GRAND PRINCESS or BLAND PRINCESS?

[MTJSR]

I sailed the Grand Princess, San Francisco to Mexico. December 20 – 30, 2015. The cruise was of course “great” but as a loyal Princess patron, I can't ignore some negative surprises.

 

I was really looking forward to sailing with Dave Cole and crew again. I had the pleasure of being on the Golden with ELUA and Dave. They knocked it out of the park on Hawaiian entertainment and spirit. I kind of expected some immersion in Mexican culture, as this cruise was in the middle of a series of repetitive Mexican sailings. The primary visual theme onboard was of course, Christmas. We did have a husband and wife team give port talks and a Mariachi style group in the atrium. There was of course, No Tortilla tossing, Pinata making, or Guacamole 101. and after 10 days onboard, I never saw Dave Cole anywhere. That was my fault thou, I never went to any of the shows in the Princess Theater. No real biggie, I just remember running into him everywhere on the Golden Hawaiian cruise and he was a very nice guy.

 

This was my 12th Princess cruise and the very first time, This cruise felt like the ship was off balance, not a happy place to work, unsupervised, lacking a unified upbeat spirit. I could go on and on, but bottom line, some crew were curt, snappy and unpleasant.

 

The issues were,

 

1. There were 3 different types of prescription pills on my cabin C643 floor when we embarked.. The bed was in the wrong configuration and the room felt hot and slept in or not freshened up. The balcony was dirty, the railing and furniture had thick rock salt stuck to them. It took us 3 days to get the ice bucket filled.

 

2. The prime rib dinner on the first night was disgusting. I ordered my meat medium rare. I got what the industry calls “Blue Rare” or raw. (see pic) It was returned and a new one came exactly the same. The corn cobbett had been soaking in liquid for so long the kernels were shriveled up and the cobbett was flat on one side. The asst waiter (table 276 Bottichelli) tried arguing with me about what medium rare looks like. A head waiter finally came over and he had the “stones” to lecture me on how they cook their prime rib and how it comes out. All the while Im being very cool, patient and polite. He wrote my name down and eventually said he'd make it right. Im still waiting. I never again ordered any cooked meat that required a specific doneness.

 

3. I bought the Ultimate Drink sticker. My dining room team would get my diet cokes ready so early in the day that by second seating all the ice was gone and the color was beige.

 

4. Port side horizon court rear staff (while walking back and forth) were pushy and would make you have to move so they could walk by. I found myself being forced to evade collision with staff as they appeared to care less you were coming. Two cooks with white hats ran thru the area and about knocked a child over, they laughed and went into a back door.

 

5. One of the coffee crew in the International Cafe was an angry, sullen and sometimes rude person. Why do they have him in that department. No morning smile?, unhappy crewmember?

 

6. The Facets jewelery store. My mom and I were traveling together on this cruise. She could be called a regular buyer at facets, when she sails. Five thousand or more would not be unusual. We walked in and from the minute we entered, we had 3 staff, bald male, dark hair male and asian female ignore us even as my mom looked in the glass cases. The bald male was just staring straight at us and never broke stare. My mom looked at me and said, yikes, lets get out of here.

 

7. I had played and won at poker in the casino, which requires you take money from your cruise card and put it onto the tables player terminal. When the cruise was over and it was time to cash out, I went to the pursers desk, because the money I downloaded from the poker table back onto my cruise card was not there. The help at the pursers desk had no idea what I was talking about, so they sent me to the casino cage. Why No instruction pamphlets? Where do passengers get this poker training, so they never have to ask staff stupid questions? Again sad unhappy faces!

 

8. I politely asked the blond Russian lady? At the cage how I can get the money off the poker table and as I tried to hand her my cruise card, she looked at my like I was in trouble and said “drop the card” . I looked at my mom and started laughing. Like this has got to be Candid Camera or something? like what the hell is wrong with this place?

 

I think it's important to mention here that we (mom and I) typically have a great time with the crew. We are always the attitude setters, we smile and the crew smiles with us. They see us before we see them and come up and say hi, give hugs and almost always have a good laugh. We are pleasant happy and very upbeat people. This is why this cruise felt like such a contrast for us. For whatever the reasons, the Grand has an unhappy crew mix and it showed in more than one area during this cruise. I am only bringing these items up because someone inside Princess just might read it and take a closer look. Sometimes it's hard to put our finger on what was different? Well I witnessed first hand a whole lot of it on this sailing.

 

Edited January 5, 2016 by MTJSR

[Colo Cruiser]

Yikes!

My opinion is the Grand will the next to be sold after the Ocean and Pacific.

It was built in 1998.

Edited January 5, 2016 by Colo Cruiser

[MTJSR]

Yikes!

My opinion is the Grand will the next to be sold after the Ocean and Pacific.

It was built in 1998.

 

Oh for sure! it's as if they have been told already:eek:

[Colo Cruiser]

Oh for sure! it's as if they have been told already:eek:

 

 

Good point, not to mention all the plumbing issues. :(

[ar1950]

Wow, not a happy situation with your cruise. I hope that it is an anomaly and things get squared away on the Grand. We have been looking at Alaska destination cruises and the Grand is doing one of the itineraries that we are considering.

Edited January 5, 2016 by ar1950

[partybarbie]

Sorry to hear you and your mom encountered so many problems on the Grand. I was just on the ship in November with my family. I did a mini-review for my Island roll call group:

 

"Well I made it home from my Grand Princess California Coastal cruise. We had pretty good weather for November, just a little cool and bumpy on the last sea day home.

 

We had 375 Elite passengers on this cruise, but I was able to make the cut-off for the MTP party. Our captain, Roger Bilton, was very nice and personable. He told us that he prefers the luncheons, but that it just wasn't possible due to the high number of port days.

 

I also wanted to say that the Past Passenger Party was much nicer than the one we had on the Emerald last month. One could either take a drink from the tray, or special order a drink. Additionally, both hot and cold appetizers were served. They also had the little glass jars, with the spicy cracker mix, on the tables.

 

The reason that I am mentioning this is because of Shogun's comment that after cruising on the Emerald last month, he had booked a cruise with another cruise line. It's not that the Emerald was bad, but she just seemed to have more cut backs than the Grand did.

 

Our group of seven had an excellent time on the Grand. For an older ship, I thought she was still in pretty good shape. Our cruise director was David Cole, so we had a good selection of on-board activities. I also enjoyed the One Five club. The last time I had sailed on the Grand, she still had the Skywalker's, lol. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I did like the ship and I would sail on her again."

 

I had such a good time that my DH and I will be back on her next week.

 

Additionally, we had no problem with our toilet or air conditioning, so our cabin is on Deck 12 aft, near where I was booked in November.

 

I understand there is a different captain now. Maybe that has something to do with it? Anyway, still looking forward to a good cruise and thank you for your review.

 

 

__________________

[delidan]

We were on the same cruise. On the first night, we had the same dinner - the prime rib. We asked for it rare and got it rare. It was delicious Saw David, the cruise director everywhere on the ship. Even talked to him several time during the trip. The waiters , bartender, and the staff couldn't have been any nicer, friendly and very accomodating. Do know why his mommy didn't get approached by staff in the shops. Every time we entered one of them, they always said hello and asked if we needed help. We had the same excellent service and friendly staff on our October Coastal trip and we are booked on 2 more cruises this year on the Grand.

[fishywood]

Yikes!

My opinion is the Grand will the next to be sold after the Ocean and Pacific.

It was built in 1998.

 

Dawn Princess (launched in 1997) is actually the next ship to leave the fleet, going to P&O Australia in Summer 2017. And Golden Princess is being permanently re-deployed to the Pacific Rim to replace Dawn. Don't expect Grand to leave anytime soon unless the just announced fourth Royal-class ship cascades several other ships down the pecking order. San Francisco has always been where Princess has stashed the oldest well-worn member of the North American fleet (Sky Princess, the previous Regal Princess, Sea Princess).

Edited January 5, 2016 by fishywood

[Colo Cruiser]

Dawn Princess (launched in 1997) is actually the next ship to leave the fleet, going to P&O Australia in Summer 2017. And Golden Princess is being permanently deployed to the Pacific Rim to replace Dawn. Don't expect Grand to leave anytime soon unless the just announced fourth Royal-class ship cascades several other ships down the pecking order. San Francisco has always been where Princess has stashed the oldest, creakiest member of the North American fleet (Sky Princess, the previous Regal Princess, Sea Princess).

 

 

The Sun Sea and the Dawn have been gone for a long time imo. (Australia) Thats why I did not note them. The Golden will still be a Princess ship. Its not going anywhere.

[iceleven]

Dawn Princess (launched in 1997) is actually the next ship to leave the fleet, going to P&O Australia in Summer 2017. And Golden Princess is being permanently re-deployed to the Pacific Rim to replace Dawn. Don't expect Grand to leave anytime soon unless the just announced fourth Royal-class ship cascades several other ships down the pecking order. San Francisco has always been where Princess has stashed the oldest well-worn member of the North American fleet (Sky Princess, the previous Regal Princess, Sea Princess).

 

Why is this? Hard to fill the ships? Perhaps if they brought over something "new" to cruise on there would be more interest? Other than the Sea Princess, there has been no other choice than Grand Class ships here. At least that is the case for me.

[Kingofcool1947]

:cool:

I sailed the Grand Princess, San Francisco to Mexico. December 20 – 30, 2015. The cruise was of course “great” but as a loyal Princess patron, I can't ignore some negative surprises.

 

I was really looking forward to sailing with Dave Cole and crew again. I had the pleasure of being on the Golden with ELUA and Dave. They knocked it out of the park on Hawaiian entertainment and spirit. I kind of expected some immersion in Mexican culture, as this cruise was in the middle of a series of repetitive Mexican sailings. The primary visual theme onboard was of course, Christmas. We did have a husband and wife team give port talks and a Mariachi style group in the atrium. There was of course, No Tortilla tossing, Pinata making, or Guacamole 101. and after 10 days onboard, I never saw Dave Cole anywhere. That was my fault thou, I never went to any of the shows in the Princess Theater. No real biggie, I just remember running into him everywhere on the Golden Hawaiian cruise and he was a very nice guy.

 

This was my 12th Princess cruise and the very first time, This cruise felt like the ship was off balance, not a happy place to work, unsupervised, lacking a unified upbeat spirit. I could go on and on, but bottom line, some crew were curt, snappy and unpleasant.

 

The issues were,

 

1. There were 3 different types of prescription pills on my cabin C643 floor when we embarked.. The bed was in the wrong configuration and the room felt hot and slept in or not freshened up. The balcony was dirty, the railing and furniture had thick rock salt stuck to them. It took us 3 days to get the ice bucket filled.

 

2. The prime rib dinner on the first night was disgusting. I ordered my meat medium rare. I got what the industry calls “Blue Rare” or raw. (see pic) It was returned and a new one came exactly the same. The corn cobbett had been soaking in liquid for so long the kernels were shriveled up and the cobbett was flat on one side. The asst waiter (table 276 Bottichelli) tried arguing with me about what medium rare looks like. A head waiter finally came over and he had the “stones” to lecture me on how they cook their prime rib and how it comes out. All the while Im being very cool, patient and polite. He wrote my name down and eventually said he'd make it right. Im still waiting. I never again ordered any cooked meat that required a specific doneness.

 

3. I bought the Ultimate Drink sticker. My dining room team would get my diet cokes ready so early in the day that by second seating all the ice was gone and the color was beige.

 

4. Port side horizon court rear staff (while walking back and forth) were pushy and would make you have to move so they could walk by. I found myself being forced to evade collision with staff as they appeared to care less you were coming. Two cooks with white hats ran thru the area and about knocked a child over, they laughed and went into a back door.

 

5. One of the coffee crew in the International Cafe was an angry, sullen and sometimes rude person. Why do they have him in that department. No morning smile?, unhappy crewmember?

 

6. The Facets jewelery store. My mom and I were traveling together on this cruise. She could be called a regular buyer at facets, when she sails. Five thousand or more would not be unusual. We walked in and from the minute we entered, we had 3 staff, bald male, dark hair male and asian female ignore us even as my mom looked in the glass cases. The bald male was just staring straight at us and never broke stare. My mom looked at me and said, yikes, lets get out of here.

 

7. I had played and won at poker in the casino, which requires you take money from your cruise card and put it onto the tables player terminal. When the cruise was over and it was time to cash out, I went to the pursers desk, because the money I downloaded from the poker table back onto my cruise card was not there. The help at the pursers desk had no idea what I was talking about, so they sent me to the casino cage. Why No instruction pamphlets? Where do passengers get this poker training, so they never have to ask staff stupid questions? Again sad unhappy faces!

 

8. I politely asked the blond Russian lady? At the cage how I can get the money off the poker table and as I tried to hand her my cruise card, she looked at my like I was in trouble and said “drop the card” . I looked at my mom and started laughing. Like this has got to be Candid Camera or something? like what the hell is wrong with this place?

 

I think it's important to mention here that we (mom and I) typically have a great time with the crew. We are always the attitude setters, we smile and the crew smiles with us. They see us before we see them and come up and say hi, give hugs and almost always have a good laugh. We are pleasant happy and very upbeat people. This is why this cruise felt like such a contrast for us. For whatever the reasons, the Grand has an unhappy crew mix and it showed in more than one area during this cruise. I am only bringing these items up because someone inside Princess just might read it and take a closer look. Sometimes it's hard to put our finger on what was different? Well I witnessed first hand a whole lot of it on this sailing.

 

 

Interesting read. We do not shop the ship's stores, or gamble.

 

We had just the opposite experience sailing on the Grand Princess last year. 10 day Mexican Rivera cruise roundtrip from San Francisco.

 

IMHO, The Grand Princess was simply Grand, although we were a bit disappointed at the lack of presentations on Mexican culture. Other than that, friendly crew, Maitre'D took care of my special dietary needs, very attentive waitstaff, stateroom steward filled my ice. Ickes every day,, and a very. visible C.D. David Cole. We did attend the evening entertainment in the Princess Theater. The C.D. was always present in the lobby after each of the shows to Meet and Greet passengers. Very personable C.D. This was not our first time on the Grand Princee, having sailed on her to Alaska a few times. So, our most recent Mexican cruise experience overall was fabulous. Nothing to complain about. :)

 

Perhaps for you, it's time to move on to another cruise line. Maybe a luxury cruise line like Cunard, Oceana, Regent, Seaborn, etc. where the service, entertainment, and food quality and preparation can meet your expectations. A more intimate shipboard experience with less passengers to service?

 

Good luck. And, "may you continue to cruise in interesting times."

Edited January 5, 2016 by Kingofcool1947

[fishywood]

[/b]Why is this? Hard to fill the ships? Perhaps if they brought over something "new" to cruise on there would be more interest? Other than the Sea Princess, there has been no other choice than Grand Class ships here. At least that is the case for me.

 

When there is more than one ship doing very similar itineraries at the same time Princess wants little differentiation between the ships: regular summer deployments of Coral and Island sailing Whittier-Vancouver; Crown and Ruby in Seattle; Caribbean and Emerald in Southampton. So the oddball stepchild goes to homeports with only one ship.

 

And port capacity aside, could Princess stimulate enough demand for a second ship in San Francisco? As beautiful a city as it is, demand for cruises from there is pretty much confined to people within driving distance: flying in and out can be problematic, and pre-and post-cruise stays can be a hard sell for a city with temperatures 25 or more degrees colder than Alaska in mid-July.

Edited January 5, 2016 by fishywood

[Kingofcool1947]

When there is more than one ship doing very similar itineraries at the same time Princess wants little differentiation between the ships: regular summer deployments of Coral and Island sailing Whittier-Vancouver; Crown and Ruby in Seattle; Caribbean and Emerald in Southampton. So the oddball stepchild goes to homeports with only one ship.

 

And port capacity aside, could Princess stimulate enough demand for a second ship in San Francisco? As beautiful a city as it is, demand for cruises from there is pretty much confined to people within driving distance: flying in and out can be problematic, and pre-and post-cruise stays can be a hard sell for a city with temperatures 25 or more degrees colder than Alaska in mid-July.

 

Doesn't Star Princess sail out of San Francisco as well?

[Kingofcool1947]

When there is more than one ship doing very similar itineraries at the same time Princess wants little differentiation between the ships: regular summer deployments of Coral and Island sailing Whittier-Vancouver; Crown and Ruby in Seattle; Caribbean and Emerald in Southampton. So the oddball stepchild goes to homeports with only one ship.

 

And port capacity aside, could Princess stimulate enough demand for a second ship in San Francisco? As beautiful a city as it is, demand for cruises from there is pretty much confined to people within driving distance: flying in and out can be problematic, and pre-and post-cruise stays can be a hard sell for a city with temperatures 25 or more degrees colder than Alaska in mid-July.

 

 

Why is flying in and out of San Francisco problematic?

 

Here are temperature averages for July. San Frsncisco and Alaska. Are they incorrect?.

 

Averages for San Francisco in July

 

July San Francisco

Weather Lowdown

July is summer time in San Francisco, USA, and the temperatures are fairly stable throughout the month. The average temperature during the day is 140C with the average high and low temperatures ranging from a daytime high of 230C to an overnight low of 150C. ...

 

Southeast Alaska

Average July temperatures

High °F Low °F Place High °C Low °C

64 53 Annette Island 18 12

64 47 Glacier Bay 18 8

70 48 Haines 21 9

63 51 Juneau 17 11

64 51 Ketchikan 18 11

60 52 Sitka 16 11

64 51 Wrangell 18 11

60 49 Yakutat 16

Edited January 5, 2016 by Kingofcool1947

[iceleven]

When there is more than one ship doing very similar itineraries at the same time Princess wants little differentiation between the ships: regular summer deployments of Coral and Island sailing Whittier-Vancouver; Crown and Ruby in Seattle; Caribbean and Emerald in Southampton. So the oddball stepchild goes to homeports with only one ship.

 

And port capacity aside, could Princess stimulate enough demand for a second ship in San Francisco? As beautiful a city as it is, demand for cruises from there is pretty much confined to people within driving distance: flying in and out can be problematic, and pre-and post-cruise stays can be a hard sell for a city with temperatures 25 or more degrees colder than Alaska in mid-July.

 

I could throw a wrench into several of your points but that would only express my own personal opinion and not really settle our differences. In any case, I didn't ask for two ships to come into SF. We do have a new pier so technically two ships could come in (and they do.) I'm simply asking for a different ship, a new ship.

 

I don't mind so much the lack of options of ports and similar itineraries because I can always find something new to do in each port but having a different ship to cruise and to explore from time to time is nice. We generally cruise anywhere from 25 to 40 days a year (not yet retired) and it has always been either the Grand or the Star with two exceptions of the Golden and Sea Princess, neither of which are options any longer.

[fishywood]

 

 

July is summer time in San Francisco, USA, and the temperatures are fairly stable throughout the month. The average temperature during the day is 140C with the average high and low temperatures ranging from a daytime high of 230C to an overnight low of 150C. ...

 

 

Bit of a contradiction there. Though if any city would have higher average temperatures overnight than midday, San Francisco would be the one.

 

I have been in 80F (27C) weather in Alaskan ports in late May.

And one July week in San Francisco with highs barely in the mid 50sF (around 13C) and nighttime temps below 40F (3C-4C).

[tml1230]

Sorry you had a less than perfect cruise…..thanks for sharing...

we spent 25 days on the Grand during november and december….our experiences were exactly the opposite of what you described and we would travel on the Grand again in a minute…living within driving distance of 4 ports here in florida, by far our favorite port (and city) is San Francisco.

[floridalover5623]

Sounds miserable. How many dollars compensation did they give you for your troubles?

[sportsmum]

The assumption that we tell the negative side of our cruises for compensation is just silly. Also the 'stay home' or switch cruise lines. Sometimes things just go wrong. It happens. But, if it makes you happy to jump - jump.

 

MTJSR: We were on the Caribe deck as well. C510. Our cabin had remnants of past guests as well. Garbage on floor, used tissues in bed drawers, stickers on the inside of the cupboard door. DH thought maybe because the ship is getting older the staff may not take as much pride in her.

 

This cruise was less than usual in crew friendliness - although our DR waiter was spectacular- but better than one cruise line we no longer use regularly.

[donh1]

The cashier is not allowed to have any hand to hand contact with the patrons. The camera is watching and this prevents any passing of money that could be hidden from view. As far as the Russian accent sometimes it comes across as Authoritive. Sorry you have some bad experiences. Sometimes "Murphies Law" plays a part and all the bad things happen seen to come your way.

[floridalover5623]

The assumption that we tell the negative side of our cruises for compensation is just silly. Also the 'stay home' or switch cruise lines. Sometimes things just go wrong. It happens. But, if it makes you happy to jump - jump.

 

You would be surprised to fine out how many people do just that.

 

MTJSR: We were on the Caribe deck as well. C510. Our cabin had remnants of past guests as well. Garbage on floor, used tissues in bed drawers, stickers on the inside of the cupboard door. DH thought maybe because the ship is getting older the staff may not take as much pride in her.

 

This cruise was less than usual in crew friendliness - although our DR waiter was spectacular- but better than one cruise line we no longer use regularly.

 

No excuse. I would have complained to the hotel manager & had him correct the situation.

[MTJSR]

I understand that a review posted on this forum is subject to negative comments. Those that had an awesome time don’t really want to hear that someone else saw things differently. My review with areas of concern, does not make their review wrong!

 

As a very loyal Princess patron, I am hoping I’m giving Princess some priceless real time feedback for what my service experience was like in the very specific locations I mention. In the hospitality and restaurant industries, they have “secret shoppers” that do anonymous reviews for a price. We help Princess (and us) when we are fair and appropriate with our feedback.

 

Keep in mind, everything else about this cruise was great. Which is why we will keep booking Princess cruises for years to come.

[MTJSR]

The cashier is not allowed to have any hand to hand contact with the patrons. The camera is watching and this prevents any passing of money that could be hidden from view. As far as the Russian accent sometimes it comes across as Authoritive. Sorry you have some bad experiences. Sometimes "Murphies Law" plays a part and all the bad things happen seen to come your way.

 

I will side with you on that point. Certainly could have been the reason.

 

This cruise was pretty heavily staffed from the Eastern Block, but they were not really my issue on this cruise, we had great fun with a young Serbian waiter in the I.C. who had his first date with a waitress onboard. Think cloud 9!

[raider23]

sportsmum,

Sorry to her your room cleanliness. We will be boarding the Grand in May for our first Princess cruise and will also be in C510. Would you happen to have any pictures of the room/balcony or tips you would like to share? Any and all would be appreciated. Thanks in advance! :)

[cactusrose]

Wow. Were we on the same cruise? My husband and I were on the Grand from 12/10 - 12/30 and we had a great time. Six friends joined us on the Christmas cruise and we all commented on how pleasant the crew was. We found the food to be better than we had on our last cruise and, even though we didn't go to many shows, we saw David Cole everywhere. We also found the crew and officers to be one of the most friendly we have encountered. Captain Ron Wilson is now one of two of our favorite captains. Very friendly and approachable. You must have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

I know that not everyone will have the same experience on the same cruise and I'm sorry yours was so bad. We had one of those on the Golden in May. Everything just seemed dull and the crew was unhappy and it showed in the way they treated the passengers. Don't give up on Princess, your next cruise may be the best one yet.

Edited January 5, 2016 by cactusrose