Grand Princess Review 18 Aug 1999 - 30 Aug 1999

From: Sima Malca and Ronit Selig

We have just returned from a wonderful cruise on the Grand Princess sailing from Barcelona to Istanbul.
We flew El-Al to Barcelona 2 days before the cruise and stayed at the Ritz, which was great.

Embarkation:
On Wednesday 18 Aug we took a limousine to the pier. Embarkation was easy. The passengers stood in lines according to their cabin categories, which made the lines shorter. We stood in line for about 10 minutes. We where given our cruise cards, they took our passports and we went to the ship.
Our Cabin: We booked a mini-suite (AB) on Dolphin deck. As we entered we were impressed with the elegance and the decor. The suite consisted of : A bathroom that was clean and had a bath, 3 shelves a counter with a sink and toilet. There were shampoos, soaps and body lotions.
Next to the bathroom was the walk in closet with wooden hangers. There was also a closed cupboard with shelves and a safe. There were bathrobes hanging in the closet.
The bed was comfortable and the bed cover was in pastel colors. There was a big decorated mirror above the bed which made the room look bigger, 2 bedside cupboards, with 2 drawers each and lamps. Next to the bed was a writing desk with a chair, large mirror and 3 more drawers. There was a cabinet with a mini-fridge and shelves, covered with granite marble and 2 TV sets one for the bedroom, one for the living room. The living room had a light blue sofa that was converted into a third bed at night, a small table and a chair. Next was the balcony with a table and 4 chairs. The curtain was also in pastel colors.
We loved sitting in the balcony, breathing the sea air and watching the ripples.
Our cabin steward was good, cleaned the cabin very quickly and we hardly saw him. We had also a butler who brought us the dinner menu every evening.

Dining:
Our dining room was the Da Vinci on Fiesta deck, first sitting. We loved it from the start, our waiters were Nathan and Al. They were great, we felt like they were our private waiters, they worked so fast that as soon as we finished one course they immediately brought us the next one. Both were fun and friendly and made their best to make us happy. Going to dinner was a real treat. The food was excellent with a wide variety. Nathan sometimes brought us an extra entree and always brought an extra dessert. We asked for hot chocolate one evening and the following dinner Al brought hot chocolate without asking. The maitre d' and the head waiter were also very friendly. For lunch we also chose the Da Vinci, lunch was almost as good as dinner, and it could be nice if Princess would let the passengers have their table for all meals. Some nights there was live entertainment. We didn't try the alternative restaurants, since we enjoyed our Da Vinci so much.
We ate at the Horizon Court buffet lunch on the first day, some breakfasts and one dinner when we came late from Venice. The food was good and the view was fantastic.

Ports of Call:
Barcelona: Barcelona is a beautiful city, reminded us a little of Paris. We took to a bus tour with Princess. It was organized well, and we saw the most significant attractions, like the "Sagrada Familia" and Las Ramblas. Very interesting architecture. We also had time to shop for souvenirs, and take scenery pictures.
Monaco: We took the scenic riviera tour of Monaco, Nice and Eze. We had to use the tender service. It was the first time for us to go ashore with a tender, and we decided we don't like it at all. Not easy to get in, and for getting back, all the tours came back together at the same time, so we had to wait for the tender back.
Monaco is fantastic! What a wonderful view! Such lovely buildings, many of them painted in pink. Great scenery of mountains and the sea. The bus ride was smooth and pleasant. We enjoyed looking at the Grand from above she is so beautiful. It's one of the places you want to come back to. We really enjoyed the tour.
Florence: We reserved in advance a limousine from Florence to take us from Livorno and back. We ordered it for 8 in the morning. The Mercedes was waiting for us at the pier. Our driver spoke very good English, we reached Florence in about an hour. First we went to the Pitti Palace, where we toured the palace and gardens. Since it was Saturday we could drive to the center of Florence, where we saw the Duomo and Piazza della Signoria. Afterwards our driver took us for a tour all over the city. The city was full of tourists, we were glad we had a car and not having to walk so much. Afterwards we went to eat at Grand Hotel a very good meal, before returning home to the ship. We had a wonderful day.
Venice: About 10:30 in the morning we saw that the bridge camera was turned towards the sea. We went to the balcony to start watching the arrival to Venice. The weather was great, not too hot, not too cold. What a view! First islands far from each other and from us and then getting closer and closer, wow! here is Piazza San Marco in the horizon, the Campanile tower! Water buses, Gondonlas! The Grand moved gracefully like a giant swan into the most beautiful city in Europe. All the people standing in the balconies looking at the wonderful sight. This was the highlight of the cruise!
Tours started after 12:00 but we waited for afternoon, to do our own tour. At about 4 PM we stepped out and boarded a shuttle to Venice. The shuttle reached about 3 bridges far from San Marco's square. We docked near the Danieli Hotel, entered and had some tea and cakes at the Danieli's beautiful lobby. Afterwards we went to the Gondolas near the hotel and took one for a 40 minute ride. It was wonderful! So quiet and peaceful as the Gondola made her way through the canals, amazing views of houses, shops and streets.
Afterwards we walked to San Marco's square, which was wonderful. We returned to the ship at night. It was the greatest day of the cruise.
Athens: We took the Princess bus tour to Athens. We drove from Pireus to Athens. We stopped at the stadium for photos and then we toured Athens' main streets and important buildings. The bus climbed a mountain facing the Acropolis, where we took photos of the Acropolis and Athens. Afterwards there was a time to shop at a Princess preferred store. The store had very nice things but it was overpriced. Before returning to the ship there was a stop at one of Athens hotels for tea and cookies.
Istanbul: The tourist attractions in Istanbul were not affected by the earthquake. When in Barcelona we saw the horrible sights from the earthquake we thought that the ship would change her course. But when we boarded the ship, the captain told us that all the tourist areas were OK. We didn't want to leave the ship at the last day, so we didn't book any tours. After disembarkation we went to the Hayatt Regency hotel. The hotel is very good and comfortable. The food was also very good , however we had to drink mineral water and also to brush our teeth with mineral water, that cost $4 for 0.5 liter Hayat mineral water and $7 Evian.
We went to visit Topkapi Palace. A very large complex consisting of some buildings. We visited the Harem and the treasury where we saw beautiful priceless jewels, porcelain, and wonderful scenery of the city from one of balconies. It was very interesting and we spent there a lot of time.

The Ship:
The Grand Princess is very beautiful. Very elegant design, everywhere you see all kinds and colors of marble, lovely carpets, stylish decor, and beautiful furniture. The corridors are done very nicely with blue color for the right side and red for the left, so you know instantly which side to turn.
The theatre is beautiful and comfortable, you have a good view from every seat. It was our favorite even though the air-condition was too high there. The Vista Showlounge is also beautiful, both have state of the art facilities of light and sound systems. The Explorers Lounge is decorated with jungle atmosphere and there were nightly shows there also. The wheelhouse bar is comfortable and cozy, with pictures and models of ships.
The 3 story atrium in the center of the ship is lovely with comfortable couches and music in the evening. Lido deck has the 2 two main pools, Calipso and Neptune, both are beautiful. Also the Horizon Court buffet in located in Lido deck, it nicely decorated. The selection of food is located in counter islands, what makes it much better than buffets that you have to stand in line and wait till other people put food on the tray. It was great sitting in early morning in the Horizon Court seeing the arrival to the port.
The bridge is also located on Lido deck.
We had a bridge tour which was very interesting. The bridge has fantastic view of the ship and ports.
The three main dining rooms Da Vinci, Botticelli and Micaelanglo, look very much the same, lovely decor, the ceiling lights are like blinking stars and in each dining room there are copies of works of its artist.
We of course loved best the Da Vinci our dining room. The card room if lovely, specious and comfortable, with variety of games, we spent nice time there.
The shops are located on decks 7 and 6 at the atrium area, mainly cloths souvenirs and jewelry. On the last days there was a sale and the prices of shirts and bags were reduced at half. The casino is nice and large, but we didn't use it.
The business center is small. We've used the Internet there for 15 minutes ($ 7.5), from what we experienced the connection was not very good, and many sites we could not access. Skywalker disco makes a great vantage point for pictures taking of ports.
The virtual reality center has some video games and simulators. We've tried the jet fighter which was fun, racing cars and, water bike. The price is $20 for a card.
We got used to walk in the ship very quickly and she didn't seem to be so big. We felt at home immediately and enjoyed touring the ship.

The Entertainment:
The Grand has 3 main Entertainment areas. The Princess Theatre the Vista show lounge and Explorers Lounge. Some time it is hard too choose where to go to.
The Grand Princess dancers and singers were great, we saw 4 different shows with them, also the Harbin Chinese acrobats that were great too, singers Pamela Blake, Greg Bonham and Pianist Elliot Finkel and many more.
We enjoyed most the hipnotist Alexander, he was fantastic, made everyone laugh hours after the show.
There were also movies in the theatre and in the Vista lounge, we managed to see 2.
The cruise director Keith Cox was also friendly and fun.
We didn't see all the shows, but we tried to choose the best ones.

Disembarkation:
Disembarkation was also as easy as embarkation. We didn't have an organized Princess bus, so we could leave without being called. Just stepping out from the Grand to the dock, a Princess representative helped us find our luggage and brought us a porter who brought our luggage to the limo that waited for us. It was done very smoothly and quickly.

We had a wonderful vacation, like a dream, the Grand Princess is the best!

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