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Just off 12 Day Grandeur of the Seas

SKSMIKE5

By SKSMIKE5,
in Royal Caribbean International

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John Reid

John Reid

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I was on this cruise also and the January 20th twelve day, too. The cruise was my sixth on Grandeur out of Baltimore and 24th overall. Just wanted to add on to previous comments.

Yes, I find the staff to be very good and friendly.

I have always had a good room steward.

I find the Customer Service reps to be friendly and extremely competent. They take care and follow up on any minor problems I have had. Just excellent.

Though I didn't use the Diamond Lounge much this cruise, Rahul definitely works very hard and does an outstanding job.

Big Bob. I didn't go to Quest or Love and Marriage game show. These two events usually display the ability of a CD. He was the CD on both of my recent cruises. I'll just say that, even though he is low key, I would gladly welcome back Paul Rutter who knows Grandeur and its clientele/demographic.

I really enjoy the twelve-day itinerary on Grandeur. But it is consistently the highest average age of any other line or itinerary I have taken, including multiple Canada/NE and Holland America.

Contrary to a previous post, I thought there way more scooters than usual. But it's never a problem, and the high average age never diminishes my enjoyment of the cruise. It's not often one can be 68 and be on the younger end of the age bell curve.

My last four cruises on Grandeur were with Tanya Tongue Gates as Activities Manager. She is fabulous and brings a real energy to a cruise. She will be Anthem's gain after her vacation. There was a slight drop in activities on this first cruise without her.

There are two formal nights.

The entertainment was better this cruise than the cruise before. I know that all production shows are going to be repeated, but Grandeur has a high level of repetition of headliners. If you are a first or second timer on mid-Atlantic departures, you will be fine.

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davy jones

davy jones

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Thanks for sharing.

 

Since it's a smaller ship, you don't see a lot about Grandeur on the boards.

 

Longer cruises when school is in session attract less children and a generally older passenger base who either are retired or have amassed enough vacation time to take a longer sailing.

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SKSMIKE5

SKSMIKE5

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Interested in the age demographics. You mentioned that you’re group was younger than average in your 50s. We’re going next year on this itinerary with my family and our respective mothers, so ages will range from 10-70.

 

There were only a handful of children on the ship and they were all younger than 5. That makes sense considering we were sailing in February. There were many 60-70 year olds but everyone was friendly and nice for the most part. We noticed more scooters and walkers, not so many wheelchairs.

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SKSMIKE5

SKSMIKE5

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We'll be on this cruise on March 24. Since it's over Easter break I'm thinking the crowd may be a bit more on the young side, not sure. We're 64 & 70 but on the "young side"! We've only cruised during summer months in the past, so it will be interesting to see how we like it with fewer young people around. Could go either way I think.

 

Anyway, I was wondering of all the islands take U.S. currency. I don't want to use credit cards on the islands if I don't have to.

Thanks!

 

 

All the islands took us currency we had no issues. But some, like St Kitt's I believe will give you change in their currency so you want to be careful not to give them big bills.

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SKSMIKE5

SKSMIKE5

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Any shopping tips for the islands?

 

We always love shopping in St Thomas. This trip was no different and we received a surprise the night before we went to port. It was addressed to my husband and said since he has a December birthday, and it's the month of Tanzanite, they gave us a $200 gift certificate to use at Tanzanite International (with Minimum purchase). We got a gorgeous $399 Tanzanite necklace with diamonds and they honored the certificate bringing the price to $199. We weren't really shopping for anything specific so I'm not much help.

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John Reid

John Reid

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Interested in the age demographics. You mentioned that you’re group was younger than average in your 50s. We’re going next year on this itinerary with my family and our respective mothers, so ages will range from 10-70.

 

Spending time at the pools, one gets a real sense of the number of kids. I'd say about 6 to 8 toddlers and infants. Age 5 to 12 comprised about 14 to 17 more. I don't think I saw any teenagers this cruise.

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Rogueperson "Live from...." Rare

Rogueperson

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Rumor is... It will be either Bob Leininger or Paul Rutter. We sailed with Paul last year. While somewhat low key, he was always out and about the ship saying hello to guests.

 

There used to be a thread here that had a running tally and information on Cruise directors, but for the life of me, I can't locate it anymore. It was similar to the Captain's thread.

 

I had Paul Rutter last year as well. I found him to be the worst Cruise Director I've ever had. He was low keyed and depended on a script too much. So much so, that in my opinion, I think he failed to capitalize on stirring the passenger's energy in favor of sticking to his predetermined act. The result was that he actually killed the crowd's enthusiasm.

 

I also has Susan..something. aka Cruisin Susan in the summer. She was SOOO much better and was much better at navigating the passengers than Paul was.

 

I'm hoping Paul won't be on the ship when I cruise in late April. His staff is fine, but he, himself, I found to be boring and uninspiring.

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Merion_Mom

Merion_Mom

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There used to be a thread here that had a running tally and information on Cruise directors, but for the life of me, I can't locate it anymore. It was similar to the Captain's thread.

 

I had Paul Rutter last year as well. I found him to be the worst Cruise Director I've ever had. He was low keyed and depended on a script too much. So much so, that in my opinion, I think he failed to capitalize on stirring the passenger's energy in favor of sticking to his predetermined act. The result was that he actually killed the crowd's enthusiasm.

 

I also has Susan..something. aka Cruisin Susan in the summer. She was SOOO much better and was much better at navigating the passengers than Paul was.

 

I'm hoping Paul won't be on the ship when I cruise in late April. His staff is fine, but he, himself, I found to be boring and uninspiring.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2473025&highlight=current&page=63

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=55350051&postcount=1213

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Rogueperson "Live from...." Rare

Rogueperson

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Thanks. I couldn't find it searching for "cruise directors". I found it searching for "Paul Rutter", as I remembered him :(

 

I'm kind of filled with dread that my upcoming cruise in April will have him as my cruise director....again. Its blank, as no one knows who's covering for Bob Leininger after he leaves at the end or March

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Merion_Mom

Merion_Mom

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Thanks. I couldn't find it searching for "cruise directors". I found it searching for "Paul Rutter", as I remembered him :(

 

I'm kind of filled with dread that my upcoming cruise in April will have him as my cruise director....again. Its blank, as no one knows who's covering for BobLeininger after he leaves at the end or March

Search for "current". There are only a few threads with that word in the title. ;)

 

Yes, we want to know if we will be stuck with Paul.

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Rogueperson "Live from...." Rare

Rogueperson

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If Bob is leaving at the end of March, what does that mean for my cruise which leaves 3/24 and returns 4/5? The end of march is in the middle of the cruise. I wonder if they will switch before or after.

 

You could be the last cruise that has Bob then. You can always update us when you board :p. I actually have friends going boarding on 4/5. I would have joined them, but it was $400.00 more expensive than the 4/26 one I'm going on. They're friends, but not THAT great friends :p. Besides, I needed the cheapest cruise possible to get my 18 points to get to Diamond.

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SRF

SRF

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I also has Susan..something. aka Cruisin Susan in the summer. She was SOOO much better and was much better at navigating the passengers than Paul was.

 

We had Cruisin Susan on Grandeur in August. VERY energetic.

 

Activities Director was Tino, who was a HOOT. The two combined kept things moving.

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DJLDRUMS

DJLDRUMS

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Thanks for the review! Who was the cruise director and how was he/she?

 

Can't wait to board Grandeur 4 weeks from today!!!

 

 

LOL..lol...so aren't the six of us ...three couples from the "Bahston" Mass. area.

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