Grandeur trip report with pictures - 5/25/19

[CruisinCrow]

I finally finished and uploaded my journal of our 5-day cruise on Grandeur of the Seas.  It is in two parts and here are the links.

 

Part 1 - http://susancrow.blogspot.com/2019/06/cruising-to-bermuda-part-1.html

Part 2 - http://susancrow.blogspot.com/2019/06/cruising-to-bermuda-part-2.html

 

For some background, I traveled with my husband, my mom and my older sister.  This was the first cruise my mom has taken since my dad died almost two years ago.  She said she wasn't going to cruise again without my dad, but we invited her anyway because I knew she wanted to see Bermuda.  I was very happy she decided to go!    I think she had a good time, even though she wasn't feeling well part of the time.

 

I'll write up some general comments in a bit and post more pictures.  If anyone has questions about the ship or what we did in Bermuda, I'll be glad to answer if I can.

[CruisinCrow]

I also posted the Cruise Compasses here: http://susancrow.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html   Scroll down a little to get to the ones for Royal Caribbean.

[Cru1s1ng2009]

thanks for the review. I really enjoyed it.

[retiredgram]

Thanks for the review.  Nice pictures also.

[CruisinCrow]

Here are a few more pictures from around that ship that weren't included in my blog.

 

 

Solarium

 

Great Gatsby Dining Room

 

Giovanni's

 

Schooner Bar

 

Robert from the Windjammer.  Notice he had a Cruising Duck tied to his hat.  The crew has fun with the ducks too.

[CruisinCrow]

And here are some pictures of the food in the main dining room.  If you don't like food pictures, skip this part. 

 

crab cake

 

antipasti (and a lemon drop martini)

 

beef carpaccio

 

Vidalia onion tart

 

lobster

 

roasted beets and orange salad

 

pavlova

Edited June 10, 2019 by CruisinCrow

[Cru1s1ng2009]

I love Robert from the WJ, he is always so happy and helpful.

[CruisinCrow]

6 minutes ago, Cru1s1ng2009 said:

I love Robert from the WJ, he is always so happy and helpful.

 

Yes, what a fun man.  He made our Windjammer breakfasts memorable.

[healthworker]

Thanks for review and compasses! Would you know what kind of dance class they had daily at nine am? Was it Zumba. ? Thanks!

[CruisinCrow]

1 hour ago, healthworker said:

Thanks for review and compasses! Would you know what kind of dance class they had daily at nine am? Was it Zumba. ? Thanks!

 

I remember seeing it a couple of times when I walked through the Centrum area.  It looked like some kind of exercise class but I don't know if it was Zumba.  It seemed like they did a lot of activities in the Centrum.

[Love PalmTrees]

Hi! Awesome review and the pics were beautiful!  Thanks!  What was your cabin number?  Just booked a cruise on the Grandeur in a Junior Suite on deck 8 and would like to avoid that wretched "pole in the cabin".  Thanks!

[TPCRUISER2]

Thank you for your review! Bermuda is my favorite cruise destination. So glad you made the stop to the Swizzle inn! Never been to Baily's Ice cream! Will have to try it. The Lighthouse is beautiful! Have not gone there yet either. It is amazing to me that I can cruise some where so many times and not seen everything. The Grandeur is looking better than it did in the 90's!

[CruisinCrow]

2 hours ago, Love PalmTrees said:

Hi! Awesome review and the pics were beautiful!  Thanks!  What was your cabin number?  Just booked a cruise on the Grandeur in a Junior Suite on deck 8 and would like to avoid that wretched "pole in the cabin".  Thanks!

 

Thanks!  We were in 8576.  My mom and sister were in 8568 and did not have the pole. 

 

[Love PalmTrees]

Thanks regarding the cabin number.  We have booked 8552.  I may still call Royal.  I had no idea that any cabins had poles!!  😲  Have a good day! 

[cruise wizard]

Thank you for all of the info. We will be on Grandeur in exactly 1 year for our 47 th anniversary B2B cruise.

[CruisinCrow]

1 hour ago, Love PalmTrees said:

Thanks regarding the cabin number.  We have booked 8552.  I may still call Royal.  I had no idea that any cabins had poles!!  😲  Have a good day! 

 

It really wasn't a big deal.  I thought it was more funny than anything.   Just be careful about walking into it at night.

 

I was more worried about getting a noisy cabin since the junior suites are under the pool deck.  Our cabin was somewhere between the Solarium and the spa so we didn't have much issue with noise.  I only heard some scraping from above one night.

Edited June 11, 2019 by CruisinCrow

[CruisinCrow]

12 hours ago, TPCRUISER2 said:

Thank you for your review! Bermuda is my favorite cruise destination. So glad you made the stop to the Swizzle inn! Never been to Baily's Ice cream! Will have to try it. The Lighthouse is beautiful! Have not gone there yet either. It is amazing to me that I can cruise some where so many times and not seen everything. The Grandeur is looking better than it did in the 90's!

 

Bailey's Bay ice cream was very good but the artisan ice cream shop in the Dockyard was even better.  Super creamy!  The views from the lighthouse are beautiful and it only costs $2.50 to climb it.  It's neat to see the ships in the distance.  

 

I've got my list together for our next trip - checking out St George, seeing (and hopefully climbing) the St David's lighthouse, maybe renting a boat, spending time exploring the beaches.  We'll probably fly to Bermuda next time so we'll have a few days to see more.

Edited June 11, 2019 by CruisinCrow

[CruisinCrow]

Thanks for the nice words, everyone!  Here are some general thoughts and comments about our cruise.

 

Service - Service was excellent, especially in the main dining room.  It was nice having a real wait team, like they did had the "old days".  They even removed the crumbs from the table after the main course, which we haven't seen in a while.  Our cabin attendant, Mennie, was great also.  She was always in the hallway and would greet us or let us know if my mom was looking for us.  We never had to wait to get drinks at the bars.  Actually, the ship never seemed crowded.  The only exception was in the Windjammer just before we arrived in Bermuda.  I think everyone was trying to get in a quick, early lunch before getting off the ship.

 

Food - The food in the main dining room was good to very good.  My favorite dish was the beef carpaccio appetizer.  My lobster was tender and it was nice to be able to order escargot every night.  We ate all our breakfasts and lunches in the Windjammer.  Breakfast was very good, lunch was so-so.  We probably should have tried the dining room for lunch one day, but with four people the Windjammer was easier because we could show up and leave as we wanted.  We didn't try any of the specialty restaurants.

 

Cabin - Our junior suite was spacious with a ton of storage.  My only complaint about the cabin (besides the pole) was that there was very little counter space in the bathroom.  Also, we did have an issue with the plumbing.  The toilet got stuck and wouldn't stop sucking air.  Maintenance fixed it quickly but it seemed to leak after that.  At least there was always water on the floor around the toilet.  I was worried about the cabin location since it was under the pool deck but I only heard scraping from above one night.  We were below the area between the Solarium and spa so there wasn't much chair-dragging going on. 

 

Baltimore - Leaving out of Baltimore was nice because of all the bridges.  We went under the Key Bridge about 45 minutes to an hour after leaving port.  The Chesapeake Bay Bridge was about 2 hours after leaving port.  We weren't awake to see the tunnel on the way out but on the way back to Baltimore, we crossed it about 9 PM.  Be aware that the shops and casino close around 8 o'clock the last day once you enter the Chesapeake Bay.

 

Sea pass charges - On the last afternoon, Ron's sea pass quit working so we had to go to Guest Services.  For some reason, it took over half an hour to print out a new one and while we were waiting, I asked for a print out of our account charges.  It showed $150 in drink charges even though both of us had the drink package!  Guest Services said they would fix it but when we got the final print out the next morning, it still had drink charges on it.  I didn't have time to deal with it because we had an early flight and my mom wasn't feeling well, but I called customer service when we got home and they fixed it.  It's definitely a good idea to check your account charges during the cruise instead of waiting till the last morning.

 

Itinerary - I wished we'd had more time in Bermuda!  We could have taken a longer cruise but that would have meant more time off of work and more time at sea, which we didn't want.  But I think we made the most of the time we had.  Bermuda was awesome.

 

Debarkation - We did the self-assist debarkation.  For a 5-day cruise, I was surprised how many other people took this option.  The line to debark moved slowly but steadily and it took about half an hour to get off the ship and through customs.

 

If anyone has any questions, I'll be glad to try to answer.

Happy cruising!

[healthworker]

thanks for posting cruise compasses!

 

Answers my questions about fitness schedule!

[bearchele2]

On 6/10/2019 at 7:09 PM, Love PalmTrees said:

Hi! Awesome review and the pics were beautiful!  Thanks!  What was your cabin number?  Just booked a cruise on the Grandeur in a Junior Suite on deck 8 and would like to avoid that wretched "pole in the cabin".  Thanks!

I don't remember the cabin number but 2 years ago we had a jr suit and we had the pole. The poles are in the rooms under the pool. 

[Dina7]

I so enjoyed your journal of your cruise on the Grandeur. After our first cruise to Bermuda, I was hooked on it too. Such a beautiful place! We returned a second time and going back for our third in Oct. I also loved your food photos 😊. Thanks so much for posting!

[CruisinCrow]

 

25 minutes ago, Dina7 said:

I so enjoyed your journal of your cruise on the Grandeur. After our first cruise to Bermuda, I was hooked on it too. Such a beautiful place! We returned a second time and going back for our third in Oct. I also loved your food photos 😊. Thanks so much for posting!

 

Thanks!  The food presentation in the dining room was really good I thought, especially the appetizers.

 

Is October a good time to go to Bermuda?  We were wondering when would be the best time to go back.

[Dina7]

10 minutes ago, CruisinCrow said:

 

 

Thanks!  The food presentation in the dining room was really good I thought, especially the appetizers.

 

Is October a good time to go to Bermuda?  We were wondering when would be the best time to go back.

Our first trip was in the beginning of October & the weather was great, sunny & hot. Not sure of water temp. as we didn’t go to any beaches that trip.This past November one of the days wasn’t quite as warm...we still went to beach, but water was too cold for me to go in. Our 2nd day there was in the mid 80’s & sunny, but that was our day to explore & not go to a beach.

[dutchclogs]

Slightly random question, do you know if there are bathroom scales in the fitness studio or anywhere else on board?

 

Edited June 14, 2019 by dutchclogs

[CruisinCrow]

5 hours ago, dutchclogs said:

Slightly random question, do you know if there are bathroom scales in the fitness studio or anywhere else on board?

 

 

I'm sorry, I don't know.  I never made it to the gym.  Let me ask my sister if she remembers seeing them.