Past Cruise Review:

Princess Cruises "Grand Princess" - 1999 Caribbean

Shortly after returning from our cruise to Bermuda, we learned of the "Grand Princess". As you know, Princess Cruises is famous from the Love Boat series on TV. They had recently undergone a huge expansion with several new ships. This ship was to be the pinnacle of that recent expansion. The "Grand Princess" was still being built when we learned of her specifics. Projected at a cost of $450 million, she was to be the largest cruise ship ever built. When completed, she was to be over 950 feet in length and in excess of 109,000 tons. Shortly after completion and her sea trials she set out from Italy, where she was built, to New York for her christening. I could not resist making a trip to the pier to take a look. It was incredible. I could not have imagined the size of this ship. I could see it from 10 blocks away. It was taller than any of the buildings in the area. She barely fit into the dock. It was awesome. As soon as I got home, we immediately booked our cruise.

This was to be our first cruise to the Caribbean. The ship leaves from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I admit I was a bit nervous about having to fly down to Florida to get the ship. Not because I am scared of flying, but because I could see some of our luggage getting lost. Not only did it have to get onto the plane but it also had to get to the ship on time. All my fears were for nothing. The air package was arranged through Princess and we also purchased the transfer package for an additional $25 per person. It was worth it. For that additional amount we were met at the airport by representatives of the cruise line and led to a special waiting lounge. We never had to claim our bags at the airport as they were immediately taken by the cruise line personnel and taken to the ship. That was great. We were then taken by bus to the terminal to board the ship where our bags were waiting onboard. The last time we saw our bags was at the airport in New Jersey.

Once on board the ship, we were in awe. The ship was only about six months old at the time, and it was beautiful. It would take too long to describe everything but suffice it to say that I used up an entire two hours of video tape just wandering around after we got on board. It is something you have to see for yourself. We had a great time on this cruise. The entertainment was good and the food was decent. The ship was the real destination, it was spectacular. We weren't however, very fond of much of the crew we encountered. I don't know what it was but they seemed to have a poor attitude and weren't very helpful at times.

The itinerary on our cruise was the Eastern Caribbean with stops at St. Thomas, St. Marten and Princess Cays, which is a part of an island owned exclusively by Princess Cruises. This was our first trip to the Caribbean and we had a great time. St. Thomas is a nice island and is part of the U.S. Virgin Islands. It has beautiful beaches and tons of shopping. St, Marten was our second stop and it was just as nice as St. Thomas but not as much shopping. St. Marten is not a U.S. territory. Instead it is divided into two sections. One is French owned and the other is Dutch. It provides for an interesting combination on one small island. Unfortunately we were unable to go to Princess Cays due to weather conditions. This was the stop we were most looking forward to. All kinds of water sports are provided on Princess Cays along with a barbecue and picnic type atmosphere. That was the only real disappointment in our entire cruise. Princess offers a wide range of tours and excursions at each destination. We advise that you choose the ones you are interested in and book them immediately upon embarkation. They go fast.

We would recommend Princess to someone looking for a nice cruise and we would be willing to cruise with them again. They have great itineraries and are known for some of the best Alaska cruise packages in the industry. You can check out their website at princess.com.