Grand Princess Review

Grand Princess - Northern Europe

Review for the Baltic Sea Cruise on Grand Princess
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Maxine
First Time Cruiser • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Aug 2007

Embarkation lines were the longest we'd ever seen, but they moved steadily. Upon arriving in our room, the first thing we noticed was the lumpy bed. There was not one spring in the mattress. We called for an egg crate and after it didn't arrive, I called back and asked for a new mattress. Someone came to inspect the mattress and agreed it had to go. A new mattress arrived during the next day. Still, the vertical ridge down the middle of the bed where the hookup is, makes it very uncomfortable and limits your sleep space. There was mildew in our shower. The balcony had rust around the sides and stains from what appeared to be bird droppings were embedded in our balcony chairs. The room steward, however, was efficient, but there is only so much she can do. Throughout the ship, signs of wear and tear abound. You can see carpeting in the throes of unraveling and stains are not uncommon. The entertainment is almost pitiful - harmonica players, jugglers, ventriloquists, magicians, etc. "Motor City", the show, should have embarrassed the entertainers. Only Ricki Jay, the comedian, actually entertained us. The indoor pool was heated, but the room it was in was cold. No matter. The kids took over almost around the clock. In fact, the kids nearly took over the entire ship. They ran up and down the cabin hallways at all hours of the night, ran around the entire ship day and night, rode the elevators alone, playing with the buttons and even hanging out on the deck at night with no chaperone. Staff seemed frustrated, but did not utter a word of protest. All in all, this was the most disappointing cruise we have taken with Princess. It is also our last. Most people we met felt the same way. Since they have been bought out, Princess, on every level, has gone down dramatically. Last year, we noticed the food was only mediocre, but this year, it was fairly vile. The "Movies Under the Stars" is a bad joke. The movies are not first-run and they are no longer available on your cabin television set. A handful of people sat out at night on deck chairs wrapped up in blankets in the cold, rainy weather to watch movies that were being shown on my cable at home. One night, "Casablanca" was playing on T.V. That was the kind of television that Princess made available.

Stay out of the Horizon Buffet. It is a disaster. The same food is served, with small exception, day in and day out. There is no order. People push and cut in right in front of you. They often ran out of things and fill the empty display windows with napkins. At 11:00 P.M. each night, the food was removed and only the dredges of the day were left out - mostly cakes and pastries. So much for the 24-hour buffet. One night, we sat at a table and a cleaning crew actually began to buff the floor in full view of the passengers and with all the food exposed. Forget the days when lamb chops were served and smoked salmon was available every morning at breakfast. Now they make Japanese fried rice and even won ton soup to go with your eggs, if you are so inclined. The dining room was slightly better, although we did send a lot of food back to the kitchen, particularly the soups. Lobster night presented with the tiniest lobster tails I'd ever seen - a long cry from last year's fare - which, by the way, was slipping somewhat then. Desserts were exactly the same as every other year - even the sugar-free ones. The excursions were not always what was described, which caused major discomfort to my husband. The "chocolate factory" in Belgium was nothing more than a short demonstration of pre-mixed chocolate and a sales pitch. We were raced around Paris and I can quote the tour guide as saying, "if you look quickly to the right, you can see the corner of the Louvre". In Norway, we were constantly threatened by the tour guide that if we were a minute late returning to the bus, they would leave without

us. We were almost running to keep up with her all day. In Dublin, we were told that it was too windy and that it was low tide and we couldn't go ashore. Every small skiff around passed us all day and we weren't allowed on shore until 4:00 P.M. Needless to say, almost everyone lost out on their excursions. The stores in Dublin closed at 6:00 P.M., so we had less than two hours to get into Dublin to go shopping. We were nickled and dimed at every turn. A soda card was going for $47. Drink the iced tea instead. When a shuttle was available to bring you into town from the dock, we were charged $5 per person each way. This was our 4th and last Princess cruise. We will wave to you somewhere down the road (or wave) from the decks of Celebrity. Or Royal Caribbean. Or Oceania. Or a small tug. Anything but Princess.

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