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My review: Grandeur of the Seas 3.8-3.13


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Hi everyone ... I'm sitting in the Tampa airport and thought that I might as well use my time (and the free wireless access) to write up my review of the Grandeur. My reviews tend to get a little wordy, but I'll try to keep it to a minimum. ;) I have posted my uncorrected photos already, but I'll admit, there's not a lot "special" in there ... having been on the ship and to all of the ports before, I did not see the need to take a lot of inside or shore shots. I do have previous photos of Grandeur if you are interested in those, and I, of course, will answer any questions to the best of my ability.

 

Alright ... here we go .... ;)

 

About me

 

Just so you can get a glimpse of my perspective, here's some info about me. I'm a graduate student, and this is my third spring break cruise. I have been cruising mostly with my mother since she retired (most of my friends can't afford it). This was my sixth RCCL cruise and my second time on the Grandeur. I've cruised out of Tampa once before. I'm not a big partier or drinker, and prefer spending time on my balcony or on the promenade deck as opposed to the sun deck.

 

Pre-cruise

 

I always worry about flying out of Indianapolis in the winter, and as usual, a winter storm was approaching for the day of departure. However, I booked a very early flight (5:30 AM) the day before my cruise in order to give myself the most opportunity to make it. Because of the early flight, I used Priceline to book the Hyatt Place airport hotel in Indy, and for $49 after taxes, this is a great little place (I only wish I got to spend more than about 5 hours there).

 

We got up at 3 for our 5:30 AM flight, then headed over to the airport. I'm usually a "2-hours before" kind of guy, but knowing the security didn't open until 4:30, I didn't see the point of arriving too early. We walked in the door at about 4:25 to hear the United desk agents yelling from their counter that the desk would be opening soon (4:30). There was already a huge line formed, so we made our way to the back of the line. At this point, a woman from United came to the back of the line to remind us that our bags needed to be checked 45 minutes before the flight. Passengers asked how that would be possible, considering they just opened 60 minutes before our flight, and had a line of over 100 people. The gate agent told it us was our problem and that we should have arrived earlier and lined up. When asked if we could jump people who had a later flight, she told us that they got there first, so they had priority over us. Sizing up the situation, I went out and checked the line at the skycap. It was short so we went out there and resigned ourself to paying $2/bag for the service. Of course, once we got up to the skycap, she need to "walk" two guys into the airport and disappeared for 10 minutes. I'm pretty passive, but as I stared at my watch and saw that 45 minute deadline approach, I was about ready to blow if my baggage check was denied. Another agent arrived, however, checked us in, and we got on the plane ... just enough drama to start the day right.

 

We had a connecting flight in D.C., but we made it to Tampa by 10:45. I had made a reservation at the Tampa Intercontinental via Priceline, and called using the courtesy phones for shuttle pickup once our baggage had been collected. The shuttle arrived after about 10 minutes, and 15 minutes after that, we arrived at our hotel. The desk clerk was very helpful and gave us two double beds on the top floor with immediate check-in. The room was very nice, and the hotel had a mall right across the street, as well as various food options, a liquor store, and a Walgreens. There was no shuttle option to the port, but other than that, this seemed to be a very good pre-cruise hotel if you wanted something a little upscale.

 

I need to go check my bags with the airline, so to be continued (with acutal talk about the cruise!) .... :)

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Day 1

 

Well, the big day arrived, but for some reason, I had butterflies in my stomach. I had this nagging suspicion that I had done everything in a hurry and had gotten to Tampa the wrong day, etc. I double checked my tickets and my luggage tags, but something still felt wrong. Hmmm ....

 

Anyway, at about 11, we checked out of the hotel and had the desk call us a cab. The cab fare was $15.50 from the hotel to the Port of Tampa. When we arrived, the cabbie looked up and said ... now that's weird, you can usually see the ship sticking up from the aquarium by now. This didn't help the fluttering butterflies by any means, and as we drove up, the cabbie tried to get information from the port agents. Apparently, due to high winds, the Grandeur was not allowed to come to the terminal, and instead was forced to dock in an industrial area. Our cabbie asked if he could drop us off down there, and he was told no, RCCL would take care of it.

 

So, without further ado, we got out of the cab and a porter was right there to take our luggage. There were several agents milling around outside the terminal, and they informed us that passengers were still being offloaded, due to the bussing situation, though we were welcome to go into the terminal and check in. We proceeded up to the counters, which were basically empty at 11:20, and checked in. We were informed that boarding would not commence for a few hours, and we were welcome to either sit in the terminal and wait or to go out to channelside walk around.

 

We chose to wait it out, and within a few minutes, one of the port agents came around handing out fliers that basically told us that apologized for the inconvenience and told us that boarding would commence by 3 PM. In addition, much to my surprise, the letter also told us that each passenger would be given a $20 OBC to cover lunch costs (if we chose to head out to eat). I thought this was very generous of RCCL, given the fact that the delay wasn't their fauld and that they were already eating the costs of the extra busses being used to ferry people to/from the ship. The compensation did not stop all of the complaining, of course, with the general idea that this happened "all of the time" (even though the port agents told us this was the first occurance) and that RCCL was just unprepared. Oh well, I guess some people just need to complain ....

 

Anyway, I had packed some food in my bag, so we chose to wait in the terminal and watch people check-in. We were right by the entrance, so my favorite continuous drama was watching the liquor police check bags and bottles coming in through the carry-on luggage. They were kept very busy, and by the time we were out of the terminal, they had quite a cart of confiscations ranging from a case of beer and 1.75 bottles of rum to water bottles, to mouthwash containers. They had one employee whose job it was to sniff suspicious liquid containers and I really didn't envy the guy.

 

Our wait in the terminal ended at about 2:00 when I saw a wedding party escorted out of the terminal. They then called priority tickets, which I realized we probably should have had, being both platinum C&A members and suite guests. However, we were number 1, so I wasn't feeling to anxious about it, and five minutes later, ticket 1 people were called. Many in the terminal had trouble hearing the announcements, and the people surrounding me were sad to see me go because I seemed to be the only one in the area able to decipher what was being said.

 

Once we made it into line, we proceeded to head out through the secured area, down an escalator, and out the back of the terminal where busses were waiting. These busses were not handicap accessible, so those in wheelchairs had to wait until the smaller, accessible busses arrived. The rest of us were loaded into motor coaches. The drive was about 10 minutes, onto outside roads then back into the port, and at the end, we were rewarded with vision of the Grandeur set against cargo loaders and other rusty machinery.

 

We boarded very quickly and, surprise surprise, our staterooms were already available! We had booked our first ever JR suite, an aft balcony room 7654. Upon entering the room, was a bit disappointed. The room was long, but didn't seem to offer much more than a standard balcony room except a full-sized couch and a tiny shelf that ran along the wall from the closet to the dresser. The bathroom was still tiny, though instead of a shower, there was a tub that was very close to the toilet. The mirror had weird black spots on it. The balcony was nice and big, though it felt a little dirty and the sliding door handle had quite a big of rust on it. I know that this sounds very negative, but was my first impression. The room really grew on me after that, however, a cosmetic sprucing of area looked like it was needed.

 

After getting situated in the room, we headed up to the buffet, which was opened as usual. I picked out the perennial boarding-day favorite, honey stung chicken, and easily found a table in the Windjammer. I was very grateful that the crew had put up signs showing which direction to approach the station areas, as this had been a mess on my recent Brilliance cruise. Not everyone followed the signs, but at least there was usually some semblance of order.

 

After eating, we headed up to make spa appointments, and the spa was actually very busy. Waiters made their rounds with drink of the days, and most of their trays had a big sign saying $5.95, which I'm glad they added to keep people from thinking that boarding drinks were free. The muster drill was pushed back to 5:30 due to the delays, and this was when it became truly apparent how many spring breakers were going on this 5 day cruise. Muster drill was filled with chatting, cell-phone talking, already-half-in-the-bag college-aged folks, and to be completely honest here, I did not hear a single word of the muster drill and no effort was made by the crew in charge of the area to quiet people down when the drill started. As a veteran cruiser, this wasn't a huge problem to me, but I can imagine it was/would have been disconcerting to any new cruisers who cared. The one good thing I can say ... only a few people blew on those darn whistles (which is one of my pet peeves and annoys the heck out of me).

 

The Welcome Aboard show was a mixed seating show that was sparsely attended (which I then attributed to a late start to first seating dinner). The cruise director was Simeon, and he seemed decent, though throughout the week he managed to trot out just about every cruise director gag and saying found in the cruising cliche manual.

 

We had second seating in the dining room, and our table was 92, which was a 4-seater right at the bottom of the dining room's staircase. Upon surveying the room throughout the cruise, it seems that RCCL tried their best to offer a good dining experience ... the sides of the dining room (at least on the bottom) were mostly or all spring breakers, while the center seemed to be mostly older cruisers with a mix of younger family members.

 

Our waiters were Ryan and Nheil, who must have been having an off night because the service that night left much to be desired, especially with one our tablemate's meals forgotten for about 10 minutes. There was a little chanting/yelling from the gallery, but overall, the atmosphere wasnt bad.

 

After dinner, the casino wasn't quite open yet, so I headed back to the room to spend time on the balcony and head to sleep.

 

Ship note: I do have to say, even with my initial complaints about the condition of our stateroom, the Grandeur is a beautiful ship. Many of the displays of artwork and statues are stunning, and the wood/brass/window motif works very well, especially in the centrum, which on any deck, allows for stunning views of the ocean while at sea.

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Day 2: Day @ Sea

 

One of the reasons I like sailing RCCL is ShipShape program, as I think the rewards help motivated me to get some exercise and get involved with more activities. Since Walk-a-Mile start at 9 AM (sharp!), we got up around 8, got ready, and headed to the Windjammer buffet. The crowds were fairly sparse at that time on a sea day, and the food offerings were all that I remembered ... made-to-order omelettes/eggs, fruit, soggy waffles, hard biscuits, and luke-warm gravy. In all, I've really yet to be impressed with breakfast on a cruise ship (in the buffet or dining room), but it wasn't bad by any means. The servers were very quick to pick up plates and offer to bring juice, milk and coffee.

 

When we went to Walk-a-Mile, we found that the ShipShape program had changed to the Vitality program. It was explained to us that RCCL re-branded the program in order to have it fit with new suggestions for workouts, dining, spa, and excursions. That first day we were given a password and then asked to report it when we were finished, but after that we were given our rewards when we showed up.

 

This, the first sea day, was the formal night of the cruise, as well as the day when the first art auction was held, as well as the shopping talk an the first production show. We skipped all of these ... been there and done that. In walking by the Centrum during the art auction though ... I couldn't have been a good week for ParkWest, as about 5 people seemed to be attending the auction, even with the opportunity for free champagne.

 

Daily announcements were made by Captain Remo, and it became readily apparent that he likes to talk. I found him kind of humorous, but others tired of his very long announcements. I didn't go to the captain's reception, but heard it was fine. Evidently there were only about 300 repeat cruisers, and I heard elsewhere that there were only 130 under-18 children.

 

If anyone is curious ... it was readily apparent that this was a spring break cruise. The sun deck, pools, and hot tubs were consistently packed, with many hot-tubbers playing the "hide the alcohol as security comes by" game. I saw at least one beer bong on deck during the day, and walking to my aft room was often like walking through a dorm hall, especially at night. I don't know if the 7th deck alone was like this, but most of the insides seemed packed to the gills with 3 and 4 passengers. Music could usually be heard thumping through some of the doors, and several times did we pass room doors that were propped open with a chair to reveal kids sitting in a circle, listening to music, talking, and drinking. Like I said ... definite dorm vibe. To be honest, none of this really affected my cruise, but it WAS noticeable. As I mentioned before, security was trying to be vigilant on the pool deck, especially when younger adults in the pool area were drinking from their Coke-plan mugs and non-ship-branded water bottles. I didn't spend much time on the sun deck, but even I noticed a few "sniff" tests of these containers.

 

Our 4:00 PM Walk-a-Mile was also supposed to take place on the sun-deck (5 laps for a mile), but we grabbed our rewards and opted to head to the outside promenade on deck 5 to walk (4 laps for a mile). Not only does the outside promenade on deck 5 go all around the ship, but it also has some covering from the sun. Of course, the other reason to walk here is that there are far fewer people on it and no deck-chairs blocking the path in pursuit of the "pefect tanning angle."

 

I did not pack formal clothes, but I did attend dinner in slacks and a golf shirt (my every-day dinner apparel). I saw perhaps two tuxes, with most guys dressing about like I had and most girls dressing up a bit more, as per usual, in my opinion. Dinner service was much improved this night, though the food was only so-so. I think I'm going to have to give up on beef dishes, just because they are starting to get boring and I think it is rare for them to be prepared very well with so many passengers.

 

After dinner, we made a brief stop at the casino, then it was bedtime for me again. There was a 70's party in the Viking Crown Lounge for those craving dancing after 11 PM.

 

Well, about time for my flight, so I'll continue later tonight.

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At this point, a woman from United came to the back of the line to remind us that our bags needed to be checked 45 minutes before the flight. Passengers asked how that would be possible, considering they just opened 60 minutes before our flight, and had a line of over 100 people.

 

As a frequent flyer from the 80's on, I've seen this happen many times, but never when headed for a cruise. Smart, experienced ticket agents would call all people fom that first part to the front of, or to their own line.

 

Now, back to reading your review. I always appreciate when people qualify themselves before a review. I think all reviews are good if you understand the point of view of the writer.

 

PS, that snow storm you were talking about, we got 20", I was thinking that if that was my weekend to cruise I would have probably driven to Indy.

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Looking forward to the rest of the review. Going on a 7 night on Grandeur on April 5. Looks like you definitely had the spring breakers. Other posts have indicated the crew on Grandeur is very friendly - what was your impression?

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I am getting a kick out of Silentbob, as I sit here in the high desert of Oregon watching the thermometer plummet. I returned from my first cruise a month ago and, for the first time, am waivering in my belief that juniper trees and sagebrush make a beautiful landscape. Anyhow, keep the laughs coming. PS What are your grad studies in, Silentbob? PSS Can someone cue me in on how to get a graphic by my log-in name? I'd like to pretty it up.

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Nice review so far, leaving from N.J. driving to Tampa in less then 24 hours, and after long hard overtime hours to show my wife the time of her life ;) It is nice to see someone who enjoyed the ship we will be on in less then 4 days :) I appreciate and look forward to the rest of your review!

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Looking forward to the rest of the review. Going on a 7 night on Grandeur on April 5. Looks like you definitely had the spring breakers. Other posts have indicated the crew on Grandeur is very friendly - what was your impression?

 

The crew were fabulous. Everyone seemed like they really wanted to help you in any way they could. Crew members have told me that they love the Grandeur and love staying there because it was a good ship and was small enough that they could get to know everyone.

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I am getting a kick out of Silentbob, as I sit here in the high desert of Oregon watching the thermometer plummet. I returned from my first cruise a month ago and, for the first time, am waivering in my belief that juniper trees and sagebrush make a beautiful landscape. Anyhow, keep the laughs coming. PS What are your grad studies in, Silentbob? PSS Can someone cue me in on how to get a graphic by my log-in name? I'd like to pretty it up.

 

Thanks! Sounds like PCD (post-cruise depression) to me ... I usually find myself suffering from it, especially in these gray winter months here in Indiana. I'm working on my phd in instructional design/educational technology.

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Day 3: Cozumel

 

The Grandeur, at least on this itinerary, spends an early day in Cozumel. The ship docked at around 7 AM and the on-board time was 3:30. Unfortunately, the ship docked at the pier away from town (international pier?), necessitating a taxi ride into town if you wanted to visit the larger shopping areas or the famous drinking sites (Carlos and Charlie's, etc). Of course, there was some shopping at the pier with a few duty-free stores, a Cincos Soles, and 1/2 Senior Frogs. This suited me, as I basically only buy items from Cicos Soles anyway, but hardcore shoppers might be upset about having to pay to get downtown. Actually ... I had an almost-irate woman corner me on the elevator to ask me to explain why we were not downtown ... I'm not sure why I was singled out, but it was kind of funny.

 

I had originally made a reservation at Nachi Cocum with Island Marketing, but I never paid the deposit when I decided it was a little more than I wanted to spend. I then thought about going to Paradise Beach, but in the end, decided not to do that either. In other words, Cozumel became sort of a ship day for us for about our 10th time there. This meant that I got the chance to defend my Grandeur shuffleboard title at the shuffleboard tournament. Evidently this was not high on the priority list for other people, as my mom and I were the only ones who showed up at 11 AM, so I did manage to win that gold medal. ;)

 

We did go ashore to shop a bit. We bought some vanilla at Cincos Soles, which was about the only vanilla I found in the shopping area that had vanilla listed as the top ingredient over water or alcohol. I checked out the duty-free liquor prices, and to be honest, I thought the prices ranged from mediocre to bad. I thought that tequila prices were especially high in this location, which I guess makes sense because people go into Mexico looking for tequila. I also noticed quite high prices on "Cuban" cigars, though I think the odds of any true cubans in this area is fairly small. Oh, by the way, security was extra vigilant in collecting alcohol when re-entering the ship. Any container holding liquid was also examined very closely, and people who had vodka (I'm guessing) had it confiscated.

 

The show this night was pre-dinner for second seating, and it was the Celebrity Headliner show featuring The Diamonds. The show was good, though again, it was sparsely attended ... and when I say sparsely, I mean like 75 people. I've never seen entire sections of the theater empty, even on spring break, so this was kind of amazing. This night was also The Quest, which took place in the South Pacific Lounge. I did not attend, but I heard it was extra crazy with the large numbers of drunken college students attending.

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Day 4: Belize

 

Belize, in case you don't know, is a tender port, which means that they need to ferry everyone to shore and back again on small boats. The most popular tours are probably the ones that include cave tubing, which includes floating on inner-tubes through the rainforest and some underground caves used by Mayans for religious rituals. In my previous stops in Belize, I have gone to Goff's Caye and have gone cave tubing twice (and have been stuck on the side of the road with a broken-down bus twice). This time, I decided to leisurely make my way to shore (even though we got priority tender tickets for being in a suite) and then come back soon after.

 

The ship docked on time at around 7 AM. Tenders were running soon after, and by 9 AM, there tender tickets were not needed and anyone could go to shore when they wished. FYI, those tender tickets for those not on a RCCL excursion and wanting to get to shore early were given out starting at 7 AM in the South Pacific lounge.

 

At around noon, we headed to shore. The tourism villiage doesn't have a lot, but there are several drug stores, places to drink, and stores that sell fairly usual tourist junk. Having been outside of the tourism gate twice, I really had no desire to do so again, so after 40 minutes of walking around, we headed back. The tenders were running fairly smoothly, though we got on the tender back near the very end of the loading process, and those already aboard were complaining about the wait for going back to the ship. Belize seemed to have some better liquor prices than Cozumel, but in honestly, still weren't that great. However, in the shops, you can buy local flavors, including rum, cashew wine, and Belekin Beer.

 

We also heard news, on this trip, that someone from the ship fell off her horse on an excursion and needed to be taken to the hospital for broken ribs. I don't know much about the accident, but I just wanted to post it as a reminder ... even though you are on vacation and having fun, you still need to be careful (I sometimes get the idea that some people feel "invincible"on vacation). This is why horses and jet skis always seem like too much of a risk to me, but perhaps I'm just overcautious .... ;)

 

Back on the ship, the pre-dinner 2nd seating show this night was the pop/rock stage production names All-Access. Once again, attendance was very sparse. I thought the show was just OK. The male singers were both decent, in my opinion, but the females had trouble being heard over the music, which I couldn't tell if they did not have much reach or if they were just mixed poorly. The choreography for the dancing was fine, but the for the singers it was just awful. For each separate set, the same set of stairs was continuously trotted out for the singers to climb over. After four times fo the exact same thing, it seemed a little overdone.

 

Dinner was Italian this night, and the food was fine, though I was fairly unimpressed with the tiramisu. It seemed to gelatin-y to me, and I make one that is about 10 times better, in my humble opinion. ;) After dinner, there was a Mardi Gras party on deck, complete with dancing and a buffet, which I skipped since I didn't feel like eating an hour after the end of dinner.

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Day 5: Final Day @ Sea

 

Well, unfortunately, Wednesday rolled around, which was the final full day on the ship. I had prepared for this, having gotten customs forms and tip envelopes the night before, but it is still somewhat depressing to have to pack.

 

We headed up to the Windjammer for breakfast, and this is about the only time I regret cruising at spring break. We found a table, no problem, but had a group of guys sit next to us (on the above tier) and started talking about things I really didn't feel the need to hear using vocabulary that consisted of about one word that starts with "F." I understand that older people may have a bad vocabulary, and I also understand that I might also have run into this problem on any cruise I would book, but here's how I look at it ... when the public areas are full of spring breakers, some of them feel like they can act like they do on campus or at home. I'm not condemning the group as a whole and realize that most act find around other people, but these types of situations are what I see as the real downside to spring break cruising, and to be honest, I'd be really hesitant to subject any of my future kids to such a large collection of college-aged vacationers.

 

We did our walk-a-mile, then headed to the Singin' in the Rain lounge for a Vitality talk about healthy living. We normally would have skipped it, but Ocatavian, one of the sports managers, talked us into going ... and we were the only ones there for most of it. It was interesting, but nothing I'd never heard before. More interesting to me were the snippets of the RCCL crew training film I could hear coming through the doors to the conference room.

 

We got a bit of rain this day, but it was very brief, so in all, very good weather for the trip. Vitality redemption was at 4, and by the end, we had collected 22 Vitality disks. Most of the shorter cruises I have been on had lowered points needed for merchandise, but the Grandeur evidently sticks to the 7 point totals I've seen elsewhere. I got one of the new Vitality bags, and I got an old ShipShape t-shirt. The old ShipShape stuff is evidently on clearance (half of normal redemption costs) until it is gone.

 

I hadn't planned on buying any liquor because of the hassle of having to pack it. As usual, I found a scotch I was interested in trying, so I decided to wait until the last day to buy it so I could take it to my room and not worry about having it delivered. Well, much to my chagrin, RCCL has changed the rules ... at least on this ship ... or at least during spring break. Instead of taking liquor to your room on the last day, or having it delivered, EVERYONE must pick up their liquor from a lounge on debarkation day. When I heard this, I immediately put down what I was going to buy and walked away with nothing. I mean, I understand that they didn't want those liters of liquor free-flowing on the last day, but I didn't want to a) have to stand in line for liquor on debarkation day, b) have to have something else to carry off the ship, and c) not be given the chance, while packing, to put the liquor into my suitcase and properly secure it.

 

The pre-dinner show was a juggler who was actually pretty funny and worked the crowd very well (given the fact that there was not much of a crowd). The last night at dinner was fine, and the captain and major officers actually came to the dining room to sing and clap with the waitstaff. There was an 80s party in the Viking Crown for those who wanted to dance the night away.

 

For technical details, luggage had to be out 11 PM. I didn't really see this written anywhere, but maybe I just missed it. Of course, if you have late dinner, I would suggest doing most of your packing before dinner ... I waited to the last minute and had a bit of a rush there at the end. There no formal self-assist baggage program for this ship or sailing.

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Day 6: Get Out of Here

 

We awoke at 6 AM, and the Grandeur was still navigating through Tampa Bay. Breakfast in the Windjammer was available from 6, while breakfast in the dining room was available from 6:30. The rooms were to be cleared by 8 AM, with most of the common rooms open for waiting. The biggest rooms were advertised for different purposes, with TV (I'm guessing CNN) being shown in the Palladium Theater and board/card games were available in the South Pacific Lounge.

 

The ship was actually docked by 7:15 AM, and we cleared out of our room at 7:30 and headed to wait in the Schooner Bar. The bar was actually open for SeaPass transactions, and half of it was available for smokers. The first tags, White/Beige were called at 8:00. We had beige tags, so we went down a floor, got in line, got off the ship, went through customs, found our luggage set out on the floor, and were in a cab by 8:15. It was the quickest and most painless debarkation ever, though I'm not sure if that was the norm, or just because we were the some of the first off the ship. Our flight actually didn't leave until 3:15, but we went as soon as possible because I hate having my luggage sit out for hours. Tampa airport having free wireless helped, too.

 

What I noticed as I debarked:

 

- Cruise transfers were $19.50/pp to the airport. This is a complete ripoff ... don't do it unless they come with your cruise airfare.

 

- A taxi is $22 flat fare from the port to the airport.

 

- Shuttles can be had for $9/pp, but unless you are traveling alone, I'd imagine that a cab would be much more convenient for only a little more money.

 

- For $7/pp, you can have your bags stored until 4:00 in case you'd rather spend time in Tampa or at the aquarium than in the airport.

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Thanks for sharing your review of the Grandeur. We will be on in August, we wont be dealing with Spring breakers, but know the ship will be full of kids. We travel in August, as the kids go back to school after Labor day. We dont mind the kids;)

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Thanks silentbob for a great review. I've enjoyed reading it and your opinions sound very fair and unbiased. We've not been on Grandeur yet, but will be on the repositioning 11 day cruise Oct. 30th. Looking forward to a nice quiet, relaxing cruise with great crew.

 

Wendy

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Thank you, kind BadgerFBfan, for the graphic tip. I bet I can actually accomplish that computer feat within the next month or so. :) (My skills are not in technological fields.)

Badger, did you take the Baltic route on the Jewel? Since I am fresh back from the Serenade, my ambition far exceeds my budget, but I am planning ahead. I love the Baltic itinerary of the Jewel. Right now I am weighing it against Holland America's Rotterdam (in and out of Copenhagen, days in Berlin, Aarhus & Kristiansand) and Celebrity's Celebrity Century (in and out of Amsterdam, no Berlin, Aarhus or Kristiansand). Feedback, anyone? I am loyal to RC based upon the most marvelous week of my life aboard the Serenade, but I'm not above breaking out of my RC rut for the right itinerary.

How was your first cruise with your son? I was getting 5 history credits during my week on the Serenade which I took with a college girlfriend from my distant past (any OSU Beavers out there?!), and it would have been tougher with my precious little Caboose along, but I am considering including her in my next cruise. She is 7, is great company and can out-hike my friends, but I'll be getting credit next cruise, too, so my attention will be divided. I'd love feedback from anyone in comparing the above cruise lines and whether cruising with dear little ones still felt like a vacation. :)

Silentbob, are you home now, both in mind and spirit? Do you have your own case of PCD? I have no excuse -- although each day begins with below freezing temperatures, the sun is cheerily shining. (The same sun that burned my nose on Barbados a month ago. Weaker rays, but the same sun.) I am earning my own Ph.D. in Girl Scout cookie sales. I will never again think it is a good idea for a 7-year old to merit her Brownie troops' Biggest Seller Award (somewhere over 300 boxes). Tell us something about your previous experiences in Belize (since your Belize day this last trip garnered you the gold metal in shuffleboard.) I am interested in about any place in the world, but the Baltic and Caribbean/Central America are really resonating with me right now.

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