My understanding is that the Grand Princess offers cell phone service at sea. Does this require any registration once aboard or is it automatically debited to your onboard account?

I'm not sure RichC. When we were on the Emerald, we only used our cell phone one day in port. We are charged roaming fees when we do use it, we have AT&T. I would assume it would be put on your shipboard account. Maybe f-mattox knows for sure. The only reason we used it was to wish my hubby's mom a happy Thanksgiving. I'd leave it at home if I had a choice.

We were just on the DP in Hawaii where most people had cell service all the time we were in the islands & only once did I hear a cell phone go off & that was during a performance by a comedian in the show lounge when we were about 5 miles out. He took full advantage of the situation & did a full 3 minutes about annoying cell phones.

We only used our cell phone a couple of times in port in Hawaii, so I don't know how it works at sea if you use the ship's up-link. Like Penny, I would guess it would go automatically on your shipboard account. And I'll bet it's pretty expensive, too.

My partner took his cell phone with him and the service went through his fido provider rather than the ship's service. He actually got a phone call from a friend when we were sitting outside on the deck sailing through the Straits of Gibraltor at midnight. The service was pretty good, although there were a few times when there was no signal along the USA east coast.

We just got off the Grand Princess & they do have cell phone access aboard the ship. I only used it once to access my voice mail & still don't know the cost. They do ask that passengers don't use it in the dr's & showroom.

RichC, welcome back. Hope you had a great cruise. What's the latest on Grand Princess? Some of the reviews lately would have you think she was ready for the breakers. I know that's not true, but how is the ol' girl?

Since the Grand Princess was launched a while back they've take fairly good care of the ship with the typical ware & tare that I've seen on most ships. The crew (as on all the Princess ships) couldn't do enough for the pax. The food was great. (we're not specialty restaurant people). My thinking is that if they can't provide a good meal in the standard restaurants the line would be out of business in a short time. As you know, the ship has a similar layout as the Diamond P. The Horizon court wasn't as crowded as on the Diamond but the drink area was a little confined which caused a backup at times. The crew was always trying to provide drinks for the people to avoid the congestion problem.
The average age of the pax was younger that the Diamond being around 55 or so (my estimate). There were about 30 kids aboard which at first I though were going to be a headache but as it turned out Princess keep them entertained through the week plus the fact that they were all well behaved to begin with. I brought a set of earplugs which came in handy in the show lounge as some of the seats are located right in front of the speakers & it's to loud for my liking. It reverberates in my ears but I'm beginning to think it's my hearing that's the problem. I'd advise anyone to bring a light jacket or a sweat shit for the show lounge. There are some seats that get blasted with the AC & there were lots of people complaining about the problem.
We tendered at two locations & they handled it efficiently & even hired an extra tender at one island.
Embarkation at Ft Lauderdale went very quickly with no hang-ups. It took about 30 minutes- we arrived at 11:30 AM.
We use a bus service but I did hear that the parking rate is up to $15 per day.
Disembarkation went very fast- to fast for me. Customs didn't board the ship but checked out the people on the pier. We tried to lay low & not get off the ship until the last minute since our bus doesn't arrive before 10 AM but they came around with a list of names of people who didn't scan out at 9:30 AM - There's nowhere to hide. The up side of waiting is there are NO LINES anywhere.

Thank you, RichC; sounds like a great trip. Congestion around the drink stations, and the buffet in general at peak times seems to be common to all the Priincess ships. The answer of course is to try to visit at off-peak times; but I'm not too inclined to adjust my schedule to fit their lack of planning. The last time I was on the Grand they had both sides open almost all the time, which really helped.

Thanks for the heads-up on the volume levels and the A/C in the theater. I've noticed that on a couple of the other ships: next time I'll be prepared.

Thanks again, RichC.

I did find out about how the cell phone charges are applied- You don't have to register your phone with the ship. The billing is made by the cell carrier & added to your monthly bill which they reimburse the cruise line later on. I didn't see to many people using their phones but the analog signal on the ship was very good in most locations. I used it one time to check on a voice mail which I thought was important.

Thank you for the review of the Grand, RichC. I had heard some rumblings about her as well, which I doubted were true, but glad to hear she's still grand. The Emerald was absolutely magnificent, but I'm still not so sure that bigger is better. So, I'm going to try the Royal at Christmas/New Years instead of the Grand. That way I can compare. Thank you for finding out about the cell phones as well. Like I said, I'd leave mine at home, if I had the choice. My hubby's mom makes it imperative that we have ours at all times, however. She's 95 or 96, somewhere around there. I think as long as I've known her, though, she's said she was 78

quote:

Originally posted by penny3333:
Thank you for the review of the Grand, RichC. I had heard some rumblings about her as well, which I doubted were true, but glad to hear she's still grand. The Emerald was absolutely magnificent, but I'm still not so sure that bigger is better. So, I'm going to try the Royal at Christmas/New Years instead of the Grand. That way I can compare. Thank you for finding out about the cell phones as well. Like I said, I'd leave mine at home, if I had the choice. My hubby's mom makes it imperative that we have ours at all times, however. She's 95 or 96, somewhere around there. I think as long as I've known her, though, she's said she was 78

The Grand isn't in bad shape although it does have it's worn areas unlike a new ship. As you well know, Princess keeps up on maintenance fairly well. We've never sailed on a brand new ship so I don't really know if I can make a fair comparison.
I don't know if I'd like a Christmas/New Years cruise- I've heard to many stories about the hundreds of kids & it's something I can live without.
I suppose the cost of using cell phones keep lot of folks from abusing them but as soon as we hit Ft. Lauderdale you could hear the difference.
We had my dad on an Alaskan cruise when he was 87 & he loved it. (We had to keep him from snoring to loudly at the early show )

It is true that there are more children on board at that time of the year. However, it's a 14 day itinerary so that will alleviate some. Plus, the Royal is only 710 passenger capacity, so it won't be anything like the Magica. We sailed her Christmas before last, over 3000 passenger capacity and probably 1000 were children. It was still a very fun cruise and there were only a few spoiled brats on board. The rest of them were having a ball, and it made it seem like you were at a big family Christmas party. It's a fun time to cruise, but sometimes the water is a little chilly when snorkeling.