Live from the Grand Princess, Dec 20-30th, Christmas cruise

[MissP22]

10 hours ago, Coral said:

Dinner pics - pistachio creme brûlée was amazing, succotash looked gross (didn't taste):

 

 

The portion size looks like typical Princess and not as skimpy as I've been reading about.

Perhaps it's just the difference of the ship?

[Coral]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

The portion size looks like typical Princess and not as skimpy as I've been reading about.

Perhaps it's just the difference of the ship?

The portion sizes seem the same to me (no reduction in size). I even ate one sesame bite (chicken) before I took the picture. I have noticed a difference in side dishes. The prime rib used to come with baked potato and corn on cob (neither I ate). Now it comes with succotash. I am glad they got rid of the lyonnaise potatos (maybe they did that awhile ago). I am seeing a ton of sweet potatoes with my meals this week.

 

Some of my favorite lunch meals are gone. They had a great short ribs with mashed potatoes and a lasagna with béchamel sauce. I have not seen either come back. The carbonara I had at lunch the other day was very pasty. 

 

I love soufflés and there are a lot of soufflés on this trip.

 

Tonight is beef Wellington night.

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by Coral

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

The portion sizes seem the same to me (no reduction in size). I even ate one sesame bite (chicken) before I took the picture. I have noticed a difference in side dishes. The prime rib used to come with baked potato and corn on cob (neither I ate). Now it comes with succotash. I am glad they got rid of the lyonnaise potatos (maybe they did that awhile ago). I am seeing a ton of sweet potatoes with my meals this week.

 

Some of my favorite lunch meals are gone. They had a great short ribs with mashed potatoes and a lasagna with béchamel sauce. I have not seen either come back. The carbonara I had at lunch the other day was very pasty. 

 

I love soufflés and there are a lot of soufflés on this trip.

 

Tonight is beef Wellington night.

 

 I could have made a meal out of those sesame chicken bites!  

[CruzinNoony]

I could have made a meal out of the desserts!!

[loge23]

4 hours ago, Buckeye10640 said:

We were on Enchanted 11/30 sailing. Our meal at Crown Grill was the best of the cruise. I had a filet and my husband had rib a very large steak (porterhouse?). Service was a little slow and the asparagus side a little skimpy for 2 people, but our server offered to being more if we wanted. Overall, a great meal and we seriously considered going back a second night. 

Good to hear!

[Coral]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

 I could have made a meal out of those sesame chicken bites!  

I thought they were tasty myself. The sauce was quite good also!

[Coral]

1 hour ago, CruzinNoony said:

I could have made a meal out of the desserts!!

The desserts have been quite good!

[Cruise Raider]

2 hours ago, CruzinNoony said:

I could have made a meal out of the desserts!!

I just don’t have a sweet tooth … but I can tell you, some of those appetizers they served were to just die for!  And the creativity with chicken … ohhhh, yum!  Can hardly wait to go back.  

[Coral]

Lunch Menu for today:

 

 

[Coral]

Dinner Menu - sorry I didn't take pictures of all of dinner - these rolls were amazing.

 

 

[Coral]

Wednesday's Patter -  I heard there are approx 800 crew onboard right now.

 

 

[Coral]

Tonight there was a very good piano player in Crooners Bar - I missed his name. I felt guilty leaving to watch British Invasion. I can say that probably 3/4 of the ship showed up for this show. The theatre was somewhat full. I got to sit next to my almost 7 year old new friend. She personally knows the dancers and singers as they visited the kids program this week. So cool to see her excitement when they performed. There are actually quite a few kids on this sailing and they are adorable.

 

Tomorrow is San Diego.

[Coral]

I just heard that Gary the CD will be leaving the ship tomorrow.

[startedwithamouse]

8 minutes ago, Coral said:

I just heard that Gary the CD will be leaving the ship tomorrow.

Steve has been shadowing him since San Francisco and will be taking over. 

On 12/27/2021 at 6:23 AM, Coral said:

Some notes on entertainment. There is only one show in the Princess Theatre at 9 pm. On Christmas night - they did a Holiday Wishes show. I heard they practiced for 3 weeks and for the most part - it was a very cute show. The 12 days of Christmas was hilarious. I really enjoyed the show. There were some parts that did perplex me. Some songs were not Christmas related and seemed out of place. I did run into a singer and dancer on one of my excursions and they said I was not wrong and it was for those who do not celebrate Christmas. I was thinking "It is a holiday show - it can just be Christmas related". Regardless - the show was great. At the end - it did "snow" from both sides of the theatre.

 

Last night's snow was Instrimentalist Sarah Carter. She had toured on the world tour of Lord of the Dance. She played the piano and was quite good. She wore a costume/outfit that had lights on it and it lit up in different places during the show. That part was distracting. Here is a youtube that was similar to her performance on the ship:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqcpnCkVhbg

 

Here is a picture of the theatre about 2 mintues before the show started. Needless to say we could easily walk up to the show right before and get great seats. When I saw a singer/dancer on one of my shore excursions he was like "please come to the shows"....

 

Her costume did not have lights;   it reflected the lights, as it was iridescent.  Also, she played the violin, not the piano, and she was world class amazing!

They only had two rehearsals for the Christmas show and it was excellent. 

[MissP22]

2 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Steve has been shadowing him since San Francisco and will be taking over. 

Her costume did not have lights;   it reflected the lights, as it was iridescent.  Also, she played the violin, not the piano, and she was world class amazing!

They only had two rehearsals for the Christmas show and it was excellent. 

What else was so interesting that drew people elsewhere?

[Coral]

9 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Steve has been shadowing him since San Francisco and will be taking over. 

Her costume did not have lights;   it reflected the lights, as it was iridescent.  Also, she played the violin, not the piano, and she was world class amazing!

They only had two rehearsals for the Christmas show and it was excellent. 

Yes - she played the violin. I must have been very tired when writing. Several times I write and it doesn't post. She was excellent. I did post a video of a similar performance. I have been watching a lot of piano players this week (including last night) - I apologize.

 

I noticed last night the lights on the costume also reflected. I found it distracting, especially during Sarah's performance.

Edited December 29, 2021 by Coral

[Coral]

delete.

Edited December 29, 2021 by Coral

[Cruise Raider]

38 minutes ago, Coral said:

I just heard that Gary the CD will be leaving the ship tomorrow.

 

That's too bad.  He was absolutely the BEST in the biz!!  😪

[Coral]

36 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

That's too bad.  He was absolutely the BEST in the biz!!  😪

Yes - I had heard it earlier in the week but until I heard it from him, I didn't say anything.

 

His assistant Sarah is amazing.

Edited December 29, 2021 by Coral

[Coral]

We had the World in port with us in Cabo but I couldn't get a great picture. It is docked next to us in San Diego. The weather is cool and sort of rainy right now in San Diego.

 

Edited December 29, 2021 by Coral

[lbfluffy]

When we went on the Majestic a few weeks ago, the CD was Kevin. I loved him. He spent time chatting with us.

[cr8tiv1]

Steve "who"?  I guess it really doesn't matter since I wouldn't know one from another.  I did cruise with Gary recently and he was super.  This was a short contract for him.

[startedwithamouse]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Steve "who"?  I guess it really doesn't matter since I wouldn't know one from another.  I did cruise with Gary recently and he was super.  This was a short contract for him.

Steve was the previous CD on the Grand, that's why I didn't mention the last name. 

[Coral]

They said 1800 on next voyage, 800 crew.

My flight was cancelled when at dinner last night. About an hour later, United re-assigned me going through Chicago instead of Denver.

 

will post final thoughts when I get home.

 

[Astro Flyer]

14 minutes ago, Coral said:

They said 1800 on next voyage, 800 crew.

My flight was cancelled when at dinner last night. About an hour later, United re-assigned me going through Chicago instead of Denver.

 

will post final thoughts when I get home.

 

Have a safe journey home hopefully with no more flight changes. Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences with all of us…great job! 👍👍

Edited December 30, 2021 by Astro Flyer