Grand Princess Review - 3/10-17/2007

[Rebellee]

We are back trying to adjust to being on land again! I will start with posting my impressions of the Grand... (this is my second time on board) and then post excursions later.

We arrived at the dock to board the ship at 11:30 am, found seats at the front of the room and 15 min. later were told we could board. We were literally the first 11 people in line and got on board within a few minutes!

We dropped our bags in our rooms, had a wonderful lunch and then took a tour of the ship. We joined in the conga line and line-danced during the sail-away party... I even won $25 for the boutique which I gladly spent! ;)

This was our first time to have a balcony cabin (C-743) and will probably ALWAYS have one from now on! The view was wonderful and the space is a huge bonus. Our bed was very comfortable, but our bathroom had been missed in the cleaning... could be we interuppted the process though by coming in early and leaving our bags and it was overlooked. The same goes for our robes... not in the room, but again, maybe our early arrival threw him (our steward) off.

Our steward was great for us and 2 of our other cabins, but 1 other seemed to be 'overlooked' some.

I thought the Grand looked really good... the decor is nice, no smells, bathrooms clean and neat... but what happened to fresh flowers in the bathrooms? I thought I remembered that as a nice touch before.

I think the ship does a great job of handling the number of passengers (2600) without seeming crowded. Even with the number of young adults/teens/kids (approximately 1100 this sailing), they never seemed to be out of control, running wild or causing a problem.

The only time I really experienced a crowd was trying to use elevators before/after an excursion.

The food line in the Horizon buffet moved quickly and efficently! I must say at first I didn't like using the antibactrial sanitization gel when I entered the dining areas as most are sticky, BUT this gel was NOT sticky, had no odor and didn't leave a weird feel. It was reassuring that they are doing everything possible to stay on top of sickness on board. There were 2 on our floor quarantined (sp) for sickness.

 

I must close for now... so I will pick this up tomorrow.

[dforeigner]

Looking forward to reading the rest tomorrow.

[Rebellee]

Our itinerary was 'reversed' from all others on this route in 2007... which was good and bad.

Good... there were only a couple of ships in port with us as opposed to the 7 we had heard someone else talking about!

Bad... only a partial day in Belize. Belize was our first stop, from 1-7 pm. This was our only tender port. We got in line for tender #'s an hour early and got low numbers. The tendering was fast and effienct.

Belize was BEAUTIFUL!! We booked cave tubing with Yhonny and they were wonderful. Waiting for us when we got off the tender and hustled us onto our buses (they had several). Our guides were funny and entertaining. The ride was rough at times (some unpaved roads) but enjoyable. When we arrived at our location we had a minutes to change clothes/use facilities and then had a 15 min. hike to the caves. Very pretty hike. The hike was not too strenuous, BUT there are steep steps, a river to cross and some 'slippery' slopes to navigate at times.

The ride through the caves was fun and the water was 'refreshing' :eek: . Our guides pulled, pushed and swam us through. We didn't have to do much but enjoy the ride. We highly recommend them and will pass on their website info if you request it.

Our second port was Roatan, Honduras. We joined a scuba diving group from our home town who were in Roatan for the week. The Fantasy Island resort picked us up for $29 per person which included a buffet lunch and use of the facilities for the day (beach chairs/pool...). We paid extra for our dives. The diving was wonderful and our day in Roatan was excellent.

Our third port was Cozumel. The men went directly to meet our dive tour guide and we girls went to Chankanub Park to take our teen girls on the Dolphin Adventure Swim. The taxi was $15 for all of us. The park has rebuilt nicely after hurricane Wilma. They have added a beautiful swimming pool, gift shop and a new swimming dock.

Their prices have risen dramatically!! Basic entry was $14 per person. The fee into the park does NOT include the Mayan garden with artifacts anymore. You must pay extra to tour through those areas. The swim started 45 min late... but the girls had a great time. We got to see the 11 day old baby dolphin born on site. Very sweet.

We then took a cab to the Reef Club and met our dive guide (Diving with Cristina) and the men of our group. They provided us with lunch on board. We then dove at Palancar Garden... WOW! Beautiful!! They say you can dive the same area over and over, going in from different directions and never seem like it's the same place. The teens snorkeling with Cristina had a great time and saw alot of sea-life.

We LOVED our dive crew and DEFINITELY recommend them for a private group. VERY knowlegable, very informative and very thourough. Again, I will pass on their website info if your request it.

Our last port was Costa Maya. There were 3 ships in port that day. But everything moved very efficently. We took cabs to Mahajual. The men went out to dive 1st, we took the teens/kids to the shopping area of Mahajual. We had a beach side massage (highly recommend this) and shopped.

We then met the dive boat (Blue Ocean Safari) and went out with them. BEAUTIFUL! We saw a variety of sea life and had another great experience. They had a nice beach area with hammocks and chairs to sit and relax in as well.

This is all of the info concerning our ports... I must close for now, but will come back later and give more info!

[Rebellee]

Dining... it seems there is a wide range of views on the dining experience! I felt the food was very good. Everything was prepared in the manner I would have expected and never had to return anything. Well, except for trying something new that I didn't care for! :p

Our first table was at the back of the room and had quite a bit of noise and vibration. We were only seated with part of our group. The other part joined the group late and we weren't sure they would get the same seating. I stopped and visited with our head waiter and the matre 'd (sp) after dinner the first night. They weren't hopeful, but willing to try and get us seated together. They called my cabin at 10 pm that night to say they couldn't do it, but would have us beside each other, which was great to us. However, when we arrived, we were pleased to see they had managed to seat all 11 of us together! They had moved us up to the center of the room, which was a great location without the noise OR the vibration!!

Our waiter was Juvenal from Romania. He was friendly, humming and whistling as he served. Our junior waiter was Georgie and although less outgoing in personality, was very accomodating and provided excellent service. Once they knew our drink preferences, they would have them waiting for us when we arrived and had 'refills' waiting and ready as well. They were very attentive even though they had prepared us that service might be slower due to the # on board for spring break. However, we never noticed a delay.

My belief is that dining is much more than the food. It's about the company, the atmosphere and our attitude. I believe we are very fortunate to be able to travel as we do since the majority of those serving us will NEVER have the opportunity to take the same trip we are taking. So, I try to have realistic expectations on board and take the small things in stride (NOT easy for me to do!), so we had a very enjoyable, tasty dining experience. Nothing big enough for me to complain about or mention. I would like to commend Juvenal and Georgie and GREAT service!

My dh and I had done the 'anytime' dining on our first Grand cruise and thought it worked well for just the 2 of us. I would not recommend it for groups of 4 or more if the ship is full.

Our staff would have 'extra' snow crab or lobster ready for us to share even though we had more than gotten our fill! Our teen boys loved having as much steak as they wanted! Juvenal would also bring a sampling of cookies for us to munch on as we waited for our dessert. A table favorite was the cheesecake WITH the "Love Boat" (chocolate)... they complimented each other well! ;)

I liked the variety of the menu and tried a few new things. Everything we had tasted good and was presented nicely.

The grill by the pool... as good as I remembered!! The hamburgers and fries are great and the hotdogs were HUGE! Although greasy, the pizza was good too.

I won't address the coffee issue since I don't drink it. My dh got the coffee card and I think he enjoyed that, but didn't drink much coffee otherwise. Several at our table had coffee after dinner each night and didn't comment too much on it on way or the other.

Room service was good... nice to sit on the balcony and have breakfast. That's the only time I ordered anything.

I think one area that could use a little improvement is the photographs area... at times it could take 30-45 min to get a picture done at 1 back drop. One photographer in particular was VERY thorough, which was nice, but that meant you only got 1 picture before dinner, then the lines were very long the later the evening got. I think for a full ship they might need to add a couple more photograph stations with the same/similar back-drop to spread the crowd out a little.

Shows... good and bad again.

Good: the shows are definitely family oriented. No so on some other cruise lines. We felt comfortable with our young teen daughters watching with us. I enjoyed the Broadway, Motown shows, but felt a couple of the singers were not lead vocal caliber. But again, it's NOT Broadway, so my expectations are not too high!

Bad: I felt the quality of the ship entertainment had dropped since our last Grand cruise. The entertainers they brought in were great though.

I really enjoyed the guitarist and pianist in the foyer. They were excellent.

I will have to re-read everything I've posted so far and see what I still would like to cover.

Over all, I truly enjoyed our cruise and our Princess experience. I know there are many different opinions that go along with a wide range of expectations. But I was very pleased over all. I will definitely travel on Princess again and recommend it to others.

[Rebellee]

Note: The fresh flowers were in PUBLIC bathrooms before... NOT cabins! :)

[dforeigner]

Any favorite food items to recommend?

[Rebellee]

For me, if it was seafood, I tried it!! I'm trying to remember what we had the first night, but it's a blur now! :) The snow crab was wonderful ~ that was the 5th night. Lobster the 6th night and big tiger prawns the last night (in a spicey red sauce... yum!). My dd got the fetticini alfredo (EXCELLENT) and I took some of it to have with the shrimp instead of the white rice they served... GREAT together. I think it was the 4th night I had the pastry puff filled with scallops, shrimp... maybe lobster... can't remember. I liked that too.

 

The night of our Belize port (3rd night) we didn't get back in time to go to dining room.

 

The beef toranados (sp) was a big hit with our group.

 

The only thing I did not like was one of the lamb selections. Not a lamb fan.

 

We get great steaks in West Texas and little seafood... so I tried everything... the appeitizers were good too. There was a seafood quiche that I really liked well. Sometimes I had 2 or 3 appeitizers instead of soup or salad.

 

My advice, TRY IT!! They'll always bring you something else!

 

ENJOY!

[margord]

Really enjoyed. Thanks for all the great info.

 

Marilee

[dforeigner]

For me, if it was seafood, I tried it!! I'm trying to remember what we had the first night, but it's a blur now! :) The snow crab was wonderful ~ that was the 5th night. Lobster the 6th night and big tiger prawns the last night (in a spicey red sauce... yum!). My dd got the fetticini alfredo (EXCELLENT) and I took some of it to have with the shrimp instead of the white rice they served... GREAT together. I think it was the 4th night I had the pastry puff filled with scallops, shrimp... maybe lobster... can't remember. I liked that too.

 

The night of our Belize port (3rd night) we didn't get back in time to go to dining room.

 

The beef toranados (sp) was a big hit with our group.

 

The only thing I did not like was one of the lamb selections. Not a lamb fan.

 

We get great steaks in West Texas and little seafood... so I tried everything... the appeitizers were good too. There was a seafood quiche that I really liked well. Sometimes I had 2 or 3 appeitizers instead of soup or salad.

 

My advice, TRY IT!! They'll always bring you something else!

 

ENJOY!

 

 

I am a big seafood fan. I appreciate your input. I believe we will do Sabatinnis the first night and then stick to the regular schedule.

 

Again, thanks.

[LonghornKJK]

I don't think the steward overlooked the robes -- it's my understanding that they don't bring them unless you ask for them. At least, that's been my experience on my three Princess cruises, including two on the Grand.

 

Great review!

[jwmcq]

I don't think the steward overlooked the robes -- it's my understanding that they don't bring them unless you ask for them. At least, that's been my experience on my three Princess cruises, including two on the Grand.

 

Great review!

 

We requested them when we arrived, but I didn't get my robes until 2 days later when I called the pursers office and requested them there. Rebel's came just before formal night.