Would just love some feedback on our cruise in December.We are on the Grand Princess heading to the Carribean on it's Christmas cruise. Anyone done it? If so would love some inside info.
Thanks Hellybelly

Hi hellybell, welcome to Cruise-Chat. We were going to do your cruise, but opted to go on the Royal instead. Although I really like the itinerary, the Royal had 3 ports I've never been to. Plus I wanted to try one of the smaller ships. We were on the Emerald last November and the Caribbean in May. They're huge, beautiful ships, but I wanted to try the smaller one for a change. Hope you have a marvelous time, and once again, welcome aboard!

Thanks Penny 333 for your reply, we are very very new to cruising but are very very excited about getting on board. I have read some of the great postings and am getting a pretty good idea what to expect, sort of! Just another question - we are both very sensitive to cigarette smoke, will we be bothered by this on the cruise? We have a Dolphin Deck mini-suite, somewhere in the middle, we hope! Once again thanks for all the great tips!
Helly

Hello, hellybelly and welcome from me also. Just curious, is that a typo? Did you mean "jellybelly"? No matter.

So long as Princess allows smoking on the balconies, there is always the possibility of smoke wafting over from a neighbor. About all you can do is retreat to your cabin and shut the door until they are finished. But with a little luck, you may only have non-smokers upwind from you.

The are other areas where the smoke may bother you, such as the Casino, the Wheelhouse Bar, the Cigar Bar and certain deck areas where smoking is permitted. But you will soon find these areas and learn how to avoid them.

Christmas on Grand Princess in the Caribbean sounds absolutely fantastic. And you will love your mini-suite. Once we tried one, we could never go back.

So, an early "Merry Christmas!".

Rick

Thanks for that F-mattox,
But I must say I am a little dissappointed with the smoking policy considering every other form of transport has banned the dreaded weed. I hope this won't spoil the enjoyment of cruising the carribean at Christmas. (note to self, take gas mask!)I am a reformed smoker,(I know there is nothing worse than a reformed smoker, I hear you say) but am unable to tolerate smoke AT ALL!!!!! So will try and psyche myself up for some social getaways!! On the bright side I will be saving money from not doing the casino thing! MORE SHOPPING. Thanks again.
Hellybelly

I hear ya! My wife and I are both reformed smokers, but have never found smoking to be a problem. Carnival tried a "no smoking" ship a few years back, but it was not successful.

Several of the ships I have been on recently have had "smoke free" nights in the casinos; usually two in seven days, so fear not--the non-smokers get a chance to make their contributions also.

Rick

Also, there are loads of non-smoking areas. All the dining rooms, the theater, some of the bars, and one side of the ship. The casino is usually the only place I can smell the smoke.

We have done the 16 day on Grand and 7 day on CB and have not been bothered with the smoke. There aren't that many areas smokers can use, and so it wasn't a problem for me and I am alergic and asmatic. Have agreat cruise, you will love those ships, our favorites!!

Hi Jeanne,
Thanks for your reply! We were a little concerned but am so glad I gave it over to you guys! We figured if anybody should know about this it's people who have been on these beautiful ships before. Once again thanks for the heads up! I was starting to dread a smoke filled 14 day Carribean Christmas! But I think I can cope! If you can I can right!
Much gratitude to ya
Helly

quote:

Originally posted by f-mattox:
So long as Princess allows smoking on the balconies, there is always the possibility of smoke wafting over from a neighbor. About all you can do is retreat to your cabin and shut the door until they are finished. But with a little luck, you may only have non-smokers upwind from you.

The are other areas where the smoke may bother you, such as the Casino, the Wheelhouse Bar, the Cigar Bar and certain deck areas where smoking is permitted. But you will soon find these areas and learn how to avoid them.


Rick

We too wish that Princess would ban smoking. On our recent Celebrity cruise we had a cigar smoker next door. He was out on his balcony smoking from morning to night!

We will be on the Grand Princess next March for 14 days and hope we are not as unfortunate this time.

jmcs, I am very sorry to hear that; I believe I would have insisted on being moved to another cabin--any cabin--as that would have made my balcony unusable. And I know that would have been a problem since ships are usually full. Cigarettes I could tollerate; but not cigars; and definitely not all day. If they couldn't have moved me, I might have insisted on a partial refund for the part of my cabin that I couldn't use. Sorry, that really gets me riled up; that is inexcusable.

I also hope you have better neighbors next March.

Rick

Other than the casino & having a cigar smoker right next door to me the smoke problem isn't all that bad on the Grand. You can quickly learn where the problems area are.