Greg Smith

Age: 43
Occupation: U.S. Federal Government Worker
Number of Cruises: 5
Cruise Line: Princess
Name of Ship: Grand
Sailing Date: January 19th, 2003
Itinerary: Western Caribbean


My wife and I traveled with our two sons, ages 14 and 16, my sister-in-law, and mother-in-law, on a 7-night cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Princess Cays, Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, and Cozumel.

OVERALL RATING: I give this cruise an “B+”. Overall, the cruise was great and a good bargain for the money.

WHY CHOOSE THIS CRUISE? In deciding which cruise to book, my wife and I primarily wanted to cruise on a quality ship at a reasonable price. We got what we were after with this itinerary on the Grand Princess. Although we really enjoyed this cruise, I can see how this itinerary may not appeal to some.

GETTING THERE. We opted not to purchase Princess airfare and had no problem getting good fares into Ft. Lauderdale. We flew Air Tran into Ft. Lauderdale from Baltimore. We took a taxi from the airport to the hotel. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend purchasing airport transfers through Princess as Port Everglades is right up the street from the airport and taking a taxi is a convenient and inexpensive. Alternately, if renting a car, the major car rental agencies all run free shuttles between the pier and airport. We decided to get into Ft. Lauderdale a day early and got a great deal on a hotel through Priceline.com. We searched Priceline.com for a 4-star hotel in Ft. Lauderdale and ended up at the Marriott Marina (1881 SE 17th Street) for $69/night. The same room through the hotels web site goes for $249. The hotel is directly on the IntraCoastal waterway adjacent to the pier where the Grand docks. The hotel runs a shuttle directly to the ship in the morning. This was a super nice spot to stay and allowed us to get to the ship early and stress free. To get the most out of your cruise, get there early.

EMBARKATION/DEBARKATION. Very smooth. We arrived to the ship at 11:00am and there were only moderate lines which moved quickly. (p.s., bring a pen). We disembarked around 9:00am and were at the airport by 9:30am.

ROOM. Inside Quad, Aloha Deck, Cabin A-725 (12th floor). The Grand has 17 decks in all (no deck #13). Most of the inside activities (dining rooms, show rooms, etc.) on the Grand are down on Deck 6 or Deck 7 so I wouldn’t worry about spending more to stay higher on the ship although we found it very convenient being at the back of the ship only a few steps from the rear swimming pool. We were impressed with the rooms which we found to be large for a cruise ship and laid out well. There is adequate closet space. The room also has a hair dryer, a safe, a refrigerator, and television. Television channels though were somewhat limited.

FOOD. Overall, we enjoyed the food. Our dinner meals in the dining rooms were generally very good. We opted for traditional, first seating in lieu of Personal Choice seating. I personally enjoy having the same wait staff for the duration of the cruise and the staff quickly comes to understand what you like and dislike and are able to better serve you. The wait staff was outstanding. Our waiter frequently brought for the table extra dinners and desserts so we could try them out. With traditional seating, you also get the Baked Alaska parade on the last night of the cruise and that won’t happen in the Personal Choice dining rooms. For those that opt for the Personal Choice dining, I’d recommend making reservations as the lines waiting for tables became long at peak dinner times. Elsewhere, I thought the food in the Horizon Court (buffet) was good. The coffee and iced tea in the Horizon Court was much improved from our last visit on the Golden in the Spring of 2002. The desserts in the Horizon Court were ok but I think they try to get too fancy. A good alternative is to order flan, which is outstanding, through room service and take it with you to the Horizon Court or out on deck. Some additional observations:

Lobster - tasty.
Pizza (poolside) - fair at best, very greasy.
Burgers/dogs (poolside) - very good but the buns are hit or miss.
Room Service - good.
Soda Card - $22 and appeared to be a good value for soda drinkers. My kids both had cards and had no trouble getting a soda whenever they wanted one. I noticed a lot of adults with cards as well.

SHORE EXCURSIONS. I was a little hesitant to take this cruise as I previously found Western Caribbean and Mexican ports to be only fair. To be honest, if all you do is walk around town, your impression, especially about Grand Cayman and Costa Maya, may well leave you feeling that you picked the wrong cruise. To really enjoy these destinations, you are going to need to take excursions, whether they be arranged through the ship or privately. Alternately, this might not be a bad itinerary if all you would like to do is just hit nice beaches.

PRINCESS CAYS was great if you enjoy a day at the beach. We left the ship around 11:00am and were tendered in quickly. We found a nice spot with lounge chairs. Princess Cays offered lots of water sports. We swam and had a barbeque lunch. The water is calm here with very little waves. This is also a great spot for families with kids. If you want to go to the beach and relax, this is a great spot.

In GRAND CAYMAN, we took the “Island Highlights”” tour. It explores the island in an bus and makes a brief stop in “Hell” to allow you to send postcards and also makes a stop at a turtle hatchery. “Hell” wasn’t worth stopping at and the turtle hatchery was only fair. We walked around town briefly but there’s really not a lot to do in town. There is a hard rock café there and several small streets filled with the traditional tourist shops. People tend to buy rum cakes and liquor there. There are also a lot of different banks on the island so if you need extra cash, this would be a good spot to get it. The Grand uses private tenders here and they worked fine.

In COSTA MAYA, we just walked around. The ship docks at a pier. There is really nothing to do here except to take a tour or shop. Tours are limited and so is shopping. But, it was an ok place to stretch your legs and look around. We anticipated going in that the port likely wouldn’t offer us much and it didn’t. Don’t expect much out of this port or you’ll be disappointed.

In COZUMEL, I signed up to take the kids sport fishing but the weather didn’t allow it. The price would have been $129pp for 5 hours on a 31' boat. Cozumel is lined up with many streets filled with shops. If you go into town at all you’ll encounter the standard Mexican heckling to come in and buy something so just accept it. The ship had recommended a variety of restaurants and we opted to try “Ponchos Backyard” for drinks and appetizers and we were glad we did as it turned out to be a great spot. It is sort of at the end of town but was well worth the walk. Alternately, there are a lot of taxi’s running along the main street and even horse drawn wagons.

SHIP. Most of the other reviews will cover this area well so I won't say much except that the Grand Princess is magnificent. One plus worth mentioning with Princess is that the pools have fresh water as opposed to some other lines that fill their pools with salt water. There is a difference. I’m also impressed with the Princess Theater which offers stadium seating and affords great unobstructed views of the entertainment and movies.

ENTERTAINMENT. Fair. We weren’t at all impressed on this trip with the entertainment and actually found the movies offered on several nights to be much better than the entertainment. This was disappointing as our previous trips on Princess offered really good entertainment. Shows were also held in the Vista showroom which is a traditional, smaller, tougher to see anything, venue. Various musicians played elsewhere throughout the ship.

MISCELLANEOUS. We previously cruised on the Grand’s sister ship, the GOLDEN PRINCESS, and I saw very little difference. The ship offers HIGH TEA everyday (which I admit might not sound too exciting... but, it actually is a lot of fun). I highly recommend you try this activity at least once during your cruise. The kids ARCADE has a lot of different video games. The prices are reasonable at $1 each ($0.50 early in the morning). You don't use money but instead use a pre-purchased card (which of course can have money added to it). The CASINO is large and offers a lot of choices. Table games were more expensive than I remember on the GOLDEN. Roulette started with a minimum $5 bet. The ship has a variety of nickel, quarter, and dollar slots. I didn’t see many people win.

SUMMARY. Overall, you get good value for your money on this cruise. The Grand is a magnificent ship, the service was great, and the food was generally very good. But, be prepared to spend extra for excursions if you plan on getting off the ship or you may be disappointed with the itinerary. I graded this cruise a “B+” mainly because the ports on this itinerary are only fair and the entertaining for this particular trip was mediocre.

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