just off the Grand...Grand Time!!

[pmck]

Hi All,

We just got off the Grand on 4/07..had an AWESOME time.. If anyone has any questions..ask away!! I will post a review soon.

Patti:) :)

[cpt_cruisenut]

Hi!

 

I have family who will be sailing on the Grand Princess during the upcoming Transatlantic Cruise to Rome.

 

Do you recall the name of your captain?

 

How about the cruise director?

 

I'm a regular on Princess. But this is the first cruise my aunt and uncle are taking....ever! So I'm trying gather as much info to help them familiarize themselves with the ship and staff prior to embarkation.

 

Thanks for any and all info you can share?

 

Regards,

 

Dave

[pmck]

Hi Dave,

 

The Captain's name was Ed Perrin (British man), extremely nice and genuine. We shook his hand at the Coctail party. He seems to be pretty young. I'd put him in his forties or early fifties... The cruise director's name was James Ibriham..from Austraila...Also, very nice, if not a little hokey...He was just silly every morning on the television with his assistant Julie. I didn't see too much of him around the ship, but once in a while, he's show up at an event that we were at...Young man too!

 

We had a wonderful time on the ship and always felt like we were in very capable hands. The ship was in great shape, immaculate and well maintained. The food was good, I wouldn't say "fabulous", but we enjoyed it every night. The shows were very good (maybe the magician wasn't the best), especially the comedian, Jay Moore. I have posted my entire review on the "cruise Critic" review board if you're interested.

 

I'd be happy to answer any more questions.

 

Patti :)

[spongerob]

Thanks for posting your review. :)

 

cpt-cruisenut, my little secret is to go down to the future cruise salesperson and grab a brochure that has the Grand Princess deck plans in the back. That will give your relatives a full plan view of the various decks, and is much better than the silly little profile map you'll find in your cabin.

[Shogun]

Hi There,

 

Thanks for posting, going on Grand in summer.

 

yours Shogun

[TXTraveler76]

Hi,

 

I will be on the Grand on April 28. Do you recall if the dining room was open for lunch on embarkation day? Sometimes, it is posted in the patter. Thank you for posting the information about the CD.

[CoNEY46]

Hi Dave,

 

The Captain's name was Ed Perrin (British man), extremely nice and genuine. We shook his hand at the Coctail party. He seems to be pretty young. I'd put him in his forties or early fifties... The cruise director's name was James Ibriham..from Austraila...Also, very nice, if not a little hokey...He was just silly every morning on the television with his assistant Julie. I didn't see too much of him around the ship, but once in a while, he's show up at an event that we were at...Young man too!

 

We had a wonderful time on the ship and always felt like we were in very capable hands. The ship was in great shape, immaculate and well maintained. The food was good, I wouldn't say "fabulous", but we enjoyed it every night. The shows were very good (maybe the magician wasn't the best), especially the comedian, Jay Moore. I have posted my entire review on the "cruise Critic" review board if you're interested.

 

I'd be happy to answer any more questions.

 

Patti :)

Patti, I'd say Captain was a bit younger even than that, mayber early to mid 40's. But it was a great trip wasn't it, except maybe for the rain in Costa Maya

[slgjhg]

Hi All,

 

Cpt_Cruisenut, come and join our RollCall for the April 28th TA. We have a pretty good sized group and some really fine folks.

 

Thanks for the name of the CD and assistant. By any chance did you or someone you know play bridge during your cruise. I am wondering about the facilities as it seems the cruise lines keep turning card rooms into internet cafes.

 

Thanks in advance for any info you might provide.

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[Chivalrygirl]

Hi Dave,

 

The Captain's name was Ed Perrin (British man), extremely nice and genuine. We shook his hand at the Coctail party. He seems to be pretty young. I'd put him in his forties or early fifties... The cruise director's name was James Ibriham..from Austraila...Also, very nice, if not a little hokey...He was just silly every morning on the television with his assistant Julie. I didn't see too much of him around the ship, but once in a while, he's show up at an event that we were at...Young man too!

 

 

 

Patti :)

 

Please tell me what does "hokey" mean?

We have also sailed with James, we think he is a fine young man with a very good sense of humour, even if its an Australian one :D

[MonocacyCruiser]

Patti,

I have a few questions for you,

 

How was the walking on deck? Does the promanade deck go completely around the ship? Or must you go inside to make a complete loop?

 

How was the gym? Equipment all working?

 

Were there daily (no charge) exercise programs?

 

Did the in-room safes operate with a key pad or with the swipe of a credit card?

 

Did they show movies every day? Current movies?

 

Thanks,

Roger

[pmck]

Patti,

I have a few questions for you,

 

How was the walking on deck? Does the promanade deck go completely around the ship? Or must you go inside to make a complete loop?

 

How was the gym? Equipment all working?

 

Were there daily (no charge) exercise programs?

 

Did the in-room safes operate with a key pad or with the swipe of a credit card?

 

Did they show movies every day? Current movies?

 

Hi Roger,

Sorry, the answer to your first question re: Promanade Deck is I don't know..We jogged on the jogging track, but never walked on that dec.

 

The gym was great. We found it smaller than the Caribbean Princess, but all of the equipment was working when we were there..

 

There were excercise programs atleast on "Sea-days" and I believe that there was a charge for them.. Pilates $10, spin class, yoga (not sure of $$) for those.

 

The rooms did have safes that had key pads.

 

I think that they did show movies every day (with the exception of Monday night when they showed the NCAA final, I'm not sure if they showed that on MUTS or not, we watched it in one of the lounges).The movies were fairly current, I think. We saw "The Illusionist" one night. "Little Miss Sunshine" also played.

 

Hope this helps...Let me know if you have any more questions.

 

Patti:D

[sanjosebarbie]

Patti, I'd say Captain was a bit younger even than that, mayber early to mid 40's. But it was a great trip wasn't it, except maybe for the rain in Costa Maya

 

Rain in Costa Maya??? We had perfect weather in Majahual. Could it really have rained in Costa Maya, just 3 minutes down the road? Huh! I only remember rain in Galveston.

[pmck]

Patti, I'd say Captain was a bit younger even than that, mayber early to mid 40's. But it was a great trip wasn't it, except maybe for the rain in Costa Maya

 

 

You're probably right, I'm so bad with ages...He was young and I was impressed by him. We had a WONDERFUL time on the trip. We were discouraged by the rain in Costa Maya and our excursion choice for that day (we did Maya Palms), but the rest of the week more than made up for it...Now, we have to figure out where to cruise next summer. It doesn't look like Princess goes out of Florida after April ' 08!! We really don't want to go out of NYC eventhough we're close by!!

 

Patti

[dutrie]

The Promanade Deck is Deck 7. The promanade goes all the way around the ship, however, at the bow, you have to climb a stairway to complete the loop on Deck 8 (and of course, descend back to deck 7).

[pmck]

Hi,

 

I will be on the Grand on April 28. Do you recall if the dining room was open for lunch on embarkation day? Sometimes, it is posted in the patter. Thank you for posting the information about the CD.

 

 

I seem to remember that it was open that day...but I'm not 100% positive. If no one else remembers, I can get my patter and check for you. The Horizon Food Court was definitely open. We ate there and it was really good!

 

Patti

[pmck]

Please tell me what does "hokey" mean?

We have also sailed with James, we think he is a fine young man with a very good sense of humour, even if its an Australian one :D

 

 

Hi there,

 

"Hokey" doesn't really MEAN anything..I guess just a little silly and goofy. Which is not to say that we didn't like him. He was very nice and funny!! Last year, we were on the Caribbean Princess and I really enjoyed that CD and I guess I was just comparing them in my own head...Different styles!!

 

Patti

[sanjosebarbie]

Rain in Costa Maya??? We had perfect weather in Majahual. Could it really have rained in Costa Maya, just 3 minutes down the road? Huh! I only remember rain in Galveston.

 

Never mind...I see the date means you must have been there the week before I was.

[pmck]

Rain in Costa Maya??? We had perfect weather in Majahual. Could it really have rained in Costa Maya, just 3 minutes down the road? Huh! I only remember rain in Galveston.

 

 

It poured!!!:( We paid alot of $$$ to go to the Beach Break Excursion at Maya Palms Resort. It took the driver forever to get there (we had to drop someone off in town first), seemed like almost an hour! We got there, laid out the ca$h and within minutes, the skies opened up... We sat under a tent for a few hours (still raining) and drank 2 beers each, while the kids ate nachos and salsa, then we headed back to the ship...It didn't look like it rained back there. It was the only part of the trip that I wasn't crazy about.. I wish we had stayed back and just did some stuff closer to town or the ship... Oh well,, live and learn!:)

[andygoblue]

Never mind...I see the date means you must have been there the week before I was.

 

Barbara! I kind of wish it would have rained when we were there. Maybe my head wouldn't have been pounding as much in Roatan!:)

 

Gotta love the drinks at The Cat's Meow;)

[AZbeachboy]

I Love The Grand. It has always been our favorite ship. We I have been looking to cruise on the Grand next year but cannot find it going my way.

[Knickearth]

[this may be a little out of field for you, but do you know if they are showing any of the NBA games onboard. I am a Warrior fan and would love to continue seeing the games.

 

Thanks

[delidan]

The Captain of the Grand is Fabrizio Maresce. I was on the 4/2 sailing to Hawaii. He's a realy friendly guy. The CD Dan will be leaving soon. don't know who will replace him. The Dinning room is open on embark. day. It's on deck 6. The Botticelli.

[curleyjane]

Can you tell me if the Dining Room is open for lunch on Sea Days? Also what other Specialty Restaurants on the ship are good? Thanks

[timetobook]

[this may be a little out of field for you, but do you know if they are showing any of the NBA games onboard. I am a Warrior fan and would love to continue seeing the games.

 

Thanks

 

We were wondering the same thing. Would love to still be able to see the Warrior games.

We've seen Giants playoffs and 49er games on Princess before.

So...I guess we'll find out soon. We'll be onboard in 9 days.

[Tedferg]

How do you find this specific review ? I just discovered CC Review Section but it was not easy to navigate. I went to Princess, ship reviews, Grand and there was a long list - I did not see this poster's review.