The Grand Princess trip review 4th - 17th Nov NZ

[getting older slowly]

Hi All..

 

Only had internet for one day... so not live ( after the fact )    ( today tested positive to covid just to top it off )

Right boarding..... arrived at noon.... started check in at 12.30.... everybody seamed to be priority check in  found out later over 500 elite about 350 platinum  we were platinum and in a suite.....

It seam like chaos... and had one carry on bog... a lady at the scanner  got quite factious of have two bottle of wine in one the bag  finally lets go.

 

AT 12.50  walking down to the gangplank... board deck 6 head straight to Club Class Dining sitting at the table by 1.00pm

have a very nice lunch  Red snapper and a sauvignon blanc.    make it to our room cases waiting unpacked and relaxed

 

Dinning at the Crown Grill that night, but first canapes at One Five......  totally crowded serve overrun ... food    well more about that later 

 

Crown grill food ok asparagus  was dead... chips and steak ok  overall a bit lack luster.... Also the tasting plate was off the menu for dessert..

end up at the buffet to dessert not bad....

 

The Grand overall seamed to be well maintained and clean    ( crew always cleaning ) one thing missed was the central stairwell from deck 7 to deck 14  this is crew only unlike the Golden use to use these stairs to drop down to go to dinner without going down along deck 7

 

Mask on boarding and for the first few days  some staff and a lot of passengers not wearing masks

 

Demographics on passengers mixed.... a few younger couples with children... lots of walkers.....a quite a few testing the SWL of chairs ..

but mainly retired I would say..

 

Time for a lay down  will continue   after nana nap

 

Don on lounge soon to be laying on

[Rassa]

So sorry you have covid and I hope you recover quickly.  Will be on The Grand early next year.   We will be wearing our masks and sanitising frequently.  I am not too hard to please but looking forward to the rest of your review of The Grand.   Hope they have the boarding better organised by the time I get on.  Coral in early September was easy after a few months back.   No complaints about that cruise and I did like the dining (on Princess) better than pre-covid.

[arxcards]

Take care Don. It seems to be a more popular souvenir than a t-shirt or ship model these days.

 

No Crown Grill dessert tasting plate? Outrageous!!

[MMDown Under]

Sorry you caught Covid on your cruise Don.  Hope you make a speedy recovery.  

[getting older slowly]

Right continuing on..... Covid so far cold, runny nose, a little cough, acies and pain..... and did i say cold sitting in lounge heater on 25 deg trackies and windrcheater... other things  a bit like old age....lol

 

Slight rough crossing a bit of pitching but nothing bad... got into Milford sound  toally calm... very nice..... so far have had lunch adn dinner at Club Class.. service very good likewise with the food... one is happy.

Breakfast in Crown grill food it good.... But for us to order to order bacon and eggs.... you had to ask for everything   Each Day... Bacon English ( not burnt to crisp Bacon )

Eggs over else or sunny side... Tried for not runny but they didn't manage to do it.... Toast ok but you have to ask to butter... something little, but not up to previous times.... as stated on the first dinner at the Crown Grill.,, Breakfast a littie luck luster..

 

Day 4. Dunedin. still a lot of unmasked passengers... seams the going rate to bus into town is $35 per head return..

 

Canape is still busy but not as bad as first night drinks on but food id below par... 

 

By Wellington started noticing  Food trays outside door  fro breakfast lunch and dinner  in our area on 16 cabins including cabin next door by Auckland 6 cabins

 

Due to a storm we missed Napier... AT Wellington went to alferdo''s for lunch.... great pizza... to the point the next 2 port day did the same thing.. Did i say great pizzas with Cabernet Merlot

 

Right the continuing saga of food at Canapes  got half thought server at 6pm.. found the warming plate under the hot food was  OFF   thus cold food... not  good enough...

 

After asking found the Captain Circle host was the one the see......  so after lunch went to see her... notice on door stated open 2pm so only 5 mins away so waited... at 2.30pm the FCD lady arrived still no CCH... at 2.35 she arrives  we follow her in.. and she tells us she will be back at 3pm and walk out.. grabbing noticed off the door and pulling it in the bin,, and left us standing there without us saying a word

 

( note all she had to say was she had an urgent appointment, I am sorry about your wait, what it your cabin number I will give you a ring as soon as I am Back )

 

Don not happy... went to Guest Services.. explained what happen,they were not impressed and told them about the cold food, food in general, bar going outside to talk photo while servicing.. etc...

Outcome.. the CCH rang about 40 mins later you could tell she'd be spoken too...

to smooth thong out... also got a bouquet of flowers and free drinks a canapes and calls from both food and beverage mangers  

 

Time for lunch  Don

 

 

[Relaxing Robbies]

2 hours ago, getting older slowly said:

 

Dinning at the Crown Grill that night, but first canapes at One Five......  totally crowded serve overrun ... food    well more about that later 

 

Crown grill food ok asparagus  was dead... chips and steak ok  overall a bit lack luster.... Also the tasting plate was off the menu for dessert..

end up at the buffet to dessert not bad....

 

We also dined at Crown Grill the first night. I ordered 2 entrees - the scallops were beautiful and I also enjoyed the blue cheese onion soup. My steak was great. No room left for dessert.

 

Some friends dined there mid cruise. One group was not offered the cheesy garlic bread to start or the special choice of salts with their steak. Another group also missed the choice of salts. It seems that service was inconsistent.

 

I hope that your Covid is extremely mild and you recover quickly.

[NSWP]

Don, sorry to hear you got the bug. Sounds like the cruise was not great either. Hope you get well soon. Mate you need a G and T and a good rest.

Edited November 18, 2022 by NSWP

[By The Bay]

2 hours ago, getting older slowly said:

 

Outcome.. the CCH rang about 40 mins later you could tell she'd be spoken too...

to smooth thong out... also got a bouquet of flowers and free drinks a canapes and calls from both food and beverage mangers  

 

The squeaky wheel.......

[MMDown Under]

3 hours ago, getting older slowly said:

Right continuing on..... Covid so far cold, runny nose, a little cough, acies and pain..... and did i say cold sitting in lounge heater on 25 deg trackies and windrcheater... other things  a bit like old age....lol

 

Slight rough crossing a bit of pitching but nothing bad... got into Milford sound  toally calm... very nice..... so far have had lunch adn dinner at Club Class.. service very good likewise with the food... one is happy.

Breakfast in Crown grill food it good.... But for us to order to order bacon and eggs.... you had to ask for everything   Each Day... Bacon English ( not burnt to crisp Bacon )

Eggs over else or sunny side... Tried for not runny but they didn't manage to do it.... Toast ok but you have to ask to butter... something little, but not up to previous times.... as stated on the first dinner at the Crown Grill.,, Breakfast a littie luck luster..

 

Day 4. Dunedin. still a lot of unmasked passengers... seams the going rate to bus into town is $35 per head return..

 

Canape is still busy but not as bad as first night drinks on but food id below par... 

 

By Wellington started noticing  Food trays outside door  fro breakfast lunch and dinner  in our area on 16 cabins including cabin next door by Auckland 6 cabins

 

Due to a storm we missed Napier... AT Wellington went to alferdo''s for lunch.... great pizza... to the point the next 2 port day did the same thing.. Did i say great pizzas with Cabernet Merlot

 

Right the continuing saga of food at Canapes  got half thought server at 6pm.. found the warming plate under the hot food was  OFF   thus cold food... not  good enough...

 

After asking found the Captain Circle host was the one the see......  so after lunch went to see her... notice on door stated open 2pm so only 5 mins away so waited... at 2.30pm the FCD lady arrived still no CCH... at 2.35 she arrives  we follow her in.. and she tells us she will be back at 3pm and walk out.. grabbing noticed off the door and pulling it in the bin,, and left us standing there without us saying a word

 

( note all she had to say was she had an urgent appointment, I am sorry about your wait, what it your cabin number I will give you a ring as soon as I am Back )

 

Don not happy... went to Guest Services.. explained what happen,they were not impressed and told them about the cold food, food in general, bar going outside to talk photo while servicing.. etc...

Outcome.. the CCH rang about 40 mins later you could tell she'd be spoken too...

to smooth thong out... also got a bouquet of flowers and free drinks a canapes and calls from both food and beverage mangers  

 

Time for lunch  Don

 

 

Well done with your bouquet of flowers and free drinks and canapés, plus phone calls from both the food and beverage managers.  That is what I call "making things right!".

[getting older slowly]

Thanks all for the good wishes.... the lounge in very comfortable...

 

I would just like to say a this time.... we did enjoy our cruise 

Loved all the staff at Club Class... they were great

 

We did go to canapes each night for ones G&T. and the better half's sauvignon blanc, before dinner... overall.. the crew were great

Price of wine has gone up  &53 per bottle...

but our OBAccount was still within the budget

 

More good point to follow

 

Don   Lie down time

[bazshirl2]

Thanks Don for your review whilst feeling unwell. What deck is Club Class dining on and did you share a table?

Wishing you a speedy recovery and some medicinal beverages. Barry

[getting older slowly]

36 minutes ago, bazshirl2 said:

Thanks Don for your review whilst feeling unwell. What deck is Club Class dining on and did you share a table?

Wishing you a speedy recovery and some medicinal beverages. Barry

Thanks Barry

 

club class deck 6 starboard side part of the Di Vinci MDR...  no shared tables except for those travelling together. only saw a group of 4 a few time.

 

Since arrived home have lost appetite  only but on a Kilo on the cruise but need to lose weight the doc says so....

 

A glass on wine over dinner it still a must  bu \t no G&T's at the moment.. soon

 

and yes we did wear our masks all round the ship... no shows... only time masks were off was to partake in food and beverages and  in cabin. did use stairs most of the time

 

Cheers Don getting ready to dinner  ( chicken tonight )

[getting older slowly]

Right overall, everything was pretty good, cabin was in good condition, interestingly one change is suite cabins they now have a group of dedicated room stewards whom only look after suites,,, and the little green button on key pad at the door worked a treat,,, also Laundry was the quickest we have found leave the bag when going to dinner and it would be back the next evening when we got back from dinner... ( did it 3 times worked like clockwork ), swapping minibar was seamless..

 

We did meet one of bar staff at canapes who boarded at Auckland, who remember us from our last Cruise on the Golden Dec 2019 ( Amazing )

 

About the medallion thingie open the door every time...lol

Worked well when buying a bottle of wine at the bars...

But surprised to see a lot of bar staff and wait staff still using pen and paper and room number.

 

Also after being on board for about half an hour, it felt like only yesterday we were on board not 3 years... this is good....

 

Strange people we saw the button lady in the aft lift well  it was about the time we were going to canapes... she want to go to deck 6 for dinning room and she would press all the button both up and down,, and go to lift go it then say this is going up or only go to deck 7 and get out....

 

anyway  overall good cruise we enjoyed ourselves....

would we it do again  yes... were masks a problem no..

 

Cheers Don..... ready for after breakie lie down

 

haven't download the photos from the cameras yet.....

might upload some later...........

[MMDown Under]

1 hour ago, getting older slowly said:

Right overall, everything was pretty good, cabin was in good condition, interestingly one change is suite cabins they now have a group of dedicated room stewards whom only look after suites,,, and the little green button on key pad at the door worked a treat,,, also Laundry was the quickest we have found leave the bag when going to dinner and it would be back the next evening when we got back from dinner... ( did it 3 times worked like clockwork ), swapping minibar was seamless..

 

We did meet one of bar staff at canapes who boarded at Auckland, who remember us from our last Cruise on the Golden Dec 2019 ( Amazing )

 

About the medallion thingie open the door every time...lol

Worked well when buying a bottle of wine at the bars...

But surprised to see a lot of bar staff and wait staff still using pen and paper and room number.

 

Also after being on board for about half an hour, it felt like only yesterday we were on board not 3 years... this is good....

 

Strange people we saw the button lady in the aft lift well  it was about the time we were going to canapes... she want to go to deck 6 for dinning room and she would press all the button both up and down,, and go to lift go it then say this is going up or only go to deck 7 and get out....

 

anyway  overall good cruise we enjoyed ourselves....

would we it do again  yes... were masks a problem no..

 

Cheers Don..... ready for after breakie lie down

 

haven't download the photos from the cameras yet.....

might upload some later...........

Thanks for your reviews, Don.  Nice that you quickly felt at home on the ship.  Not like 3 years' absence.  

Tell us more about the button lady.  I've seen children push all the buttons, then get out, but not an adult.

Good that you a resting.  Are you feeling OK from covid?

[OzKiwiJJ]

We felt the same when we first boarded Coral back in June. We're home! 😊

 

I wonder if Princess has expanded the size of the laundries on its ships. Most of the time we were onboard (66 days this year) we had the same 24 hour turnaround of laundry. The only exceptions were the last bag we put in on the 26th Sept cruise three nights before the end of the cruise, and the bags we put in during the last ten days on the Round Australia cruise when the laundrettes were closed - those took two days. I was expecting it to take three days on the Round Australia cruise as there were a lot of Elites onboard.

 

I hope you're starting to feel better, Don. Did you get anti-virals? If so watch out for rebound Covid, and also be prepared to feel a bit tired for a few days after testing negative again. 

 

I think the button lady must have been on Coral as well. We got into one of the aft lifts once. There was no-one in the lift but all the buttons were pressed. Although it might have been kids that time, I think it was on one of the cruises in school holidays. 

[getting older slowly]

1 hour ago, MMDown Under said:

 

Tell us more about the button lady.  I've seen children push all the buttons, then get out, but not an adult.

 Are you feeling OK from covid?

 Ahh  the button lady    i would say mid fifties (young)... we saw her four time.

 

One thing to keep in mind on Grand class ship the aft lift. only the two outside ones go to decks 6 to 16 and the centre two decks 7 to14

other point was we first saw her about  four days into the cruise

 

the first time we came into the lift foyer presses up for the outside lift ...next the lady arrives press down buttons on centre lifts. next she press all the up buttons as well.  we stand back and watch..  centre stops she charges in ... ""öh this lift is goes I want to down "" get out.. then other lift stop  charges in again  "" oh this lift only goes to 7 I want 6 and get out... she is walking back forward across the foyer making sure all buttons are press.... while she is at the other side  the end lift opens going up we quick get in press the door close to go to 15,,,,  The other time where pretty similar

One gent told her to go to 7 and walk 6  she replied i don't want to go to 7

 

Some people

 

Cheers Don

[buchhalm]

Button pushing kids.

Ha.

Some brat tried that on us once on a Celebrity cruise.

I wouldn't let the kid out of the lift until the very top floor.

You press the button, buddy, you are going on the ride.

[MMDown Under]

10 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

We felt the same when we first boarded Coral back in June. We're home! 😊

 

I wonder if Princess has expanded the size of the laundries on its ships. Most of the time we were onboard (66 days this year) we had the same 24 hour turnaround of laundry. The only exceptions were the last bag we put in on the 26th Sept cruise three nights before the end of the cruise, and the bags we put in during the last ten days on the Round Australia cruise when the laundrettes were closed - those took two days. I was expecting it to take three days on the Round Australia cruise as there were a lot of Elites onboard.

 

I hope you're starting to feel better, Don. Did you get anti-virals? If so watch out for rebound Covid, and also be prepared to feel a bit tired for a few days after testing negative again. 

 

I think the button lady must have been on Coral as well. We got into one of the aft lifts once. There was no-one in the lift but all the buttons were pressed. Although it might have been kids that time, I think it was on one of the cruises in school holidays. 

Wow you are making up for cruise lockdown, Julie.  Just looked and noticed you have four cruises pending, with the last a World Cruise.  

[MMDown Under]

6 minutes ago, getting older slowly said:

 Ahh  the button lady    i would say mid fifties (young)... we saw her four time.

 

One thing to keep in mind on Grand class ship the aft lift. only the two outside ones go to decks 6 to 16 and the centre two decks 7 to14

other point was we first saw her about  four days into the cruise

 

the first time we came into the lift foyer presses up for the outside lift ...next the lady arrives press down buttons on centre lifts. next she press all the up buttons as well.  we stand back and watch..  centre stops she charges in ... ""öh this lift is goes I want to down "" get out.. then other lift stop  charges in again  "" oh this lift only goes to 7 I want 6 and get out... she is walking back forward across the foyer making sure all buttons are press.... while she is at the other side  the end lift opens going up we quick get in press the door close to go to 15,,,,  The other time where pretty similar

One gent told her to go to 7 and walk 6  she replied i don't want to go to 7

 

Some people

 

Cheers Don

And she did this in front of other people wanting to catch a lift elsewhere like 15?  No wonder you shut lift asap. 

[NSWP]

Sounds like the 'Button Lady' had lost the plot, perhaps too many G&T's. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Wow you are making up for cruise lockdown, Julie.  Just looked and noticed you have four cruises pending, with the last a World Cruise.  

We did get a bit carried away this year - I blame Sydney weather! We were only going to do three cruises, the June one and two B2B in September but after we stopped in Sydney between the B2B and it was still cold we booked the 26th Sept cruise, then on that cruise we looked at the Sydney weather forecast and booked the Round Australia cruise! Oops! 🤣🤣🤣

 

We changed our minds about our upcoming NZ cruise a couple of times but finally ended up with the Westerdam cruise. It will be nice to try a different cruise line and havevthe added bonus of Xmas and NY onboard. My brother and his family live in Dunedin so NZ cruises are a nice way to catch up with them. Sadly he recently had a couple of strokes and is now in hospital care in a rest home. 

 

 

[arxcards]

31 minutes ago, getting older slowly said:

 Ahh  the button lady    i would say mid fifties (young)... we saw her four time.

 

One thing to keep in mind on Grand class ship the aft lift. only the two outside ones go to decks 6 to 16 and the centre two decks 7 to14

other point was we first saw her about  four days into the cruise

 

the first time we came into the lift foyer presses up for the outside lift ...next the lady arrives press down buttons on centre lifts. next she press all the up buttons as well.  we stand back and watch..  centre stops she charges in ... ""öh this lift is goes I want to down "" get out.. then other lift stop  charges in again  "" oh this lift only goes to 7 I want 6 and get out... she is walking back forward across the foyer making sure all buttons are press.... while she is at the other side  the end lift opens going up we quick get in press the door close to go to 15,,,,  The other time where pretty similar

One gent told her to go to 7 and walk 6  she replied i don't want to go to 7

 

Some people

 

Cheers Don

One way to get into her head. Wait for the door to barely close, then press the button in the foyer again. 3 times usually gets the point across.

[MMDown Under]

22 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

We did get a bit carried away this year - I blame Sydney weather! We were only going to do three cruises, the June one and two B2B in September but after we stopped in Sydney between the B2B and it was still cold we booked the 26th Sept cruise, then on that cruise we looked at the Sydney weather forecast and booked the Round Australia cruise! Oops! 🤣🤣🤣

 

We changed our minds about our upcoming NZ cruise a couple of times but finally ended up with the Westerdam cruise. It will be nice to try a different cruise line and havevthe added bonus of Xmas and NY onboard. My brother and his family live in Dunedin so NZ cruises are a nice way to catch up with them. Sadly he recently had a couple of strokes and is now in hospital care in a rest home. 

 

 

Sad to hear your brother has had a couple of strokes and is now in rest home care.  I hope he remembers you.  You must be happy you did so many cruises to NZ to catch up with family members.  

I know what you mean about the wet weather in Sydney.  I visited Parramatta for five weeks and was surprised how much it rained.  Wore winter pjs, winter dressing gown and slippers!!  I'll be interested in your comments on Westerdam.  It should be special spending Christmas/New Year on board.  I raced up to stand outside David Jones's Christmas windows when we disembarked from our NZ cruise on Christmas Eve.  It just didn't feel like an Aussie Christmas to us, more American (and we've spent lots of Christmases in the US).

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Sad to hear your brother has had a couple of strokes and is now in rest home care.  I hope he remembers you.  You must be happy you did so many cruises to NZ to catch up with family members.  

I know what you mean about the wet weather in Sydney.  I visited Parramatta for five weeks and was surprised how much it rained.  Wore winter pjs, winter dressing gown and slippers!!  I'll be interested in your comments on Westerdam.  It should be special spending Christmas/New Year on board.  I raced up to stand outside David Jones's Christmas windows when we disembarked from our NZ cruise on Christmas Eve.  It just didn't feel like an Aussie Christmas to us, more American (and we've spent lots of Christmases in the US).

I expect it will be more American but I don't care. I don't have to cook! 🤣

[MMDown Under]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I expect it will be more American but I don't care. I don't have to cook! 🤣

I was on Celebrity so it could be different on HAL.  It wouldn't matter unless you were a big Christmas fan,  I took Christmas bon bons to Antarctica with me so we could put Christmas party hats on on the flight home on Christmas day.  My daughter was absolutely horrified when she saw what I'd done.  Needless to say we went hat less!  However, I had a win with 5 hour lounge access in Santiago on Christmas Day.  Seems we were entitled to it on the way over, but not on the way back. due to code sharing.  The girl on the desk changed her mind and relented to let us in because it was Christmas day,