Live from the Grand, March 13-27, 2009

[cruzzers]

Greetings from the Grand Princess! We have had beautiful weather and a great time so far. We are just leaving Aruba today and on on our way to Caruso. We shopped this morning and found some fun bargains. This afternoon we took a taxi to the beach and spent the rest of the afternoon there basking in the warm (79 degree) sun. The taxi from right out in front of the ship was $15 for the 4 of us. On the way back it was only $10 for some reason. We were going to try the city bus with a fare of only $2.60 pre couple but will do that another time. So far the food has been wonderful, entertainment--pretty good, service--great.

 

Oh yeah, we were very surprised to find out that the upgrade fairy blessed us with a last minute upgrade at the port upon check in. We are almost Elite and have never had this happen before. We had an inside gurantee, that had already been upgraded to an obstructed ocean view room, with a room assignment. As we checked in at the terminal, they told us we had a room change to the Caribe deck, balcony, midship. Woo Hoo! Those are the nice larger balcony decks that are half covered and half open with lots of privacy. We are traveling with 2 other couples and one of them got upgraded to a mini suite from a balcony and the other couple stayed the same. (they ended up right underneath us so we can go out on the deck and talk) Thank you Princess!!!

 

Better run for now and see what is on the dinner menu. I will try to write more later so if you have questions, let me know and I will try to get answers for you.

 

PS.....beds are not great...hard and somewhat lumpy. We got an egg crate and is a bit better but not much.

[Toto2Kansas]

Hey, thanks for checking in. And a BIG congrats on that upgrade. Nothing like a balcony to warm the spirits. Enjoy your dinner and check back when you can. ;)

BTW-I agree about the beds. Ours was like a rock and even three egg crates didn't make it comfortable. :(

[sweet]

Just got off the Grand Friday and took some advice . got space bag and put in a used eggcrate we had in our rv and our bed was SUPER !!! The last night our steward let us have vacum cleaner over night and we took off bed and took it home. Bed was hard last night to sleep on. Try it does not take much room or weight !!!!

[mii]

Cruzzers I have a friend and also a CC member by the name of Debbie(Jeepers). Have you seen her yet and if you do say hello for me.

 

Congrats on the upgrade. That is so neat. Too bad about the beds. Shoot I wish they would do something about them. I always out of habit on every single cruise request an egg crate.

 

Marilyn

[tickbite]

Thanks for your live thread. My wife and I will walk on the Grand as you depart on the 27th. We look forward to reading your daily comments. Thank you for taking the time to keep us informed!:)

[Colo Cruiser]

Enjoy and thanks for posting.

[susiefay]

Hey Beth and Terry, great to hear from you! Nice upgrade, way to go!! That is a real upgrade:D We love the balconies on the Caribe deck.

We shall live vicariously through your posts, as we are in the midst of PCD. aka post cruise depression:eek:

 

Hope you have a great time, we sure did!! susan

[dianef]

Will look forward to reading your posts.Will be on the Grand on the 27th.Hope you have good weather,and hope we do also. I hope I get surpised,like you,with an upgrade to a balcony. We are Platinum and we went from the original inside and upgraded ourselves to an ob.outside.Never had a balcony.Would love for the upgrade fairy to visit us.We are travelling with 4 other people also,with cabins next door to eachother.Wondered if they would upgrade one and not the other.I guess they do.

[phabric]

Enjoyed reading your first review. Will be looking for more.

[ocnlvr3]

Thanks for the "live from" it sure helps us get even more excited then we already are:) If you can find out when the chefs tables are that would be great!

 

 

Andrea

[lovespositano]

Who is in Crooners? Is it Maurizio?

[burm]

Thanks for the "live from" it sure helps us get even more excited then we already are:) Andrea

 

Is that possible? :D

 

Congrats on your terrific upgrade Cruzzers and please tell us about the food. I am especially interested in knowing what is on the menu the evening of Barbados.

 

We look forward to hearing more from you.

[burm]

 

The caption on the webcam today says that the Grand is underway to Grenada. Is that for real or an error?

 

(I believe my webcam insert will update itself so probably by the time everyone sees it, it will read underway to Trinidad as it should :) )

[winesfine]

We also had a balcony on the Caribe deck. That's the first time we've had such a large balcony. I've told my TA to make sure our file says that anytime we are on the Grand to book a Caribe cabin!

 

Have fun. Enjoy the sun. Wish we were back.

 

P.S. Who is your cabin steward???? Hope it isn't George.

[Colo Cruiser]

Look at that water color!! :D

[CaliJohn]

Very odd that they're headed towards Grenada instead of Trinidad. If true, will be interesting to find out the reason...

[musicnana]

Lucky you!! We will also be on the Grand on the day you leave. Just a question though, when are the formal nights. Someone said you have 3 formal nights on a 14-day trip and someone also said there were only 2 night. Which one is it?

[wishful thinking]

Sorry to hijack this thread but just wanted to say, you must be very proud of your daughter Lori. We saw all the shows on the last sailing and she was fantastic. You might remember, my son's band is also on board and his girlfriend is a dancer in the shows.

 

Oh do I miss being on the Grand Princess :(

[CaliJohn]

for the kind words.

 

Really happy you enjoyed the shows. They all work very hard as you know to make them as good as possible. Lori has mentioned your son, but I didn't know his GF was a dancer, I'll ask her about it. She'll be home the end of April for a few months (getting homesick), then back on again - who knows where... We're going to try to join her on a cruise next time.

 

My apologies also for hijacking. These forums really need a PM option.

[susiefay]

Jiust got off the grand and there were 3 formal nights.:(

[burm]

Jiust got off the grand and there were 3 formal nights.:(

 

 

What did you think of Trinidad? What did you do there?

[cruzzers]

Cruzzers I have a friend and also a CC member by the name of Debbie(Jeepers). Have you seen her yet and if you do say hello for me.

 

Congrats on the upgrade. That is so neat. Too bad about the beds. Shoot I wish they would do something about them. I always out of habit on every single cruise request an egg crate.

 

Marilyn

 

Yep! We have met Debbie and they are on the St Vincent tour with us coming up. I will tell her you asked about her.

[cruzzers]

Who is in Crooners? Is it Maurizio?

 

Maurizio has now been moved to the atrium for more room. I think he is going to be in the Princess theater tonight due to his popular following.

[cruzzers]

We are in Granada today instead of Trinidad. Princess was concerned with "political problems" and decided to change ports. We had our second formal night last night and had a very nice dinner. The food has been really good and we have enjoyed eating breakfast out on our deck each morning. Something most people may not know, is that you can write anything on your breakfast order and they will bring it. We order oatmeal and sometimes eggs and bacon and toast. It has always been delivered with a smile.

 

Our day at sea yesterday was blessed with a show from a large school of dolphins playing in the wake of the ship right under our midship balcony. We were watchine the gulls fly by and fish when we started seeing the dolphins. They would run beside the ship, turn and hit the big waves at the side of us and then fly in perfect unison out of the water all at the same time. What a show! You couldn't have paid to see anything better.

 

We have a new TV in our room and it looks like they are delivering them to other rooms as well.

 

the weather has been beautiful so far and we are looking at another great day ahead of us here in Granada. We have a private tour booked for Barbados with Thriller for tomorrow so we hope we have lots to sun for snorkeling with the turtles and viewing the reef and shipwreck. Can't wait!

 

Over and out for now!

[burm]

We are in Granada today instead of Trinidad. Princess was concerned with "political problems" and decided to change ports.

 

Thank you so much for telling us. I have been following the webcam and was wondering why it said Grenada instead of Trinidad. I just got off the phone with Princess and they said it was a typo and the ship really was in Port of Spain. I said no, CC people said the webcam shows Grenada. So I got off the phone and was delighted to see your post. Thank you!!!!