Grand Princess 1/28/06

[biguntx]

Anyone on this cruise?

Edit: Moved to P&O Princess Cruises (Carnival plc) forum. Double posting deleted. RF

[fishinjules]

Yes we are booked for the 28th. Looking forward to it also. We have always had great cruises with Princess so it was a must to do the Grand.

I'm thinking about the Grand Princess Dec 2, 2006 (still going back and forth between Carnival Conquest and GP) and I've never been on the Princess lines. What was your first impression when you started cruising the Princess lines?

[fishinjules]

I have never sailed on Carnival but from what I have heard it's the place for a young party crowd. As far as I see Princess, it would be like comparing everything to a 5 star hotel. Last year we did a cruise out of Houston on a Norwegian cruise line and it was pretty sad. That is what made me decide to never stray from Princess again. Friendly staff, clean ship and lots to keep you busy with.
Julie

[biguntx]

We are looking forward to our cruise on the Grand Princess.

This is our tenth cruise. We have had numerous on Carnival. We really enjoyed Carnival. We would not classify ourselves as in the "Young Party Crowd". We have also cruised on Royal Carribean and enjoyed it as well.

We also cruised on the Norweign out of Houston and had basically the same opinion.

This is our first cruise on Princess.

We would be interested in hearing the +'s and -'s of Princess. We have heard only good comments.

Also, does Princess have a wine package similar to R&C? We enjoy wine with our meals and the R&C deal was excellent.

We also love to dance. Are there dance lessons on board and opportunities to dance at various venues?

Hope to see you on board!

[fishinjules]

I'm not a wine drinker but I did have a few friends that did order a bottle or two. The staff kept it in the dining room for them for each night until it was gone. I have nothing negative to say about Princess. Everything is excellent, from the crew checking you in to your cabin steward. The food is awsome! Entertainment is broadway style.
You will love it.
Julie
[IMG] [/IMG]

Just returned (12/24) from the Grand Princess. Overall experience was first class with a few exceptions!

No wine package (great feature of RC!) but wines seemed to be reasonably priced. If you attend the first wine tasting event ($7.50 per person), you have the option of preordering your wines for dinner with a $5 discount per bottle. We brought a couple of bottles in our suitcase and enjoyed them in our room as well.

Princess seemed to be much more "laid-back" than RC and especially more so than Carnival. Didn't seem like there were as many ongoing activities. And although I heard some complaints that Princess charges for items that should be offered at no charge (i.e., ice cream), Princess never seemed to "hound" you to purchase the drink of the day or other items the way that RC and Carnival do.

I would sail Princess again in a heartbeat!

Have fun!

cruising4fun
(8th cruse)

[fishinjules]

Glad you had a great time. How was your experience with the tendering into ports?

[biguntx]

My wife and I have been so busy at work we haven't had time to think about our cruise in less than two weeks!

However, we are beginning to plan.

Some have suggested arriving early between 11:00am and 11:30 to avoid the crowds in Galveston. We have done the some on other cruises out of Galveston and it worked really well.

A question in order to avoid the long tender waits in Cozumel we plan on booking an excrusion. This should us to leave early with the Princess early excursion groups in lieu of waiting for an unescorted tender number.

We have heard, with the piers in Cozumel destroyed by the recent hurricane, that it has been taking up to 5 hours to tender off the ship.