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Could You Cruise With COVID?

Singapore

ABOUT US

Echo and I are brother and sister (I'm the sister), and are close knit. Neither of us had ever sailed before. I often have Youtube videos going to be a kind of background sound, and Tips for Travellers came on. Gary has a pleasant voice to half-listen to. I kept selecting TfT, and Youtube started popping up other cruise Influencers.

Because of this I realised that on a cruise ship, you have live music, theatre, good food and a place to retreat to, all within easy walking distance. To get that combination of things on land requires travel or a room in a carefully chosen in-city hotel.

Now 'easy walking distance' means easy for a healthy person. I'm not. We were unsure if I'd be okay just with my walker. Turns out I was/am! I had some stumbles, but there was often a handy railing nearby. My walking is vastly improved, even with just a four day cruise!

So. That's us. We chose Grand Princess' round trip, Melbourne (Australia) to Adelaide and back to Melbourne. 4 days was long enough to determine if we liked cruising, but short enough that if we hated it we could settle back into our cabins and crochet or something.

WE LOVE IT!

We absolutely, totally, unable to find enough superlatives, LOVE IT!

ENOUGH ABOUT US, WHAT ABOUT THE SHIP?

We didn't need travel or hotel stuff, we live in Melbourne. We spent a bit and used a chauffer service. Highly, highly recommended for people who hurt in car travel: they use cars with the best suspension.

We chose an inside stateroom, to try not to cost too much. It was nice, the closet held the walker with room for the clothes. There were plenty of USB sockets in the cabin, and we only brought five things we needed to charge. The bathroom was very squeezy, and didn't have enough room for Echo to help me: we're going to get an accessibility  cabin in the future.

At night, the Princess gently rocked us to sleep. I love the movement of the waves, even when they did cause me to stumble. (I doubt anyone able-bodied would stumble. Echo never did.)

WHAT ELSE ABOUT THE SHIP?

Grand Princess seems to be a bit on the older side, but recently refurbished. I found her beautiful, and she had plenty to keep us happy. 

We walked through the art gallery most of our trips between the centre of the ship and our room. I loved that, it made me very happy to browse through the art. Some of it I found truly beautiful. Others weren't exactly my thing, but that's the nature of art.

When I was getting stressed/tired, Echo parked me in the Piazza and I listened to live music. Usually he'd grab me a hot chocolate and something to eat from the International Cafe. I love hot chocolate, it gives me a warm feeling inside. The cafe's food was very good. The only complaint I could think of was that the servings were small - but really that just meant we could get two different things and enjoy them both!

Plus I love live music.

We had lunch at Alfredo's one of the days, but I was disappointed with my pizza. I can't think of the words to say how I didn't like it: it wasn't bad, it just didn't live up to the food on the rest of the ship.

We tried the buffet another time, and the server who served the buryani piled it on my plate. Which was a waste because it wasn't good. It was actually bad. Everything we tried at the buffet was nasty, which was very disappointing. Between that and the fact that you had to walk through open-air spaces to get to it, we only ate there once.

The other food was great! We ate at Michelangelo's, and we loved every meal. There was one server who was amazing: if you're on Grand Princess in Michelangelo's, ask if you can be served by Joey.

We spent some cash and ate at the Crown Grill, one of the specialty restaurants. We were both delighted. I had the Prime Rib, something I'd never eaten before. Oh. My. God it was wonderful! Every bite was an explosion of flavour. Umami, paired with tastes I couldn't define, but which totally enriched the umami feel.

We didn't explore many of the activities, doing what we did pushed the limits of my body's ability. Parking me in the piazza gave me the rest I needed but with the opportunity to watch and listen to musicians.

Service was attentive and caring, but with one exception. At disembarkation, they ask you to go to various places - in our case, the Da Vinci dining room. They put out water, orange juice, tea and coffee, but only at one station. The room is big, and there are other waiter stations: if they put some at each station, it'd be much more accessible.

Once I got my wheelchair support, disembarkation was quite smooth.

Summary?

WOW! AMAZING! DOING THIS AGAIN!

With a few minor modifications. Give Echo less to carry. Have an accessible cabin. Explore the bits of the ship we didn't explore last time. Get a physio to help me get fit-for-purpose, ie fit enough to explore more of the ship. Be able to be parked but with Echo worrying less. Take warmer clothes.

Well. If you've read this far you've read 916 words.

Loved it. Utterly loved it.

First Cruise. New experience, better than we had hoped.

Loved loved loved this cruise. The weather was perfect. The sea was like glass, with hardly a wave. The ports were perfect. Especially loved the overnight at Cairns. The food was excellent in the dining rooms (the buffet and hamburger house was a bit disappointing this time and sadly Alfredo’s is no longer free).  We had a small Norovirus issue which forced the ship to have strict protocols for food handling and cleaning of public areas, which was reassuring and we loved! The entertainment was ok. But our room… was wonderful! The premium balcony and layout of the beds facing the water was perfect. We spent a fair bit of time enjoying our room… even had breakfast delivered to us every morning on the balcony.  The room can accommodate 4 but 2 is perfect. Bathroom was slightly bigger too so didn’t trip over the pot from the shower lol.

Cabin was perfect!

Balcony room was great, no issues at all.  Though we did hear a few stories from other peoples cabins - no air conditioning, no hot water..  Bed was super comfortable, shower was great..  

Food in the Horizon Court was always luke warm, and some surprsing omissions like plain biscuits.  MDR menu was not vegetarian friendly, very limited options.  

Service throughout was excellent.  Really impressed how they handled a medical emergency when we were in the MDR.  Obviously very well trained staff calmly went into action, and provided privacy too.   Again, well trained and slick operation to make way for the helicopter landing.  

Activities were quite poor, there wasn't much to do during the day at all.  And for one of them a lot of us were all waiting but nothing happened (quilling) .  Hardly any music at all, though one excellent band but they were always in the Piazza, would have been better in Explorers lounge,

Great service, OK food, limited activities 

Friends anniversary

Appalling service, waited 1.5 hrs for every drink and food ordered some were never delivered but charged on app. App medallion did not work. No staff. This is with Princess plus package. 

The whole ship was a disgrace.

Severe toxic fuel smell and sewerage smell down corridors.

Paid top money for 2 days - would never travel with this liner. 

Went to speak with supervisor twice about charges and not getting orders… said they would look into it. Refund demanded!

Do NOT travel with Grand Princess choose Celebrity or Royal Carribbean 

WORST

SOME STAFF rolled eyes when ordering 

Rooms were very average

Bed was good 

Friends toilet blocked and smelt of sewerage

No supervisor or staff member was interested in dealing with the situation and assuring we would be heard. REFUND DEMANDED asap.

Fumes so bad on one level it literally made us sick - supervisor said it was because of the ‘ships movement’ what a joke!!!!

Appalling service - worst cruise ever

Rio de Janeiro

First cruise post Covid. Normally I cruise regularly on both Holland America and Princess. I deliberately kept my expectations low and given the large numbers of negative comments and complaints I noted prior to departure I wasn't expecting a really great cruise....

I was very pleasantly surprised. Embarkation in Honolulu was the quickest ever.... I arrived at the pier at 11am picked up my Medallion and 22 minutes later I stepped into my cabin!  My luggage was already in residence!

The cabin, an Aft Pemium Deluxe Balcony was clean and well appointed, the views were great and I really enjoyed it. Bed and pillows really comfortable.  In general I found the majority of the crew happy and helpful, there were a couple of exceptions but I just avoided them where possible. The ship is older but well maintained and I liked the size. 

I ate room service breakfast daily, served promptly with a smile and it was always hot and exactly as I ordered. Lunch alternated between the Buffet, Pizza Bar or Burger Bar. Always an excellent selection of tasty offerings and I certainly never went hungry. My evening meal was taken in one of the 3 dining rooms, I dined as and where I pleased, shared a table and enjoyed every meal. Good portion size, hot food hot, cold food cold. Varied menus with plenty to choose from.  The steaks were cooked to perfection. 

 The shrimp Cocktails could have done with a little love and occasionally the service was a bit hit and miss but not sufficient to spoil the meal.

Can't comment on any of the Bars as I don't drink alcohol but I did attend a couple of evening shows which I enjoyed. The "entertainment" generally didn't interest me but there seemed to be plenty to do if needed. I was content to relax in the sun or shade with a book, cool off in the pool and take lots of naps.

It was reasonably easy to find a sheltered, quiet, and secluded spot with a comfortable chair or lounger but I was really disappointed that many areas... the rear decks, parts of the promenade deck, the Casino and forward pool area etc were badly polluted with stinking cigarette smoke. Even standing at Guest Services was unpleasant with smoke wafting through the area from the Casino. This exposure to cigarette smoke was the most unpleasant aspect of the cruise and probably the worst of any cruise I've ever been on :(

Lots of sea days suit me just fine, I've spent time in all the Ports before so didn't do any excursions, just a good walk around locally.

All in all a great Cruise and I really can't wait until my next one :)

Way better than expected :)

Darwin

Spent far too much time and energy planning this cruise and cruise tour. The web site and app. is not user friendly and response time is hit and miss likely causing us to book our next cruise with another company. Otherwise I would have rated this cruise a solid 4, maybe even 5. 

However, The logisistics and on board and on land service was excellent at all levels. This was our 2nd Alaska Cruise/land cruise trip on Princess. This time we started in Fairbanks and traveled South. Middle of September was a bit cold, was told this was the the final trip of the season. Upside was the epic fall colors. Land portion was put together well except at the Mckinnely lodge. Far too many people and sparse facilities. All the coach and train transportation was very enjoyable, great narration throughout.

Aboard the ship, overall too crowded, ship in better shape then previous reviews on this site. All the restaraunts food is consistent and of high quality, service higher yet. 

We were very disappointed with the on board shopping. Wierd hours and not the least bit convienent. How can a ship this size not stock items for sickness relief. For example, I would guess that over half the passengers would have benifited by being able to purchase cold medicines and remidies, cough syrups and lozenges and a far larger assortment of over the counter medicine. The first 2 days of trip were at sea and we were unable to access anything like this. By day 3, many were coughing with possible covid spreading.

Grand Princess, Web site and pre planning an absolute nightmare

Brisbane

Picked this cruise as a B2B to the Vancouver-Sydney relocation cruise.  The weather for 14 days was bleak, but doing a return trip we managed to see everything we wanted, though we missed Hubbard Glacier and the first Ketchikan stop.  The internet worked well and we had no problems with the Medallion app.  Would have spent more time in the casino except the smoke smell was terrible, seeping out into the atrium.   We found the ship temperature to be comfortable and the cabin aircon worked well.

We found the food to be of a high standard, even though the menu could have had more variation.  We ate in the Crown Grill and Sabatini's.  The food was very good in both, with the wait staff in Sabatini's excelling. The $14.95 casual dining in Alfredo's was very good value.

The noise in the atrium was overpowering when live music was happening, making it impossible to discuss anything with guest services staff.

We had an Ocean view obstructed cabin berween two tenders chosen carefully after viewing pictures online and studying deck plans.     Everything worked, with new shower curtains which did not stick to you - a big plus.  Plenty of storage.  Bedside lights with USB socket and an Australian plug on the desk.

First Alaska cruise  14 days

There's a lot of things that made this entire experience not enjoyable from the beginning. Dealing with customer service is almost nonexistent. They do not reply to emails, when you cancel things on their website there's no way to tell if you're due reimbursement, where it goes, and their methodology for giving onboard credit versus a refund and when they issue is vague at best.  We were due various credits for cancelled and rebooked packages and no answers, 3 to 4 hour holds, and no returned emails. Fast forward to our first trip to Mount McKinley. That was canceled due to an alleged murder. They never even bothered to tell all of us where we were staying and I only found out through one member of my party. This would have left my daughter at the McKinley after her excursion over 50 miles away being stranded at 8:30 PM at night alone with no transportation to Talkeetna because there's no transportation after 5 PM at night. Our group was transported to Talkeetna where our excursion was canceled there also. There were no excursions for us to do there and Talkeetna itself offers no hikes and not much to do. I should have better checked out the itinerary because we were transferred up to Denali, where we got to spend almost no time. When we boarded the ship, the train was delayed by a mudslide therefore, we missed the first day of seeing a Glacier. The train was only delayed five hours, and not sure why they couldn't make it up, but we were given no explanation. My daughters roommate turned out to get sick so on the first day of boarding, I asked to purchase an additional room. My travel agent was off for the weekend as well as princess guest services. They never got back to me until four days after the cruise started with this obscene amount of money for the remaining four days. Then there was the Covid break out where 90% of everybody in our 16 person party got Covid. It started on the train with everybody, coughing and hacking, and then I noticed a spread sickness once we boarded the ship. We all missed dinners and excursions due to that. Dinners were OK. Service in dining and rooms is excellent but the food never arrived hot. Just Luke warm. I did enjoy the nightly entertainment. A lot of it was in their control, and some of it out of their control but all in all, I will not be sailing princess again.

Just OK

I chose this cruise due to what seemed like a great price without the 100% single supplement that Princess usually charges. My cruise was 14 nights in duration, not 7 nights, so leaving Vancouver and returning home at the end.

My criticisms are mostly to do with all of the hassles prior to the cruise, plus of course the unilateral policy changes after I had already bought my ticket. It seems as if their left hands doesn't know what their right hands are doing! For instance, I filled out all of the information in regards to my mobility scooter, yet the excursions department onboard had none of the information that I had provided, so it had to be done again. Also, for weeks they couldn't find me as a prior customer.

While the ship design allows for excellent show venues, the quality of the musicians was IMHO substandard. Plus on the starboard side at the top where the disabled can watch from, repeatedly had an unpleasant plumbing smell. I ended up moving to the port side area in order to get away from the smell.

The food was of decent quality in the restaurants and buffet, and did include "surf and turf" on both Gala nights.

My criticisms are mostly to do with all of the hassles prior to the cruise, plus of course the unilateral policy changes after I had already bought my ticket.

We booked an Alaska cruisetour with Princess after lots of research. Have done nearly 30 cruises with various lines including several with Princess.

Spent 7 days on a land tour first, which was excellent and ran very smoothly despite the changes of location along the way.

We chose the Grand as we wanted a smaller ship and love the wrap around promenade deck on this older class. The smaller size meant the ship could travel the Inside Passage, which the Royal class can't, and fewer people getting on/off at the ports of call. Lots of open space to view the magnificent scenery.

We had a Reserve collection mini suite on Dolphin deck which provided plenty space and access to the Reserve class dining area. We have done this a few times before and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere and extra choice.

The two negatives from the ship were 1) the cental stairway that was badly designed (and changed for future Grand class ships) as it goes nowhere after deck 7 meaning only the front and rear stairs are of any real use.

2) The horrible smell of sewage on certain parts of the promenade deck walking track, particularly at the top of the stairs near the bow of the ship. 

Overall though a very good cruise.

LOOKING GOOD FOR ITS AGE

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