Grand Princess
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Grand Princess
The Grand Princess is a Princess Cruises ship offering itineraries in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Alaska, and Europe. It provides an all-inclusive cruise experience focused on luxury, families, and couples, featuring onboard gastronomy, spa services, entertainment, and organized shore excursions. The ship includes multiple cabin categories and ocean cruise vacations, combining romantic and family cruising within a large-scale international cruise environment. This ship is well suited for travelers seeking a classic premium cruise experience with diverse destinations, onboard comfort, and a balance of relaxation and activities.
Itineraries of the Grand Princess
Price and Availability Notice
Prices displayed are provided for informational purposes only. They reflect the rates in effect at the time of their most recent update and are shown in Canadian dollars, per person, based on double occupancy, unless otherwise specified.
Supplier rates, exchange rates, taxes and fees, room or cabin categories, and promotions are subject to change at any time. The applicable price is the one confirmed by a travel advisor at the time of booking, subject to availability. Only the confirmed price shall be considered valid.
It is the traveler's responsibility to confirm the price, inclusions, and applicable terms and conditions before making a reservation. While every effort is made to keep our content up to date, transmission, display, or pricing errors may occur. In such cases, the correct price will be communicated to the traveler before any booking is confirmed. Certain terms, restrictions, and exclusions may apply.
decks plans
Deck - 17
Sky
Deck - 16
Sports
Deck - 15
Sun
Deck - 14
Lido
Deck - 12
Aloha
Deck - 11
Baja
Deck - 10
Caribe
Deck - 9
Dolphin
Deck - 8
Emerald
Deck - 7
Promenade
Deck - 6
Fiesta
Deck - 5
Plaza
Deck - 4
Gala
Ship's attributes
Services And Amenities
- Elevators
- Self-service laundry room
- Casino
- Jacuzzi
- Pool
- Beauty salon
- Spa & body care
Specific needs
- Wheelchair accessible staterooms
Technical specifications
- Classe: Grand Class
- Tonnage: 107751
- Speed: 22.0 knots
- Passengers: 2600
- Decks: 16
- Length: 290 m
- Width: 48 m
History
- 1998: Année de construction
- 26 mai 1998: Croisière inaugurale
- 2019: Modernisation
- 2019: Année de rénovation
Frequently Asked Questions
107,517 gross tons, 289.5 metres long, 36 metres wide, 13 passenger decks and 1,301 staterooms. It carries 2,602 guests at double occupancy and up to 3,122 once every upper berth is filled, with a crew of 1,150. It is the smallest of the Grand-class ships Princess still operates alongside Caribbean Princess: Crown, Emerald and Ruby measure 113,561 tons and carry two more decks. For scale, the 2013 Royal Princess is 142,714 tons and the 2024 Sun Princess carries roughly 4,300 people.
Yes, this is that ship. On 5 March 2020 it was carrying 3,533 people — 2,422 guests and 1,111 crew from 54 nationalities — when a COVID-19 outbreak was confirmed on the return from Hawaii. The ship was held off San Francisco from 7 to 9 March, then docked at the Port of Oakland; 2,042 people had disembarked by 12 March and were moved to shoreside quarantine sites including Travis Air Force Base. Final counts differ between sources — at least 122 confirmed cases by late April 2020 in the official tally, appreciably more in other tabulations — with seven deaths among those who had been on board. The ship returned to service after the industry-wide shutdown; nothing about the episode relates to the hull or its design.
It was cut off in May 2011. Princess had announced it on 10 February 2011 in blunt terms, and the drydock that followed remains the most extensive the line has ever performed on one of its ships. The reason was not only cosmetic: Grand Princess had a tendency to sail bow-high, a fault unique to her among the sisters, and removing the structure corrected the trim while improving fuel economy by three to four per cent. The nightclub was replaced by The One5, built on deck 15, which is where the name comes from, and the same refit brought Crown Grill, the Leaves tea lounge and the conversion of the atrium into the Piazza. Grand Princess is therefore the only one of the four without a perched nightclub: Crown, Emerald and Ruby keep theirs, sited forward of the funnel rather than over the stern.
Alaska out of Vancouver all summer. It alternates 7- and 8-day one-way runs between Vancouver and Whittier, at the head of the Gulf of Alaska, with 15-day round trips from Vancouver, the last return arriving 12 September. On 19 September it repositions from Vancouver to Los Angeles in 7 days, then runs an 11-day Mexico loop on 25 September. Watch the Whittier trap: the port sits about 90 minutes from Anchorage through a single-lane road tunnel, so a northbound one-way means flying home from Anchorage with a generous buffer.
It moves to Australia and stays there for the year. On 5 October 2026 it leaves Los Angeles for Sydney on a 30-day crossing, then runs Australian and New Zealand loops from Sydney and Brisbane through 2027, including an 80-day Circle Pacific voyage departing 15 June 2027. Practically: for 2026 you buy Montreal to Vancouver, a direct flight of about five and a half hours, and board at Canada Place. For 2027 you are flying to Sydney or Brisbane — roughly twenty hours with at least one connection on the west coast or in Asia, a 14- to 16-hour time difference, and a hotel night at each end. If it is Alaska you wanted on this ship, summer 2026 was the easy season.
A balcony on deck 10, Caribe, if one is available. The Grand-class hull is stepped: decks 8 Emerald, 9 Dolphin and 10 Caribe are each set back from the one above, which gives Caribe a balcony roughly twice as deep as the others and half covered — genuinely useful for staying outside in Glacier Bay on a grey morning. The trade-off is documented and worth saying out loud: these tiered balconies are visible from above, and a guest leaning over the rail on deck 11 Baja can see part of yours. If privacy matters more than square metres, book deck 11 Baja or deck 12 Aloha, both fully covered and unoverlooked. Mini-suites sit on decks 8 and 9, and the Club Class category adds access to a dining room section with no wait.
Three main dining rooms — Da Vinci forward, Michelangelo and Botticelli aft — plus the Horizon Court buffet. Extra-charge tables are Crown Grill for steaks and Sabatini's for Italian, with Alfredo's pizzeria alongside. The Piazza, an atrium open through three decks, gathers the round-the-clock International Café, the Vines wine bar and Crooners; elsewhere you get the Wheelhouse Bar, Explorers Lounge, the Leaves tea lounge and The One5 nightclub. Up top: the Neptune's Reef and Calypso Reef pools, Movies Under the Stars on a giant poolside screen, The Sanctuary adults-only deck by paid reservation, the Lotus Spa, and a deck 7 promenade that still wraps the whole ship — something Royal-class ships no longer offer.
The age, first. The hull dates from 1998 and the last genuine interior overhaul was in 2011; the April–May 2025 drydock at the Vigor yard in Portland, Oregon covered machinery, hull work, classification inspections and touch-ups to staterooms and public rooms, not a rebuild. Stateroom bathrooms are tight, power outlets are scarce, and the décor shows its era to anyone stepping off a Sun Princess. It also lacks everything the Royal and Sphere classes introduced since: no glass SeaWalk, no glass dome, no Park19, and a Piazza smaller than the atriums on newer hulls. And the tiered lower-deck balconies are not private balconies, which guests who discover it on board do not take kindly.
The base fare covers your stateroom, the three main dining rooms, the Horizon Court buffet, theatre shows, the pools, the fitness centre and the self-service launderettes on the cabin decks. Extra: alcohol and specialty coffees, Wi-Fi, the daily service charge, shore excursions, The Sanctuary, Lotus Spa treatments and extra-charge tables such as Crown Grill and Sabatini's. Princess sells two bundles, Princess Plus and Princess Premier, which fold drinks, connectivity and service charges into one line. Which one pays off depends entirely on what you actually consume, and your AquaTerra advisor will run that math with you at 1-866-628-6241.
Not in the base fare. Princess automatically posts a daily charge called Crew Appreciation to your onboard account, scaled by stateroom category — inside, balcony or suite — and billed per person, children included. It is covered outright if you book Princess Plus or Princess Premier. A separate service amount is also added automatically to every drink ordered at a bar, whether at Crooners or Vines. On a 15-day Alaska round trip from Vancouver that accumulates over fifteen days, so settle the question before you board rather than at the desk on the last night.
Princess does not sell a standalone drink package: it comes inside a full bundle. Princess Plus allows fifteen drinks a day under a per-drink ceiling, along with specialty coffees, juices and bottled water; Princess Premier removes the daily cap and raises the per-drink ceiling. Both also fold in Wi-Fi and the service charge. On board, the natural stops are Crooners and Vines in the Piazza, the Wheelhouse Bar, Explorers Lounge and the Calypso and Neptune's pool bars. The bundle is bought for the whole cruise and for every adult in the stateroom, never by the day: 1-866-628-6241.
Grand Princess is a MedallionClass ship. The Medallion is a contactless disc about the size of a quarter, worn on the wrist, around the neck or simply carried in a pocket: it unlocks your stateroom door as you approach without taking anything out, works as your onboard payment method, speeds up embarkation, and lets you order a drink or a meal delivered wherever you are, including at the pool or in a Piazza armchair. Because it is located on board, it also shows where your travel companions are on a deck plan, which families like; sharing your position with other guests is optional and can be switched off. What annoys people: everything runs through the Princess app, which you must download, complete and load with a photo and documents before departure, and it is slow; the bracelets and pendants for wearing the Medallion are sold separately, the basic lanyard being provided; and on a 1998 hull sensor coverage is uneven, so the door does not always open on the first try. The Wi-Fi runs on MedallionNet and performs well, good enough for video calls, with one device covered by Princess Plus and four devices with priority bandwidth under Princess Premier.
It handles them properly, but it was not designed around them. Grand Princess has a Youth Center with a paddling pool and a Teen Center, supervised by age group under the Camp Discovery banner and free during the day; there is no water park, no slides, no ice rink and no climbing wall. Princess draws a distinctly older crowd than the market average, and on a 15-day Alaska round trip in September you will meet very few children. In July out of Vancouver there are more, though never anything like a family-focused American megaship. Note that the daily service charge applies to children as well.
It starts to matter at the third tier. You reach Gold on your first cruise, Ruby after three cruises or thirty cumulative days, Platinum after five cruises or fifty days, and Elite after fifteen cruises or 150 days, whichever count gets you further. A reduction on the Wi-Fi package arrives at Ruby; complimentary laundry, priority embarkation and disembarkation and a shore excursion reduction at Platinum; dry cleaning, a stocked mini-bar setup and a Lotus Spa treatment at Elite. Status is individual and does not transfer to a spouse. A 15-day Alaska round trip from Vancouver advances the day count far faster than three short cruises.
Unlikely in Alaska, where most of the route runs through the Inside Passage, sheltered by islands. At 107,517 gross tons with stabilizers the ship handles swell well, and removing the aft structure in 2011 fixed its bow-high tendency. The stretches to watch are the Gulf of Alaska crossing between Whittier and the Inside Passage, which is often lively, and the September run down from Vancouver to Los Angeles in open Pacific water. If you are sensitive, book midship on a low deck — 8 Emerald or 9 Dolphin — rather than high and forward, and take your tablets before the sea builds, not after.
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