Grand Princess Hawaii Cruise April 23rd - Video and Mini Review

[MTJSR]

We just returned from the last 4-23-2017 Grand Princess Hawaiian Cruise of the winter season. Overall it was a fantastic cruise. The crew was outstanding and the food this trip was good. There were too many positive aspects of the cruise to list in detail, so the few negative items are alittle easier to focus on for this improvement review.

Our room C607 was flooded by our neighbors overflowing toilet. We noticed it after dinner one night, early in the cruise. An attempt to vacuum the water up helped but we slept with wet carpet and towels on the floor that night. The next day our room steward was going to clean it up and new padding was to be installed while we were out for the day. When we returned,there was a large blower fan sitting in the isle as you walk in the cabin pointing to the bathroom door. This was at 1:50pm. Later that afternoon, our steward returned from his afternoon break (we were onthe balcony) and was packing up the blower to remove it. I stopped him and said “what about the rest of the cabin”? He looked at meas if I was kidding, but the carpet by the desk and balcony door wasstill wet. Someone forgot to monitor our cabin while he was on afternoon break, so now we were still going to have wet carpet going into a third day. Long story short, only after I said something, did anyone from the front office call us to see if everything was ok. A ball got dropped on this issue somewhere.

We attended the Chefs table. I have done this before and it was spectacular! This time everything was fantastic except the “main course”. What a massive let down. It was a Beef Medallion with small soft pieces of lobster and béarnaise sauce on top. The beef was not a filet mignon, but a round flavorless chewy chunk of sirloin. The lobster was softlike it was disintegrating? Yuck! “Nobody” at the table ate allthe meat which should have tipped off someone, but being nice people said the food was good. Only after and away from the table did thereal opinions come out. To be honest, the main course looked like amain dining room offering, so nothing special worth a 95.00 price tag. Finally, they assumed I was married to the lady next to me and gave her a cookbook and I got nothing. Oh well!

The coffee card and“Coffee and Cones” Someone at Princess Corp apparently thinks all passengers like Espresso drinks. The Grand has Espresso machines everywhere, but “Brewed Coffee” in only 1 location and that is deck 5. Coffee and Cones the new venue that is very close to the Horizon ct (where people eat breakfast does NOT have brewed coffee and they don’t even open till 10am. The dining rooms, where people eat breakfast do not have brewed coffee. The bars where people go todrink, do not have brewed coffee. The Nescafe syrup they use is soweak! Due to lack of access, after 15 days on the Grand, I had exactly 2 cups of real brewed coffee. My coffee card which “includes”unlimited brewed coffee, is a waste of money since I don’t drink espresso based concoctions. Luckily I mobile but the demographics on these longer cruises just aren't going to travel to deck 5 for coffee every time. The crew onboard agrees with me and doesn’t get it either.

With those issues aired, I posted a cruise clip-video on youtube that I think shows some of the sights and fun stuff we encountered onboard. Enjoy!

YouTube:

Grand Princess Hawaii Cruise – April 23, 2017

 

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[easyboy]

Glad you had an overall fantastic cruise. Thanks for the feedback.

 

 

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[MTJSR]

Sorry folks for the text errors. When copy and pasting from my word doc, it ran words together and dropped some. :eek::mad:

[gcvt]

Thanks for the video. Ahhh, sailing out under the Golden Gate is the best! Sailing back in under it, not so much :p

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[pris993]

thanks for the video and review... just shared with a friend who wants to go to Hawaii.

 

I worked downtown in SF for 30 years... SF Bay view never, ever gets old... have taken about 10 cruises round trip out of San Francisco... love going and coming... your video captured it very well.

[MTJSR]

thanks for the video and review... just shared with a friend who wants to go to Hawaii.

 

I worked downtown in SF for 30 years... SF Bay view never, ever gets old... have taken about 10 cruises round trip out of San Francisco... love going and coming... your video captured it very well.

 

Thank you, I had fun piecing it all together. Same here, I have sailed many times from S.F and even though I live so close, it never gets old. Mark

[Colo Cruiser]

Very nice!

[luvcdays]

Thanks for the review. Did Princess give you anything for your inconvenience?

[MTJSR]

Thanks for the review. Did Princess give you anything for your inconvenience?

 

In all honesty, I grabbed the folio out of the mail slot as we exited the room and stuck it in my backpack. I finally reviewed it and Princess did subtract 100 as a "Goodwill Credit" on the last day from each of us in the room. At first, I thought it was for the Chefs table issue because our MDR waiter mentioned it to a head waiter and Luigi (maitre d') was in our dining room all the time. But...because it is 100 and not 95, I now assume its for the carpet issue.

 

So to update this thread, it looks like Princess did give us a 100 Goodwill Credit each for the carpet. I think that is a nice thing and I/we appreciate it.

[pris993]

In all honesty, I grabbed the folio out of the mail slot as we exited the room and stuck it in my backpack. I finally reviewed it and Princess did subtract 100 as a "Goodwill Credit" on the last day from each of us in the room. At first, I thought it was for the Chefs table issue because our MDR waiter mentioned it to a head waiter and Luigi (maitre d') was in our dining room all the time. But...because it is 100 and not 95, I now assume its for the carpet issue.

 

So to update this thread, it looks like Princess did give us a 100 Goodwill Credit each for the carpet. I think that is a nice thing and I/we appreciate it.

 

I am not surprised... we had a child leave the bath tub running in the room next to us... flood that room very badly and our room this happened on day 8 of a 10 day cruise... Princess actually noticed the flooding before we did... they had fans going around the o'clock except when we slept... gave a free dinner at the Crown Grill which we thought was nice given we never even complained. So do believe they try to take care of issues and problems.

 

Luigi is also very good... that could be too. He dropped by our table at the Crown Grill and gave a bottle of wine.

[Thrak]

I am very surprised that the Coffee and Cones venue only has espresso drinks. Very weird indeed. However, unlike the OP, I hit IC every morning for fresh brewed coffee. :)

 

Thanks for the review and the video. Very nice.

[MTJSR]

I am very surprised that the Coffee and Cones venue only has espresso drinks. Very weird indeed. However, unlike the OP, I hit IC every morning for fresh brewed coffee. :)

 

Thanks for the review and the video. Very nice.

 

Thanks! The whole Coffee and Cones counter felt disorganized. There are two signs hanging over the left (ice cream area) that say Order Here and Pick Up Here...but the Espresso machine was off to the right with no signs at all. So people who wanted an Espresso drink wated in the throngs of people getting shakes and cones. I asked the guy on the Espresso side (before I found out they do not serve coffee) "Do I have to wait in that line to get coffee? he said no, just come to this side" No signs anywhere! This will be a big issue now that the Grand is going to Alaska.

 

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[wrongwaywatson]

Thanks for the review! It was a wonderful cruise. We were in C722. I don't drink espressos or any other "foo-foo" coffee drink, but I drink brewed coffee all day! I bought a coffee card and I certainly got my monies worth,LOL. We ate breakfast down there several times, but when we didn't, I went down there first and got coffee and then went with DH to the Horizon Court. I would go down again for a refill afterwards. Gosh, many nights I got a large cup after dinner, too. Luckily, coffee doesn't keep me awake.

[Thrak]

OP: Do you really eat the same breakfast every day? Sure looked like it in the video. :confused:

 

Edit: My wife just reminded me that I pretty much eat the same breakfast every day onboard. D'Oh! Never mind... :o

[Josie2]

Thanks for the review and video. I note you went to Kaanapali beach in Maui. Did you take a cab? We're there chairs to rent and facilities there? Thx.

 

 

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[MTJSR]

OP: Do you really eat the same breakfast every day? Sure looked like it in the video. :confused:

 

For the most part yes!:) I did not take a new pic each day, I just used the ones shown as a way to represent morning in the video.

 

Thanks for the review and video. I note you went to Kaanapali beach in Maui. Did you take a cab? We're there chairs to rent and facilities there? Thx.

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Yes we did! In Lahaina by the big Banyon tree, the cabs are lined up there. It cost us 11.50 to go to Whalers Village/Kaanapali Beach. The different hotels on the beach, Westin, Marriot and Sheraton to name a few, may have chair rentals and I do recall seeing an assortment along the beach but not sure the finer details like price etc. There are 2 good restaurants on the beach at Whalers Village, I have eaten at both and recommend em.

 

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[Disneymom06]

If you don't book an excursion on Maui can u just get off the ship and walk around. Do they have a place to shop ?

[luvcdays]

In all honesty, I grabbed the folio out of the mail slot as we exited the room and stuck it in my backpack. I finally reviewed it and Princess did subtract 100 as a "Goodwill Credit" on the last day from each of us in the room. At first, I thought it was for the Chefs table issue because our MDR waiter mentioned it to a head waiter and Luigi (maitre d') was in our dining room all the time. But...because it is 100 and not 95, I now assume its for the carpet issue.

 

So to update this thread, it looks like Princess did give us a 100 Goodwill Credit each for the carpet. I think that is a nice thing and I/we appreciate it.

 

That's great news! I'm glad they did that for you.

[EllieinNJ]

The coffee card and“Coffee and Cones” Someone at Princess Corp apparently thinks all passengers like Espresso drinks. The Grand has Espresso machines everywhere, but “Brewed Coffee” in only 1 location and that is deck 5. Coffee and Cones the new venue that is very close to the Horizon ct (where people eat breakfast does NOT have brewed coffee and they don’t even open till 10am. The dining rooms, where people eat breakfast do not have brewed coffee. The bars where people go todrink, do not have brewed coffee. The Nescafe syrup they use is soweak! Due to lack of access, after 15 days on the Grand, I had exactly 2 cups of real brewed coffee. My coffee card which “includes”unlimited brewed coffee, is a waste of money since I don’t drink espresso based concoctions. Luckily I mobile but the demographics on these longer cruises just aren't going to travel to deck 5 for coffee every time. The crew onboard agrees with me and doesn’t get it either.

 

I'm a little confused. Do you mean that you cannot get "brewed coffee" at the buffet or MDR? Do you have to buy the coffee card and go to Deck 5, get your coffee and then bring it with you? What do you mean about "Nescafe Syrup"?

[MTJSR]

I'm a little confused. Do you mean that you cannot get "brewed coffee" at the buffet or MDR? Do you have to buy the coffee card and go to Deck 5, get your coffee and then bring it with you? What do you mean about "Nescafe Syrup"?

 

Yes it's true! for some head scratching reason, Princess (and other lines?) think at this price point, we only get a syrup based coffee, that I assume is easier to handle?. There have been many threads on the coffee and like food this topic ends in a split. I prefer the bolder brewed coffee as it has body and depth. The weak brown tea like coffee is just hot brown water to me. Princess sells a coffee card that allows you to get 15 specialty espresso mixed drinks and "unlimited" brewed coffee. But, there is only 1 place to get it and it's on deck 5 midship.

[Thrak]

Yes it's true! for some head scratching reason, Princess (and other lines?) think at this price point, we only get a syrup based coffee, that I assume is easier to handle?. There have been many threads on the coffee and like food this topic ends in a split. I prefer the bolder brewed coffee as it has body and depth. The weak brown tea like coffee is just hot brown water to me. Princess sells a coffee card that allows you to get 15 specialty espresso mixed drinks and "unlimited" brewed coffee. But, there is only 1 place to get it and it's on deck 5 midship.

 

The syrup based coffee can vary wildly. We like coffee and at home we grind each pot individually. I tend to mostly drink the fresh brewed from IC when onboard but I do get coffee in MDR at dinner or lunch sometimes and that is the regular syrup based stuff. During the course of one lunch I had a cup of coffee that was really quite good. I got a refill and it was more like crude oil sludge. Must have been from a different batch. In general I can drink the MDR coffee but vastly prefer the fresh brewed.

[kdkcruiser]

Hi OP would you mind confirming the youtube address is correct? Can't seem to get it going and would love to view!!! Many thanks for your review, its getting us even more excited for out trip next year!!!

[MTJSR]

Hi OP would you mind confirming the youtube address is correct? Can't seem to get it going and would love to view!!! Many thanks for your review, its getting us even more excited for out trip next year!!!

 

Hmm, I just highlighted the youtube link in the orig posting and then right clicked "Go Too" and it opened up but, if you go to youtube and search for GRAND PRINCESS HAWAII CRUISE - APRIL 23, 2017 it will come up as well. It will also say "Mark T" underneath the title. Enjoy!