jsiegel

Afternoon tours at tender ports usually have the meeting place on shore, not on the ship.  So yes, you can take an earlier tender, in fact you should to make sure you are at the pier meeting place on time.  Your excursion tickets will state where and when to meet.

Sometimes there are extra benefits to booking on board.  I knew that I wanted to cruise on a specific sailing.  A travel agent (I was on a group "escorted" sailing") told me that Princess was offering free gratuities if a sailing was booked on board.  I stood on line to see the Future Cruise Consultant.  She first told me that there were no extra benefits for booking but as I had already waited and was sitting with her I had her go ahead and make the booking and as she did so she discovered that yes, free gratuities were offered.  So, moral of story, if you already know what you want to book and the line isn't too long, it might pay to book on board and insist that the Future Cruise Consultant double check for extra benefits.  BTW, I was impressed that the travel agent on board knew more about Princess' offerings than the Future Cruise Consultant.

Jackie

1 hour ago, Greg4502 said:

Forward Stairs Deck 5 to 15

Mid Stairs Deck 4 to 14

Aft Stairs Deck 6 to 15

 

To get to the Botticelli Dining Room you have to access from deck 7. Go aft on deck 7 to the aft stair or elevator, then down to deck 6. The dining room cannot be accessed directly from deck 6. This may be what people may be taking about.  

The middle stairs on the Grand are NOT open to passengers above level 7.  There is a door barrier between deck 7 and 8 to stop passengers.  So technically there is a staircase but it can't be used.  I wish the door was on deck 7 to have prevented me from going up half a flight and then realizing I couldn't go any further up.  It's very annoying for those that prefer stairs to elevators.  They were open to all during muster drill, but after the doors are closed again.

Often the books listed on the website for the two month period are not the books that are available on the ships. They do get multiple copies of books for the book club but if you read the book(s) in advance, as I do, you might find out that a totally different book will be discussed. On my last cruise (10 nights to Alaska) I was the only person who showed up at the first meeting. The book the staff had was different than what was listed. They posted the discussion meeting later in the cruise but it wasn't held. I spoke to the CD staff member afterwards and she said that was the first time only one person showed an interest in the book club.

On another recent cruise the book discussed was one listed. The staff member had not read the book but did come prepared with lots of questions and did a really good job leading the discussion. The was quite unexpected as the earlier cruises with book club meetings I've attended the staff member is there to greet people and then leaves to have the guests run the discussion.

I keep trying though. Love reading and discussing books.

Jackie

Here is my review of the July 25-Aug 4, 2018 sailing to Alaska on the Grand Princess:

I've been on about 16 Princess cruises and also cruised a few other lines for a total of about 20 cruises. I have cruised on the Grand two prior times and cruised to Alaska five time before. I was with four other adults and one 10 year old kid on this sailing.

I was part of a travel agency’s large escorted group and took a chartered bus to the ship. I was on board in time for lunch in the Da Vinci dining room and found my friends, who had taken a different bus, already there. The embarkation lunch menu was shorter than on past cruises with only one dessert option but luckily for me it was a souffle.

I was in an inside cabin on Caribe, deck 10. The bed was extremely comfortable. As with all standard cabins, the bathroom is small and the shower tiny. There was a steady and relatively loud fan noise in the cabin but it eventually became unnoticeable.

The ship is in pretty good shape but I noticed that the upholstery in many of the lounges is torn and tattered. There were blowers set up here and there at times, often in some of the lounges so maybe someone spilled something as opposed to a leak.

We had anytime dining so the first night we planned to eat around 7 p.m. There was a huge line for the anytime dining room and people were issued pagers or encouraged to come back after 8 p.m. We took a pager, a half hour later the pager went off and we (and several other people) were told to follow an escort up two levels, down to the rear of the ship and down one level to the Botticelli Traditional dining room. One friend has bad knees so this was a bit difficult. We had a great waiter and after we were finished he invited us to keep that table for the rest of the cruise so I spoke to the Maitre ‘D and we were given his table in Late Seating Traditional. The next day the 10 year old’s mother said late seating was much too late so we decided to see if getting into Anytime at 5:15 would work better. There were huge lines then too. This time after a brief wait we were escorted to the Da Vinci Traditional dining room, one floor up. After ordering I went back to the Botticelli dining room to let the Maitre ‘D know we would not be keeping our Late seating table. He then offered us an early seating table. I took it for the next night forward since we were already seated for dinner elsewhere that night. The following nights we had Traditional Early in the Botticelli with a great pair of waiters from Peru. Traditional early dining is 5 p.m., a bit early and late dining is 7:30 p.m., a bit late, but the Anytime dining system is broken. Princess needs to get rid of Club Class, reduce the size of Traditional Dining or do something to shorten the long wait times of Anytime dining.

The main dining room menus had special selections for the Alaskan itinerary. On the Always available menu was Hazelnut crusted maple glazed salmon. It was delicious and I ordered it a few times. Even the Crown Grill had special Alaskan waters selections, such as Copper River salmon. I only had a couple of misses in my entree selections during the 10 nights. The food in the Horizon Court, International Cafe and Pizzeria did not disappoint either.

There were over 1,700 Princess first timers on this sailing. There were less than 300 elites on board so the complimentary laundry service took the advertised time of next day return.

I'm into Zumba for fitness and a class is held on sea days in the Vista lounge and is very well attended. There is no fee for this activity. There was even a class the morning after our Tracy Arm scenic cruising.

For entertainment I saw one comedian who was just OK and a comedian/impressionist (Mike Wilson) who was downright rude to an audience member. His rant was totally inappropriate and uncalled for.

Ports of Call:

Ketchikan - I had booked the Duck Boat tour but most of my friends and I cancelled due to safety concerns of the duck boats. Two of our group did take the tour and enjoyed it. I just wandered around town. As we were allowed ashore at 7 a.m. and were to be back on board by 1:30 p.m. I got an early start. Unfortunately my favorite art gallery on Creek Street was not open early though some other shops did have early openings for the ship’s passengers. Of course the international jewelry stores (Diamonds International, etc.) were open.

Juneau - We were in Juneau on a Sunday. I walked to the Alaska State Museum and discovered they were open 7 days a week. Admission is $12 and the museum contains exhibits about Alaska’s history, cultures, natural history and a technologically amazing “Science on a Sphere” Allow at least an hour for the museum and make sure to play with the computerized Sphere, I suggest that you have it show earthquakes. The museum had clean restrooms. Speaking of restrooms, the Convention Center nearby has clean restrooms too. Not far from the museum by the water is the beginning of the finished portions of the new Seawalk. There are interpretive signs, views of salmon swimming up a creek, lots of eagles and ravens and at the west end a huge sculptural fountain of a life size breaching whale. Well worth the walk.

Skagway - I took a hike to Yakutania Point and Smuggler’s Cove, about two miles round trip from the pier. A basic map and description can be found online by searching “Lower Dewey and Yakutania Point” or stopping at the National Park Service counter in town.

Victoria - I took the Princess Butchart Gardens excursion. The bus driver provided entertaining history, descriptions and commentary of Victoria to and from the gardens. We had two hours to explore the gardens. We arrived before 10 a.m. and towards the end of our two hours the gardens were getting quite crowded. I recommend this tour if you have never been to the gardens.

Overall a very enjoyable cruise. All the staff were friendly and my room steward and many of the waiters in the various venues called me by name after the first day.

I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Jackie

If at a table with strangers I will ask if they mind if I take pictures of my food. Often they will then insist that I also take pictures of their plates too. I've been taking cruise food pictures for over a decade. It's interesting to see how portion size and interpretation of the standard recipes differs from ship to ship and year to year.

Jackie

The selection is very limited, only those wines listed in the room service menu. You can't replace the mini-bar with a bottle of wine from the general wine list, even if it's cheaper. I know because I tried. The mini-bar can be replaced with a $40 or less bottle of wine from the room service list.

Jackie

Thank you for all of the responses. Auto correct is terrible if you don't proof read. Yes it is the Regal.

 

Since you all seem to be knowledge. What is the status of the TV entertainment on the Grand. Has that been updated to match the Regal?

 

Thank you

Nope, there are flat screen tv's but that's about it, no upgrades. Also, internet if VERY slow. But the crew are great, the food was very good in main dining room and you are on a cruise, so not all bad from being on an older ship. And you sail under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Jackie

Princess killed me off two or three times. I noticed it when brochures which had been addressed to both my husband and I started arriving addressed just to him. I called Princess to find out why I wasn't getting mail and they informed me that my account showed as deceased. They were able to revive me and luckily my past cruise history remained, but it kept happening, usually right after returning from one of their cruises.

Jackie

I just got off the Grand a little over a week ago. They were offering the unlimited internet. I'm Elite so I took the free minutes but could have purchased the unlimited at a discount. HOWEVER, and this is a BIG however, the Internet speed was slow, I'm talking dial-up slow. So maybe they have discontinued their test of the unlimited packages on the Grand because people couldn't do anything with it and complained about paying so much for SLOW, unusable service.

Jackie

You can't trade in your mini-bar for any wine that is below the value given. The only choice of wines you can select from are from the room service menu. Very limited choices.

Jackie

I am excited as we are going to be boarding the Ruby on Saturday for the Christmas cruise.

 

I had a question about ship time in Cabo San Lucas and was wondering if it is the same as local time?

We are scheduled to arrive at 7am and I have a private excursion booked at 8:30am.

I wanted to be sure that a 7am arrival time is 7am local time to ensure I have enough time to get the tender for my excursion.

 

Thanks

8:30 a.m. might be too early. The 7 a.m. arrival means that's about when they drop anchor. Then they have to lower the tenders to bring people ashore. First priority on the tenders is for people booked on Princess tours. You may have up to an hour wait after tender service starts before you can get on a tender, then allow about 20 minutes for the transit to the pier.

Jackie

I'm interested in the experience of those of you that have cruised pre- and post-implementation of club class dining. My travel agent warned me to be prepared for even longer wait times for popular dinner times. Has that been your experience? Was the wait time still satisfactory or ridiculously long?

I've cruised Princess many times in the past (now Elite, woo hoo laundry) but my upcoming cruise will be the first with the introduction of Club Class Dining. I do prefer eating in the MDR. I've never had dinner in the buffet nor do I plan on dining in any of the specialty restaurants this cruise.

Thanks, Jackie

It's a great benefit for a full suite. Make sure to go up to the spa soon after boarding to get the sticker or whatever they use to show you can use the thermal suite. There may be a limit to the number of people having access to the thermal suite (there was a limit when I was in a suite a few years back) The thermal suite consists of steam rooms and saunas and cool mist showers but my favorite was the warm stone benches. So relaxing to just lay there reading my Kindle relaxing my muscles with the heat. There are plenty of towels available in the thermal suite so no need to bring one up from your cabin. Enjoy.

Jackie

I wait for a break and go directly to item 5. That makes the line much more efficient. If I had waited at the beginning in the line, that just holds everyone up more. Win-win.

My travel agent gifts us the balcony breakfast whenever we book a mini-suite. The first time I was really excited and called room service to find out what all it included. I couldn't eat the main course, quiche lorraine, as it contains pork. They said they could not substitute another entree. When I stated my reason they were the ones that suggested we turn it in for ship board credit. We've been doing that ever since, using the credit for excursions or gratuities, or whatever. I appreciate the gift and didn't want to bother my travel agent as it was a win-win in my book. She's happy we like the gift, we're happy we can use it elsewhere.

Jackie

Yes indeed. I hope your daughter enjoys her first Princess cruise. Is this her very first cruise ever?

My travel agent contacted Princess this morning and of course they knew nothing about the changes. Luckily my agent has some of her staff currently on board so contacted them. It sounds like it should all be cleared up with this sailing. Platinum and Elite can get their free minutes.

From what I’ve heard from people actually on the Grand is that, yes, there is a change. Instead of minutes with which you could text, email, surf the web, etc., you are being charged $14.99/day to do that by selecting the $29.99 package for $14.99/day. Elites are being charged for the unlimited package. Otherwise, you can only do social media. Don’t know about you but I stay in touch with family and friends via text and email while on a cruise and I’m d******ed if I’m going to pay $14.99/day to do that when I could do it with my minutes previously.

I've just sent the following to my travel agent and Princess Customer Service email:

Dear *** and Princess Cruises,

I've been reading reports that Princess is testing out a new Internet price structure on the Grand, starting with the current sailing which began October 5th, 2017. Gone are the purchase by the minute packages, instead there are two or three levels of "unlimited" packages.

Platinum and Elite currently on board who want Internet access are charged the lower priced daily fee ($14.99 per day) and are receiving the premium package ($29.99 value.) They are not getting any free minutes, contrary to what Princess had posted on their Facebook page.

This is of great concern to me. My husband and I use the Internet only for email to keep in contact with family. I have elderly parents and need to be able to check in with them.

My husband and I have never used up our free minute allotment and would not be willing to pay for a social media package. We never post to social media while away from home as it advertises to people that our home is vacant.

I was able to convince my husband to book a cruise recently on the Grand in ******* to a large part because he is now Platinum and would have his own allotment of minutes. Unless I am guaranteed that we will have our free Internet minutes we will be cancelling the cruise.

Sincerely,

Jacquelin Siegel

The biggest issue will be if they roll out unlimited packages is that not eveyone will want unlimited packages. Some people will be alienated and they will lose income. Also the internet perk loss will cause them a lot of headaches.

 

what needs to be done, is get vocal, on facebook, emails, even calling a customer servive rep. Someone in his/her large office thinks everyone is addicted to the internet and will fall in li e and pay for it. I personally won't, as all I need is my alloted minutes to send the odd email, and print boarding passes.

 

Make sure you are heard, or you will lose it.

I'm going to be monitoring this and will definitely be contacting Princess if the Platinum/Elite free minutes are eliminated. I'll also be contacting my TA, who is one of Princess' major bookers. The free internet minutes are plenty for us as we never post to social media while traveling as we don't want to announce to the world that we are not home. We just use it to check email. Also, why stream media when there is so much to do on board?

Thanks to you both. We're looking forward to this excursion.

Has anyone done the Snorkel at Marietas Islands tour offered by the cruise lines (Princess specifically?) I'm interested in knowing if there is really snorkeling time, and general impressions of this tour.

Thanks, Jackie

Since you are in American Canyon are you considering a sailing leaving from SF? I did a coastal out of there last October. We did stop in Santa Barbara as well as Long Beach, San Diego and Ensenada.

Santa Barbara is very walkable. If you aren't on a ship tour try to make it to the courthouse, it is stunning with all the hand painted tile work and the views from the clock tower.

The Long Beach stop docks right next to the Queen Mary. You can get on to the Queen Mary and self-tour for free by just showing your cruise card.

San Diego - we spent an entire day on the aircraft carrier Midway.

In Ensenada I did the winery tour. It was worth the price (relatively cheap) and the drive through the countryside to get to the wineries was interesting.

Jackie

At the end of your 15th cruise credit (or 150th day) you should receive a letter delivered to your cabin welcoming you to the world of Elite along with your black elite pin. Benefits start on your next cruise.

Jackie

Thanks for your report on the 2016 Coastal. We are headed onto the coastal in Spring on 2017 after dry-dock and very much looking forward to it. Last cruise was on the sister ship, the Star and we loved it so it should look and feel pretty familiar in most places. Skywalkers was still on the Star then in 2015.

 

Older ships don't worry me as much as ships that are not maintained well. We found the Star to be very good overall and hope the Grand is the same.

 

Really happy to hear about walking on to the Queen Mary with your cruise card, that will eliminate the need for an excursion there.

I've been on the Star, I really liked Skywalkers. Missed that wonderful location on the Grand. The layout of some of the public areas is a bit different on the Star vs the Grand. The Grand did have one area called Leaves that doubled as the library. In the afternoon they served fancy teas there and pretty cakes. I did not partake as it had a fee of $3 (if I remember correctly) Also the Grand does not have a center staircase above deck 7 so I was constantly going to the middle and then having to turn back aft to take the stairs to my destinations as I avoid elevators when possible.

I do hope that during the dry dock they address some of the plumbing issues. Some public areas were roped off due to leaks.

I love the coastal California itinerary and sailing from San Francisco is so convenient to northern California, no airplanes needed.