my review of Grandeur of the Seas

I was on my first RCCL cruise last week - Grandeur of the Seas 6/27- 7/4 - leaving Baltimore for FL and the Bahamas. I am not sure I am allowed to say I am a TA. If I am not, then I guess someone will just not post this.

We left for the port on Sunday 6/27 -- only 45 minutes from my house. I went with my daughter and my husband dropped us off. We sailed from this port two years ago when it was new but this time it was more efficient in terms of luggage and being dropped off. Unfortunately we did wait 3 hours to embark and the excuse was the ship arrived late and that the Baltimore port requires that every passenger and every piece of luggage be removed before anyone can board. We just made the buffet by a few minutes and my daughter was famished. They did offer drinks in the waiting area but could have offered cookies also.

We had an inside cabin on a top deck and it was the smallest cabin I have stayed in since the QE2. We did the fire drill and met our steward. I asked him for extra pillows and he said he would bring them. Around 9PM we did not have the pillows so I called the front desk and they said they would call housekeeping. I called again at 10PM and they said they ran out of pillows. I told them I needed them for medical reasons (which is true). At midnight there was a knock on the door and someone handed me ONE pillow. This was the beginning of what I call a cruise with non existent service.

We went to dinner (the late time) and were seated with two very young couples -- very nice - and one of them were newlyweds. I guess RCCL does not seat people who are similar the way Princess did when they sat us with a family who had a kid the same age as ours. We know from experience that teenagers come out of the woodwork the following day so we were patient that my 14 year old would meet other kids. I did try to go online in their internet cafe and was so upset that AOL did not work. They said it was because we were in the middle of the ocean but I said -- I was on AOL on a Celebrity ship in Russia.

The next morning I got up before dawn and had fun exploring the ship and being the only one on the decks. I always judge a cruise on a personal level by the coffee and being ablet to sit near the aft. The coffee was fine but I could not find any decks in the aft (until it was too late and we were leaving).

wiil finish this later

Not trying to be rude, but from what you have written so far it sounds like any more time spent on this endeavor would be wasted. Hope the experience is valuable to you in your line of work and that you have conveyed your concerns to RCCL regarding the Grandeur.. We sailed her first out of Miami and she was a lot of fun then, but have heard from 2 parties that their trips out of Nola were less than that. Sad to hear but hope this isn't a pattern for this ship or RCCL. By the way, how much did you have to pay to cruise on this ship? Happy crusing next time.

Any of you traveling on the Rhapsody 8/1 please register for the Mix & Mingle party at the Roll Call boards. thanks..

We were on Grandeur last fall and had absolutely no complaints!:o

We were on The Grandeur out of NOLA in Dec and it was fabulous!! The service was impeccable and when booking my last two cruises have struggled with the idea of sailing her again. Easily the best cruise I have had thus far (outside of my honeymoon and only because it was my honeymoon). I feel sorry someone had such a bad experience but that certainly was not the case with us, the fabulous group of cruise critics we met didn't hurt, they were also fabulous! :)

Thanks for ya'll comments regarding this ship.. Will take what I have heard with several grains of salt....water....

Happy Sailing.

We siled out of Boston in Oct for 10 day Canada./ NE. It was beautiful, great service, perfect size and very clean. It was one of the best cruises I ever took. We are going on the Mariner in Sept and I am thinking I might be dissappointed due to the crowds and the size.

Do you work for Royal Caribbean? Don't cut people off short when they make honest comments about their cruise experience. Thats whats so wonderful about America and these boards...freedom of expression. As we all know some see the glass 1/2 full and the other 1/2 empty. We all pick and choose, and I personaly welcome both negative and positive comments.

Wishing all smooth sailing and sunshine...Chuck

We were on Granduer the week of April 17, 2004, which was it's last sailing from New Orleans before going into dry dock for some up-dating and refurbishing (in fact, our waiter, who was going back to Turkey for some vacation during the remodeling, wound up on the same flight out of New Orleans with us!). He indicated that the refurbishing was going to take a couple of months and then the GOS would be sailing out of Baltimore instead of New Orleans. Given the time frames above, and assuming all things were completed on time (yeah, right), this means that the GOS has only recently gotten back into service. I know, from talking to our waiter and the head waiter that many of the staff were going to other ships, etc., so I'm sure the new crew is a hybrid of old and new - give 'em a few months to get coordinated and I'm sure things will be right back up to snuff - i.e., when we boarded the ship in New Orleans, our luggage was outside our room before we even had a chance to do a little exploring and have lunch; our room was impeccably kept; there are ALWAYS at least two extra pillows stored either in the closet or on an upper shelf somewhere in the cabin, every request was met within minutes and it was a totally enjoyable cruise eventhough we were on one of RCCL's "relatively older" ships (the entire side of our ship lost toilet pressure for a couple hours the first day out and the smoke alarm in one of the inside staterooms several doors down kept going off periodically despite maintenance's best efforts to quell it into submission, but they finally succeeded). Cruising is just like everything else: you have to do your homework before you make your choices and make your choices based upon what you've learned and one thing I've learned is never to book a cruise on a ship that's just been newly re-outfitted and/or re-staffed until AT LEAST six months afterwards so everything and everyone has had time to gel! Despite the fact that there were a few "glitches" on our cruise due to aging and wear and tear, I dare say we had a more enjoyable cruise than you because at least the staff knew how to deal with the by-then familiar glitches quickly and efficiently! :)

Chuck, thats LRSkier guy.... and no, I don't work for RCCL but I was actually thinking that the first poster might be working for CCL and badmouthing the Grandeur.. Surprised that a TA as you can go to her sight was actually being publicly negative about a ship on a particular cruise line actually.. Her job is to talk up crusing, not bad mouth it..... Her experience should be used by her in guiding her clientele. Agree, these are public boards and I agree free speech should abound so,,, so post and compliment, post and counter, complain, rant, rave, and even be helpful. Doesn't it get your goat to be on a cruise and someone keeps being a perfect ass to the crew?? We once had a lady that wouldn't stop complaining on every "question" to the crew in talks and personal encounters. Don't think she was a fun lady....Oh, she was on the grandeur.. she wondered why no one would share a cab with her......

Looking forward to our next RCCL cruise.

LRSkier, flames, flames....

Well, I was on the same cruise, but had a different time.

Dropped off at pier. One hour and 30ish minutes later was on-board, had dropped off carry-ons in room, checked seating in dinning room, and was eating in windjammer. Not bad - I think.

By 7pm ALL luggage had arrived at stateroom. Some was there by 530.

Had 2 pillows per person in room.

We were seated at dinner with 2 couples who were in our age bracket.

Just a different experiance.

We also were on the same cruise and, like 487, had a totally different experience (see my recent CrusieCritic review; sorry but I'm too much of a technophobe to figure out how to post the link here...). We had great service about 90 percent of the time, particularly from our cabin attendant and waiters... We had plenty of pillows and blankets, got extra towels as soon as we asked for them, and were seated with a similar group (a family of 7) for dinner.

We met a newlywed couple who told us they were seated with other newlyweds; I guess there were so many honeymooning couples on this cruise (32, according to the couple we met!) that they couldn't put them all together. They did hold a special reception for them, which I thought was a nice touch...

I went to the dining room for breakfast the first morning and met the two nicest ladies from my old town in VA and we chatted and chatted and I suspect will be lifelong friends.

That first day was lovely (I adore sea days) and I managed to spend time with my teenage daughter before she met some teenagers and I became a single passenger. That was a good experience since I discovered how easy it is to be a single passenger on a cruise ship since so many people talk to each other and you never feel lonely.

Tues. we docked in Freeport and asking people for ideas we took a taxi to the SHeraton at the beach for $5 each person each way and went swimming. The water was hot but gorgeous and my daughter went on a banana boat for $10.

Wed. we went to Key West and it was so so HOT and HUMID. My daughter went shopping with friends and I wandered around alone. I did meet another lady today who lives in PA and has the same last name as me. She was with her mom who is 88 and that just proves to me that you can travel indefinitely as long as you are in good health.

Thurs. we went to RCCL's private island Coco Cay and had the traditional barbecue (delicious) I pigged out on my favorite food -- ribs. I kept comparing it to two years ago. The island is still so pretty and so much fun to swim but the shops were more expensive.

The next day we went to our last port --Port Canaveral. We decided to go to Disney. We purchased a transfer for $27 each round trip on an air conditioned bus and it took about an hour to get to WDW. Disney was so hot. I was happy my daughter picked the Magic Kingdom since the buildings are closer together adn there are a lot of shops to go into that are cold. I was surprised to see the security situation in the parks. I know that the cruise lines have great security and hopefully the airlines do also. They both use scanners. When we entered the Magic Kingdom they quickly looked through our bags and that was it. I want to write a letter to Michael Eisner and ask him "why the number one tourist attraction in the world can't afford scanners."

The next day was a sea day and our last day. I participated in my first trivia game and helped out team win.

Would I recommend this ship? You bet I collected every piece of written material I could. The Grandeur will be in Baltimore next year from May through early Nov . alternating between Bermuda and the Caribbean. I was not wild about the food but loved their cookies and french fries and frozen yogurt. THey had the most extensive menu for sugar free desserts and their room service menu was the best (a full menu instead of a limited one). I loved the music they piped in. I personally did not care for the entertainment and the decor of the ship (although I loved the many windows in the huge lobby). The last day I was having breakfast with my new friends and they asked me if I walked around deck 5. I said I think so, why? They said that the deck went all around (just like deck 10) and there was a place to sit and watch the water on the aft. I will have to do that another time -and hopefully cruise to Bermuda (my favorite island) next year . I have trouble really relaxing anymore since I feel like I am always working and dissecting a ship. In a few weeks I hope to experience the new Dawn.

Let me preface this post with the fact that we have sailed on HAL, Celebrity, NCL, Costa, Radison, etc. This was BY FAR THE WORST CRUISE EVER. Dirty cabins that looked like they never were really cleaned. Dirty bathrooms with mold growing in shower. Dirty verandas that never got cleaned the entire cruise. We were in the highest priced Suite they have and the bed was a joke. I was traveling with my Sister and we asked to have the room made up into 2 twins. No problem - came back from dinner and it was done. Only problem was these beds were made for midgets. Bed was exactly 28" wide??? Give me a break, even HAL's beds are at least 3 feet wide. If I am spending $$$$ on a cruise, I expect to be able to roll over in my bed without falling out.

Public rooms were worn and not enough places to even sit and read a book.The food was in a word HORRIBLE. EVERYTHING tasted like boil in a bag - frozen and served. The very first day that we boarded, we went to the lido for lunch. What a fiasco! I actually saw food being dropped on the floor and people slipping and sliding on it and no one from RCCL even cleaning it up. I am not lying when I tell you, it was still on the carpet and floor 5 days later.

I don't get it. What's the attraction for this cruiseline? We could not wait to get off and as much as I keep telling myself not to judge the entire fleet by this experience, I would be very hard pressed to take a RCCL cruise again.

We have sailed on Grendeur twice and cannot say a single bad thing about the ship, service, or anything related to the 14 days we spent with her. I guess some people can only see bad things. It is a great ship!!

I have sailed on the Grandeur 5 times, With that said, I do not think I have to explain it further. great ship, great service, great food and entertainment,great cruise. Loved every minute of it.

I am sailing on sunday, Grandueur out of baltimore & am only reading the positive comments because there are so many more of them then negitive!

We just came back on Sunday from our trip on the Grandeur out of Baltimore. After reading so many negative posts about the ship, I was really worried about how it would be because I had talked my husband and two teenage daughters into going on this cruise.

Needless to say, we all had a great time. We thought the service was excellent -- our cabin steward and wait staff in the dining room could not have been better. We all remarked how often we heard employees singing quietly while they were working and cleaning the ship.

This was our first cruise, and I'm beginning to believe that the more often you cruise, the higher your expectations.

Since our expectations weren't that high, we were very happy. Sure there were minor problems -- crowded public bathrooms, toilets that didn't always work well, worn carpeting -- but the friendly and courteous staff more than made up for the ship's shortcomings.

We enjoyed every meal in the main dining room. We got lucky and had a table for just the four of us. It was great at the end of the day, to simply relax and enjoy a good meal.

Would I sail again on the Grandeur? :rolleyes: Absolutely.

My family (2 boys, ages 10 & 13) are going on the GOS this August (can't wait).. I've been on CCL several times (3) and RCCL (1) and can say there's always positives and negatives.. to each his own.. we are very excited this time, as the boys have never been on one.....

thank you to everyone and the reviews!!

I am really shocked by the experience helenp2 had with the cleanliness, etc. We were on the Grandeur last year, and the Enchantment, too, and I get the two mixed up in my head.

Unfortunately, it's hard to convince someone to try RCI again when their first experience was bad, but her's was definitely NOT normal for the fleet or the ship.

Oh, well, more room for the rest of us. :D

P.S. Radio's got a thread going right now live from the Grandeur. Check it out for the latest info.