Grand Princess Review

[Trisha]

I will start off by saying we had a wonderful time on our recent caribbean cruise and would cruise Princess again. We are thankful for the opportunity and the time we had to relax and enjoy. Having said that my review is as follows...

Our 7-day cruise began on April 25th on the Grand princess out of Fort Lauderdale. This was the Grand's last trip of the season before heading off to Europe. This was my husband and my fifth cruise (two on Carnival, one on Holland America and one on RCCL). My husband is 36 and I am 29. Since the Grand is off to Europe I am not going to spend a lot of time reviewing the ports. My first impression of the ship was that she is beautiful. Having cruised on the RCCL Explorer we are used and prefer large ships. We were greeted and welcomed by a few of the staff, which was a nice touch. We found the Grand easy to navigate. To make this review easy and relevant I will lise below the things I found great about Princess and the things I found disappointing.

GREAT ABOUT PRINCESS (The Grand)
-Embarkation/Disembarkation
-Staff Service
-Personal Choice Dining
-Our mini-suite was the perfect size!
-The medical facility (Turns out I had tonsellitis with a high fever while onboard. The doctor was great!)
-Gym Workout facility (Although busy it was nice)

DISAPPOINTING
-Entertainment (we found it to be the worst of all of the lines we've tried so far)
-Food (same as above...lack of variety and taste)
-Balcony (I will always book a covered balcony from now on after having someone dump beer on me while I was sunbathing. Especially since I am not a drinker, Ha! This is not a reflection of Princess, but of a rude passenger.)
-Cruise Director (I guess that could fall under entertainment)
-I really did miss the soft serve ice cream.

That is all I can think of at the moment. Please feel free to ask any questions you think I may be able to answer.

Trisha

[bcs819]

A pretty fair review. I was on the Grand last year and felt that the entertainment was a huge disappointment as well. Glad you enjoyed your vacation!

Bernie


"so many cruises, so little vacation time"
Diamond Princess - September 2004
Grand Princess - March 2003
Carnival Pride - June 2002
Carnival Victory - June 2001

[sueclark]

Here is part of a post I put on another thread. We were on the same sailing, 4/25. We had a nice vacation, but not quite what we had hoped.
---
We are comparing the Grand Suite on Grand Princess with the Royal Suites on Celebrity.

As to the decor of the suite itself, no comparison the Grand Suite wins. Of course, it's the top suite where the Royal suite is the next level down. Size is similar, decor - Princess wins; size of balcony - Celebrity wins; jacuzzi on balcony - Princess wins; Service - Celebrity wins - No Question!!!

We liked the decor of the Grand Princess ship throughout, but found that the size was not to our liking. We missed the special treatment Celebrity gives to the top suite passengers.

Sue
sueclark@aol.com (SueClark)


Grand Princess - Western Caribbean - April 25, 2004

Constellation Transatlantic 9/7/04
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff0000&cdt=2004;9;7;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500

Infinity Panama Canal 4/17/05

[ssbeagle]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Trisha:

GREAT ABOUT PRINCESS (The Grand)
-Embarkation/Disembarkation
-Staff Service
-Personal Choice Dining
-Our mini-suite was the perfect size!
-The medical facility (Turns out I had tonsellitis with a high fever while onboard. The doctor was great!)
-Gym Workout facility (Although busy it was nice)

DISAPPOINTING
-Entertainment (we found it to be the worst of all of the lines we've tried so far)
-Food (same as above...lack of variety and taste)
-Balcony (I will always book a covered balcony from now on after having someone dump beer on me while I was sunbathing. Especially since I am not a drinker, Ha! This is not a reflection of Princess, but of a rude passenger.)
-Cruise Director (I guess that could fall under entertainment)
-I really did miss the soft serve ice cream.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

We are seasoned Princess cruisers and have been on the Grand twice (our last just April 4th) and many other Princess ships. As far as the entertainment goes, it depends on the cruise director mostly. We have been on ships where the entertainment was great (Tahitian Princess in 2004) and once on the Rhapsody of the Seas (RCCL) where the entertainment was terrible. Our first trip on the Grand the entertainment was better but we had a different cruise director that time. I believe the food is also better on Princess ships than HAL or RCL. We usually have the traditional dining because we like it. If we don't like anything our waiter will get something else.

Some people can be very inconsiderate and they must have been awful drunk to spill beer on you. Our cabin was on Caribe deck and our balcony was half covered, half open. It was a really good location. It was Easter week and we had a lot of kids on board and spring breakers. Parents let the kids run wild at all hours of the day and night. That was my biggest complaint this trip. Entertainment was the second worst.

Grand Princess
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&prgb=32CD32&cdt=2004;04;04;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500
Tahitian Princess
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&prgb=32CD32&cdt=2004;11;23;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500

[Jane110]

Hi Trisha,

Thanks so much for your review. We're going on our first Princess cruise, on the Grand Princess, in June. A Baltic cruise.

So the food wasn't very good? Would you recommend the regular or the Personal Choice dining?

We're more comfortable with smaller ships and have never been on such a big one, so I'm glad you hear you say it was well run.

We're also in a mini-suite and I'll check with my TA as to whether it's covered or not. It's #D631. Would I be able to tell from the ship's diagrams if it is or not?

Did you ever have any problems with having to wait for gym equipment or treadmill? They have freeweights in the gym, don't they?

Thanks,
Jane

[rolando]

Jane

All mini-suites on the Dolphin deck (which you are on) are uncovered. The only mini-suites on Grand class ships that are fully covered are the ones on Emerald deck aft. We love these suites on Emerald deck, particularly E728 and E729 (with much larger balconies). Hope that helps

Grand Princess- Baltic 5/29/04
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Grand Princess - Transatlantic 8/27/04
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=111111&cdt=2004;8;27;21;00;00&timezone=GMT+0200

Explorer of the Seas - Western Caribbean 11/21/04
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=111111&cdt=2004;11;21;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0400

Mercury - Mexican Riviera 12/27/04
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Coral Princess- 10-day Caribbean 3/18/05
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=111111&cdt=2005;3;18;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500

Radiance of the Seas - Alaska 05/28/05
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=111111&cdt=2005;05;28;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0700

Brilliance of the Seas - Mediterranean 10/15/05
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=111111&cdt=2005;10;15;21;00;00&timezone=GMT+0200

[ahracer]

Jane,

Food is a subjective thing. We were on the 4/25 sailing and thought the food was fine. No different than any other cruise I've been on.

I would recommend PC dining.

I went to the gym on the first sea day and there was a wait for just about every weight machine. They have dumbells but that is it for free weights. Your cruise is going to be a different crowd so the gym may not be as crowded.

Scott

[Trisha]

Jane,

I am excited to hear you've booked a Baltic cruise. How wonderful!
-We felt the food was average. The variety and taste was bland compared to other cruises we've been on. Three of the four of us who cruised lost weight (compared to my 6lb weight gain on RCCL)...so what am I complaining about I should be happy. Ha! As a previous poster stated food is subjective and that's my opinion.
-We chose Personal Choice dining and never had a problem getting into the dining room. We did however strategically choose to dine before 7:00 every night. The Da Vinci dining room was always less crowded. We loved Personal Choice and would highly reccomend it.
-You cannot tell from the diagram which staterooms are covered, but your TA should be able to tell you. We knew ours was uncovered before we went and other than a couple unfortunate events with passengers we enjoyed the ability to sunbath on our deck.
-You will have to wait for treadmills during morning peak hours in the gym. If you are open to spending a little time on another type of machine first you will be fine. For example, I would bike until a treadmill was available (ten minutes usually). The equipment in the gym is CYBEX...great! And yes there are free weights. I did not participate in any classes, but did see a few while I was on the treadmill. They looked like a lot of fun.

Have a wonderful cruise, if you have any other questions I would be happy to answer.

Trish

[Northender]

We were on the 4/4 Grand also. Baha 716, port side. Our balcony was covered.

- I found food to be fine. I am really not in to having fancy schmancy stuff anyway. Give me a good steak and any knd of potatoe and I am happy. I thought the chicken was good, had shrimp cocktail everynight. Lobster was yummy.
Desserts were delish - Tiramasu (sp) was very good.

- Stayed in adult pool area most of the time. No problems with kids, etc. Will check out when Easter vacation is next year before heading out again. I think that week is more expensive.

- Entertainment - I agree, it was so so. We enjoyed the group in the Wheelhouse Lounge. Spent most evenings their after dinner.



Grand Princess 4/4/04