schlimazel_traveler

Oh, dear. I'm sorry to hear about your experience. We're sailing the same itinerary in a few weeks. I hope the crew has a chance to recharge but I can't imagine how they would.

Nothing much to do on the ship.

That is particularly distressing to hear. Were there not the usual evening entertainments, like Quest and the Love and Marriage game? Dance lessons, trivia games, karaoke?

I know that stuff is cheesy, but my family liked it on our previous cruise on Enchantment, and it was sorely missing when we tried an all-inclusive resort instead this year. Can you clarify what you thought was missing?

Welcome to CC. We frequently sail out of Baltimore, and my experience is to book early, because prices tend to go up only. Even the great prices they offer close to final payment are higher than what I paid by booking early.

 

Booking late works for many ports, but I just don't see it working that way for Baltimore. At least not very often.

Thanks for that insight!

I priced our May cruise on the Grandeur back in January, but procrastinated and then wound up paying more for 2 balcony cabins than I was going to pay for the Royal Family Suite (which was, natch, no longer available). I kicked myself. But I thought the prices would go down! I booked after final payment so had to pay it all on the spot. Which also meant I missed out on switching my reservation to a TA that was offering a very nice OBC.

Live and learn!:rolleyes:

:)..we have $425 OBC that I am now wondering how we're going to spend (I imagine in actuality, it won't be a problem!). ... I'm a planner and can't do the "book them on the ship" method. Oh well, I guess we'll just see how it goes.

I believe you can opt to purchase your drink packages (if you were going to purchase them) onboard rather than ahead of time. That could take care of some of your OBC and there wouldn't be any risk of missing out on something that needed to be secured ahead of time.

(Come to think of it, I now recall we might actually have a small OBC on one of our cabins. Which makes me a tiny bit more chagrined about the pre-paid gratuities than I was a moment ago. But maybe I'll just hold off on getting the soda packages.)

I was forced to pay upfront gratuities because my dining choice was not available. But, either way, I'd have to pay those gratuities. Same difference, no?

 

 

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Not really. As others have pointed out, one might have on-board credit available that could be put towards gratuities if they are not prepaid. I'd be more irked about it if I had OBC. And one of our party (#3 in a cabin) is considering not going. I have to assume that if she cancelled before sailing, we'd have been out the cruise fare (and perhaps taxes and fees), but there would be no expectation that we would have to pay gratuities for a passenger who didn't sail. However, since I pre-paid them, I'm out that amount for services that will not be rendered.

It's an odd system.

Although, I can't complain because I chose MTD. I was offered traditional seating as an option. I just hadn't thought it through.

There were a couple in the windjammer & 1 on deck 6 beside Star Bucks. There was never a line up. A few times we waited for 1 person. Loved getting Powerade for a pick me up after a few cocktails the night before! lol There was also flavoured water (carbonated & non carbonated) and a million pop choices. You also get a really cool collector cup.

Great. That makes the soda package worth it for me.

I'm sure this has been reported elsewhere, but can you confirm that there were Freestyle soda machines on the ship? And did you notice, were they working, were there long lines, or did it seem as if one could actually use them with ease? Trying to decide about the soda package and I'm just not a diet coke fan. (Which is all they have at the bars.)

We have booked a balcony cabin on the Grandeur that sleeps four. We also have one that sleeps two. The agent told me one has a couch that doesn't fold out (so sleeps 2) and the other has one that does (and therefore sleeps 4).

If you feel awkward allowing your daughter and her boyfriend to bunk together, could you book a cabin with a fold-out couch for yourself and your husband and an inside cabin NOMINALLY for your daughter and boyfriend, and then have her sleep on your fold-out couch? I believe you can get the seapasses coded to open both cabins.

There were several other things that aren't on the menu pictured, including some vegetarian choices like a three-cheese panini (fancy grilled cheese sandwich--very good) and a vegetarian quesadilla (also very tasty).