14 Nights Caribbean Cruise

Cruise of a lifetime on the lovely Grand Princess

Had a great cruise! Found the same excellent level of service from Princess I have enjoyed, despite my last sailing being in Aug 2019. Yes the Grand is older, I encountered no issues with HVAC, plumbing, smells or flooding, she is still a beautiful vessel who will take you great places! We were gifted the best weather in Glacier Bay - where we saw 2 bears on the coast! And Ketchikan! I found the food plentiful in choice, and cooked extremely well. Loved dinners in the Main Dining Room, the International Cafe had my favourite breakfast the smoked salmon sandwich. The buffet had some great choices. Alfredo’s and the Salty Dog Gastro Pub pop up we’re both highlight meals for me! I love the pre and post cruise transfers to/from the airport and the service Princess offers. Cruise of a lifetime for me seeing bears, whales, porpoises, otters, eagles and the Northern Lights! I wrote a full review with pictures from my trip on the Princess boards.

A great Princess cruise to Alaska

I wondered whether this old ship would be worn out but she was in great shape except for some outdoor signs of age. We were on her in 1999 and she has been updated a great deal, including losing the "shopping cart handle" nightclub affecting her stability. Too bad, as that is a great viewing area that other ships in the Grand class still have. This was a fabulous 17 day cruise covering most of the Alaska cruise ports and places to view glaciers. We embarked in Seattle and for the first time in 46 cruises there were no porters there to take your tagged luggage when you got off the bus, taxi etc. We had to get our own luggage all the way to the very long line waiting to turn it over at the screening area. A very nice fellow passenger helped me with mine, as I had a walker and 3 other small pieces to manage as well. It was a long wait in line too. I don't know why there were no porters or luggage help but that was a negative start to the cruise. There were no assigned boarding times, something new for me but I think most folks ignored those times anyway, so it still seemed to work fine for passenger flow. Check-in was quick. I do wish all cruise lines would give you your muster station name and location on check-in. Days later I figured out where to find it on the app but had to ask crew on boarding day. Speaking of the app, it works very well and I used it a lot to look at deck plans, check upcoming events, look at shore excursions etc. I traveled solo, and of course Princess does not give any kind of price break to singles. They make up for it in other ways, such as great service and entertainment. I had balcony cabin in the aft section on deck 11. The Grand class cabins are smaller than those on more modern ships. At 232 square feet (including balcony) my cabin was great for one person but would have been cramped for two. There was no couch and only the desk chair to sit on. There was a small, round glass-topped table which worked fine for room service meals for one person. Storage was adequate. The bathroom was small. There was a shower curtain, but the cloth-like material they used did not stick to me and did not bother me. The bed was extremely comfortable. The balcony had the blue matting which I dislike for the way it feels on bare feet. I much prefer teak balcony decks, but these are not found on Princess. There were 3 USB and 2 A/C slots so plenty of ways to charge our stuff. The only irritant was the daily announcements in the cabin hallways. There are other ways to provide that information. The only exception would be disembarkation day, when I can see the need for annoucements everywhere on the ship. There were plenty of activities for all ages. We did have a few children on board but they did not cause an issue. The service was great. All staff smiled and greeted you in passing. I use a walker and was often assisted by the crew without my asking. I have mixed feelings about the Medallion. It worked fine for opening my cabin door, telling crew where to find me, ordering room service, checking on and off the ship. However, when ordering drinks they were delivered timely half the time, once never, and once the drink was inexplicably set at the opposite end of the bar from where I was sitting in a lounge chair, and left there. After a few days I gave up on ordering beverages using the Medallion and relied on the great bar staff. Officers were very visible and friendly. The ship itself was spotless and all upholstery and furnishings were in great condition. There are 3 dining choices: reserved daily time, flexible reservations, and walk-in. I used the latter and had no problem getting a table when I showed up. The food varied from ok to great and the service was usually quick, but not always. I loved the four production shows. The rest of the entertainment varied from great (Elton John tribute) to what-the-heck? (hypnosis demo). Since this was a longer than usual Alaska cruise I imagine they had to scramble a bit for enough entertainers. One inconvenience for those of us with walkers and wheelchairs is that the only way to enter the main theater floor was up some stairs, so we were limited to the upper floor on deck 7, at the very back. There were also not enough spaces for all the walker and wheelchair users. The shore excursions I took were all great. There are many options on Alaska cruises. The only glitches were at Seward and Wrangell, neither of which are usual Princess ports. At Seward the buses were all right beside the door leading out of the port building so everyone crowded up right there with no signs or Princess staff to tell them where to go. They had one shore excursion rep there but needed 3 or 4 to direct traffic and establish lines. It was a mess with a lot of pushing and shoving and confusion. At Wrangell there was no Princess rep at first and 4 passengers with tour tickets were told there was no room for them on our bus. This resulted in a 15 minute delay while the tour company owner, bus driver and guide discussed this problem beside our bus. Finally a Princess rep appeared and by giving up the guide's seat and getting two passengers to move seats, enough room was found for the four. I took a mixture of boat and bus tours and had no problems getting my walker on board and off. Icy Strait Point was a favorite for the gondola trip (I went twice to enjoy the great views)as were Haines and Wrangell and Victoria. Disembarkation was only 10 minutes behind scheduled times and efficiently done considering getting 2600 passengers off the ship in a timely manner. Passport control was quick and we didn't have to wait too terribly long for the bus to the airport. Overall I had the usual great Princess cruise (this is my 16th on Princess). The itinerary was fabulous and we were so lucky to have great weather except for the first two days. We got great views of Hubbard Glacier, Harvard Glacier in College Fjord, and Margerie Glacier in Glacier Bay. I also visited Mendenhall Glacier and the wonderful Aialik Glacier in Aialik Bay near Seward and many other glaciers along the way. This was my 6th cruise to Alaska (one Celebrity, one the old Royal cruise line, two HAL, two Princess) and definitely the best.

Great Itinerary And Ship

The Grand Princess is a fantastic cruise ship. Older smaller ship. Just feels comfy. We did the same itinerary on this ship in 2022, so we were really looking forward to it and it did not disappoint. I think we may have enjoyed it even more this time. The food was as good as expected. The selection in the buffet was limited, but we only go the for a mid day snack usually, no big deal except that the lettuce was usually empty for a salad and they didn't have the tacos shells and ground beef like they do on Discovery Princess. The only casual dining was Alfredo's, so we had that twice with our plus package. The Plus Package is a no-brainer as you're going to pay gratuities anyway and we enjoy having Wi-Fi, so you'll basically paying only $30 a day for drinks. Even if you don't drink alcohol you could spend that much onboard easily for specialty coffee, sodas, and bottled water. We enjoy Princess Cruises so much that we have 8 more Princess Cruises booked including the same 10-Day Sea of Cortez itinerary on the Emerald Princess.