Grand Princess Itinerary Changes

[budaman]

Was just in the Cruise Personalizer checking our excursions and noticed a wholesale change in the Grands' Port schedule......obviously Princess has been paying attention to some of the issues with the Grand this season.

 

New times are as follows:

 

Galveston departure: 5PM.....was 4

Majahual: 10 - 5......was 10-7

Belize: 6:30 - 5.......was 6:30 - 1:30

Grand Cayman: 12 - 5...was 12 - 7

Cozumel: 10 - 5 ..........was 10 - 7

 

Hopefully all the issues will be fixed by Feb.:)

 

Mike

 

http://www.homepage.mac.com/csealove/

[Cruise Gopher]

 

Why is the boarding time only one hour after arrival for Grand Cayman????

 

I guess why is it so early for all the ports?

 

Looks like they haven't worked out all the kinks. :mad:

[sunflower1972]

Wondering if something happened when they did some updates on the princess site this week. I say this since I'm on the Sun Princess in Feb and ALL our bourding times are coming up as 1pm as well???Assuming this is just a glitch in the system and we have more then 3 hours at the ports.....

[budaman]

This is what it looks like in our shore excursion page....had I realized you could copy & paste would have done that originally;)

 

IDATE

DESTINATION

 

ARRIVAL

 

DEPARTURE

 

EXCURSION

Feb 11 2006 GALVESTON

05:00PM

Feb 12 2006 AT SEA

Feb 13 2006 MAJAHUAL

10:00AM

05:00PM

VIEW >>

Feb 14 2006 BELIZE

06:30AM

05:00PM

VIEW >>

Feb 15 2006 GRAND CAYMAN

12:00PM

05:00PM

VIEW >>

Feb 16 2006 COZUMEL

10:00AM

05:00PM

VIEW >>

Feb 17 2006 AT SEA

Feb 18 2006 GALVESTON

07:00AM

 

Guess, copy & paste doesn't work the same on a Mac!

[chasetf]

Was just in the Cruise Personalizer checking our excursions and noticed a wholesale change in the Grands' Port schedule......obviously Princess has been paying attention to some of the issues with the Grand this season. New times are as follows:

Galveston departure: 5PM.....was 4

Majahual: 10 - 5......was 10-7

Belize: 6:30 - 5.......was 6:30 - 1:30

Grand Cayman: 12 - 5...was 12 - 7

Cozumel: 10 - 5 ..........was 10 - 7

Changed my post. Got my is and was backwards from your post. Thought they were extending times not compressing. It looks to me Princess is not addressing the problems they have had in Grand Cayman and Cozumel (both tendering ports) I noticed there are lots of other ships (at least 3-4) the days you will be in those ports, and they will all be squeezing into the limited tender ports.

 

Especially Grand Cayman, I have seen posts where people complained of waiting 2-2 1/2 hours to get on a tender, and similar waits to get back to the ship. :(

 

Wonder if they are having propulsion problems like they had in the Med this summer ?

[rico]

We're on the Grand in January and after reading your original post I went to check our itnerary. Ours now reads the same as yours.

 

This doesn't make me happy. Unless I'm missing something, all they've managed to do was make already short port visits even shorter. We're down to 5 hours in Coz, Grand Cayman and Costa Maya. When people are complaining about long tender waits, I'm not sure how cutting the time in port helps. Assuming you have to wait even an hour for a tender in Grand Cayman, that's only 3 hours on shore??!!!! I love the Grand, but I'd sure like a little time in a port.

 

And the one port on this itinerary, Belize, that everyone says "be careful going outside the port area for safety reasons," they've extended by three and a half hours.

 

Am I missing something??? None of these seem like good changes to me.

[Decali]

I'm trying to figure this one out too. We have some shore excursions booked and one of them won't work if the times are the same as that shown on our cruise personalizer. I've called Princess twice and they've assured me that there has not been a change in port times but why the change on their site?

 

Anyway, if anyone knows what is going on please post.

[TexasMom2]

Rick, I agree with you. We are leaving on December 17 and noticed the changes today, so it's too late to change our shore excursions online. The only reason to shorten port times is to reach the next port on schedule and I haven't heard of any late arrivals since the Belize/Costa Maya switch. I had scheduled the Stingray/Coral Garden snorkel tour with Nativeway but will need to cancel if this itinerary change is correct. The tour is from 2-5 pm and we were planning to get in line extra early for tender tickets to make it to shore by 2:00, which I think is pitiful. I'm hoping that this schedule was posted by mistake.

 

After reading the negative comments posted from the past 2 sailings and these last-minute, non-necessary schedule changes, my best bet might be to stick with Royal Caribbean.

[rico]

I just called Princess about the different port times posted on the cruise personalizer. The service rep said their system still shows the original port times as being the correct times.... Mahajual 10-5, Belize 6:30-1:30, Grand Cayman 12-7, and Coz 10-7. He also said there is no emergency notification pending for our cruise and that would be generated to notify people of the change in port times.

 

I noticed some significant web site changes since I was in cruise personalizer a couple days ago. Could the wrong times be posted as a result of a technical error during the web changes??

[tkbk]

I am on the January 28th Grand Princess and mine too had all the boarding times now showing 1:00pm, it must be a glitch........also my Spa reservation section is now gone from my cruise personalizer. I reserved a special birthday surprise for my hubby and now it's gone, the whole section is missing. i can't even view what i had already reserved for the spa. :confused:

[rico]

The Princess customer service rep was able to confirm the spa treatment we reserved online was still in their system. She said they know the spa reservations aren't showing up on the cruise personalizer right now. Tomorrow they will be able to get those listed again.

[niborHS]

The 1:00 boarding time could be the time that the tenders begin to return to the ship. Some people just want to leave for a quick look around then come back onto the ship for lunch.

[Cruise Gopher]

The 1:00 boarding time could be the time that the tenders begin to return to the ship. Some people just want to leave for a quick look around then come back onto the ship for lunch.

 

Begin returning to the ship? With all the problems they have had in Grand Cayman, it sounds like tenders are taking up to 2 hours to just get off the ship.

[LorieB]

I think the errors on the personalizer are just that ----- ERRORS.

 

Must be a glitch in the system, as someone suggested earlier.

 

 

But be forewarned...... I was just on the GrandP last week. And Grand Cayman was the tender port from hell.

We had TONS and TONS of pissed off passengers.

 

It was pathetic. My fiance had tender ticket # 944 and did not step foot on dry land until 2:00 p.m. Therefore,

we only had 2 hours and 45 minutes to explore the island.

 

RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Yes, the itinerary says 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in Cayman. But that didn't happen. In fact, the last tender back to the ship was at 4:45 p.m. We pulled up anchor and were sailing out of Cayman at ---- (get this) ----- 5:30 p.m.

 

Yes, you read that right. The Grand Princess sailed away from Cayman at 5:30 p.m.

 

As I wrote in a few posts yesterday, the GrandP has Lots and Lots of problems. They are going down hill very, very fast.

 

I was a huge GrandP fan until last week. I had sailed on her three times just this past year. And believe me, their tendering problem is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

I am not a very happy Princess customer right now. As a friend of mine stated, the Grand Princess needs to get their "ship" together. :mad:

[Firefighterhoop]

This is happening on RCCL as well. I enjoy both lines very much, and in grand cayman, I usually stay on the ship, as tendering stinks. The path from Grand Cayman to Cozumel is about the MAX a ship can do in a night. Therefore, leaving an hour early or so will give them time incase weather, currents etc come into effect that they don't make time as scheduled.

 

Tendering is always a problem, it doesn't matter what cruise line, where, it always has it's hassles. If I get off at a tendering port, I will be up early in the morning, and right away in line for the tender tickets, or I won't even bother going.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

Scott

[crazy4themouse]

Wow... maybe Disney just really spoiled me. We have tendered lots of times, and always simply had to walk off the ship and onto a tender. NEVER a hassle. I know the hurricanes caused a lot of problems, but this sounds more like an organizational issue. I'm so worried now that my folks are never going to want to cruise again after we go on the GP in March. :(

 

Are all the ports tenders now? What about Costa Maya? We have a tour booked with David and Ivan an hour after the ship arrives.

 

-gina-

[LorieB]

Costa Maya still has its pier. So, no problems there.

(We also had no probs in Belize.)

 

 

 

Cayman & Cozumel were the two problem areas last week.

[txrn]

We were just on the Grand last week and it was a tender nightmare....

In Grand Caymen I waited over 2.5 hrs to get a tender ticket and then were seated in the lounge only to be told by others waiting that they had been waiting for at least 1 hr. I gave up and went to tha bar, but many in the group stayed and went ashore. They finally got off the Grand after 1hr waiting in the lounge only to wait on the tender at the pier, 45min, because there was no space for the tender to dock. There were many unhappy folks on this trip!

[spongerob]

It sounds like the problems are caused as much by problems on board as problems with trying to off-load people at the docks.

 

If people recall, this itinerary was problematic last year, too. Belize often had to be skipped because Grand Princess can only get there on time if sailing conditions are good. After reading all these comments, I keep hoping someone at the head office will make a decision to drop Grand Cayman entirely and add a call at Roatan, as they plan to do next year.

 

As for the times that have been appearing on the cruise personalizer, they might be a mistake. All the departure times are 5 PM...hmmm. The Princess web site strikes again!

[Snoozeman]

Hey Rob

 

I do agree, next years iten is better--drop GC and allow more time in Belize and Roatan.

 

I may call today and see if I can postpone next months trip to next year, just got back yesterday from Conquest & I'm cruised-out.

[spongerob]

You'll pay a substantial penalty if you cancel now, unless you have Princess Travel Care Gold which lets you cancel for any reason and still gives you 90% back. Fortunately, we aren't going on this cruise for the ports (been there, done that in all the ports). My biggest concern is that with a few people posting the same comments on several threads, people who might be lurking will be pre-disposed to have a bad time on board. There's nothing worse than being on a cruise with a lot of cranky passengers.

 

Honestly, we've never had any real problems tendering from a Grand-class ship even when they are using their own tenders. I recall that we were delayed a little in Grand Cayman last year, maybe 30 minutes at the most, but that was because we had to wait to disembark the tenders on shore. There were several other ships in port with us, though we were the first to arrive.

[Cookiesbykk]

And now with all these posts about shortened port times, I really need some advice about whether or not to book excursions ahead of time. What is Princess' policy if we skip a port (like Belize) altogether due to rough seas or a very shortened stay in G. Cayman and we can't do these excusions? :confused:

Also, how much time do we have prior to the cruise to book excursions through the personalizer?

Karen

[watcher_62]

Given that I have read many comments from posters regarding the tendering process on the Grand recently, I thought I would call Princess to see if they were aware and if steps are being taken to improve things.

 

So far, they weren't, and subsequently they aren't - yet.

 

I was asked for the details that I had read, and also faxed a letter to their Customer relations dept. As I'm sure we all would like to see this addressed, I would suggest that we all call in to raise the issue. Hopefully changes can be made to make future cruises on the Grand (including our own ) more enjoyable.

 

Their number is 1-800-Princess (774-6237)

[rico]

I see the cruise personalizer now shows the original port times again for our Grand sailing....

 

Galveston departure: 4PM

Majahual: 10-7

Belize: 6:30 - 1:30

Grand Cayman: 12 - 7

Cozumel: 10 - 7

 

 

Must have just been a snag during an "upgrade."

[mellog]

Can someone please explain the 'tender' process? I will be taking my first cruise on the Grand Princess 1/07 and would just like to have an idea of what I am in for. Is it the earlier you get up and in line the earlier get get off the boat??? Anyway, any explaination would behelpful!!!

 

Thanks,

Melissa