Had a fantastic, albeit slightly eventful time cruising to New Zealand from Melbourne! The ship is wonderful, a classic design.
One of the oldest in the fleet but all the venues onboard are pristine and maintained fantastically well.
It was just like coming home for me as Grand Princess is basically identical to P&O UK’s Azura so getting onboard, I knew my way around, it’s just the venue names which are different.
The onboard entertainment was fabulous, the theatre productions were amazing and all the cast were fantastically talented.
There was always something to suit.
Dining options were perfect.
I am a solo traveller and happy to share tables, I met so many different people onboard and made friends with an Australian girl who I plan to meet up with again before too long.
Unfortunately, we could not dock in Wellington due to high winds and we had to curtail our scenic cruising through Milford and Doubtful Sound because of delays caused by a medical evacuation no sooner than we had left Melbourne, but just glad the passenger was OK.
I will just have an excuse to go back again one day! My cabin was very comfortable and oh! the pillows were amazing! The hotel I stayed in post-cruise was really nice, so close to main attractions like the Melbourne Skydeck, river cruises wharf, Flinders Street and Southern Cross stations and tram stops.
Lovely all you can eat buffet breakfast.
I had an executive saloon all to myself for my transfer back to the airport so generally I have been really impressed with the quality cruise and stay package which was booked for me.
My only gripe is that having arrived in Australia in the early morning, I had to wait another almost 4 hours before I could get the transfer to the ship.
I would have thought that as the ship had already travelled from Adelaide and no-one would have been allocated my cabin beforehand, that I could have got onboard earlier and able to access my cabin straightaway.
Nevertheless, Ii would definitely recimmend cruising on Grand Princess.
This was my first Princess cruise but it definitely won’t be the last.
