sharkman

We discovered that this is the oldest ship in the fleet and it definitely lives up to it. The condition of the ship is terrible. Our balcony was rusted, the room need many repairs just to start out on our trip. Our cabin was on deck 10, we were in the food zone, many cabins totally flooded out, needing to be dried out with big fans and carpeting replaced. Some lost all electrical usage for days. Public restrooms throughout the ship were out of order for the entire 15 day trip. Buckets were placed through public areas because of leaks, even in the main theater in the upper left balcony. The evelators were not vented and were so hot it was better to walk the steps, it felt like a sauna. Some of the passage ways smelled like sewage. There was not a track to walk on to circle the ship, you had to use deck 7 which means you had to climb up and down steps to make a complete circle. I will say that the food was very good, and the specialty restaurant that we ate in was excellent with great service and food. There was two lectures each day, they were great, however the overall level of entertainment was not very good.

The corporate mission of Princess Cruise Lines is to provide and deliver exceptional experiences through many of the world's best-known cruise brands that cater to a variety of different geographic regions and lifestyles, all at an outstanding value unrivaled on land or at sea. This did not occur, we were charged premium pricing and they delivered subpar value for this cruise.

I strongly recommend not cruising on the Grand Princess ship.

Sassafrass

Wow! Thanks for the report. It has been four/five years since we went on a Princess ship and it was great back then. What cruise did you take and when was it? Thanks.

jacketwatch

When do you take this cruise?

Eschew

The Grand Princess is currently doing the Hawaii loop round-trip 15 days from San Francisco so I would suspect that would be the trip that Sharkman took.

Deck 10 of the Grand Pricness would be Caribe deck which is all cabins, so I am not sure about the in the "food zone" comment. Princess ships (Grand class) lay out are almost identical so the cafeterias and burger places, the swimming pool etc are all on Lido deck, which is typically deck 14.

The Grand Princess was totally refitted in 2011, which was only 2 years ago. They also removed the iconic "shopping cart handle bar" Skywalker and replaced it with a new night club called "One5" (deck 15?).

The OP's comment about you cannot do a complete walk around on the Promenade deck without going up/down some stairs at the front is 100% correct. This is true of all Princess Grand class ships as the theatre is at the front of the ship and the reasons for the stairs.

Flooding, lost of electrical usage for days, buckets in public area because of leaks, public washroom all closed for the 15 days are all quite unsual events.

If there is an outbreak of norovirus, all public washrooms will be closed as part of standard procedures to prevent spreading of illness, and is common practices for all cruise ships.

The comment about leaking inside the theatre on the left balcony is interesting. The deck above the theatre is Emerald deck and has nothing but cabins.

I have checked incident reports on-line and it appears that there was a potential suicide attempt that a woman jumped off the ship a day ago and was all caught on security camera. There were no other incident reports that I can find.

Larry, this is also the OP's first and only post.

Eschew

Dayenu was on the Grand Princess last month according to some posts I saw. Wonder if she will catch this post and make (or confirm) comments on the condition of the ship.

Eschew

The link to her TR is below.

http://www.fodors.com/community/crui...19-26-2013.cfm

jacketwatch

Thanks E. I do wonder if the OP will be back or if this is just to ventilate and that's it.

I wanted to know when he cruised so I could compare this to the reviews on CC. Dayenu posed her review there and it was ok as were most of the others.

When you read a review like this, especially from a brand new poster (and there have been many like this in the past who post once seemingly to vent and never return) it makes me want to look into it more before I buy into this. JM2C.

wpg

We just cruised on the Grand Princess to and from Hawaii Oct 26th to Nov 10th and we never experienced or saw any of the reported problems. Yes, some rust can be seen on the bases of the balconies, but nothing to bother anyone. After all, they are outside exposed to the salt air and water! Our stateroom was very clean and our steward did not let us lack for anything. The service was superb, the entertainment very enjoyable and the food delicious. The cruise staff was fun and most of the headliners gave amazing performances. We enjoyed our experience. Oh, by the way, sharkman, a few stairs encountered in circling the ship only makes for better exercise!

KP2

I just wanted to second what WPG reported about the Grand Princess. We were on the same cruise as they were, with a balcony cabin on deck 10, starboard side. We too enjoyed the cruise enormously. The Grand Princess is the largest ship we've cruised on so far, so that took some getting used to. And the walks around the promenade deck were often interrupted by the deck crew's doing repairs or painting. But they've got to keep her shipshape, and since the ship doesn't make any money if it's empty and sanding still, work has to be done while underway. So we used interior passageways as part of our promenade...no problem.

Overall, Princess gives us good value for our money, and we'll definitely cruise with them again. In fact, my wife and her girlfriends are going to Africa next summer without me, so I'm threatening to go back to Alaska with Princess while they're gone.

Eschew

Larry, I have to confess ... I have an ulterior motive to find out more about the Grand Princess. We are considering a Hawaiian cruise and Princess is the considered list.

I did hear the central banks of elevator is slow and creaky and needed a lot of servicing.

jacketwatch

Maybe Dayenu can answer this.

Frank

Seems fishy. Sharkman's first post on Fodors. Doesn't sound like Princess.

Dayenu

Oh, sorry, I didn't see this post - this is why Eschew was interrogating me

We had a window cabin on deck 8 Emerald, no rust, no leaking. A pair staying in a suite was at our dinner table, they never complained about anything.

Things like leaking or clogged drains can happen on any cruise, on any ship, even in any house.

Haven't used many public restrooms on Grand, but the ones I used were clean and working, don't remember any notes "out of order".

The bed was comfortable even without egg crates.

We liked that the hallway carpets on both sides were different: red stripes on one side, this made it easier to find the cabin off the elevators.

Elevators were slow.

Eschew

Dayenu, did I try the water torture yet ...

As I have said earlier, I have ulterior motive as we are considering the Grand for Hawaii next year.

About the elevators, I have read several posts that they make noises and go out of service a lot. Since we are suppose to take stairs and not the elevators anyway (to burn claories) so I guess it would be okay.

Dayenu

I would just not get the first cabin next to the elevators, just in case they really make noise.

MistysTravel

I just returned from the 15 day round trip to Hawaii. The service was OUTSTANDING...the food was excellent and the room was immaculate. It is an older ship but had great servers, waiters, bartenders, etc. I never heard any complaints from our dining companions who were mostly on the Caribe deck (10). We were in a mini-suite on the Dolphin deck and it was always kept absolutely clean. I don't believe there was any flooding whatsoever.

Eschew

Great to hear and good testimony. Too bad that DW had decided against Hawaii this time around.