I'll begin by saying this is the 3rd cruise my wife & I have made; with one each on Carnival, RCCL, and now Princess. We were to board the Grand Princess (GP) in Galveston and parked in the EZ Park lot for the week. This is the simplest way for those driving to the dock. Book it on line and you'll gave a few bucks. Do not attempt to be one of the many that decide to be dropped off at the pier. Big mistake. There re simply too many cabs, buses, cars, etc all trying to move around in a small one way street.

The boarding process went smoothly as any I've been on. We arrived at 11:00 and were looking for our room 30 minutes later. The initial impression of our mini-suite was acceptable but smaller than we anticipated. The problem we had was we immediately compared it to our larger Navigator of the Seas (RCCL) suite. We decided to pay a little less for this mini and won't make that mistake again. The suite itself was a little dated. The first thing I noticed was the mattresses were concaved and seemed like lying in a hammock. I'm not exaggerating here folks- they needed replacement badly. The interior was clean although the carpets were slightly worn and stained. I kept telling myself that she is a 9 yr old ship and wear is to be expected. Overall though the interior was "good". The balcony was again smaller than RCCL (understandably) and lacked lounge chairs. The area holds a small single table and 4 chairs-two of which recline. My wife was able to sun on the deck by shooting the backs of each reclining chair flat then butting them next to each other- it worked. Here is a major problem with the Dolphin deck that you will read in just about every review you see: the lack of privacy from above. You could literally look down onto our patio from the every level above us. This only presented a serious problem when some clown threw the ice from his drink over the upper railing and it fell down on us while we were seated outside (day 6). The decks above us had partial covering which seems strange as they decrease in cost as you go higher up. Grade: B.

Crew: Our room attendant was the most helpful crew member we were exposed to. He provided an entire bottle of champagne, when we expected only a glass each, when he first met us (anniversary gift). He went out of his way to do anything we asked throughout the entire cruise and can't save enough good things about his work ethic. The majority of the rest of the crew left something to be desired I'm afraid. We could only surmise that this being the last Caribbean run for the season the GP the crew was a little worn out. Tempers were short and dispositions were far from "bright & cheery". Those of us at the dinner table all remarked at how the crew seemed surly and in general far from helpful. The funny thing was our waiter at the fixed seating dining made sure that we all knew just exactly where and how to rate the dining room personnel on the end-of-the-cruise review. Sorry to say he didn't get the numbers he told us to put down. I will say that wandering members of the crew did make it a point to say hello nearly every time you passed them. It was during interaction that their demeanor fell to the wayside. The other thing that really bothered us was the constant barrage of sales both on the boat and at each port. It got to be obnoxious after a while. Several channels on the TV were devoted to island shopping and on board seminars were not a talk about the island in general but instead where you could get the best deals (and Princess gets a big commission). Grade: C- (at best & on a good day) Read more