Grand - No Central Stairs?

[Av8tor]

Just saw a post on a Grand Roll Call thread that said the mid-ship stairs were posted for crew use only (ala Royal & Regal)... Can someone else confirm this?

 

Thanks

[waltd]

Yes that is correct.

[TLC535]

This is correct...one of the reasons the Grand is not one of our favorite ships.

[Thrak]

The central stairs don't go up very far. We were on Grand in May and made the mistake several times of trying to take the stairs up. We just shook our heads, laughed at ourselves, and took an elevator or (more often) walked to the forward or aft stairs. It was a minor nuisance and we enjoyed our cruise immensely.

[Colo Cruiser]

Correcto mundo.

[Av8tor]

Thanks for the quick replies.

 

Having sailed on the Regal in a mid-ship cabin, the lack of mid stairs isn't a deal breaker for us, but it will definitely come into play while considering which cabin to select.

 

Other than Royal, Regal, & Grand, have any other Princess ships closed of the mid-ship stairs to passenger use?

[Thrak]

I believe those are the only ships with this particular "feature". People were very unhappy about the stairs on the Grand and that oddity was corrected on the later ships. It was quite a surprise to everybody when the same "feature" was reintroduced on the two new ships.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Thrak

[skrodle]

Just saw a post on a Grand Roll Call thread that said the mid-ship stairs were posted for crew use only (ala Royal & Regal)... Can someone else confirm this?

 

Thanks

So interesting story... I had heard all the complaining about the central staircase on Regal/Royal, and it was making me re-consider booking a future cruise. But then when I saw that the Grand did not have one, I had to laugh. We were on the Grand for a 12 day cruise and I honestly did not even notice it.

 

I think people like to complain when there is something to complain about. I notice that a lot around here ;)

[Colo Cruiser]

I notice that a lot around here ;)

 

Me too! :rolleyes:

 

 

I am not too worried about any missing stairs on the Regal.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Colo Cruiser

[geoherb]

Generally we get a cabin closer to the forward or aft stairs, so the lack of a central staircase doesn't bother us. I've managed now for several cruises to avoid taking an elevator. DH still takes them if we're walking up more than three or four decks.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I will never understand why the designers at Princess seem to think passengers would not use a mid-ship staircase. On most ships with three elevator lobbies I usually find the mid-ship stairs the most commonly used by passengers. Even on some of the RCI/X ships with only a forward and mid-ship elevator lobby the stairs at the mid are used in far greater numbers. I just don't get it .......

[J-D]

On the Grand, even if you normally use elevators, the lack of accessible mid-ship stairs is an annoyance because of the extra demand on the elevators. During our two cruises on the Grand, the mid-ship elevators were often unusually crowded or completely filled, with unusually long waits. And of course there was no option to switch to the stairs without walking to the fore- or aft-stairwell. A minor matter in the overall scheme of things, but an annoyance.

 

Also, in October 2012 and again Feb. 2013, one or more of the Grand's mid-ship elevators seemed to be out of service for maintenance an unusually high proportion of the time. That exacerbated the congestion and delays. I have not noticed complaints on CC about the Grand's elevator serviceability in recent months, so perhaps her mid-ship elevators are in better shape now.

 

John

[dmwnc1959]

It may be similar on the Grand Princess, but this is what the Crew Only central staircase looks like on Royal Princess, in these pictures being used during the pre-cruise Emergency Drill:

 

 

 

 

 

[DCT61]

We were on the GRAND PRINCESS last week, and didn't miss the central stairway in the slightest. We found the wait for elevators and the crowd level in the elevators to be no more than an other ship we've sailed on...and our cruise was full. The "highly touted" CELEBRITY SOLSTICE (occupancy:2850) CELEBRITY EQUINOX (occupancy: 2850) CELEBRITY ECLIPSE (occupancy: 2850) CELEBRITY SILHOUETTE (occupancy: 2886) and CELEBRITY REFLECTION (occupancy: 3046) only have two passenger stairwells as well. Come to think of it...OASIS OF THE SEAS and ALLURE OF THE SEAS only have two passenger stairwells.

[Iamcruzin]

Only someone like myself who books mid ship on deck 8 or 9 for the purpose of being able to walk up to or down from my room would have an issue with no central stairs. Fortunately for myself I have no issue booking a room forward which is less expensive than mid ship. I just hope that others don't catch on creating a demand for this location which would cause the price to be more or equal to a mid ship location.

[lake5298]

I guess it shows how often I use stairs - I've been on Grand Princess several times (both with and without Skywalker) and never noticed the lack of these stairs!

 

I'm on holiday - I'm not climbing stairs!!!

 

 

.

[Av8tor]

Thanks for all the replies. W/o the center stairs, there was no great reason to pay the extra money for a mid-ship cabin. Therefore, we got one on Lido deck near the forward stairs which works well for us. Have tried all different types of cabins and locations, but this will be our first on Lido.

[Pam in CA]

I don't like mid-ship cabins anyway so whether there are stairs or not is rarely an issue for me. I much prefer to be towards the aft. :) Plenty of stairs, elevators, etc.

[bunnysmom]

So interesting story... I had heard all the complaining about the central staircase on Regal/Royal, and it was making me re-consider booking a future cruise. But then when I saw that the Grand did not have one, I had to laugh. We were on the Grand for a 12 day cruise and I honestly did not even notice it.

 

I think people like to complain when there is something to complain about. I notice that a lot around here ;)

 

We were just on the Grand at the end of June.

As I'm reading this forum I can't for the life of me recall

the "stairs" or lack of .... guess we didn't notice either :D

[caribill]

We were on the GRAND PRINCESS last week, and didn't miss the central stairway in the slightest. We found the wait for elevators and the crowd level in the elevators to be no more than an other ship we've sailed on...and our cruise was full. The "highly touted" CELEBRITY SOLSTICE (occupancy:2850) CELEBRITY EQUINOX (occupancy: 2850) CELEBRITY ECLIPSE (occupancy: 2850) CELEBRITY SILHOUETTE (occupancy: 2886) and CELEBRITY REFLECTION (occupancy: 3046) only have two passenger stairwells as well. Come to think of it...OASIS OF THE SEAS and ALLURE OF THE SEAS only have two passenger stairwells.

 

But they have the stairwells next to each set of elevators.

 

Not like the Grand, Royal and Regal with a set of elevators without stairways.

[lake5298]

This poses a major safety flaw on ships that do not have a central staircase.

 

Not a major safety flaw at all. In an emergency crew stairs are available for use in addition to passenger stairs. Grand Princess has 1 less passenger staircase, but 1 more crew staircase. Overall, the same number of staircases.

 

Also it's worth pointing out that the Princess ships that have an extra deck of cabins (Riviera Deck) pass all safety regulations with the same number of staircases.

 

Let's all stop panicking!

[dorisis]

I don't like mid-ship cabins anyway so whether there are stairs or not is rarely an issue for me. I much prefer to be towards the aft. :) Plenty of stairs, elevators, etc.

 

And never as crowded as the other lifts.