Grandeur of the Seas Review 2/19-2/26

[debgirl]

The Grandeur is just as beautiful as it was in 1999 when we were on her. For those concerned, I did not smell any sewer smells the entire cruise. Great ship.

 

Embarkation: It went very smoothly. We arrived at the dock at 12:30 pm and was on the ship by 12:50. The only hang up was at picture time because of all the kids on board (a "winter break" for the kids in the NE) taking their pictures took longer. We were in our cabins by 1:00 pm and by the time we finished our lunch, we had our luggage.

 

Cabin: We had an inside cabin, midship on the 3rd deck. It was in great shape, plenty of storage. The only thing I can say about the cabin was, we didn't meet our cabin attendent until the next to last day, and that was because I had to look for him to ask a question.

 

Medical Staff: I am sorry I had to meet them. 20 minutes and $244.00 later I was told I had an infection, which I already knew I had. Just wanted some antibotics. Very nice doctor, nurse and receptionist. Good thing I have travel insurance.

 

Food and Wait staff: The food in the Windjammer was just average, if I can to grade it, it woud be a C+. The choices were okay, usually the same fair for breakfast, the standard scrambled eggs (a little waterery), bacon, etc. Lunches were the same almost every day. Same product different name. We had breakfast and lunch several times in the dining room, much better. The evening dinners were good, a grade of B+ and our waiter, Rodirco (from Chili) and our asst waiter Lazilo (from Hungary) were great. If you like wine, the wine package is the way to go.

 

Stops: Cozemel: As always Cozemel is Cozemel. We went shopping downtown. Caught a cab at the end of the dock and it runs $6.00 to the shopping area. Had to take a round about way, they were working on some of the roads downtown.

 

Grand Caymen: You can still see some damage but they are working hard to get the island back in shape. Grandeur didn't use their own tenders, they used the ones that are on the island, ,much bigger and take alot more people. There were five ships in, including the Enchantment. They used their own tenders and when it was time to go back, our line was much shorter and went much faster. We ate in the Caymens at Breezes right off the dock. Watch out if you are going to eat there, the Caymen dollar is worth more than the US dollar. It cost the two of us $42.00 to have fish and chips and a grilled tuna steak sandwich. I think my husband had a beer and I had a coke. We bought a few bobbles to take home with us.

 

Costa Maya: It's a stop. Not really excited about this one. The pool is pretty, but so is the pool on the ship. The shopping is the same stuff you see in Cozemel. We bought a few t-shirts. We did buy a drink there and we did not feel any pain for a while. We walked both ways, the peir is long, but not that long that healthy people can't walk. The tours didn't interest us. We have seen some ruins before and the one we wanted to see was 7 hours long. Riding on a bus for 2 1/2 hours each way is not what we wanted to do.

 

Days at Sea: The chair hogs were in fine fashion. We are lucky ones. We always get up early on sea days because of this. We eat around 8:00 and we can still get a chair by 8:30. By 9:00 they are all gone. On the next to the last sea day, there was a "gentleman" sitting next to us that took 3 chairs. He was the only one who ever used it. He sat in the middle with the other two chairs on the each side of him. People always asked him about the chairs and said they were taken. That day, we even saw people bring up chairs from the 5th deck off the promendade deck. They could use some more deck chairs, I put that into my comment sheet.

 

Debarkation: It was a breeze. We were the second group off because we took the tour of New Orleans since our flight didn't leave until 5:30 pm.

 

Tour of New Orleans: If you have a chance, take this tour. It was great. We took a short tour of New Orleans, down St. Charles street and by several of the cementaries. We stopped at one, got out and our tour guide explained how burials work in New Orleans. The tour ended in French Quarter where we had 3 hours to ourselves, shopping and having lunch. The bus then took us to the airport around 2 pm.

 

All in all we had a wonderful time. This was our second cruise on RCL and would not hesitate to cruise with them again. I like the size of the Grandeur but would like to try one of the bigger ships once.

 

As an aside. If you have a chance to travel on Midwest Airlines, please try them. Only four leather seats abreast, comfortable, great service and the best warm chocolate chip cookies.

 

If you have any questions, please ask. A wonderful ship.

[judiek]

We are sailing on the Grandeur 4/9......After reading your review I am really getting excited.How were the shows...anything special?...Do you recall which nites were formal and which one was Smart Casual?

Thanks

[debgirl]

Hi, formal nights are Monday (day at sea), smart casual is the day we were at Cozumel, (Monday) and second formal night is Thursday (day at sea),the rest of the days were casual. The day we were at Grand Cayman was casual/tropical attire. The entertainment was great. The singers and dancers were good, there was a comedian Milt Abel, a comedy impressionist Jonathan Clark, comedian Ed Regine, and juggler David Dimuzio(he was the juggler of the year in 2004).

[Tankminder]

thanks for the post debgirl - we're taking our first trip on the Grandeur 4/16 - as well as our first cruise with our two kids (12 and 9). I'm really curious about Costa Maya - I was not enamoured with the tours as well. Is there beach there nice? do you know if there's snorkling there?

thanks!

[debgirl]

Tankminder--you will have a wonderful time. There is a nice beach near the shopping. There are other tours for Costa Maya check them out.

[Ladydee]

Hi Debgirl..... thank you for the post. We are sailing on 4/16 with a group of 28! I'm so excited I can hardly get any housework done these days....lol

 

I am wondering if the formal nights were more long gowns or cocktail dresses?

 

Were you cold at night on deck?

 

Are there refrigerators in the cabins?

 

With two back to back days at sea, was there enough to keep you happy?

[debgirl]

Hi, on the formal nights I wore a long dress the first night and pants on the second night. My husband wore his suit the first night and a sport coat and tie the second and felt comfortable. We like sea days together. The first one we sat out most of the day. On the last sea day it was cloudy, cooler and very windy. There was plenty to do for the adults, but some of the kids got a little bored and was running around the ship. In the evening the deck is cool so I would bring a sweater. Have a great time. She is a lovely ship.

[fun2cruise]

What was the weather like in Feb? We are thinking of going in late Jan. but concerned about the sea days and the weather in New Orleans.

Thanks

[NannyJan]

April 9th here on the Grandeur as well...getting very excited! See you there...have you decided what you will be doing at the ports? Been to New Orleans before. We have not...looking forward to that...going in on Friday, April 8th...

 

Nanny Jan

Boston

[zachnlucy]

thanks for the post debgirl - we're taking our first trip on the Grandeur 4/16 - as well as our first cruise with our two kids (12 and 9). I'm really curious about Costa Maya - I was not enamoured with the tours as well. Is there beach there nice? do you know if there's snorkling there?

thanks!

Hi there Tank. We have a roll call thread here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=107109 Join us!

Also, have you signed up for the meet and mingle?

[zachnlucy]

What was the weather like in Feb? We are thinking of going in late Jan. but concerned about the sea days and the weather in New Orleans.

Thanks

Our first cruise was out of New Orleans in February, and I'm from there. New Orleans is usually cold and sometimes rainy that time of year, but by mid-afternoon on the first sea day, it was beautiful and warm.

[gulfcoast39]

and I can't wait. It is getting harder and harder to be at work every day. All I want to do is read this board! If you are going on 4/9, sign up for the meet and mingle. I did. I think it would be fun to do.

[CJHouston]

Can't wait!!! First time as Platinum.

[sametu]

debgirl: That was an excellent review and a chance to recall my wonderful cruise 1/22-29 on the Grandeur. I was impressed with the attention paid to hand washing and cleanliness. Agree with your comments about embarkation, cabins, staff, food and stops.