Live From The Grand - 3/5/14 - Mexico, CA and HI

[secretcastle]

Thank you for taking us along on your cruise - so much fun! Can you tell us what dining room the 6:00pm traditional is in? Is there really a 5:30 and a 6:00 seating ?

 

Thank you so much!!!!!

Julia :)

[ccrain]

Sounds like you two are having lots of fun. A question about the most traveled party. With only two sea days, are they having just the cocktail party or squeezing in a luncheon?:rolleyes:

 

Have not heard about the most traveled yet. Will have to ask Sally. Not sure we're going to make the cut this cruise either.

[ccrain]

Thank you for taking us along on your cruise - so much fun! Can you tell us what dining room the 6:00pm traditional is in? Is there really a 5:30 and a 6:00 seating ?

 

Thank you so much!!!!!

Julia :)

 

Botticelli deck 6 aft, is the traditional dining at 1730 and 1945. Da Vinci, deck 6 midships, is traditional early at 1730, then anytime at 1930.

[ccrain]

Miranda had a totally different routine than Lexi. Different in that other parts of my body were burning afterwards, and aching later, so all is good.

 

Lunch was very good in the HC with a very veggie green salad with all kinds of lettuces and veggies dunked in a really good French dressing. A little meat and cheese sandwich on the side, a couple of desserts and we were good to go.

 

Last night was formal night so we went to the movies instead to watch Capt Phillips. It was an ok movie. A watch once and file it away. But the sourdough bread and chicarones for dinner were excellent. Who needs popcorn!

 

The passengers on this 7 day are definitely a younger crowd, and there are more teenagers and kids. I think the first wave of Spring Breakers are here. The lounges are definitely more crowded later, the dance floor is more crowded and it looks like the alcohol sales are up! Good news for Princess.

 

This morning is San Diego. A lot of the crew has not been here before, so they have a lot of questions about shopping. Good port for them to run around in for sure. Everything is close by for the very few hours they will have ashore. We have nothing planned except wandering around the downtown area, possibly lunch, possibly some shopping. Definitely some more bottled water. Two carriers are in port today, can’t read their names as we went by.

 

Tonight is St Patricks day celebrations with Rock and Roll night, followed by a St Patrick’s day party, and Doug Funk’s improv show in the theater. MUTS is waking Ned Devine. Pete Thompson on the piano in Vista followed by 12 Years a Slave in Vista.

 

We definitely want to see Doug’s show as the improv depends on the person he picks and its different every time.

 

See ya all later..

[secretcastle]

Botticelli deck 6 aft, is the traditional dining at 1730 and 1945. Da Vinci, deck 6 midships, is traditional early at 1730, then anytime at 1930.

 

Thank you :) we are on next month but had the choice between 5:30 and 6:00 early trad dining , so Maybe they just change them both to 5:30 dining. Not really a big deal but some excited members traveling with me were wondering.

Have a wonderful rest of your holiday!

Julia

[Roatanfans]

For your next place to eat in San Francisco you might want to try walking towards the Bay Bridge to Pier 23- Great place to eat!

[Maksim]

We are planning on Hawaii Cruise from LA on December 4. Would like to know more about the condition of the ship and cabins. What do you mean by "no central staircase"? Is there an atrium that goes from deck 5 to 7 as on all others? We have been on 5 other ships and they are pretty similar. We really like the user friendly design. Also, please let us know how rough is the sea going to Hawaii. Some passengers reported being sea sick for a few days. Not sure if you are spa goers, but if you are, please comment. Thanks in advance.

[Colo Cruiser]

[ccrain]

We are planning on Hawaii Cruise from LA on December 4. Would like to know more about the condition of the ship and cabins. What do you mean by "no central staircase"? Is there an atrium that goes from deck 5 to 7 as on all others? We have been on 5 other ships and they are pretty similar. We really like the user friendly design. Also, please let us know how rough is the sea going to Hawaii. Some passengers reported being sea sick for a few days. Not sure if you are spa goers, but if you are, please comment. Thanks in advance.

 

They made a big mistake, and repeated it on the Royal and Regal, to not have a central staircase above Deck 7. its a crew only staircase. On the remaining Grands and SuperGrands, they made the central staircase accessible to passengers from Deck 7 to Deck 14 or 15 depending on the ship.

 

The ship is definitely showing its age (15 years now?). If you look, you can find rust spots along the exterior, the elevators are slow. But we were just on the Ruby and its not that fair to compare. The Grand's not run down or anything like that, but probably needs a complete exterior refinishing, some deck plate redo's and new carpeting in spots.

 

Going to Hawaii is hit or miss. Judy typically is flat on her back the first two days out and the first two days back no matter what the sea state. We've been to HI twice now. Both times we were lucky in that no major storms, but we've always heard the stories of the cruise before, or the cruise after, had 30-40' waves and it was miserable. There is always the chance of that happening.

 

Hope for the best, expect the worst and remember - it beats the best day working...

[ccrain]

What a day yesterday was. We are beat tired this morning – Judy has a nail appointment at 0800 – so we are up and having coffee way too early. After updating all the electronics and taking care of all the emails yesterday we headed out to the downtown mall in the gas lamp district. Just a few things on the shopping list. The mall in San Diego is not an indoor mall, but a multi-level strip mall concept that is one of those architect’s dreams and a builder’s nightmare.

 

We also found the local Ralph’s grocery store just south of the mall for a few other things. It’s one of those fancy Ralphs, but had everything we needed along with a coupon as well! Google mobile maps has a relatively new feature that works really well when you have a good 4G connection. So in downtown San Diego it worked well. You search locally for various things and we were looking for a Mexican restaurant. The highest rated within walking distance was La Puerta, about two blocks from the Ralph’s.

 

We ate from the modern specialty menu, not traditional, but it was the best Mexican cuisine we’ve ever had. I had the Viva Mexico burrito and it was hands down the best burrito I’ve ever had. Really good guacamole and chips with a couple of house special margaritas were pretty good as well. Judy had the three combination street tacos, carne asada, carnito and carne pollo. My burrito was better. We also got some great sauces and a hot habanera sauce that really snuck up on you. It was really, really good – relaxed atmosphere. The only downer was the size of the drinks. Pretty pricey, but small margaritas. Tasty with top shelf ingredients, but definitely sized for the working lunch crowd. So I had two…

 

We bought some St Patricks day gifts for the girls on the cruise staff. Little baubles we found at one of the stores we shopped in, so we found Chelsea back on the ship in the wheelhouse and asked her to pass them out. It would be a very busy night.

 

We started by dancing up on the deck with the Quartet, now unfortunately a trio as one of their members had to go home on an emergency. We needed a warm up for the evening activities. From there we went to Doug Funk’s improv show. He killed it. Great show, from beginning to end. Had some great participants.

 

From there it was time to join the Rock and Roll party, followed by the St Patrick’s day party. Retrospect did the music and we all had a great time. Completely exhausted, we finally made it to the room just after midnight and it took about an hour to decompress. That’s why coffee is so important this morning. According to Judy’s pedometer we did 1700 stairs, 9.3 miles in 21,000+ steps. No wonder my feet are talking back to me this morning.

 

There are a lot of blue cards on the ship. The people that these 7 day cruises are intended to impress and hook on cruising with Princess. (They help pay the bills for us bargain shoppers.) I couldn’t help but think that they are definitely getting their money’s worth on this cruise. Gavin has packed the schedule, the entertainer’s are doing a great job, the cruise staff is putting their best foot forward, the weather has been great, San Diego was gorgeous this morning and the food is PDG!

 

Come back new!?! No way. Just come back. Spend money. Help lower cruise prices!

 

So now, what’s happening in the patter:

 

There is Fever Pitch this afternoon in Vista, Top Gun on MUTS. Crew drills this morning. Water volleyball and carpet bowling. All aboard is 1630 this afternoon.

 

Tonight is Doug Funk’s full comedy show in Vista, with Captain Phillips in the theater. Early MUTS is Gravity. Tonight is the Ultimate Deck Party. Late night once again.

 

That’s it for now – now back to the coffee…

[ccrain]

Sounds like you two are having lots of fun. A question about the most traveled party. With only two sea days, are they having just the cocktail party or squeezing in a luncheon?:rolleyes:

 

 

Last night for 45 minutes in One5 starting at 730PM.

 

The cutoff was 375 days.

 

Thanks Sally for the info.

[ccrain]

Sunshine, beautiful warm day in So Cal, but this morning, the dreaded full immigration. Yep the same government that makes you stop at a foreign port also requires you to do a full immigration because of your stop in the foreign port. It will be interesting to see how they handle this as our past experiences with full immigrations have not been good. In fact, what was really interesting, was that on our last turnaround day in San Francisco we got off the ship and into the city without showing our passport to anyone. By the time the In-Transits cleared, the immigration people had left, passport control was shuttered and we just walked off into the city.

 

Now, this morning, its 0807 and customs is 45 minutes late in starting to let off passengers. The natives are getting restless. Can’t really blame them, but it’s not Princess’ fault. Customs needs to think of this as a business. Every minute they delay in letting people off the ship is another minute of money not spent in the US. Simple math. More time on shore = more money spent and US taxes collected. Ah well, enough for the rant of the morning.

 

We did make it to Doug’s full comedy show. As before, the improv was the funniest part, and he even changes up his comedy act with different segments. Well worth the time spent.

 

We did do some dancing, but basically called it an evening before the Ultimate Deck Party. Still aching from San Diego.

 

The cutoff for the most traveled part was 375 days. (Sally was not impressed with it. It was a cocktail party for 45 minutes last night.) No way we are going to keep up with the curve now. This will be the last cruise until next February, and with 375 days being the cutoff for a 7 day cruise, next week’s 15 day will be even tougher. Looks like I need to retire and go to sea for a year or two!

 

This morning is Long Beach. We are parked right next to the Queen Mary. We have nothing planned by getting out and walking around the area looking for stuff to do and see.

 

It’s now 0820AM and they are starting to let passengers off. All must go ashore and through the terminal and no one will be allowed to return to the ship until all passengers are inspected. Welcome to the rule of the day…

 

So for today we have all aboard at 1730. Last Vegas is on MUTS. Do You Wanna Dance is the production show. Country and Western Night is on at Explorers, Randy Heddon Quarter (now a trio), in wheelhouse. Glenn Hirsch is a comedian in Vista and the Crab Shack is back.

[CruzinNoony]

Thank you, Charles, for the info about the Most Traveled party. Those cocktail parties are nice, but not at all like the awesome luncheon. :o

[IECalCruiser]

Charles, We were on the March 5 cruise with you, but I didn't check CC on the cruise and didn't see your thread. We followed you to Hawaii on the Golden in 2009 and to South America on the Star in 2010 and learned much from your threads. I am working on a review of our cruise but thought I would add a few comments.

 

We also enjoyed the Crab Shack and ate there the same night as you did. Our group of four all had the King Crab and peel and eat shrimp. They brought out seconds of the crab legs and had more than we could eat. The peel and eat shrimp were over cooked and some of the worst we ever have had. So much different than the light breaded and perfectly cooked shrimp appetizer. I stopped at the HC later to make some tea and noticed that the desserts served at the Crab Shack were the same as that served in the HC that night. I assume there are a different choice of desserts every night. The 10th was Italian Dinner and I thought that was why they were dressed that way, but they were dressed the same way two days later.

 

The Grand is the only ship with the different bathroom/closet layout in all cabins from inside through balcony. The mini-suite bathroom/closet layout is the same as on later ships. On the Golden and all future Grand class ships the layout was modified with the smaller bathroom/larger closet. We were in a Window Suite for this cruise and a mini on our only other cruise on the Grand so I have not seen the layout on the Grand.

 

On our four day cruise on the Sapphire in January we walked the stairs almost exclusively and I aggravated both one knee and my back and was laid up for a couple of weeks. Growing old sucks :(. As a result we used the elevator almost exclusively on the Grand. One of our friends was using a wheelchair on the cruise. We had very little problem using the central elevators. During busy times such as disembarking/embarking at ports we just went to the forward elevators. We basically found the lack of a center staircase a non issue.

 

We found Loreto and La Paz to be a refreshing change of pace for Mexico. No Diamonds International or Del Sol shops ;) It was like Loreto had cleaned up the town for our visit.

 

 

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[ccrain]

Thanks for the inputs.

 

My peel and eat shrimp were almost perfect. Judy's was not as good and were a bit overcooked.

 

I suspected, but did not check, that the desserts were the same as the HC for the night.

 

I also find the lack of central staircase to be an issue during the dinner seatings. Everyone is trying to get down to deck 6 aft on the aft elevators, but when we went to the center, forgetting about the lack of stairs, it was as bad, so we ended up going all the way forward.

[ccrain]

Lots of people will be complaining about the full immigration inspection. We didn't get off the ship until 1100AM and there were still people lined up behind us.

 

There were several hundred waiting to get back on, but everyone had been told you couldn't get back on until after everyone got off. Don't know why they would get off right away and then wait to get back on. These types of inspections takes hours.

 

I will update more tomorrow, but since I have a hotspot connection, I can do a little update now.

 

We hiked over to the Aquarium area and had a very nice lunch at a Japanese restaurant, and ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery for dessert.

 

Nice long walk, no issues with sidewalks disappearing. Great place to walk around.

 

E'ya all later...

[IECalCruiser]

...My peel and eat shrimp were almost perfect. Judy's was not as good and were a bit overcooked...

That is strange. We were there the same day. Our reservation was at 6:00. After the almost perfect shrimp appetizer, for all four us the peel and eat shrimp were overcooked, tough and barely edible. The several dozen shrimp were left basically untouched. With the second helping of King Crabs legs we were more than satisfied and barely had room for dessert :eek:

[ccrain]

We are here, tendering away this morning at 0730. We are having coffee and waiting until later. Do not have much planned except a possible lunch and some shopping. We are going to check out the wine trail mentioned previously as well.

 

It was a great day for a nice long walk over the area around the aquarium. Good walking paths over to the bridge and across the bridge, as well as along the shoreline. Whale watching boats, harbor tour boats and all kinds of boats were available at the piers. There was a lot of fishing opportunities, but they had long left the area by the time we arrived.

 

Apparently a lot of people were upset by the immigration delays. So many complaints, the Captain gave everyone a free drink coupon last night, $7.95 limit. We also heard of one passenger berating one of the junior waiters over the delay.

 

All right folks, let’s set the record straight here. We have participated in four “in-transit”, in other words, not disembarkation, US “full” inspections. Everyone of them took hours. Even the one on the Sun Princess in 2007 time frame. Why is it that every foreign country we have gone to tries makes immigration as painless as possible – even Japan with their individual thermal imaging looking for people with a fever! – than the US? (Rhetorical question here.) When will US Immigration realize that for every minute they delay getting people off the ship, is one less minute they will spend money.

 

The problem yesterday was several fold. First of all the officers didn’t show up until 40 minutes late. Then only 5 “inspectors” showed up to start with. 3 more showed up about 30 minutes later to man the other three lanes. DO THE MATH. 2600 passengers to scan/inspect passports, paperwork. Even at a blazing speed of 10 seconds per passengers, that’s 7+ manhours. At a more reasonable 60 seconds a person, that’s 42+ manhours. It simply can’t be done in a mere hour – and they were scanning every passport and personally identifying each person to each passport.

 

I think Princess was pretty generous giving away $20k worth of free drinks and $3k of tips. That’s a nice chunk of change. And they really didn’t have to. It wasn’t their fault.

 

US Immigration could charge, and the cruise line would be happy to pay, a couple of dollars more per person for enhanced immigration checks, additional officers, on board checking – like several countries do, etc.

 

So anyway, we found restaurant row. PF Chang’s, Famous Daves, Chilis and a Japanese steak house where we had some really good squid tempura, tuna tartar and nigiri sushi. (Plus two Mai Tais each.) From there we went to Cold Stone Creamery, across the main drag, and had dessert, then stopped by the candy store to refresh our candy variety with some salt water taffy.

 

Dinner was a split Grand Princess Pizza in Alfredo’s with our free drinks – a couple of glasses of wine. We also saw the “Do You Wanna Dance” show. But after 5 or 6 miles yesterday, we crashed and did not go to the Country Western show.

 

Tonight is the last formal night. Glenn Hirsch is the headliner tonight in the theater – he’s a comedian. Philomena is on MUTS. The Marriage Match game is in Explorers. Party in the Piazza and balloon drop is tonight as well. And tonight is Karaoke as well.

[ccrain]

That is strange. We were there the same day. Our reservation was at 6:00. After the almost perfect shrimp appetizer, for all four us the peel and eat shrimp were overcooked, tough and barely edible. The several dozen shrimp were left basically untouched. With the second helping of King Crabs legs we were more than satisfied and barely had room for dessert :eek:

 

when they turn pink, they are done. I suspect they cooked the pot together and waited for the mussels to open. By that time the shrimp are over.

[IECalCruiser]

when they turn pink, they are done. I suspect they cooked the pot together and waited for the mussels to open. By that time the shrimp are over.

Our pot only had peel and eat shrimp and king crab legs. The crab legs were split in half and prepared well. Doubt they were cooked with the shrimp. Enough about that. We had plenty of food and enjoyed the Crab Shack as a change of pace.

 

 

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[wannacruisemore]

Love your "Live". We will be on an April 15 day and on Caribe. We have been on other Princess ships with Caribe but as you mentioned this room is a little different. Can you let me know if the layout in many of the Caribe balcony rooms are similiar. We will be forward in the 200's. Thanks so much for doing all this work.

We are as well on the Caribe in the 230's for our Alaska Cruise. Would like to know about the balconys Thank You

[trbarton]

The balconies on Caribe deck are larger than on other decks and are part covered/uncovered. Most people love the larger balconies. My first balcony was on the Caribe deck and it would be hard to go to anything else.

 

Tom:)

[ccrain]

I had mixed feelings about Santa Barbara. Nice place to visit. Nice walking. Interesting town layout, but in the end, sort of ho hum – ok. I can’t quite put my finger on what’s missing. Astoria had it, Nanaimo had it, Loreto, La Paz, Naples – they all had it. But Santa Barbara. Just not sure. Its sort of like the umpteenth Caribbean island port. No soul. No focus.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I am glad that Princess is doing the coastal and getting smaller American cities involved in the cruise industry. I wish we would repeal the Passenger Vessel Services Act for cruise ships and get all the coastal towns and villages involved in this industry. I personally would much rather have Carnival spend millions developing a US gulf coast port than Costa Maya. Oh well.

 

But we did enjoy the walking around town and some of the more “colorful” characters you run into. We did see Glenn Hirsch last night in the theater. He’s pretty good. Did not bomb, did not leave us gasping for breath. He’s straight stand up with just a bit of standard interaction with the audience. It was a good show. Not a lot of people at the early show. The theater was half empty. Probably a lot of people at the CC party getting their free drinks. Or maybe these 3 shows a night are paying off in less crowding.

 

The marriage match game was fun to see someone else on the hot seat. Only four couples signed up, so the mix was two couples at 30+ years and one couple at 40 years. A different mix of questions from last time, with a some the same, some different and some we haven’t heard before. BTW – the drink of the day was the Ultimate Cooler. Either we hadn’t had it before or they changed the recipe on this ship because it was delicious. The grapefruit juice made it so refreshing.

 

We got in some dancing with Retrospect and then crashed. The sea picked up early this morning and started tossing us around a bit. This morning the Captain has slowed the ship significantly and we are heading into the swells. We’re probably pitching into 10 to 15’ swells when we hit them just right. Overcast skies. Temps in the low 60’s.

 

Kez is leaving us in San Francisco. She is one of the best deputy cruise directors we’ve sailed with. Perky, enthusiastic, friendly, dedicated, always moving 90 miles an hour, and does a real mean Irish jig. Considering our experience with some of the other CDs in the fleet, Princess should pop her up to CD just as soon as some of the other ones retire. She is headed for the Diamond in 4 weeks, not the usual 8 weeks off.

 

So for this last day on this leg of the cruise, let’s see what’s in the patter. (No packing for us, that’s for sure.)

 

Zumba this morning with Miranda. The HUGE on-board outlet sale. The Culinary show and Galley tour. Dirty Dancing, Fever Pitch, Mamma Mia and The Hobbit on MUTS. Bingo ($1450). A Pub Lunch. The results of the egg drop build challenge. Balloon animals. Jive/Swing for Ballroom class. The Grand Finale, Final, Last Chance – art auction. Dicey wooden horse racing and the cheaper wine tasting.

 

Tonight is pretty packed. British Invasion is the headliner production show. Liars club, and a lot of music and dancing. With the sea rocking and rolling a bit, we shall see how Judy does this afternoon and this evening.

 

Later…

[Colo Cruiser]

Enjoy your day! Looks SWELL! :)

 

Edited March 21, 2014 by Colo Cruiser

[ccrain]

The balconies on Caribe deck are larger than on other decks and are part covered/uncovered. Most people love the larger balconies. My first balcony was on the Caribe deck and it would be hard to go to anything else.

 

Tom:)

 

Caribe balconies are half covered, half uncovered and the same size as the Dolphin balconies that are uncovered for the most part. We have a regular table, not the coaster with four legs, two chairs with adjustable backs and two ottomans (footstools, not turks).

 

Plenty of room to move around.