Grand (ex-P&O) class

Carnival · 2 ships · all charted

10 rules hold across all 2 hulls, and 4 things do not. The exceptions are the reason not to quote a sister ship from memory.

None of this is written down anywhere. It is computed by comparing the 2 ship records field by field, so a class rule cannot drift from the hulls that carry it — add an exception to a ship and it appears here on the next build.

What every hull in the class shares

Byte-identical across every ship in the class. Learn it once.

Where to book: Midship around decks 9 to 11. A deck is only a safe default if it has cabins above it AND cabins below it — plenty of cabins on the deck itself proves nothing. On this hull that band is the closest thing to a clean sandwich — but treat it as a starting point rather than a verdict, because the balcony privacy question on 9 and 10 can override it for a specific cabin. Above that, deck 14 carries staterooms alongside the Lido pools and the buffet, and deck 15 carries more alongside the spa, the fitness centre and the kids' club — with the adventure park and the waterslides on 16 directly above them. So the top of this ship is busy in a way the deck numbers don't advertise.
Motion: Push hard for midship. Extreme forward is the one to rule out; extreme aft is a negative when there's comparable midship inventory, and more so if vibration also matters to them.
Vibration: Lower decks are generally better for motion, not worse — closer to the waterline. The catch is vibration: a low cabin at the back can still pick up the propulsion, so "go low" isn't automatically the right call for a sensitive traveller.
Obstructed views: Category 5A on deck 8 is the one, and Carnival's own deck material for both ships confirms it as an obstructed ocean view — that part is solid. What's NOT equally solid is what does the obstructing: secondary cabin data points at some mix of lifeboat, tender and steel structure, and I'd treat that as a lead rather than a fact when you're describing it to a client. No complete cabin-number list is published, so read the category code on the specific cabin. Keep this separate from the deck 10 balcony coverage question — different deck, different problem, and merging them is the obvious mistake.
Minors: For bookings made from 1 February 2025, anyone 14 or under has to be in the same cabin as their qualifying guardian or in one that genuinely connects — adjacent doesn't satisfy it. Guests 15 to 17 can be up to three cabins away. One exception worth knowing: a parent aged 21 to 24 can sail with their own children, so don't insist on a 25-plus guardian in that case.
Lifts: Three lift lobbies — forward, midship and aft, the Grand-class layout — and two of the three connect the accessible corridors, so the bank matters more here than on a ship where they're interchangeable. I couldn't establish car counts. The glazed panoramic lifts only run at the atrium on decks 5 to 7 and up at 14 over the pool, and the atrium is only three decks tall, so it isn't the landmark it is on a Carnival-built ship.
Accessibility: Only two of the three lift lobbies connect the wheelchair-accessible corridors, which makes the choice of bank a real decision rather than a convenience — check it against the accessible deck plan for the specific cabin. Dining and entertainment sit low around decks 5 to 7 while the pools are on 14 and the adventure park is on 16, so the vertical trip is substantial.
Height and age rules: Speedway Splash is the waterslide on this ship and Carnival publishes its limits: 47 inches minimum, 242 pounds maximum, included in the fare. Quote those rather than the fleet's usual numbers — this hull came from a different builder and the limits aren't Carnival's standard ones. Camp Ocean splits 2–11 into age bands (Penguins 2–5, Sting Rays 6–8, Sharks 9–11), then Circle C at 12–14 and Club O2 at 15–17. Turtles covers 6 months to under 2 at certain times.
Obstructed balconies: the category 5A obstructed ocean views on deck 8
Embarkation: Guests pick an Arrival Appointment during online check-in and need to turn up inside that window — anyone arriving early may be held until their assigned time.

Category notes — on all 2

The deck 10 balconies need explaining rather than avoiding, and the honest version is less precise than what circulates. These are the Princess Caribe design — unusually deep, with the forward portion covered and a meaningful section left open. Some of those open sections are visible from the deck above. How much varies by position, and I don't have evidence good enough to give you a universal rule, so verify the specific cabin's geometry rather than quoting a fraction at a client.
The cabins are still Princess rooms under Carnival category codes. Balcony size and coverage vary by deck in a way they don't on a Carnival-built ship. Check the specific cabin's dimensions rather than trusting the category to be uniform.
I'd steer them off a porthole room — it's the cheapest category and they've felt small to me. Check the actual square footage for the specific cabin before you rule it in or out.
Deck 8 carries a whole obstructed-oceanview category. If you're booking an oceanview here, read the code before the deck.

Ship-specific traps — on all 2

No mini-golf. Carnival's current availability list doesn't include either of these two. Don't treat them as ordinary Carnival ships on facilities just because they now carry Carnival branding — check each amenity rather than assuming the fleet default.
What they do have is the P&O Australia inheritance: Speedway Splash, the EDGE adventure offering, and the outdoor complex up top. These are their own concepts, so name them rather than describing them by analogy to a Carnival venue.

Where the hulls differ

The part that does not transfer. Everything here is one ship's, not the class's.

One hull only

Carnival Adventure2 of its own

Ship-specific trapsThis ship has had three names — Golden Princess, then Pacific Adventure, and now this one. Reviews, photos and deck plans circulate under all of them. The deck and cabin numbers mostly survived the rebrandings but every venue name changed, so an old plan will navigate correctly and describe the wrong ship.
Ship-specific trapsSearching the old Princess name will surface a 2001-era review — accurate about the bones, wrong about everything Carnival and P&O have changed since.

Carnival Encounter2 of its own

Ship-specific trapsThis ship has had three names — Star Princess, then Pacific Encounter, and now this one. Reviews, photos and deck plans circulate under all of them. The deck and cabin numbers mostly survived the rebrandings but every venue name changed, so an old plan will navigate correctly and describe the wrong ship.
Ship-specific trapsExtra care searching this one: Princess launched a brand-new Star Princess in 2025, so searching that name returns a completely different, much newer ship rather than this hull's history.

Class geometry

A deck stack counts as the class's only when every hull carries the same one. A single ship differing makes it that ship's data, not the class's.

No deck stack has been transcribed for this class. The placement rule above is the operator's own and stands on its own; there is no table here to check it against.

That is a gap in what we have looked at, not a clean bill of health. Check this part of the booking the way you would without CruiseRead.

The ships

Every hull in the class, with what has been signed off on each.

Each ship page carries its own exceptions in context, alongside the shared rules they sit inside.

Sources are recorded per ship, not per class. Each hull's page carries what its calls were checked against and when.