Grand & Golden questions...thinking of sailing princess this time...please help

[goingtocruise]

Would love to try something different. Love RCCL. Ok with Carnival. Would love MUTS. How do the shows compare on princess. Are there variety shows and comedians. Is there a newlywed game? Quest? Are there many activities during the day( not a lay by the pool person). Towel folding, tours? Do they have afternoon tea? How much is a kids soda card?

 

How are the shore excursions? They don't seem as exciting as some that Carnival has.

 

If we sail from New Orleans, is there a good place to park? How is access to the ship? Do they have early debarkation for people who carry off all of their luggage?

 

If we sail from Galveston, how far is the port from the airport? (I think Houston is the closest).

 

Have more questions, but probably better stop with this for now. Thank you for any advice.

[tinaparrotthead]

Would love to try something different. Love RCCL. Ok with Carnival. Would love MUTS. How do the shows compare on princess. Are there variety shows and comedians. Is there a newlywed game? Quest? Are there many activities during the day( not a lay by the pool person). Towel folding, tours? Do they have afternoon tea? How much is a kids soda card?

 

How are the shore excursions? They don't seem as exciting as some that Carnival has.

 

If we sail from New Orleans, is there a good place to park? How is access to the ship? Do they have early debarkation for people who carry off all of their luggage?

 

If we sail from Galveston, how far is the port from the airport? (I think Houston is the closest).

 

Have more questions, but probably better stop with this for now. Thank you for any advice.

 

Hi, I'll try to answer some of the "opinion" questions that you have asked that cannot be found on the Princess website.

1). The shows on Princess, in my opinion, are much more professional, not as "hokey" and the musicians in the lounges were much better than Carnival (sailed Carnival 3 times, sailed Princess Golden Princess once) Will probably NEVER sail Carnival again....sticking to Princess!

2) Activities during the day were not so "college spring break" as Carnival....again, more professional but fun and NO hairy chest contest, thank God.

3) Folding "napkins" I believe was on the schedule, don't remember exactly if that was the Golden Princess or The Carnival Liberty

4) Shore Excursions: Found them to be better priced and just as "exciting" They had a good variety of laid back and adventure kind of excursions.....

 

Thats all I can answer from an opinion perspective.....:o I will say that Princess is a little more class, not as sports oriented as RCCL and not as "kids oriented" as Carnival....somewhere in the middle, I would say! For my DH and I we are sticking with Princess!!!:D

[spongerob]

MUTS is found only on Grand Princess. Golden doesn't have it.

 

Getting from Houston to Galveston and back can be a bit problematic if you are flying. You can always purchase Princess transfers, as long as you are aware that doing so might mean some extra waiting time at the airport. There are also shuttle services and private car services that might cost more, but would allow you to keep to your own schedule. If you come in a day early, that's about your only option. Regardless, don't plan an early departure for your flight home. Disembarkation tends to be slow from Galveston. Can't comment on NO, that's a new home port for Princess.

 

The shows we have seen have mostly been pretty good. Keep an eye on the Princess Patter for the martini demonstration. Princess ships won't be as garish or overwhelming as you might have already experienced. There are more and smaller spaces that give a more intimate feeling.

[MercedMike]

We just got back from Grand Princess to the Med. (Check our report at http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/med.html )

 

The entertainment was very good -- a cut above usual cruise ship fare, I think. I must admit that Carnival gets the prize for glitz in production shows, though. There was at least one big show every night. They have the Princess Theater and the Vista Lounge which are both good venues. One warning, get there at least 20 minutes before show time, or you will really understand what it means to be on a ship with 2600 pax!

 

The stewards did not do the towel folding, so no class in that. But they did have other things like a martini class, computer classes, cooking demonstration, and ceramics. I think the program of things to do is a bit more ... UMMM, how shall I put it ... "mature" than on Carnival ... ??? No hairy legs contest, no game show with the crew bouncing up and down on passengers laps ...

 

Afternoon tea is very good on Princess. We loved it.

 

Most cruise lines use essentially the same suppliers and offer essentially the same excursions in most ports. I think Princess offers a good choice of shore excursions from EZ for the mobility limited to very adventurous. You can check out the excursions at princess.com.

 

The airport closest to Galveston is Houston. Getting to the ship is a bit problematical. Using the cruise lines transfers works pretty well. However, what we chose when we sailed from Galveston was to get a limo down there ($125 for 4 people) and rented a car on the trip back, which enabled us to stop for a great Texas BBQ lunch on the way. Worked for us.

 

While we were aboard Grand Princess, we booked the Western Caribbean cruise out of Galveston, so you can tell what our opinion is!

 

I know you will have a GREAT cruise!

 

Mike

[MercedMike]

OOOPS, I forgot -- soda card was $3.95 per day, and was good only for fountain sodas, not juice drinks.

 

Mike

[goingtocruise]

Thanks for the replies. I don't need problematic, so I think maybe I will forget about Galveston. I was a bit worried about the flight times to there anyway. We would leave after school on Dec. 15 and the cruise leaves Dec. 16. Have to get back by Christmas.

 

I could drive to New Orleans. Google says as the crow flies it is 746 miles from home. I know it will take longer with construction and 3 gas stops. We grab food at the gas station and eat on the way, so it would be do-able. The flights prices seem to be high.

 

The Golden doesn't have MUTS? Really looking forward to that.

 

I forgot to say I am traveling with a 14 and 16 year old. They enjoy the classes. We've done "learn piano", "juggling" and some of the other basic ones. Never watch the pool games, too crowded. They don't take part in the kids clubs. They have too much fun doing everything else. I usually book for the ports, but this time wanted new and economical.

 

Can anyone give a link to any Princess Patters?

 

If Grand Cayman was replaced by any other port, would book the Golden right away. Otherwise there are only 2 other ports and although we love Jamaica and Cozumel, we've been there many times.

[TEXASMUNK]

Fly into Hobby Aprport. Make your transfer reservations iwth galveston Limo (Galvestonlimo.com). Nothing but high, high marks for them!

 

We are booked on Grand Princess for this November and again in April. That is becuase of our wonderful experience this last December.

 

Onboard. food superb. Entertainment. Very good. MUTS really enjoyed!

 

Ports: Grand offers Roatan..one of the world's best snorkeling and diving locales.

[kkorman]

Any idea when they will put MUTS on the Golden? It supposedly has a dry dock set in November? I am on the 12/16 sailing. Could not beat the price.

[OceanFantasys]

What is MUTS? I am sure it something very obvious to me but I am not familiar with the term.

 

Rhonda

[ssbeagle]

What is MUTS? I am sure it something very obvious to me but I am not familiar with the term.

 

Rhonda

 

MUTS stands for movies under the stars. Some of the Princess ships (Grand has it/Golden doesn't) have large screens up on Lido deck overlooking the pool. You can sit in the pool or on a comfortable lounge chair and watch a movie.

 

It doesn't matter which ship you go on. The Grand and Golden are the same class (Grand Class) with just a few differences on the deck plans. I am going on the Golden in December out of NO; we did the Grand to Galveston on a transatlantic. Either one is great.

[TNTLAMB]

We actually found the Houston Galveston transfer to be pretty easy. We did fly in the day b4 and as there were 6 of us used a limo service to Galveston, stayed at the comfort Inn who then drove us to the ship the next AM. My BIL drove down and stayed at the same place who also allowed free parking and provided ship transfers. On the back trip we cheated a bit. Princess offers a Johnson Space center tour for little more than their transfers. We got special disembarkation, bypassed the lines going strait through customs, toured the space center and were to the Airport by 2:30 for a 3:30 flight. Best disembarkation yet. The new Itinerary for the Grand BTW looks pretty cool for next year. IMHO folks make too much of the transfer thing and complicate it with car rentals etc. Worst was LAX and the traffic made Houston look like a walk across the street. Your teens will live the Grand and Muts Ours sure did.

[OceanFantasys]

Thank you for the reply to Muts.. I feel sort of stupid now.. :confused: . I laughed:D outloud cause I didn't know something so obvious. lol

[mary_228]

kklorman: we're on the same sailing : 12/16 Golden! What do you know?

 

 

goingtocruise:

Although our kids prefer RCL, we prefer Princess (twice on each). I think there is a greater energy level on RCL and we had a blast, but Princess is a little more our "style". More people actually wear formal wear on Princess. I was shocked at how casual the RCL passenger were. We always sail over school breaks, so there are a lot of families, which makes it more fun for the kids if they are social types. Another advantage for us is personal choice dining, which RCL does not offer. You may miss the singing waiters on RCL - we don't.

 

Our last Princess cruise (Sapphire) had napkin folding, which I don't think boys would enjoy. However, the pictionary, trivia, etc were tons of fun for all ages and widely attended.

 

Princess Idol was very popular (a take off of American Idol) with the younger set, although quite late. They have a very large venue for movies in the Princess Theater which had great sound system and a huge screen - much better than movie theaters at home. Plus free!

[kkorman]

kklorman: we're on the same sailing : 12/16 Golden! What do you know?

 

 

goingtocruise:

Although our kids prefer RCL, we prefer Princess (twice on each). I think there is a greater energy level on RCL and we had a blast, but Princess is a little more our "style". More people actually wear formal wear on Princess. I was shocked at how casual the RCL passenger were. We always sail over school breaks, so there are a lot of families, which makes it more fun for the kids if they are social types. Another advantage for us is personal choice dining, which RCL does not offer. You may miss the singing waiters on RCL - we don't.

 

Our last Princess cruise (Sapphire) had napkin folding, which I don't think boys would enjoy. However, the pictionary, trivia, etc were tons of fun for all ages and widely attended.

 

Princess Idol was very popular (a take off of American Idol) with the younger set, although quite late. They have a very large venue for movies in the Princess Theater which had great sound system and a huge screen - much better than movie theaters at home. Plus free!

 

I'll look on the roll call for you. We just booked in the past few days and snagged the last available aft balcony (D734 or 735, I forget which one). That is why we chose this trip over the Star or the Grand.

 

 

Does anyone know if they will be adding MUTS to the Golden?

[Medfield98]

We liked Princess a lot. Have been on Tahitian, Carribean and Golden. Carribean and Golden very similar ships. Tahitian very different size (smaller) as it is the former R-2. As you probably know entertainment and activities will tend to vary even within a cruise line and between ships of same line. Depends on the Cruise Director and what acts are provided. We were extremely pleased with the 16 nights of shows on Golden during transatlantic we just took (May 6th). Had been on Carnival Miracle Feb '06 and entertainment there left much to be desired. Carnival Paradise 2 years ago had great entertainment- go figure. Princess on both Golden and Carribean had a great variety of acts and usually 2-3 shows (running several times) each night so if one wanted to see all they could.

 

Princess also had many daytme activities- tour talks, digital photo editing talks (most of these had a fee), galley tours, pool golf games, napkin folding, drink making, cooking, etc.

 

Carribean Princess also has MUTS.

[moski]

MercedMed,

Can you tell me who the cruise director was on your Med cruise? We will be doing Grand Med on July 27th on the Grand. Just curious.