Reviews of Grand Princess Cruise Ship, Grand Princess, Princess Cruises

North Cape ‘Land of the...

Overall Rating:

9/10

Itinerary:

0

Date of Holiday:

Jun 2008

Tour Operator:

carol.frost@travelcounsellors.com

Submitted By:

HW tenpin

Comments:

North Cape ‘Land of the Midnight Sun’.

Ship Grand Princess out of Southampton.

Ports of call;

Stavanger-Hellesylt/Geiranger-Trondheim-Honningsvag-Tromso-Flaam-Bergen.

Plus five sea days.



First and foremost I wish to thank our wonderful table companions for making this cruise memorable for their conversation and company. Walter, Irene, Dorothy and Ian & the two Ladies who made me laugh, Doreen & Yvonne.



The Grand Princess is a large liner with 2600 passengers, and at times this proved to be to many for the on board facilities, in particular the Horizon Court Buffet, Princess Theatre & the cocktail bar. That said, this in part was due to the low temperatures experienced in Norway at this time of year which was expected, but which meant the sun decks were mostly empty. The ship was otherwise really nice and luxurious, the cabins (balcony only this trip) were large and certainly as good as last years mini-suites, and not sure the extra to up-grade was worth it, better use could be made of the money going on tours. The casino was the best I have seen on a cruise ship, with slots starting at 1 cent; table games were also low to high stakes, with a good choice. The Theatre put on good to excellent shows, while the Vista show lounge provided a choice of what to watch. Food was outstanding both in the Dining rooms & surprisingly in the buffet, we tried the Grill this trip and the burgers & dogs were as good as I have tasted, not so with the Pizza very crispy base and un-appetising taste. The usual very high standard of on board cleanliness and staff and crew a credit to the company. Several of the ‘sideline’ demonstrations were fun to watch, to name but a couple, Cocktails Making & the Fruit carving, while a visit to the galley showed what goes on behind the scenes.



Now to the main reason behind our choice of this cruise, OMG just how do you describe the outstanding scenery Norway has to offer, awesome, wonderful, breathtaking these are just words which fail by miles to explain what we saw. While my photographs merely show one thousandth of any particular view, if I never went ashore, I would have been happy just to sit and look. To give you some idea, normally I will take about thirty photos on the tours, on these I took over 250, and still have not captured the splendour of Norway.



Of the tours we took (6), three were special and should be considered by any who do this cruise. The all day cross-country trip from Hellesylt to Geiranger where you pick up the ship again, Tromso and the Artic Experience and of course Flaam and the mountain railway ride.



So all in all a fantastic cruise, and one of the very few I would do again, but I think on a different ship.



Overall, the Grand Princess is large, but the number of passengers seems to crowd her, this applies to most of these huge monsters they are building these days. Although the ships themselves are getting bigger, as they increase passenger numbers, the areas where passengers congregate remain the same, causing bottlenecks.



Tenpin Cruise Moderator.



I will upload my photos when I have time to sort them out without overloading the HW site.



Cruising is like being in the ‘Garden Of Eating’ enjoy every one.

My husband, my daughter, and I...

Overall Rating:

8/10

Itinerary:

Norwegian Fjords

Date of Holiday:

Jul 2007

Tour Operator:

AirMiles Travel

Submitted By:

Mrs Polin Law

Comments:

My husband, my daughter, and I had a fantastic cruise on the Grand Princess to the Norwegian Fjords in July.



The Grand Princess was beautiful, nicely set out. Our cabin Stewart made sure that our cabin was spotless clean - twice a day!



The shows were out of this world! The food in the 24 hour Horizon was plentiful and hot. The freedom dinning was very unrestrictive, we eat whenever we like. Some days it could be as late as 9p.m and others as early as 6p.m. The head waiter remembered our names and where we liked to sit! Food in there was as much as you like, even 3 lobsters!



The highlight of the cruise was watching the mid-night sun on the way back from North Cape.

The railway in Flaam is a must. Waterfalls were everywhere!



On board, the activity team was superb. Bingo was fun and I won twice! The champaign fountain shown was an eye-opening event! Crazy golf was great and very relaxing.



Going on another Princess cruise in March to Hawaii on the Diamond Princess. I am sure that we will enjoy that just as much if not more as the weather will be better. Tell you when we get back!