Stevesan
March 13th, 2005, 12:11 PM
Just returned from Grand Princess seven-day W. Carib out of Galveston. Our first Princess cruise was outstanding. By far the best food and service of any ship we've sailed.
We had late traditional dining. Dining staff was personable and super efficient. Our waiter, Stefan, was particularly attentive to our eleven-year-old grandson, without displaying a hint of adult attitude condescension. Stefan took orders at rapid-fire speed, not once delivering the wrong item. We were in and out of Botticelli in an hour or less every night.
The headwaiter, Francesco, was first rate. One night, he prepared a special Amuse Bouche pasta dish creation employing his own sauce recipe. It was supposed to be a sampler plate, but was so good people were demanding full bowls as the entree.
Antonio, the Maitre'd, was professional and went the extra mile for us from day one. Although traveling as a family, we were on two separate booking numbers. Our TA requested the same table for us, but instead were assigned different tables. Antonio reseated our group the first night and we kept that table the remainder of the cruise. This was not a simple task. Both the cruise and traditional dining were sold out well in advance to sailing. In addition to reseating us and making our two groups happy, Antonio obviously had to rearrange seating for two other groups, keeping them happy as well. He managed it smoothly and with a smile.
Best of the dining experience was the food. Excellent preparation: order medium rare - you get medium rare. Sauces were full flavored, and hot dishes always served hot. The desserts contained deep flavors, indicative of quality ingredients.
The only problem was finding our way around the ship. It’s HUGE.
Our next two cruises are already booked with Holland America. We love HAL, but we’ll miss the food and service GP provided. To insure we’ll return to Princess I left an open booking deposit with GP’s cruise consultant.
I’ll run up a full review (ok, who’s the wise guy who said this looks like one?) in a week or so. For those considering booking with Princess, my advise is go for it!
We had late traditional dining. Dining staff was personable and super efficient. Our waiter, Stefan, was particularly attentive to our eleven-year-old grandson, without displaying a hint of adult attitude condescension. Stefan took orders at rapid-fire speed, not once delivering the wrong item. We were in and out of Botticelli in an hour or less every night.
The headwaiter, Francesco, was first rate. One night, he prepared a special Amuse Bouche pasta dish creation employing his own sauce recipe. It was supposed to be a sampler plate, but was so good people were demanding full bowls as the entree.
Antonio, the Maitre'd, was professional and went the extra mile for us from day one. Although traveling as a family, we were on two separate booking numbers. Our TA requested the same table for us, but instead were assigned different tables. Antonio reseated our group the first night and we kept that table the remainder of the cruise. This was not a simple task. Both the cruise and traditional dining were sold out well in advance to sailing. In addition to reseating us and making our two groups happy, Antonio obviously had to rearrange seating for two other groups, keeping them happy as well. He managed it smoothly and with a smile.
Best of the dining experience was the food. Excellent preparation: order medium rare - you get medium rare. Sauces were full flavored, and hot dishes always served hot. The desserts contained deep flavors, indicative of quality ingredients.
The only problem was finding our way around the ship. It’s HUGE.
Our next two cruises are already booked with Holland America. We love HAL, but we’ll miss the food and service GP provided. To insure we’ll return to Princess I left an open booking deposit with GP’s cruise consultant.
I’ll run up a full review (ok, who’s the wise guy who said this looks like one?) in a week or so. For those considering booking with Princess, my advise is go for it!