We just returned from a 7-day cruise to the Western Caribbean aboard the Grand Princess. We had a great time! This was our fourth cruise, third on Princess, second on the Grand. The ship is in great shape. There were a few spots that show some age, but nothing really distracting from the beauty of the ship.
We arrived in Galveston on Friday night. There were 16 of us in our group, so we had contracted Galveston Limousine to pick us up at IAH airport. We picked up our luggage and walked out the ground transportation doors. We waited less than 5 minutes when the mini-bus pulled up and took us to Galveston. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Seawall. Not the fanciest hotel, but it served the purpose. Saturday morning the hotel provided a free shuttle to the cruise terminal.
Embarkation: We arrived at the cruise terminal at about 11:15 am. They were not boarding yet and there was a line building. Id guess we were probably about 200-250 people from the front of the line. The metal detectors and screeners opened at about noon, and we were on the ship by 12:15. Ive always been pleased with Princess embarkation and this was no exception. Within 5 minutes the check-in rep had us ready to go with cruise cards in hand.