Almost Live from the Grand Princess

[cnmiranda]

Lol Zydecocruiser:) I want 80's warm.... as you know when you get used to living in temp's in the 100's the 60's are chilly:D Hubby doesn't know how I ever grew up in the northest.

 

The pictures are fantastic! So many exotic fish!

 

What's up with the sun baither in the middle of the line dance? Me thinks too much tequila or cerveza :D:D:D

[niborHS]

Zydeco, don't be so modest, those photos are great. Do you post to the web once you get home? I'm glad you sound alot better than the ones who were posting a few weeks ago who were on the b2b2b. I think they were the ones that were complaining about the tenders. I suppose its been getting better, although it sounds like you have taken some ship excursions.

[jdm]

Absolutely LOVE the pictures. I can't wait to get on the Grand 1/7/06! Thinking about that gets me through the holidays. I have been on the Grand three other times, but I just can't remember and can't see on the pictures. We are towards the front of the ship on the Lido deck. Can you tell me if the balcony is covered or open? I have never stayed on that particular deck, but was upgraded. Everyone looks like they are having a great time. The pictures of the fish are fantastic! Thank you so much for taking the time to post them.

[scubalisa]

What kind of shark was that? Does anyone know?

[Cookiesbykk]

Princess should hire you - these photos are getting me so excited about our upcoming cruise on the Grand 1/14! I know you said you had a Canon but did you use that for your underwater pics as well?

Are you enjoying the ship?

Can't wait for more photos!

Karen

[joanne1]

. . . and the great pictures just keep on coming - thank you for taking the time!! It makes waiting for the trip a little easier. For the underwater pics are you using a waterproof case for your Canon or did you purchase a disposable waterproof camera?

[JimnKaren]

Now when we go on the Grand 2/11, I won't have to take a snorkle excursion. I will just show people your pics and insist I was there (while sitting on a bar stool somewhere).

 

Jim

[bjkTX]

Save me a stool!

[budaman]

Party!!!!!!!!

Mike

www.homepage.mac.com/csealove/

[zydecocruiser]

The shark is/was a nurse shark - harmless unless you are extremely foolish.

 

Primary camera is a Canon s1 is. I also have the Canon waterproof housing for.

 

Tenders lined up like ducks... The secret to tender tickets? Line up an hour before they are supposed to start handing out the tickets. One person can pick up tickets for their party (at least today that was true).

 

Was going to try to snorkel near the Turtle Farm, but no taxi seemed to want to take less than a carload of people up there and I wasn't going to pay their price, so plan B. Started walking to the left - was going to try snorkeling Cheeseburger Reef, but didn't seem to be any secure place to leave my stuff. So back to the Wreck of the Cali. There from there back past the tender dock to Eden Rock.

 

First two are

 

Breakfast of champions - bacon, English bacon, sausage, capers (Why not?), yada yada.

 

and MUTS from last night...

 

{getting lazy on my captions, don't ya know}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zydecocruiser]

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[zydecocruiser]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[rico]

Zydeco -

 

Great pics. Thanks.

Quick question about your underwater shots. I have the same Canon set up. Are you shooting in auto mode or manual aperature & shutter? Also, white balance... manual or automatic?

 

Thanks.

[scootepie66]

Thank you for your positive and upbeat comments, helps to balance out some of the negative feedback we have been reading the past few weeks. The one thing I've noticed about customer feedback is that it is usually the negative that gets posted, probably because the negative emotions are stronger so people will take time to post and get it off their chest.

[spongerob]

Those are some fantastic pictures. We have an underwater film camera and rarely get shots of similar quality. Thanks for sharing.

[italia]

Z,

 

Thank you for the beautiful pictures. Could I impose and ask you to take a few pictures around the pool area, any pool activities, poolside band. Friends going on the ship in March.

 

thanks again

[cruzegirl]

Zydecocruiser,

Those photos are great.... I feel like I was there...... Wish I was.. lol....

[bjkTX]

I had seriously considered doing the "swim with the girls" activity on our Feb 25th cruise - until I went to your web page and clicked on the smiling sting ray to see the other pictures. If there is a chance we're going to run into creatures as scary as the one in picture AAA023A_2 there's no way I'm getting in that water!!!!

 

Brian in San Antonio

[budaman]

Those are pretty rare....only appear in Cayman waters once or twice a year:D At first I thought your were asking about the Moray....when I went back to look at the pics, realized you were concerned about the Longhornus Fanitis:eek:

 

Mike

 

www.homepage.mac.com/csealove/

[bjkTX]

I hope that those most feared of all creatures are appeased next week and will not prove to be a problem on our cruise!

[Lynda90]

Awesome pictures! Thanks for sharing and keep posting.

[zydecocruiser]

Tendering issues? Well there are some, like everyone wants to tender in on the first tender and tender back on the last tender. Cozumel did have one problem.

 

Sometime after we left Grand Cayman lost a couple of generators (I think there are 5) and ended up limping to Cozumel on one engine which got us there an hour or so late. This threw off the tour schedule resulting in a tour or two being cancelled and another one or two being modified.

 

After they called for the first 120 tender tickets we just stood in stairways and hallways for about an hour in increasing temperatures waiting to get on a tender boat that wasn't there. When we finally start moving onto a tender, one of the staff offered what seemd to be a lame excuse that they coulld only load one tender at a time and had to alternate between the forward and midship tendering station. Princess does get 1 demerit for that snafu and lack of communciation.

 

But once on the tender we were quickly ashore and all was better.

At dinner Thursday night there were more electrical problems with the electricity in the dinning rooms (and I suspect much or most of the ship) going out for 15 minutes or so. In the dining room, the emergency lights came on - one happended to be directly above our table so we could still easily see what we were eating. After a while, for only a few seconds, even the emergency lights went out so it was pretty much pitch black and rather interesting, but then all lights came back on together.

 

The dining room we were in is on the 6th floor and I talked to someone who was in their cabin in the 9th floor and they were in pitch black at the same time. For them the emergency lighting in the hallways was working so they played cards in ther hall for "blackout".

 

But what the heck, I don't have to be anywhere until next year, and not even really then, so they can take their time.

 

The generator problems continue today, so we will be late back to Galveston. They now say that instead of a 7am arrival they are projecting an 11:30am arrival. Lots of pissed people lined up at both Pursr's desks.

6 ships were in Cozumel and that seemed to tax some of the available resources a little, but nothing seemed to break. Lots of taxis for everyone.

 

We used large tenders that can move lots of people.

The international pier area is heavily damaged and the pier at Puerta Maya destroyed. But you can still tender into Puerta Maya.

Unbelievable that Puerta Maya pier is gone, but the shopping goes on! Pancho's is open at Puerta Maya as is Cinco Sole and a number of the other shops as well. Fat Tuesdays is back.

Driving around, it is obvious the trees were stipped bare, but not killed because the greenery is coming back.

San Francisco, Paradise, and Palancar Beach clubs are open as are some others. I saw a wimpy sign for Corona Beach saying they were open, but I'm not sure what is there.

 

Paradise Beach has planted new palm trees.

There is some shore snorkeling at Palancar (the farthest from town) and I picked up a snorkel trip to Palancar reef from here ($30).

Back to Paradise Beach for an incredible sunset (early sunset is still at Palancar)and then the cruise ship.

 

Yes I post more pics after the cruise is over.