Carl Bruno

Age: 46
Occupation: Semiconductor Manufactoring
Number of Cruises: 2
Cruise Line: Princess
Ship: Grand Princess
Sailing Date: August 25th, 2002
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

Let me start off by saying that this was great cruise and we had a wonderful time. Before we went on this cruise I read most of the reviews on this page and some of them made me have second thoughts on whether or not I made the right choice. Let me say that all my fears were put to rest once we boarded the ship. The Grand Princess is a beautiful ship, and it is huge, it took me a few days just to get to know my way around.

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale on the 24 of Aug. and stayed at the Embassy Suites, which we found to be very nice. It is in walking distance to at least three or more different restaurants, and some stores. We were able to pick up a few last minute items, and had a nice dinner at a southwestern rest rant. Also, it is very close to Port Everglades, we were able to see the ship from our balcony on Sunday morning. They picked us up at the airport, and took us to the ship the next day. They also give you complementary beverages when you arrive and a full breakfast in the morning, which was very nice. We arrived at the Port at about 11:30am. There was a short line but it moved very quickly, and we were on the ship in 15 minutes. They must have just started to let people on board because there were no lines left by the time we were ready to board. As we boarded the ship everyone was very friendly and helpful. There was someone to help us every step of the way to our cabin, and getting around the ship the first day. We were able to explore the ship and have lunch at the horizon court, more on food later. We were traveling with our two children ages 13 and 11, so we bought two soda stickers for $22.50 each. You get unlimited fountain sodas for the entire cruise for the 22.50, which was worth it for us. Our luggage was delivered to our room between 3:30 and 4:30pm,so we had all our clothes before dinner.

We had cabin c527 on deck 10, the caribe deck. We had a large balcony half of, which was private. The room it self was a little tight with the four of us, but the balcony gave us extra breathing room, which was great. There was two pull down bunk beds for the kids over our beds. Our cabin steward Maria was very good. I ask her for robes as soon as I met her, and she was back in a minute with them. I also asked her for slippers, she said that they were for the suites, but she would bring me them, and she did. Since we were traveling with two children we went to the orientation for the kids club. There were over 200 kids on this cruise. I though they had a lot of activities for kids of all ages groups. My wife thought they could have had better and more choices for kids. As parents you have the option to sign your kids in and out and they well not let them leave until you come and pick them up, or they can come and go on their own if they are old enough. The kids club is open until 10:00pm and have baby sitting until 1:00am for $5.00 per hour. We let our kids come and go, as they wanted too, as a result our kids were with us more than they were at the kids club. I thought their was a lot to do on board. Every evening the princess platter is delivered to your stateroom and it has all the activities listed for the next day. If you’re the type of person who likes to keep doing things this will keep you busy. I know there was a lot said about the art shows. I went to a couple of the art auctions and I found them very interesting, and enjoyed them. There were at lot of beautiful pieces, and I enjoyed looking at them. Also the gentlemen who ran it was very knowledgeable. The food in the main dinning was very good to excellent. We chose traditional dining, and the early seating. This work out very well for us and we were glad we did not chose personal choice dinning. We liked having the same waiters every night, we got to know them and they got to know us, it made the whole experience a lot more personal. Also the service they gave us was outstanding! We also dinned in Sabtini’s one night, it was a nice experience, but we thought the dinning room food and service were better. I ate at the horizon court for breakfast every morning and they had a very nice selection. I am just eating oatmeal and fruit for breakfast so I can’t really comment on the rest of the breakfast food. Although my wife really enjoyed it, and she also ate there for lunch every day and said it was excellent. I preferred to grab a pizza, hamburger or bratwurst by the pool, all of which were very good. And yes they do sell ice cream by the pool. I know this bothered some people, but it really didn't bother me, it’s not like they were forcing you to buy it.

I thought they had something for everyone. There was rock music, karaoke relaxing dance music, in the wheelhouse lounge, comedians, magicians, hypnotist, dance shows, movies, and a very entertaining piano player in the atrium. My wife went to almost every show and though they were all very good and well done, and so did I. Princess cays was a nice day at the beach, with a very pleasant barbecue on the beach. If you want to be less crowded then go to the right and cross over the little bridge when you get off the tender, also the food was set up on the right side. You can also rent water sport equipment here.

At Grand Caymans we went to Stingray City and did some snorkeling. It was great we book it with Captain Marvin, and they did a great job. There were only about 16 of us on the boat, which was nice. Their web site is www.capitainmarvin.com. In Costa Maya we took a cab ride in to the town. There was a nice beach there and it was a lot less crowed then when you first get off the ship. Oddly enough this was my wife’s favorite port. We met some people who rented bikes and rode to the town. It was very relaxing and had a nice atmosphere.

In Cozumel we took a cab to Chankanaab Park, $10.00, the park is beautiful. Here we did some snorkeling; you can rent gear for 5.00 for the whole day, 3.00 more for a vest. The wife and kids did the dolphin discovery thing here and loved it. You can also swim with the dolphins here, but they book up fast. You can check it out on their web site at ww.dolphindiscovery.com. You can also book this with the ship, but do it early, as I said they fill up fast. Princess adds 10.00 per day per person to your bill for your stateroom, and dinning room service. I had no problem at all with this as I thought the service was outstanding, and did not suffer one bit as a result of this. They work very hard to service you and that is a very small amount when you think about it. As I said in the beginning this was an excellent cruise, and can be what ever you want it to be. You can just relax or do everything there is to do under the sun, it’s all there for you, and it’s up to you. I also think princess does an excellent job, very well ran and organized, and I would deffinitly cruise with princess and the Grand again. I hope this review was helpful. Happy cruising!

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