the cruise. I had a filet and my husband had rib a very large steak (porterhouse?). Service was a little slow and the asparagus side a little skimpy for 2 people, but our server offered to being more if we wanted. Overall, a great meal and we seriously considered going back a second night. 

Edited December 28, 2021 by Buckeye10640

[Coral]

1 hour ago, capriccio said:

The nuts in gianduja are hazelnuts.

Thank you. It was good!

[capriccio]

3 minutes ago, Coral said:

Thank you. It was good!

If you ever see gianduja gelato on the dessert menu, you will probably like that too!

[Coral]

Just now, capriccio said:

If you ever see gianduja gelato on the dessert menu, you will probably like that too!

I will look for that. They have had very few flavors at night of ice cream/gelato compared to in the past.

 

I remember the harlequin soufflé they used to have. I miss that.