Grand Princess Review
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Additional details
We chose this cruise as we could drive to San Fran..., no flying necessary. It also had a very good price point, and we managed to get a stern facing balcony stateroom (see my review on that). My wife had done the Mexican Riviera in her "prior life", 25 years previously, but I had never been. She was excited to show me, so this was a natural fit for us.
Overall, we had a great time. The ship is showing some age, but is still elegant and beautiful. The staff was amazing. We've cruised Princess once before, and this was about on par with that. I consider Princess a mid range cruise, and was certainly a good value. I did splurge for the drink package and made good use of that!
Positives:
Cabin Review
Balcony
Our first aft facing cabin, and it was great! We loved the view off the back, especially when we could see the coastline (which was not all the time). The balcony was oversized and extra deep, and had a couple recliner chairs and small table. We spend a good deal of time just chilling and reading and enjoying a cocktail and our books. I also brought our Bluetooth speaker and played music from my iPad while we relaxed.
The room itself was perfect sized. It is the same as the other balcony staterooms, and has an efficient layout. While not huge, we were able to unpack all of our things and did not trip over each other. And our steward did a great job keeping it nice and fresh. There is also a small fridge, which was great for keeping our water bottles cold!
The only drawback is the design of the stern of the ship is such that it is built so the deck above us actually stuck out farther than ours did, which meant we did not get much sun. But that was OK, as we got plenty of sun on the trip in other venues!