Grand in Europe in 05

[sebasco]

Maulie

We are in an aft suite on Baja deck, will the balcony be partially covered? This is something I didn't look up when booking, i hope we have a little privacy:confused:

Thanks

[dlhamlten]

The original Dock - I suppose - was more accessible to ground transportation from the airport and facilitated luggage handling. ( There was a lot more uncovered secure space on the first dock for the rain to soak into many of the passengers' suitcases. )

 

I thought Princess kind of pulled a fast one here. Upon checking in to your Cabin on the first day, there were voucher/ tickets for the water taxi automatically awaiting. These took you from that dock close to St. Peters Square and other major attractions. Once these tickets were used, a charge of $ 10 per person were put on your account. The passes - we were told - were good for unlimited use during the 2 days we would be in Venice. If you chose not to use the water taxi, then you had to return your voucher to the Purser for a refund.

 

We used the taxi the first day once and then on the second day after the ship moved, the vouchers were useless. This may be a minor expense in the scheme of things, but the principle of not being told the tickets were superfluous on the second day rather irked me. The ride was fun and the second dock was worth it, however.

[Breezey]

dlhamlten

I had a couple of ? for you which I posted on the Europe board but thought I'd try here.

 

Tks for your mini review of you recent trip. We are doing the Grand in September (Venice to Rome) and taking staunch Celebrity cruisers so was a bit disappointed to hear about the food. We too booked Caribe deck due to the larger balconies (did this a few years ago on the Golden, didnt think to ask about lounge chairs and pads).

 

So just wondering how formal ppl got dressed at night considering the heat and location? Many tuxes and long gowns? My Celebrity friends tend to get all done up but would like to warn them if necessary.

 

Finally re Amalfi Coast etc. Assume the drivers pick you up quite early in order to get back to the ship in time. I now see that some other ships stay in port much later than the Grand.

 

tks

[dlhamlten]

On this cruise, like most we have taken more recently, there seem to be fewer and fewer very formal dressers in tuxes and ballroom gowns. Most men simply wear dark suits. Some, of course, either own and bring tuxes and others may rent just for the opportunity of the free - no obligation formal photos taken. There were only 2 formal nights on our 12 Day and both were the " At-Sea " days which means plenty of time to gussie up. Then with activities such as Movies Under The Stars on the pool deck, more people seem to dress down after dinner. Depends on what you will want to do and how comfortable you feel. It got cool at night and the Ship is underway so the heat was not a factor for the formal nights.

 

Don't let the food comment worry you. It is just our opinion. We sailed the Celebrity Galaxy in Feb 2004 and with all the heightened expectations were somewhat disappointed with them also, but not enough on either line to never sail them again. As others have noted, the land meals as part of the Ship's day long tours were very localized fare and we thought quite well done with wine.

 

We took two Privately organized tours. One in Rome and one in Naples. Both were all day meaning we were met at the dock at 8 AM and returned by 5:30 to 6:00 which was an hour or so before "letting go" from port as the Capt termed departure. The tours organized by the ship usually met at the same or somewhat earlier times in the theatre or lounges to seperate into busloads. Another advantage of our private 6 person Mercedes van tour in Naples was arriving in Pompeii just before the 9AM opening which meant we had 2 hours with a personal English speaking Guide who was fantastically well informed before many crowds came. As luck would have it, the 10 Euro charge per person was waived because of National Culture week, but I'll bet Princess never reduced their Tour price accordingly.

 

Hope that answers your questions.

[Breezey]

Thanks dhamlten

Just what I needed to hear. Interesting I too tried Celebrity (Mercury) in February after all the raves I heard and quite frankly wasnt impressed enough to say I want to change lines as I am still searching and am not loyal to any one line. I found the dress more casual than expected (am happy for that)

 

I loved the layout of the Golden (pool area was beautiful) so know the Grand will be great. Plan on eating all our lunches in port to try the many local fares. Really looking forward to that.

 

Also appreciate the recommendations for private tours which I think is the only way to go (IMHO)

 

tks again

[AIRLINES BRAT]

I agree that going to the Vatican Museums from the cruise ship is not a wise use of time. When we went to the Med, our cruise ended in Venice. We spent a few extra nights there. then got on a train and spent 3 nights in Rome and it still was not enough time.

 

We are contemplating on taking a train trip from Venice to Rome. What are your recommendations? Is the ride interesting? What train and class of service? Where did you book your reservation? ....Or would you recommend flying to Rome?

Thank you so very much!

Sandra

[trvlnliz]

SAndra,

It takes about 4 1/2 hrs if you take the Eurostar. Remember there are 2 train stations in Venice. Make sure you are at the correct one. 1st clas one way is about 67 Euros and 2nd class is 45 Euros. Heres the website to check the schedule: http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html Hope this helps.

 

Liz

[AIRLINES BRAT]

Thank you for the valuable information!

Sandra

[MrMaulie]

Maulie

We are in an aft suite on Baja deck, will the balcony be partially covered? This is something I didn't look up when booking, i hope we have a little privacy:confused:

Thanks

 

Sebasco -

 

Plenty of privacy - no worries. Balcony area is not viewable from above (pool area), below (lower decks), and only w/ effort by neighbors owing to privacy screens ;) Very private. Also, affords beautiful views on sailaways / leaving ports - esp. Venice - and wonderful sights generally (e.g., passing coasts, Stromboli volcano, Italian coastline, etc. while underway). Many great sunsets, sunrises.

 

Balcony is quite large - as is suite generally - with table for four, and two deck chairs / lounges. When sailing in "right" direction, can easily sun on the balcony.

 

Wonderful sound / sight of ship's wake - surprisingly loud, very pleasant / hypnotic, somewhat reminiscent of a waterfall - will easily send you off at night after a long day in port :) Also masked any noise there might otherwise have been from pool area - in fact, don't recall that ever being an issue - perhap because aft pool is generally less used (?).

 

"Maulie" and I ate many (most?) of our meals and all our b'fasts here - great for morning coffee and evening toasts with that day's/port's wine.

 

I've posted some photos of Baja 749, and misc views from balcony on same, at following URL: http://photos.yahoo.com/maulie6264

 

Maulie's DH

[sebasco]

Thank you for posting your pictures, this is the first I have seen of our suite and I am thrilled. I imagine we will follow suit and have many of our meals on the balcony. How was your steward and what was his name? Any other recommendations that you have would be appreciated. Did you have enough electrical outlets? Did Princess provide all the suite ammenities that they offer? Were there any problems with bugs leaving the doors open at night?

Thank you again

Beth

 

This is our first cruise, and I feel like a little kid going on their first trip to Disneyworld

[MrMaulie]

Thank you for posting your pictures, this is the first I have seen of our suite and I am thrilled. I imagine we will follow suit and have many of our meals on the balcony.

 

Thank you again

 

Beth

 

 

This is our first cruise, and I feel like a little kid going on their first trip to Disneyworld

 

 

 

Beth - no worries, more than happy to do so. We felt very much the same – our first cruise as well, and the Disneyworld analogy is dead-on :) As an aside, just to demonstrate how thrilled we were even from the outset, on our fourth & last day in Venice (first port), as we were pulling away and sailing out - we were both literally choking up. As “Maulie” wrote, the passage through the canals is unbelievably beautiful; and the view afforded from the balcony on Baja (and ships decks in general) is amazing. And, suffice to say, we were so pleased with cabin that we both commented during / after we’ll never book another location other than aft suites on subsequent cruises.

 

 

 

I also threw a (very small) sampling photos from Venice up at the same site / URL mentioned in last post – including views of the sail-away, Venice in early morning hours, and a regatta al photographed from the suite balcony while the ship was in the canal. Thought that might help build some excitement too :)

 

 

 

How was your steward and what was his name? Any other recommendations that you have would be appreciated. Did you have enough electrical outlets? Did Princess provide all the suite amenities that they offer? Were there any problems with bugs leaving the doors open at night?

 

 

 

1) In re: our Steward – his name was TioFilo. He was outstanding. Absolutely took care of everything with great humor, courtesy and professionalism. Not sure when your cruise is, but his contract ends in July, so he may not be there for your voyage. Will say though that, in addition to Tio, the same attributes mentioned above apply without exception to every member of the crew and staff that we encountered. That aspect of the cruise was uniformly exceptional in our experience.

 

 

2) In re: outlets – plenty of “standard” (i.e.., US-type) outlets.

 

 

3) In re: amenities – they were late on a few (canapés, champagne, flowers, etc.); but, Tio came thru with al – and, in the end, we simply attributed that to the chaos of turning the ship over for the next cruise. All the other amenities purchased / pkg’d (e.g., free dry cleaning/laundry, deserts, b’fasts, minibar, etc.) came thru as promised.

 

 

4) In re: bugs – none (or very, very few) seen, felt or heard. Which is very different than what we’re accustomed to ;) We often did close door though, esp. when ship was making high-speed runs between a couple ports, owing to sound of wake. But bugs were not an issue.

 

 

All in all, the itinerary is fantastic, the suite was great, and we had a wonderful and romantic time. Great sites, history, art; and, lot’s of unexpected gems too (air show in Naples, Stromboli, fireworks on Italian coast, Nat’l holiday in Istanbul, regatta in Venice, and memorable shops/shopkeepers, restaurants, people throughout). When time permits, we’ll post a rundown of hits and misses (very few), and more photos. But, completely confident you’ll have an amazing time if our experience was any indication.

 

 

Maulie’s DH.

[pthurston]

We had a Blast! We arrived a few days before sailing out of Venice. The embarcation was 2 hrs long due to screw-ups not by Princess. Machines werent working properly, lunch breaks...whatever. We were giddy and ready to get on the ship and delays like this in europe are part of the scene.

We choose this cruise for the itin and ship. We

had been on the Star and felt good about it and the Grand is pretty much like the Star.

We had PC dining which worked out well because you never know what time you will get back to the ship for dinner.

I thought the food was good to excellent depending on what you choose from the menu. We had dinner at Sabatinis one nite and the Sea Bass was awesome. The wait staff was nice except for one who was in a bad mood. We almost always ate dinner in the Davinci dining room or Michelangelo.

Ive heard that the ship is due for refurbishing. I did see a few leaks, a little worn carpet in the halls but overall very nice. They really need to clean the windows more often. Especially in Sabatinis.

Ports..Venice..everything we expected. San Trovaso was a great dinner!

Dont miss the campanile and the elevator ride to the top for great views.

Athens..hot, (and this was May 17th) took the Acropolis and Plaka tour. This was good, for a ships tour, walking around in a group is not our thing but it worked out well. We had some free time and did shopping ,also.

Kusadasi...walked around the town, checked out the carpets and found a real good spice store, just wandered. After the Acropolis, didnt want to trek thru ruins as we knew more were coming.

Istanbul..wow..just wow. Did the Blue mosque, st sophia and the grand Bazaar Wish we had had more time in the bazzar but we probably would have been more lost than we were. Its a BIG place. We really liked the Turkish people. Very nice and warm.

After the tour we wnet back to the ship to get ready for the afternoon boat tour up the Bosphorus. It was a holiday and you could hear music all over, when all of the sudden there was the call to prayer (5 times a day) and over loud speakers it reached the ship from across the bay. We heard it at 1:05 and 5:05p.

Mykonos...cute port. Take time to wander and lunch at the many cafe lining the beach. real nice relaxing day. no tour here.

Naples..took a private driver tour with Marcello, set up by fellow cruisecritic members Tom and Shari. Pompeii, Sorrento, Amalfi, Positano, Ravello.

Rome..Private tour(Tom/Shari) where we seemed to fly all over Rome and we saw everything on our wish list, including the Vatican (driver scored tickets for us so there wasnt a long line) and St. Peters, Piazza Navona, spanish steps, Trevi fountain, many historic villas, Coloseum and forum and prettyu good commentary. This was thru DriverinRome.

Florence..Princess "on your tour" where the bus takes you to Florence and drops you off and you have nearly 6 hrs to do your own thing, then meet and drive back to the ship. we had a plan, had made reservation ahead o time for the accademia to see David so fit that in and had a wonderful day.

Marseille..took the aix en Provence ships tour which was fine.

Barcelona..sad to leave our beautiful floating hotel but had one day ahead of us in Barcelona, took the turistic hop on hop off bus all over. Abargain and what fun.

Our cabin....Caribe 731...aft..starboard..looked like new. BIG balcony. cabin steward..Alfonso

This is a real port intense almost exhausting cruise if you make the most of it and take advantage of the programs, movies ports, gym etc. You make it work for you. I still cant feel my legs but all in all we had a wonderful cruise.

[ijkh]

This is just the tonic I needed today. I loved the photos. One question was about the Venice gondola regatta. What was that about? Is it a regular or routine thing or something special for a holiday. It sounds like this was a great trip. Tell us more anytime!

[willy paul]

jut thought I would bump the topic up. thanks for somegreat information

[vacationhappy]

Thanks Pthurston for an upbeat review - I was getting worried there for a second. We are on the Greek Isle itinerary in August and have spent months planning and saving for this trip. Isn't funny how one person can view the cruise as great while another just thought it was OK....we always tried to avoid the first or second cruise after a repositioning just so they can work out some of the kinks...thanks again!

[dutchess43]

To all of you that just came off of the Grand is there a change in the traditional dining times? I have been reading other Princess threads & it seems that some of their other ships have first seating 5:45 instead of 6:15 & late seating has been changed from 8:30 to 8:00 is this Grand following these new times as well? Regarding MUTS do you have to make a reservation for the night(s) that you want to attend & if you do how far in advance do you have to make the reservation.

Thanks

Dutchess

[Mrpuck]

MrMaulie

 

Hi, it's your water taxi partner from Locondo Orseolo. Send me and email at randy.honeycutt2@verizon.net.