What are your thoughts about sailing on the Grand in the fall of 2020?

[CineGraphic]

I'm considering a 10 day coastal in October of 2020, but it's on the Grand Princess. I checked to see if the Grand would be Medallion Class by then, and I couldn't see that it's listed to be upgraded at all.

The Grand was the first Princess ship we sailed on, so we must have liked it, but it's been too long for me to remember anything other than they chopped Skywalkers off.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and opinions.

[Dani24]

We will be on the Grand in July, so I've been "following" her status. She is not Medallion-ready yet, but they did just have her in a major dry dock last month, and part of that was getting a bunch of the wiring installed for Medallion, along with the screens that replaced the stateroom mailboxes (they're not functional yet), and some other screens around the ship that eventually will be interactive. By Fall of next year it's possible Medallion could be ready on the ship, but I haven't seen any firm timelines.

I know she's an older ship, but I've been hearing good things from people on the improvements they did during dry dock. It's still going to be an older ship, so it's best to go in with those expectations. Also, it sounds like they're going to be moving her out of the fleet in the next year or two, so it could be nice to sail her one last time -- especially since she was the first ship you sailed.  

[elliair]

We don't live too far from San Francisco, her home port.  We've cruised on the Grand several times and to be honest, we are tired of her.  We did the Coastal cruise once and we would not do it again.  We can drive to all the ports she stops in, so for us it was just a get-away cruise.  We could have taken the Grand to Hawaii but decided to fly down to LA and take the Star instead. 

 

You can read up on the Grand and some of the snafu's that have happened to her on voyages.  This happened a couple of years ago on the Grand coming back from Hawaii.  (She was scheduled to be dry docked on her return).

 

http://crew-center.com/grand-princess-hull-damaged-faulty-platform

 

[JoRoy218]

We just got off the Grand on 4/21, had a wonderful cruise without any incidents.

Re: Medallion service, the screens are up outside each cabin, as well as the potentially interactive larger screens in elevator areas and many common areas.

The ship looks and feels very clean and updated. They totally redid the theatre,  very comfy seats. Our only complaint was the seating in the Explorer’s Lounge. The seat cushions are worn out and you feel like you’re sitting in a hole, with the table almost at chest height. It was barely tolerable. Also, the seating configuration in the Vista lounge was poorly planned,  two rows of seating per section, very tight, one row with two chairs, table and repeat, the second row right behind is a loveseat with very little leg room and actually sits lower than chairs so you have to look around the person sitting in front of you.  

But, on the whole, we enjoyed every minute despite the above. Of special mention is the services they had on Good Friday (had both Catholic and nondenominational) and they celebrated Easter on Sat., since we were disembarking on Easter Sunday.  We chose the Grand to Hawaii since we like the SF area much better than LA.  No regrets. 

[jondfk]

We too are just off the last sailing and would gladly sail Grand again, in fact we are in February!

[Sea Hag]

We've sailed on the Grand several times, and would definitely do it again. Actually, we have two cruises booked on her next year. Very nice ship.

[Thrak]

We would have zero issues with sailing Grand.

[c-boy]

40 minutes ago, Thrak said:

We would have zero issues with sailing Grand.

one of, if not the best damn crew we ( the countess and I ) have ever having met.  

[FritzG]

We were on b2b Mexico/Coastal California cruises in March, and we were very happy with the ship and the dry dock upgrades.  The Grand has by far the nicest, friendliest, most helpful crew we've ever had, and this b2b was our 26th & 27th Princess cruise.

[pris993]

We did the first cruise on the Grand in 5/1998, from Istanbul to Barcelona, like you.  At the time, we did not remember much about the ship  as it was a very port intensive cruise, remember the ports more than ship.  Once the Grand was home ported in 

San Francisco, we have cruised many times on her, just got off a 7 day California coastal 2 weeks ago, booked again in February 2020 for a 10 day to Mexico and back.    We enjoy cruising on the Grand, we always book a mini suite forward, now days we skip the MDR, go to the Crown Grill as often as we can and are more than satisfied with the buffet.   We skip the MDR now on all cruise ships, did the same on the Royal Princess on a TA recently.    The MDR is just not our thing.

 

We live near San Francisco - weather on California coast and San Francisco is great in October, what we call Indian Summer.   In Mexico, hurricane season is not over in October... but hurricanes do not occur on the Pacific side every year, more hit and miss.

 

We find the service from staff on the Grand outstanding, we saw several great Las Vegas type shows while on recently... of course this depends on the talent of young entertainers.  

 

I would not hesitate going on the Grand anytime... have read Princess is going replace the Grand with the Star late in 2020/ and Ruby in 2021... been on both would enjoy them as well.  

[GottaLuvCruising]

We also were on the Grand's April 6th sailing to Hawaii.  Freshly out of drydock, many updates were noticeable.  Entertainment was very good and we loved cruise director Kevin.  Dining room menus were pretty good.  Buffet was just barely OK.  Pools were in great shape and it was very nice to have the Conservatory.  I absolutely concur with JoRoy218 about the miserable condition of seating the Explorer's lounge.  Vista seating was OK only if nobody was in front of you - not well thought out, but we did enjoy several shows in there.  Staff / service was excellent.  

 

I wouldn't hesitate to sail on her again and we are, in fact, watching Alaska fares.  

Did anyone else notice a nasty odor while walking from the Crown Grill toward the Princess Theater in the vicinity of Leaves / Shore Excursion desk?  We all reacted to it every time we went that way.  

[travellingnana]

We went to Mexico on her in January; we’re going to Alaska on her in a couple of weeks.  Love the ship with its Promenade deck, and the crew is absolutely wonderful.  Clearly we have no problem sailing on the Grand!

[justafem]

I love the Grand, mostly because SanFran is only a couple hours drive south for us.  I'm going to be disappointed when she leaves.

 

We did the 10 day mexican last month, just before dry dock.  

[gbldcl]

3 hours ago, jondfk said:

We too are just off the last sailing and would gladly sail Grand again, in fact we are in February!

Jon...

We are doing Mexico Feb. 11, 2020. Is that the one you are doing?  We are in same room as Apr. 6 Hawaii.

 

Gordon

 

[RMMariner]

Cruised the Grand on a ten day out of San Francisco to Mexico in March. It was a very nice cruise. The ship was in good shape (as it just came out of drydock). The crew was excellent. 

 

Baring significant changes between now and then, I would (and probably will) go to Mexico again on the Grand in 2020.

[JoRoy218]

1 hour ago, GottaLuvCruising said:

We also were on the Grand's April 6th sailing to Hawaii.  Freshly out of drydock, many updates were noticeable.  Entertainment was very good and we loved cruise director Kevin.  Dining room menus were pretty good.  Buffet was just barely OK.  Pools were in great shape and it was very nice to have the Conservatory.  I absolutely concur with JoRoy218 about the miserable condition of seating the Explorer's lounge.  Vista seating was OK only if nobody was in front of you - not well thought out, but we did enjoy several shows in there.  Staff / service was excellent.  

 

I wouldn't hesitate to sail on her again and we are, in fact, watching Alaska fares.  

Did anyone else notice a nasty odor while walking from the Crown Grill toward the Princess Theater in the vicinity of Leaves / Shore Excursion desk?  We all reacted to it every time we went that way.  

Absolutely noticed that “sewer” odor enroute to theatre. We hoped it was a transient problem but noted it was present the entire time. Ugh!

[jondfk]

9 hours ago, gbldcl said:

Jon...

We are doing Mexico Feb. 11, 2020. Is that the one you are doing?  We are in same room as Apr. 6 Hawaii.

 

Gordon

 

 

Hi Gordon:

 

Ha ha.  No, we're doing the Feb 21, 2020 sailing to Hawaii.  Same cabin as last cycle.  I'll look for you leaving when we arrive to board!  Hope they made things right for you, we were satisfied, but it took a bit of work . . . 

[jondfk]

And for those wondering about Ocean Medallion.  We were on the last sailing prior to dry dock and the April 6 sailing shortly after drydock.  The infrastructure upgrades to support OM were apparent everywhere.  

 

Large video panels replaced fixed signage, cabin doors had OM screens (albeit, "coming soon"), and miles and miles of purple Cat 5 cable / hundreds (literally) of wifi nodes installed during drydock.  For example, from our chairs in the sanctuary we could see no less than 9 wifi nodes without standing up. 

 

No one would comment on any particular date for activation but everyone we asked said some version of 'late (or later) this year".  I'm certain projects like this only move to the right on the calendar but for the OP my guess would be, likely to be functional for your late 2020 cruise.

[CineGraphic]

Thanks for all of the great info. My wife and I are pretty convinced that we will replace our transatlantic on the Enchanted and book this 10 day coastal instead. We were looking for an excuse to spend a few days in Vancouver anyway. We didn’t get to explore it very much when we boarded the Celebrity Millennium a few years ago.

[gbldcl]

4 hours ago, jondfk said:

 

Hi Gordon:

 

Ha ha.  No, we're doing the Feb 21, 2020 sailing to Hawaii.  Same cabin as last cycle.  I'll look for you leaving when we arrive to board!  Hope they made things right for you, we were satisfied, but it took a bit of work . . . 

I had hoped for them to do a little better, but I'm not complaining. The Guest Services Manager fixed a couple of other issues we were having with things we pre-paid for so we did have to have a couple of conversations, but in the end he got it done to our satisfaction.