Ashley

Age: 17
Occupation: Student
Number of Cruises: 2
Cruise Line: Princess
Ship: Grand Princess
Sailing Date: March 28th, 2004
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

Here's some background information: I was 16 on this cruise, my second one, i had been on the Disney Wonder when I was 14. I was traveling with my best friend, we were sharing a room, and my mom and her friend were in the next room.

Getting on the ship was fairly quick, there was hardly any line up and we were still one of the first ones on the ship, compared to the Disney which was at least an hour wait, it was very fast.

Our room was an outside room on Emerald Deck, it had a partially obstructed view. The room was really nice, but I wish they had a clock in the room, in order to find out what time it was you had to go to the phone. Bathroom was kind of small, but everything was nice and always clean. Our room steward was very nice too, very friendly and helpful.
 
The Horizon Court buffet was one of me and my friends favorite places. We both love to eat and loved the food. I'm a very picky eater and always could get a full plate of delicious food. And I loved how it was always open, breakfast was my favorite time though.

The dining rooms were nice, the food was fantastic, and the waiters were always really nice and the food always came quickly, and were always willing to take something back and get you something else if you didn't like it.

One evening we went to a special dining room, The Painted Desert I believe, I think it cost us $8, but all of us agreed that it was the worst meal we had on the cruise. It wasn't bad, but we enjoyed the other meals much more.

The Pizza place and the Grill were both really good. It was all delicious, but we were upset that you had to pay for the ice cream. But on one of the last days we realized they had a ice cream bar in the Horizon court for an hour or so, and it was free!

Ports of call:

Day 1: Princess Cays
This was by far everyone's favorite port. We had to wait to get a tender to shore, and the ride was a little bumpy but it was definately worth it. We walked down the beach a little bit and had to get move chairs to get 4 together, but we were right by the water so it was perfect. My friend and I spent almost the whole day snorkeling. Compared to Castaway Cay (Disney's island) the snorkeling was much better! There were so many fish and the water was beautiful. The waves were a little big and if you didn't swim you might end up on shore, but it made it all the more fun. The BBQ was fantastic, it was really hot in there, but we went back twice and filled our plates. We also ordered daiquiris on the beach.

Day 2: At sea
This day was beautiful, nice and sunny and hot. We had breakfast, and then went for a little swim in one of the pools. It was a little crowded and we didn't stay in long. We walked around for a bit trying to find chairs, there were empty chairs, but we wanted ones overlooking the water. We sunbathed for a couple hours in the warm sun before getting ready for a our first formal evening.

Day 3: Grand Cayman
We booked the Stingray City excursion, and we all loved it! The guides could have made it more efficient by explaining things while we were getting there, because when we pulled up they explained how to interact with these wonderful creatures for 20 mins while we watched other people interact. We only had about 40 minutes there, and we all wanted to stay, but it was fantastic, I would definately recommend going there.

Day 4: Costa Maya
We took a taxi to a beach, the beach was a little dirty, but the water was nice and clear. There were some shops there, some of the owners were a little aggressive. We enjoyed this stop a lot too.

Day 5: Cozumel
We just went shopping here for several hours, you could take a taxi to a beach but we decided against it. This port was all right, but not our favorite.

Day 7: At sea
My friend and I spent most of the day packing, except for the morning when we had hair treatments done. They were really nice, and very relaxing. They didn't try to force me to buy anything, but my mom had had a pedicure earlier in the week and they really forced it on her.
Pools: The pools during the day were busy but at night empty, so we always went swimming then, and the spa pool had a swim against the current which was fun.

Service: Most people were very friendly, especially one waiter we had one night.

Entertainment: We saw two shows, both were very well done, and we always found good seats. We saw several comedians, most of them were really funny, and one was just all right. They also had some games that were fun.

Overall: The cruise was fantastic, we all loved it, and was much better than teh Disney cruise I had been on previously. We are going on another Princess cruise and we are all very excited!!

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