Condition of Princess Grand

[Cruise Fanatic]

My partner and myself just book the Dec 4 2014 Hawaii Cruise RT Los Angeles.

I have been reading the various reviews of the Grand, and the one common thread is that the ship is showing her age and needs to be sent to drydock and spruced up a bit.

Is this in fact true and if so, does anyone know if she is scheduled to go into drydock in the near future.

 

I did read some where that she was in drydock in 2011 and if this is true I find it hard to believe that she has fallen into disrepair in two years. I do realize that in reading reviews one has to "read between the lines" but as I said before all the review seem to mention the rust, stained carpets etc.

[Aus Traveller]

We were on the Grand for eight weeks early this year and didn't notice any obvious signs of wear and tear. Maybe it depends how hard someone looks for it. :)

[USNUZULOOSE]

She goes back into dry dock this December.

[gcvt]

Grand is scheduled to go in to dry dock here in San Francisco on December 10 following the Nov 24th Hawaii sailing.

 

We were originally booked on that November sailing but postponed until 4/14.

Edited October 4, 2013 by gcvt

[bjkTX]

We just got off the Grand on Friday (third cruise on her). We thought she looked great - with the only real exception being the balconies showing a lot of wear and rust and the balcony floors look pretty bad without the blue mats. We were told the balconies were being addressed during the very short dry dock later this year. We didn't notice any carpet issues - but then again we weren't looking for them - we commented several times that the ship looked good.

[trbarton]

Grand is scheduled to go in to dry dock here in San Francisco on December 10 following the Nov 24th Hawaii sailing.

 

We were originally booked on that November sailing but postponed until 4/14.

 

I was on the Grand in August for a BVE and we were told by the Future Cruise Consultant that the Grand is going to Canada for the dry dock on December 10th.

 

Here's the port schedule. Note Victoria for the dry dock.

 

Tom:)

 

VesselETA DayDateTimeLast PortETD DayDateTimeBerth

Grand PrincessFri20-Dec-137:00 AMVictoriaFri20-Dec-13

[gcvt]

I was on the Grand in August for a BVE and we were told by the Future Cruise Consultant that the Grand is going to Canada for the dry dock on December 10th.

 

Here's the port schedule. Note Victoria for the dry dock.

 

Tom:)

 

VesselETA DayDateTimeLast PortETD DayDateTimeBerth

Grand PrincessFri20-Dec-137:00 AMVictoriaFri20-Dec-13

 

What site is that from? Princess.com and all the 'traveldotcom' sites still show her doing SF-HI round trip on Nov 25 and SF-HI round trip on Dec 20 :confused:

[SuitCaseBears]

Cruisecal.com is showing Grand arriving in SF 12/10/2013 and nothing again until it departs on 12/20/2013 also from SF, likewise the SF port schedule. But maybe they only show passenger related arrivals and departures.

 

And the Victoria calendar doesn't show any ship in port.

 

And the Victoria port website also doesn't show anything arriving after September 29 until 2014.

 

BUT... Princess does use the Esquimalt Graving Dock which is a ship yard in Victoria near the cruise port. If the Grand Princess has to go from SF - up to Victoria get her work done and then get back down to SF in 10 days that's a very short time in dry dock. Maybe I should send them a note to make sure to check the A/C in D212 if they don't have time to do all the cabins. :p

[Times Prince]

I did read some where that she was in drydock in 2011 and if this is true I find it hard to believe that she has fallen into disrepair in two years. I do realize that in reading reviews one has to "read between the lines" but as I said before all the review seem to mention the rust, stained carpets etc.

One can find rust on the balcony on every cruise ship - even those in their first year at sea.

[gcvt]

Cruisecal.com is showing Grand arriving in SF 12/10/2013 and nothing again until it departs on 12/20/2013 also from SF, likewise the SF port schedule. But maybe they only show passenger related arrivals and departures.

 

And the Victoria calendar doesn't show any ship in port.

 

And the Victoria port website also doesn't show anything arriving after September 29 until 2014.

 

BUT... Princess does use the Esquimalt Graving Dock which is a ship yard in Victoria near the cruise port. If the Grand Princess has to go from SF - up to Victoria get her work done and then get back down to SF in 10 days that's a very short time in dry dock. Maybe I should send them a note to make sure to check the A/C in D212 if they don't have time to do all the cabins. :p

 

LOL @ D212 AC :D

 

The info posted above also shows her arriving and departing on the same day. Something is not right here.

[only1deejay]

I'm thinking of doing the 2014 cruise from Vancouver, BC to seattle, a short 1 day cruise.....I've been on the star but not the grand...hope she's in tip top shape.thanks.

[claiream3]

I got off the Grand on Friday after reading several negative reviews of research prior, therefore went looking for the faults. I saw none.

Prior to Grand I have cruised on 4 'brand new' ships inc one a substantially newer version/sister to Grand (P&O Ventura) and for her age and the reports I read beforehand the worst I saw was a thread hanging off a sofa, some grouting in the floor tiles of one of the public toilets needing a makeover, and our aircon stopped working on the final night what I can presume to be from the quite rough seas / movement we encountered.

Other than that we hardly knew we were at sea, and I was extremely pleasantly surprised at her condition including my inside cabin and bathroom. I expected so much worse.

There were also a couple public restrooms (single cubicles within) out of order as was the odd sink. I never saw water seeping down walls, stained carpets (not one) or water on carpets anywhere.

She is a classy lady with tasteful public areas, nice food and can only salute her and her captain (UK/Welshman Justin Lawes) for getting us back to SF from Mexico in rough seas.

[elliair]

I'm looking forward to our cruise on Nov. 25 to Hawaii - rust and all. You can go anywhere and find fault with something in the hotel, beach, etc. I've only had 1 bad experience on the several cruises we have taken, and it was on the Carnival Inspiration. That is one tired ship that should be either sold or taken to the ship graveyard. My friend did the SF-Alaska cruise a couple of months ago and had no complaints about the Grand Princess.

[claiream3]

I'm looking forward to our cruise on Nov. 25 to Hawaii - rust and all. You can go anywhere and find fault with something in the hotel, beach, etc. I've only had 1 bad experience on the several cruises we have taken, and it was on the Carnival Inspiration. That is one tired ship that should be either sold or taken to the ship graveyard. My friend did the SF-Alaska cruise a couple of months ago and had no complaints about the Grand Princess.

 

Elliair - funny that you mention Carnival Inspiration. She was docked alongside us in Ensenada. I made comment to my DH 'Carnival Inspiration - because once you're on her you're inspired to sail on a bigger and better ship...'. :eek:

That may be naughty of me as I have never sailed Carnival and everybody has their preference, likes and dislikes.

I'm all for the newer ships - GP is the oldest i'd go now.

Edited October 7, 2013 by claiream3

[elliair]

Elliair - funny that you mention Carnival Inspiration. She was docked alongside us in Ensenada. I made comment to my DH 'Carnival Inspiration - because once you're on her you're inspired to sail on a bigger and better ship...'. :eek:

That may be naughty of me as I have never sailed Carnival and everybody has their preference, likes and dislikes.

I'm all for the newer ships - GP is the oldest i'd go now.

 

To be honest with you, the only reason we cruised on the Inspiration was to get to Platinum status. Hard way to go to get there! :D We like both Carnival and Princess, but if I had my pick we're going to lean more towards Princess in the future. What I dislike about the Inspiration the most, there's no balconies to speak of to book. The ones we saw had no privacy as people walking up the stairs to the next deck can see onto your balcony. We carried on a conversation with a couple who had the end balcony. I made a snide remark "So, how are you enjoying your privacy?" I was disappointed in the air quality in our cabin. We were getting cigarette smoke into our cabin along with welding smoke. Several of the aft cabins asked to be moved and they couldn't move us because there were no more cabins. Never again! Moth ball that ship!:eek:

[MauiLvrs]

I got off the Grand on Friday after reading several negative reviews of research prior, therefore went looking for the faults. I saw none....

Thanks for the update ;)

[Thrak]

We're on the Grand in May and were told the balcony mats should be back in place by then. On our recent BVE on the Grand we spoke with passengers at lunch (excellent lunch!) and one was telling us the dry dock had been moved from SF to Canada. Unfortunately, that makes the dry dock several days shorter so less actual work will get done. I find that unfortunate but maybe there's some specific reason Princess feels it should be done there. We did find that, even during our short time on board for the BVE, the lack of the central stairs was annoying but we're still looking forward to the trip. It will be much better than working for sure.

Edited October 7, 2013 by Thrak

[sharpie13]

I am also just off the Grand as of Friday, and I would say while the Grand is due for haul out, there was nothing really wrong with her. Yes, she needs new paint, yes there are some plumbing issues in public areas, yes the Piazza is not as nicely tiled as Golden; these are all things that are tended to in a standard refirb. Mechanically the ship was runnng great and our balcony was very comfortable and well maintained.

[Maksim]

My partner and myself just book the Dec 4 2014 Hawaii Cruise RT Los Angeles.

I have been reading the various reviews of the Grand, and the one common thread is that the ship is showing her age and needs to be sent to drydock and spruced up a bit.

Is this in fact true and if so, does anyone know if she is scheduled to go into drydock in the near future.

 

I did read some where that she was in drydock in 2011 and if this is true I find it hard to believe that she has fallen into disrepair in two years. I do realize that in reading reviews one has to "read between the lines" but as I said before all the review seem to mention the rust, stained carpets etc.

 

We are booked on the same cruise with you and have similar questions. let's see what others say. I also read a lot of good reviews, probably more good than bad.

[Nancyquilts]

The balconies are no longer just paint - there are mats, which help a lot.:D

[Colo Cruiser]

Good to know.

[Grammyluvs]

Got off the Grand on 3/5th. We have sailed on the Ruby and Emerald. I have to say I loved all 3. I don’t go looking for what is wrong on a ship. I think sometimes cruisers who go 3-4 x a year might look at things differently than those of us who are just awestruck at their size and beauty. I really hope I never lose that. To me the Grand is Grand!