Grand Princess Review

Fun time on the Grand Princess

Review for Alaska Cruise on Grand Princess
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Xertes
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Fitness & Recreation
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Additional details

Sail Date: May 2019
Cabin: Oceanview

This was our 25th cruise, 5th on Princess and 3rd on the Grand Princess. My wife and I have cruised all the major mass market cruise lines, Carnival, Princess, HAL, Norwegian, RCCL and Celebrity. We cruise just to be on the ship, not for ports or itineraries. We enjoy relaxing, reading, looking out at the ocean, entertainment and good food. We are basically cruise potatoes. I provide this information just so you know where this review is coming from.

As stated, this was our 3rd time on the Grand Princess and she had just come out of dry dock, which basically was done to electronically equip her for their Medallion service. There was some changes of carpeting and some cosmetic sprucing but really not a distinctive noticeable change since the last time we sailed on her, other than the mailboxes outside the rooms were gone. My problem with Princess as a whole is with their stateroom size. We typically book an oceanview cabin (picture window) and their oceanview rooms are among the tiniest of any of the mass market cruise lines (ditto their bathrooms).They seem to be competing with Norwegian for who can have the tiniest oceanview staterooms. Sometimes we get a balcony (we didn't this time) and those are also smaller than most standard balconies. We knew this going in, so it was expected and was not a surprise. What was a surprise was our oceanview stateroom was even tinier than normal. I'll get to that later.

The other negative surprise is that the food, particularly the buffet food, has gone down in quality (and choices) from when we last sailed this ship. It went from sometimes mediocre to now, mediocre at its best. The MDR menu has, as do most cruise lines, one side of standard choices that never change and the other side of the specialty options for that particular evening. The standard fare usually consists of a meat dish (typically a steak of some kind), a chicken dish and a seafood dish. The daily change entrees usually consists of different fancy or gourmet dishes. On their standard side of the menu, the dinner meat option is now a hamburger and fries. How classy can you get??? It seems like they are trying to go cheap on the food wherever they can. We did eat at the Crown Grill one night, their extra fee specialty restaurant and I had one of the best filet mignons I have ever had but you have to pay extra to get that.

Cabin Review

Oceanview

Cabin OC

Oceanview room was extra small (narrow) with teeny, tiny bathroom. Bed was very comfortable. Unobstructed view. Would make sure if I got an oceanview again that it was not one of the midship super narrow ones that could only accommodate one nightstand and reading lamp instead of two like the usual ones have.

Port Reviews

San Francisco

OK port to depart from and return to. Getting to the port is always kind of crowded and a nightmare. Embarkation very smooth and fast.

Juneau

Love all of Alaska. Enjoyed going in and out of the shops on Franklin & Front streets.

Skagway

Skagway is like stepping back in time. Love walking the streets.

Glacier Bay

Breathtaking!!!

Ketchikan

Lowest prices on souveniers, etc. Changed since we were last there and did not find it as comfortable.

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