Grand Class Love, Why?

[need2cruisesoon]

I've been on a couple Grand Class cruises (Ruby, Grand) and yes they are nice ships but seems like many here have the opinion they are the "do all, end all"

Yes, I know promenade deck, Horizon pool......but getting long in the tooth to be honest.

 

What happens when the last Grand Class is retired?

[vampiress]

i'm about to go on my second ruby cruise, and i have been on the star. 

 

I don't understand what you mean about long in the tooth.  I've always found the ships to be well maintained. plenty of activities to do, and a good time. it does help ruby is based in LA where i live, so it is easy to stroll on board.

 

i have not been on one of the bigger class of ships yet, so maybe i would feel differently, but so far i've had a good time on every cruise, even the one that went through a tropcial storm that triggered a migraine for me.

[voljeep]

12 minutes ago, need2cruisesoon said:

I've been on a couple Grand Class cruises (Ruby, Grand) and yes they are nice ships but seems like many here have the opinion they are the "do all, end all"

Yes, I know promenade deck, Horizon pool......but getting long in the tooth to be honest.

 

What happens when the last Grand Class is retired?

love the aft adult pool... outrigger bar... 'secret door'... an interior cabin with our own " aft balcony, pool, and bar

[XBGuy]

Need2CruiseSoon, I guess I am of a different mind than the preceding poster.

 

Yes, I will admit that, generally, your subject questions usually, at first, seem silly.  However, I always read the replies.  As often as not, many of the replies come from a point of view different from mine.  Next thing you know I'm hooked, and I "Follow" the thread.

 

I really don't have a response to this question.  I thiink that every Princess ship I've sailed on has been a "Grand" class ship.  I can't say I have a favorite.  We are booked on the Royal Princess in 2019.  So, my experience will change.  Maybe my opinion will change.  Maybe not.

[Hlitner]

My response to the OP is that I am also getting "long in the tooth" but still function quite well :).  And if you are comparing to the Royal Class you forgot to mention the balconies (postage stamp size on the new ships).  One thing that we like much better on the Royal Class is the Lido buffet.   The cattle-pen  like buffet stations on the Grand Class truly suck.

 

Hank

[Colo Cruiser]

Doesn't the first one have to go first?

[pris993]

I am not a fan of the Royal class, did a TA on the Royal last year... was not impressed... I would far prefer the Grand style any time.    I feel the same about Celebrity and HAL ships that have a similar design concept... actually cruised on 4 of the Celebrity ships so when Princess announced the Royal class I sad o see it come out, eventually did a TA on the Royal.  It only firmed what I thought ahead of time.    All the cruise lines copy each other on the same bad design.    Something more classic about the Grand class.   

 

I have 2 more cruises booked on the Grand, looking to book the Coral in a year or so, have no plans to book Royal class, Celebrity or HAl.     May book the Queen Victor - Cunard on a Panama Canal ... like that ship, do no like Queen Mary 2.   

 

Bigger is not always better.

 

[suekel]

If I have a choice, I'll always pick a Grand class.  I'm a balcony lover.  Though, the buffet on the Royal was great but I don't cruise for the food.  

[nini]

Up until recently, our favorite ship in cruising and Princess has been the Golden. Well,

the Regal is our favorite! (just do not stay in a room with a tiny balcony).

Seriously, we love Skywalker's for day use and the views as well as our special favorite balconies.

 

We recently stayed in M103 on the Regal and it was pretty cool!

[Luvmyrotti]

Those tiny, narrow balconies on Royal class are awful! The proper balconies on the Grand class will win for me every day!

[Sea Hag]

When the last of them is gone, I'll be sad and missing the promenade deck. That's the thing for me.

[c-boy]

3 hours ago, need2cruisesoon said:

I've been on a couple Grand Class cruises (Ruby, Grand) and yes they are nice ships but seems like many here have the opinion they are the "do all, end all"

Yes, I know promenade deck, Horizon pool......but getting long in the tooth to be honest.

 

What happens when the last Grand Class is retired?

Retired !     Aren't they building a new class  The Sky,  The Oyster and something else Princess ?

Edited October 27, 2018 by c-boy

[patrickmoran]

Emerald-class ships are our favorite. The changes from the Grand-class ships were all positive.  There is more public spaces.

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, patrickmoran said:

Emerald-class ships are our favorite. The changes from the Grand-class ships were all positive.  There is more public spaces.

The Emerald is technically a "Grand Class" vessel.  Yes, they did make some changes from the original Grand Class ships but you are still in that same class of ship.   To us, the earliest Grand Class ships (i.e. Grand, Golden, etc) were the best because they had an all-weather pool.  By the time they built the Emerald, Princess had abandoned the covered pool concept (we have never heard of a good explanation).   Get stuck on the Emerald, Ruby , etc. in chilly lousy weather and your only option is stay inside the ship.  Put us on the Grand or Golden and we would likely be in a deck lounger (near the pool) reading our Kindles.

 

Hank

[mevs904]

The promenade deck is very important to us.  It feels like really being at sea.  We will never sail on RC or Celebrity.  We are only sailing on the Regal because it goes to St. Petersburg.  We love Disney...classic ships!  Staring to look for ships on other cruise lines that have a promenade deck.  MSC maybe?

[Thrak]

31 minutes ago, mevs904 said:

The promenade deck is very important to us.  It feels like really being at sea.  We will never sail on RC or Celebrity.  We are only sailing on the Regal because it goes to St. Petersburg.  We love Disney...classic ships!  Staring to look for ships on other cruise lines that have a promenade deck.  MSC maybe?

 

If you love the Promenade there are some ships with the super wide promenade. Our first cruise was on Sea Princess. The promenade is wide enough to use loungers with plenty of room left over for people to walk. My wife was so surprised (and disappointed) on our next cruise - Star Princess - to find that the Promenade wasn't wide like that. (We still had a fabulous cruise!).  Those wide promenade decks are amazing. I can see why Princess made them smaller (and then finally cut them off!!! 😞) and the reason was, of course, money. Those wonderful wide promenade decks didn't generate income. They sure were great though. There are still ships with those great promenade decks. They just aren't to be found anywhere on the "post Grand" ships.

Edited October 28, 2018 by Thrak

[Cruiserkenn]

I need both the nice promenade decks and the nice balconies.  I won't be cruising without these things.

[mreasier]

17 hours ago, need2cruisesoon said:

I've been on a couple Grand Class cruises (Ruby, Grand) and yes they are nice ships but seems like many here have the opinion they are the "do all, end all"

Yes, I know promenade deck, Horizon pool......but getting long in the tooth to be honest.

 

What happens when the last Grand Class is retired?

 

We will be looking to book the Pacific, the Coral or another cruise line.  We are Elite on Princess but  we have cruised on the Royal class once (28 days) and will not book that class of ship again.

Edited October 28, 2018 by mreasier

[john_galt]

36 sq ft balconies on the Royal class are a deal-breaker. I'm booked on the Sky but in an aft PH. I've sailed on the Grand (twice), Emerald, and Crown. I wish there were more Grand class sailings from FLL. 

[1emerald1]

Slight correction, The Crown, Emerald and Ruby are in the Crown Class, not Grand.

[Hlitner]

42 minutes ago, 1emerald1 said:

Slight correction, The Crown, Emerald and Ruby are in the Crown Class, not Grand.

 

They are all technically "Grand Class" ships.  In fact, until they built the Royal all the Princess builds for many years were in that Grand Class.  There were some design modifications with each new build, but this did not change the so-called "Class" since they were all based on the initial design.  I believe there are now 8 Grand Class vessels with no more scheduled for the future.  Some consider the later designs such as the Crown to be a "subclass" of the original design.   I have always thought what made this class distinctive was the design of the passenger cabin balconies with the popular larger Caribe Deck balconies and the totally uncovered Mini-Suite balconies on Dolphin Deck.  That is all gone with the new Royal Class which for some unexplained reason was designed with much smaller passenger balconies.  

 

Hank

[FireFighter115]

I prefer the grand class over the royal class for two reasons...

 

1. I love to enjoy a good steam in the Lotus Spa prior to dinner and this is free on the grand ships.  90 minutes before dinner I grab up all my toiletries and clothes and steam for a while and take a nice long shower.  I shave and get all ready in the relatively spacious locker room while my wife gets ready in the room without me in the way.  We meet at dinner at the appropriate time ready for a wonderful evening without having gotten on each other's nerves while getting ready.

 

2. The open deck above the bridge is an awesome place to witness coming in and out of ports.  I miss this on the royal ships.

 

FF115

 

[peanutter]

16 hours ago, Hlitner said:

The Emerald is technically a "Grand Class" vessel.  Yes, they did make some changes from the original Grand Class ships but you are still in that same class of ship.   To us, the earliest Grand Class ships (i.e. Grand, Golden, etc) were the best because they had an all-weather pool.  By the time they built the Emerald, Princess had abandoned the covered pool concept (we have never heard of a good explanation).   Get stuck on the Emerald, Ruby , etc. in chilly lousy weather and your only option is stay inside the ship.  Put us on the Grand or Golden and we would likely be in a deck lounger (near the pool) reading our Kindles.

 

Hank

 

I also have never understood why they did not enclose the pool area on the later ships (and I guess that will continue to be their design preference).  We have had a few rainy and cooler days on the "topless" ships and the interior spaces were VERY crowded.  Nothing better than reading in the enclosed (warm) area near the pool during a rainy or 50 degree sea day.

     

[Kingofcool1947]

On 10/27/2018 at 4:17 PM, Luvmyrotti said:

Those tiny, narrow balconies on Royal class are awful! The proper balconies on the Grand class will win for me every day!

 

What?

Edited August 6, 2019 by Kingofcool1947

[OzKiwiJJ]

I've been on Royal and Majestic and they are my least favourite Princess ships. I much prefer the smaller ships that I have cruised on: Sun, Dawn (before sHe went to P&O), Golden and Diamond. I'm about to do a 35 night cruise on Sea. I was delighted when Princess announced that Pacific was coming down to Australia and booked a cruise as soon as bookings were available.

 

Unfortunately Princess seems to be sending more Royal class ships to Australia, with both Majestic and Regal homeporting in Sydney for our 20/21 summer season. If this continues we'll be cruising less with Princess.