I see that the Grand Princess will be making 7 day (9 over Christmas '04) W. Caribbean cruises from Galveston beginning in November '04. That's great. Galveston and NO are ports we can easily drive to and so this is great news. We've been on Carnival (twice), RCCL (twice) and NCL (soon to be twice) and we're anxious to try HAL, Celebrity and Princess, too. Never wanted to fly or drive to Florida though, so maybe they will all sail from this 'neck of the woods' eventually.
Regarding Princess, is it best to book early or hope for last minute deals? And if you do book early and prices come down, are they good about refunds and/or upgrades?
Has anyone out there sailed the Grand and what are your thoughts?
Thanks!

FYI---You can now try Celebrity. I see where the Galaxy will be sailing out of Galveston!!

Thanks cruiser! I checked the Galaxy schedule and it looks great. We haven't been to the Panama Canal yet so that is a plus, too. We'd thought about that route on the Splendor out of Galveston but we were not pleased with RCCL after our second cruise with them on the Grandeur. Would never write off a cruise line for one bad cruise (or I should say a so-so cruise) but they are not on the top of my list anymore either.

I'm getting off track here, so let me just say thanks for the new info!

I too am looking into a Galveston departure for the drive to port option. We are looking at Spring Break 2004. The only ships my travel agent has recommended are Rhadsody with Royal Caribbean and Celebration with Carnival. She told me Princess was not sailing out of Galveston, maybe they aren't adding this port until later in 2004?

Also, does anyone know of a website with really good stateroom and deck layouts? I've checked Royal Caribbean's and the stateroom info is just not as good as I'd like it. We'll have 4, myself and husband and teenage daughter and a friend. The Rhapsody has a two bedroom suite that looks fabulous but the cost is $5,600. for the four of us. They also have a family stateroom that is 246 square feet (according to travel agent) and would cost $4,154.

I'd appreciate any info on the Rhapsody and the family staterooms and any other ships that would have Galveston seven day sailings in March of '04.

Paige, we loved the Rhapsody. We took that cruise May of last year and the ship, the food, the entertainment, everything! was just great. We were on the Celebration in 2000 when it was still out of NO and though I have no major complaints, I would choose the Rhapsody hands down.
At this point, if I were you, I would go to my favorite 'information site'...icruise.com and then select the Rhapsody in the 'select a ship' box and check from there. They show their rates and you can also click on to all kinds of other Rhapsody info..deck plans, reviews, etc. If nothing else, you can compare some prices. As with anything else, it pays to shop around.
We were in a 'K' category (the first inside room we'd ever had) and we really liked the cabin and the area we were in..I think it was 8179. I don't know how you feel about being inside, but we didn't mind it at all. What about two inside cabins on an upper deck? And what about 'J', the largest of the inside cabins?
Well, happy cruising and I know you will enjoy that particular cruise should it be your choice.