Grand Princess Review

[karen2cruz]

Here's our review of last week's Grand Princess cruise of 1/13-1/20/07:

Our pre-cruise was on Galveston Limousine Service, which is really a van service, on time and inexpensive, but the vans are old and uncomfortable.

Our hotel was the Tremont House.It was a very nice hotel located two blocks from pier. Nice rooms, good room service breakfast (great eggs benedict), and their rooftop terrace gives a great view of pier. It was right on the Strand, convenient to do the touristy stuff.

Embarkation was great, even though the fog delayed the ships from disembarkation until 9 am. The hotel shuttle dropped us off at 12:30 and we were on the ship in 15 minutes. Everyone (security to check-in people) were very nice.

Cruis Critic meeting was held in the Wheelhouse Bar on first sea day. Great group of people. Arranged to have dinner everynight with RK713 in traditional. And three other couples had dinner everynight in Anytime dining. We combined to be a team for a couple of trivia games.

Ship Appearance was good and although it was kept neat and tidy, her age was showing with old furniture, worn carpet, worn stateroom fixtures. Nothing to think twice about, as it didn’t affect our cruise, but just a bit noticeable.

Mini-suite beds/bedding were a split decision. The beds were so-so. Funny thing is my half (twin bed) was new and nice, but my husbands half dipped in the middle. An extra twin egg crate mattress under a queen size one made up the difference nicely. The bedding on the other hand was the nice new comfy bedding. Slept soundly to the (mostly( gentle rocking of the ship.

As far as a stateroom, we had our usual mini suite and were happy as always. Some Cruise Critic friends had a regular balcony and were a little disappointed in the closet space. the closet space was much smaller than the Star Princess balcony room they had had during the summer. They expected them to be equal.

Food was a bit disappointing. Horizon Court, dining room food and room service menu were limited but overall OK. High points were the lobster and crab legs, as well as the thin crust pizza.

We think Princess offers a great variety of tour excursions with good operators. Some improvement were needed in communication when some tours were cancelled and not everyone was notified (last minute rain cancellations for snorkeling,etc). I was happy with my tours of the various ruins and my husband liked the dive ops, except for Cozumel.

*Costa Maya- DH went diving (Nice dive op, reefs and wildlife)and I went to Kohunlich ruins (comfortable buses, beautiful ruins, long bus ride, “lunch” mediocre)

*Roatan: Beautiful, lush island. Dive op was great for DH, beautiful reefs and wildlife. Gumblinda Park/West End was fun with and great beaches. The Islanders were friendly. Some poor areas, as to be expected for a third world country. Everyone we talked to felt safe there.

*Belize: Again, DH enjoyed dive op and diving, but would not go back to Belize. I went to Lamanai –great ruins and fun river ride stopping to find the wildlife. Many people on our cruise, that we talked to, said they would not go back to Belize because they didn’t feel quite safe outside the tourism village.

*Cozumel: Most developed, as to be expected, easy to get around. Watch out for taxi drivers to over charge. All inclusive at Reef Club was nice-good food, hobie cat, kayaks. DH used their dive op, Sand Dollar sports, and was happy with his dives. People who used the Princess dive op were very disappointed, said equipment very old, and would not dive with them again.

Our room steward gets an A+. Sumeth was awesome. He had just been moved from the Aloha deck to the Dolphin and had to play catch-up on learning all the extra duties. He was always friendly and we got towel animals 3 nights during the week. Asked him about the animals and he said they are training all the stewards to do this, especially in cabins with children and for special occaisions.

Dining Staff was good. We were traditional diners. The maitre‘d was hard to work with when the other Cruise Critic couple and us wanted to sit together, but we managed to work it out. We had a great waiter named Serafin. He was efficient and so funny. Loved dancing with the ladies.

As far as the other crew/staff, we always got a smile when we showed our soda cards to the staff. The Horizon Court waiters regularly came around to ask us what we wanted to drink. Pursers desk, etc were always helpful, cheerful.

The entertainment/ shipboard activities were great. There were always plenty of things to do, lots of variety. Dancers/singers, bands, musicians were very good and most of the “Name” entertainment were good There was a good variety of movies.

Internet café was very nice. Brendan, the mgr, was always helpful. You could always find a computer to use. Lots of computer classes, for those who wanted them.

Although we didnt bring any kids this time, since they are teens/college age now and cant miss school, those we talked to who did said their children were having a great time. We were impressed on how the cruise staff tried to accommodate the college age group (18-25) with a couple of their own meetings.

Disembarkation was awesome. There was no fog upon arrival to Galveston. We were docked by 7 am and off the ship by 7:05. We were in our shuttle by 7:15. Again this went very smoothly, which made us very happy since we had a 12 noon flight out of Hobby.

Overall, this was a great cruise and would not hesitate to recommend this ship, crew and itinerary to anyone.

[dolphinmar]

Hi Karen2Cruz,

 

Thanks for the great review. DH and I are doing this one in April and your reviews of excursions were very helpful. It's disappointing, though, to see over and over again that folks are feeling a little unsafe in Belize. It's one of the reasons DH wanted to go on this particular cruise since we had always heard great things about Belize. Lately, though, the cruisecritic press seems a bit negative. Did you feel unsafe? Or do you think many cruisers from the U.S. who are not accustomed to seeing that kind of poverty feel extra unsafe? I grew up as ex-pat overseas in third world countries and am somewhat used to such places but don't want to go some place that's really just not safe. What are your thoughts?

 

dolphinmar

[Nebr.cruiser]

Hi Karen2Cruz,

 

Thanks for the great review. DH and I are doing this one in April and your reviews of excursions were very helpful. It's disappointing, though, to see over and over again that folks are feeling a little unsafe in Belize. It's one of the reasons DH wanted to go on this particular cruise since we had always heard great things about Belize. Lately, though, the cruisecritic press seems a bit negative. Did you feel unsafe? Or do you think many cruisers from the U.S. who are not accustomed to seeing that kind of poverty feel extra unsafe? I grew up as ex-pat overseas in third world countries and am somewhat used to such places but don't want to go some place that's really just not safe. What are your thoughts?

 

dolphinmar

 

We were on the Grand in Dec. and went to Belize. We did an independent tour with cavetubing.com and had a great time. We have traveled quite a lot and have been in many third-world countries, so to us Belize was similar to what we have seen in other areas, as to poverty, cleanliness, etc. I didn't feel especially unsafe, but we did not venture out of the port-area shopping and were well-taken care of on our excursion.

 

I probably would not have felt comfortable by myself in Belize City, outside of the tourist area, and, as always, would take safety precautions. You have to be aware of your surroundings and use common sense, even in many cities in the US.

 

I do think that people's perception of safety depends at least partly on how much they have traveled and whether they have been to third-world countries before. Unfortunately, you do get a little used to, or inured to, the conditions.

 

I would certainly go to Belize again, but I probably wouldn't do much on my own. We'd love to go to the Cayes to snorkel and would take tours to the ruins, jungles, rivers, etc. Just not on our own.

[riverboatgambler]

Karen,

Thanks for the review. What ports did you tender?

 

Thanks

[riverboatgambler]

Double Post

[CruiseKing]

Karen,

Who was you CD?

Thanx,

[jrayph]

Karen, Great review! It is good to hear that the ship got to port on time. You wouldn't happen to have your patters would you? If so canyou send them to jrayph@aol.com Thanks

[karen2cruz]

Dolphinmar/Neb Cruiser - I felt safe in Belize, but I was on a tour bus with about 80 other folk.We drove 45 minutes into the countryside and took a boat ride into the jungle. Yes, it is a poor, third world country. Those that felt unsafe tried to see Belize city on their own outside the tourism area. When we've traveled outside the U.S., we always try to fit in (blend) in dress with the locals and not stand out, and have been lucky enough (careful enough) to always be safe.

 

Riverboatgambler- we only tendered into Belize, but I hear that sometimes, depending on how many ships in port, the Grand tenders into Cozumel too. Our cruise and the one before docked in Cozumel, so it's hard to say.

 

CruiseKing- CD was Neil "G'day,g'day, g'day" Roberts. Only saw him at the shows in the Princess theater and not much else. Rest of his staff were lots of fun.

 

Jayrayph - I have all the patters and will try to scan them in and send them. Been awhile since I've done it. Might be later in the week. Gotta catch up on life first!

[snedecor]

Janine from the Dec. 2 sailing of Grand Princess graciously sent me her patters, which I scanned in and sent on to:

 

http://www.cruisedailies.com where they are available for viewing or downloading.

 

Regards,

 

Gayle

[CruiseKing]

CruiseKing- CD was Neil "G'day,g'day, g'day" Roberts. Only saw him at the shows in the Princess theater and not much else. Rest of his staff were lots of fun.

Thank You, Karen

[Too blessed to be stressed]

Janine from the Dec. 2 sailing of Grand Princess graciously sent me her patters, which I scanned in and sent on to:

 

www.cruisedailies.com where they are available for viewing or downloading.

 

Regards,

 

Gayle

 

Wow, now I am really anticipating this cruise and planning.

Thanks, see ya this weekend. Doesn't that sound great.:D

Tammy

[Snoozeman]

Did they collect your sail&sign card when you left the ship?

[rk713]

We were on the cruise with Karen. We were her dining buddies. There is not much more to add about the ship. We did 3 snorkel trips and enjoyed them all. On Belize we did the Sting Ray snorkel. They picked us up on the ship since we were tendered and brought us back to the Grand 4 hours later. That trip was great. Cozemel has a lot of damage from the hurricane and the water was much deeper than in Beleze but we saw a lot of fish and enjoyed the trip. We walked around the tourist area after and felt safe there. Thet cancelled our trip in Costa Maya and didn't tell us until after we went to the meeting location. That was annoying because at that point we could not get on to another trip.

The trip was fun but went by too quickly as all vacations do.

Enjoy! We did.

[rk713]

We were on the cruise with Karen. We were her dining buddies. There is not much more to add about the ship. We did 3 snorkel trips and enjoyed them all. On Belize we did the Sting Ray snorkel. They picked us up on the ship since we were tendered and brought us back to the Grand 4 hours later. That trip was great. Cozemel has a lot of damage from the hurricane and the water was much deeper than in Beleze but we saw a lot of fish and enjoyed the trip. We walked around the tourist area after and felt safe there. Thet cancelled our trip in Costa Maya and didn't tell us until after we went to the meeting location. That was annoying because at that point we could not get on to another trip.

The trip was fun but went by too quickly as all vacations do.

Enjoy! We did.

[happy cruzer]

I loved the cruise dailies. FYI they are out of order and three have the same date. But they sure got me excited to go cruizing.

 

Thanks for the review and the dailies.

[karen2cruz]

Snoozeman- Bonus- they let us keep our cards! I forgot to add that didnt I? This was very surprising since I had read on several posts that they were collecting them.

 

RK713- Hi dining buddies! Sure was a nice vacation, wasnt it?

[Tigger B]

Hey Gang...

 

Sorry I didn't write sooner but have been busy since I returned.

 

Just want to let you know what a pleasure it was to meet everyone and what a great trip and vacation we had.

 

Sorry about the mix up on the last sea day with the Get Together, but sounds like we had some stiff competition with the Dining Show in the Vista Lounge anyways. We had to leave early anyhow because 4 of us were invited to the Bridge for a tour.

 

I will write more later and include a review. I will also post some of my pictures to WebShots. In the mean time here is a picture of the Group at the Meet and Mingle and another of me on the Bridge...

 

Till we sail again...

 

Brian.

[montgomeryfamily]

Karen, thanks for the great review! Since the Patters on the website mentioned are out of order and dates don't match, would you mind at least listing the various days in the correct order with whatever the dinner was that night, like formal, Caribbean, Italian? Also, which night was Island night? If you have already scanned and posted them somewhere, you could just post the site instead. Thanks.

 

Also, Tigger, great photos! How did you get the invite to tour the bridge?

[Tracyr]

DH and I were also on this sailing and met with the CC group the first sea day.

Nice review Karen. Here are my additions

 

We were in an inside cabin D123. This was the most forward cabin we have had and only the second inside. I really didn't think we felt a big difference in the motion of the ship from other cabins we have had. This particular cabin was very noisy though. Near a crew area, so we had late night music, I almost came out of bed when the anchor went down in Belize, and we heard a lot of noises I would suspect from the rutters. However for the price we got the cruise for I would take the cabin again. Bed was good and duvet very nice.

 

We also thought the dining room menus were very limited. We ordered the steak (that is always available) a couple of nights just because nothing else jumped out at us. A big disappointment for us was the steak house $15 cover charge and we thought the steak and the service in the dining room was better.

 

We had personal choice dining, which wasn't what we had requested, we like traditional. However, we were very happy with it. I would do it again on Princess. We never had to wait, actually got sat in the same area a couple of times so we had the same waiter, but never felt rushed to get to dinner.

 

We also enjoyed the entertainment and the ports. We loved MATS. We felt the entire staff went out of thier way to make us have a great vacation. I am a nurse also, so I was very impressed with all of the sanitation stations and the crews obvious concern about cleanliness to prevent NORO.

 

This was our first Princess cruise of 14 cruises and I will definitly be cruiseing Princess more!!

Tracy

[montgomeryfamily]

Tracy, glad you had a nice cruise. Do you remember what night was Italian night and what night is Caribbean night? Thanks.

[happy cruzer]

Hey, thanks Tracy for adding the info about the steaks.

 

I assume you meant the Sirloin steak was good. what about the filet tournedos or the prime rib? did you get to try those?

 

I plan to venture out and try some of the unusual things on the menu but I am certainly glad to know I can fall back to a "good" steak. yum.

 

thanks for the info.

[Tracyr]

Montgomeryfamily: I have all of the patters so will look and see if it says which nights are Italian and Caribbean, I can't remember.

 

happy cruzer: Yes it was the sirlion steaks that are always on the menu and good. We had Prime Rib twice and I thought they were both good. My DH who orders his med/rare had one a little overdone, but they are happy to get you a new one. I don't remember filet tournedos being on the menu??? My DH who is a steak and potatoes man loved the escargot!! This shrimp cocktail that is available all the time is also great!!

Have a wonderful cruise, I only wish we were going again.

[karen2cruz]

Tracyr- it was fun meeting you on the cruise and we still have your business card :), so it's possible we meet up again on another cruise.

 

happy cruzer - the filet tournedos were actually on the menu twice, as was the prime rib, but I dont remember which nights.

[newnana]

Does anyone have menus from the Grand?

[spongerob]

Thanks for your review. I agree that Painted Desert has slipped just a bit. The steaks we had were good but I didn't like finding out that the separate side dishes were no longer available. Instead, you just get a dab of each one on your plate.