Ship Stats: The Grand Princess was built in 1996 and refurbished in 2002. She can accommodate 3,100 passengers and has approx 1,300 guest staterooms and she has around 1,060 crew members onboard. The Grand Princess measures 893 ft. long and 116 ft. wide. She is equipped with 4 pools, 8 hot tubes, 2 steam rooms, 2 saunas, and 1 baby pool. The Grand Princess is equipped with 11 bars, 3 formal dining rooms, 3 theaters, a casino, a workout room, and a dance club. In size the Princess is definitely grand.

Embarkation: We arrived at the departing port (Galveston, TX) one hour prior to embarkation. The terminal had curb side luggage check-in which could accommodate two cruise vessels. Upon arrival, we were immediately greeted by a cruise line bell-hop that took our luggage and directed us to the check-in line. We stood in line approx. 30 minutes while we waited for check-in to begin. Many first time cruisers were under the impression that they had a special express check-in line since they filled out the forms online. The first timers pushed their way to the front of the line to find out they were wrong. Cruise personal were non-existent outside of the secured area, creating a little confusion for people with questions. With any cruise line checking-in isn't the best experience, RCCI (Royal Caribbean) was a longer wait, but we had places to sit, and it was slightly more organized.

To our surprise, once the line began moving, it moved very quickly. The check-in process took approximately 25-30 minutes; we were on board in no time! My wife and I were much more impressed with the Princess's check-in process over RCCI because once it began moving, it kept moving. Like most cruisers, as long as the line is moving, we are satisfied. Read more