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LIVE from the Grand Princess, 26 Feb to 12 March, 2010

hapster222

By hapster222,
in Princess Cruises

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hapster222

hapster222

Posted
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Grand Princess, Day 3 (at sea bound for first port tomorrow: Aruba)...

 

Well, here we are on day 3 of our 14-day Caribbean Collection Grand Princess cruise. All is definitely WELL!! Read a few reviews here at CruiseCritic.com before we embarked and was a little worried that the Princess experience was less than enjoyable. Don't know what some of those people are thinking, but I can definitely say that our cruise experience so far has been great!! The crew are friendly -- one guy who sold me my coffee card on day 1 even remembered my name yesterday at the pizza deck. Wow. Have yet to run into a smile-less crew member. I don't think they exist. Ok... maybe the guy that was humping the luggage to our room on day 1, but can you blame him LOL??

 

The food so far has been fantastic. Ate in the dining room (we have Anytime Dining) on night 1 and had a very nice meal. We've been on MANY cruises and kinda flaked out last night (first formal night -- which, granted, we feel it's a bit early to have a formal night so early in the cruise -- should have been TONIGHT in our opinion -- ended up taking a nap yesterday afternoon after our pizza/hamburger lunch at the pool (Oh, gawd, that pizza and those hamburgers...yikers good!!!!) so by the time we ended up waking up after our nap, we decided to not even get dolled up and instead just went to the Horizon Court for dinner. Same dinner items as in the dining room and was just the perfect idea... dinner on OUR time and very leisurely. Then caught a movie on deck at the MUTS (Movies Under The Stars).... GREAT IDEA, Princess!!!!

 

Tonight is the Chef's Table!!!! We are SOOOO excited. Met up with the Maitre D' this morning to finalize that one. This is gonna be a real Foodie Fest tonight.... will comment on that one later.

 

Gym is decent enough. Just worked out for an hour and had a light lunch on deck. Gotta work out and keep up with those calories!!!

 

So far the Grand is about 95% identical to the Sapphire Princess, which we've sailed on twice for Mexican Riviera cruises. I guess if you've been on one Grand Class Princess ship, you've been on them all???

 

Anyhow, if you read the recent Grand reviews, DO NOT despair. You will have a great time!!! And we still have 10+ more days of this!!!!

 

Cheers from the Grand!!!!

 

Hap

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TomCruises

TomCruises

Posted
Posted
Grand Princess, Day 3 (at sea bound for first port tomorrow: Aruba)...

 

Well, here we are on day 3 of our 14-day Caribbean Collection Grand Princess cruise. All is definitely WELL!! Read a few reviews here at CruiseCritic.com before we embarked and was a little worried that the Princess experience was less than enjoyable. Don't know what some of those people are thinking, but I can definitely say that our cruise experience so far has been great!! The crew are friendly -- one guy who sold me my coffee card on day 1 even remembered my name yesterday at the pizza deck. Wow. Have yet to run into a smile-less crew member. I don't think they exist. Ok... maybe the guy that was humping the luggage to our room on day 1, but can you blame him LOL??

 

The food so far has been fantastic. Ate in the dining room (we have Anytime Dining) on night 1 and had a very nice meal. We've been on MANY cruises and kinda flaked out last night (first formal night -- which, granted, we feel it's a bit early to have a formal night so early in the cruise -- should have been TONIGHT in our opinion -- ended up taking a nap yesterday afternoon after our pizza/hamburger lunch at the pool (Oh, gawd, that pizza and those hamburgers...yikers good!!!!) so by the time we ended up waking up after our nap, we decided to not even get dolled up and instead just went to the Horizon Court for dinner. Same dinner items as in the dining room and was just the perfect idea... dinner on OUR time and very leisurely. Then caught a movie on deck at the MUTS (Movies Under The Stars).... GREAT IDEA, Princess!!!!

 

Tonight is the Chef's Table!!!! We are SOOOO excited. Met up with the Maitre D' this morning to finalize that one. This is gonna be a real Foodie Fest tonight.... will comment on that one later.

 

Gym is decent enough. Just worked out for an hour and had a light lunch on deck. Gotta work out and keep up with those calories!!!

 

So far the Grand is about 95% identical to the Sapphire Princess, which we've sailed on twice for Mexican Riviera cruises. I guess if you've been on one Grand Class Princess ship, you've been on them all???

 

Anyhow, if you read the recent Grand reviews, DO NOT despair. You will have a great time!!! And we still have 10+ more days of this!!!!

 

Cheers from the Grand!!!!

 

Hap

 

Hope you are having a GRAND TIME!:)Question?Other than the 27th (1st formal night) and the 28th (chef's table),which dates are the other 2 formal nights and is there a 2nd or 3rd evening option for chef's table?

Thanks!

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Arlened236

Arlened236

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Just got off the Grand last Friday...and to answer some questions.

1. Yes they have the seafood buffet in the Horizon Court on embarkation day...Don't miss it,..it was wonderful. Just bring your own nut cracker to break the lobster claws...they did not have any.

2. NO horseracing on our cruise

3. The weather was fabulous...only rained for a short time (but very heavy) in St Thomas.

4. We went to MUTS several times. The movies included 'Julie and Julia, Night at the Museum II, and Mama Mia, The time traveler's wife, Star Trec XI, The invention of lying, The Boys are back. Only problem the sound was not always good, and you lost some dialogue...especially on windy nights...the howling of the wind made it hard to hear.

 

As far as we were concerned the best entertainment on the ship was a band from Hungary called "The Sunshine Cafe band' they played in the atrium almost every day and had quite a following by the end of the cruise... There is an accordian player, 2 violin's, a base player and a piano player...they can play anything and are fabulous!

 

5. The formal nights were the 2nd day, the following Wed. a sea day between Curacao and Port of Spain, Trinidad. and finally Thurs the last sea day.

 

As for the ship...they are constantly painting and fixing her up. The staff was the best and friendliest of any ship we have been on lately. We switched from traditional dining to any time because only 2 elevators of 6 in the aft bank went to the Botticelli dining room and there are no bathrooms in that area. You wait a very long time for the elevators and as I use a scooter on the ship this was not acceptable. It was our first time trying anytime dining and we will chose it the next cruise...it was easy and we never had to wait long.

Now to the complaints about the beds...they are all true...if you have not already requested an egg crate topper for the mattress, do so as soon as you get aboard. It helped. I did see that they were replacing some of the mattresses, but not all of them.

I still cannot beleive how may people still smoke, and it was a problem on our balcony at times. WE loved the no smoking nights in the Casino (2 of them) and I even won some of their money !

As usual a cruise is what you make it...but any cruise to somewhere warm beats the snow on the ground when we got home..

Have a great cruise everyone...I will try to answer any questions you have if I can.

Arlene

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TomCruises

TomCruises

Posted
Posted
Just got off the Grand last Friday...and to answer some questions.

1. Yes they have the seafood buffet in the Horizon Court on embarkation day...Don't miss it,..it was wonderful. Just bring your own nut cracker to break the lobster claws...they did not have any.

2. NO horseracing on our cruise

3. The weather was fabulous...only rained for a short time (but very heavy) in St Thomas.

4. We went to MUTS several times. The movies included 'Julie and Julia, Night at the Museum II, and Mama Mia, The time traveler's wife, Star Trec XI, The invention of lying, The Boys are back. Only problem the sound was not always good, and you lost some dialogue...especially on windy nights...the howling of the wind made it hard to hear.

 

As far as we were concerned the best entertainment on the ship was a band from Hungary called "The Sunshine Cafe band' they played in the atrium almost every day and had quite a following by the end of the cruise... There is an accordian player, 2 violin's, a base player and a piano player...they can play anything and are fabulous!

 

5. The formal nights were the 2nd day, the following Wed. a sea day between Curacao and Port of Spain, Trinidad. and finally Thurs the last sea day.

 

As for the ship...they are constantly painting and fixing her up. The staff was the best and friendliest of any ship we have been on lately. We switched from traditional dining to any time because only 2 elevators of 6 in the aft bank went to the Botticelli dining room and there are no bathrooms in that area. You wait a very long time for the elevators and as I use a scooter on the ship this was not acceptable. It was our first time trying anytime dining and we will chose it the next cruise...it was easy and we never had to wait long.

Now to the complaints about the beds...they are all true...if you have not already requested an egg crate topper for the mattress, do so as soon as you get aboard. It helped. I did see that they were replacing some of the mattresses, but not all of them.

I still cannot beleive how may people still smoke, and it was a problem on our balcony at times. WE loved the no smoking nights in the Casino (2 of them) and I even won some of their money !

As usual a cruise is what you make it...but any cruise to somewhere warm beats the snow on the ground when we got home..

Have a great cruise everyone...I will try to answer any questions you have if I can.

Arlene

 

 

A Formal Night the evening before disembarkation????

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TwoCruisers

TwoCruisers

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A Formal Night the evening before disembarkation????

 

I was on the same cruise as Arlene and it was a wonderful cruise. I think she misremembered about the last formal night. It was the night of the Puerto Rico stop with two nights remaining.

 

I really can’t figure out why there have been so many negative reports of the Grand Princess. This was my ninth Princess cruise and there was nothing negative about it.

 

-Gordon

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TomCruises

TomCruises

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I was on the same cruise as Arlene and it was a wonderful cruise. I think she misremembered about the last formal night. It was the night of the Puerto Rico stop with two nights remaining.

 

I really can’t figure out why there have been so many negative reports of the Grand Princess. This was my ninth Princess cruise and there was nothing negative about it.

 

-Gordon

 

Thankyou!I appreciate your help.Do you happen to recall which evenings were Chef's Table?

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Nylsor

Nylsor

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Posted

Thanks so much for the positive posts. We've booked the Grand for the same period in 2011 and the negative reviews here on CC were a bit disheartening. Great to hear good reports! Thanks again.

Ros and Mike

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Quokka560

Quokka560

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Posted
Thanks so much for the positive posts. We've booked the Grand for the same period in 2011 and the negative reviews here on CC were a bit disheartening. Great to hear good reports! Thanks again.

Ros and Mike

 

Sounds great for the experience with the Grand! I will also book Princess for cruise in May 2010.

 

Could you email me as I have some problems with booking?

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Arlened236

Arlened236

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I was on the same cruise as Arlene and it was a wonderful cruise. I think she misremembered about the last formal night. It was the night of the Puerto Rico stop with two nights remaining.

 

I really can’t figure out why there have been so many negative reports of the Grand Princess. This was my ninth Princess cruise and there was nothing negative about it.

 

-Gordon

 

OOPS...I plead fatigue...Gordon was correct the last formal night was Wed night in San Juan. Vacation is great but, unpacking, laundry, shopping, going thru mail (and paying bills) is NOT. Expecially when you are trying to do everyting in one weekend.

 

KSCPA,...yes the beds need to be changed unless you like sleeping in a divit in the middle of the bed. Most days we were tired so we slept well inspite of the beds. It seems it takes northern bodies longer to adjust to the warm weather. But even the passengers from Florida where they have had a cold winter, felt the increase in temp and humidity.

 

We also did not do the Chef's table, but taking to some of those that did,...they loved it. and felt it was worth the price.

 

Now a request for Hap...I mentioned we loved the Hungarian band that plays in the atrium...we bought their CD and are disappointed. Could you please ask the piano player (he is the one that speaks English best) why there is no accordian or base on the CD only 2 violins and the piano. The music is still good, but not what we expected. Tell him the redhead on the scooter and her husband that was at every before dinner show wants to know. Thanks.

Arlene

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Mindy43

Mindy43

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All those of us booked on future Grand cruises could do with a positive review...boy, it's been negative recently. Can't believe it could be THAT bad?!!:confused::confused:

 

See my review posted todunder Grand Princess reviews!

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Mindy43

Mindy43

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All those of us booked on future Grand cruises could do with a positive review...boy, it's been negative recently. Can't believe it could be THAT bad?!!:confused::confused:

 

Woops. Sorry for the spelling on my previous post. It should read: see my review today under the Grand Princess reviews.

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