BACKGROUND - We're both 46, and are limited as to when we can travel due to my job. Since I work in education, we have to travel during school vacations. This was our sixth cruise, and our fourth time to sail with Princess. Our first cruise was to Alaska on the Sea Princess. That cruise will probably never be matched...we were totally in awe of everything that week. Our March 10-17 cruise was the third year in a row we sailed on the Grand Princess from Galveston over Spring Break. We've also cruised twice with Royal Caribbean on the Rhapsody from Galveston and the Explorer from Cape Liberty NJ to Bermuda. That said, this cruise was all about getting away and relaxing as opposed to seeing new and exciting ports.

EMBARKATION - We arrived at the port a little before 11 after an easy 1 hour drive from our home in Houston. Jim dropped me off at the terminal with our luggage and drove over to EZ-Cruise parking. We pre-paid our spot for the week and saved $5.00, so our parking bill for the week was $50.00. We also had a $5 off coupon we received when we parked at EZ-Cruise last year, but they wouldn't honor it because we had received a discount for paying in advance. We entered the terminal about 11:10. There was quite a long line at security, which wasn't moving. We waited until three wedding parties boarded, and then the line started to move. Once we passed through security we walked straight to the check-in desk and had our cards in hand in less than a minute. Much to my surprise and pleasure we were told to board...they weren't using the waiting area at all. I would say the time from passing through security to arriving at out cabin was no more than 10 minutes...super easy and fast!

CABIN - Our cabin was a mid-ship Dolphin deck mini-suite - D327. We had the same cabin last year and liked the location so we booked it again. The Dolphin deck mini-suites on the Grand class ships do have completely open balconies, but that doesn't bother us at all and we really like having the extra space in the cabin and bathroom. We've found that because we have to travel during Spring Break and it's just the two of us, the cabin and balcony are a nice haven when we just want to relax and stare at the ocean. Our cabin steward this year was Nestor. He was outstanding! Anything we asked for was provided immediately, and he anticipated some things we hadn't thought to ask for and provided them! Our cabin was always clean, the ice bucket was always full, and we got a few extra chocolates! We tipped Nestor extra (over and above the auto-tips) on the last night of the cruise for providing great service all week. By the way, I have read lots of complaints about the mattresses on the Grand. Ours was fine. It was replaced before we sailed last year, in it was still in good condition. Read more