New & Improved Grandeur ~ Venice to Palma ~ July 13 ~ My Diary

[maxs mom]

Hi Jane and thank you for your review and all the photos

 

A question about the diamond lounge : there is a terrace like on the mariner ots or is it possible to smoke in a special area ???

 

I thought the diamond club was on deck 6 ?

Is it different ???

 

Thanks for your reply

 

Véro

 

Vero.......my pictures are of the Concierge Lounge. You are correct......the Daimond Lounge is on Deck 6......a partitioned area of the main lounge back there. I'm sorry I never went down there, but I don't think there is a terrace there. As far as I know.....smoking was allowed in some areas of the pool deck.

[maxs mom]

I'm enjoying your review so much!!! Kotor is so beautiful!!! Went this summer on the Silhouette and loved it!!!:)

 

Kotor is my new favorite port. Would love to spend some time there and do some exploring.

[maxs mom]

We spent about 30 minutes exploring this little island. Very nice.

[maxs mom]

Next.....it's back on board our ride and more sailing.

Time for lunch!!

Those were the best cherries I've ever eaten!

[maxs mom]

We sailed some and swam some more......the sea was really salty. It took hardly any effort at all to tread water. We needed to rinse all the salt off.

Toward the end of the sail, Yuri brought out a watermelon and did the neatest carving that I have ever seen:

Yummmmmmm!

[tahqa]

I'm seeing that Grandeur didn't get the ducktail.

 

You know......I forgot all about that! I believe you are right.

 

Grandeur is a larger ship than Splendour, so maybe the extra weight from the refurb didn't affect her as much. Part of the reason for the ducktail on Splendour was to keep her stable after adding weight.

[maxs mom]

Grandeur is a larger ship than Splendour, so maybe the extra weight from the refurb didn't affect her as much. Part of the reason for the ducktail on Splendour was to keep her stable after adding weight.

 

Well......I've learned something today!

[Topo Gigio]

Grandeur is a larger ship than Splendour, so maybe the extra weight from the refurb didn't affect her as much. Part of the reason for the ducktail on Splendour was to keep her stable after adding weight.

 

Difference between Grandeur and Splendour is only 4687 tons!

[maxs mom]

Well, it was getting late and we were well over our 5 hour limit and the ship was no where in sight! We were all getting just a little nervous, but before long, we could see the ship in the distance and we knew we would make it. Our 5 hour trip had turned into a seven hour trip and there was no extra charge! It was the most relaxing and fun day that I've had on a cruise in a long time. We needed to enjoy it because there were not many relaxing days ahead!!

There was a sailing school for children going on around the ship as we returned.

We paid Yuri and said goodbye to him. Wish we could have stayed and visited with him a little more, but that last tender was waiting for us and we had to run. What a great day!!! I highly recommend, that if you are in Kotor, that you check out Yuri and his sailboats........Wonderful!!!

[marci22]

 

We paid Yuri and said goodbye to him. Wish we could have stayed and visited with him a little more' date=' but that last tender was waiting for us and we had to run. What a great day!!! I highly recommend, that if you are in Kotor, that you check out Yuri and his sailboats........Wonderful!!![/size']

 

 

Little did Yuri know that some woman tourist from Cruise Critic was going to increase his yacht business x100 lol.

 

Love that picture!

[tahqa]

Difference between Grandeur and Splendour is only 4687 tons!

 

Maybe that's the 4600 tons that makes a difference?!? LOL :D

[Loyal2RCCL]

Grandeur is a larger ship than Splendour, so maybe the extra weight from the refurb didn't affect her as much. Part of the reason for the ducktail on Splendour was to keep her stable after adding weight.

 

They added the ducktail to Rhapsody, which is slightly larger (heavier) than Grandeur... ???

[maxs mom]

Little did Yuri know that some woman tourist from Cruise Critic was going to increase his yacht business x100 lol.

 

Love that picture!

 

LOL!!!! yes.....I was telling Yuri that I might be able to get some business for him! He wanted to give me a commission! Another smaller group from our roll call took a smaller boat out that day and they told them that we were the first English speaking customers that they have had!

I need to get over to the Kotor board and post some info. it would be awesome if he could get some business from other CC'ers.

[maxs mom]

We were back on the ship late this afternoon so only had time for a short nap......and we were really tired, too! All that relaxing really takes it out of you! but we got ourselves together for drinks in the CL and then dinner in the MDR. Dinner was OK......but the temperature in the dining room was really, really warm. So warm that we didn't stay for dessert.

Here is the sunset from this great day:

After dinner we went to the casino for a very quick donation!! Then we went to bed. We were really tired tonight. This is the casino.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

That is so cool! Bring her home! When is that? We like sailing out of Baltimore. It is so convenient.

 

It leaves San Juan, Puerto Rico on April 24, 2013. I think the first cruise out of Baltimore is May 3. I am looking forward to seeing the "improved" Grandeur. I sailed on her once many years ago.

[maxs mom]

Monday ~ July 16th ~ At Sea

Ahhhhhh.......a day at sea......just love them! We slept in a little today. Actually, I felt like I had been run over by a truck. A little sore from all that diving off the boat yesterday!

Coffee in the CL and breakfast in the MDR. The first morning we had breakfast in the MDR we ordered a bowl of grits (being the fine southern folk that we are!). Well soon, the waiter brings us a bowl of grapes!! We couldn't figure that one out, but we thought grits = grapes. From then on, we made sure that we pronounced the word very clearly.....although one morning we got cream of wheat instead!

After breakfast, we went over and spoke to the Loyalty Ambassador for a while. He was Bruno from Miami. He was very nice. Didn't need to book anything this trip, though.

Soon it was time for the Meet and Mingle at 10:15 in the Viking Crown. We had a great turn out and a very good time. Coffee, danish, fruits, and cheeses were provided. It was very nice and everyone did a nice job of mingling!

[Scotland01]

Very many thanks for taking time to share your diary with us. Am going on Grandeur on Aug.26 and am looking forward to seeing changes. We did same cruise at same time last year and she was getting tired. Glad to see CL as we are Diamond+ and enjoy meeting folks from all over. Interesting you found it hot. Lived in Raleigh many years ago at the tail end of my first pregnancy and found that hot hot hot! Speak to close friend in Durham and she tells me you are having a hot dry summer. Here in Scotland it is wet wet wet! Look forward to next chapter

[maxs mom]

We had great participation in a gift exchange. We brought a gift that represented the area that we were from. We had 20 participants and it was fun to see what everyone brought. We drew numbers for the gifts, then the person who brought it explained what it was. It was cool. I think the coolest gift was a set of bagpipes that someone brought from Scotland.

[maxs mom]

Very many thanks for taking time to share your diary with us. Am going on Grandeur on Aug.26 and am looking forward to seeing changes. We did same cruise at same time last year and she was getting tired. Glad to see CL as we are Diamond+ and enjoy meeting folks from all over. Interesting you found it hot. Lived in Raleigh many years ago at the tail end of my first pregnancy and found that hot hot hot! Speak to close friend in Durham and she tells me you are having a hot dry summer. Here in Scotland it is wet wet wet! Look forward to next chapter

 

LOL! Oh yes......we are quite used to the heat and humidity here. Doesn't mean we like it!! We stay inside in the air conditioning here, though, during the summer. Sometimes I think I am a prisoner in my own home!! It's another very hot day today. May cool off some next week.

Thanks for reading!

[maxs mom]

Before we left.....we made a group shot. Great bunch of folks and it was fun seeing them around the ship and in the ports for the whole cruise. If you don't participate in your roll call......you are really missing out!

We had lunch at the Park Cafe today. Excellent, as usual. But they ran out of iced tea today.

At 3 o'clock we had a special invitation to tour the bridge. We've gone on a lot of these tours and don't go on many any more, but we decided to go today and I'm glad we did. One other couple was also invited. Jorge (I'm sorry I didn't get his last name) one of the officers, gave us the tour, and it was excellent.....probably the best we've ever had. The bridge also got some refurb and there was some new equipment in there as well.

[maxs mom]

More bridge pictures:

This was a pretty busy sea day. Not much time to really relax today, but we did get a little nap after the bridge tour.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I am really enjoying all of your posts. I would love to see the bridge. But, I think I have a few years to go to get enough points for them to invite me.:eek:

[maxs mom]

We were ready for the Concierge Lounge at 7 this evening and had a nice time relaxing in there.

This was formal night. We opted not to bring any formal clothes this trip, so we made reservations at Giovanni's Table tonight. We did not go to the Captain's Reception, but if you like that sort of thing.....they have it in the Centrum and I believe they do one of the aerial productions during the recpeption. I have pictures of an aerial show coming up a little later. It's quite impressive.

But now.......on to one of my favorite places:

Giovanni's and Chops were both added on Deck 6......all around the Schooner Bar. They are both beautiful venues. This is Giovannis:

[maxs mom]

Not many people seemed to be using the Specialty Restaurants this cruise, so we had the place to ourselves. That's OK. We got a lot of attention. Once again we managed to order just about the whole menu.....and it's a great menu!!

This is my shrimp:

And this is John's chicken:

That chicken was really good. I think I might order that next time!

We were treated quite well here!

Everything was sooooo good!

For some reason......they brought us a bottle of champagne after dinner.

[maxs mom]

I had this chocolate thing for dessert. Very tasty.

And this is another dessert that someone got:

Salud!

It was just a fabulous dinner!

Oops! Here are a couple of pre dinner pictures that I forgot about: