Grand Princess Review
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We choose this cruise for a couple of reasons. First, it was going to Hawaii during our anniversary and second, we wanted a step up from Carnival. Step up it wasn't. Let me say that we will give Princess another try, just not on the Grand Princess. This ship needs to retire with all the issues it had with water leaks, toilet not flushing and not just your room toilets which was so un-sanitizing, staff ignoring us and the pricing was beyond what we thought it should be for photos and such, they weren't going to make deals with you, you pay or you don't get your photos....
We weren't impressed with this cruise and It did NOT meet our expectations, in fact it was the worst cruise we've been on. This cruise had many retired people with wheelchairs, walkers, scooters and such that it was hard getting around. There were lots of folks with health issues that I'm sure shouldn't have been on this ship and I was surprised were allowed on the ship. One man whom was in the ships hospital said the waiting room was so filled with sick people trying to get in that they sent him back to his cabin after a blood transfusion. This man hit his arm on something and couldn't stop the bleeding, lost half his blood and needed a transfusion, which I had heard the announcement for donors to help save his life at midnight just two days before. I was shocked that they wanted him out of there so fast, but as he said, there were a lot of sick folks waiting to get in. My husband became sick the day before we arrived back at port and I got sick couple of days after that. It's taken me a week to get over this illness and I'm still not %100. We are in our 60's and far from being young chicks, but we are very active people so this has been hard for us to say this least...
The entertainment was very good but if you wanted a seat you had to get there one hour before the show, or 30 minute for an OK seat. I've never seen so many people arrive to the theater 1 hour before the show. We learned this quick so we also got a seat, we would talk and have a drink but it was a long night having to wait. Maybe it was because these were seniors, but they get there early, it could be that the theater was small too.
Cabin Review
Balcony
Room is small for the money. Needed a little cleaning.
Port Reviews
Hilo
This city is closed on Sunday which is the day we came into port. So, unless you booked an excursion, there wasn't much to do and the taxi drivers will try to charge you way more than they should. $12 was what we ended up paying to get back to the ship after the free shuttle stopped at noon. Be ware of those taxi drivers, ask how much before you get in their cabs. We did find a few shops open and a pub, so it wasn't a total lose of trip. But would have been nice to have the city alive when we arrived, lol.
Ensenada
Nothing really big to do unless you have an excursion booked, the port only has a few tiny shops which most carry the same things, no restaurant either. It was way over priced. If they could build something like Cozumel it could be a little more enjoyable. Disappointed in this port. I would have preferred to stay in Hawaii an extra day or two.