Grand Review 3/3 thru 3/10 (long review)

[mitzykka]

My wife and I set sail on the Grand Princess on March 3rd. We are both in our early 30’s—and our honeymoon cruise was 7 months ago aboard the Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas (Mediterranean cruise) which was absolutely incredible.

 

This critique focuses on two main things—our experiences at the port destinations and the food onboard. We live in the San Francisco bay area, and are blessed with incredible restaurants—my wife and I both agree we may be a little on the food snobbish side and have high expectations. I’ll try to be objective and informative when it comes to the food reviews. Here is a day by day account—with some general cruise info at the end.

 

Day 1: we arrived at the Galveston terminal at around 12pm. The boarding process wasn’t too painful. Once we arrived to our room, we decided to go up for lunch at the Horizon Buffet. This may have been the most unorganized buffet we’ve ever seen. The lines were long just to get a plate, and then once you had the plate there was absolutely no organization. There are a series a little food islands and people merging from island to island made it very cramped and no one from the Princess staff was there to help make this more organized. The food, for us, was sub-par for a buffet. Afterwards we went outside by the pool to the pizzeria—which was very good. If you want to bypass the 1st day buffet train wreck, I’d suggest skipping the buffet and going to the pizzeria by the pool or go to the buffet after 3pm when the lines have died down.

 

For dinner we selected anytime dining. We had read on this board that the first night could be pretty hectic because everyone was still trying to figure out where to go for dinner. So, we made reservations at Sabatini’s. As everyone has mentioned, you better be hungry! The food was good. For our main courses, my wife had the seabass and I had the lobster. Both were good—though I think I preferred her sea bass. We sampled 3 deserts and all were excellent. Compared to the high-end Italian restaurant on the RCCL Voyager (Portofino), we felt Portofino was better. We saw the comedian Cary Long tonight. Very G rated and somewhat amusing.

 

Day 2: at sea. Breakfast buffet at the Horizon was bad. Tomorrow we plan to get up earlier and eat breakfast in the dining room. We spent time at the pool today, had a good time. We had pizza for lunch from the pizzeria on deck 14, it was very good. For dinner we ate in the main dining hall (Da Vinci room) and were seated with 2 other couples. The food was very good—my wife and I liked the crab quiche, lobster bisque, tamarind soup, and the steak for our main course was tender and flavorful. The casino tonight was smoke free from 6pm – 12am. So if smoke bothers you and you want to gamble, this is the night to do it.

 

Day 3. Costa Maya. We had breakfast in the DaVinci room. Much better than Horizon Buffet breakfast. We booked our Chachoben tour excursion through Ivan and David of the The Native Choice. You can read other reviews on this board about the tour. It was a good tour and our guide was very informative. Afterwards we went into Mauhaun for a late lunch. We had an excellent meal at El Delfin—its towards the end of the fishing village. The garlic shrimp was excellent as was the guacamole

 

We had dinner at the Painted Rose Steakhouse. People on the board have compared this to the quality of an Outback Steakhouse. We found the Painted Desert to be excellent—the best meal on the ship thus far and nothing like Outback. In fact, we refuse to eat at Outback. I had the Porterhouse and my wife had the filet—both cooked medium and were delicious. We wanted to see the Hypnotist tonight, but we had such a late dinner that we missed it.

 

Day 4: Roatan, Honduras. We got up early and were out of the boat by 8:15am. We had reserved a zipline (canopy) tour through Southshore Canopy tours. When you walk out the pier, there are many tour people, taxis, etc. Everyone speaks English. For $20 each, we had a personal taxi all day. He drove us to the zipline place (15 min. drive), then took us to the beach (dropped us of for 2 hours), then picked us up and we asked him to take us to a really good typical Honduran restaurant. He took us to the West End village (fairly touristy) and recommended a restaurant called Bertie’s. This was by far the best meal we’ve had on our trip. I had Lobster (Bertie style—covered in garlic, butter, and onions), and my wife had garlic shrimp. You get a choice of side dishes—we went traditional and had rice and beans as well as fried plantains. EXCELLENT. The lobster was out of this world and the shrimp were just as good. Lobster was $15, shrimp was $10. We also shared an order of fried Conch. We left the restaurant very very full. After that he droves back to the pier and we had a couple hours left before the ship left. Regarding the zipline tour, it was fun—we both loved it. If you bring a camera, the guides will take photos of you. $45 per person for the zipline tour—it takes a little over an hour.

 

Dinner in the DaVinci room. It was Caribbean/Tropical themed menu. My wife had a Caribbean seafood medley of shrimp, lobster, scallops, and fish which was pretty good. I had the lamb shank—which was quite tasty. We both had a shrimp and crabmeat soup for a starter—it was ok. For dessert our waiter brought us a little of everything—the pineapple crème brulee was very good as was the yam and brown sugar pie (tasted like pumpkin pie).

 

Day 5: Belize. Breakfast at Horizon Buffet (only place open at 6:30am) was not very good, but we knew that going in. The French toast is actually pretty good—but that’s about it. Then we had to collect our tender ticket because we did not book an excursion through the ship. We picked up our tickets and were on the first tender boat at 7am. Once we got to shore we had no problem finding our cave-tubing.com guides. We ended up waiting for about 45 minutes for the rest of the passengers to get off the boat before our bus left. The people working for cave-tubing.com are very friendly, helpful, fun and organized. It’s about an hour drive to the caves, then a 35 minute walk to where we start tubing. It’s a fun trip, we both enjoyed it. I highly recommend this trip and would advise against using the Princess cave tubing excursion. In most cases I would advise against using the excursions offered by any cruise ship—if you do your research and are the least bit travel savvy, you should have no problem finding what you want for a better price and it will be a better tour/excursion than what the cruise ship is going to give you IMHO. After the cave tubing they took us to a restaurant called Amigos for lunch. It was very good—chicken with rice and beans and coleslaw. $5 for lunch and $1 for large bottle of soda or $2 for a beer. Very good deal.

Just a side note, we talked to people on the tender boat who hired a driver to take them cave tubing, zip line tour, and shopping. They had a blast and were able to fit all that in one day. If you search online you could probably find such a service.

 

We had dinner tonight in the DaVinci room again. It was lobster night. I had the lobster, my wife had the fish entrée—baramundi(sp). She really enjoyed her fish, and I liked the lobster. Nowhere near as good as the lobster I had in Roatan at Bertie’s (see above), but still very good. Dessert was tasty—passion fruit soufflé and a white and dark chocolate mousse selection stood out.

 

We saw the “R rated Hypnotist show” tonight and in our opinion it was horrible. It wasn’t funny and I don’t believe any of the people were actually hypnotized. We saw a hypnotist show at the county fair last summer that was much better…and that’s not saying much. I may sound harsh, but this is our honest opinion. I forget the hypnotist’s name, maybe somebody else can remember it.

 

Day 6: Cozumel. Out of the 4 ports we visited, this was probably the one we looked forward to least due to the fact it’s such a tourist trap. Overall, we had a pretty good day after we got away from the cruise port and the immediate surrounding areas. There were 5 other cruise ships in port, so Cozumel was pretty packed. We walked around Cozumel for about 30 minutes trying to figure out what to do—we ended up renting a car (1960-ish VW bug) and drove along the coast looking for a place to snorkel. We stopped at one of the various beach restaurants that advertise drinks, food, snorkeling. We had a couple sodas and then went in the water and saw quite a few amazing fish. After that we continued driving along the coast and stopped in La Playa Bonita for lunch—nothing spectacular but ok. We continued along the coast and cut over on the Middle Island road back to the cruise port area. We returned the car and walked around town a bit.

 

We made reservations at the Painted Desert steakhouse for tonight—the meal was excellent again. One major pet peeve we’ve had is that both nights we ate at the Painted Desert there were crew members/Princess employees eating there as well. The main reason I don’t like this is that we were unable to make reservations earlier than 9 and 9:30pm both nights—but as we were seated there were two tables with Princess crew eating (and on the first night, one of the crew members was loud and obnoxious). As a paying customer my needs should be taken care of first. Also, I don’t think crew should be eating in the same dining room at the same time as paying guests are dining. This isn’t Denny’s or McDonalds—dining on a cruise ship is supposed to be high end and no decent restaurant allows there employees to eat with guests. That may sound completely snobish, but we didn’t see this on RCCL and I don’t expect to see it on future cruises.

 

Day 7: at sea. Our cruise is coming to an end and for the 5th day in a row we have no sunshine. That put a slight damper on our trip, but we still enjoyed it. Dinner tonight was at the DaVinci room again. We thought it was pretty good. I had the prime rib, my wife had the tiger prawns. Both were decent. The Philadelphia pepper soup was very good.

 

The entertainment was very good tonight—they had a comedy magician (I think his name was Chris Lynn) and an excellent stand-up comedian named Rollin’ Jay Moore. We saw Jay Moore the previous night as well, both shows were completely different and he is very funny.

 

Some people have complained about the beds in the rooms. Granted, they are two double mattresses pushed together on a queen box spring, but we found it to be quite comfortable (except in the middle where the two mattresses meet).

 

People have complained about the coffee—it is pretty bad.in the buffet as well as room service. It didn’t seem quite as bad at night in the main dining room. The cappuccino was excellent in Painted Desert and Sabatini’s.

 

Overall, we were disappointed in this cruise a little bit—but we’re comparing it to our Mediterranean honeymoon cruise on the RCCL Voyager of the Seas which was superb.

 

If you have any questions, please post and I’ll try to get to them in the next few days.

 

Thanks,

Matt

[margord]

Thanks so much for the review. We are on the 3/31 sailing of the Grand. DO you know if the commedian "Sarge" was on for your sailing?

 

Marilee

[dforeigner]

Thanks so much for the review. We are on the 3/31 sailing of the Grand. DO you know if the commedian "Sarge" was on for your sailing?

 

Marilee

 

I believe Sarge is on board the Crown (unless things have changed).

[Northender]

Thanks for your review. We are sailing in less than two weeks.

Now, as long as the days don't change, ie. Caribben Night, etc.

we know when we want to do the Steakhouse. I have learned from past cruises that you make your reservation as soon as you get into your cabin:)

 

I have not experienced the "staff" eating at the steakhouse, perhaps this is some sort of perk for them. Perhaps it was because of the time 9pm.

We usually go around 7-7:30. I don't think it would bother me tho. I have been in the Dining Room with "nasty" diners and some who look like they just mucked the stalls.

 

Do you use any of the lounges - Wheelhouse, etc. How was the entertainment/bands? Looking at later in the evening for nightcap, etc.

 

When you are using a non-Princess excursion,can you get off the ship before the Princess Excursion folks? Especially interested in Costa Maya.

We have something set for there and would like to get off right after docking.

 

I agree with you re the buffet - not great. We do run up on ocassion and grab some crackers and cheese to take to our room for munchies to go with our wine. And the coffee - worst coffee I have ever experienced.

I bring my own one cup coffee maker for the morning.

 

Too bad you didn't try the Fettucini Alfredo - it is very good. You can even ask for a side order. Yummy......:D

 

Thanks again for the honest review

[mitzykka]

Northender,

we didn't hang out in the bars after dinner, we went to the nightclub once to see what it was like...it was pretty empty that night. We had a drink before dinner at the bar next to Sabatini's (I forget the name). There was a 3 piece band that was entertaining--they played music along the sounds of Frank, Tony Bennett, etc. We saw one Princess music show (before one of the comedians) and to be honest we thought it was corny--they danced and sang (covered the Ricky Martin song " She bangs" but changed the lyrics to Cruise themed). The dancers were very talented, but we just thought it was corny--not our thing I guess.

 

At the shores, you can get off as soon as everyone else does--doesn't matter where you booked your excursion. The only excursion is Belize where we were tendered. You have to pick up a tender ticket the day before (if you don't book excursion through the ship). I would suggest getting their around 7am for the tender boat--there will be no line.

[Snoozeman]

Good review-thanks:)

[margord]

I believe Sarge is on board the Crown (unless things have changed).

 

Thanks. I knew he was on the Crown this Fall but thought I had read something about him being on the Grand. We were on the Crown and he was to board in Bermuda and we missed going there due to high winds. Oh well, maybe one day I will see him. I understand he is very good.