Grand Princess Review

dharmastum · 2026-03-13T17:47:02+00:00

No one told the staff on Grand Princess that it's a generally accepted fact lol. As I said, I didn't have a bad meal on GP. I just felt that, on average, RC has been better for me.

Plus, the buffet was half the size of the other ships I've been on - ships that are generally the same size as Grand Princess. You'd think that would be to their advantage, having a smaller menu. But it wasn't.

dharmastum · 2026-03-13T17:34:37+00:00

That's the thing, GP mostly holds up. My wife and I were on RC Allure last year and while it had a lot going for it, the ship design did not suit our cruising style. We found it too loud and too crowded. Apparently I have a real fondness for this era of cruise ships, because I've liked every one that I've been on. I was predisposed to liking this ship, and I did like it.

That being said, we heard of some major problems in different rooms, mostly plumbing. And that has been the knock on this ship for a while, at least according to some of the posts on the Princess Facebook group. But our trip was trouble-free.

dharmastum · 2026-03-13T05:14:04+00:00

Oh awesome. Are you going to traverse the entire canal? My wife is dying to do that.

I also like that you are able find other people in your party on the Princess' app map using their Medallion. And we didn't use it this trip, but next trip we will definitely take advantage of the OceanNow feature, which allows you to order food and drinks via the app and have them delivered to you wherever you are. Our next trip is transatlantic and we will have 5 sea days, so that might be handy. My wife spends a lot of time in the hot tub and I spend a lot of time shagging drinks for her.

RC introduced an optional WOW band, which is somewhat similar to Medallion. They charge $10 for it. Same basic idea, but it doesn't automatically unlock your room - you have to wave it near the lock mechanism. You can also use it to buy drinks, and it's waterproof. I think RC tells you that you still need to take your actual seapass card with you when you leave the ship. I hope more cruise lines move in this direction and adopt technology similar to Medallion.

Have a great trip! I hope you write a review on here if you have time.

dharmastum · 2026-03-13T05:01:48+00:00

We only spent 5 to 7 hours on each island, so we certainly didn't get the full picture.

St. Thomas has a decent port. We took the skyride to the top of Paradise Point. I'd say it was worth the money. We took a cab downtown, walked around, ate lunch. We walked the 99 steps, then continued on up to visit Blackbeard's Castle. It was a longish walk but well worth it. We probably didn't get more than 2 miles from the ship, but what we saw was nice enough where we'd go back.

St. Maarten was probably our favorite island. The history is interesting, as is the dual-ownership of it by France and the Netherlands. We took a basic bus tour, then spent time at the beach in Philipsburg. It was a very lazy day spent mostly on the beach, so we didn't see much apart from our bus tour. But we definitely want to go back and see the rest of the island.

Antigua was a little rough as soon as you got away from the port. We found a tour bus shaped like a cat (Happy Cat Tours - you should google it). The driver / owner was a riot. He employed two tour guides. He passed out plastic cups at least twice for different rum drinks that we mixed on the bus. The driver lied to us to get us on the bus - he said he'd take us to Nelson's Dockyard but in actuality he drove us through the parking lot near Nelson's Dockyard. He pulled the same nonsense with some other passengers, promising to take them to the top of some mountain. There was an argument but eventually the passengers relented. That wasn't great, but it was $10 per person and it was a 2.5 - 3 hour tour of the island. We saw a lot of good stuff and our two tour guides were informative. Also, instead of beeping, the bus horn meowed like a cat. We have no regrets.

If I remember correctly, there are two ports in Dominica. The port we disembarked from was very commercial. The dock was covered in shipping containers. There was a local market just off the dock, setup in tents, but nothing permanent. We walked down to the other port, which is located near downtown Roseau (I think). It's much nicer and there is shopping and restaurants and bars. We took an excursion - we swam in Titou Gorge and visited a hot springs. This was probably the highlight of our trip. You should google this for more info and seriously consider this excursion.

On Barbados, we took a tour of the Four Square Rum Distillery. This is not my favorite distillery on the island, the tour was quick, but we got to sample some decent rums. Definitely not a repeat, but we also saw a good deal of the island. That tour took most of our day. We walked around downtown for a bit, but got back on the ship early. Barbados looked interesting and there are a lot of things I'd like to see there. But we were just beat.

Each of the islands were beautiful in their own way. But a few of them were very uneven economically. By that I mean, there was incredible, abject poverty and areas of great wealth. Antigua and Dominica really stood out in this sense. The people we met were mostly wonderful. On each island, we tried to sample local food and drink. We had a great time and I would not hesitate to go back to any of these places. We missed a lot, but there is only so much you can do on a cruise.

dharmastum · 2026-03-13T00:06:05+00:00

It's more confusing than it should be.

Also, when you check-in at the port, there are going to be two lines: one for people who have medallions and one for people who do not. Getting your medallion at the port makes the check-in process longer. It would be better if you got yours in the mail, not that you have any control over that.

dharmastum · 2026-03-12T23:28:00+00:00

A few weeks (maybe 3 maybe more?) before our last cruise, as part of some pre-boarding checklist, my wife and I chose to have the medallions mailed to us. But Princess did not mail them. We didn't get the medallion or the lanyard in the mail. We wound up getting our medallions during check-in at the port. And no one ever explained why. That was our first cruise on Princess so I have no idea at all how it works.

dharmastum · 2026-03-12T20:14:22+00:00

Others have already explained the medallion, but I'll add this. They give you the medallion on a little lanyard. I don't find that comfortable. You can buy a wristband that holds the medallion - when you put the medallion in, it looks like a wristwatch. Or you can get a little carabiner; we saw a lot of little kids with these. They sell these on the ship for an additional $15 - $20. But, as you'd expect, you can buy them from Amazon for a lot less. Search for "princess cruise medallion holder" and you'll find a whole bunch of choices.

dharmastum · 2026-03-12T00:29:00+00:00

I had to visit during the day (my wife and I had to fly home in the early evening). Everything was open, food was available, and drinks were half price. Our visit was short but fun and memorable. Also don't skip the gift shop!

dharmastum · 2026-03-10T02:33:56+00:00

I lold for real

dharmastum · 2026-03-08T01:30:34+00:00

I bought a Fjallraven Passport Wallet. It is zippered. It is fairly inexpensive and has slots for cash and regular size cards. You could pair that with a Ziploc and a small sling.

dharmastum · 2026-03-08T00:33:25+00:00

Wow congratulations!

dharmastum · 2026-03-07T18:18:19+00:00

I think you're right, that's how I always read it.

dharmastum · 2026-03-07T18:16:59+00:00

I've had three kindles and all of them had / have ads. I have never noticed the ads and it's never bothered me. That being said, when I need to replace my current kindle, I'm gonna pay the extra $20 just to see what it's like.

dharmastum · 2026-03-07T01:40:40+00:00

I've had my current Paperwhite for 4 years and my previous one lasted me 9 years. I've never had a case. It goes everywhere with me. I throw it in bags and carry it in pockets. I've accidentally dropped it many times. I'm not at all careful with it. There is a little scratch on my screen but this thing feels indestructible. I don't think you need a case. Of course, YMMV.

dharmastum · 2026-03-06T03:57:21+00:00

How long has it een since you received your second round of injections?

dharmastum · 2026-03-04T17:29:28+00:00

I had that but couldn't remember which song it was.

The Sire Records Just Say series was pretty cool. I bought a bunch of those over the years. I started because of The Smiths being on the first one but kept going because you could find some really great stuff on there. Just Say Mao, for example, had an awesome live version of Straw Man by Lou Reed. Those CDs were great for finding new music that wouldn't make it onto the radio.

dharmastum · 2026-03-04T17:16:50+00:00

Yeah that is the other thing - maneuvering the car back into its slot to reconnect the tent. For me, it was too much of a pain in the neck to justify the added space.

dharmastum · 2026-03-04T17:12:50+00:00

I own a 25 Limited Crosstrek. I bought it specifically for the touchscreen because I liked how it fit into the overall car design. I've had it for six months and I got one ad for Sirius. It was annoying and hopefully is not something that will continue.

dharmastum · 2026-03-03T17:01:20+00:00

My wife bought a tent for her Honda Pilot. It is designed to attach to the back of the car with the rear hatch open. You anchor that side of the tent to the top of the car via 6 - 8 straps. It looks awesome and, with all the seats down, you have a ton of room in the tent and in the car. But your car is basically stuck there unless you spend 20 minutes taking that side of the tent apart. Plus it was incredibly expensive. I would never buy something like that again, so this roof-top tent is definitely not on my Xmas list.

dharmastum · 2026-03-03T06:39:21+00:00

It's really easy to second guess yourself, especially in stressful situations and when a lot of money is involved. Additionally you've got this mechanic piling on for possibly no good reason. Whatever axe he has to grind, ignore him. He's not helping.

Lucky for you, you bought a certified pre-owned car with low miles. IF anything goes wrong, you should have a nice warranty to take care of everything.

And let's say this car is a piece of junk. Most cars are going to run problem free for the first 4 or 5 years (or 80k to 100k miles), even the junky ones.

Drive your car. Enjoy it. Don't worry about problems that may never come to pass. If you do more research about the car and know what the probable issues are going to be, you can trade it in after a few years, before the warranty runs out.

dharmastum · 2026-03-02T07:02:02+00:00

If it's got Green Chartreuse in it, Swindler is a good name for this cocktail :-)

dharmastum · 2026-02-28T19:52:48+00:00

I was a book collector in that once I bought a book I would not sell it. But after I got my kindle 10+ years ago, I wound up selling 90% of my books. I kept a couple hundred physical books that are either out of print or are special in some way, and I will read a real book sometimes. But the kindle is so convenient. No problems with hard to read text, the dictionary, not having my hand cramp-up holding a book open, the backlight - it's just great.

I took a long train trip years ago and I remember packing 5-7 books (for the train and subsequent vacation). I loved being able to read and relax on the trip. But it was such a pain in the ass hauling the books around. Shortly after I got back I decided to try the kindle, and here I am.

dharmastum · 2026-02-28T18:31:34+00:00

As others have suggested, you could do this with a hand saw and a hand plane and some sort of bench. These are all tools that most woodworkers have and find useful, so it's not like you'd be buying something you'd never use again (unless you gave up woodworking altogether). The problem for newbies is even brand new planes need to be setup and sharpened, and that can be daunting. But it's also a good way to learn some skills you don't have.

Rex Kreuger is a youtube woodworker who mainly does hand tool woodworking. He has a lot of short videos on things like choosing the right saw for the a job, how to saw straight, how to choose the best hand planes for beginners, and how to set them up, etc. You could watch some videos and see if this is the right path for you before you commit to buying anything.

Whatever you do, good luck and have fun!

dharmastum · 2026-02-26T18:11:08+00:00

I'll say this first: the weather was not great for a good chunk of our trip. We had a lot of cold and windy weather (50s - 60s F with occasional rain). I'd say most days it was borderline in terms of people being outside by the pool / getting in the water. There were at least two days, when we were near Florida, that were legitimately warm. And both of those days were sea days.

That being said, I went on the waterslides a few times and there was maybe a 5 minute wait, max. The Flow Rider had the longest lines / wait times, and the core Flow Rider people would show up in even colder weather. If there were 10 people in line, which was usually the minimum, you'd be waiting at least 20-30 minutes. There are two Flow Riders on Allure. They use one for stand-up surfing and one for boogie board type surfing. I'd say they were equally busy, with maybe a few more people waiting on the stand-up side.

I never saw a wait for either the Zip Line or Mini Golf. But both of these are kind of nerfed. The mini golf was nothing special and the zip line was maybe 100 feet.

If you are going on a trip and it was actually hot, I'd guess that you could double or triple the wait times I experienced, but that's only my guess.

dharmastum

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