Grandeur Immersion Cruise Journal

[Coolcruise02]

Loved it! Thanks for sharing. :)

 

O-H

[osubuckeyemom]

Thank you for your wonderful reports. I've booked this cruise for the December 9 sailing and travel alone. Until I read your and another member's report on this very itinerary I wasn't sure I should take this cruise. Now I have no worries and can't wait for December to get here. I'm acquiring much valuable information. Again, thank you for taking the time to give such a wonderfully detailed accounting of your trip.

Cathy

[emeraldcity]

Loved it! Thanks for sharing. :)

 

O-H

 

You are very welcome!

 

Thank you for your wonderful reports. I've booked this cruise for the December 9 sailing and travel alone. Until I read your and another member's report on this very itinerary I wasn't sure I should take this cruise. Now I have no worries and can't wait for December to get here. I'm acquiring much valuable information. Again, thank you for taking the time to give such a wonderfully detailed accounting of your trip.

Cathy

 

I'm so glad this was helpful.

 

I admire you for traveling solo. I keep trying to decide if I should try that, given that my DD is off to college and new directions.

[RumRunner01]

This was a wonderful review and I really enjoyed reading it. Originally we were thinking of taking this cruise in early 2014 but it appears to no longer be offered by Royal Caribbean (or not showing up as of yet). The rumor is that Monarch is being sold to Pullmanter (which caters to Spanish speaking cruisers) and it will do this route. However RC has come out with some other great southern Caribbean crusies that look great and we are considering.

[Poorplaya]

Wow what a detailed review, so enjoyable to follow everything event by event, thank you so much for posting.

[batoryfirst]

My hat is off to you and I'm bowing! What a delightful read. :) Never in a million years could I write with that much detail. I'm sorry it's over and I thank you for sharing it.

 

Nancy

[twokey]

Thanks so much for your graphic descriptions and reviews of all that I may be encountering. My partner and I will be doing much the same thing when we arrive in Panama City on December 1. Because this will be my first big cruise, I have no real experiences to anticipate having again. I am very excited, though, at the prospect of this diverse itinerary. I was kind of knocked off balance when I learned that this might be an "immersion" cruise. But, now that I'm learning more, I am more excited than ever. I love experiencing nw stuff. But, I guess I just had anticipated the ship being the place to "be American" during the trip. I don't know much Spanish now, but I bet I'll know more when I get back.

 

Keep journaling and keep cruising!

[emeraldcity]

My hat is off to you and I'm bowing! What a delightful read. :) Never in a million years could I write with that much detail. I'm sorry it's over and I thank you for sharing it.

 

Nancy

 

Thank you for the compliment. It's never over for me. That's the beauty of preserving such a great memory ... it becomes permanent!

 

If you're interested, I journaled my Seranade cruise a couple years ago:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1180486

 

 

 

Twokey:

If I encouraged someone else to go experience this cruise, then I'm thrilled. I hope you have as wonderful a time as we did.

 

My DD was dancing to music she found on Pandora last night that reminded her of the music from the cruise. She commented about how much energy this cruise had. You won't run into the same kind of energy on any U.S. based cruise. The Latin cruisers love to dance and love to party. On every evening there will be a party in the Centrum and another in the disco ... and there will be so many people dancing that the dance floor won't hold them all, so they dance in the aisles around the dance floor and between the tables.

[cruiseclues]

Thank you for your remarkably extensive review. :)

[MattInFLL]

Emeraldcity - if you are still watching this thread - I am on the Grandeur repo from Miami to Colon this November, and wondering if you have Cruise Compasses from your trip? Or if you could answer a few questions (if you remember), like did they do a late night theme party on one of the nights?

 

Thanks

[BLAMBKY]

...not sure still. My teen daughter would LoVe it! She has taken Spanish all four years of high school and plans on minoring in Spanish in college. My son has taken one year and poor, ignorant parents know none. :o

Did you take notice of whether there were many families? The English speaking family, did the kids enjoy themselves? Were there enough kids to have club activities? (a review indicated that there was very few kids and once had to play alone in club.) I am curious if my son would enjoy trying to converse in Spanish or if he would be too intimidated. Guess it is time to see what DH thinks.

[emeraldcity]

Emeraldcity - if you are still watching this thread - I am on the Grandeur repo from Miami to Colon this November, and wondering if you have Cruise Compasses from your trip? Or if you could answer a few questions (if you remember), like did they do a late night theme party on one of the nights?

 

Thanks

 

Yes, I have the Compasses ... but it will take a couple days to unearth them. I just had the spare room carpeted yesterday and It's going to take quite awhile to get everything re-organized. I knew exactly where they were a week ago. Sigh!

 

I don't recall an actual "theme" on the 3-day cruise. Everything was just so laid back ... not at all like the high energy of the 7-day.

 

Keep checking the pricing daily ... they had some great cabin sales as it got closer to sailing. You might manage a good upgrade.

[emeraldcity]

...not sure still. My teen daughter would LoVe it! She has taken Spanish all four years of high school and plans on minoring in Spanish in college. My son has taken one year and poor, ignorant parents know none. :o

Did you take notice of whether there were many families? The English speaking family, did the kids enjoy themselves? Were there enough kids to have club activities? (a review indicated that there was very few kids and once had to play alone in club.) I am curious if my son would enjoy trying to converse in Spanish or if he would be too intimidated. Guess it is time to see what DH thinks.

 

I saw some kids ... but then, frankly, I've always felt you don't see that many kids on any cruise, since they're in Adventure Ocean. The family we hung out with had 4 kids and all four of them had a fabulous time. They had spent several days at a resort in Panama before boarding and got along fine despite the language barrier.

 

I grew up in a community that had a very large Puerto Rican population. So, on the cruise I expected to find myself in situations where people were deliberately speaking Spanish to exclude me ... like when I was growing up. And it wasn't like that at all. It was an awesome experience ... a full-blown party (and the Latinos really know how to party) that lasted for a week. The other thing is that if you ever wanted to try a GS, this is the cruise. It's likely to be the most reasonably priced GS on a 7-day that you will ever see. I just ran a search for the Nov. 30th cruise ... $2115 for 2 in a GS. And another random date -- Feb. 1, 2014 ... $2714 for 2. Maybe the GS might just tip the balance if DH is hesitating.

[RSLeesburg]

Britney - thanks for finding this. I had just posted a thread about this same cruise.

 

Emerald - it took me two days to read the whole review, but was worth it. We just sailed on Grandeur in a GS, and loved reading about the dimmer switch :D. I agree with you that the immersion has about the lowest GS prices I have ever seen. Also, flights to/from Panama City are fairly reasonable - approx $500 pp for round trip from/to DC, and only 5 hours direct :eek: It takes us longer to fly to London. I was also curious about the kids, as our son will only be 4 or 5 depending on if we go next year, or the year after. I am not sure that language will be much of a barrier at that age - kids find ways to communicate. But do you think that there are enough options for smaller children at the ports - a beach is fine, but anything else you can recall? The other thing I was wondering was the menu options - it sounded like the food was standard, but the immersion overview mentioned a tailored menu for regional tastes. Did you find this? Also, did anyone mention when "prime" time is for locals to take this cruise? I mean, is April considered peak time?

 

Thanks

[emeraldcity]

On our snorkeling trip in Bonaire we had at least 3-4 kids between 5 and 7 and they did very well ... Woodwinds really had a handle on how to cater to all ages and experiences.

 

Frankly if I was taking a young boy on this itinerary, I'd theme it around pirates ... get him all pumped up about being in pirate waters and visiting forts. And I'd plot out a whole adventure where you were searching for something pirate-themed at every stop. You could do a bit of historical research ahead of time, to gather focal points to support the theme. There was an excursion from Colon I would have liked to take that the ship offered, but I decided to save it for the next trip (because I can't imagine not doing this trip again). It went to the site of an old fort. And, of course, Cartagena is loaded with potential pirate lore and a massive fort.

 

Imagine the stories he'll have to tell when he gets home. He lived a pirate fantasy in the shadow of Jack Sparrow. He won't even realize he soaked up some history.

 

And when he studies those topics in elementary school history, he'll be so excited about it. It won't be dull stories in a big fat book ... it will be places that really exist! Because he has been there.

 

My DD found she was studying Mayan history only a few months after she'd climbed a Mayan pyramid. She was so excited. She took pictures to school and shared them with the class.

 

And yes, the MDR menu is exactly what you can expect on any RCI ship sailing the Caribbean. They added a Latin Island in the WJ, but there was nothing in the MDR that strayed from the norm.

 

As for peak times, my observation is that RCI is building a clientele in that region. The vast majority were first-time cruisers and they were very enthusiastic about their experience. I suspect it won't be long before they move a larger ship into the market, because they were booking up nearly every sailing without resorting to those last minute deals. The one thing they couldn't seem to do, however, was move the high end cabins. The new cruisers were all about the value-end cabins, which left the suites empty ... lots of them. When I upgraded to the GS (less than 3 months out) I had plenty to choose from). So as for peak time, I'd say every sailing is going to be capacity ... at least they were from what I could tell in early 2012.

[Lindagop]

Emeraldcity

Thank you so much! I have just spent the most wonderful evening ( 7 hours) totally lost in your "novel". I just came across it earlier looking for info on our upcoming Liberty cruise.You are Truely gifted. The best review ever!

Greetings and Thank you

[HHFamily]

We returned to our room and discovered with some confusion that there was no slot to stick our key card into. We tried poking the card at all potential edges of the large metal frame that surrounded the door handle, but the slot just didn’t exist. We finally hunted down the housekeeper on the floor and asked for assistance. I’m not sure she spoke any English, but she figured out what our problem was as we waved the key card around. I’ll give her loads of credit that she managed to keep a straight face as she walked us back to the door and then tapped the card flat against the panel above the handle. The door unlocked and we sheepishly went inside.

 

I haven't finished reading all of this but when I read this part I HAD to comment because it had me laughing soooo hard. I can absolutely see myself doing this! Thanks so much for the review. I am reading through everything I can find about this ship. Can't wait to be aboard!

[emeraldcity]

I haven't finished reading all of this but when I read this part I HAD to comment because it had me laughing soooo hard. I can absolutely see myself doing this! Thanks so much for the review. I am reading through everything I can find about this ship. Can't wait to be aboard!

 

You're very welcome. The Grandeur is such a beautiful ship. And this cruise remains my DD's absolute favorite. She's so disappointed that RCI is not continuing to offer the itinerary, because she was hoping to do a repeat cruise after she graduates from college.

 

But we did cruise the Grandeur again a few months ago and had the delightful opportunity to meet up with Ruth again ... she moved from Guest Services to the Diamond Lounge.