Live from the Grand Princess Hawaiian round trip

[OllieO]

Thanks, I am just going by what the internet says about bringing anything on board the plane. We will give it a try in our carry on luggage.

[aikensbest]

Thanks, I am just going by what the internet says about bringing anything on board the plane. We will give it a try in our carry on luggage.

You cannot carry it on the plane. You can bring two bottles on board the ship, but if flying to the port need to buy in the port area.

[caribill]

You cannot carry it on the plane. You can bring two bottles on board the ship, but if flying to the port need to buy in the port area.

 

Or have it in the checked luggage on the plane and xfer it to carryon luggage for the ship.

[petlover]

Or have it in the checked luggage on the plane and xfer it to carryon luggage for the ship.

 

This makes the most sense , especially with the bubble padded sealed wine skins. We've used those lots of time when checking luggage.

[Amuse Bouche]

I did not see any problems but understand that there was some water problems and some balcony decks still don't have the blue mats.

 

Tom:)

 

Hi, I haven't been on the boards since last April, and I did do a search but it didn't come up for me-

 

They are putting new blue mats back in??? On just the Grand? Or on the other ships as well?

 

Thank you!

[trbarton]

Hi, I haven't been on the boards since last April, and I did do a search but it didn't come up for me-

 

They are putting new blue mats back in??? On just the Grand? Or on the other ships as well?

 

Thank you!

 

 

I was on the Golden and yes there was blue mats. You might go to the roll calls for each Princess ship and start a thread with your question.

 

Tom:)

[caribill]

They are putting new blue mats back in??? On just the Grand? Or on the other ships as well?

 

 

The Grand had the mats removed when it had a major drydock a couple of years ago. Many passengers have been unhappy with the resulting metal floor on the balcony which collects water that the mats had kept hidden.

 

Based on posts, at least some of the Grand balconies have had new mats installed.

 

Other Princess ships that had mats never had them removed.

[Amuse Bouche]

The Grand had the mats removed when it had a major drydock a couple of years ago. Many passengers have been unhappy with the resulting metal floor on the balcony which collects water that the mats had kept hidden.

 

Based on posts, at least some of the Grand balconies have had new mats installed.

 

Other Princess ships that had mats never had them removed.

 

Thanks! I was on the Grand last year and remember the complaints about the metal balcony deck. We didn't like it much either. I wasn't sure if it was just the Grand tho, since I was only focused on that one vaca ;)

[jzad]

Sea Day 1-09-2014

As I am sure all of you have heard by now the search for the man over board ended at 12:00 P.M. yesterday, the Captain gave us an updated itinerary at 17:00 hrs yesterday, Hilo will be cancelled and we will not be arriving at Honolulu until 16:00 hrs on Friday.

Honolulu 1-10-2014

We are due to arrive in Honolulu at 13:00 which is 3 hrs earlier than originally anticipated. We are currently about 140 miles from Honolulu. They have not updated the onboard information available on the TV, it still shows we are going to Hilo, even thought we were supposed to be there yesterday. We were able to cancel our Hilo tour with no charge but when we canceled our Pearl Harbor tour due to the late arrival (as were many others) we were charged since it was only a 36 hour notice and they needed 48 hours. Neither of these tours were booked through Princess. We were able to rebook a shorter tour of the Pearl Harbor Visitors center and The Missouri through Princess. The staff at the Shore Excursion counter was excellent -very patient and understanding. The food & service have been very good. Our dinner at Sabatini’s was excellent. We are enjoying our wine package. There was confusion about the wine package originally. Not all of the staff knew it was available but if you keep asking, you will find someone who knows about it. There are a very wide range of movies playing on MUTS and in the Princess Theater. The internet is extremely slow so we have been unable to post daily, but will keep on trying. Aloha!

Matt

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review! Looking at this itinerary as well.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Leo Mcgary]

We’ve had a very busy time the last three days. We arrived in Honolulu at 1pm and were whisked off to a tour of the USS Missouri and the Pearl Harbor Visitor’s Center. Three hours is really not enough time to see everything. We had dinner at Duke’s on Waikiki. Downtown Honolulu on a Friday night seemed like Vegas. Back on ship, we headed for Kauai. The ship was rolling quite a bit between Oahu and Kauai, but we were greeted with a fabulous sunrise and beautiful weather on Kauai. We had a truly amazing helicopter ride over the island. It had rained heavily the night before, so there were many waterfalls flowing over cliffs. It was an experience we will always remember. After our flight, we visited the beach and had lunch at Duke’s. Guess that’s our new favorite Hawaiian restaurant. We did see whales from the ship and they are a sight to behold. We left at sunset for Maui and arrived early in the morning. We took a Princess excursion to a Pineapple Plantation and while it was interesting, we felt it was not worth the price. We spoke to one of the Excursion Personnel on the tender back and she told us to go to the desk tomorrow and let them know what we thought of the tour. After our tour, we had time to stroll up and down the streets of Lahaina. We bought a few souvenirs for friends and a wonderful piece of art from a local artist. We sailed away as the sunset. Next stop Ensenada. Looking forward to an uneventful four seadays. Food and service remain very good. :D

[travelplus]

1-5-2013

Good Morning

This is our first sea day; we have sailed 263 miles and are steaming along at 19.4 knots

 

 

Embarkation

We arrived at the pier 35 at 12:30 it was a bit crowded but we were in our room by 1:00 DW’s luggage arrived shortly after but mine did not arrive till almost 5 o’clock.

 

For this cruise we had originally booked D734 and aft balcony but decided to switch to a mini on emerald E725, we wanted the extra space and like having the fully covered balcony.

 

 

When we sailed on the Island Princess to Panama in October of 2012 we had a great cabin steward named Brando, well guess what he will be our steward for this cruise, nice surprise!

 

FYI For the balcony mat question, only some have been replaced, ours has not, but has a fresh coat of blue paint.

 

Opus will be the house band for our cruise and played on the lido deck for the sail away party.

 

Departure was delayed 90 minutes waiting for Pax from the east coast, the night time sail away was epic.

 

Today will be our CC Meet and Greet in the One5.

 

Unable to connect to photo bucket right now , will continue to try :(

 

 

A night time departure out of San Francisco-How Romantic. I wish I was onboard your cruise just to see San Francisco at night. Did you happen to pass by the Tall Ships at Hyde Street Pier? I spent a night onboard the Balclutha(the one used in South Pacific) where school children work onboard the ship. It's so fun seeing the Bay at night with The Golden Gate Bridge all lit up as well as the Bay Bridge.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[gcvt]

We’ve had a very busy time the last three days. We arrived in Honolulu at 1pm and were whisked off to a tour of the USS Missouri and the Pearl Harbor Visitor’s Center. Three hours is really not enough time to see everything. We had dinner at Duke’s on Waikiki. Downtown Honolulu on a Friday night seemed like Vegas. Back on ship, we headed for Kauai. The ship was rolling quite a bit between Oahu and Kauai, but we were greeted with a fabulous sunrise and beautiful weather on Kauai. We had a truly amazing helicopter ride over the island. It had rained heavily the night before, so there were many waterfalls flowing over cliffs. It was an experience we will always remember. After our flight, we visited the beach and had lunch at Duke’s. Guess that’s our new favorite Hawaiian restaurant. We did see whales from the ship and they are a sight to behold. We left at sunset for Maui and arrived early in the morning. We took a Princess excursion to a Pineapple Plantation and while it was interesting, we felt it was not worth the price. We spoke to one of the Excursion Personnel on the tender back and she told us to go to the desk tomorrow and let them know what we thought of the tour. After our tour, we had time to stroll up and down the streets of Lahaina. We bought a few souvenirs for friends and a wonderful piece of art from a local artist. We sailed away as the sunset. Next stop Ensenada. Looking forward to an uneventful four seadays. Food and service remain very good. :D

 

Loving the updates! Can't wait to be where you are right now in three months. Thank you again for doing this "Live"!

[satxdiver]

Love the comments on this cruise and look forward to reading more. Leaving SF after dark and seeing all the lights including the GG would be awsome. I have sailed under it during the day and it was a true experience which is one of the reasons we sailed out of SF.

 

Sorry to hear about the crewmember who went overboard. Anyone who chooses to end it this way is so sad. They almost are never found in the vast open sea.

 

I hope your cruise goes smoother from now on and keep us informed. We are looking at doing this cruise in the near future out of SF.

[jodaric]

Have sailed a few times when Opus have been on board and really enjoyed them. Do you know if Arnie and the boys are on the Grand for the next few months, or are they being moved to another ship as they seem to have been on the Grand for quite a while. Thanks for any information you can find out.

[Leo Mcgary]

Just a quick update. Relaxing days at sea, Yesterday was still warm and we enjoyed our Ultimate Balcony Breakfast. We could have invited several of our friends to join us as they brought so much food. In the afternoon, we watched the boat races in the pool. That was fun and our fellow passengers were very inventive. 2nd of 3 Formal nights was 2 nights ago and Lobster was on the menu. Our nephew ordered both the Lobster and Steak – both were very good. Last night we dined in the Crown Grille and it was excellent. On Deck for the Cure will be today.

[CoronaCRZR]

Leo, I noticed you are in cabin E725.

How is the noise from the aft thrusters when docking in the mornings.

 

We are in E725 on an upcoming Star trip and just wondering how the noise is as well as the rolling motion in the back of the ship?

[HRPro]

Sea Day 1-09-2014

As I am sure all of you have heard by now the search for the man over board ended at 12:00 P.M. yesterday, the Captain gave us an updated itinerary at 17:00 hrs yesterday, Hilo will be cancelled and we will not be arriving at Honolulu until 16:00 hrs on Friday.

 

Honolulu 1-10-2014

We are due to arrive in Honolulu at 13:00 which is 3 hrs earlier than originally anticipated. We are currently about 140 miles from Honolulu. They have not updated the onboard information available on the TV, it still shows we are going to Hilo, even thought we were supposed to be there yesterday. We were able to cancel our Hilo tour with no charge but when we canceled our Pearl Harbor tour due to the late arrival (as were many others) we were charged since it was only a 36 hour notice and they needed 48 hours. Neither of these tours were booked through Princess. We were able to rebook a shorter tour of the Pearl Harbor Visitors center and The Missouri through Princess. The staff at the Shore Excursion counter was excellent -very patient and understanding. The food & service have been very good. Our dinner at Sabatini’s was excellent. We are enjoying our wine package. There was confusion about the wine package originally. Not all of the staff knew it was available but if you keep asking, you will find someone who knows about it. There are a very wide range of movies playing on MUTS and in the Princess Theater. The internet is extremely slow so we have been unable to post daily, but will keep on trying. Aloha!

 

Matt

 

Thanks for your live from--we're looking forward to our cruise on the Star to Hawaii in February. Have really enjoyed your reports.

[Leo Mcgary]

Leo, I noticed you are in cabin E725.

How is the noise from the aft thrusters when docking in the mornings.

 

We are in E725 on an upcoming Star trip and just wondering how the noise is as well as the rolling motion in the back of the ship?

 

When docking, we have not noticed any noise or vibration. However, when leaving you can definitely feel the thrusters at work. The is a low level humming noise, probably from the engines being run on full throttle. This does not bother us. We have felt rolling when there was a storm or the seas were not calm but once again this does not bother us. We would definitely book E725 again as we like the location - very convenient to almost everything.

[Grammyluvs]

Leo, do you remember if EZ Check was offered? We are using American Airlines. Thanks

[Camelia-]

if only in our imagination!! I'm enjoying it very much! Can you tell me where the Grand docked in Honolulu? Was it at the Aloha Tower? I understand that there is also a Pier 2 that is a possibility which is farther along? Just curious..

 

Thanks again..

 

Camelia

[Buck Turgidson]

Leo, Were there long lines to get on the Missouri? I'd like to see it, I may grab a taxi to take me there.

Edited January 16, 2014 by Buck Turgidson

[Leo Mcgary]

Another relaxing day at sea and the last formal night is this evening,

To answer a few questions:

The Band Opus is taking a "vacation" after this cruise and we have not been able to find out when or where they will be when they return.

CD Sammi Baker is going "parttime" as she recently got married. She hasn't said when she will depart, but says this is her last "full time" cruise.

We are not flying, so we don't know about the EZ Air.

In Honolulu, the ship docked at Pier 2 not far from the Aloho Towers.

We went on a tour of the US Missouri and arrived aroung 2pm. There were no lines Depending on traffic, it will take about 20-30 minutes to get there. We are glad we were able to visit the Missouri, Great view of the Arizona Memoral from the deck of the Missouri.

Tomorrow afternoon we will be Ensenada. More later

[cruiseclues]

Thanks for doing your live review, which seems like more work overall for you, than a regular one...and takes out some of the time for you to enjoy your vacation. :):):):)

[pseudoware]

if only in our imagination!! I'm enjoying it very much! Can you tell me where the Grand docked in Honolulu? Was it at the Aloha Tower? I understand that there is also a Pier 2 that is a possibility which is farther along? Just curious..

 

Thanks again..

 

Camelia

 

Although this cruise docked at pier 2, on the holiday cruise right before this one, the Grand docked at pier 10. Aloha Tower is right there when we disembarked. There was also another cruise line's ship in the port that day.

[Leo Mcgary]

We just pulled in to the dock in SF - Will write a full review and post photos once we get home. It was a great vacation!