Grand Princess - Refurbished? Spa?

[GenSteve]

Someone asked in December how the steam, sauna, shower and changing room setup is on the GRAND PRINCESS, but there was never a reply.

 

Also, I've read elsewhere that some quick ship refurbishments were done in November before Galveston cruises started. Any details?

 

I will be sailing on the June 7th departure from Venice and would like some information. Thanks. Anyone else on this departure?

[bdjam]

I personally don’t know what the spa set up is on Grand Princess, but I know that it’s different than her sisters, Star and Golden. The latter two ships have the more elaborate set up.

As for refurbishment – the only major change to Grand Princess was the addition of MUTS. :(

[CruiserRick34]

what does MUTS mean?

[GenSteve]

MUTS stands for "Movies Under The Stars." Princess has been installing a large, outdoor movie screen on its Grand Class ships that shows movies, concerts and other entertainment all day and evening. It has been a pretty controversial move for a lot of cruisers, most of whom seem to disapprove.

[bdjam]

MUTS stands for "Movies Under The Stars." Princess has been installing a large, outdoor movie screen on its Grand Class ships that shows movies, concerts and other entertainment all day and evening. It has been a pretty controversial move for a lot of cruisers, most of whom seem to disapprove.

:D

Not to bring up a controversial subject…after all, don’t we have enough drama?

Actually, it seems about 50-50 if you go over to the Princess board on MUTS, but once people see it, even if they don’t like it, it seems tolerable. I, however, will remain in the closet as far as showing any tolerance for a big-screen TV hooked to the upper deck of a ship.

I guess you know what I think about it now!

[ryndam]

We were on the Grand Princess 12/4-11/04 from Galveston. Having never sailed on the ship before, I can only speculate on the refurbishments made in November 2004. It appears as though most public area carpets were replaced, and it appeared as though new drapes and bedspreads were installed in the cabins (at least they were new in our room).

 

There are two sauna and two steam rooms. They open directly onto the deck in front of the forward pool. Although there are signs posted that said "Men" on the starboard set of rooms and "Women" on the port set of rooms, in actuality, all rooms were really co-ed most of the time.

 

There are changing rooms, but they are located on the other side of the deck, down a public hallway, and quite a distance from the gym, the pool and the steam/sauna rooms. They seemed to be rarely used. The gym is located on the same deck, but you have to pass the spa/salon reception desk (and a bank of hair dryers, at least when we were onboard) to get to the gym. Which was rather small for a ship this size with over 2600 passengers, in my opninion.

 

Good to hear (from other posters) that subsequent "Grand" class ships have corrected the design flaws of the Grand Princess's gym/spa area. I was underwhelmed with these facilities on the Grand.

[ironmuscle]

I never felt comfortable in the steamroom on the GP, bad layout coed ect. The rest of the GP class is better, I still love the lockeroom gym layout on RCI the best, seems more of the entertainers and salon staff use it. Very cruisey.

[GenSteve]

Ryndam and ironmuscle - Thanks for the information.

 

It does sound like the steam and sauna area were poorly planned. I'm not quite sure how they can be coed if they're marked, but I believe you.

 

1) Is this an adult's only area?

2) Do you have to wear a bathing suit to use the sauna/steam or is a wrapped towel enough?

3) Is this area outdoors?

4) Does the changing room have lockers and showers?

 

*****

 

I agree with ironmuscle re RCI - I was on the new Jewel of the Seas in August, and the men's area was well-designed with sauna, steam and showers - all private - with a separate locker/changing area.

 

*****

 

Ryndam - What were your impressions of the ship? Horizon Court?

[ryndam]

GenSteve, you asked for my general impressions, so here they are. We have been on many, many cruises. The Grand Princess was the largest ship we have ever traveled on. It sailed from Galveston which made it a 10 minute drive from our house. The price was right for our Category "AC" mini-suite on Dolphin Deck, which was huge and very well appointed; no complaints at all with the accommodation. And we sailed with ten close friends and family, so we had a great time.

 

That said, after experiencing a 100,000+ ton megaliner with over 2600 passengers onboard, it is not likely we will sail on any ship that large again. I'm glad we tried it, since so many huge ships are being launched these days and many people obviously prefer the amenities that can only be offered on these large liners. But it just wasn't for us. We prefer the ambiance and comraderie of the smaller and mid-sized ships, albeit at a usually higher per-diem cost than Princess's megaliners. We never stay at huge, land-based resorts for many of the same reasons, and the Grand Princess, in our opinion, was a massive, land-type resort, set out to sea. It just wasn't our style, at least for a 7-day Caribbean itinerary.

 

We have sailed the Mediterranean on several cruises, and since Med. cruises are generally very port intensive, we have found that the choice of ship is really secondary to the destinations. As a broad generization, in Europe, the ship serves as floating hotel to transport you from port-to-port, and there generally are not too many seadays spent onboard. It took several hours to tender 2600 passengers and the hundreds of off-duty crew members ashore in the two Caribbean ports where the GP did not dock. That could be problematic in Europe if Princess uses the same limited tender service as we experienced in the Caribbean.

 

This is by no means a negative review of the GP. We certainly were not disappointed with the cruise and the service, and we felt Princess offered a very good value. At the end of the week, we just felt that this style of cruising was just not for us.

 

I know you will have a great time in Europe. Bon voyage!

[garyw]

Ryndam and ironmuscle - Thanks for the information.

 

1) Is this an adult's only area?

2) Do you have to wear a bathing suit to use the sauna/steam or is a wrapped towel enough?

3) Is this area outdoors?

4) Does the changing room have lockers and showers?

 

Ryndam - What were your impressions of the ship? Horizon Court?

 

We sailed on GP 12/18 - 12/28

 

To answer your questions above:

1) In theory it was adults only, but on most occasions there were children in the area during our sailing, which was over Christmas. On a sailing with less kids, it might not be an issue.

 

2) Because the steam room and sauna are located at the front of the lap pool and there is no changing area, it's probably best to wear a suit. Plus, since it's open you never know who will be joining you. Everyone I saw in there wore their suits.

 

3) It is set back under the over hang of the deck above. The steam room and sauna open up into the lap pool area, which is open air.

 

4) There are showers outside the steamroom and sauna, but they are not private, you have to shower with your suit on. There is a changing room with lockers inside the spa area, however, there are no showers in there. There is a restroom, but no showers.

 

It was a very odd set-up since there was absolutly no privacy. While there were signs designating each one either men or womens, the signs were often ignored and women seemed free to come on into the mens sauna and steam room, thus effectively making them co-ed.

 

Overall it was a fine ship. I'm glad that we said her once, but I doubt that I'll ever sail GP again.

 

Our cabin was an obstructed view aft. It was the loudest cabin I've ever been in. At nights as the ship would pick up speed, our cabin creeked, loudly. It was hard to sleep sometimes it was so loud. Other cabins in other parts of the ship didn't have this issue, but ours was really bad.

 

I enjoyed the Horizon Court. It was always open, the food was pretty good. Like everything else some of the stuff I liked, some I didn't.

[GenSteve]

GaryW - Thanks for being so specific. It really helps me to get a mental picture of the layout, which is obviously quite poor.

 

I'll be on the Grand departing Venice June 7th for a 12-night Greek Isles cruise. I wonder if things will be different with a European cruise. I've chosen it more for the itinerary than for the ship, as I had an outstanding experience with the Jewel of the Seas in Scandinavia last summer.

[PMD]

The Grand is not scheduled for any dry/wet dock this year. The last one in fall '04 was for MUTS (We love) and general maintenance (carpet and etc), reconfig the casino for a Texas Hold'em area, Better walkway through the Sterling restaurant, new future cruise area, wireless internet in some areas.

Pete

[rwdtgb]

GenSteve

 

My partner and I will be on this sailing. We have been on the Grand 3 other times.

 

Tom

[GenSteve]

Tom,

 

I will be with my partner, too. This will be our second large cruise after having sailed the Scandinavian capitols on the Jewel of the Seas last August.

 

My e-mail is gensteve@together.net

 

Steve

[rwdtgb]

Steve

 

I know you will like this cruise and the ship.We know a few other couples on this cruise that we met last year in Tahiti.We are on Cabin L301.We are flying into Venice on the 4th and staying at the San Clemente Palce for three nights and then we are staying in Rome for three nights at the St.Regis.

 

Tom

[Joey04]

Does anyone know if steam/sauna area on Golden Princess has a "disappointing" set up with little privacy like Grand Princess? I'm seriously thinking about going on Golden Princess 06/01/05 Western Europe.

Thanks!

Joey

[CruiseAholic]

#1, I sure wouldn't change ships if I like the itinerary jsut becase of the layout of the sauna/steam room.

 

The Golden setup is exactly like that of the Grand, open onto the lap pool area and yes, co-ed (even though signs state otherwise) most of the time. I have sailed on the Grand 5 or so times and the Golden 2 times (most recent Jan 2, 05).

 

I have also sailed on the Star and it is on the Star that the unusual layout is corrected. On the Star the changing room / sauna / steam room / showers are private mens and womens. Get a brochure and look closely at the area around the lay pool forward and you can see the difference.

 

Other changes that the Star has over the Grand/Golden is for one, the disco layout. It is not as elavated when you walk in and provides for a more open feel.

 

Sailing again on the Star Princess this July 4 to the Baltic.

[ctguy001]

A friend and I are also booked on the June 7th cruise from Venice. It's my second time on the Grand and I'd have to agree with the others, the steam sauna, gym area is not well laid out. When I was on, my one visit to the Men's steam room turned out to have more women than men. Was great if you were looking for shopping and fashion tips. Hope we'll get to meet some of you on board!

[rwdtgb]

Welcome aboard CTguy, Roger (48) and I (43) are both retired.We can't wait for this cruise and to get back to Venice We were there last June and had a great time.Hope to meet you guys onboard.

 

Tom

[ctguy001]

Hope to meet you guys also. Spoke to 'gensteve' online - they'll be there too. Drop a line to my posting name at aol.com. Looking forward to the Greek Isles!