Grand Princess Xmas Cruise Review

[Wildcatter]

We drove down from the Waco area Saturday morning and got to Galveston about 1:30 p.m. I dropped my wife and daughter off at the terminal and drove my car to EZ Cruise Parking. Their first lot was full and I was redirected to a second lot. No problems and EZ Cruise dropped me off at the terminal and we got a porter to take care of our luggage and proceeded to check in. Check in was fast and they had lots of people working. We were on the ship by 2:30 p.m. and our luggage was in the room by 4 p.m. We stayed in D732, a mini suite on the 9th floor. Unbenowst to me, it was a handicapped room and there was no bath tub in the bathroom. There was a huge shower and a huge balcony. Being on the Dolphin deck, the balcony was uncovered, but it was twice the size of a normal balcony since it was the last one on the port aft side. We did not get the bathrobes I requested online, but really did not need them. We also did not get the champagne at embarkation, but we are not huge drinkers so again, no big deal.

 

Our room steward was Carlo and he was very good and very polite. He always greeted us when he saw us and greeted my daughter, Emily, by name everytime he saw her, mainly because he was constantly taking messages for her from all the friends she made who kept calling our room! Everytime we came back to the room there was a message from Carlo about one of Em's girlfriends calling her!

 

We ate lunch at the Horizon Court, which is like Golden Corral. I typically don't like buffet food and the Horizon Court was pretty mediocre. Royal Caribbean had a made to order omelet bar and I thought Princess would, too, but they did not. I tried to stay away from the Horizon Court for the rest of the cruise. After lunch was the muster drill which was held in one of the lounges. That was nice. Instead of standing out on deck like cruises in the past, we could sit down and listen to the presentation.

 

We ate dinner in the dining room the first night and it was good. We had anytime dining and I thought the service was not as good as when I've had traditional dining. I guess it's because your waiter and assistant waiter get a chance to know you at traditional dining and the anytime guys probably won't see you again. The service was not bad, it just was not as good as I've seen in the past.

 

The shows were not too bad. I really like Peter Gross, the comedy magician and thought that Rikki Jay, a comedian from England, was funny, too. We did one stage show the first night that was not my cup of tea. I went to Princess Idol once with my daughter and there were some good singers there (and a few not so good). I watched the Cowboys get smacked by the Eagles Xmas night on the MUTS screen. We also did the Newlywed game and some trivia contests and watched a movie, You, Me and Dupree (really dumb) in the theatre. My wife and I played bingo once and played a little in the casino. I enjoyed taking a nap every afternoon, too! The cooking demonstration the last sea day was fun and the head chef and hotel chief were very funny together. All in all, there was plenty to do on the ship at night or during the days to keep busy.

 

We ate most of our meals in the dining room and they were pretty good for the most part. My daughter ate with her new friends 4 of the 7 nights, which was o.k. with me (and apparently with her friends' parents, too). My wife and I ate at the Painted Desert Steakhouse once and I was a little disappointed. My wife could see the kitchen from her seat and saw them open up a bag of Tostito's for her chips. Since they make their breads on board (and they are good), I would have thought we'd get freshly made tortilla chips. Mexican restaurants in our hometown make their own chips. Oh, well. The steak was good, but I think my dad makes better steaks. The waiter was nice and the shrimps in the shrimp cocktail were huge compared to the regular shrimp cocktail. I might try Sabatini's in the future, but probably would not go back to the Painted Desert.

 

We went on shore excursions at every port. Our first stop was in Cozumel and my daughter and wife did the dolphin swim and snorkel. They bought the pictures and DVD, of course, and had a really good time. From the looks of the DVD, it looked pretty neat. My wife said that they wasted time getting people set up with the taxis to Chankanaab Park, but once they were there it went pretty smoothly. She said the park was really neat. I went deep sea fishing and caught a 25# tuna. The others on the boat caught barracuda. It was raining and the fishing was mediocre. I have a feeling that that area is getting fished out. There are so many boats going out daily from Cozumel or Playa Del Carmen that you probably have to go way out to get really good fishing. The guides were good and told us that they have boats in port 6 days a week and fish 6 days a week. They went all over and really tried, but the fish were not cooperating.

 

Our next stop was in Roatan and we were supposed to do the zipline tour, but it was cancelled. They were expecting bad weather and cancelled a number of tours. We rescheduled the Pirates and Monkeys tour and it was fun. The tour guide was Christina and she was very friendly and informative. The monkeys were cool and the birds were beautiful. The monkeys would come right down and sit on your shoulder. One monkey was poking at a little boy about 1 1/2 years old who was being carried by his dad. Maybe he thought a new monkey was in town and wanted to show him the pecking order! He did not hurt the boy, but the dad decided to ditch the monkey just in case. Not a bad idea.

 

We went to Bannister Island in Belize next stop. We played volleyball and sat in the sun. My daughter and I rented a paddleboat and went around the island. It was o.k. Beach people would really like it, but I would have rather gone on a city tour or Mayan ruin tour instead. The tender picked you up at the boat and took you right to the island. Drinks were more expensive than on the ship and chicken fingers were $10. We did not buy anything in the gift shop, either. It was expensive, too. We ate some pizza when we got back to the ship. The tenders seemed to go pretty fast. My wife and I went into the tourist village on one after our pizza and got on one right away. We did not have any problems in the tourist village, but bargains were hard to come by. I got a t shirt for my daughter and got it down to $8 from $12. This was the only port we had to tender to.

 

The last port was Costa Maya. I liked this port. My wife did a Mayan tour and my daughter and I did the bike and kayak tour. The ride was leisurely, the guides were friendly, the bikes were in good shape and the towns people were all friendly. There is not much to see on the kayaks, but we got a little exercise and had a nice ride. We shopped a little and went back to the ship. I wish we had stayed longer at this port, though. I would have liked to have shopped more after lunch or gone fishing for a few hours. The only ship sponsored fishing tour was an expensive two man tour, but there were a lot of private tours in the tourist village and I would have liked to have gone out for a few hours. I would bet the fishing would be better here than in Cozumel.

 

We did the express disembarkation thing and did not have any trouble. I was a little worried after reading some of the comments about it on the board, but we were fine. The ship channel in Galveston was closed overnight due to a storm and we got in at 8 a.m. instead of 6 a.m. Unfortunately, we set the alarm for 5:45 a.m. and just stayed in the room waiting until we went down to the 7th floor to wait. I had ordered extra cereal from room service the day before and we had cereal, milk and juice in our room. We got off about 9 and got through customs quickly and back to our car for the 3 1/2 hour drive home.

 

Most mornings we ate room service breakfast and they were friendly and on time. We went to the dining room once and to the Horizon Court once for breakfast. The breakfasts weren't that great. Lunches were better. I had some great chicken tacos and quesadilla's one day for lunch. My daughter liked the pizza (as did I!) and ate burgers or pizza for lunch most days. She had a chef's salad and club sandwich one day from room service that looked good, too. I thought the teen club did a nice job keeping them busy and there were always "Youth Security" personnel in yellow shirts walking around. I did not see any unruly kids on the ship anywhere. They had Santa on Xmas day and the Xmas eve and Xmas meals were good.

 

I would cruise again on this ship. I thought it was clean and the staff was good and welcome any questions you have.

[happy cruzer]

very helpful review. Expecially the dining review; I'm planning on Sabitini's, DH does a great ribeye here at home. I'm really looking forward to the Grand!

 

Thank you.

[spongerob]

Excellent review. I agree with your comments about Painted Desert. The shrimp cocktail was great, but they've skimped down on my favorite sides (I love the corn casserole) so you get just a spoonful of each. The steak was actually a bit better the last time compared to previous cruises, but still can't beat what most people in this part of the world can do in their own backyards.

[Spikesgirl]

You did an excellent review - fair, even handed and informative. Now, what other review did I read like that...hmm, Rob? It was great to heard the same things about the same ship from different cruises. Makes me even more excited to see the ship now. Have to confess that I'm a little nervous about being on such a larger ship (the biggest Princess one we've been on to date was the Regal). It will be interesting to have a wider choice of dining options and your comments will certainly be logged down on the 'cheat sheet' we use for them

 

Thanks for taking the time and I hope you have many good cruises in the New Year,

 

Charlie

[Stevesan]

Have to confess that I'm a little nervous about being on such a larger ship (the biggest Princess one we've been on to date was the Regal). It will be interesting to have a wider choice of dining options and your comments will certainly be logged down on the 'cheat sheet' we use for them

 

Thanks for taking the time and I hope you have many good cruises in the New Year,

 

Charlie

 

I had the same concern before our first GP cruise. Fortunately, my worries were unfounded. Although comparatively large at 108k tons, the ship's interiors are scaled down in size for a more user friendly experience (except for the cabin deck corridors - they go on forever).

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

Sad to say, I have to echo Wildcatter's opinion of the Painted Desert Steak house. Outback is probably better.:(

 

I second the recommendation for "express" disemabarkation. It's the greatest thing since ice cream. Well, maybe not quite as good as Dreyer's Slow Churned French Silk, but still great.