by Sherry Lauson
My husband, Gary, and I enjoyed back to back
Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises aboard the Celebrity Millennium and the
Grand Princess beginning on February 3, 2002 and ending on February 17, 2002.
Since we traveled on 2 different lines I’m going to approach this review as
a comparison between them as well as a general review. I also want to insert a
disclaimer here--my husband and I are not veteran cruisers. Our last cruise
prior to this was on our honeymoon 17 1/2 years ago. Everybody is different
and what we liked or disliked you may totally disagree with. I will say that
we had a fantastic time on both ships--far better than we would have imagined
(and I did a lot of imagining).
Here is a little background on us to help you
see where we are coming from. My husband and I are in our mid forties. We
don’t have children, unless you include our dogs, which we do. My husband is
a licensed Civil Engineer and I am a stay at home wife. We are primarily
homebodies. We love to eat out, but our tastes are pretty simple. We do not do
what would be considered fine dining very often. Since this was the first real
vacation we had taken in a very long time, we planned and discussed it
thoroughly. We decided on cruising for several reasons. First, I believe
cruising gives more value for vacation dollars than any other type of
vacation. It allowed us to have a good idea how much it would all cost before
we left home (I didn’t figure in the spa treatments, but more on that
later). We wanted to be pampered and fed and entertained in beautiful
surroundings and we wanted to visit places and try things we never had before.
I found my first cruise board and review site in June and began feeding what
quickly became a daily habit. I got a lot of great advice from all your
reviews and questions I asked on the boards, especially the wonderful Cruise
@ddicts site. Thanks so much because I truly believe our trip was much
enhanced because of all of you. I’ll start out by rating each category (10
meaning the item surpassed our every expectation). That way if you don’t
want to read my rather lengthy comments, you can still quickly get an idea
about how we compared these two lines. For those who get through the whole
thing, I hope my review will serve to help you and other potential cruisers
out there, so here we go...
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Embarkation/Debarkation
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Staterooms
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Dining
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Ship Atmosphere/Style
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Captain/Officers
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Service
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Ship Arrangement
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Cruise Director/Staff
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Entertainment
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Spa/Pool Area
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Overall Totals
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Cruise Statistics
Celebrity Millennium 2/3/02-2/10/02
- 91000 GRT, Room 7108-Double with balcony
- Ft Lauderdale, San Juan, Catalina Island,
St. Thomas, Nassau, 2 days at sea.
Grand Princess 2/10/02-2/17/02
- 102000 GRT, Room C607-Double with huge
balcony
- Ft Lauderdale, Princess Cays, Grand
Cayman, Costa Maya, Cozumel, 2 days at sea.
The weather was terrific. If it’s always
like this in February then this is the time to sail. We had enough movement to
know we were on a ship, and a couple of overcast days. Otherwise... great!! I
will mention I took a bonine every day and wore a patch (I wanted to take no
chances of missing a minute of fun). My husband did neither of these things
and had no problem whatsoever.
Embarkation/Disembarkation
Very smooth on both lines. We had
actually flown into Miami on the 2nd and stayed overnight at the Airport
Marriott. We rented a car from Avis at the airport. Sunday morning we checked
out at 9, loaded up the car and drove straight to Port Everglades.
We offloaded our luggage at the Celebrity
dock, dropped off our car with Avis at the airport, caught a shuttle back to
the dock, filled out some little paperwork and were checked in and aboard the
Millie by 11:15. Easy, easy, easy. Boarding the Grand was basically the same.
Disembarkation on both ships was a bit more of struggle, but I don’t see how
that can be avoided. We had to wait a bit before being allowed to disembark
and finding luggage in a huge warehouse is no picnic, but not a really big
deal. Everyone was friendly and helpful and we got where we needed to be on
time with no stress. I will say Avis did not seem to be as well organized. We
waited over 3 hours to pick up a (reserved) car to drive back to Miami. Enough
said.
First Impressions
Both of these ships are incredibly impressive on first sight. They were
actually docked very close to one another so we could see the top of the Grand
as we drove up to the Millie. The Millie stands out, not just because of her
size, but her dark blue hull and the large X on her stack. When we boarded the
Millie we went to the stern of the ship and got a great view of the Grand. She
is so lovely and so different because of her "spoiler." What fun to
know we would be sailing her the next week.
I am not going to describe the ships
interiors in detail. Many others have done that and far better than I could
(see reviews by Vincent Finelli). What I will do is break down the review into
categories that were important to us and I hope to you as well.
Staterooms
Our staterooms on both ships were more than adequate as far as space for
clothing and such (and, baby, I packed a lot!!! of clothes). I utilized a lot
of great tips from cruisediva.com. Among the best--a hanging shoe bag for the
closet and a plastic divider to hang on the bathroom door to store cosmetic
items. Thanks, Linda!! The staterooms were comparable in size, but I thought
the stateroom on the Millie was more attractive and better utilized space. The
closet on the Grand did not have a door. Not that big a deal, but it made the
room feel less... nice. The bathroom on the Millie was slightly bigger. The
shower was more spacious, all the plumbing was covered and the waste basket
folded into the vanity. The bathroom on the Grand felt like a cheap motel
bathroom. Picky, picky I know, but these things matter to me and probably to a
lot of you, too.
I do want to say both staterooms were kept
immaculately clean by Arnel on the Millie and by Virgil on the Grand. I never
ceased to be amazed at the extra mile these young men went to make our cruise
an even more enjoyable experience. Another thing Celebrity did that I really
appreciated was to place a carafe of fresh water on a tray each time the ice
was refilled. Such a small thing, but I really missed that carafe of water on
the Grand. The last thing I want to address in this section is the balconies.
We had one on both ships and they were wonderful. We didn’t spend a lot of
time on them, but it was nice to take pictures of the sunsets, to see and
listen to the water and to just feel the gentle sea breezes on your face. They
are not very private as far as conversation, though, so we really didn’t
spend a lot of time sitting out there. Having said that, I would prefer to
have a balcony in the future, but it would not be a deal breaker.
Ship Atmosphere/Style
Millennium-very formal, elegant ship. Floral arrangements throughout the ship
are absolutely spectacular. A lot of modern art/photographic art. Low
lighting, graceful furnishings and lots of soft, beautiful music everywhere
you went. Just a beautiful ship.
Grand Princess-also a very beautiful ship,
but with a very different feel. The colors were brighter, the music more
upbeat (and there was more variety). Not as formal, but still stunningly
beautiful. Both my husband and I felt the Grand had a distinctly friendly feel
to it. Just one of those intangibles.
Passengers
Older, more refined crowd on the Millie. Median age seemed to be mid 60s. A
lot of Canadians and people from the UK. Lovely. We met the most wonderful
people on the Millie. At tea, I had an extended conversation with a gentleman
from England. We had very little in common, but a love for scones and
Devonshire cream. We sure laughed a lot, though, for being strangers. My
husband sat next to a businessman from Canada named Chris and enjoyed hearing
about his aircraft maintenance business. We truly made friends, though, with a
lovely family from New York. We sat with them the first 2 nights for dinner
and had such wonderful conversation. They moved to the earlier dinner seating
on the third night, so we were unable to dine with them again until the last
night of the cruise when they invited us to join them at their table. What a
rare treat to meet people you almost immediately connect with. Thank you
Sharyn, Peter and Rosalind for helping to make our cruise on the Millie extra
special. We hope to see you again in the near future.
The median age of the folks on the Grand
seemed slightly lower, maybe mid 50s. It seemed to be a more high-spirited
crowd and less formal to go along with the mood of the ship. Because we had
personal choice dining we met far fewer people, but that was okay. One of our
vacation goals was to spend a lot of time alone. My husband had been
cloistered in his study for months, working on a couple of special projects.
We needed to reconnect. We had originally requested a table for 2 on the
Millie, for that reason. And we felt it might be uncomfortable to eat with
people we didn’t know and might not have anything in common with. The
maitre’d was unwilling to do that for us, so we ended up at a table for 10.
This turned out to be a good experience for us. We would never had met Sharyn
and her family or our other charming dinner companions if we had eaten alone
every night.
Dining
Since we’re on the subject of dinner... Our
dining experiences were totally different on the two ships. The Millennium is
a very traditional ship with completely traditional meal schedules. Although
there are some alternatives to eating in the dining room, they are not always
convenient to your particular schedule. Many mornings we wanted to sleep in a
little. This offered us very little choice for breakfast, so we usually just
waited for lunch in the buffet area. The buffet was very good, although we
thought the choices a little limited. We ate lunch by the pool one day and
while the fries were great, the hamburger was so over done it reminded me of a
hockey puck. That was the last time we ate by the pool. And we never did eat
breakfast or lunch in the dining room. We did attend the formal tea toward the
end of the week and that was delightful. I have to say neither my husband nor
I were very impressed with the food. After all the positive comments we had
read about the food, we were kind of disappointed. Maybe we just have
unsophisticated palates, but nothing really stands out in my mind as being
excellent. Everything was good, though, and the cold soups were a real novelty
for me.
The Grand was a much better fit for us in
many ways, but the food and dining options has to be one of the main reasons
why. Personal Choice Cruising is a much more relaxed, convenient style of
cruising. Basically it boils down to being able to do what you want when you
want to. The buffet was always open and had multiple, delicious, hot and cold
items to choose from. Fresh, delicious fruit all day and evening. I ate fresh
pineapple and watermelon for breakfast lunch and dinner almost every day.
Heaven. Since we had to dress for dinner almost every night on the Millie, we
really stayed pretty casual on the Grand. We dressed for both formal nights
(once for dinner in the dining room and once for dinner at Sabatini’s),
otherwise we ate at the buffet. I really don’t feel that we missed out at
all. The buffet had so many choices and the Horizon Court was a lovely dining
venue. I loved the wall murals and the ceiling had tiny lights that made it
look like it was sprinkled with stars (this was true in many areas of the
ship). As opposed to the Millie buffet, the Horizon Court was self-serve. We
could eat whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted, however much we wanted and
have 5 desserts without anybody noticing (of course we never did that J
and I’m sure we didn’t gain more weight on the Grand--yeah, right). I
never would have felt comfortable on the Millie asking for more of anything,
even though our waiter was an absolute sweetie. My husband also mentioned he
felt the preparation of the food on the Grand was more Americanized, versus
being more European, on the Millie. Bottom line--while the food on the Millie
was good, we liked the food and dining options much more on the Grand.
Alternate Restaurants - We didn’t eat in
the Olympic on the Millie. We did eat at both The Painted Desert and
Sabatini’s on the Grand. The Painted Desert has a Tex/Mex menu. It was good,
but we prefer (crave) traditional Mexican food, so it left a little to be
desired. Sabatini’s was very good, but you’d better like seafood. It’s a
long meal, but the service and presentation is excellent. Still, we wouldn’t
do it again. There is a $15 p/p surcharge and we probably would have been
happier at the buffet. (Aren’t we just too provincial? What can I say?)
Service
I don’t feel commenting on the dining room service on the Grand would be
fair since we ate there only once. Otherwise the service was very good.
Friendly people in the buffet to answer your questions, wonderful bar service
(neither of us cares for alcohol, but we drank our weight in
"virgin" frozen thingees which, by the way, were half as expensive
as those on the Millie, which charged the same as the ones with alcohol),
always a smile from every crew member we met.
The service on the Millie is just a whole
different subject. It was out the roof. Our dining room waiter, Vlaho, and his
assistant, Jose were just unbelievable. Their smiling faces and incredible
attitudes made us look forward to seeing them every evening. The first night I
requested an iced tea from Jose. I had iced tea every evening after that
without having to ask. I’ve never been in a five star restaurant, but I
truly believe we got five star service every night at dinner. Having said all
that, although the service was wonderful, it made us a little uncomfortable.
It’s like going to a really nice restaurant for dinner at home. We enjoy our
evening, but wouldn’t want to do it every night. Again, just not our style.
I do want to mention a wonderful young woman
from Romania named Andreea. She served us our frozen thingees in the Celebrity
Theater. I can’t say enough about this sweet, lovely young woman. Although
she didn’t have much time to talk (very hard working and a lot of the time
she worked in the dark) she always had a smile and kind words. She answered
any questions we had about her family, homeland and her job. When I sought her
out on the last evening to say goodbye and show her our appreciation, she set
her tray down in an inconspicuous spot and gave me a hug. I will always
remember her.
When it came to cabin service, I would be
hard pressed to choose which cabin attendant was better. Arnel, on the Millie
and Virgil, on the Grand were both just wonderful. You know those little elves
we talk about? The ones we wish would make our beds and clean our baths and
put little sweets out for us. They are on cruise ships and two of them are
Arnel and Virgil. I wanted to bring both of them home with me. Virgil will
soon move to the new Star Princess. We hope to sail the Star in the near
future and it would be wonderful to see Virgil again.
The only real negative I have regarding the
service on the Millie was the head waiter we saw upon boarding. We were among
the first to board and went straight to the head waiter to confirm our table
for 2 at the early seating. He was not at all helpful, and in fact was rather
brusque. He said he had no tables for two available at either seating, but
that he would write our name down and if anything came up, he would let us
know. I think he was waiting for a little incentive. Of course he never called
and there were several empty tables for two when we went to dinner that night.
I noticed the next evening as we entered the dining room that a man was
slipping the maitre’d some cash. Lo and behold, they were escorted to one of
the empty tables for two. Imagine that. We only had a short glimpse of our
maitre’d once or twice. I don’t know why the cruise lines expect us to
give a gratuity to someone who does absolutely nothing to earn it. In our case
the suggested gratuity for the maitre’d went to Vlaho and Jose in addition
to their recommended tips. They more than deserved it.
Captain/Officers
This might be one of those picky little things, but I’m going to share it
anyway. I plan to send a copy of this review to both Celebrity and Princess,
and I want them to know that even small things are noted by their customers.
Millennium-We never heard from the Captain.
No messages about the weather, no welcome aboard, nothing. At one point during
the week, we had been waiting through several elevator cycles to go up to our
room. A mostly empty elevator finally stopped at our floor, but before we had
a chance to go inside, it was literally closed in our faces by one of the 3
officers aboard. A young man who was polishing the staircase said they
didn’t hold it because the Captain was on board. I was never greeted by any
officer I passed on the ship. It was as if I didn’t exist. Excuse me,
gentlemen. I am part of the reason you have a job. Would a little hello kill
you?
Grand-Totally different experience. The
Commodore addressed us often in a very funny, friendly manner. Every officer I
saw greeted me with a smile and a cheery hello. Everybody, from the room
stewards, to the waiters in the buffet, to the folks serving the drinks, to
the people cleaning the public areas, to the officers, were friendly and
pleasant. It made the cruise just that much better.
Ship Arrangement
The Millie is much easier to get around. It’s set out in a logical way.
Maybe I’m a little slow, but it took me a couple of days to figure out how
to navigate the Grand. Even after that I sometimes took the wrong elevator.
All I can say to help out on the Grand is take the little direction
card they leave in the stateroom. I kept forgetting mine and that’s when
I’d get turned around.
Cruise Director/Cruise Staff
What can I say? I love a British sense of humor. The Monty Python guys, Benny
Hill, and Are You Being Served? make me howl! So Graham Seymour and his band
of asylum escapees were right up my alley. By the way, he is the Cruise
Director on the Grand. He had a morning show that was way too funny to watch
first thing in the a.m. My husband even won a thermal logo mug for getting one
of the music questions right. OK, we bribed Graham a little bit by sending the
answer attached to a tiny stuffed bear, but Gary did have the right answer.
Graham’s cohorts were just as great. Especially James. I only got to see a
bit of the Pub Night Show (I was just exhausted from a very full day in
Cozumel) and I missed one particular part that I heard about the next day.
Graham, I know I missed the chance of a lifetime. Perhaps another time. The
last night of the cruise I had a pic taken with Graham and James. James smiled
his lovely smile. You wouldn’t believe the face Graham made. Talk about the
inmates running the asylum. These guys and gals were a hoot and I miss them.
On the Millie the Cruise Director is Eric
Bohus. He is also very good, but as different as... well the Millennium is
from the Grand. He is handsome, suave, witty and, I understand, quite a
wonderful tenor. We always enjoyed him, but as host of the Newlywed/Not So
Newlywed Game, he was just too funny. His reactions to some of the answers he
was getting were wonderful. I don’t know how he kept his composure. Also,
his disembarkation talk was very enjoyable (if you can believe that). My
favorite part was a story he read about a lady that was moving to Bermuda. If
you see him, ask him about it. It is just a hysterical story. A delightful and
capable gentleman.
Entertainment
The entertainment was very good on both ships, but I think the Millie has a
slight edge in this department.
Production Shows-Far better on the Millie.
The music was well selected and the singers were especially talented. I was
familiar with most of the music and that always makes it more fun. The dancers
were so, so good. I can’t imagine that most of these young people will not
go on to bigger and better things. A word about the costumes--too much
sparkle. Just tone it down a little. There’s a lot to be said for subtly.
The Grand’s production shows were just not
as good. The music did not seem to flow together, much of it was unfamiliar
and although the featured singers were good, they did not have the level of
professionalism as the singers on the Millie. I will say I loved the costumes.
Just the right amount of sparkle, very elegant
Comedians Millie-Thien Fu, a juggling
comedian. This man is a comic genius. And, boy, can he juggle. If you skip
every other show on the Millie, don’t miss Thien Fu.
Beni Mason-Mr. Mason was OK, his comedy
seemed a little dated, but some of it was very funny.
The Grand, as I mentioned before, had so much
more to pick from as far as entertainment went. Scott Wyler is a phenomenal
comedian. We saw both of his shows. The Grand also had a juggling comic. He
has a ways to go before he’ll measure up to Thien Fu. The Grand also has a
unique combination of song and comedy in the married duo Kimika. They are from
the UK and have that deliciously bawdy humor. He plays a mean guitar and she
has a great voice and she is VERY funny.
I’m only touching on the variety on the
Grand. There was almost too much to choose from, causing me to feel like I
missed out on a lot. I’m just going to have to go back and see what I
missed.
I do want to talk about the show venues a
little bit. Both the Celebrity and Princess Theaters are spacious and have
good sight lines. The Princess Theater has theater seating, while the
Celebrity Theater has little couches. There is no drink service in the
Princess Theater, while the Celebrity Theater not only has drink service, but
elegant little lighted tables to set them on. The Celebrity Theater is more
dramatically decorated and just has a more comfortable feel. Many of the
better shows on the Grand were held in the Vista Lounge. It is too small,
cramped, has lousy sight lines and the only way you can be halfway comfortable
is to get there 45 minutes before the show to get a good seat. That, of
course, is usually impossible. The rows of chairs and couches are so close
together, the servers can barely get down the aisle. I don’t know what can
be done about this and it looks like the Golden and the Star have identical
Vista Lounges. I guess we’re just going to have to live with it if we want
to cruise the Grand class ships.
I guess what pushed the Millie over the top
here was the quality of the production shows and the lounge we saw them in.
Spas/Pool Areas
This is a topic I didn’t imagine I would have a lot to say about before we
left on the cruise. Wrong!! Gary and I don’t like to lie in the sun. I
sunburn very easily and it’s just something he has never enjoyed, so we just
didn’t plan on using the pools. Then we discovered the hydra pool on the
Millie. It’s in a beautiful, glass domed area by the Aqua Spa. There are
teak loungers and fruit trees and lots of towels. And the pool. Just warm
enough, filtered salt water and lots of bubbles. And these beds you can lie on
and have your whole, submerged body massaged with bubbles. I can’t begin to
describe how relaxing it is. Lets just say we spent quite a bit of time here.
I didn’t go inside the Aqua Spa so I can’t comment on that. And the main
pool area was not really noteworthy. Kind of bland.
And then there’s the Grand. The Neptune and
the Calypso pool areas are just beautiful. There are good pictures of them in
the Princess Caribbean brochure. They really are lovely. The lap pool in the
spa area is very nice too. Not very crowded and a nice place to hot tub. Now
about the spa... Most of the reviews I read had warned about the spa. Very
expensive, people pressuring you to buy product, etc., so I had no intention
of getting any spa treatments. We were met, however, by a lovely young lady
from the spa staff as we boarded. She handed us an invitation to tour the spa
early that afternoon. We really didn’t have anything else to do after we
grazed the buffet so I talked Gary into going on the tour with me. So far so
good. The tour was led by a young woman from Jamaica named Simone. We saw
several different treatments demonstrated from a facial to a stone massage.
Suffice it to say my husband and I discovered we are closet pleasure hounds.
He got a massage with warm oils and heated stones and used the Alpha Capsule
which involved music, aromatherapy, warmth and vibration. He said the massage
was heavenly, and the Alpha Capsule was pleasant, but over-rated. As for me,
over the course of the week, I got a deluxe manicure and pedicure, a facial,
Ionothermie (it’s too complicated to explain) and a deep conditioning scalp
treatment complete with scalp and shoulder massage. In fact, with the
exception of the Ionothermie, all the treatments came with a shoulder massage.
The four delightful ladies who pampered me so well are Breege, Louise, Simone,
and Betty. Lovely ladies, all. Oh and Gary got his wonderful massage from
Maggie. All of these ladies politely offered us products to buy, but at no
time did we feel at all pressured. Folks, if at all possible, treat yourself
to at least one spa treatment. I have never felt so relaxed and pampered. It
added to an all ready fabulous vacation experience.
Ports
I’m not going to go into great depth here. The ports on the Millie:
- San Juan-We’d been and decided to stay
on the ship.
- Catalina Island-This is Celebrity’s
private island and since we’re not really beach goers, we stayed on the
ship again.
- St Thomas-Had been here before, as well,
so we got off, went downtown to shop for gold and watches, bought what we
wanted, and went back to the ship.
- Nassau-Gary had been, but I hadn’t and
we both wanted to see the fabled Atlantis Hotel. We took a harbor tour and
a great tour of the hotels grounds and aquarium. Fabulous resort. Fun
tour.
The ports on the Grand:
- Princess Cays-Beautiful island, nicely
developed by Princess. We snorkeled awhile, had lunch, lounged under some
shady palms. Very nice.
- Grand Cayman-One of our favorite days. We
booked a full day tour with Captain Marvin’s (thanks to all who
recommended them). We snorkeled in several different locations and then
did the stingray thing. Wow, wow, wow!!! That has got to be one of the
most thrilling times of my life. They swam around me, they swam between my
legs, one even tried to crawl up the front of me. It was as if I was all
alone with these awesomely beautiful creatures. We had to leave much too
soon. We actually had the real Captain Marvin as our pilot and a
wonderfully knowledgeable crewman named Eric. It was a great, great day!!
- Costa Maya-Stayed on the ship (did a
couple of spa treatments).
- Cozumel-Okay I said so much about the
stingrays, how am I going to communicate my experience with the dolphins.
I have always loved dolphins, ever since the first time I went to
Marineland in California when I was a child. Marineland is no longer in
business, but I go to Sea World in San Diego every chance I get (which is
often since my whole family lives in California). There is just something
about dolphins. The closest I ever came to a dolphin before this trip was
the petting pool at Sea World. Whoever I was there with usually had to
drag me away or I would’ve stayed all day. We booked the Dolphin Swim on
Princess’ online site as soon as they would let us. It sells out very
quickly. This is not the Dolphin Encounter. You don’t actually get to
swim with the dolphins in the Encounter. So make sure you know which one
you’re booking. This was so wonderful-you get a kiss, you get to kiss
them, you shake "hands" with them. You hold on to the dorsal fin
of two dolphins and they pull you through the water. You hold a pole up
with a partner and they jump over, they push you by the soles of your feet
through the water. And then after all that you actually get to swim with
them in the water. They swim all around and under you. It really is quite
humbling to be able to interact so closely with these magnificent
creatures. I can’t wait to do it again. The absolute highlight of our
trip.
Summing Up
We had an absolutely fabulous time on this vacation. Overall, my expectations
(which were quite high) were significantly exceeded. We spent the first week
relaxing and unwinding. We were a lot more active on the Grand (more shore
excursions, etc.). We booked our own air and hotels (through priceline.com)
and booked our cruises through icruise.com. Just looking strictly at the cost
of the cruises, we actually paid less for the Millie. We paid about $43/night
more on The Grand. We also spent more while aboard the Grand, mostly due to
spa treatments. As you’ve all ready seen above we preferred the Grand over
the Millie, but please, please don’t misunderstand, we loved the Millie. We
were just more comfortable on the Grand. And that carries a lot of weight for
us.
One thing I haven’t addressed and something
my husband noticed, is how much better the communication between crew and
passengers was on the Grand. Everything was easily understood from the
lifeboat drill to the disembarkation process. We found out there had been a
tour of the Aqua Spa on the Millie, but we were unaware of it until days
later. Little things like that. Also, the atmosphere on the Grand allowed for
a lot less formal interaction between passenger and crew as well as a much
more relaxed and friendlier environment. We felt freer to ask questions and
joke with the crew, and that is important to us. We had such a good time on
the Grand that we deposited toward another cruise. Not sure when we’ll take
it, but hopefully it won’t be long! Both Gary and I agree, if we could,
we’d turn right around and sail another week on the Grand. We feel we really
just scratched the surface both on the ship and in the ports.
Off Topic - A Little Something Extra
About priceline.com. This was an invaluable tool for us as we planned this
vacation. There is a site called biddingfortravel.com that has great
instructions on how best to utilize priceline. We saved so much on hotel rooms
and our flight. Our round-trip, non-stop Denver-Miami airfare was only $150p/p
and we saved bunches on our hotels. Our night at the ***Miami Airport Marriott
was only $45/$5 to park, a very good value. A word of warning though. I was so
excited about getting a room at the ****Sheraton Bal Harbor Resort for only
$85/night (rack rate starts at $270/night) for the last two nights of our
vacation, that it didn’t occur to me how much everything else at this hotel
would cost. Example-Parking $17/day plus tip for valet every time you went in
or out. Shrimp Cocktail w/5 shrimps-$16.50. Haagen Daz ice cream bar-$4.50. I
think you get the idea. You even had to pay to use the gym. This is a
beautiful, well located hotel, but buyer beware!
And finally, the last day of our vacation we
went to Parrot Jungle in Miami. This was such a fun day, I can’t tell you.
We saw beautiful birds galore and 2 very interesting shows. We even got our
pics taken with 2 Macaws on each of our shudders and 2 huge parrots, on their
backs in our arms. They also have an albino alligator that is just
fascinating. We loved it all!
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