Grand Time on the Grand 3/17/07

[MLB]

We just got home from a wonderful week on the grand princess and I can't wait to go back.

 

We went as a party of 8 – two families including girls 12 and almost 7 and boys 10 and almost 10. We had cruised 3 times before (2 with kids) and the other family was looking forward to their first cruise. Our previous Princess cruise was on the Golden 5 years ago.

 

We drove to Galveston and stayed overnight in Houston before the cruise. We decided to stay there and do some shopping before continuing the last hour to the port. The 2 families drove to the hotel separately but we caravanned together the next morning to the ship.

 

We parked at EZ parking. We arrived just before 11 but they would not take us to the ship for another 20-30 minutes because people were still disembarking and they were still picking up passengers to return them to their car from the previous cruise. We were anxious to get to the ship, but we waited patiently until we were told we could hop on the shuttle bus. It took us about an hour to get on the ship after that. The lines seemed long but were moving. There are 3 lines: Security, checking, and then pictures. We saw a long line at the pictures but that must have been just as they were letting people board. By the time we got there no one was waiting.

 

Our cabins were on the Plaza deck directly behind the art gallery. We had 4 inside rooms. I liked the location in the center of the ship. The only noises we heard was when the gangway was lowered or raised in port as it was directly under our cabins. I didn't mind the beds at all but the other couple did ask for an eggcrate after the second night and they slept better after that. The duvet was nice.

 

When we booked the cruise we booked parent & child in each room. We couldn't change this until we got to the pursers desk. Once there they had no problems letting us shift the cabins around. The two girls (ages 12 and 6) were in one cabin and the boys in the other. I wouldn't do this if the cabins weren't right next door or right across the hall but it worked very well for us.

 

The kids loved the kids programs. My daughter was a Pelican (ages 3-7) and had fun. The boys participated in the 8-12 age group. The boys played games and video games. There were LOTS of kids on board due to spring break. They had extra counselors and extra youth security. The 12 year old was not looking forward to having to be with the boys in the 8-12 group. She is a 7th grader and will be 13 in 2.5 months. She tried it for a couple of hours and then asked to move to the teen program. The program director has the authority to let her in. Several older 12 year olds were allowed to participate in most of the activities. They couldn't do part of it (like the dating game). It worked our great for her. I was surprised she was allowed in. She was told to tell people she was 13, but the teen center director knew her real age.

 

I always saw youth security when there were groups of kids around. It was nice to know someone was watching them. The kids I noticed were well behaved and appeared to be having a great time.

 

We enjoyed our days in port. In Costa Maya we toured the Chochoban ruins. We took the ship's tour instead of a private one because we left the 6 year old on the ship and I wanted Princess to be responsible to make sure we returned on time. She would have been bored coming and instead had a wonderful day. That day there was never more than 8 kids in the kids center at a time.

 

We went to Gumbalimba Nature Park and did the catamaran snorkel tour. Minimum age was 6 so the little one could participate. Unfortunately they didn't have any small snorkel vests and she had to wear an old-style orange life jacket that wasn't designed with snorkeling in mind. She could not float on her stomach in it so she didn't enjoy the tour. The seas were a bit bumpy and several people got sea sick. Afterwards we saw the animal park. The monkeys were great. We got to hold the baby (1 year old) as well as a couple of the older ones. We didn't spend enough time with the monkeys.

 

We went cave tubing in Belize through cave-tubing.com. We easily got on the first tender and were aboard their air-conditioned bus before 8am. We enjoyed their commentary on the ride and we always felt safe. I wasn't sure about leaving our belongings on the bus while we were cave tubing, but before we got out I felt that it would be safer there than with me. The water felt very nice and we enjoyed the walk and ride down the river. We were linked together which wasn't comfortable for my son. I also held my daughter's hand all the way down instead of linking with feet. She loved it.

 

We enjoyed our day at Paradise Beach in Cozumel. We got a late start and didn't arrive until 10. The beach was definitely crowded but we lucked into some front row center chairs. The kids loved the water. They weren't big or strong enough to climb the iceburg but they enjoyed the water trampolines, kayaks, and rafts. They ran out of small life jackets for my daughter, but we got one a bit later. She also had her hair braided and it looked very nice. We stayed about 4 hours before heading back to the ship.

 

We only saw the Princess dancers once on the first night, but we did attend all of the comedy shows. Most were funny and all were enjoyable.

 

We ate dinner every night at 6pm in the Botticelli dining room. Our group was assigned to two tables the first night and I know of several other similar issues. After that night we moved to the opposite side of the dining room and ended up with an awesome waiter, Dani from Romania. He was very knowledgeable and personable. He told us what not to order each night. We always took his suggestions and really enjoyed the food. Some of it wasn't as hot as it could have been, but overall it was good. My son's favorite foods were the Porcini Mushroom Soup and Escargot.

 

As we were on the plaza deck, we had some of the last luggage tag colors. We spent an hour in the ship's library playing games while we waited to be called. That area was not crowded and it gave the kids a chance to play without us having to worry about bothering other people. We were finally called about 10:15 and were outside the terminal on the sidewalk by 10:40. We managed to walk right outside and hop on an EZ parking bus. We left their lot to head home by 11am.

 

This cruise exceeded my expectations and our friends are planning another one soon. The only bad part was having to pack Friday night because our week was over.

[VegasGreen]

Great review, thanks!!

 

It seems like in previous weeks, the folks arriving around 11am walked right on, and this cruise, it seems there were already long lines.. go figure!

[B40 Tha Cruisa]

Thanks for a great review, I will be sailing on the grand in January. I cant wait!