We live near San Francisco, Grand Princess is the only ship based in SF so we use it. We prefer small ships like the Pacific Princess. We use Princess because we think it is good value for money, we like the decor, and the service is ok. Overall this was a basic Princess cruise. But I might mention the stage shows were above average, with four good productions on a ten day cruise.

What was new was Club Class. Since we were booked in a suite we automatically got the new Club Class benefits. Club Class was okay but I would not pay extra for it, at least not until it is improved. This was only the second cruise for the Grand with Club Class and I think it may be a work in progress since some of the promised details like free bottles of wine and water in the cabin never happened.

The bigger deal is Club Class dining. Basically Club Class dining is anytime dining in a section of one of the main dining rooms, with little or no wait. The tables are a bit farther apart and have different linen, and we had a very nice Maitre'd and hostess. But the basic food and service is the same as the main dining room with the addition of some unremarkable "specials". The Maitre'd has a station where he sautés a few things or makes a Caesar salad, but I would not call it tableside preparation. Since it is anytime dining you don't necessarily have the same servers every night, which we would prefer. The major advantage of Club Class dining is the anytime feature, since the traditional dining times were now 5:30 (instead of 6) and 7:45, too early or too late for us. We had to wait for a table occasionally, but never very long. Overall very good, but just not that much better than the main dining rooms. Read more