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Mini live from Grand Princess Sea of Cortez, February 3, return from Travis

jondfk

By jondfk,
in Princess Cruises

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jondfk

jondfk

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1 year, 11 months, 18 days ago we boarded Grand Princess for a 15 day Hawaii sailing from San Francisco.  We arrived home 33 days later after 14 days quarantine at Travis AFB, 6 days of cabin quarantine, and 12 days of lovely cruising.

 

This is our return to the sea.  Our return to our favorite ship in the current fleet.  Our chance to put some lovely new memories on top of some painful old ones.

 

I want to share our experience, impressions and observations.  I'm no photographer so don't expect food photos from me, I will try to capture and post patters and menus though.  For perspective, we're Princess Elites with about 300 days sailed.  We've sailed this voyage twice before, once on CB and once on Royal.  Checking my post history will find me a raving fan of Window Suites though my opinion is colored by having spent 6 continuous days in one, most of our non WS sailings were actually in OV rooms, I'm quite expert in picking the "obstructed" rooms that aren't really, again, not sure we'll ever be ready for that again.  In the near term we're agreed nothing without a balcony.

 

This cruise we have a lovely aft suite, splurged using a stack of bonus value FCC's.  I'll comment on the suite breakfast and CC dining experience and how both either have or haven't changed.  

 

Binax tests were completed earlier today, a pleasure to take care of this formality from the comfort of home.  

 

We're in arrival group B though the suite should actually put us forward in the boarding order (at least it used to).  Grand, when home ported in San Francisco reliably had suite escorts to expedite boarding, not sure this still exists or made the transition to Los Angeles, another thing to report on.

 

If you're sailing along with us, by all means jump in to add your own impressions, even if they may differ.  Different points of view are helpful to me and undoubtedly to others.  

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MsSoCalCruiser

MsSoCalCruiser

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Thank you for taking us along with you!  I hope you do try to squeeze in a couple of food photos because I love food photos…. Or do I just love food???   I am going to spend 14 days in a Interior cabin soon.   I doubt it but maybe we will be upgraded to a balcony like we were in December (first upgrade ever!) 😊
 

I don’t know you but I was so worried about you all.  I am really happy that you are back on the Grand.  Enjoy your cruise!

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Desert Cruisers

Desert Cruisers

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On the Grand right now. Sabatini’s has been closed most of the cruise. Have been given several reasons - technical problem, lack of staff, and lack of customers. Haven’t been able to get confirmation that it will be open on the next sailing.  
 

Also no dining room open for embarkation day lunch. 

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HBCcruiser "Live from...." Rare

HBCcruiser

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17 hours ago, jondfk said:

1 year, 11 months, 18 days ago we boarded Grand Princess for a 15 day Hawaii sailing from San Francisco.  We arrived home 33 days later after 14 days quarantine at Travis AFB, 6 days of cabin quarantine, and 12 days of lovely cruising.

 

This is our return to the sea.  Our return to our favorite ship in the current fleet.  Our chance to put some lovely new memories on top of some painful old ones.

 

I want to share our experience, impressions and observations.  I'm no photographer so don't expect food photos from me, I will try to capture and post patters and menus though.  For perspective, we're Princess Elites with about 300 days sailed.  We've sailed this voyage twice before, once on CB and once on Royal.  Checking my post history will find me a raving fan of Window Suites though my opinion is colored by having spent 6 continuous days in one, most of our non WS sailings were actually in OV rooms, I'm quite expert in picking the "obstructed" rooms that aren't really, again, not sure we'll ever be ready for that again.  In the near term we're agreed nothing without a balcony.

 

This cruise we have a lovely aft suite, splurged using a stack of bonus value FCC's.  I'll comment on the suite breakfast and CC dining experience and how both either have or haven't changed.  

 

Binax tests were completed earlier today, a pleasure to take care of this formality from the comfort of home.  

 

We're in arrival group B though the suite should actually put us forward in the boarding order (at least it used to).  Grand, when home ported in San Francisco reliably had suite escorts to expedite boarding, not sure this still exists or made the transition to Los Angeles, another thing to report on.

 

If you're sailing along with us, by all means jump in to add your own impressions, even if they may differ.  Different points of view are helpful to me and undoubtedly to others.  

Thanks for sharing your insights. Enjoy your cruise! 

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nini

nini

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Thanks for allowing us to follow along. It is nice getting your perspective. We are to be on the Grand in September for Alaska with a great itinerary which takes us to new ports for us. Your aft suite sounds fabulous; we are aft fans too (booking regular balconies).

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ltthib

ltthib

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We were on the Grand with you for that Feb 2020 Hawaii cruise. Our sentence was served in an inside cabin and then at Dobbins AFB in Georgia. Worst part was that our luggage was sent to California. Didn't get it back until just a couple days before we were sent home. We are repeating that cruise this Feb 13th and have also opted for a balcony this time (mini suite). Can you let us know the casino conditions? Are they limiting the number of players at the table games?

Thanks

Bob & Donna

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jondfk

jondfk

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36 minutes ago, ltthib said:

We were on the Grand with you for that Feb 2020 Hawaii cruise. Our sentence was served in an inside cabin and then at Dobbins AFB in Georgia. Worst part was that our luggage was sent to California. Didn't get it back until just a couple days before we were sent home. We are repeating that cruise this Feb 13th and have also opted for a balcony this time (mini suite). Can you let us know the casino conditions? Are they limiting the number of players at the table games?

Thanks

Bob & Donna

Hi Guys:  

 

I feel for you, we knew we were blessed to be sent to Travis.  We were on the last bus sent to Travis on Wednesday, when we arrived, there were only 2 room keys left in the box, it was that close.  One more bus arrived Thursday morning to fill up a handful of additional rooms but we were about 800th to arrive.  We were grateful and lucky to get a reasonably nice room, with everything functioning, and a fantastic care team dispatched from NY / CT.  

 

I'll check on the casino for you though I rarely use it, mostly because of smoke, this might be the rare cruise where they manage to get some money off of me!  

 

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travelin.sisters Great Review Rare

travelin.sisters

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thank you for sharing your experiences...we were on the Grand 1/4 to Hawaii & felt she was in even better shape than when we had sailed on her post-drydock in 2019...the crew was amazing although there was a fair amount of shuffling of staff due to crew having to quarantine after testing positive...there was no need to limit numbers in any venues because we were only about 40% full (although I hear they did add more restrictions for the 2nd Hawai'i sailing)...enjoy your balcony & your trip!!

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CalLuvsCrusingToo

CalLuvsCrusingToo

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I remember what you went thru on your cruise to TRAVIS. 

It was the beginning of the pandemic....You went thru alot.

We were on the Grand cruise before yours, will never forget it.

I remember feeling envious of those who got to stay onboard and

continue cruising. 

In reality,  we felt like we dodged a bullet.

HOPE This time around helps make up for a it.

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jondfk

jondfk

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Well, we made it aboard.  Arrived at the pier a couple minutes past noon.

 

Bag porter met us in the crosswalk and took our check bag.  Onward to checkin as usual the PES line was far longer than the other, we were about 15 back but it moved quickly, total time about 10 minutes.  Passports, Covid tests and fax cards were throughly reviewed.

 

Onward to security, short lines, through in something like 5 minutes.  Boarding lounge was empty, boarding underway, we walked straight on.  Cabin available so we dropped our carry ones and went looking for lunch.  No MDR embarkation lunch, sad to miss that soufflé!  We fell back to Alfredo’s which was full, we were about 8th back on the wait list, too about 30 minutes to be seated, in the meantime a couple of very nice salads from the IC tided us over.

 

Afterwards we went up to the spa for a couple of bookings, grabbed a couple of afternoons in the Sanctuary, muster check in and now in the process of settling in.  We’re told the ship is booked to something like 1250 which would be by far the lightest sailing we’ve ever enjoyed, at the moment though with everyone finding their way, it feels quite full.

 

 

 

 

 

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milogurd Holiday Sharing Rare

milogurd

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5 hours ago, jondfk said:

IMG_0105.HEIC 1.85 MB · 14 downloads IMG_0104.HEIC 1.86 MB · 9 downloads

 

Day 1 patter

 

I see that you are posting photos as HEIC format. Not all people can see those photos. I suggest that you set your iPhone to submit photos as JPEG:

https://backlightblog.com/iphone-heic-to-jpg

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jondfk

jondfk

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Milogurd.  Thanks for the tip, I’ve made the change to photo format, you saved me hours figuring out how!

 

Other questions.  
 

Casino capacity, there are no obvious social distancing measures or blocked chairs, and the casino was busy the first night.  In general folks seem to be allowing space where they can anywhere on the ship.  Staff in CC MDR seated people in a distanced way … until they couldn’t at peak 7:00pm most tables were briefly full but the load quickly tapered off as early diners finished up.

 

MDR embarkation lunch, we were told by the CC host, hasn’t restarted due to crew shortage, he expects it will return as booking levels rise in the spring.  He acknowledged that the absence puts a huge load on Alfredo’s.

 

I will ask about PAX on the following sailing.

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RNRcruisers

RNRcruisers

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12 hours ago, jondfk said:

 

We fell back to Alfredo’s which was full, we were about 8th back on the wait list, too about 30 minutes to be seated, in the meantime a couple of very nice salads from the IC tided us over.

 

 

 

Wow Alfredo's full! We ate there 3 times on our cruise last month (Regal) and it was never very busy. Probably all those Elites on your cruise know about it as opposed to the newbies on our cruise 😂

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