Mediterranean Cruise
Grand Princess
June 1999
My husband and I recently took our first cruise ever on the Grand Princess: The Venetian Explorer (same ports but different order from the Barcelona/Istanbul cruise) from June 7 th to 19 th, 1999. Not co-incidentally, this was also our honeymoon cruise! I had a lot of help selecting a cruise and knowing what to expect from reading all of the cruise reviews on this site, and so I wanted to ‘give back to the community’ and send in a review. Keep in mind that since this was our first cruise some of our observations may seem obvious to you. We are in our late twenties.
We arranged our own air due to itinerary complications, but it did seem that Princess wanted too much money for the airfare. If you bargain hunt you can get better deals yourself and use air miles. Our British Airways flight from London to Venice (the departure port) was 80% GP passengers. We did buy the Princess transfers to/from the airport and they were very smooth and efficient. They are well worth the money, particularly if you are afraid of getting ripped off/mugged by a foreign taxi driver (as I am).
We arrived at the port at roughly 2:30 pm and had no problems at all with embarkation. It was very fast and smooth. 10 minutes later we were exploring our cabin. A note about fares: we had originally booked the cheapest inside cabin, but I called up Princess 2 months before the cruise and found out that they were having a regional special for people from our state and were now offering a substantial discount on the same room I had. I contacted my travel agent and we mentioned to Princess that the fare I had originally paid (NOT the rack rate BTW) had been guaranteed not to go down. They apologized, lowered our rate and upgraded us to an outside, non-obstructed view cabin. This is great, but it never would have happened had I not called in and asked.
The Cabin
The cabin was very nice. Everyone had told me cruise cabins were small so I think I expected something tiny, but it was a decent size. There was a fridge with ice replenished every day and free fruit available on request. We had towels changed and beds made twice a day. The room was nicely decorated and there was more than enough closet/shelf/drawer space for the two of us, although we are light packers. The suitcases fit easily under the bed. The only complaint I have about the room is the bed. Since it was our honeymoon, one bed was important to us, but our bed was simply two twin beds pushed together with a sheet over them. Perhaps this is standard in cruising, I don’t know. The problem was that at night the two beds would pull apart, leaving a huge ‘crack’ in the middle, effectively becoming two beds again. It seems to me that this could be easily fixed by belting the two mattresses together, or using some velcro straps, but this was not done. It was a minor annoyance the entire trip.
The Crew
Almost without exception, the crew were great. The staff were friendly and liked to talk to you. The cruise director’s staff were especially nice and did a great job, moving from actor/showperson to activities person very well. We spent some time talking with the cruise director, Keith Cox, and he was also very nice.
The Entertainment
Most of the shows were good, and a couple of them (Pirates, the juggler, the magician, comedian Billy Vader) were great. There was only one which was so bad that we walked out (and so did the rest of the audience). I don’t even remember their names, but it was a comedy duo who opened for Dolly Parton. It was a huge stinkbomb. The lounges and Princess Theatre were fabulous. They looked great and were very comfortable and well-maintained. We particularly liked the couches they had in the Vista and Explorers Lounges. They were small, intimate loveseats which made snuggling easy. Very nice!
The Dining Rooms/Food
We did request a table for two (it being our honeymoon and all) but did not get one, due to lack of space (the ship was fully booked). Instead we had a table for four. It was right next to a window, which was an added bonus. Our waiters, Carlos and Viorel, were excellent. They worked incredibly well as a team and NEVER got our orders wrong. They quickly realized that my husband and I ate faster than our dinner partners and would serve us separately, rather than leaving us waiting between courses. This was especially nice if we were trying to eat quickly in order to catch a show. They never blinked when we each ordered multiple desserts every night. Our water glasses were always full, which is important to people like us who are too cheap to pay for extra drinks all of the time. They weren’t too high and mighty to perform each others’ tasks, if it meant giving us better service. In short, our waiters were terrific.
The food was generally good, however there were some exceptions. The baked potatoes were dry. The orange juice was coloured water. The steaks were poor cuts and were sometimes tough. The Horizon Court generally was of very poor quality. We avoided eating there whenever we could. They did not have chocolate desserts every night. The Princess Dream dessert had stale rice krispies and stale cake in it every night. The breakfast pastries were often stale and the eggs were always terrible.
On the good side, most of the desserts were fabulous, especially the hot souffles and all of the homemade ice creams/sorbets. Most of the dinner appetizers, soups and entrees were good. The pastas were all excellent. Sabatini’s was incredible, and we ate there twice, in addition to ordering ‘take out’ pizzas there for lunch one day. The poolside pizza was good and we ate it everyday. Afternoon tea was a fun experience with nice treats.
Room service was reasonably fast and we used it a couple of times in the middle of the night when we didn’t want to leave the cabin. We found out a secret: Room service has lemonade and doesn’t charge you for it! After we discovered this, we would order a big pitcher of lemonade in the afternoon when we got back from the ports. It was heavenly.
The Ship
Was just incredible. It was generally well-decorated, clean and well-maintained. There were so many lounges that the entertainment possibilities were almost unlimited every night. We enjoyed the shows, ballroom and swing dancing, and the movies. I would have liked to use the disco more often, but we only went there once because the smoke drove us out. The Atrium was gorgeous and was a nice place to ‘hang out’. There were cozy corners, many with live entertainment, almost everywhere. The pools were clean and sparkling. I do have two complaints though: Firstly, there were always too many hot tubs closed at once. Although there were 8 for general use, often 3 of them would be closed at once, making the few remaining very full. Also, the pool water was always too cold. No one really swam, and this was more obvious when the cruise directors’ staff tried to organize pool games and no one wanted to get into the water. But the hot tubs were always open, which was nice when we wanted to soak under the stars. The wide range of pool and hot tub locations was fun too, because you could be in a different place every day. The foreign exchange machine was a very nice convenience, and it only charged $1.50 per transaction, which is half of what my bank at home charges. The sheer size itself was also a lure. The ship looked very impressive in port and attracted attention wherever it went. When we left and entered ports, people would stop and stare. It was a little ego-fulfilling to just be a part of such a ship.
The Ports
Princess gives some good shore literature in the room packet, including walking maps and information on what to see if you’re on your own. We made good use of this information.
Venice
The free water taxi is a big bonus here. I don’t recommend taking a tour, you can see everything you want by walking around. You can even go to the glass factory via their own water taxis (just look for the guys pulling over tourists in St. Mark’s Square). We had a wonderful walk early in the morning and then spent a few hours at the Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Church without spending much money at all.
Naples
We took the Pompeii/Sorrento/Amalfi Drive tour. Our tour guide was great and she gave us a wonderful tour of Pompeii, but I wish we could have spent the entire day there. Unfortunately Princess did not offer an all day Pompeii tour and we weren’t sure how we could get there to do it on our own. We were annoyed that we had to get up half an hour earlier so that our bus could stop at a cameo factory on the way there. Sorrento was nice, but other than eating lunch we didn’t really see it. The Amalfi drive was great. The coast is so beautiful and even more fun is the only-big-enough-for-one-bus road! Our bus driver was aggressive and it was a thrill every time he challenged some little car to pull off the road for him. The drive did stop at a couple of places to take photos, which was good because we were on the left side of the bus, which was the wrong side to see the scenery. For those who take this tour, sit on the RIGHT side of the bus! You’ll see more. We also stopped for an hour at the town of Amalfi which had a gorgeous Egyptian cathedral and quaint shopping area to visit. This tour was worth every penny.
Livorno
We weren’t very interested in Florence or Pisa, or the money you paid to get there, so we just too the Princess shuttle bus ($4 per person each way) into Livorno. I don’t recommend this to anyone else. The place is a dump and is not interested in tourism. They had two cool looking fortresses. One was shut up and the other had been trashed because at night it housed a disco. We saved money by walking back to the port. By coming back early we were able to take a bridge tour, which was well worth the time. It is amazing, and has a better 360 degree view than Skywalkers because it has less furniture. I highly recommend this if you have the chance to do it.
Monte Carlo
Probably our best port stop. The tender took you right to a great place to begin a walking excursion. Do NOT take a shore excursion of MC because you can see everything yourself much more cheaply. We walked to the Palace, took a tour, saw the changing of the guards and the Napoleon museum, shopped in the old city, saw Princess Grace’s tomb, walked around the gardens and then walked all around the casino area, including going through the Hotel de Paris. It only cost us about $6 each instead of paying big bucks for a shore excursion. It was a wonderful experience and I just love the city.
Barcelona
We took the $4 Princess shuttle bus into town. Here’s a tip: you can take the metro near the shuttle bus dropoff point to any major site, including Gaudi’s church. We didn’t realize this until after we had spent an hour walking to the church. We then tried to go see the fortress on the hill, but by then we were running out of time and only walked around the gardens up there. We could have done it had we taken the metro to the cathedral. We did enjoy a nice walk around Las Ramblas.
Athens
The $4 shuttle bus takes you to the metro station which is cheaper, faster and easier than taking the Princess shore excursion. Again, if you don’t mind walking, you can see it all yourself in a day. We saw the Acropolis, Hadrian’s Gate and the Temple of Zeus, the Plaka shopping area and the Agora with plenty of time to spare getting back to the ship. However there are NO guided tours of the Acropolis, which was one disadvantage of doing it ourselves. We actually latched on to a different English tour being run for some South Dakota high school students. If you’re doing it on your own I would recommend buying a good guidebook first. It’s still cheaper than the shore excursion!
Kusadasi
No one on the ship knew how to pronounce this port’s name. From our Turkish tour guide we learned that it was Kush-a-dasi, not Kuss-a-dasi or Kush-odessy. We took the shore excursion to Ephesus, which was well worth it, but now I wish that we had also taken the tour which did St. John’s Basilica and the Virgin Mary’s Shrine. They looked nice from afar and I was sorry we couldn’t visit. Ephesus is incredible and is quite interesting, even after having seen Pompeii. In the afternoon we walked around the Bazaar, which is an experience in itself. The salespeople are VERY pushy and I hate that kind of thing so I was somewhat uncomfortable. Because I held my husbands’ hand everyone knew we were honeymooners (don’t other couples hold hands anymore?) and kept assaulting us with free honeymooner ‘gifts’. I did enjoy the visit to the carpet shop which the tour guide took us to because it was relatively low pressure and a somewhat more ‘authentic’ experience. But if you don’t like being accosted by shopkeepers, make sure you have an aggressive person with you who can fend them off.
Istanbul
We took the Imperial Istanbul tour, which was perfect for us because it covered everything we wanted to see. We visited the Imperial Palace, the Haiga Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Hippodrome. We did not see the Grand Bazaar, but after our experience in Kusadasi, it was probably just as well! The only thing we did not see which I would have liked to (I don’t think the Princess tours even offered this.) was the Harem at the Imperial Palace. We had lots of time at the Imperial Palace, which was enough to see all of the museums which are in there, however I was disappointed with the grounds. They are not well-kept and the gardens are awful. After having seen places like Versailles I guess I’m a little spoiled for nice gardens. The Haiga Sophia and Blue Mosque were also very interesting and worth visiting.
Overall
So how would I rate the cruise? It was generally wonderful and we would definitely take the Grand Princess again. The minor problems with some of the food and hot tub closures are far outweighed by the overall great experience. I’m hooked on cruising now!