My partner and I are frequent cruisers (20+) and enjoy the low stress that comes with cruising once on board. This was our first Princess cruise, we have sailed mostly with NCL. We are middle aged and most of the people on this cruise were in the 45+ age range. With this being a holiday cruise, there were kids, but not as many as we thought there might be. Most of the entertainment this cruise centered on the holidays and would not be typical of the regular weekly sailings.

I would consider the Grand Princess a small/medium sized ship and on the older side (built 1998). I will post some pictures or a link on the Princess boards soon. The recent renovation centered on the main atrium (Piazza) and Sancuary, thus some ware can still be seen in other parts of the ships. The elevators are on the slow side throughout the ship, more so forward and aft (remember going down steps is easier than going up, so be prepared or be patient). It always seems that these size ships are at times difficult to navigate from floor to floor (can't get there from here type issues) and can be a challenge. For some reason I got the impression that the elevators and steps were on opposite sides/reversed than what I was used to on other ships and that caused me to get confused about which direction was forward and aft...probably just me??? The staff on this boat I found to be extremely friendly, always smiling faces and very accomidating. I only found the International Cafe to be the one place where the staff behind the counter appeared to be less friendly than the rest (open 24 hrs, maybe reason why???)

Embarkation was very organized and started about 12:00 p.m. We were there early and they had a seating area where we could sit until they were ready. Our bags were at our room by 3:00 p.m. and we were pretty much unpacked before muster. Read more