Almost a wonderful cruise

Grand Princess Cruise Review to Hawaii

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 42

Overall rating:

3.8 out of 5
Grand Princess

15 Night Hawaiian Islands (San Francisco Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 26, 2018

Ship: Grand Princess

Cabin type: Oceanview

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

The 15 day cruise to Hawaii was very enjoyable over all. A lot of fun entertainment was provided.

Embarkation

5 out of 5
Embarkation in San Francisco is well organized and smooth with smiling, helpful people at every turn. There is a wait for your embarkation number to be called, then it's a quick walk to your cabin.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
We ate breakfast and most lunches at the buffet and I would classify it as above average. If you peruse the offerings, there is always something interesting and tasty in the lineup. Every day the bakery items on display were varied, imaginative and delicious. One caveat: skip the mass-produced scrambled eggs and order a custom omelet instead. The main dining room I would classify as adequate. On a cruise you look forward to wonderful cuisine. The entrees sounded great, looked great, but then fell short. I thought Princess was trying to tell me: "Yes, we do have superb cuisine on this ship, but you and your wife will have to pay $58 dollars extra to get it."

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5
On our Hawaii cruise there were plenty of sea days and Princess offered a multitude of interesting if not fascinating activities every day. I would highlight 8-10 items in the Patter every morning. As an example: an Australian commando gave a series of lectures on survival. Totally engrossing. His audience grew every day. I especially liked the multiple trivia contests throughout the day. I took three books to keep me occupied on sea days. Never got to them. There was too much to do.

Casino

1 out of 5

Note to Princess Cruises: you could have a great poker game in the Casino, all day, every day. Players meeting, laughing and gambling with their fellow cruisers. But we're not going to interact with a computer to do it. So much fun, so many drinks ordered, all lost. Hire a poker dealer.

Entertainment

5 out of 5
The entertainment was wonderful. The headline shows, the comedians, the magician, the specialty acts, the piano players - all were first rate.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

2 out of 5
We were assigned our oceanview cabin and it was shockingly small. To add to the discomfort, it was supposedly for a family of four, with two bunk beds attached to the walls. This, in effect, made it absolutely impossible to walk to your bed and get in. You had to crouch and sidle sideways to avoid the bunk beds. Four people in there? Ouch. It was a tough squeeze for two.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
Princess has this down pat. The thousands of passengers are assigned to multiple categories, each with a muster station and departure time. Each passenger chooses his required departure time days before. All in all, very efficient.

Traveler Photos

Grand Princess docked in Nawiliwili, Kauai
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