This was our 2nd cruise on the Grand Princess, and I scheduled it knowing that the ship was to under go a 2 week dry dock refit in December 2016. We noticed on our first cruise that the ship badly needed new carpeting, painting, new furniture, and a facelift.,When we boarded in San Francisco, we didn't notice any changes. The only thing we noticed was a new bed in the cabin. They replaced all the beds on the ship, and that was a nice improvement, but no new carpets, painting or other furniture. The rest of the ship looked just like it did on our last cruise.

The cruise was enjoyable, with 3 nice stops, and we loved the 5 sea days. Food was good in the dining rooms, the Crown grill, and the pizzeria. The buffet was good, but not outstanding. We had anytime dining, and that was a misnomer. This was our third Princess cruise, and on our prior cruises, we were able to get a table for 2 or 4 every night, and only had to wait a few minutes 3 or 4 times. On this cruise, we were only able to get a table for 2 twice. every other time we had to wait in a long line just to get to the hostess, who gave us a pager after telling us that all we could get was a table for 6. On the first sea day it took an hour to get a table and that was for 4. The next night we over heard the head waiter rant that he would no longer allow reservations to be made for tables for 2 or 4, and we tried to call every morning to make a reservations with out success. Anytime dining was not working on the Grand Princess.

Entertainment was just ok. There were 3 great shows, but all the other acts were terrible. The cruise lines singers and dancers were really weak, no strong voices, and high school level dancing. The movies under the stars, and in the room were great. Read more