This review covers 4 b2b cruises on the Grand - including a 14 day Southampton to Rome, a 12 day Rome to Venice, a 12 day Venice to Rome, and lastly a 12 day Rome to Rome that included Egypt and Istanbul. In all we spent 50 consecutive days on the Grand, in the same cabin. It was indeed a trip of a lifetime. We both fully retired the end of August so it was our version of a world cruise to celebrate. If I were to try and provide the details this review might not ever get finished so I'll just give some highlights and impressions.

We booked Princess Air to fly from Grand Rapids MI to London, and we are very thankful we did! While we typically do our own transportation arrangements when we embark/disembark at the same port, we use Princess Air for trips that start and end different places. Our first surprise for this trip was having our Northwest flight canceled because of a mechanical as we waited to board at the gate. Total chaos ensued as people retrieved luggage and lined up for alternative arrangements. In a panic myself I called my TA who called Princess and when we got to the gate agent all was arranged. We also learned that the Grand would be late into Southampton because of weather coming from Oslo so our unexpected delay would not be a problem. When we got to Heathrow we were told to go to a meeting room at the Airport Hilton where we spent a few hours before the buses loaded to go to the port. It wasn't the way we thought we would spend our first hours in London but much better than if we were traveling on our own arrangements! Thanks Princess...

The Grand is one of our favorite ships - not too small and not too large. We never had a problem getting a seat in the Princess Theatre and enjoyed the Vista Lounge for other performances. We had seen the production shows many times before as they don't change for years, but it is still interesting to see different casts perform. The other entertainers were mostly from the UK - some were fantastic but one of the comics should have retired years ago. But then after seeing one performance you know who you would like to see again! We like the idea of repeating shows to give everyone a chance to see them - too often on the Emerald class ships we found it impossible to get a seat. Read more