Review/Grand Princess Christmas Cruise.
@usaor.net V. Droby
so wife and I were a little bit apprehensive about boarding this mega ship
Grand.
It turned out to be a big / little ship and we loved it (hm - her).
For those of you not interested in details, let me just say, our Christmas
cruise,
Western Caribbean, with some minor glitches, was just great. A fat B+.
Wife and I cannot wait to "assemble finances" for a next cruise in the near
future.
Now the details.
After a painless flight from Pittsburgh to FTL, we had a quick flawless
embarkation as early as 1 pm. In difference to previous trips we had to get
our luggage off the bag belts at FTL terminal and carry it over to the
Princess' bus.
I did not understand this new security step, since all our luggage was well
x-rayed
in Pgh and now in FTL delivered by porter to the bus and later dropped off
by
Pr. crew to our stateroom door!
Stateroom
For the last three years my wife is in the wheelchair and we book now a HP
cabin.
Both of us were surprised to find a huge room with a king-size bed, lots of
storage
drawers and closets, a balcony approx. 7 x 14 ft and a large bathroom. One
negative bit about the bathroom. The flooring is glazed tile including the
shower
stall. Imagine standing on equal to skating ice rink surface and taking a
shower!
It gets a little bit more challenging since my sweetheart is an amputee and
has to
transfer from the WC to the folding shower bench and back. I did explain
the problem to the purser - no results, and further, the room steward told
us,
we are not the first to point out the danger.
Food, service and entertainment
Both of us are used to having dinner at home around 6 o'clock, so we always
choose the traditional seating/early dinner; table for four. At Grand, this
was
at 6.15. This enabled us to be done with "wining and dining" by about 7.30,
go back to our room, refresh and then have plenty of time to attend the
shows
and/or casino. There were excellent selections on the menu every night and
since I value my wife's culinary abilities and judgment (only second to
Julia Childs!) - she was well pleased and so was I. Cannot say the same for
the Horizon Court. We had 2-3 breakfasts and lunches there and found
that although one had endless selections, some of it was nothing to write
home about. Example, greasy K-y fried chicken and fried fish. We lucked
out with our waiter Eduardo and his assistant Maxim. We had the feeling
that we were the only couple that they catered to and including our
room steward, that could not do enough for us, we firmly believe all three
contributed a lot to our successful cruise.
Most evenings we preferred smaller shows, such as the
comedians, jugglers and one very funny hypnotist. This had to do with our
fiasco the first night at the main Show Lounge. It was Christmas Eve
and what else would be more appropriate then the Christmas Show.
Well, little did we know that the Pr. entertainers were hardly prepared
for the performance and Santa's visit to Grand. It was a plain disaster,
obviously, a none-rehearsed 40 minutes! One could tell by the line in
the darkness of exiting guests. We did hear, that the variety shows
the next couple of nights were much better...
Shore excursions
Both of us are quite happy to remain on the ship at various stops. Our
attitude: "been there, seen that". Seriously, there is always so much to do,
and think how relaxing and quiet it is on board with most of the passengers
ashore. The library with a fantastic choice of volumes, the card room and
all the lounge chairs waiting for us by the empty pools on deck 14!
Our first stop Princess Cays. As I've said, we've been there on our
Eastern cruise some time ago. Fellow passengers were very satisfied
with snorkeling, swimming and a great barbeque, and we were off to
Grand Cayman. Well, it was not to be. Choppy sea would have prevented
safe transfer to tenders and so we continued to Costa Maya, Mexico.
There were several good selections including Chacchoben Mayan Ruins,
and the Museum of Mayan Culture. Here, I should point out one misleading
shore excursion called "Jungle Beach Break" ($29.00-adult). According to
the Pr brochure "Adventures Ashore" at Uvero Beach, describing
tranquil waters, beautiful sand and tropical foliage, the club and the
amenities, it fact, it turned out to be a body of water knee deep up to
some 200-300 yards out, bottom full of dead coral and seaweeds.
Sand beach was ok, but the "Club" was nothing more than a large open
hut with a bar and dirty, smelly toilets. It is certainly not the $29.-,
but a wasted afternoon including 40 min each way on the bus.
The next day we were in Cosumel. Heard from many, that trips to
Tulum Mayan Ruins and X-Caret Eco-Archeological park were
very nice, but both of us elected to "hang out" downtown.
The sales people, in all the stores, I found to be a little bit pushy,
they followed us everywhere through the store with all kinds of
offers. For the HP people, a word of caution: if you are in the
WC, remember that most of the store entrances are one, two
or even three steps up from the sidewalk.
Going Home
Our home flight was not until late in the evening and we opted for
a bus tour in FTL, specifically tour of Everglades and the famous
FTL Flamingo Park. Thus the reason for our early disembarkation.
The previous night our suitcases were picked up from the cabin,
and after super fast exit (surrendering our ID/key cards and showing
our passports) we were at the Pr terminal building - searching for
the luggage. Thank God for porters, our bags were now on the
bus and we were off to Everglades. Really an excellent tour,
providing one uses the ear plugs properly. My - fell out for a second
and due to a real aircraft engine roar right at my left ear... I could
not hear for a couple of days. Oh well, live and learn!
We arrived at the FTL airport right after lunch and found
an earlier flight home. In contrast to Pittsburgh Int'l, that has
seven Security Stations, FTL USAirways terminal had two,
and only one working! Needles to say, the line was a mile long,
and the two of us were the last passengers to enter the aircraft.
In spite of some tiny problems, we still think, it was one of the
best cruises we ever had. We would not hesitate to return to
Grand Princess, depending as always, on itineraries and
reasonable fares. It was our 7th Princess cruise, a total of
9, one each on Costa and HAL.
If any one has specific questions, do not hasitate to ask.
My E-mail: vla...@usaor.net
Regards, Vladimir
pen...@spamcop.net
wrote:
Here's a trick I have used for really slick shower floors..take one of
the towels and put it in the shower floor, try not to cover the drain
though. This works well and while it still can slip if the tiles are
really slick it will help a lot.
I really hate slippery showers..my best friend died years ago, alone,
when he fell in the shower at home and broke his neck...I hope he died
quickly but I've never had the nerve to find out for sure because the
alternate just makes me sick to think about.
So I tend to be a bit paranoind about slick shower floors..grin.
Jim P.
Jim P.
barbara
> Our previous cruises were on Regal, Dawn, old Star and old Sky Princesses,
> so wife and I were a little bit apprehensive about boarding this mega ship
> Grand.
> It turned out to be a big / little ship and we loved it (hm - her).
>
> For those of you not interested in details, let me just say, our Christmas
> cruise,
> Western Caribbean, with some minor glitches, was just great. A fat B+.
> Wife and I cannot wait to "assemble finances" for a next cruise in the near
> future.
>
> Now the details.
>
> One
> negative bit about the bathroom. The flooring is glazed tile including the
> shower
> stall. Imagine standing on equal to skating ice rink surface and taking a
> shower!
> It gets a little bit more challenging since my sweetheart is an amputee and
> has to
> transfer from the WC to the folding shower bench and back. I did explain
> the problem to the purser - no results, and further, the room steward told
> us,
> we are not the first to point out the danger.
Christmas aboard ship. (We had a cold green Christmas in Toronto so I
was a little envious of your weather reports herein!)
Second (the motivation for my post), I'd suggest that you write to
Princess with a copy ot your jurisdiction's (probably
state's)government officials who deal with accomodation for
disabilities I'm not positive of the 'chain of command' in the
states, but perhaps a note to a federal agency dealing with these
issues would be appropriate, too. It is a law inAlthough this is
*NOT* legal advice, I can say that I suspect (very strongly) that it
is the law in the US for companies to properly accomodate persons with
disabilities, in providing services and accomodations. Even if this
bathroom tile is a probablem in all suites or cabins of the same type,
the cruiseline (IME) has a duty to ensure that 'disability accessible'
cabins are appropriate.
Basically, I'd say that both of you have the right to complain and
that you should frame your issues to be accomodation of passengers
with disabilities, not just a matter of convenience.....
I'm sure that helpful RTCers will have ideas about who you should be
sendign the letter to; I'd recommend the above, with a copy to various
Customer Service folks at Princess (VP in charge of Customer Service,
Pursuer of the specific ship, etc., etc.
Good luck!
--Barbara WHOSE posting is not intended to be legal advice and who is
*NOT* offering to give legal advice or represent anyone reading this,
in any fashion!
Ray Goldenberg
> It is a law inAlthough this is
>*NOT* legal advice, I can say that I suspect (very strongly) that it
>is the law in the US for companies to properly accomodate persons with
>disabilities
Hi Barbara,
The cruise lines contend that the ADA law does not pertain to them. I
believe this is still being decided in a few court actions that have
been brought.
Best regards,
Ray
LIGHTHOUSE TRAVEL
800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905
http://www.lighthousetravel.com
Barbara Warner
>
> On 15 Jan 2002 06:38:29 -0800, bar...@ncf.ca (barbara) wrote:
>
> > It is a law inAlthough this is
> >*NOT* legal advice, I can say that I suspect (very strongly) that it
> >is the law in the US for companies to properly accomodate persons with
> >disabilities
>
> Hi Barbara,
>
> The cruise lines contend that the ADA law does not pertain to them. I
> believe this is still being decided in a few court actions that have
> been brought.
>
Thanks for the reminder, Ray. Since I don't practice any American law,
it's easy for me to forget the details. And, it's an entirely different
legal system than I'm used to -- in Canada, persons with disabilities
would likely have protections in this instance under a variety of
programs and legislation, including human rights legislation *and*
legislation specifically geared to the interests of persons with
disabilities.
Oh, and one other vague thought for the original poster re:
accomodation:
Even if the ADA doesn't apply, the cruiseline presumably markets and
sells these cabins as being 'handicap-accessible' or some equivalent (In
Canada, we might call these 'disabled access cabins'??). If it was
marketed/sold as such, then accomodation for disability might actually
be part of the contract -- thus invoking principles of contract law.
That's another possible argument for complaining and/or doing something
about the state of the bathroom in those cabins.
Basically, the ADA is not the only way to get relief in this situation
-- contract law might help, too!
I'm glad to hear that the OP had a good cruise, though :-)
--Barbara (once again stressing that she is not offering legal advice,
is not offering to represent anyone and is actually encouraging any
readers to consult a lawyer/solicitor/barrister/legal 'professional' in
their jurisdiction iwth any questions -- I don't play a lawyer on the
Internet, though I am one in real life <g>.)