Grandeur of the Seas...OPINIONS, please!

[grnidlad8]

Getting ready to plan and book our next girl's trip and thinking about Grandeur. Please share your recent opinion about this ship, i.e. service, food, entertainment, cabins, cleanliness, etc. Thanks!

[wraithe]

Hundreds of reviews at www.cruisecritic.com, both professional and reader reviews. You can click on any of the links in my sig and then browse through the others. Overall, beautiful ship, fantastic crew, and good times.

[philnpen]

Although he's a retired sailor I agree with Wraithe. The Grandeur may be a little smaller than those floating cities I have never felt crowded on this ship. Wide range of activities so you can be as active as you want to be, or just laid back and relaxing if that is your style. Have been on the Grandeur three times with a 9 day out of Baltimore to the Caribbean, a 5 day out of Tampa that went to Mexico, and a 10 day cruise from Tampa that included stops in St. Martin, St. Kitts, Antigua, and Tortola.

[grneyes]

Sailed on her in May great ship!!!
Yes she is older but very clean and a great staff.
Dinning roon sevice was very good and so was the food.
Plenty of things to do .
Sometimes smaller is better.
Enjoy!!!

[TennesseeTeachers]

Sailed on her in March. I loved the ship. I have been on all sizes of RCL ships and it was great. Great food, Great ship, Great Crew and Great Cruise director. GO with no reservations. Leaving out of Tampa is easy.

Darrell Duncan

[mama02girls]

Sailed in April. Husband and I agreed that it was the best food we have ever had on any cruise, ever...no question. So enjoy! The Windjammer food was especially good and didn't remind me of typical buffet food. Look for the seafood stew the day after the seafood night in the MDR. It was sooo amazing. My husband scooped on the bottom and had an entire plate of mussels, clams, lobster....the taste was amazing.
-Service was wonderful, everyone very friendly and helpful.
-Shows were GREAT! If you like the shows, don't miss the broadway ones by the RC singers and dancers.
-Only negative we could find was the pool band. They were so good the first day or two, but by the third day they would start out fine then get loud, repetitive, obnoxious-talking and horrid "off key" improvising instead of singing. An "insider" told us that they would drink during their breaks. We learned to sit far from the speakers up on the top deck. It ended up being a good thing though, because we now LOVE sitting up there. Quieter and breezier.
Enjoy!

[grnidlad8]

Thanks to all of you that responded. I am the most seasoned cruiser in the bunch and I really prefer Royal, but it has been some time. My last few cruises with them were on their megaships, Adventure and Navigator. Loved everything about them.

This time for our next year's cruise, I need to convince some in my group that we will have to pay more to sail on a better line (previous GILRLS cruises were on Carnival). We were very disappointed with them...told the girls you get what you pay for! One of them found a very negative review about Grandeur and of course that is the one she sends to me!

Just wanted to hear some other opinions on cruise critic...

But, please do...keep the opinions coming! I may need them!

[biomedbob]

Worst ship in the fleet!

Save your money. Go to Carnival.

[Jimbo]

Originally Posted by biomedbob

Worst ship in the fleet!

Save your money. Go to Carnival.

Interesting...you have sailed that ship 12 times.

Jimbo

[Priusprof]

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Interesting...you have sailed that ship 12 times.

Jimbo

I think he wants to preserve her for himself. I've sailed her twice and she'd be perfect with a concierge lounge. Great ship and crew.

[greydog]

Did Grandeur Aug 2008 for 5 to Bermuda. I like smaller ships but would recommend against 150-sq ft standard cabins - yes we don't spend much time there but the diff with newer ships stands out. We got deal on Jr-suite. We enjoy specialty restaurant dining and there is none as far as I know on Grandeur, nor concierge lounge if those loyalty perks applied to you. Otherwise, ship seemed alright. Good Luck

[Jimbo]

Originally Posted by Priusprof

I think he wants to preserve her for himself. I've sailed her twice and she'd be perfect with a concierge lounge. Great ship and crew.

It's still a big ship, just not sure a couple more persons is going to make that much difference.

Jimbo

[geojobes]

Grandeur is a favorite of my DW & I. It has the best crew of any ship we've been on. The food is always very good to excellent in the MDR & the Windjammer, also. Speaking of the Windjammer, it is laid out very nicely in sections. The solarium is a very nice pool area for adults only. Captain Rob has a great sense of humor & his daily reports are funny. At least on our cruise, the bar servers never pushed the souvenir glasses. In short, we just love this ship & her crew.

[jaspercat]

Sailed on her Dec 08 -- had a super cruise. It was 10 years almost to the day that I had sailed on her and she looked pretty much like she did when she was 'new'.

Knew I liked her the 1st time and even more so the second. Staff (all crew) were amazing. Everyone I saw had a smile and cheerful hello. Like most of RCCL's ships the Schooner Bar was a lively place to be and the Champagne Lounge was a great spot for pre-dinner drinks or a quiet wind-down at the end of the day.

She's still a beautiful lady. You'll have a great time. Enjoy your girl's get-away.

[amybeth4]

Originally Posted by Jimbo

It's still a big ship, just not sure a couple more persons is going to make that much difference.

Jimbo

Sure, but if enough people listen to him and avoid the Grandeur, he'll have her all to himself! His own Grandeurific yacht!

There are a LOT of us Grandeur-haters on CC. I remember quite a large thread on this topic a few months ago. She was my first RCI ship (1996). Old, fat 'n ugly.

::sniff::

[YumPo]

Loved the Grandeur. Just sailed on her in May for 9 nights to the Caribbean out of Norfolk. Lovely ship (still feels "ship-like" instead of a "floating city"), great crew (Captain Rob is the BEST!!!!), really good food, loved Johnny and Take Four (one of the dance bands), so much to do -- we'd sail on her again in a heartbeat. The only thing we thought was "meh" was some of the entertainment (although we though Al Katz, the comedian, was great, and as we said, Johnny and Take Four were terrific, too). We also enjoyed "Kool Vibes", the pool band -- they were excellent, and always professional!

[Tanker4]

Agree with everyone else on here. We've sailed her two times (last cruise was a 10 day) and she's one of our favorite ships. Outstanding crew and CPT. Rob Hempstead is a real hoot...... Wish they would leave her in Tampa year round.

[read52]

We have been on her 3 times in the last 3 years. Great smaller ship. Wonderful food.

[crookedhalo]

[quote=YumPo;20170490(Captain Rob is the BEST![/quote]

I know what you mean! We loved his droll sense of humor and his morning updates I'm hoping he'll still be aboard when we go on her again in September

Go on Grandeur - you'll love her! Doesn't have all the bells and whistles, which keeps the kiddies down, IMO We've only been on her after school began and you couldn't even tell there were kids aboard

[bay guy]

Just sailed her 3 weeks ago on a Bermuda cruise from Norfolk. Ship clean, crew friendly and accomodating, food very good, entertainment very good.