Grand Princess Review

Grand Princess - Western Caribbean

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Grand Princess
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Debordo
First Time Cruiser • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Jan 2006

We sailed from Galveston on the Grand Princess Jan 21, 2006. All in All I can say we had a nice time. This is our 6th cruise and our 2nd on Princess. Princess did change our itinerary due to engine problems but with the change gave each person $75 shipboard credit. We were happy with the change anyway as it made this itinerary much more relaxed. Now we had a full day in Belize and a day at Playa de Carmen instead of Grand Cayman. As we drove to Galveston we had no problem with embarkation except a rude parking attendant. From the porter who took our luggage, to the Princess Rep who signed us in, everyone was very pleasant and efficient.

I agree with the other reviews about the meals. We ate dinner every night in Traditional Seating. The menus the first couple of nights were the same menus we'd had on the Coral Princess last August. Presentation was lovely but some items were just so so. Even the desserts were just okay. Our seating was in the Botticelli dining room. This was a little hard to get to. The Botticelli sits Behind the Galley on Deck 6. The only way to get to it is either take the one of the only 2 elevators going to this deck or take the elevators to Deck 7 and walk the stairs. Not terribly convenient in a formal. As this itinerary took us to several locations we've been before, we opted out of taking any tours. We found the tender process to be very slow so had a leisurely breakfast then took a tender ashore. As the Grand Princess does not normally stop at Playa de Carmen, we'll give them a break here. The day we were at Playa de Carmen the seas were a little high and the tenders had a problem docking with the ship. Finally after about 2 hours, they turned the ship to block more of the wind and finally got passengers off. As we spent more time on the ship, we did spend more time by the pool.

I would say the large screen which shows movies ALL DAY long is unnecessary. Most everyone sitting by the pool found it to be more of an annoyance than a nice bit of entertainment. I'd much rather sit by the pool and listen to the band or record music than having a movie shout at me. A brief note on our cabin. It was a little smaller than what we've had in the past but the Balcony was huge. We were on the Caribe Deck which I understand has larger Balconies. This ship is a little different though, as each floor's balconies look down upon the floor below. A lot of fun when leaving the dock as everyone was out on their balconies celebrating but after that, I felt a lack of privacy.

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