mini-live from the Grand Princess: first Hawaiian sailing post covid--Jan 4-19, 2022

[travelin.sisters]

29 minutes ago, redrocks07 said:

We are on the 1/19 cruise. If you make dinner reservations on the app prior to sailing are you given any kind of confirmation of the reservation when you board? Should you go to the dining room when you board to confirm?

 

Has anyone asked the ship (I know the ship won't answer but maybe someone would) why they are not making announcements about Covid infections - whether there are none or some?

 

Thanks in advance.

we made reservations in the app & they show in the app for each night we just arrived at our time the first night & they showed us to our table...chose the same time/place for each night so we have the same table, not quite as smooth as when there were 2 dining times & everyone came & left at the same time & the dining crew think it is harder as well but it is getting sorted out...I would recommend everyone make reservations as I have seen people without them have to wait an extended time

 

[travelin.sisters]

11 hours ago, nocl said:

What features of medallion are not functional on Grand?  

 

Can you do food and drink orders?  How about locating other members of your travel party?

@kiwimum gave a good answer to this, but I am also planning on doing a post about the medallion (what works, what is annoying, etc) on our homeward journey

[JF - retired RRT]

18 minutes ago, travelin.sisters said:

cajun seafood...my BIL said it was good but definitely not chicken & leek

 

Interesting. I'll likely try that.

[FWRR3]

Right now the Grand Princess is coming into view from behind Diamond Head on the Hilton Hawaiian Village webcam:

Hilton Hawaiian Village | Explore Live Webcams (ozolio.com)

Also the Grand Princess bridge cam is working:

Bridge Cams - Princess Cruises

[FWRR3]

More Grand Princess live:
Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii Camera - Port of Honolulu, Hawaii Webcams | CRUISIN

Edited January 9, 2022 by FWRR3
typo

[travelin.sisters]

pilot just came aboard...we are not moving at the moment...now moving very slowly forward toward port

[Lido deck main]

4 minutes ago, travelin.sisters said:

pilot just came aboard...we are not moving at the moment...now moving very slowly forward toward port

Very excited for you all.  By what people are wearing can see that it is a warm day.  Have a great time.

[4hunters]

[rockfsh]

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2823144-grand-princess-off-waikiki-today/

[rockfsh]

[mousefan73]

Have a great time for those lucky to be onboard. Your trip gives me hope for my Vancouver to HI sailing end of April. Only challenge we have is Canada. 

[UT-Volsfan]

We are ashore and in a Lyft. Very quick going ashore. Did not have to present vaccination card or QR code.  Uber currently says not servicing pier 2 area so using Lyft.

[californiagirl]

I’m so happy for you all!  An exciting day for sure!  We will be in Hawaii for two weeks in March.  One on Kauai and one on Oahu.  Both are at our timeshares.  We LOVE Hawaii.

Edited January 9, 2022 by californiagirl

[luv2cruise99]

7 hours ago, redrocks07 said:

We are on the 1/19 cruise. If you make dinner reservations on the app prior to sailing are you given any kind of confirmation of the reservation when you board? Should you go to the dining room when you board to confirm?

I would suggest you take a screenshot of your reservations as you will receive no confirmation. We made reservations for the entire cruise weeks in advance of our New Year's sailing on the Grand. We checked the app the night before sailing and our reservations all showed as scheduled. We checked again upon boarding and they had all disappeared. Cruise personnel were unhelpful in getting our original reservations back (they acted like they didn't believe us) and all private tables were fully booked for our desired times, so we had to take what was left, which were all either way later or way earlier than our original times.

 

After much complaining, we got comped one night in the specialty restaurant, which was nice, but we would have preferred to have our original reservations back. I think staff may have been more helpful in rescheduling us at our original times if we had proof of the booking.

[travelingts]

7 hours ago, redrocks07 said:

We are on the 1/19 cruise. If you make dinner reservations on the app prior to sailing are you given any kind of confirmation of the reservation when you board? Should you go to the dining room when you board to confirm?

 

Has anyone asked the ship (I know the ship won't answer but maybe someone would) why they are not making announcements about Covid infections - whether there are none or some?

 

Thanks in advance.

I made dinner reservations from home weeks prior to our New Years Cruise on the Grand.  The reservation will show up in the medallion app once you are onboard AND on TV.

[mfon1]

Thank you so much for sharing your adventure with us! Our family is booked on the POA for June 4th and are really hoping these Hawaii cruises go well. If you do any excursions in Hawaii, I'd love to hear about those as well. Enjoy your cruise. 🛳️

[sparkle]

Aloha!  I see in post # 53 "There is no smoking anywhere indoors including the casino & the cigar lounge." 

My husband was dismayed to hear that, since he loved to go down and have cigars with his cronies at Churchill's or whatever Cigar Bar. If possible, can you find out where they will allow cigars? (Also so I will know where not to go).

 

Thank you so much for this thread and for the awesome pics and info. We are sailing 2/13 on the Grand. 

 

Hope everyone has a great time and no stress on all the Islands!

[Drews_Cruise]

Thanks for doing this posting.  We’re on the Aruba in March and hoping all the cruises to Hawaii continue to go good for everyone!  
 

[kiwimum]

2 hours ago, sparkle said:

Aloha!  I see in post # 53 "There is no smoking anywhere indoors including the casino & the cigar lounge." 

My husband was dismayed to hear that, since he loved to go down and have cigars with his cronies at Churchill's or whatever Cigar Bar. If possible, can you find out where they will allow cigars? (Also so I will know where not to go).

 

Thank you so much for this thread and for the awesome pics and info. We are sailing 2/13 on the Grand. 

 

Hope everyone has a great time and no stress on all the Islands!

Will check in the next couple of days, but I think Deck 15 Aft and possibly deck 15 mid ships by the bar.

[nocl]

26 minutes ago, kiwimum said:

Will check in the next couple of days, but I think Deck 15 Aft and possibly deck 15 mid ships by the bar.

Usually those have been cigarette smoking but not cigars.

[kiwimum]

1 hour ago, nocl said:

Usually those have been cigarette smoking but not cigars.

I confirmed thru Crew Chat that the 15 aft smoking area accommodates cigar smokers.

[startedwithamouse]

2 hours ago, nocl said:

Usually those have been cigarette smoking but not cigars.

Cigar smoking was 15 aft in December 

[travelin.sisters]

back from 2 outings in Honolulu...will say more after Nawiliwili tomorrow, but wanted to share that once the ship was cleared by the authorities,  it was easy to get off, just needed medallion, when I came back early the outside security did not have a scanner so I had to show my ID & he checked on a list but after our evening luau they had the scanner so it was super fast & easy...did have to show ID & vaccine card at the luau so be sure you take those...more after our day at Kauai

[Drews_Cruise]

15 hours ago, Drews_Cruise said:

Thanks for doing this posting.  We’re on the Aruba in March and hoping all the cruises to Hawaii continue to go good for everyone!  
 

That was supposed to say "were on the Ruby in March",  not Aruba.  Darn auto correct...lol

[gracebest]

On 1/8/2022 at 8:01 AM, mousefan73 said:

I have a question to the itinerary change. Is there a reason why you guys are stopping first in Honolulu? I believe I had read somewhere that that’s  a requirement now - all cruise ships need to stop in Honolulu first? Can anyone confirm this and why? One can only assume that if there was a larger outbreak that Honolulu would be more able to handle such a situation than smaller port cities. I ask because I’m booked on a different Cruise line in April and it’s not a round-trip , where the final stop is Honolulu where they turn the ship around for the return passengers. I’m getting all nervous now and wondering if  there’s a potential that my DIY car  excursions are messed up now. I’m getting paranoid and now thinking I should just book a car in Honolulu for the first part stop planned on our itinerary even if it’s right now not Honolulu.

We are also booked with a different cruise line in April, but one way to Honolulu.  So that would mess up flights and hotel plans if extending in Honolulu.  I guess time will tell!