Grandeur - quick review

We returned Sat from the Grandeur 4/10 sailing.

Flew into NO on Friday. Checked into the Marriot on Canal St. Booked through Priceline. Great deal, great hotel. Dinner at Mulotes, a walk through the quarter, then met Herdfan( from CC) & Mrs. for drinks.

Sat AM could see the ship from the room! Got to the pier at around 10:30. Embarkation was a breeze and we were in our room by 11:15. Explored, ate lunch and headed to the French market. Back for the muster drill. Bags had not yet been delivered. After the drill we spotted the bags in the hall so we brought them to the cabin ourselves so that we could change for dinner. Our table mates were great, and the wait staff was empressive. Teens went off in search of friends and we went to the welcome show. Good entertainment

Sunday was a sea day and Easter. Went to the church service. Very nice. Cave trubing was closer will righ Kim must initialixxe it@t t It was raining but there was lots to do on the ship. CC Meet and mingle was fun. got to meet some of our CC friends. It was a nice spread with gifts and prizes. Too bad a lot of folks didn't show. Went to the shopping talk with Nino and the zydeco dance class with Major Handy and Francis (his wife)Really fun! Captain's reception and formal night. Later we took in the adult comedy show featuring Hank McCauley. He's soooooo funny!

Monday was a nicer day. Spent a lot of time in the solarium. Both teen sons found a group to hang out with. Went to the Cajun music gigs. We're Major Handy groupies by now. He is so talented.

Tuesday was Belize. Did cave tubing with Marvin at Wet & Wild. I would highly recommend them! (see review on Ports/Belize)

Wednesday was Costa Maya. We booked the jungle beach excursion through the cruise line. It was wonderful (see review on ports/Costa Maya. The magician was pretty bad ( evening show)

Thursday was OK Cozumel = shopping. Didn't see the show, but heard it was wonderful.

Friday was a sea day. I let the one armed bandits eat my quarters and nickles, Ducked into the cave and missed the b'day celeb by a few hours!

Was on the Grandeur with you. Sorry I didn't see you at the meet and mingle. I was the one off to the side.

We did the snorkel with the dolphins in Cozumel. It was really fantastic, a must do for those going there.

There was a group, called the Rosario Strings, a pianist and violinist that were truly awesome. We sought them out as much as possible to hear them play. The pianist played and played, never using sheet music and rarely looking at his hands while he played. They often played at dinner. If you're on the ship, they are there for the next month and then they are "unbooked". I would recommend them highly.

The ship size is just perfect, not too small or big. It was easy to figure out and still allowed a lot of nooks and crannies to get away. Check out the relaxation room in the spa for a quiet retreat.

Also did the rock climbing wall; at 45, I was a bit nervous, but it was really fun. They have professionals on baord that help you through the process. One guy actually has is own wall that he works at in Texas.

Food was good to very good; not great. But then that is the price point that this cruise revolves around. One piece of advice, get to know the head waiter very early and seek him out each night. We had Alex (Alexandro) and he was truly awesome. Tended to our every need and addressed all my detailed concerns about dining room service immediately.

The wine list is very limited and RCL has odd policies: if you want a wine from the champagne bar, you have to order it there. Sitting 10 feet away in the centrum, the wait staff have no idea what is there and don't want to be bothered by this "better" list. Let me know if you have more questions on the wine, I'll be happy to fill you in.

All in all, a very relaxing cruise. As always, tough to go back to work today. Let me know if you have other questions.

Wayne

Disney Magic - 10 Day - December 18, 2004

Royal Carribean Grandeur of the Seas - Western Carribean April 10, 2004

Radisson Mariner - Alaska June 03

Celebrity Mercury - CA Coast April 03

Radisson PG - Tahiti August 02

Disney Wonder - Bahamas April 02

Carnival Holiday - Mexico April 00

Carnival Elation - Mexico August 99

NCL - Mexico April 95

Paquet Dolphin July 82

are they still offering a wine and dine package for dinner in the dining room??? Thanks

Monarch of the Seas 09/92

Majesty of the Seas 11/93

Sovereign of the Seas 09/94

Majesty of the Seas 11/95

Grandeur of the Seas 11/99

Grandeur of the Seas 11/00

Grandeur of the Seas 06/01

Grandeur of the Seas 02/02

Navigator of the Seas 12/02

Rhapsody of the Seas 06/03

Radiance of the Seas 11/03

Grandeur of the Seas 05/04

Navigator of the Seas 11/04

No, they stopped the wine and dine package. I specifically asked about it when I boarded and they said no. So you are stuck with a very expensive wine list. Turns out there is a special "deal" that is not at all advertised anywhere. You can get a bottle of 1998 Byron Pinot Noir with two very nice logo wine glasses (very large) for $68. We found this out after asking one of the staff how we could get a good wine glass for a special, off the wine menu bottle of wine (a Chateau Lafite Rothschild, 1993) (again, see not above about getting to know your head waiter). The rest of the wine selection is just okay. The standard wine in all the bars is terrible. You are better off with a Mango Tango drink.

Wayne

Disney Magic - 10 Day - December 18, 2004

Royal Carribean Grandeur of the Seas - Western Carribean April 10, 2004

Radisson Mariner - Alaska June 03

Celebrity Mercury - CA Coast April 03

Radisson PG - Tahiti August 02

Disney Wonder - Bahamas April 02

Carnival Holiday - Mexico April 00

Carnival Elation - Mexico August 99

NCL - Mexico April 95

Paquet Dolphin July 82

Thanks for the info. We like wine with dinner every night but do not want to break the bank, I can only hope since we are on the 11 night that they might offer something.

Monarch of the Seas 09/92

Majesty of the Seas 11/93

Sovereign of the Seas 09/94

Majesty of the Seas 11/95

Grandeur of the Seas 11/99

Grandeur of the Seas 11/00

Grandeur of the Seas 06/01

Grandeur of the Seas 02/02

Navigator of the Seas 12/02

Rhapsody of the Seas 06/03

Radiance of the Seas 11/03

Grandeur of the Seas 05/04

Navigator of the Seas 11/04

Spfar and Macbest, I have a question for either or both of you. I asked herdfan this question also but he said that he didn't really go to many of the shows. Can you give us a recap of the entertainment and entertainers aboard the Grandeur? Specifically, what is your opinion of the production shows in the main show lounge? I know spfar mentioned the magician, but what about any comedians or musicians in any of the lounges? Some of the earlier sailings also had a ventriloquist. Was he aboard your sailing as well? What is your opinion of Tom Canosa as the Cruise Director? Thanks in advance for any info you can provide on this topic. Feel free to add any other "hidden gems" aboard the Grandeur as well.

Spfar,

Thanks for the review! WHat ages are your teenage sons? We will be on the Grandeur in December and we have 16, 14 and a friend of the 14 year old sailing with us, and am hoping they will have things to do. That age group is hard to please sometimes!!!!!

The entertainers were generally disappointing; the opening show included a quick bit by the singers and dancers which I was very disappointed. Usually on a cruise ship, they have one or two singers that are incredible, where you often wonder, "why are these people here, they should be on Broadway". Not the case here. The commedian on the first day was good, not great. Again, being the opening show, nearly everyone was there including many kids. Many of his jokes were not appropriate for kids and yet no notification was sent to let people know this. He went for the quick laughs.

The singers and dancers came back again twice during the week. Each time, our group was disappointed. As for the magician, he was okay, very big props and amazing who done its. What was funny is he then did another show in one of the smaller lounges (South Pacific) later in the week, screwed up one of his tricks and abruptly stopped his show. Everyone was going, "what is going on here"?

On one of the last nights, there was a juggler/commedian who was incredible. The whole crowd was laughing throughout his show. Very high energy, picked on people in the audience, etc. Highly recommeded.

Only other show was a single act who sang and told jokes. I missed this show, but the rest of my group said that he was very good. Again, the Rosario Strings were awesome. Tom is the cruise director and I found him better than most. He has a variety of top 10 lists which are funny and he does what he can to pump up the crowd.

Hidden Gems: In addition to the relaxation room, there is a steam and sauna room in each of the mens and womens lockers. Most don't know it is there. The solarium in general, is to me a hidden gem. Very quiet, temperature controlled (with roof opening when needed and sunny, closed when windy and cloudy. Also, highly recommend either doing a tour in Belize. The tender stop is worthless if you are going to Belize City. Armed guards everywhere (including some on the rooftops with machine guns). Doesn't make you feel warm and fuzzy. Also, try and do the dolphin swim and snorkel in Cozumel. Book directly through the vendor (see port boards for address online) and you avoid getting knocked out by the ship's excursions.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have other questions.

Wayne

Disney Magic - 10 Day - December 18, 2004

Royal Carribean Grandeur of the Seas - Western Carribean April 10, 2004

Radisson Mariner - Alaska June 03

Celebrity Mercury - CA Coast April 03

Radisson PG - Tahiti August 02

Disney Wonder - Bahamas April 02

Carnival Holiday - Mexico April 00

Carnival Elation - Mexico August 99

NCL - Mexico April 95

Paquet Dolphin July 82

Gee folks - I don't know what this board did to my original post. There's text in there that I didn't type and the entire end of the post was cut off! Anyway....

I thought the production shows were pretty good, though I agree with Macbest that no singers were outstanding. A couple of the dancers had a lot of personality. Tom Canosa is great. A lot of energy, good sense of humor. The comedian Hank McCauley was really good. I didn't think his jokes in the opening show were too off-color, but the kids that ended up the adult show got an earful! I wasn't impressed by the magic show, but I've seen a lot of magicians. Didn't see the juggler, but heard he was good.

As I mentioned in the OP, we LOVED Major Handy. I wasn't that thrilled with the two solo pianists, but I absolutely agree with Macbest that the Rosario Strings were outstanding. The Music Makers were pretty good, and Legacy was a good oldies cover band, but the guys were in dire need of a visit from the "Fab Five" (Queer Eye - not Beatles)

Myangel - our boys are 15 and 18. There are activities for the teens, but towards the end of the cruise a lot of them just hung out in the hallways. We were lucky in that both boys made some nice friends. We allowed the 18 year old to drink and go to the casino (18-21 is with parental permission) It's supposed to be just beer and wine, but they served him anything he wanted. He drank responsibly, and only played $10 in the casino. You have to know your kid. Some of the younger kids were drinking as well and unfortuantely it didn't seem like the parents knew or cared!

The sauna and steam rooms are indeed hidden gems. I didn't discover them until the last sea day and wish I had found them sooner!

Sorry we didn't meet up at the meet and mingle Macbest.