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Name: Tony Suarez
Email: tngtony@one.net
Age: 37
Occupation: Sales
NumberOfCruises: 1
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Princess-Grand
SailingDate: 8/16/98
Itinerary: Istanbul to Barcelona with stops at 6 other ports
FoodDiningRoom: 85
CruiseDirector:
CabinComfort: 80
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 80
CabinAmenities: 85
FoodLidoDeck: 80
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 90
FoodMidnightBuffets: 80
CabinSteward: 85
ShoreExcVariety: 95
FoodVariety: 95
DeckService: 70
ShoreExcValue: 80
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 80
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 95
LoungeService: 60
TenderService: 75
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 90
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 90
EntertShowLounge: 90
OverallPortsofCall: 90
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 80
CruiseActivities: 70
Casino: 85
AirSeaProgram: 80
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 90
EmbarkDisembark: 60
DiscoNightclubs: 95
DeckSpace: 95
Stabilization: 100
ShopsOnBoard: 90
SpaceRatio: 90
OverallCruiseValue: 90
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 19 Aug 1998
Time: 19:06:04
Remote Name: 209.50.99.205
Remote User:
Comments
I had a great time on the Grand Princess. Overall I liked the
ship and the ports of call. The ship is beautiful and it is
absolutely enourmous! The ship's
stabalizers were excellent. Though I felt some motion all the
time, it was so minor that I wasn't always sure that it wasn't
just the Piña Coladas taking
effect.
Having said that, here are a couple of things that I didn't like
about the cruise. The staff on the Lido Deck buffets always acted
as if you were bothering
them whenever you dared ask for anything.
The bar staff was generally slow. On our last night on ship, it
took a waitress 10 minutes to approach us, 10 minures to come
back with our drinks and
another 40 minutes before a different waitress came to our table
(or 2 minutes after my brother went to the bartender and asked
for a drink. You would
think the place as packed, right? Nope. At one point we were the
only ones there. There was one staff member per customer. The
only exception was in
the Disco (Skywalkers' Lounge). It seems like we were always
taken care of quickly by a friendly staff.
The elevators STINK! The are the slowest, least responsive
elevators I have ever used! The actual lifts are fast from floor
to floor, but when you press a
button to go down, there are times that you see three and four
elevators go past before on stops on the floor. And when it does,
you may find it totally
empty telling me that the other elevators didn't go by full. Also
the elevator shafts are not labled so that you know where each
elevator can take you. For
example, there are 6 mid-ships elevator shafts. Two can go from
deck 5 to 14. The other 4 go from 4 to 14. Deck 4 happens to be
the deck you need to
take to get off the ship. The aft shafts are the same. Out of the
4 two go from deck 7 to 17 and the other 2 from 7 to 14. You
don't know this until you get
on and see that you can't get there from here.
The ships tenders were increadibly HOT! GET A FAN OR TWO
PRINCESS! The temperature would have been more barable had there
been some
movement in the air. When I mentioned this to one of the crew,
they only said, "We've been at this all day." I didn';t
want to make a fuss, but I wanted to
say "The you know that you need some fans in here! So DO
IT!" I work in the service industry and back talk is
something that I definitely cannot stand! I
take a lot of crap from some customers, keep a smile on my face
and say "You're right, sir." and I expect nothing less
from those who are taking care of
my needs.
At disembarcation, my family and I were treated to a Spanish
shower at the airport. The driver let us off at the wrong
terminal. Not having been to
Barcelona Airport before, we all got off to find that there was
no help in unloading the baggage and when we had to make our way
to the proper terminal
there was no roof to proteck us from the elements. It was raining
cats and dogs! We got drenched! This lest a very bad taste in my
mouth. This is why
such a low score on the embarcation/disembacation.
Now on the plus side: Our dining room staff was fantastic!
Franco, our waiter, Peter, the assistant waiter could not have
done more to make me and my
family feel at ease each and every night. The food was generally
excellent and plentiful.
The ship's pools (all 4 of them) were quite nice. I especially
liked the "dolphin" pool. And you have to try the Pizza
stand by the pool there! I was very
good.
The shows were all pretty nice. I especially liked the comedy
acts. On one act, I was chosen out of the crowd to help a
juggler/comic get on his 6 foot
unicycle. I was almost out of breath I was laughing so hard.
There is only one show I had to walk out on. New York, New York
was terrible. The rest were
at least good. I also loved Elliot Finkle's shows. Elliot Finkle
is a concert pianist. He did a show of Pop tunes and later a
classical show. Unfortunately, the
classical show was put on durign the middle of the afternoon.
Princess Cruises probably decided that there wasn't enough
interest for an evening show.
But considering the crowd in the theatre, there was. So we gave
up an hour of a gorgeous day to go listen to this wonderful
pianist. BTW Elliot is the son
of Feivisch(SP) Finkle who played the lawyer on "Picked
Fences".
TOURS:
Istanbul was the most interesting city to me only because it was
so different. I took the St. Sophia, Blue Mosk, Grand Bazaire
tour. It was quite nice
thought I would have liked more time at the Bazaire. The church
of St. Sophia is in really poor shape. It is a ruin really;
especially in contrast to the Blue
Mosk just across the street. The Grand Bazaire is really the
Grand Shopping Mall. Not like any shopping mall in the US, but it
is not anything like what I
pictured. There are hundreds of shops in a maze of narrow
corridors. They boil down to one of 4 catagories: Jewelry,
Leather, Carpets and Trinkets. The
shopkeepers all hang out at the opening of their shops and if you
show even the slightest interest in something, they are on you
like the worst kind of
used car salesman. If you really are interested in buying
something, start to haggle, when the keeper will not go far
enough down in price, WALK AWAY.
At this time usually they will come after you and come down to
close to your price. The selling price worked out to about 60% of
the initial asking price
most of the time.
In Kusidasi, Turkey we took the Ephasis, Virgin Mary House tour.
Unless you want to see lots of rocks that used to be something,
_don't_ take the
Ephasis Tour. It was hot, dry and miserable. Kusidasi is the only
port where you walk off the boat into the middle of the small
town.
In Athens we took the tour that included the Acropolis, the Plaka
(old shopping district) and the Temple of Posidon. We did not
know that the Temple was
a good hour's drive from Athens. The Drive was beautiful along
the Adriatic coast, but I wished we would have spent more time in
the Plaka.
The Venice walking tour was the only one where we weren't hearded
back to the ship or ship's tenders. There is plenty of time at
this port to take the
walking tour and get to see the rest of Venice. If you do nothing
else, take a tour of the Murano Glass factory (or the outlet in
venice itself). The works of
art in glass there are amazing. You can also see a demonstration
by glass masters making vases and animal shapes. The boat ride is
free to the island of
Murano, but make sure that they take you back to St. Marks Square
unless you enjoy beign let off on the oposite side of town and
winding your way back
to anywhere that looks familiar. In Venice all the streets are
very narrow and none go in one direction for long. I felt like a
mouse in a maze looking for a
slice of cheese. :-) We eventually found it.
The Rome overland excursion is deffinitely worth the money! You
get on a bus in Naples at 7am and go straight to Rome. It takes 3
hours to get there.
You view all the sights in rome (quickly) before lunch.
Afterwards you go to the Vatican which is a sight that must be
seen in person. From there you go to
the hotel, settle in and then it's dinner time. Afterwards to the
Trevi(SP) Fountain and a night sight seeing tour of Rome then to
bed. At 7 the next
morning to Florence-a 4 hour drive. There we tour the city. Also
something that must be seen in person. The entire city is a
museum! Everywhere you
turn are works of art and incredible scupltures. Then to Piza
where I ruined a role of film after seeing the famous tower. How
this thing is still standing I'll
never know! Then back to the ship. This tour is exhasting, but it
is absolutely worth it.
Monte Carlo was unbeleivable! The Tram tour was real nice. But I
especially enjoyed when we walked all over the town of Monaco. My
mother went off on
a tour of the French Riviera and she enjoyed it but after being
on a buss for two days on the Rome-Florence-Piza tour, the rest
of us passed on the tour.
She said it was lovely.
Barcelona can be seen in one day, but DONT TAKE THE
"Barcelona Highlihgts TOUR! Just go to Las Ramblas during
the day. And later Sagrada Familia
(Sacred Family) Church is under consruction (And will be for
about another 100 years), but it is worth a look-see from the
outside. Franco, our waiter
also mentioned another part of town but I cannot remember it
right now.
SCORES I didn't score the cruise director because I only saw him
on stage introducing acts and never got to talk to him or have
any dealings directly with
him. Julie he wasn't :-) He seemed friendly, but who knows. I
also didn't score Room Service because I never used it. The ship
did not visit a private
Island. I didn't visit the medical center. I wasn't on a
honeymoon and since I am unmarried, I have nothing to base that
one on. And I didn't visit the
beauty salon.
Embarcation and disembarcation were both confusing. It would have
helped imensely had Princess Cruises hired English speaking
people to help the
passengers (most of which American or English Speaking) to help
explain what was going on. Instead, a horde of Turkish baggage
handlers litterally
wrestled away bags to take to the ship. I already wrote about the
disembarcation. Terrible!
The rest speak for themselves. Hopefully I will have a slew of
pictures on my web site soon. http://w3.one.net/~tngtony I need
to get a loan to pay for the
developing. Everyone get stock in Kodak! :-)
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