On Grand Princess now (18-28 Dec 19)

[Anonymous234]

On 12/21/2019 at 7:59 PM, gwade said:

FYI. The new internet is smoking fast. Was streaming disney+ last night. Streamed some football this afternoon. Best internet at sea I have encountered. 

Did you run a speed test?

[gwade]

17 minutes ago, damiross said:

Fast except during the time of about 9:00 p.m. to 11:00.  Then it was very slow.

 

I had a different experience for reference. We put the kids to bed so I was stuck watching streaming mostly during this time. While there was latency (across the board since via sat), I was able to stream video every time I tried with no pixelation or buffering. I wonder if your experience is dependent mostly on your local router / gateways (e.g. yours was at capacity...mine didn't have as many users)?

 

Regardless, a much better experience all around.

 

Off topic...I won't ever pick the first cabin at the front of the ship ever again...jesus those last two nights were a bucking bronco at a country bar! (not to mention all the banging going on in for "fo'c'sle" all night).

 

 

Edited December 28, 2019 by gwade

[gwade]

Just now, Anonymous234 said:

Did you run a speed test?

 

Ugh, forgot...my assessment was qualitative for both web surfing and Disney + streaming.

[damiross]

Now that I'm home 😪 I will do a full review on the Grand 2019 Christmas cruise of December 18-28, 2019.  It won't be in chronological order.  This posting will be an overview and what we did or what was available to do on 26 Dec 19 (I'm going by our marked-up Patters as I come to them).

 

We opted for the photo package.  It's not a bad deal if you get enough photographs.  For $250, we receive 58 pictures - that brought the price per photo to about $4.33.

 

The cruise staff was great.  We didn't get to see the actual cruise director that much.  (His name is Steve.)  The assistant cruise directors were great.  They are Judy, Olivia, Jodie, and Siskia. The latter was the best.

 

The food in the Horizon Court was average.  I was disappointed that there wasn't even one Mexican buffet.  Curried food was served every day.

 

We started this day with a lecture by Bruce Vancil, an expert about steamships.  He did several lectures during the cruise.  Today's lecture was "Disasters, Losses, and Losers: Shipwrecks Famous and Obscure."

 

There was a Boxing Day sale.  I got a decently priced Aloha shirt.  

 

We attended the morning trivia.  Assistant cruise director Siskia did most of the trivia questions.  She was great. (Her picture with my wife and me is below).

 

The afternoon saw Bar Wars.  This was a battle of the sexes between female and male bar tenders.  We left not because it wasn't interesting but because the music was too loud and had an annoying beat. 

 

We skipped a Turkey Carving demonstration and one of way too many art auctions.

 

The sales staff on board had the annoying habit of putting their sale tables along the banister of the 7th deck.  This meant a prime area for viewing the Piazza on deck 5 was not available.

 

Missing spaces game show was great!  This was their form of the Match Game.

 

 

 

 

 

[milolii]

Looking forward to the review. We sail in May.  

[damiross]

to those who would prefer a more organized review, this isn't going to be the review for you.  Although I'll get to all days, the days won't be in order.

 

On to another day of the cruise  This time it is Friday, 20 December, a sea day.

 

The ship's navigator gave an interesting lecture on the general operation of the ship with, naturally, an emphasis on the navigation part.

 

Throughout the cruise there was notices about meetups for knitters, AA and NA members, and gays.  On some days, there were meetup notices for service organizations (Lions, Rotarians, etc.) and the  veterans.

 

Bruce Vancil, the steamship historian, gave a lecture on Art Deco and Ocean Liners. 

 

There was more trivia - one of my favorites activities.  

 

A Mexican trio played today, like all other days.  The group is called Los Brillantes.  They played in the Piazza.  This venue, in my humble opinion, is not a good place for music. It is difficult to hear anyone nearby when a group is playing.

 

Of course, there were numerous "health seminars," Effy presentations, and other stuff to separate you from your money.

 

Movies today were "Blinded by the Light" (Movies Under the Stars) and "Judy" (Princess Theatre).

 

Some pictures from this day.

 

Carnival, possibly the Inspiration

 

 

 

Sunset

 

 

[damiross]

Saturday, December 21, 2019.  Cabo San Lucas.

 

We'd been to Cabo before.  It's okay,  No different from any other Mexican port.  As soon as you get off the ship you are verbally assaulted by hoards of sellers.  Not my cup of tea.

 

We stayed in the port area for about an hour.  We played Goofy Golf in the Piazza.  It was fun.   We then had the opportunity to bowl in the Explorer's Lounge.  Of course it wasn't a real bowling - it was done on Wii.  Still a lot of fun!

 

Not too much else was done on this day.

 

One thing I don't think I've mentioned is that each day there was a meeting point for independent travelers.  I thought this was great.  There seem to be a lot of passengers who weren't sailing with a companion.

 

Movies included "Blinded by the Light" and "Ad Astra", both in the Vista Lounge, and "The Peanut Butter Falcon" on the Movies Under the Stars screen.  There was actually only one showing on the MUTS.  Football was shown earlier.  Many football games were shown on this date and the following two days.  Too much for me (I'm not a fan of people being overpaid to play a game) but I know there are many out there who do enjoy watching games.

 

The vocalist on most nights in the Wheelhouse Bar was Michael Kneafsey.  He was average singer.  The Wheelhouse Bar was a great place to go if you wanted some peace (music notwithstanding).

 

 

[Travlin grrl]

On 12/21/2019 at 9:14 AM, jrcruisealong said:

I recently bought some metal ones too and was thinking of bringing a couple with me on my next cruise. I don't like using plastic straws but I also don't like the taste or feel of paper ones. I like the metal ones, I think it keeps my cold drinks cold longer but that might just be in my imagination. 🙂

I bought the Silicone tip covers on Amazon for about 5 dollars for a dozen that go on the metal straws. So much better than the metal on your teeth. It's soft silicone and fits like a glove on the metal tip. Love them.

[damiross]

Sunday, December 22 - Mazatlan.

 

Learned a lesson here.  When you speak to a cab driver, make you and he are on the same level.  I asked a cab driver how much it would be to go to the cliff divers.  He said $5.  Sounded good so my wife and I went with him.  When we got there he said it was $5 each!

 

Mazatlan had a big police presence.

 

The cliff divers harassed visitors for tips after each dive.  We didn't tip - wasn't really all that exciting.

 

We walked backed to the ship.  We hoped to see the cathedral but couldn't find it.

 

There was the usual trivia on the ship.  Pictionary was also played - this was fun!

 

Entertainment director Lee led an interdenominational church service int late afternoon.  He gave a great sermon after we had prayed and sung a couple of hymns.   We ended the service with another hymn and prayer.  Lee is really led by God!

 

A "High Seas Heist - A Night of Mystery" was held.  I wasn't too impressed with this.  The rules were not really explained too well.

 

"Spiderman Far From Home" was the Movie Under the Stars.  It was at 9:45 p.m.  At 6:15 p.m., a football game was shown on MUTS.

 

A volunteer was solicited for Hanukkah Service on this day and the other days of Hanukkah.  The ship doesn't have a Rabbi on board.  All amenities were provided by the ship.  On deck six, near the customer service desk, was a menorah that was lit each day with the appropriate number of (electric) candles.

[strobellayjam]

On 12/18/2019 at 11:25 PM, damiross said:

I'm currently on the bumpy Grand Princess. If any one has questions then let me.  

 

Check in went really quick!  Dropped of the luggage, went through security, checked in, and boarded in about 20 minutes.

 

As always, my first night on a cruise is a long night so I won't have too much to say now.

 

@damiross thanks for answering our questions! Did the TVs have shows on demand on the Grand?

[xCity]

On 12/18/2019 at 8:25 PM, damiross said:

I'm currently on the bumpy Grand Princess. If any one has questions then let me.  

 

Check in went really quick!  Dropped of the luggage, went through security, checked in, and boarded in about 20 minutes.

 

As always, my first night on a cruise is a long night so I won't have too much to say now.

 

 

I was on this same cruise.  Hope you did ok on that first night.  I saw quite a few people looking queasy.

[xCity]

On 12/28/2019 at 3:22 PM, Anonymous234 said:

Did you run a speed test?

 

I posted my result here:

 

 

(Glad to see I'm not the only one interested in that data 😀 )

[xCity]

8 hours ago, strobellayjam said:

@damiross thanks for answering our questions! Did the TVs have shows on demand on the Grand?

 

I think there were at least 100 shows and movies available on demand.