LIVE from Grand Princess 01/07/06 Sailing

[gvre]

Wow, you all are having a great time and sounds like a wild group. Our kinda of fun:D.

 

We leave in 26 days for the Grand and have a question. I read that the CC group met at sailaway after muster drill at the Aft Pool.

Which deck was that? And which bar is nearby? I see there is a aft pool on the lido deck next to the Calypso Bar, and a Terrace pool on the Aloha deck, but no bar.

Thanks

[ehogan]

No, we are in Vancouver, and that is just slightly out of the ordinary from November to March.

[scootepie66]

At least we can look forward to fun in the sun in 12 days.

[JMorrow588]

Thank you for the great information! We were on the 12/24 cruise in mini-suite D724. I am interested in the extended balconies. Are there any on the Dolphin level? How do they differ from the standard balcony?

 

We are thinking of booking this cruise again in 2006 and would appreciate the information.

 

Have a great time!!!

 

Judi :)

[Guest scfjjb]

Looks like they arrived late in Costa Maya. Are there still some lingering electrical issues?

[BlacThorn1]

thanks for the updates we are thinking of booking in mid december... what ports are you hitting?

[Casshew]

 

E728 --lots of creaking, didn't bother me.

 

 

I have that minisuite booked on the Golden for the 10 days British Isles.

 

What do you mean by creaking? the whole room or certain areas? How was the movement?

 

Thanks for taking the time to post, we are enjoying your reports :)

[pamwinn]

I'd like to know if you are able to order a bottle of liquor like "GreyGoose" for example, from room service. SOmeone who just returned from the Grand was not able to do so. This is a big policy change I'd like to know more about.

[cloveygrl]

Hope my mom and aunt found you guys OK :)

 

Sorry I missed you guys and my much needed vacation...I'll catch up with you next time hopefully.

[Tex_Jen]

How is the staff? My friend went on the 12/24-12/31 cruise and the staff was less than friendly. I know that is a big "lots of kids" week, but their stories did not make me want to take a cruise on the Grand anytime soon.

Jen

[LauraS]

Hi everyone,

 

I did try posting this am, but kept getting punted off!

 

We arrived in Costa Maya late today, late enough for them to cancel at leeast two shore excursions and change the departure times for at least two dozen more. Reason unknown, but we don't hear any griping on board at all. This is a great group of cruisers this sailing.

 

We had a lively and fun dinner last evening. The "dining room" lights were on (you know those twinkling ones) and we made SURE our dining staff got the credit :)

 

Re: E728. We returned to our room last night about 10pm. Heard Vista Lounge music VERY clearly. At 10:30 it stopped, as it was time for teh comedian act. That's the way it has been each night so far. I'll make note for the rest of the week re: changing of time of shows.

 

MUTS: I don't know what all the fuss USED to be about... I adore MUTS. Last night my niece, Randy and I watched Must Love Dogs. LOVED IT. LOVE MUTS!!!! MUTS RULES!

 

Re: Creaking in e728 - I keep peering at the ceiling to find the creaking. Can't. It doesn't bother us though. There is movement but SURPRISE! We're on a cruise ship -- I love when I feel movememt!

 

I heard about Randy's infamous appearances in the Chapel. He's a one-man show!

 

We're having a great time. Tomorrow we have Sabatini ressies. Can't wait to relive that.

 

Costa Maya was interesting -- my first time, actually. We took teh $3 bus to the fishing village where I promptly purchased a huge ceramic dish that I have no idea how I will get it home. Luv it tho! Bought some other handmade items as well.

 

Headed back to the ship around 2pm, I love the ship on port days/ It's like my private yacht

 

OK That's it for me....cya tomorrow.

 

Laura

[zydecocruiser]

Did Host Kinky actually *watch* that Chick Flick ? Should be Batman tomorrow!!!

[scootepie66]

Looks like the ship is late getting into Belize...camera says it is still in route. Wonder why???

[robtx100]

We're leaving on the GRAND on the 28th. Will have a great time (mechanical issues or not). Quick question though, we are in a BB cabin now and you mentioned the bathroom being larger than most. Can you elaborate? just shower? or tub and shower? Have a GRAND ole time on the rest of your cruise and don't sweat the small stuff.

[BrendaB1]

Happy Birthday to Host Randy today.

[Host Anne]

Good morning ~ I wrote a lengthy post last night only to have the system here disconnect me and I lost it all. Didn't realize we were in the midst of a rather heavy rainstorm (which was neat to watch from Skywalkers later on in the evening). So I'll start again....

 

Texed ~ greetings....thanks for the note. LOVED Galveston .... what a great town ... would love to spend more time there. A great place to start a cruise. Still have to sail together some day ;)

 

Amanda and I hung out on the ship for part of yesterday and let the hordes of passengers disembark. We ate lunch in the dining room (it was fabulous -- the Chimichangas were awesome) and then strolled into the pier where we grabbed beach chairs and read by the seawall for a couple of hours. We've been to this port before (the fishing village is quaint if you haven't been and worth the ten minute taxi ride that costs $3) so we didn't venture beyond the pier.

 

Weather report -- Galveston was sunny but cool. First sea day, partly cloudy and chilly altho there were people swimming and sitting by the pool in swimsuits (Canadians :D ). Yesterday was warm (80F) and mostly sunny. There were a few rain showers here and there but nothing that affected the majority of the day. Last night we had a good rain storm after dinner but today appears to be mostly sunny at the moment. Haven't been on the open decks yet so don't know about the temps. There are at least two other ships with us today in Belize (Carnival and NCL). We were the only ship in port yesterday.

 

I'm going to post this (so I don't lose it again) and then continue with more news.

[Host Anne]

Some bad news -- the "technical" problems the ship has been experiencing continues. We were notified last night that we are skipping Grand Cayman and will be going to Playa del Carmen instead tomorrow. Whatever the problem is, its affecting cruising speed and has altered our itinerary. No real explanation of what the problem is although the lights all over the ship were dimming and brightening for about 15 minutes last night just before the announcement was made.

 

Haven't heard any major complaints about the change but I'm sure it has messed up some shore excursions booked independently. It's a reminder to be sure you bring along the email address and website of any independent shore excursions you book just in case you need to get in touch with them from the ship in the event of an itinerary change. This is my second Princess cruise in a row (Sun Princess last winter) where we skipped a port due to "technical" problems so it's best to be prepared.

 

The up side is that Princess has given all passengers a $75 shipboard credit. Very generous in my opinion. They didn't give us anything when we skipped Barbados last year so I was pleasantly surprised when we got a note saying each of us was receiving a $75 credit. Remember, they don't have to offer anything and was a very kind gesture.

 

On the bathroom....shower only but the floor space is considerably larger than the average cabin bathroom. It's not huge (it's not like your bathroom at home) but I was surprised at the extra room. Don't know that all BBs are this way. Remember, we are in a corner aft that is tucked away at the end of a hallway. Could be set up a little different than the standard BBs along the side of the ship.

 

Overall, everyone at our table agrees that the food has been outstanding. Haven't had anything that wasn't very good to excellent thus far. I know food is very subjective but everyone with us is very pleased. The staff also has been very friendly and accommodating. Our wait staff in the evening is marvelous and we have not encountered any staff being unpleasant....some passengers, perhaps, but not staff. ;)

 

Thanks for letting us know about Randy's birthday, Brenda. We'll be sure to "celebrate" it tonight! We'll see if we can't all make it into the webcam room to say hello to y'all tonight as well!

 

We were not late getting into Belize. We were anchored by 6:30 AM and tendering began before 7:30. Seems to be plenty of tenders around.

 

Have a great day....catch you later!

[zydecocruiser]

We're leaving on the GRAND on the 28th. Will have a great time (mechanical issues or not). Quick question though, we are in a BB cabin now and you mentioned the bathroom being larger than most. Can you elaborate? just shower? or tub and shower? Have a GRAND ole time on the rest of your cruise and don't sweat the small stuff.

 

Mini-suites have tubs/showers; suites have separate showers; otherwise it is a shower.

[scootepie66]

Thank you for keeping us informed...we are making sure we pack our mini mag lights just in case. What a nice gesture for Princess to give a $75 credit, like you said they don't have to but it probably keeps some of the grumbling down to a low roar. Curious to know have cruiselines ever pulled a boat out of rotation to fix problems or do they keep trying to fix it enroute?

[Cindy]

Some bad news -- the "technical" problems the ship has been experiencing continues. We were notified last night that we are skipping Grand Cayman and will be going to Playa del Carmen instead tomorrow. Whatever the problem is, its affecting cruising speed and has altered our itinerary. No real explanation of what the problem is although the lights all over the ship were dimming and brightening for about 15 minutes last night just before the announcement was made.

 

Haven't heard any major complaints about the change but I'm sure it has messed up some shore excursions booked independently. It's a reminder to be sure you bring along the email address and website of any independent shore excursions you book just in case you need to get in touch with them from the ship in the event of an itinerary change. This is my second Princess cruise in a row (Sun Princess last winter) where we skipped a port due to "technical" problems so it's best to be prepared.

 

The up side is that Princess has given all passengers a $75 shipboard credit. Very generous in my opinion. They didn't give us anything when we skipped Barbados last year so I was pleasantly surprised when we got a note saying each of us was receiving a $75 credit. Remember, they don't have to offer anything and was a very kind gesture.

 

 

This is just my opinion, but I wouldn't be upset if Grand Cayman was dropped from the itinerary when we are on the Grand in 2 months. I think the tendering problems that have been so prevalent and caused so much anger are caused in part by a very short port call and by the Grand having such a late arrival. I know GC is a popular port, so many may not share my opinion. I'd just rather be able to spend quality time in a port than feel like I'm in a race all day to try to see or do anything.

[TheCruisers]

My Husband and I were just on last weeks cruise. I was lucky enough to sit with one of the gentlemen flown in for our generator problems. He explained to me the ship has 7 generators 2 of ours were out when we set sail ( this is why the previous group got in late) . One generator due to electrical/circuit board issues that he replaced and another that had parts like cylinders and other parts the crew would be working on to fix. He said with 2 generators down it really slows the ship down and is hard on the engine since they crew really has to push the ship so hard to make its deadlines. The day of our embarkation , the cruise prior to us was very late getting in. They didn't allow us to board until 3:45 that day ( and then it took quite along time for the process and we were near the front of the line) ,Originally we were suppose to board by 1pm. The people leaving the ship were very "VERY" upset- alot had missed their flights and were still trying to get transportation when we boarding at 4 pm. I overheard a few people say they rec'd a 250 credit (I have no idea if thats accurate , but I heard 3 different groups say it) It was big mess just trying to walk through all the disembarkers. We rec'd a 50.00 each person credit we also had itinery changes on our ports. No Costa Maya, instead Playa Del Carmen. Thank goodness we didn't book excursions other than with the ship. Some and were very upset about it.

The staff was very nice, I'm sure they have their share of complaints. We saw alot of unhappy people on our cruise. Although I was happy just to be out in the middle of the ocean, not working! We have cruised alot and I have to say this was pretty unorganized during embarkation and took much longer than normal. This particular cruise had some issues that needs attention. The staff however always seemed very nice and were always working so hard! They really had a great selection of food. The movie and Rose Bowl under the stars was INCREDIBLE! Not to mention my husbands Kiss on New Years at Midnight!

[Host Anne]

Just a note on tendering here today in Belize. From what I could see, there were plenty of tenders available and by 9:15 they announced that tender tickets were no longer available. So in under two hours, there was no wait for tenders and it's a 20 minute ride into shore. We are staying on board today to enjoy the empty ship (don't do that much and it's wonderful). The sun is shining and it's a great day here on the Grand! ;)

[spongerob]

Thanks for the updates. Sounds like you are having a good time.

[Casshew]

Thanks for the updates, have a wonderful, safe & fun cruise!

[Guest AdmiralNelson]

I have said this in another thread; the turnaround in Galveston on New Year's Eve was actually faster than a normal turnaround. We finished embarkation in 8 hours instead of 10.5 hours (usual time). It may well have seemed longer to the passengers as they had to wait longer for us to get in but the embarkation was quicker. Remember normally when you arrive at the dock to join a cruise not everybody arrives at once, it is staggered so easier. When we arrived everybody was waiting so all passengers wanted to get on at the same time, this means the passenger has to wait longer, it doesn't mean that we take longer to get everybody onboard. It was an unfortunate situation but one that could not be helped.

 

As for taking flash lights with you on a cruise, that's always a good idea however the problem we are having are not that type of problem. It's to do with the power to an engine not lighting. The lighting dimming as the other poster described is normal when the ship gets underway, when the captain made his announcement the ship was just leaving Costa Maya. It is a 30 second affair, quite normal.