Can anyone describe their experience in a minisuite on the Grand Princess? We are thinking about an AC category minisuite, which are located on the front or rear ends of the ship.
1) is there privacy on these balconies? I have read several reviews that said some balconies don't have much privacy. I would appreciate a description of the balconies for this type of room.
2) how is room service? I read that the menu was limited for nonsuite rooms. Is it much better for the minisuite category?
3) how is the motion at the front or rear of the ship. We have only been on one cruise and were located in the center of the ship.
According to the deck plans of MV Grand Princess in Princess's brochures, the category AC minisuites are on the sides of the Dolphin Deck, but located toward the forward and aft ends. These minisuites are identical to those of the categories located closer to amidships. They sell for a lower price only because there's more vertical motion when the ship is pitching than a location amidships. OTOH, I have yet to find a cruise ship on which pitching is a major issue. The longitudinal stability of a platform that's nearly a thousand feet long is pretty good even without dynamic stabilizers. The more likely motion is roll, and amidships will roll just as much as forward or aft. Of course, it would take a rather nasty storm to generate enough motion to notice on a 109,000 ton vessel!
The balconies aboard MV Grand Princess are terraced, so each extends out beyond the balcony above it. If I remember correctly, a bit more than half of the balconies on the minisuites on the Dolphin Deck are under the balcony above and the remainder extends beyond the balcony above. The portion of the balcony that extends beyond the balcony above certainly would be visible from points higher up in the ship, probably including Skywalkers (which is supposedly an observation lounge in the daytime as well as a night club and disco at night, but I never saw many people up there during the daytime when I wandered up to check it out).
Princess's room service has three components.
>> 1. The entire dining room menu is available from room service during dining room hours. In other words, you can order anything from the dining room lunch menu while the dining room is serving lunch, anything from the dining room dinner menu while the dining room is serving dinner, etc.
>> 2. There is a more limited "room service" menu from which you can order at any time of day or night.
>> 3. The cabin attendants provide a breakfast order card that you can leave on your door at night. If you do so, the chosen items will show up within a few minutes of the time you select.
I have never ordered anything from room service while on a cruise, so I have no idea how well this system works.
I hope that this provides the information that you need. Have a great cruise!
Dave,
We had a minisuite on Dolphin deck on the Grand. The balcony was totally uncovered and in view of all the balconies above. For anyone who wishes a little shelter fom the sun and rain, the balcony cabins on Caribe deck are very large and are partially shaded by the balconies on the deck above.
Dave, We had a mini suite on the Grand on 4/29/01. We were in D115. This cabin was very far forward 3rd from the front. The balcony is very large and totally exposed. We spent a lot of time out there and rarely saw people from above stare down. Most people were on their balconies for sail in and out of ports. We enjoyed it for room service breakfast and on the days at sea we sat there to read or for sunning. The room service breakfast menu is limited to cold items ex: yougart, danish, bagels, fruit, juice and coffee. They did tell us that we could get other items but it would take up to 45 minutes.. and the cold breakfast was there in 5 to 10. As far as the other poster mentioned...being in the aft location could expose you to the folks in the skywalkers lounge from above...whereas in the front there isn't much going on up above. The bridge did shade our balcony for the early part of the day(starboard side...sailing to the Eastern Caribbean) but by the afternoon it was in the full sun.
As far as the motion... all I can say is we did have quite a wind tunnel when the balcony door and cabin door were both open, and quite a whistle when the balcony door wasn't closed good. The wind was pretty strong on our cruise and there was no going on the balcony after my hair was ready for the evening. The gulf stream waters can be a little bumpy on the first and last night from Ft. Lauderdale and it doesn't matter where your cabin is you will feel it if it is rough. We ended up packing and staying in our cabin on the last night and ordered room service. They brought the full dinner from the dining room and even the baked Alaska! Yum! Bon Voyage! Marci
My husband and I just sailed on the Grand and we had an AB minisuite (D311), which we received as an upgrade from the AD category we originally booked. The balcony is completely uncovered and you are exposed to all the elements, including people staring at you from above. If you want a minisuite and want a covered balcony, go for an AD and reject any upgrade that's offered to you. We only noticed side to side motion during the cruise, and that was mainly because we encountered a tropical storm.
As for room service, we had it every morning for breakfast and it was pretty good. Use the card that they leave in your stateroom, and write in anything additional you might want (e.g; scrambled eggs, french toast, bacon, etc.) and they will bring that as well. We never had it for dinner but others have said you can order off the dining room menu, so go for it. Also, I think all stateroom categories have the same room service menu so being in a minisuite doesn't afford you anything extra.
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details on minisuites on Grand Princess
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