Center Staircase on Grand?

[Richjoxyz]

I've seen references to "no center staircase" on the Grand. What does this mean? When I check the deck plan there is a center staircase shown. :confused: We sail the Grand in May. This will be our first Princess cruise.

Edited March 11, 2016 by Richjoxyz

[dave3282]

The Grand has a center staircase but it is only accessible to passengers for use between floors 4 through 7. After floor 7 it turns into a crew stairwell and cannot be used by passengers.

[Richjoxyz]

Thank you. That clears things up.

 

Our cabin is a Dolphin Deck Mini-Suite near the front stairwell. Should work out just fine.

[ar1950]

Duplicate post. Deleted.

Edited March 11, 2016 by ar1950

[ar1950]

I've seen references to "no center staircase" on the Grand. What does this mean? When I check the deck plan there is a center staircase shown. :confused: We sail the Grand in May. This will be our first Princess cruise.

 

Always a great thread once started. No offense to the OP, BTW. The Princess web site deck plans are generic so, even though all of the other Grand class ships and the bigger derivatives (Ruby, Crown, Emerald, etc.) all show center stairs all the way up beyond deck 7, the actual, and original, Grand ship is not so lucky. No stairs up beyond deck 7 in the central area.

[Pam in CA]

The Grand has a center staircase but it is only accessible to passengers for use between floors 4 through 7. After floor 7 it turns into a crew stairwell and cannot be used by passengers.

Yup. People complain about the Royal and Regal not having a finished staircase above deck 7 midship yet that's been the case on the Grand for almost two decades. :(

[peety3]

Thank you. That clears things up.

 

Our cabin is a Dolphin Deck Mini-Suite near the front stairwell. Should work out just fine.

A lot of times, we tend to walk forward/aft to "align" with our destination, then take an elevator to our destination. On the Grand, you're probably better off taking elevator/stairs to the target floor, then heading forward/aft from there. Note that this doesn't work with Botticelli MDR (only access via aft).

[Colo Cruiser]

Yup. People complain about the Royal and Regal not having a finished staircase above deck 7 midship yet that's been the case on the Grand for almost two decades. :(

 

There is nothing above 7 on the Grand.

[Pam in CA]

There is nothing above 7 on the Grand.

Not even an unfinished stair? I could have swore I saw a door there.

[Cruise Raider]

Not even an unfinished stair? I could have swore I saw a door there.

 

I do believe there is a closed door there at the top of the stairs on deck 7. I would forget and walk up the stairs only to turn right back around. Argh!

 

The central elevators and the hallway past the photo shop are both so crowded that it seemed to take much longer to get anywhere in the aft section of the ship. I think the front stairs would probably be less congested, unfortunately, our room was all the way aft.

[SharkieRools]

My photo of the door where the crew only staircase is in the center elevator lobby:

[Shogun]

Hi

We did a cruise on the Crown and then the Grand both cabins were mid ship,

 

was constantly going up the stairs on the Grand only to have to turn back again.

 

yours Shogun

[Linsifer]

Is there any possibility that they can modify that stairway to open up to passengers? Or is it just a single stairwell? From the posts here, it does seem to be an annoying feature of the Grand. I've sailed on her sister ships, Star and Golden and always stayed midship. It's been years so I don't recall if they have the center staircase or not. I'm assuming they do. And that's why it would be to their advantage to add one on the Grand...unless they plan to put her out to pasture in the near future and don't want to bother with it. I usually take the stairs, as well, although on my recent cruise on RCI Brilliance of the Seas, I often preferred the elevators because some of them were glass looking out to the sea. And their others were glass looking down into the atrium, of course. But I also took my share of stairs. We'll be on the Grand next Feb-March, so I'll be prepared to take elevators or the aft and forward stairs. I doubt they'll change the middle stairway during December when she's in port.

[geoherb]

Is there any possibility that they can modify that stairway to open up to passengers? Or is it just a single stairwell? From the posts here, it does seem to be an annoying feature of the Grand. I've sailed on her sister ships, Star and Golden and always stayed midship. It's been years so I don't recall if they have the center staircase or not. I'm assuming they do. And that's why it would be to their advantage to add one on the Grand...unless they plan to put her out to pasture in the near future and don't want to bother with it.

I'm sure they could modify the stairway to make it suitable for passenger use. If it's like the nonpassenger stairwell on the Sun Princess that we used for our muster drill, it would take considerable work.

[Colo Cruiser]

I'm sure they could modify the stairway to make it suitable for passenger use. If it's like the nonpassenger stairwell on the Sun Princess that we used for our muster drill, it would take considerable work.

 

 

The Grand was built in 1998.

I doubt other then regular maintenance that they will sink any more big money into her.

[OCruisers]

Help! Am I totally confused! :confused:

When on Grand, I remember there being NO Central Staircase (for use by passengers) from Deck 7 to Decks 6 & 5.

LuLu

[namowal]

Someguy actually videotaped the

[jennybenny]

That's so funny, we were on the Grand in December and I didn't even notice there weren't center stairs.

We tend to try to not take the lifts and walk everywhere. I just didn't catch it. So it must not have bothered us.

And we will certainly sail the Grand again!!

Edited May 28, 2016 by jennybenny

[sassyredhat]

Someguy actually videotaped the

 

Thanks for this.

We have a corner aft. (I think it's a corner.)

 

Patti

[Thrak]

We started up that center staircase several times. Each time we just stopped, laughed at ourselves, and then went another way. It was amazing to us that we did it even once, let alone several times, as we were well aware of the issue before boarding. It was really no big deal for us although, like others, we do find it odd to say the least.

[Cruise Raider]

That's so funny, we were on the Grand in December and I didn't even notice there weren't center stairs.

We tend to try to not take the lifts and walk everywhere. I just didn't catch it. So it must not have bothered us.

And we will certainly sail the Grand again!!

 

:confused:

It is only if you walk everywhere and take the stairs that you might notice this. For the people that take elevators all the time, that is when you wouldn't notice the lack of stairs.

[Pam in CA]

Help! Am I totally confused! :confused:

 

When on Grand, I remember there being NO Central Staircase (for use by passengers) from Deck 7 to Decks 6 & 5.

 

LuLu

Yes. There are stairs midship between decks 4 and 7. Passengers go down those stairways to get to the mid-ship tender platform.

[jennybenny]

:confused:

 

It is only if you walk everywhere and take the stairs that you might notice this. For the people that take elevators all the time, that is when you wouldn't notice the lack of stairs.

 

 

 

I do walk everywhere and never take an elevator. So my not noticing the "missing stairs" is that I find pleasure in enjoying my cruise, walking a little extra doesn't bother me one bit. Could be my cabin was not centrally located too. Either way, I didn't notice and therefore didn't have to complain about it [emoji4]

 

 

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