Megan Dennen

Age: 31
Occupation: Statistical Analyst
Number of Cruises: First Cruise
Cruise Line: Princess Cruises
Ship: Grand Princess
Sailing Date: January 13th, 2002
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

We sailed on the Grand Princess from Jan 13-20, 2002 - Western Caribbean itinerary (Ft. Lauderdale, Princess Cays, Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, and Cozumel).

This was our first cruise and it was fabulous. We can't wait for our next. We've posted some pictures of our trip here:

http://homepage.mac.com/dennen/cruise-web/

Before the cruise, we stayed at the Embassy Suites in Ft. Lauderdale. It's a nice hotel and you can see the cruise ships from it.

On the ship, we had an outside cabin on the Emerald deck - the view out the window was obstructed by a life boat. The description of the cabin's view was "fully obstructed," but we were pleasantly surprised that only the top and bottom 1/4 of the window was obstructed. It was a nice to see natural light in the room.

Our cabin was very nice. Bigger than we expected. There were two bottles of wine in our fridge when we arrived. We thought it was because they were going to try to sell them to us, but the next day the steward stopped my husband in the hall and asked if he could take them. I imagine the people on the last cruise must have left them for him. We did bring a 12-pack of beer without any problem. When we hadn't finished them by the end of the cruise, I mentioned to the steward that we'd like to leave them for him and he seemed appreciative.

Our steward was very nice and helpful. We did have to ask for robes and beach towels. It was often tricky to get new towels everyday, but once we figured out the steward's schedule, it was easier.

Food was excellent. We did the "personal choice" and it worked out well. Never had to wait more than 10 minutes for a table for two. The Michelangelo and Da Vinci dining rooms were very nice and the service was very good. Our favorite dinner was the second formal night with shrimp cocktail and lobster tails. Yum!! It was delicious. We ordered the "Love Boat Dream" three times during the trip, our favorite dessert! The creme brule was also delicious!

We tried Painted Desert on the second night. It was nice, but we did not enjoy it as much as the PC dining rooms. It cost $8/person to eat there, but they give you a tasty margarita.

The pools and hot tubs were great. One evening we had one of the pools to ourselves and enjoyed swimming under the stars. The decks got pretty crowded during days at sea, but we were always able to find two loungers in the sun.

In Grand Cayman we did a half-day excursion through Captain Marvin's. Very highly recommended. The boat was a little more crowded than expected. We had about 40 people on board. Stingray City was incredible, a highlight of the trip. The stingrays are so friendly that it is a little intimidating at first. One woman had to be escorted back to the boat because she was so scared.

http://www.captainmarvins.com/

In Costa Maya, after taking a quick walk on the beach and through the shops, we did the Chakchoben ruins tour (booked through the ship). It was very good and we would definitely recommend it to anyone who doesn't want to stay in Costa Maya. Our guide gave some excellent background on the Mayans and on the area. We had a quick 10-minute rain shower when we first got to the ruin site which made walking a little messy. There were more ruins at the site than we expected. Beer and soda were served on the way home.

In Cozumel, we went to Xcaret (again, booked through the ship). It was much better than expected. Beautiful beaches. Lots of wildlife. Underground river. Highly recommended. As other people have mentioned, the four hours we had were not enough to see everything. Our favorites were the turtle breeding areas where they had turtles of every size from babies to old-timers and the beach area with iguanas cautiously having their lunch!

http://www.xcaretcancun.com/

They don't let you take sunscreen into Xcaret. Instead, they ask that you check it at the entrance and they give you small tubes of "environmentally friendly" sunscreen to use while you are there. When you leave, you can retrieve your sunscreen.

Be sure to watch the cruise director's morning show each day at 6:00am. Graham Seymore is a funny guy. We looked forward to watching him and still crack up at some of the strange and funny things he did.

If you can make it to midnight on the last formal night, they make a champagne fountain in the atrium at 11:45. They used 600 glasses and who knows how many bottles of champagne. There is music playing and the wait staff is there dancing. Waiters come around with all the champagne you can drink. Then anyone who wants can take a turn at pouring at the top of the tower. (and of course they are there to take pictures!)

We used the on-board business center to access the Internet once. It cost $8.00 for 15-minutes. We also went to two Internet cafes (one in Grand Cayman and another in Cozumel). Their rates were much more reasonable (Cozumel was $0.10/minute).

We bought one of the all-you-can-drink cards for soda. It was $17.50. I'm not sure we got our money's worth, but it was very convenient to have.

They push the boutiques and art auction quite a bit. It got to be kind of annoying after a while, but it wasn't horrible.

Summary: All-in-all, we had a fabulous time. We highly recommend the itinerary and the ship, and we can't wait to go back ourselves.

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