This was our(David & Teri) 7th cruise and our 4th on Princess. The dates were Jan 20 - 27.It was easy for us to cruise all 4 of our Princess cruises on the Grand since we live in Dallas, TX. & the ship leaves out of Galveston, TX about 6 months out of the year. It is only a 4 ½ hour drive. We are very sad to hear that the Grand will not be back next year. Rumor has it that 2-3 crew members left the ship at Galveston and did not return. Immigration officials frowned on this very seriously (to bad they don't do as good a job at our borders but that is another story all together),We drove to Galveston the night before the cruise & stayed at the Ramada Limited. We arrived at about 1:00 am Rates were kind of outrageous at $91.00 a night but that is what you get when you decide at the last min to leave early and not plan ahead. Too bad that someday a hotel chain might come up with the idea of ½ day charges. Out of 5 stars I would rate this Ramada about a 2 ½. Most Ramadas I rate a 4 but this one is just a place to stay on the beach and is not very well taken care of as the others are in the chain. This was the first cruise for the other couple(Brad & Cathy)that was traveling with us. His birthday was on the 24th which made things extra special. I will add their comments at the end of this review. I think we all were very excited about the cruise and it showed by not much sleep that night or the night before.

embarkation:We arrived at the terminal at about 12:00 noon. We dropped the girls off with the luggage and Brad & I zipped on over to EZ cruise parking. They are very convenient & professional. Both of us are musicians and because of the longer hair were asked for autographs & pictures by the staff Ha! Ha! Big ego boost! Since the weather was not all that great at the time Brad rented a cover for his SUV.Rental space cost $50.00 for 7 days online & $10.00 for the cover. You should take note to always book your rental ahead of time because they can fill up & you might have to use terminal parking(YUK..$70.00 for the week and no shuttle service).When we entered the terminal it was just 2nd nature on where to go since we have been on this cruise 4 times in the last 2 years. The lines were not too long at the security checkpoint but were VERY long at the check in counters. Teri & I went to express check in and showed our Captains Circle member cards. The lady sad that only Platinum & Elite members could use that line where there were hardly any people. I promptly said Well what use is this card. This is when Princess really shined for me on customer service. The Princess rep asked if she could see my card again and said she did not realize that we were Gold members and let us in the line. Always remember to ask for things in a nice manner & good things will come. When we were checking in we asked if the couple traveling with us could check in there also. The counter rep said YES(BIG BROWNIE POINTS FOR PRINCESS)but keep it a secret. Next was the line for the pictures. I am not fond of this due to the fact that people don't always look their best after traveling. Big mistake on my part. Our group picture turned out great. Our extra bonus for this cruise was $25.00 per person shipboard credit and a free photo. Good thing we did not bypass the first picture. This is the only one we had time for the whole cruise. We were on the ship in less than 30 minutes. I cannot say enough about the way Princess works their muster drills. It is done in the theaters where it is calm & relaxing. Other ships usually do this outside where it can be very uncomfortable. at times(weather & standing).

Rooms:We purchased our cruise online.I think we received a fantastic price of $1371.26 per couple. The rooms were ocean view balconies on the aloha deck(A-214 &A-218 also connected on the balconies)Rooms are fine in size for 2 people but any more would be kind of cramped. Bathroom is ok in size but set up only for one person at a time. Beds were fine in size(seemed more like a king than a queen)This is an OK location for rooms but not our favorite And it is true that the balconies on the caribe deck are much larger but Teri & I insist our favorite is the Lido deck. If you stay on this level you can walk just down the hall to sooooo much of the ship activities without using the elevator. We have been on this deck 2 times before. You are on the same level with all the pools, the pizza, hamburger,& hotdog stations, the Horizon buffet, and last but not least MUTS(Movies under the Stars- a 300 sq ft dynamic picture screen).This is the best idea I have ever seen on any cruise ship. And in response to anyone who does not like it by the pool GO TO ANOTHER POOL!!!We enjoy this entertainment during the entire cruise. They even played the NFL conference finals. Many times on our balcony you could see the flying fish come out of the water & glide for about30 yards. Then the time(about half way through the cruise) came that was one of the highlights and why you have a balcony. THE DOLPHINS They swam right up to the ship and went under the ship as to not have a care in the world. There were 4 packs of about 4 to 5 each. Too bad that on some of the islands they are caged & trained to do stunts & interact to swim with people just for the almighty dollar. They just look so much more happy in the wild. What wonderful species they are. Our room steward was Dom. I think she was from the Philippines. We tipped her very well at the end of the week(I will let you know what we think of the automatic gratuities at the end of this review)due to her great service. Read more