mini-live from the Grand Princess: first Hawaiian sailing post covid--Jan 4-19, 2022

[AtlantaCruiser72]

With regards to the suspension of liquor service in Maui - my guess is that it has to do with the ship being DOCKED in Kahului vs the normal tendering in Lahaina.  The local government (either city or county) may consider the ship being docked as requiring a local liquor license and/or needing to collect tax where a tendered vessel would not.  Liquor laws are strange and this sounds like something that Princess found out at the last minute since Kahului is not their normal stop in Maui.

[NCreadyforfun]

On 1/9/2022 at 12:19 PM, redrocks07 said:

We are on the 1/19 cruise. If you make dinner reservations on the app prior to sailing are you given any kind of confirmation of the reservation when you board? Should you go to the dining room when you board to confirm?

 

Has anyone asked the ship (I know the ship won't answer but maybe someone would) why they are not making announcements about Covid infections - whether there are none or some?

 

Thanks in advance.

We were on Enchanted in December. The dinner reservation showed on our itinerary, but we did not receive anything from the specialty dining restaurant. 

[travelin.sisters]

9 hours ago, san diego sue said:

Thanks for keeping us all up to date on happenings. Enjoy the rest of your cruise. We board next Wednesday.I noticed last night  on Princess they cancelled the whale watching tours in Honolulu , added other tours for Honolulu as well as  some of the other ports.

Also I see that they added a Lahaina on your own tour . With no shuttles at the pier in Maui, glad we have the option of doing things on our own.

 

 

they were still scheduling excursions as we sailed over here so may be adding some more between now & when you arrive in Honolulu...it is still very early in this new season of cruising Hawaii...I know they can't have too many busses loading at the same time & at least on Maui busses had to travel at 70% or less of normal capacity so it really is all making it up as it happens & the rules change...do your best to just go with the flow...they have taken good care of us but not always communicated in as timely a manner as we would have liked & things change that our out of our (as passengers) & Princess' control...have a wonderful cruise

[Ragdollbd]

Were the hot tubs open?

[travelin.sisters]

4 minutes ago, Ragdollbd said:

Were the hot tubs open?

yes, I saw people in them

[Bgwest]

12 minutes ago, travelin.sisters said:

yes, I saw people in them

And the ones we’ve been in this far have been properly WARM rather than the normal tepid water generally found in them. 😃

[Thrak]

3 hours ago, Bgwest said:

And the ones we’ve been in this far have been properly WARM rather than the normal tepid water generally found in them. 😃

 

A "real" hot tub should be at 104°. When we had a hot tub here at home I kept it at that temp and it was wonderful.

[montgomeryfamily]

I'm really enjoying this review, especially the photos.  We are booked on two Alaska cruises in August on the Grand, and also find the onboard experiences interesting.

 

However, I'm am confused somewhat by the quarantine cabins noted so far in this thread.

It sounds like the entire Aloha deck is a quarantine area.  Is this correct?  Also someone mentioned being moved from the forward starboard Baja area next cruise.  Is that part of Baja a quarantine area now?  How long is the isolation period for new crew members?

 

[travelin.sisters]

2 hours ago, montgomeryfamily said:

I'm really enjoying this review, especially the photos.  We are booked on two Alaska cruises in August on the Grand, and also find the onboard experiences interesting.

 

However, I'm am confused somewhat by the quarantine cabins noted so far in this thread.

It sounds like the entire Aloha deck is a quarantine area.  Is this correct?  Also someone mentioned being moved from the forward starboard Baja area next cruise.  Is that part of Baja a quarantine area now?  How long is the isolation period for new crew members?

 

Thank you.

 

Princess is not really giving out any of that information to the best of my knowledge. I was told by one person at the guest services desk (when I was sharing that, although I understand the need to have moved our cabins for isolation rooms, I did not appreciate that they did not actually notify me, I discovered it when printing our stuff for boarding...I feel like an email or notice to my TA would have been the least they could have done) that all of the Aloha deck is reserved for isolation.

 

I know there are some passengers in isolation, but only from passengers. There has been a lot of moving of crew which is unusual in my past experience...we have had 3 different headwaiters helping us preorder meals for allergies in the 9 days we have been sailing & our waiter has been assigned elsewhere for 5 days now with several others taking his place...I can only assume this is due to having to shuffle crew due to positive tests & subsequent isolation, but no one is saying that. 

 

Maybe someone else on this thread has more info but I mostly have conclusions & assumptions that may or may not be valid. I checked today on the CDC site & we are still yellow status.

[travelin.sisters]

HILO & MAUI

 

Two more delightful days in Hawai’i!

 

We were pulling up to Hilo in time to see a lovely sunrise, this time our port side balcony was away from the island so not much to see until we went out. Our Princess excursion was Easy Hilo: Hilo Town Highlights & it was very enjoyable. We were in a mini bus with 10 passengers (capacity 15) & Auntie Karen was a delightful tour guide/driver. We visited Banyan Drive, Liliuokalani Garden & Hilo Farmer’s Market where I got Apple Bananas which I have wanted to try since my last visit (they are delicious). Next to Rainbow Falls where Auntie Karen showed us how hula dancers make their skirts out of ti leaves. We also visited (& shopped at) Big Island Candies & Richardson Beach where there were no sea turtles but it was lovely. Along the way we learned a lot of Hawai’ian history & culture & had a great time. Back to the ship to rest up for our last island stop in Maui. We were hot & tired so tried ordering room service from the medallion app, several tries later it was done & in a while (but not as fast as if we had just gone to get it) we had sandwiches (ok but nothing we will order again), fruit salad (good), soggy fries & delicious chocolate cake.

 

Maui was a short trip form Hilo so we were docked before I woke up at 7. About 8 they told us there was some issue port side & later that they were waiting for shore side security. Having read the news articles about the people who were upset about cruise ships returning to Maui, I was wondering if there was going to be a problem getting off. Shortly thereafter we were cleared to depart (probably around 8:30) & we were able to go on our tour of the Iao Valley & Maui Tropical Plantation with Cousin Kama. The day was gorgeous & everyone I met seemed welcoming & glad cruising had resumed. The valley was so lush & green, but the steps to the overlook were a struggle especially since all the islands we have visited keep rocking (somehow, I seem to get my sea legs faster than I get my “land legs” back). I would have gladly spent another hour there but we had a schedule to keep. The tram tour at the Maui Tropical Plantation was very nice & we got a demonstration of how to husk a coconut (I personally enjoyed this more than the plantation train tour we did on Kauai on our last cruise). Cousin Kama was especially careful about assuring that passengers with mobility issues were well taken care of, which was impressive. He like all our tour guides on this voyage shared a lot of insight into Hawai’ian culture & history…each guide we had had something different to share. Back at the port we had to show our photo ID’s (each port had a slightly different protocol, on some they just stepped into the doorway of the bus & we held up our ID’s, others we showed both ID’s & medallions, but at each port it was smooth & easy).

 

After lunch from the International Café, I walked about 15 minutes to the Maui Mall (they have a Long’s Drugs, Whole Foods Market, some restaurants & not much else) where for the first time in 2 cruises I was able to find the Wasabi Macadamias that my BIL wanted. We left port shortly after 6 & it was interesting to see the tug boat help us turn & head out. The bridge crew warned us to expect rougher seas heading home & there was some side-to-side rocking throughout the night.

 

Aloha A Hiu Huo to the Islands of Hawai’i!

[travelin.sisters]

hello Hilo

[caribill]

On 1/12/2022 at 2:52 AM, travelin.sisters said:

2 interesting notices tonight:

• notice in the patter: "Please be advised that our current directive does not require quests to be Covid-19Ag tested again upon return to Los Angeles. Please disregard the second set of dates of testing which were sent to your stateroom earlier on in the cruise."

 

 

CDC conditional sail order is ending and compliance to CDC suggestions is now voluntary for the cruise lines.

 

Perhaps this testing on the way home was part of the no longer required CSO,

[travelin.sisters]

starting our tour & Banyan Drive

[cr8tiv1]

One of my favorite stops is the Queen Liliuokalani Gardens and Coconut Island.  This fascination goes back to when I was 10 (will spare you the years details/but over a half century).  

 

There are two kinds of banana favorites of islanders:  Apple Bananas and Finger Bananas.  Glad you found some at the Farmer's Market.  

 

Mahalo Nui Loa for taking so much of your time to share with us.

[travelin.sisters]

flora & Liliuokalani Garden

 

[travelin.sisters]

12 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

One of my favorite stops is the Queen Liliuokalani Gardens and Coconut Island.  This fascination goes back to when I was 10 (will spare you the years details/but over a half century).  

 

There are two kinds of banana favorites of islanders:  Apple Bananas and Finger Bananas.  Glad you found some at the Farmer's Market.  

 

Mahalo Nui Loa for taking so much of your time to share with us.

thank you for all your helpful input...it has added so much...the gardens were lovely & I can see how they would provide memories that last a lifetime, it is wonderful when we can revisit places that bring memories/feelings/experiences back to life from our childhoods...yesterday as I was taking endless photos at Iao Valley it made me smile thinking of being in Hawai'i (not quite half a century ago, but too close to matter) and my dad carefully rationing film for all the things he wanted to capture in photos.

 

i started this just to be a help as there was so much uncertainty going into our cruise & i hoped it would aleviate some of that for others...but i have found it a delightful way to solidify & capture my memories while they are fresh

[travelin.sisters]

Hilo farmer's market

 

[travelin.sisters]

rainbow falls

[travelin.sisters]

Richardson Beach 

[travelin.sisters]

leaving Hilo

 

[Cindy]

Thank you so much for your great report and pictures! I’m (hopefully) on the Pride of America in March so I’m watching these first cruises carefully.

[shastatroy]

I am on the January 19th cruise and I want to thank everyone onboard who have taken time out of their cruise to update us.  It has been very helpful.

[travelin.sisters]

welcome to Maui (1.12.22)

[travelin.sisters]

Iao Valley

 

[Astro Flyer]

8 hours ago, travelin.sisters said:

somehow, I seem to get my sea legs faster than I get my “land legs” back

In my youth after weeks at sea on a USN aircraft carrier our sea legs made it difficult to walk straight on land. The joke was the solution to that issue was by having an alcoholic drink. 😉

 

Mahalo for so generously taking the time to share your cruise experiences. 😎