Chose this cruise because of the ports and we enjoyed our first Princess cruise on the Ruby. Plus it was new for our friends traveling with us. Ship was clean but all areas seemed so small. We missed an enclosed pub area where the guys could watch a game. No grand staircase and where were all of the stairs near the elevators if you wanted to walk? We found the public areas clean and our balcony room kept spotless. The balcony was smaller than we were used to and showing lots of wear. We did enjoy it daily though for coffee and cocktails. Everyone was very friendly especially the people from California which seemed to make up 70% of the cruise. We did notice this is the oldest people cruise we’ve ever been on. Entertainment and music seemed to be geared to the elderly.

We ate in the MDR, Alfredo’s pizza, international cafe and Crown Grill. We found these very good. Ate at Horizon Court only couple of times...not very good. For snacks we found Trident grill and Prego Pizzeria always hot and plentiful with little wait time.

Fortunately we got the free drink package as a perk when booking because the drinks were measured to the last drop. I would have hated to pay full price for the tiny size drinks full of ice. We only went to one comedy show and it was pretty funny, even they commented on the wheel chairs, walkers and canes on the ship. The casino was fun even with some winning on the second day after that it was all down hill with the machines being very tight. Smoke free nights were a bonus! It was strange not to sign for drinks because this is where we always add the extra tip. When asked about this we were told don’t worry about t it’s all taken care of. Even in our state room we were looking for envelopes for tips, there were none. We still took good care of our wonderful room attendant Joaquin Catalan Garcia, because he took great care of us. All in All it was a nice cruise and we made great memories but I don’t think the Grand is the ship for us.