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Live From the Grand Holiday Cruise 12-20-13 to 1-4-14

trbarton

By trbarton,
in Princess Cruises

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trbarton "Live from...." Rare

trbarton

Posted
Posted

Fri, 12/20/13 Embarkation

 

Welcome from the Grand Holiday Cruise & Tom's Blog.

 

The Grand was delayed leaving Vitoria Dry Docks, 6 hrs. late and arrived in SF after 9 am. The planned BVE was canceled and boarding started around 1 pm. Because of the late San Francisco arrival we didn't depart until after 11 pm. All of the tender boats had to be tested and it was reported by the captain that there was a problem with some of the new hosting cables. Announced that we will arrive in Ensenada as scheduled on Sunday, 7 am.

 

Dinning service in the Di Vince dinning room was slow so missed the first welcome aboard show. Everything OK. Lots of Christmas decorations around.

 

Will report more as I am able.

 

Tom:)

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RickEk

RickEk

Posted
Posted
Fri, 12/20/13 Embarkation

 

Welcome from the Grand Holiday Cruise & Tom's Blog.

 

The Grand was delayed leaving Vitoria Dry Docks, 6 hrs. late and arrived in SF after 9 am. The planned BVE was canceled and boarding started around 1 pm. Because of the late San Francisco arrival we didn't depart until after 11 pm. All of the tender boats had to be tested and it was reported by the captain that there was a problem with some of the new hosting cables. Announced that we will arrive in Ensenada as scheduled on Sunday, 7 am.

 

Dinning service in the Di Vince dinning room was slow so missed the first welcome aboard show. Everything OK. Lots of Christmas decorations around.

 

Will report more as I am able.

 

Tom:)

 

Enjoy your cruise! I'd be interested to know what was accomplished in such an abbreviated drydock...

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Whoo

Whoo

Posted
Posted

Thanks for a live report. We were on the Nov. 25th cruise, just before the 10 day dry dock. Hope you have a great cruise, and warmer weather than we had! It was warm in the islands, but cold on the sea days!

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cotatica

cotatica

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I am looking forward to your updates. When I saw this cruise over Christmas and New Years I put it on my Bucket List and I would hope that it will be in my future soon. Please tell us all the holiday/extras that they do for you. Thanks again. Marla

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Guest USC Traveler

Guest USC Traveler

Posted
Posted

since you were on the grand earlier in the year, what upgrades/improvements have you noticed since the dry dock?

have a fabulous cruise!

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elliair

elliair

Posted
Posted
Especially did the mats return to the floors of the balconies or do they continue to just be painted metal to stand on?

 

We were on the Grand 2 weeks before they took her into dry dock. Our cabin steward told us that the mats were going to be put down while in dry dock. I hope they replaced the slider in our cabin, the whole bottom of the door was rotted out.:eek:

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sargeatwork

sargeatwork

Posted
Posted
Fri, 12/20/13 Embarkation

 

Welcome from the Grand Holiday Cruise & Tom's Blog.

 

The Grand was delayed leaving Vitoria Dry Docks, 6 hrs. late and arrived in SF after 9 am. The planned BVE was canceled and boarding started around 1 pm. Because of the late San Francisco arrival we didn't depart until after 11 pm. All of the tender boats had to be tested and it was reported by the captain that there was a problem with some of the new hosting cables. Announced that we will arrive in Ensenada as scheduled on Sunday, 7 am.

 

Dinning service in the Di Vince dinning room was slow so missed the first welcome aboard show. Everything OK. Lots of Christmas decorations around.

 

Will report more as I am able.

 

Tom:)

 

Thanks so much for the updates. We appreciate all the information on the ship after the drydock. Will check in often :) to see how it's going for youall.

 

Merry Christmas!:D

 

Joyce (and Robert)

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bdjam

bdjam

Posted
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Came to San Francisco on Friday for a holiday lunch with friends and could see Grand Princess from the Bay Bridge. She looked beautiful on the waterfront on the crisp, clear day. While I'm sure most of the dry dock efforts were put into maintenance it will be interesting to see what passenger facing upgrade there have been...

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trbarton "Live from...." Rare

trbarton

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Sat, 12/21/13 At Sea

 

We had a good M & G with about 30 people present. No officers present as their was a staff meeting about the time of our meeting. I arranged for a photographer who took several photos of our group.

 

CD Sammi Baker indicated that the afternoon, 1 pm is better. The first sea day their may be meetings of the officers etc. so I suggest the 2nd sea day.

 

Their was a champaign waterfall with the captain, a good show with the ship dancers, Stardust, and a funny marriage match game show.

 

Tomorrow our slot pull event. I decided to make arrangements with the Casino manager.

 

Will report more soon.

 

Tom:(

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caribill

caribill

Posted
Posted (edited)
What is a Marriage Match Game? Curious minds want to be prepared....

 

It is the ship's version of the old TV game show called "The Newlywed Game."

 

Three couples are picked to participate. They try for one newlywed couple, one long time married couple and one inbetween couple.

 

Questions (or the answers to them) can be quite embarrassing to some. Great fun to watch, but only partcipate if you do not mind being embarrased in front of total strangers or even worse, close relatives.

Edited by caribill
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trbarton "Live from...." Rare

trbarton

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Live From the Grand Holiday Cruise 12-20-13 to 1-4-14

 

 

 

 

Sun, 12/22/13 Ensenada, Mexico

 

Arrived in Ensenada on time even tho we left late.

 

I took a tour of Ensenada which was nice with some wine tasting.

 

Stopped in town and did some window shopping and tried a taco.

 

Back to the ship as we departed at 2 pm.

 

Went to the afternoon tea which was fun. Lots of things to sample.

 

Good shows in the Princess Theatre. We had the production show "Stardust".

 

Tom

 

Mon, 12/23/13 At Sea

 

Today was our slot pull. Telling the manager of our plans was good as he had the machine secured so that no one could use it. We all put in $15 which was fed into the machine. Nobody won anything on their spin except one person so when everyone had their turns we had $10 left so we decoded to let the person who had one continue to spin until we water at zero. Even tho we did not win anything we all had fun and got to know people better.

 

Always lots of things to do & see.

 

Tom

 

Tue, 12/24/13 At Sea

 

Today was Christmas Eve and I decided to do a balcony dinner. We met with the room service manager the day before to discuss our options. When I return I will post the menu.

 

At 5:30 pm the manager arrived and our table was set up. With both the stateroom door and balcony door opened it was very windy but with the stateroom door closed everything was ok. They were short handed so the manager served us course by course. Flowers and a candle were on the table. It is something special to do. Everything was first class. We had surf & turf as our main entree.

 

Another good show in the Princess Showroom and a classical group from Russia in the Vista Lounge.

 

Their is one channel on the TV with a log burning in a fireplace with Christmas Music in the background.

 

Wed, 12/25/13 At Sea

 

Celebrated Christmas with a meal in the MDR which was good with Egg Nog.

 

Santa greeted everyone in the Piazza with presents for everyone.

 

I entered a "Sexy Legs" which was fun as we paraded around the pool with 2 ladies judging us. People were clapping and yelling as I paraded around the pool perhaps because they wondered why this senior entered. I didn't win but it was fun doing something crazy which is what cruising is about, enjoy yourself.

 

Tonight was formal night and I received a Phillippino outfit called a Barong tagalong, which is considered formal in the Philippines. I will post some photos when I return.

 

More later.

 

Tom

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knippsel

knippsel

Posted
Posted

Thank you, Tom, for sharing your cruise with all of us. Had a question about the classical music group from Russia you mentioned. Was it a quartet or a trio? There is a quartet which I understand is quite good, and there is a trio which we had on the Grand last April which had a much smaller repertoire.Not nearly as enjoyable. We're sailing again in February and would really enjoy a good classical group this time.

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