Grand Princess Review

Pleased overall but not outstanding

Review for the Baltic Sea Cruise on Grand Princess
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lidorose
6-10 Cruises • Age 2020s

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Sail Date: Jun 2012

This was my 7th cruise and my first with Princess. I have previously sailed with Holland America, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. This is my first review.

Embarkation: We had scheduled our private transfer before we got our staggered boarding time of 1:30, so we arrived in Southampton at about noon, but they let us check in right away. Security got backed up, which made them hold the check-in lines until the security lines were cleared. It took us about an hour to get through. However, our rooms were ready and waiting for us, as was our luggage. I was impressed! I talked to some folks that arrived at about 1:00 and waited 2 ½ hours to get through the embarkation procedure. I don't think staggered boarding would have helped.

Ship: I think the Grand Princess is one of the most beautiful ships I have been on, and was also the largest. I enjoyed the ambience in the dining rooms and really didn't miss the huge windows I am used to. I especially thought the Wheelhouse Bar was lovely. The lack of central stairs was awkward, though. We had to keep remembering to walk down to deck 7 and then go across to the center for decks 6 and below. It was also a bit weird that the Lido was in two completely separate spaces. I am used to being able to go from one side to the other without having to walk back into the hall and go around to the other side. I never thought it was crowded, though. Traffic flow was good, but it was sometimes difficult to find a place to sit. That worked well for me, though, as I got to sit with and enjoy the company of strangers. We had some nice conversations! I thought the burgers, hot dogs and pizza were situated very far away from the Lido. It might work on a cruise with warmer weather, but I had no intention of sitting in the pool area -- too cold! I also thought the traffic flow on deck seven by the photos was horrible. There was always a crush of people looking at their pictures and hardly room to squeeze through. Since the Wheelhouse Bar and Sabatini's were here, it got crowded quite often. I also thought the areas on deck 15 were hard to get to since they were so spread out with no way to get to them without having to go up/down several sets of stairs. I thought there were several areas of the ship you could go to for some peace and quiet, which I like.

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