Cruising From Baltimore at Christmastime

[emeraldcity]

I am thoroughly enjoying your review. We sailed on the Grandeur in August and have her booked again this year.

 

Thanks for helping me through the winter.

 

You are so very welcome. This latest round of snow is thankfully arriving on a weekend, so I don't have to figure out if I have to shovel before I can try crashing through the drifts in the driveway to get to the street. If you're lucky, the clouds will have emptied out before this mess makes it way to the coast.

[emeraldcity]

It’s not uncommon for me to wake up in the middle of the night. In fact, it’s rare that I sleep straight through. But on the cruise, whenever I woke up in the middle of the night, I’d change positions and then relax and focus on the amazing rocking motion as it put me back to sleep. So when I woke up on this particular night and tried to focus on the rocking, I discovered that there was no rocking. Odd? Does that mean we’ve hit a patch of the Atlantic that was incredibly calm? I lay there contemplating that possibility and realized how much I missed the rocking motion.

 

Gradually I became aware of a sound that can only mean one thing … there was a helicopter closing in. That was unexpected, since I thought we were pretty far out to sea. I expected the sound to recede as the helicopter did a fly-by, but it persisted … and persisted. Obviously, this wasn’t a coastal fly-by I reasoned, so I rolled out of bed and stepped out onto the balcony. Just a few balconies aft of me a large Coast Guard helicopter was hovering off the port side shining a spot light on the ship. There were plenty of passengers who hadn’t taken as long as I to check on the noise, since I could see quite a few people leaning on the rail. I looked down at the sea and realized the ship had come to a full stop. The guy next to me advised that it was apparently an evacuation. I went back into my cabin to get the camera and DD growled at me to close the door. I returned to the balcony and attempted to get a picture of the copter, but all I ended up with is a picture of a bright light, so it only serves to reinforce my memory of how close he hovered during that time. Shortly after, he started to let down a long cable and then moved back over top of the ship. There was no question at that point that whoever was in need of this kind of evacuation was seriously ill. How dreadful for a vacation to end this way. I watched the helicopter head back to the coast and silently sent my best wishes for a successful recovery. We would later get more details about the logistic at the Captain’s Corner, but it was a medical emergency that had involved diverting course to get closer to the coast to meet the helicopter. Once the helicopter left, I returned to bed and the ship began moving again. The familiar rocking motion did its magic and I fell back asleep.

 

I ended up sleeping later than usual that morning, which meant that by the time I was ready for breakfast, the MDR was serving. This would make a nice change of pace, I determined, so while DD slept on, I headed in that direction. They seated me at a 6-top by the window with 5 other ladies and we had a delightful morning meal together. Up until this breakfast, I had despaired of finding any decent breakfast potatoes. The Windjammer had switched from those great fried, seasoned potatoes to an unfortunate healthy roasted version … which was missing the flavor that is delivered in all that great fat. Of course there was an alternative “potato” in the Windjammer … those little patties that McDonald’s calls hash browns. But here in the MDR, they served hash browns … real hash browns. I don’t remember what else I had for breakfast that morning, but I remember savoring those great hash browns.

 

Perusing the activities for the day, I found that the schedule seemed a bit light again. Since it is generally expected that the last sea day en route to Baltimore in December will be somewhat cool, it was understandable there wasn’t much planned outside, but I was a bit disappointed to find that spa offerings dominated again, along with “clearance” sales and 4 opportunities to let your hand-held device play Bingo. Due to the MDR breakfast, I’d missed the Destination Lecture on popular music of the Caribbean, which was a bit of a shame – since I love music and it would have been an intriguing opportunity to get a bit more background on the differences in the music that came from different islands. That left towel folding (which is on the Cruise in Review video I bought on my last Grandeur cruise), Sushi making and the Captain’s corner. I admit there was a certain pull to do the Sushi thing, although I’ve never tried Sushi. The buzz words “raw fish” dredge up a serious negative reaction that I can’t overcome. And yet, when you see displays of Sushi, it looks so intriguing and fun. If they ever offer a class in “Making stuff that looks like Sushi, but contains identifiable ingredients” I will probably be one of the first to sign up.

 

I’ve never attended a Captain’s Corner before, and I’m wondering if this has really only been offered in recent years. In any event, I’d missed all the other opportunities to get some details about the cruise itself and the logistics (since we kept arriving at events late), so I made this one a priority.

 

The Captain was joined by the Chief Engineer and the Hotel Director. After a brief round of introductions they began to take questions from the passengers. I will leave it to the imagination what questions were asked, but what follows resulted from the array of topics covered. There is a strong commitment on the ships to strive for an inclusive environment. With 875 crewmembers made up of 57-60 nationalities, there is an on-going effort to always work toward improvement and to celebrate diversity. RCI currently has about 70,000 employees and that is expected to increase by 10% in 2014. Overall the company has an 80% retention rate. Senior officers work 6 months, and then get 6 months off. Junior Officers are 4 months on and 2 months off. The career path to a captain’s position requires 8-10 years on cruise ships after getting a master’s license before one can be considered for candidacy. Psychological testing is part of the candidacy process. Staffing on the bridge at any time is controlled by the various conditions, with the lowest being Condition Green (open sea, daylight, little or no traffic). As conditions ramp up, such as closer to shore or heavy traffic, there are always 2 senior officers on the bridge. The early departure from San Juan was dictated by an algorithm in determining the optimal combination of speed, distance, and time. Increasing speed is always a very costly factor. The ship took on 290,000 gallons of fuel for this 10-day cruise (If my math is right, that means that each one of us had to pay for 150 gallons). The captain gave a single “Yes” when asked if he had ever left anyone behind in port. They then went on to explain that they have an obligation to the rest of the passengers as well as the company. Late port departures result in extra fuel consumption in order to make up lost time. And the captain went on to elaborate that he once left 24 passengers behind in San Juan on Christmas Eve. The Chesapeake Bay Pilots do not have full command of the ship. The crew monitors the pilot and can take the com back at any time. One of the most challenging aspects of sailing up the Chesapeake is the “fiberglass heroes” who inhabit the bay. And “No” was the captain’s response to a question of whether an RCI ship could suffer the fate of the Concordia. He went on to explain that a senior officer would have had to approve the course change, and would in fact have the authority to countermand such an order. We were also given a number of details about the evacuation that had taken place that morning. When it had been determined late the previous evening that the patient needed to be evacuated, they plotted the point where the helicopter would meet them and then changed course, heading full speed for that point. The helicopter left the ground almost 3 hours before it reached the ship, so were we still pretty far from shore. A rescue diver was lowered first and then the helicopter hovered off the port side while they secured the patient in the basket. Then the nurse was lifted up first, in order to stay with the patient for the entire time. The patient went up next and finally the rescue diver was pulled up. The entire exchange took 23 minutes. The captain was careful to give no personal details and I sat there wondering if it was a passenger or a crewmember. I would find out later that it was a passenger.

 

I met up with DD in the cabin so we could go have lunch together with the CruiseCritic group in the MDR. Of course the first order of business was the tongue-lashing she delivered for my faux pas of leaving the glass door open when I went out on the balcony that night and how all that “wind” woke her up. “That wasn’t wind … that was a helicopter hovering about 25 yards away.” But I was not forgiven and for the rest of my life will probably hear about how I disturbed her in the middle of the night on one of our cruises.

 

Since we’d missed the first of the two CruiseCritic lunches, we wanted to be certain to make it to the second one. As we passed through the Centrum on the eighth deck en route to the MDR we noted that the World’s Sexiest Man contest was in progress below. I’ve seen this event numerous times on the pool deck and somehow the concept of holding a rather earthy event in the elegant Centrum seems a bit out-of-place, but given the fact that it was scheduled for the last day of a December cruise en route to Baltimore, I suppose they couldn’t risk betting on a warm day outside. As it was, many people lingered on the top decks until early afternoon, since we had an unexpectedly mild day. In any event, we joined a group of 12 people for our lunch and they seated us at one of the long tables by the window on the starboard side. Again, I don’t remember what we selected off the menu; I only remember that it was a very pleasant luncheon with a fun group of people.

 

After lunch, it was time for DD’s final Thriller practice. Jimena went through the moves and then started dismissing people as she established which ones were ready and which ones needed a bit more brush up. She’d turned them into a credible dance group in only five practices and it promised to be a fun performance that evening.

 

We decided to spend the late afternoon packing so we wouldn’t have to face the chore after dinner. We had no sooner stepped in the cabin and I spotted the missing EasyShare camera on the floor at the end of my bed. Better late than never, since it held at least 150 pictures of the day we rated as the highlight of the trip. We extracted the suitcases from behind the chairs and under the beds and got busy. The first order of business was to pull down the garland and the candy canes and start stuffing them back into their respective suitcases. Then we started emptying drawers and the closet. Within an hour we’d denuded the room of its festive individuality. We paused to look at the effect and it was a bit of a downer. That really put an exclamation point on the reality that the cruise was nearly over.

 

Of course, we didn’t pack the Christmas tree before dinner. It accompanied us down to the MDR for one last dinner with our tablemates. The last dinner is always somewhat bittersweet. We exchange emails and take a round of pictures. And we savor one last meal together. This was the meal when the key lime pie showed up on the menu. DD had waited for this with great anticipation. I believe it was rated as being worth the wait. It’s true that you can have something special by request, even if it isn’t on the menu … but then, too much of a good thing can take away the anticipation and the uniqueness about it that ends up resulting in a treasured memory.

 

DD had to rush through the last part of dinner in order to go join the rest of the dance ensemble for Thriller Preparation. About 25 passengers had stuck out the five days of practice for the Thriller performance. About an hour before the scheduled performance, they reported to the area where makeup and costuming was to take place. Since all of the practices had taken place in the Centrum, many of the other passengers had seen bits and pieces of the preparations, so a great deal of interest had developed for the show. I stopped by make-up to get a few pictures of DD in her ghoulish get-up (because I wanted to make sure I could recognize her during the performance). Then I tried to find a spot where I could watch the show and take pictures. All the seats were taken and there wasn’t much space available to even find a spot to stand where there was much chance of a decent picture. I ended up squeezing between a chair and one of the huge posts near the R Bar so that I wouldn’t be blocking anyone. I apologized to the occupant of the chair for hovering over him and he granted me immediate forgiveness for crowding his personal space. As more people crowded into the walkway between the R Bar and the Centrum seating, the occupants of the R Bar barstools tried unsuccessfully to defend their perceived right to a line-of-sight that wasn’t going to mean they’d have to stand, too. But given that it was a show that was only about 6 or 7 minutes long, the standing-room-only crowd (which was most of us) was probably not too uncomfortable. The music started and a hush fell over the crowd … (sorry, I just couldn’t resist throwing that in). The performance was very well done. Jimena had done a wonderful job with her volunteer amateurs and the crowd loved it. They got a rousing applause at the end of the production.

 

After the Thriller performance, DD was anxious to shed the make-up so she dashed upstairs to shower and become presentable again. I returned to the Centrum for the Christmas carols that would be performed by the Grandaires. This will rank forever in my memory as one of the most treasured Christmas concerts I ever attended. The group of passengers who had spent several hours over the course of the cruise practicing together had developed into a nicely balanced choir and the Centrum created an outstanding venue for the performance. As they stepped through a varied selection of timeless Christmas carols I looked around the Centrum at the setting. The fairy lights in the Centrum railing reflected on the glass windows on either side of the space. Beyond the window, I could see channel markers sliding by, so we had either entered Chesapeake Bay or would do so shortly. The music soared to every level and the effect was magically charged with fragments of special Christmases that our lives had touched. It was a perfect ending to a Christmastime cruise. I’d gone looking for venues that were all decorated for Christmas in order to experience a different kind of Christmas. But it was in the music of that choral group that last evening, that I found Christmas at last.

 

We made one last visit to the Solarium that evening. DD passed on the chance to have a final snack of nachos and cheese, but I indulged. Once again, the temperature in the Solarium had plummeted. The only improvement over the conditions on boarding day is that a walk through the Solarium didn’t involve raindrop dodging. I was surprised to spot several tables of people playing cards in the Solarium. At best, it might have been 50 degrees. I salute their fortitude.

Edited February 1, 2014 by emeraldcity

[GiannaD]

Thank you for a wonderful review.

[emeraldcity]

You're welcome!

 

And stay tuned ... I thought I'd finish today, but looks like it's going to go into tomorrow.

Last up ... bag tags fiasco.

[kahliasmom]

Enjoying your review. How do you remember everything that you did? I always mean to keep a journal but then I get so busy. I got on the Grandeur the day you got off, Dec 24th. Darryl was awesome!! I love the Grandeur even though it is a smaller ship. I especially like the Schooner bar and the lounge behind it, the Seven Seas I think? My daughter and I had such a great time, we booked a the ten day Dec 27th cruise. I can't wait!!

[emeraldcity]

I slipped out of bed and peeked out the window in the early morning to see that we were just gliding under the last bridge before the port. DD wasn’t as hard to get up as usual, because the promise of reconnecting to her social networks was foremost in her mind. The summer clothes were safely tucked away and it was time to get into something that covered a lot more skin. I dragged DD off to breakfast, but she hardly ate anything at all.

 

The three bags we’d set out in the hall the previous evening bore the wonderfully low number of 22. I had gotten the impression that they started issuing luggage tags to the full suites and then began walking toward the aft, distributing numbers as they went. A walk down the hall that last evening had resulted in numbers reaching 26 by the time we got to the Centrum. I reasoned that this is a secret suite perk … earlier disembarkation. Of course, you can skip all that and self-disembark. But this option is not available to World Class Over-packers. We assembled our baggage train, bid our room one last farewell, and headed to the theater. We arrived at the theater about a half hour before our scheduled departure time, so we squeezed up next to all that plastic foliage, rather than try to find seating that would accommodate the load. I maintain that this tactic was born of consideration for my fellow passengers and in no way was driven by an attempt to avoid being an object of ridicule and scorn. Maybe we wouldn’t have posed such a sight if the luggage all matched, but the sad fact is that I have at least three sets of luggage, plus that big polka-dot thing on wheels, and you really had to study the collection for awhile to be able to notice that some of it actually did match each other.

 

At least ten minutes early, they announced 20 and 21 could proceed to the gangway. “Let’s go!” I began to collect my assigned burden. DD pointed out that I was apparently hearing-impaired and I countered that by the time we got there, they would have added 22 to the mix. Those trailing out of the theater were being directed toward the Centrum. This meant they would all be in competition for the same elevators. Since we were going to need a lot of space, we wouldn’t be making many friends if we followed the crowd. We made a hard left and took the elevators that were right by the theater. One deck down, we headed down the starboard corridor and arrived at the gangway shortly after they called 22. Somewhere I had stumbled upon a post calling this the gangway of doom, so I envisioned a challenging descent, trying to check the momentum of my baggage train, but it really wasn’t bad at all. The challenge of the process was yet to come. We entered the terminal and were directed to where our luggage was held. I positioned DD as much out of the way as possible with the 7 core pieces and went off to make short work of the hunt for the three checked pieces. The big obnoxious polka dot bag was at the far end and I corralled that one early in the process, but try as I might, I couldn’t spot the other two. My old stand-by case that has sported a flowered tie on it since the 2006 Explorer trip was nowhere to be seen. And the purple duffle should have been easy to spot as well. I made three complete passes through the area and came up empty. I took the polka dot one over to DD and reasoned I’d make one more try – moving much slower this time. I finally spotted the flowered tie, sandwiched tightly in between two cases that were considerably higher. The purple duffle was still a no-show. I went back to DD and told her to give it a shot. Off she went to make the attempt. While she was gone I stood there a few moments looking at the two bags I’d found and noted that the big luggage tag with the 22 on it was no longer affixed to itself and was nearly slipping out from under the handle. Ah-ha! We have an adhesive issue! Where is the stack of bags that don’t have a tag? Sure enough, next to the door where we had originally entered, there was a large (maybe “mountainous” is a better adjective here) assembly of bags with no bag tags … and a purple duffle on top. Moral of the story – don’t trust their adhesive. I could have used the scotch tape to assure an effective seal, because I had, of course, packed scotch tape. When DD returned, we signaled for assistance and let a wonderfully cheerful porter with a cart take over our collection of stuff. DD was delighted with my decision to be wise instead of thrifty. It’s not something she can expect on a regular basis, you see.

 

As our stuff was loaded on the cart, I spotted the person with the service dog again, so either they really were on the Grandeur, or they had flown up here to hang out in the terminal after disembarking from the Legend a day or two earlier.

 

Once transferred to the waiting area for shuttles, it was only about 15 minutes before the Best Western Shuttle arrived. He’d already been in transit when we called. We loaded up and in short order were getting a last look at the Grandeur as the van pulled away. This can be an emotional moment. Often I’m fighting the urge to cry that it’s over (despite my personal philosophy against that emotion) … but this time I wanted something symbolic like a glass of champagne to toast the ship and thank everyone on board for a successful vacation. This had been the most difficult wait for any cruise I’d ever taken. Having had the original cruise cancelled days before it was to take place, I’d struggled with the specter of a sense of belief that it would never happen. That feeling was magnified by several personal issues that had cropped up in the final weeks before the cruise, such that even the day before we left Ohio, I still wasn’t excited about the cruise, because I was afraid it wouldn’t happen. It gives a whole new perspective to that phrase “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” The cruise really had finally happened and it was wonderful.

 

We returned to the Best Western and tossed our luggage into the back of the car. Despite the concerns of a week earlier, there was no snow to remove and we made the quick trip to the nearby gas station for a full tank. Then I let DD’s smart phone dictate snotty messages to tell me how to get back to the freeway. Once we got on I-70 I checked with DD to see if she was hungry yet and she said no. I knew better, so I did the mom thing and dangled the right carrot in front of the donkey “Oh, cuz I was going to see if there was a Dunkin Donuts up along the way here shortly.” Suddenly she was hungry … and the next exit even advertised the desired destination. We got off the freeway and I pulled up in front of the place. I handed her a ten to go in and get herself a couple donuts and one for me. Not sure if I’m getting my money’s worth on that college education, because somehow she translated that into a half dozen.

 

Then it was back on the freeway to head home. We kept dealing with sneaky snow attacks the entire way home. They were interspersed with periods that even included charming blue sky, so it was easy to convince yourself it was clearing up. As a result, I chose to take the shorter route and get back on the Pennsylvania Turnpike again. I suspect the better choice would have been to continue on toward Columbus and then head north. The issue wasn’t the road conditions … it was the altitude changes. Someone on the ship several days before had managed to leave a very healthy cold virus on some surface I’d touched and it had happily decided to fill every available cavity in my head with fluids. I know how a baby feels now on a plane when they can’t pop their ears, because I did three hours on the Pennsylvania Turnpike without being able to do so. It wasn’t just uncomfortable … it was painful. However, I did have one positive experience on the return trip in Pennsylvania. That last 30 miles where I was expecting to have to spend another $5.50 … there was no toll booth. Apparently they only charge people coming into the state (“Welcome to Pennsylvania!”). If you’re on your way out, it’s free (“Go on. Get outta here.”).

 

The trip home went well, since the roads stayed clear despite the continued snowfall. We returned home to a couple inches of snow and got most of the unpacking done before leaving for Christmas Eve Service. In a way, it seemed surprising to think of Christmas as being the very next day. It was a very different way to approach the Christmas season … not better, not worse – just different. It would be fun to do it again sometime, although I doubt it would ever be as special as this one was. One last cruise with my DD (who’s a real adult now) before she starts introducing her friends to cruising.

 

 

 

 

Final Notes: I want to thank each of the people we met on board who enhanced our wonderful cruise experience. We had fantastic tablemates and the CruiseCritic friends we managed to regularly meet up with rounded out our social circle nicely. We had one of the very best serving teams ever in the MDR and Duane, our cabin steward ranks as our very favorite in all of our cruises.

 

Overheard in the elevator: “Remember the time when we had to have maintenance come up and open the safe because we couldn’t remember the combination? We were 12 and we were storing cookies in there. The guy couldn’t believe he’d drilled the safe for cookies!”

 

As so many others have mentioned, Darryl was an incredible force of energy. He sparked a room just by walking in. He had a great sense of humor and really knew how to make a party happen. Jeffrey was rather invisible except for key events. He did an outstanding job as an emcee whenever his role called for it … he just wasn’t out-and-about at other times. In all honesty, I was more likely to unexpectedly come upon Chef Chris than the Cruise Director.

 

Among the things I almost didn’t pack was Sudafed and Puff’s Extra Soft Facial Tissues. But they were lying right there by the last case of incidentals, so I threw them in. The Sudafed got me through those last couple of days and I didn’t think about the tissues until after a day of using that rather rough stuff that is stocked in the room. The first time I pulled out a Puff’s and surrounded my sore nose with it, I was ready to go buy stock in Proctor and Gamble … it was heaven. I will never again risk being at the mercy of whatever they stock.

 

Has the Solarium become the new card room? Nearly any time of day or evening, a large number of the Solarium tables were occupied by foursomes playing Mahjong or cards of some sort. It seemed to be a great venue for table games with your family and friends.

[emeraldcity]

Enjoying your review. How do you remember everything that you did? I always mean to keep a journal but then I get so busy. I got on the Grandeur the day you got off, Dec 24th. Darryl was awesome!! I love the Grandeur even though it is a smaller ship. I especially like the Schooner bar and the lounge behind it, the Seven Seas I think? My daughter and I had such a great time, we booked a the ten day Dec 27th cruise. I can't wait!!

 

Thank you ... glad you're enjoying coming along for the ride. My personal preference is the smaller ships, because I feel it offers a more personal experience ... you keep encountering the same group of people and you share little bits of the experience with this new temporary family during the course of the cruise.

 

I started the cruise with a steno book and I jotted notes in it each day. By the end of the cruise it was full. It was part of our day. We'd stop from time to time and "catch up on the notes" tossing things into the conversation we wanted to be certain to remember.

[TheCalicoCat]

 

After dinner, the tree was returned to our cabin and we went in search of entertainment. We decided to stop in the South Pacific Lounge where Locomotion was playing dance music. If you’re looking for pleasant lounge music that couples can dance to, this is the place.

 

I liked Locomotion too.

[mrsmrb654]

Thanks for this fantastic, detailed trip review! Our first cruise will be on Grandeur of the Seas & reading about your trip has me really excited. Our port stops will be different but the on-board experience sounds fantastic.