Live From The Grand Princess

[spongerob]

And don't forget, Grand Cayman is probably the port that is missed most often due to weather. It is not unusual to have all shore excursions cancelled there, too. It's happened to us twice in our four visits there.

[mikesteg]

Yeah. I really didn't think we had any problem in Grand Cayman (more than usual.) There was a little bit of a shock at getting ticket numbers 532 and up, but that is really no different than getting group 11 when they issue them in groups of 50. I would not have even gone ashore, but I had preprinted my Christmas cards to be mailed from Grand Cayman. :D

 

Cozumel was bad, but we already knew that thanks to BigTimeCruiser on this thread. ;) Actually, it wasn't as bad as I had expected. We had a tough time getting back on the ship (with 5-6 foot of relative motion between the ship and tender for a few minutes), but if that had happened earlier or routinely I bet they would have canceled tendering.

 

The fact is, we knew we were tendering at Belize and GC when we booked this a year ago. A couple of months ago we knew we were tendering in Cozumel or not going there at all. We knew there would be 1000 or 1500 people getting off the ship. It is possible it could have gone better, but I don't believe by any significant margin.

[Skittles]

Has it been the same situation for Belieze tendering? This is the only port we have booked a tour and I am wondering if it will be a problem getting off the ship there?

[mikesteg]

Can the cruiselines not consider alternate schedules under these circumstances---I am sure they know there will be 8 ships in a given port and that tendering will be a problem for their guests. I wonder if folks would be happier with an additional day at sea than having long tenders and relatively short amounts of time in port.

 

Not so much. Even if there were valid options, they can't change the ports in the last week/month/year before sailing without some of the already booked pax yelling about it. Plus, there just aren't that many ports that can handle a cruise ship and I guarantee that every suitable pier in the Caribbean is booked well in advance.

 

The thing is, people can make any day a sea day by simply choosing not to leave the ship. In some ways, it is better because there is no 22mph wind across deck, there is usually a nice island view, and there are no lines on the ship! :D There are limited organized activities, but based on last week's cruise, not many people were all that interested in those anyway.

[BigTimeCruiser]

Has it been the same situation for Belieze tendering? This is the only port we have booked a tour and I am wondering if it will be a problem getting off the ship there?

Belize is a snap. Not as many ships to contend with and they are using plenty of local boats as tenders. The ride into the pier is taking between 10 to 20 minutes depending on how far out you anchor.

[BigTimeCruiser]

Tonight (Dec 15th) at 7:00pm, the Captain announced that as we could see, we were not departing Cozumel as scheduled. He said that some 300 people were not back to the ship and we would be waiting. At 7:30pm, the Captain announced that 319 people were on a ferry en route to the Grand Princess and should be to the ship in about 25 minutes. So, hopefully these passengers will get back to the ship sometime around 8:00pm.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Wow! I wonder what the hold up was? Too much partying or a late tour?

[Coral]

Curt and Cindy -

 

Have a safe trip home! Glad you have enjoyed your 3 weeks on the Grand and thanks for all the updates! I know several who are cruising the Grand in the very near future and I know they have really appreciated all your updates.

 

And for those of us with out a cruise booked (ME! ME!), it made me feel like I was on the ship with you guys!

 

Theresa

[BigTimeCruiser]

Curt and Cindy -

 

Have a safe trip home! Glad you have enjoyed your 3 weeks on the Grand and thanks for all the updates! I know several who are cruising the Grand in the very near future and I know they have really appreciated all your updates.

 

And for those of us with out a cruise booked (ME! ME!), it made me feel like I was on the ship with you guys!

 

Theresa

Theresa,

We look forward to sailing with you again in the future! Have looked at maybe doing Alaska again with a land component, but haven't yet decided. Take care....Curt:)

[BigTimeCruiser]

Wow! I wonder what the hold up was? Too much partying or a late tour?

We spoke with one of the affected 319 passengers and they told us it was because of a traffic accident. Evidently a large fuel tanker collided with another vehicle and blocked the highway. They all made it back to the ship and by 8:00pm we were underway.

[houstoncruisers2001]

Yes, thanks for the many updates. We were on the Grand last week and we hope to someday do a back to back to back cruise.