Grand Princess Review - Nov. 20-27th

[lrcruising]

This was our 6th cruise. We've been on Carnival Destiny, Carnival Victory, Carnival Conquest, Ocean Princess, RCCL Mariner of the Seas and now the Grand. We travelled with our 3 boys (ages 13, 15, 17) and my parents (ages 75 and 78).

 

SATURDAY: (embarkation day) We arrived in Galveston at 1 pm and went to the EZ cruise parking lot. We had already made reservations there and were told not to come before 1 pm because of the traffic. We found no traffic at all at 1 pm. We parked in our reserved spot, had our luggage put on the shuttle and were off to the ship. At the terminal there were large numbers of people however, the lines moved quickly and we were on the ship by 2:15 pm. We had a mini suite on Dolphin deck aft. The room was very nice and we had new bed coverings and curtains. Our refrigerator was stocked with sodas like we requested. The only thing that looked older about our suite was the bathroom tile. It just looked a little out of date but it was very clean. We had early dining time (6 pm) since we were travelling with my older parents and 3 teenage boys. We saw the welcome aboard show which was great and had drinks in the Wheelhouse bar afterwards.

 

SUNDAY: (sea day) we slept in and went to the gym. FYI the gym is on the smaller side so sign up for the treadmills the day before so you have one. We did this and had a treadmill everyday. Had breakfast in the Horizon court, and headed to the pool area. We LOVED MUTS. Everyday we had great seats to sun and watch the movies of the day. I believe the movie BIG was showing that day. We attended the Captains welcome aboard Gala cocktail party and got our formal pictures taken and had free cocktails and appetizers before dinner. This was our first formal night. After dinner we attended the show 'Curtain Up' in the princess theater. The dancers and singers were great.

 

MONDAY: (Belize) We had a tour with Wet n Wild with Marvin to do the cave tubing at 1 pm The Grand Princess was late getting to Belize and we didn't actually get off the tender until almost 2:45 pm. Luckily Marvin was there waiting for us. He promised to have us back by the last tender (7:30 pm) and we agreed to take a slightly shorter cave tube and skip the meal. Most of the shore excursions offered by Princess were cancelled and a lot of the local tours also due to our late arrival. Carlos and Charlie (hee hee) were our drivers/guides. We had a 45 min van ride to the park. We hiked for about 30 minutes and saw some beautiful plants and insects. We tubed through 2 caves which was FANTASTIC. Since we didn't get to cliff jump at the usual 3rd cave, Charlie stopped along the way and let us cliff jump at a different spot. By the time we tubed out of the last cave, it was dusk and we were floating in near dark conditions which was extremely awesome. As promised, we were back in time and Marving was there once again waiting for us to see if we enjoyed our tour. This was a must do tour. Don't bother hanging around Belize City, it's not a place you'd want to get lost in. Once back on board, we ate dinner in the alternate dining room. We had no wait, just walked in and said party of 5. That night we saw the illusionist. He was very good but a little goofy.

 

TUESDAY: (Costa Maya) The day was partly sunny, warm and beautiful. We arrived at 7:30 am and got off immediately. The tram was waiting to take people down the long pier. Part of our party walked, it isn't a bad walk like I had read. We met up with our tour guide and proceeded to our Unimog. This was a huge open air vehicle. It had comfortable padded seats and seatbelts for the bumpy ride. We took a 45 minute ride through the jungle and our guide was extremely knowledgeable about the plants, flowers and animals that we saw. We drove through the town of Mahajual and saw the schools and restaurants. We saw a huge monkey sitting in a tree eating a pineapple. After our wonderful ride, we arrived at our private white sand beach. The water was cool and clear. The beach was very clean. Palm trees lined the beach front. We had 1 1/2 hours to swim, drink complimentary beer and eat the chicken and beef fajita lunch that was served. Kayaks were available and beach floats. We had such a good time and the time went too quickly. Soon we had to board our Unimog for the trip back. We took a different and interesting route back. The driver stopped along the way, ran into the jungle and brought a piece of wood back from a Mahajual tree. The guide showed how the bark could be peeled off and braided for a rope. He passed around pieces for us all to try and keep. My boys got to keep the stick which they have since made into a walking stick/cane for their grandfather. After we got back to the port, we swam in the pool at Costa Maya and used their swim up bar. They had great Tequila sunrises and Sex on the Beach cocktails. $8 each for a large and they had plenty of alcohol in them. The shops were typical of any port but nice. We had lunch (again) and the food was great. We layed out by the pool until we HAD to go back to the ship. Costa Maya was our favorite port and can't wait to go back. We didn't go to the show tonight but instead watched Spiderman 2 at MUTS. It was really nice. We had blankets, popcorn, candy and Margaritas. What more can you ask for?

 

WEDNESDAY: (Grand Cayman) We tendered into Cayman at 11 am and had to meet up with our tour at 12:15 LOCAL time. This is very important because they are Eastern time and the ships time and our watches were Central time. Since we had a little time, we had a snack at the English Bakery that is in front of Capn. Bryans. They have wonderful pastries!! We had a short van ride to where we met up with our catamaran. The catamaran was very nice and spacious. There was a videographer on board video taping the whole time. We had a 30 minute ride to stingray city. We were the only ones there except for 1 other boat. We had 30 minutes in the water and it was about waist deep. There were many stingrays. We have done this 4 other times and we have never seen so many. I think it was the fact that it was so uncrowded. We held the males and females, fed them and even kissed them, yuck! By the time we left, many boats were arriving. We then headed to an area called the aquarium for snorkeling. This was the best snorkeling we saw on the cruise. There were many colorful fish, moray eels, baby stingrays and beautiful coral. We had 30 min. to snorkel and then we hoisted the sail and came back. We had a little time to sample some rum cake and look in some shops before heading back to the ship. After dinner we went to the Tropical Island NIght deck party. They had great music, dancing and drinks. Don't miss it.

 

THURSDAY: (Cozumel) We were in Cozumel on Thanksgiving with 8 other ships. The crowds were not too bad surprisingly. We arrived at 10 am and took a taxi van into town. Taxis for 1-4 people are $6. Vans are $10 and hold up to 8 people. My 3 teenage boys wanted to get henna tatoos since I won't let them get the real thing. We bargained the tattoos down to $10 each from $25 each. They look great and haven't faded at all, yet. We went into some shops and headed back to the pier to eat at FAT TUESDAYS. They had great nachos, salsa and burgers. At 1 pm we met up with the crew of the FURY catamaran for our excursion. Unfortunately the skies were thick with black clouds and the winds were strong. We managed to get the snorkeling in but the water was VERY rough and hard to swim in. Once we snorkeled we were given unlimited beer and margaritas and we headed to the beach. After a short while we were informed that the port advised us to return because of bad weather so we headed back. The FURY catamaran tour company said they would be refunding all of our money. We were very impressed with this since we were into the 2nd hour of our 3 1/2 hour tour. By the time we got back onto the Grand, our account had been credited back for the tour. We have done this exact tour 4 other times and it is really a nice and fun tour when the weather is nice. This was our 2nd formal night. In the dining room tonight we had the traditional Thanksgiving dinner which was wonderful. Tonight we saw the show Rhythms of the city and the comedy show. Both were great. The champagne waterfall at midnight shouldn't be missed.

 

FRIDAY: (Sea day) Started out at the gym again and was at the pool by 11 am. The sky was sunny but you could feel the cooler air now that we were in the Gulf of Mexico. We watched Grease at MUTS and then saw the UT/Texas A&M football game on MUTS. It was awesome to see the game outside by the pool drinking beer and having lunch from the grill and the pizzeria. We had dinner in the Sterling Steakhouse and it was the best meal by far.

 

SATURDAY: (disembarkation) We were off the ship and in our car by 11 am. EZ cruise shuttle was waiting for us. We only had to wait in line for 15 minutes. This is the way to go.

 

SOME THOUGHTS:

 

Food: the dining room food was good not excellent. The portions were good and you could get as much as you wanted. The horizon dining court had good breakfast and was a good late night place to get a snack. The hamburger grill was excellent, they had burgers, chicken sandwiches and huge hot dogs. The pizzeria was also fabulous, they had cheese or pepperoni. The I Sceam for ice cream shop had wonderful ice cream for a charge $1.50 - $4 depending on what you get.

 

Shows: The shows were very good and entertaining.

 

Ship: The ship was very clean and beautiful and had very little signs of aging. This is more of an elegant ship, no neon like Carnival but not as fabulous as RCCL Mariner of the Seas (our favorite ship ever).

 

Room Steward: Rubin was great. Always bringing us MORE ice, fruit and towels.

 

Deck area: always got a lounge chair and the pools were very nice.

 

Would we go again? YES

 

I will have pictures posted later today.

[Tunagold]

Great post Ircruising! We enjoyed the Grand in April 2003 and it was a great ship to be on for our very first cruise. We were less impressed with the Caribbean Princess in April 2004, but it would not stop us from going again. I have printed your post so we know what to do at some of those ports the next time we go. We did the Western Carib out of Fort Lauderdale on the Grand and the Eastern Carib out of FLL on the CP. I personally liked the eastern Carib better, but Costa Maya was relatively new then to the western Carib and we really had no idea what to do, so it was a boring port to us.

 

But it is good to know that the Grand is still living up to her name!

[SPRINGTX]

Great Review! I have been waiting to hear from someone who went Cave Tubing on their own, we really want to do the same but were worried about the time constraints. If you don't mind me asking, how much did it cost through wet n' wild? Thanks for the info.

[roe2ship]

lrcruising - thanks for posting your review. Nice to hear you thought the Movies under the Stars is a great concept. You mentioned that the Mariner has been your favorite ship of all, this is the voyager ship that I would like to try someday (being the newest one) Would you kindly give me a little bit of a comparison (pros and cons) between the Grand and the Mariner? TIA

[CruiseFever]

Thanks for sharing your experience on this highly acclaimed ship. Glad to hear that you too thought Movies Under The Stars added to your cruise experience. Thanks too for the detail on your Costa Maya excursion, that sounds like a real winner!

[Victoriaandbrad]

Really enjoyed reading your review especially the information on the cave tubing with Wet n Wild in Belize. I too have booked this tour for our 12/18 cruise on the Grand and was somewhat worried about the limited time in the port. Now I am really comfortable with my decision.

 

Look forward to see your photos!

[Sunrise]

I personally could have done without the glowing remarks on your cruise. It isn't helping me one bit. All it is doing is making my count-down to January 15th (the day I get to go on the Grand) even harder!!!! Kidding!! What a great review. I had questions about Belize and had been searching the posts for some information. You gave me exactly what I was looking for -- thanks! It sounds like you had an excellent time. Keep the info and pictures coming!

[cruisinqt]

I noticed that you went on the Conquest. Well, I just got off of the Conquest and have booked the Grand Princess. Could you do a comparison of the two for me? The Conquest has been one of my all time favorite cruises.:D I was glad to see that the Grand has the freshly grilled hot dogs and burgers place just like the Conquest did. That was a great place to take the kids when they got the munchies, they especially loved the fries. By the way, what type of ice cream does the ice cream place sell? Or is it not a name brand? Was the pizza freshly made like Carnival's, or frozen pizza like they have on RCI?

[lrcruising]

Great Review! I have been waiting to hear from someone who went Cave Tubing on their own, we really want to do the same but were worried about the time constraints. If you don't mind me asking, how much did it cost through wet n' wild? Thanks for the info.

 

It was $60 per person and usually includes lunch.

[lrcruising]

lrcruising - thanks for posting your review. Nice to hear you thought the Movies under the Stars is a great concept. You mentioned that the Mariner has been your favorite ship of all, this is the voyager ship that I would like to try someday (being the newest one) Would you kindly give me a little bit of a comparison (pros and cons) between the Grand and the Mariner? TIA

 

Below is my review from the Mariner last June.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=24947

[aggieastrosfan]

Thanks so much for the review. Only 4 more days! I can't wait.

 

What time did they hold the lifeboat drill? Did they leave enough time to put life jackets back in your cabin and head up to Lido for sailaway?

 

Regarding EZ Cruise...I have them prepaid, and I'm a little concerned that they wouldn't let you park until 1 pm. Did they indicate that this was a one-time thing? We were hoping to be parked no later than 11 (after dropping our luggage off ourselves), and just walking to the terminal with our carryons, unless the shuttle was ready. Do you think this is possible? I have the same question outstanding with EZ as well.

[kelleya]

We used EZ cruise for our Nov.8th sailing and parked by 11AM. The 1 PM thing is dependent upon the port traffic. The port authority sometimes will not allow outside shuttles in early, but that seems to be an unusual situation. If you want, call EZ cruise and speak with Cindy (I think that's her name!). Their number is on their website. We used them with no problems and would not hesitate to use them again.

[lrcruising]

Thanks so much for the review. Only 4 more days! I can't wait.

 

What time did they hold the lifeboat drill? Did they leave enough time to put life jackets back in your cabin and head up to Lido for sailaway?

 

Regarding EZ Cruise...I have them prepaid, and I'm a little concerned that they wouldn't let you park until 1 pm. Did they indicate that this was a one-time thing? We were hoping to be parked no later than 11 (after dropping our luggage off ourselves), and just walking to the terminal with our carryons, unless the shuttle was ready. Do you think this is possible? I have the same question outstanding with EZ as well.

 

The lifeboat drill was at 4. We had plenty of time to watch the ship sail away with a cocktail in hand.

[Tunagold]

By the way, what type of ice cream does the ice cream place sell? Or is it not a name brand? Was the pizza freshly made like Carnival's, or frozen pizza like they have on RCI?

 

From what I recall, the ice cream was Hagen-Daz and the pizza was fresh, not frozen. I don't recall seeing them throwing the dough in the air like some pizzerias, but it was too good to be frozen pizza. And you are right, it is a great place for munchies, lunch or even a dinner when the other restaurants are full or having food that does not interest you.

[TorontoTL]

On all the Princess ships I've been on I've seen them throw the pizza dough. I would think it would be the same on the Grand as it is on her sister ships the Golden and the Star. The pizza is excellent.

[Minnie42]

cruisinqt - they serve free ice cream with toppings in the Horizon Court every day from 3-4 pm but they don't advertise it. Also, we were on the 11/8 sailing and the pizza was very good!