My Grand Princess review - March 10-17

[jwmcq]

This was my fourth cruise. I was sailing with DH, my 16 YO son and 14 YO daughter for a Spring Break cruise. We traveled with two other families, so 6 adults, 4 teens and a nine year old. This was my first cruise on Princess. We have sailed with Carnival in the past, more out of availability than preference.

We could not leave until Friday after school and we had a 7 hour drive, so the hotel was not of the most importance to us. We would not have time to really enjoy any amenities it might have anyway. So, we stayed at the Holiday Inn on the Beach. They allowed us to leave our car parked there all week and shuttled us to the cruise port. This was a great choice for us since we were only there to sleep. The hotel was clean and we had a room up high so the band playing in the lounge until the early morning was not a problem for us.

We arranged the shuttle to take us to the port at 11:00AM which was perfect. We waited only a few minutes and then just walked on the ship. The most simple embarkation I have ever experienced.

Our cabin was an aft balcony – C753. It was a wonderful, fully covered balcony (I prefer shade to sun) so the balcony was fabulous. However, there was more vibration back there than I had expected, as I was awakened in the night several times with our bed vibrating. Some nights we would just lay there and laugh at how funny it was that we had a vibrating bed. The vibration was not constant – we joked that the captain must have pushed the “warp speed” button or something. If you are a light sleeper as I am, this cabin may not be the best choice. But other than that, the cabin was perfect. The beds must be new as we did not have any sagging like I had read about. The linens were also very nice and comfortable. Our cabin steward was fine – not excellent, but adequate. A couple of times he forgot beach towels or didn’t clear the dishes on the balcony, but they always brought us whatever we asked for, just in cruises past we never even had to ask for anything. Our group had four rooms with this same steward, and their rooms were always perfect.

We met up with our CC roll call and it was great to put faces with those we had been chatting with for months. Meeting our new friends was a definite highlight of the trip. I enjoyed seeing my new friends around the ship all week long.

Our first night in the Botticelli dining room we were seated with one of the families from our group, but not the other family. After dinner we asked if there were any way that we could relocate to have a table for 11. They said no way, there just was not room anywhere. Later that night they called saying they had an opening for a large table and could accommodate us. This was great not only because we were now all together, but also because our new waiter was much better and friendlier than our first waiter.

Our new waiter was Juvenal from Portugal. He has worked as a waiter on a cruise ship for 24 years. He was very friendly, very professional and often sang or hummed while serving our food. He apologized many times to us that our service was slow (he said it was because there were over 1000 under the age of 18 this sailing). He actually warned us the first night with him that he could tell this would be “one of those weeks” where everything is going to take a little longer, especially for a table of 11. I thought the food was very good. There were a few things some of us did not like, but Juvenal would always replace it with another offering. Some nights our usual drink order was there waiting for us when we arrived. Georgie (asst waiter) always had a 2nd drink waiting for us. On lobster night Juvenal had a plate full of lobster tails to pass around for anyone who wanted another. Several nights he brought a plate of gourmet cookies out with our desserts. If we were undecided between two desserts, he would bring both out to be sure we found something we liked. A really good waiter can make a huge difference in the dining experience.

This sailing of the Grand had a different itinerary than the other sailings – I do not know why. Our first port was Belize from only 1:00 – 7:00. This made it very tight to do much and not be late back to the ship. We went cave tubing with Yhony with others from our CC roll call. We had a great time and I would highly recommend this tour. I have left a more detailed review over on the Belize port thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=9477584#post9477584

The second port was Roatan. We were recently certified to scuba dive. Coincidentally a group from our home town was also in Roatan this week for a land based dive trip. We were able to join them for a day of diving at the Fantasy Island resort. Our ride from FI was over 30 minutes late in picking us up – very frustrating. But once at the resort, a good time was had by all. There are monkeys around the resort which were very fun to play with. They served us a buffet lunch and it was also very good. We paid $29 each for our ride, lunch and access to the beach and amenities (chairs, hammocks, towels). Then the divers paid an additional $50 each for a 2 tank boat dive. There is much to see even for the snorkelers - a sunken ship and airplane and the barrier reef is very close to shore.

The third port was Cozumel. Our husbands went diving immediately and we took the teenage girls to swim with the dolphins at Chankanaab Park. The park was severely damaged by hurricane Wilma, but they have done a beautiful job of restoring it. Only time with help the newly planted palm trees to match the way it was. The girls really enjoyed the dolphins and my pictures are fabulous. It is much cheaper to book this online than through the ship. We then joined up with the dads and went scuba diving with them to Pelancar Gardens with www.divewithcristina.com. Cristina did an excellent job and I would highly recommend her. She stayed on top of the water with our teens and taught them how to free dive. The snorkelers actually saw more sea life than we did down below. Jaime was our dive master and he was extremely thorough and taught me a lot. The coral formations of Pelancar were amazing, so all had a good time. There were many swim throughs that were fascinating. Cristina also served us lunch on the boat. We paid $80 for the dads to do a two tank dive, $40 for the moms, and $30 each for the snorkelers. Lunch and snorkel gear were included in the price.

A more detailed dive review: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=520083

Our last port was Costa Maya (Mahahaul). We again went scuba diving and the teens snorkeled. We used Blue Ocean Safari and they were very good. Again the dads dove twice while the moms took the teens into town for some shopping and a massage on the beach (highly recommended!) We then joined the dads for the second dive. I have left a more detailed review of the diving on the scuba diving board. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=9477552#post9477552

I thought the shows were enjoyable. There was a variety to choose from: a hypnotist, a magician, comedian, and the Broadway type reviews in the theater. I was a little disappointed in MUTS at night. The times were 7:00 and 10:00 (same show). The first was too early if you had early seating at dinner, and the second too late after a full day. The movies were not that appealing to me either: You, Me and Dupree, Click, The Lake House, Superman Returns. Some of the movies during the day sounded more appealing, but we were busy doing other things.

Disembarkation – we had not planned to do express since we were carrying so much dive gear with us, so we did not get an express ticket early in the week. When our luggage tags arrived we could see we were in the 18th group to debark. We had a 7 hour drive home, so we went the night before and got express tickets. We were numbers 963-967 which made it not very “express,” but we still walked off the ship about 9:45, so earlier than we would have otherwise. If you want to do express, be sure to get a ticket early in the week. Debarkation seemed to go as smoothly as possible with that many people going through customs. I thought it was well organized. The Holiday Inn shuttle was waiting there for us which was very convenient.

Conclusion – a really great cruise. We had a fabulous time – I would definitely sail with Princess again. I am disappointed that Princess is not planning to sail out of Galveston next year.

[jckvpa0]

Nice review thank - you!

[SallyMay]

Thanks for a great review. We will be in C731 in April. Glad the beds were in better shape than I have read.:D Looking forward to sailing on her.

[Coolmama_1]

Nice review. Sounds like you had a great time! Thanks for sharing.

[Boo's Mom]

Thanks for the review, Jeannette !

 

Sounds like you had quite a different dining room experience than we did.

Lucky you ! :D

 

Where is the consistency?

 

It was very nice to meet you....

 

 

[Boo's Mom]

We were numbers 963-967 which made it not very “express,”

 

 

Wow. And I thought 700 was the highest number they called.

That really is not express, is it.

 

[Cindy]

Thanks for the review' date=' Jeannette ! [/b']

 

Sounds like you had quite a different dining room experience than we did.

Lucky you ! :D

 

Where is the consistency?

 

It was very nice to meet you....

 

 

 

Hi "Grand" friends! I had a very positive experience in the dining room this trip with a very efficient and personable waitstaff. I'm working on a quickie review, but it may take me a few days...I've been swamped since we got back to school.

I've been on six cruises now, on two different lines (Princess and Royal Caribbean), and I think that sometimes it's just luck of the draw that leaves people with very different impressions of the same cruise. We've been pretty fortunate on Princess so far, but our service on RC has been horrendous both times. (It was bad enough last summer to write RCI corporate following our cruise.) Still, we'll be back on Royal Caribbean this summer because there are things I like about the experience, and their dining room service people can't ALL be terrible, can they?!!!:rolleyes:

On Princess, I also think the dining experience in the traditional dining room is COMPLETELY different than the dining experience in anytime...I had to eat in the anytime dining room one night last year because our reservation got messed up, and I found it to be very impersonal and I didn't think the meal had the same "flow" it does in traditional.

Anyway, those are just a couple of my thoughts. For what it's worth, John didn't really care for some of the food last week, and I thought most of it was pretty good, so there's two people at the same table with totally different opinions. Was the food good, was it bad, was it what we chose, or was it a matter of individual taste? Who knows!

[Boo's Mom]

Hi Cindy !!! :D

 

On our first Princess Cruise we had some experience (not so good)with Anytime dining so we were determined to not do Anytime Dining on this trip.

 

We were only stuck in anytime dining because the ship had messed up our Traditional Dining.

We ended up with a 6 pm reservation every night in Anytime Dining.

 

EEErrrrrrr...:(

 

[jwmcq]

Hi Cindy !!! :D

 

On our first Princess Cruise we had some experience (not so good)with Anytime dining so we were determined to not do Anytime Dining on this trip.

 

We were only stuck in anytime dining because the ship had messed up our Traditional Dining.

We ended up with a 6 pm reservation every night in Anytime Dining.

 

EEErrrrrrr...:(

 

 

Jill - I wondered if maybe we didn't end up with your old table. I'm so sorry if that was the case! Remember they told us that a table had "opened up."

 

Cindy - looking forward to your review. I didn't run into you or Dan after the first day. I'm so sorry I missed you guys the rest of the week.

 

Apparently my cave tubing review was removed from the Belize thread. They must have thought I was advertising. Oh well - isn't that the point of a review? To let others know what was good or bad?

[Boo's Mom]

Apparently my cave tubing review was removed from the Belize thread. They must have thought I was advertising. Oh well - isn't that the point of a review? To let others know what was good or bad?

 

You can identify the name of the tour company, but only after someone has specifically asked for it.

 

So, if you put it out there initially, they may have pulled it.

 

Was that what happened?

[jwmcq]

You can identify the name of the tour company' date=' but only after someone has specifically asked for it.

 

So, if you put it out there initially, they may have pulled it.

 

Was that what happened?[/quote']

 

Yes. Maybe you should ask me to write a review over there. :p Just kidding.

[margord]

Where do we go and when to get the express walk off tickets? Do they announce it or do you just go somewhere like the pursser and ask for them. Any info would be appreciated.

[jwmcq]

Go to the Purser's desk - early in the week. ;)

[margord]

So can I do this the first day or do I need to wait for them to announce it? Thanks

 

Marilee

[jwmcq]

I'm not sure - obviously I missed that window of opportunity. But I would try it.

[Rebellee]

So can I do this the first day or do I need to wait for them to announce it? Thanks

 

Marilee

 

Marilee, I'm Jeannette's friend... part of the big group. They DO announce it and it is in the Patter's on Sunday and Monday I think. My paper said the deadline was Tuesday night to get tickets. I kept all of my Patter's and papers, but I'm not sure if it was stuck in Sunday's or Monday's. As said, you can stop by the purser's desk and they'll take care of you.

 

Jill, they never called the 900's... they just said something like '700 and up'. It definitely WAS express though. We were still off by 9:45 with the high numbers in the 900's... so I think it still saved us at least 1 1/2 hrs if not more.

 

Immigration went very smooth, very quick. Although it took a little planning/stragety to get our luggage together where we could handle it (that dive gear bag is bulky!!), it was really easy.

[Rebellee]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=9500028&posted=1#post9500028

 

Jeannette, hope you don't mind that I posted this here... bye!

[margord]

Marilee, I'm Jeannette's friend... part of the big group. They DO announce it and it is in the Patter's on Sunday and Monday I think. My paper said the deadline was Tuesday night to get tickets. I kept all of my Patter's and papers, but I'm not sure if it was stuck in Sunday's or Monday's. As said, you can stop by the purser's desk and they'll take care of you.

 

Jill, they never called the 900's... they just said something like '700 and up'. It definitely WAS express though. We were still off by 9:45 with the high numbers in the 900's... so I think it still saved us at least 1 1/2 hrs if not more.

 

Immigration went very smooth, very quick. Although it took a little planning/stragety to get our luggage together where we could handle it (that dive gear bag is bulky!!), it was really easy.

 

 

Thank you so much. I think I will just stop by the purser desk on Saturday or Sunday and ask.

 

Marilee