Grand Class vs. Super Grand?

[Tina G]

DH and I usually sail on older ships. We need a cruise!!!! We have been on the Grand Princess twice, and enjoyed her. Please tell me about the newer ships. What are some of the advantages of, say, the Diamond or Emerald?

[Toto2Kansas]

DH and I usually sail on older ships. We need a cruise!!!! We have been on the Grand Princess twice, and enjoyed her. Please tell me about the newer ships. What are some of the advantages of, say, the Diamond or Emerald?

 

The Diamond would be on the same level as the Grand. The Emerald, well, it has an extra deck of passenger staterooms. More passengers even though they did not actually allow for more public spaces for these extra passengers.

[Rob & Beckys mom]

We had a PH suite (C749) on emerald & while we enjoyed the ship very much, the suite & closet was the smallest suite we have ever had on Princess. Go for the owners suite :D .

 

Jan

[Tina G]

We had a PH suite (C749) on emerald & while we enjoyed the ship very much, the suite & closet was the smallest suite we have ever had on Princess. Go for the owners suite :D .

 

Jan

No way!!!! We're budget cruisers! We endure inside cabins. Some people on the boards have been saying the Diamond is so much better than the old Grand. How different?

[Murphey]

Well one thing (that may or may not be of a concern to you) is that the Emerald does not have a covered pool. I personally love the conservatory on the Grand class ships.

[rdsqrl]

I slightly disagree with Toto; although it's true that the Emerald does have one extra deck of cabins, it does also have a few extra public rooms than the Grand: there's Vines, the expanded atrium area, Adagio, Caribe Cafe, the Sanctuary (a fee-based area), plus a little extra deck space aft, it seems to me. I think one of the things that amazed me on the Crown was how uncrowded it felt -- except for the obvious places like right around the pools and the buffet on embarkation day! I loved the enhancements on her, compared to the Grand, and I'd highly recommend the Emerald to you based on that, over the Diamond. I'm looking at her for my next cruise!!

 

Oh, and seeing Murphey's post reminds me: since I'm a total sunworshipper and actively dislike covered pools!! -- I love the different placement of Skywalkers on the Emeraldi so that it doesn't shade the aft Terrace Pool any longer.

[Putterdude]

The Diamond and Sapphire are not Grand Class ships. They are essentially the same box so to speak but that is where things get different. They carry more pax, have more dining venues, have larger and upgraded lounges and public area. Skywalkers and its access have been changed and the movement of pax around the ships seems easier. They also over came the disign flaw of the Grand Class where only two elevators went down to the TD venue. They also have 740 balcony cabins to the Grand's 700 and displace 7,000 more tons.

The ships in the Grand class include the Grand, the Golden and the Star.

To me the Diamond and the Sapphire are superior ships.

[DeRon]

I've sailed on the Grand and on the Caribbean. I could not tell much if any difference on the crowds.

[DanJ]

I think it was because the Grand class hid her passenger numbers so well that they felt they could add more people without an increase in public spaces. From the Grand to the Sapphire to the Caribbean didn't seem much different to me crowd wise. I don't care if only 1500 people showed up on any of them, you'll still have trouble getting a seat in the Princess Theater.

[ccrain]

Hope you're enjoying summertime. Before you know it, it will be fall and then here comes the snow!

 

We swore off the Grand Class in 2004, but since then have changed our minds. When we changed to Anytime Dining and got "out of sync" with the crowds, our enjoyment level increased dramatically.

 

Not only that, but we really like MUTS! So much so we've now booked the Ruby, the Grand and the Golden, and are hoping the Golden gets MUTS in her San Fran makeover.

 

It does mean getting to a venue early, like 20-30 minutes before the show and it does mean putting up with the ocassional crunch, but all in all, it sure beats working.

 

We still enjoy the Sun class and the Coral class. I miss the larger wheelhouse bars and the wrap around Promenade, but the jogging track on the Grands and Supers is just fine and the Explorer's show lounge is much better than the Sun class disco. We like the 3 dining rooms as well. And there are many more tables for 2 than other ships - although they are about 6" from the table for 2 next door.

 

The hardest thing for me to get used to was the fact that the HC and the Gym are switched between the Grands, Supers and the Suns/Corals.

 

All in all, I would recommend you give it a try. I think you'll like them.

[Colo Cruiser]

The Diamond and Sapphire are not Grand Class ships. They are essentially the same box so to speak but that is where things get different. They carry more pax, have more dining venues, have larger and upgraded lounges and public area. Skywalkers and its access have been changed and the movement of pax around the ships seems easier. They also over came the disign flaw of the Grand Class where only two elevators went down to the TD venue. They also have 740 balcony cabins to the Grand's 700 and displace 7,000 more tons.

 

The ships in the Grand class include the Grand, the Golden and the Star.

 

To me the Diamond and the Sapphire are superior ships.

 

Where they gained on the TD problem they lost big time by splitting up the 2 main AD rooms into 4 smaller ones. :rolleyes:

[DeRon]

Everyone always talks about how hard it is to get a seat at the theater. On 3 cruises with Princess large ships, this has never been our experience. Maybe it is because we are simply finding seats for 2 ????

[espo56]

Everyone always talks about how hard it is to get a seat at the theater. On 3 cruises with Princess large ships, this has never been our experience. Maybe it is because we are simply finding seats for 2 ????

 

We 2 just got off the CB last week and we never had a problem getting seats in any of the venues - pool, shows, buffets, etc. Maybe it because we weren't trying to save seats for 20 people.

[Putterdude]

Where they gained on the TD problem they lost big time by splitting up the 2 main AD rooms into 4 smaller ones. :rolleyes:

 

Interesting comment but they do have all 6 elevators going down to the TD venue on the Diamond/Sapphire which is a huge plus. And our experience on the sold out Diamond over Christmas was we never had any problems with seating in the TD venues but on the Golden in May we had 20 to 35 mins waits in TD so I don't know what they were doing different on the Golden but our experience was much better on the Diamond.