Grand Princess Review
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Despite unexpected events in which Princess was not at fault,we did manage to find enjoyment in our 15 day Hawaiian cruise in January. On the second day out, a crew member took his life by jumping overboard. The Coast Guard took over and our ship, along with another Princess liner, a cargo ship, and several Coast Guard aircraft spent the next 36 hours searching for him. Needless to say, he was not found. I have since read on this site that a passenger jumped overboard from this same ship a few months ago! At the end of our search, another member of the crew was transferred to the other Princess ship in our area due to appendicitis. Apparently, that ship was going to get to Hawaii before us. These delays caused us to miss the port of Hilo entirely(missed our much anticipated shore excursions there) and cut 5-6 hours from our stay in Honolulu. Princess was able to offer some abbreviated tours to Pearl Harbor and from what we saw, the Shore Excursion office handled a stressful situation well. In fact, the passengers we encountered who were talking about our delays were very accepting of a situation out of anyone's control. Lastly, my husband and I both had a 24 hr.bout of stomach virus which caused us to miss the last formal evening and the Captain's farewell celebration. To compensate for the missed port time, Princess offered a 20% refund of our cruise fare if applied to a new cruise booked by the end of 2014.
The Grand is an older ship but the common areas are well maintained; the issues with rust, water leaks, sewage, carpeting and such as listed in previous reviews, appeared to have been remedied during the recent drydock. Have cruised 8 times with Princess and have never seen Horizon Court Buffet so clean and well serviced. Food stations were immaculate, tables were set with cutlery and shiny clean, waiters served drinks and whisked dirty dishes away as soon as you took your final bite! The staff overall were friendly, helpful and seemed happy to be serving us at all levels, which has not always been the case on other Princess ships. Upbeat Cruise Director's staff added to the fun factor!
The Hawaiian experience began the first day: passengers and crew donned Aloha shirts, Hawaiian duo Makani E played Hawaiian music in several venues(they were fabulous!), Hula and ukulele lessons began, and fascinating lectures began about the formation of the Hawaiian Islands and not-to-be-missed activities there. Getting into Hawaiian mode right away greatly enhanced our trip!
Cabin Review
We have worked our way through the room categories with each of our cruises and splurged for a suite at the aft of the ship for our 15 day Hawaiian cruise. We were very excited to have the "suite experience" but were disappointed and may not splurge again! There are positives, especially for a longer cruise: ample sq footage, lots of storage space in cabin(aside from bathroom), roomy enough closet, many hangars, not having to constantly maneuver around bed, lots of natural light, great mattress, one free mini-bar set up, flowers and fresh fruit, comfy cushions on deck furniture, great spa tub(takes much time/water to get it full enough for jets to work though), one dinner at Sabatini's, breakfast there every morning(huge portions!) Just expected room to be more "elegant" ; furniture is the same as in other cabin categories, one large, very sad plant, faded paintings on walls and some large, very blank walls, faded upholstery, wooden deck furniture close to needing varnish, limited counter space and shelving in bathroom, wobbly drawers, and worst of all, it was not cleaned properly! I know they do a quick turnover of passengers on embarkation day, but is was painfully obvious this cabin had received only a cursory cleaning. Had to call steward to go over the bathroom again and clean up sticky candy on carpet. Princess needs to up the elegant factor to attract us to a suite again.If you are booking a room at rear of ship, be aware of wake noise from propellers. It is significant, and if you like that, these rooms are great! Best feature of this cabin: no wind on balcony so it was usable on all sea days.