IS GRANDEUR STILL AROUND?

[sjde]

Today I was searching for info on Canada / New England cruises and  itineraries popped up on Grandeur and Serenade. But then more searching brought this up- 

“Royal Caribbean International announced that the Grandeur of the Seas will leave the company's fleet in spring 2021 and join sister brand Pullmantur Cruises.Oct 23, 2019

[firefly333]

4 minutes ago, sjde said:

Today I was searching for info on Canada / New England cruises and  itineraries popped up on Grandeur and Serenade. But then more searching brought this up- 

“Royal Caribbean International announced that the Grandeur of the Seas will leave the company's fleet in spring 2021 and join sister brand Pullmantur Cruises.Oct 23, 2019

Clearly 2021 is gone and grandeur has sailed since then. You can see the date is 2 years ago. Yes it's still sailing. .. didnt got sold. 

[Oceansaway17]

Yes and I hope she is for another year as I have booked Greenland out of Boston next summer.

BTW, I sailed on Vision and enjoyed her more than I thought I would.

[orville99]

I sure hope so, we are on her in two weeks out of Tampa😇

17 minutes ago, sjde said:

Today I was searching for info on Canada / New England cruises and  itineraries popped up on Grandeur and Serenade. But then more searching brought this up- 

“Royal Caribbean International announced that the Grandeur of the Seas will leave the company's fleet in spring 2021 and join sister brand Pullmantur Cruises.Oct 23, 2019

That plan (and every other plan for that matter) went poof in March of 2020, and by 2021 when ships started sailing again, Pulmantur no longer existed.

[sjde]

I hate to book a ship that’s going to be put out of service soon ( or refurbished) and then they end up putting you on another one . Thanks everyone! 
 

[PigsCanFly]

5 hours ago, sjde said:

I hate to book a ship that’s going to be put out of service soon ( or refurbished) and then they end up putting you on another one . Thanks everyone! 
 

In Our opinion, Granduer is worth the risk.  We sailed on her on our first RCL cruise, and yearly after that until Jan 2020.  We loved the crew and would sail them again without question.

[Rackham]

Last week in Costa Maya.

[deliver42]

The Grandeur is alive and well sailing from Tampa.

[Another_Critic]

4 hours ago, deliver42 said:

The Grandeur is alive and well sailing from Tampa.

Her preferred name is Lady G.  🙂

[Jam0610]

We have her booked out of Boston September 29th, 2024.

[deliver42]

You're right about Lady G.

[Blue Eyed Belfast Belle]

I too am sailing on her in Aug/Sept 2024 along with Enchantment the week before

 

I love the Vision Class and Radiance Class ship but I don't think Royal do.  I was on Enchantment in May and a few crew members said she is going to be sold.  The lack of maintenance was obvious (water coming through the ceiling in the Spotlight Lounge and the activities team were joking it was a free aqua show!)  At Captains Corner it was said that a lot of money is put into refurbing the Voyager, Freedom and Oasis class of ships as they are automatically identified as a Royal Ship! 

 

Saying that I have sailed on Splendour (now Marella Discovery), Rhapsody, Vision and Enchantment and only Grandeur to sail in the current RCI Vision Fleet.  Some day I will make it to Marella Discovery 2 (ex Legend of the Seas) to make the full set! 🙂 

[goldfish65]

The old ships’ days are numbered, in part due to emissions and fuel efficiency. Captain told the audience to spend a lot in the casino to keep it in the fleet. Really liked Grandeur back in January, going again next month and it is sold out, wondering how the crowds will be and whether the a/c can keep up. I like the feeling of traveling back in time! 

Edited August 22, 2023 by goldfish65

[Another_Critic]

2 hours ago, Blue Eyed Belfast Belle said:

Saying that I have sailed on Splendour (now Marella Discovery), Rhapsody, Vision and Enchantment and only Grandeur to sail in the current RCI Vision Fleet.  Some day I will make it to Marella Discovery 2 (ex Legend of the Seas) to make the full set! 🙂 

I've sailed on Grandeur 7 times for a total of 62 nights (all pre-COVID from Baltimore), Vision 1 time for 16 nights (pre-COVID Arctic Crossing), and Enchantment 1 time for 8 nights (post restart).  My daughter sailed on Rhapsody 1 time from Tampa.

[shipgeeks]

We have sailed on Grandeur, Enchantment, and Vision many times each, and love that class. Officer conversations continue to say that RC is committed to sailing from Baltimore indefinitely, so there is hope there for Vision class.  No recent mentions of getting rid of any of them, either.

[orville99]

10 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

We have sailed on Grandeur, Enchantment, and Vision many times each, and love that class. Officer conversations continue to say that RC is committed to sailing from Baltimore indefinitely, so there is hope there for Vision class.  No recent mentions of getting rid of any of them, either.

If any of them go, it will probably be rhapsody first.

[Another_Critic]

12 minutes ago, orville99 said:

If any of them go, it will probably be rhapsody first.

Why do you think that?

 

It appears that Enchantment is in the worst condition, has only one specialty restaurant (less extra $$), but it does have more cabins (more $). 

 

It would be interesting to see revenue figures for each of the four Vision class ships. 

[boscobeans]

2 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

Why do you think that?

 

It appears that Enchantment is in the worst condition, has only one specialty restaurant (less extra $$), but it does have more cabins (more $). 

 

It would be interesting to see revenue figures for each of the four Vision class ships. 

Our third Grandeur sailing out of Baltimore was on the last day before they closed down cruises because of Covid. The cruise ports all shut down and we managed to dock in Dominica and Barbados for the rest of our cruise we crisscrossed all over the Caribbean.

The crew was spectacular

The food was great.

Our J-suite ????

The HVAC system didn't supply heat, weather was frigid when we embarked, or cooling when we were in the Caribbean. Heating was again a problem when we were cruising back to the North.

Heating and cooling were resolved after several calls. The metal ceiling panel fell onto our bed and once again we had to have that resolved. The veranda door would not lock and would slide open even after it was "repaired" twice. When I finally used Duct Tape to hold it shut at night the whistling sound was comically loud.

The cruise was still fun, and we treated it as an adventure including all the missed ports, but did get to visit Dominica once again, which was an unexpected bonus.

Unless the ship had a major maintenance program, I would not recommend it especially if they got the stateroom we had. LOL.

We have been sailing for over 23 years and never complained about minor things but that sailing was more like a comedy of errors, or rather a comedy of mishaps.

[Another_Critic]

26 minutes ago, boscobeans said:

Our third Grandeur sailing out of Baltimore was on the last day before they closed down cruises because of Covid.

My last Grandeur sailing was Feb. 20-28, 2020.

[boscobeans]

14 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

My last Grandeur sailing was Feb. 20-28, 2020.

Ours was March 7th 2020. Brutally cold and they were having a problem somewhere in the check-in process which caused a heck of a wait in line to get into the terminal.

They used a forehead thermometer to check our temperatures and I bet they read about 32 degrees. LOL

Got to meet a bunch of people during the wait as our adventure began.

[Another_Critic]

7 minutes ago, boscobeans said:

Ours was March 7th 2020. Brutally cold and they were having a problem somewhere in the check-in process which caused a heck of a wait in line to get into the terminal.

They used a forehead thermometer to check our temperatures and I bet they read about 32 degrees. LOL

Got to meet a bunch of people during the wait as our adventure began.

Yeah, they were doing the forehead thermometer check at the terminal on our cruise.  Check-in was also delayed due to "flu-like" symptoms on the previous sailing.

[cruiselvr04]

We loved Grandeur, sailed on her twice in the last year and have her booked for 2024.  She is old.  Our mirror above the desk came crashing down while we were out but they quickly replaced it.

 The Jr suites are smaller than average.  

 

In the ocean views, the beds are low to the floor and it’s hard to put a suitcases under them.  No cooler. 

 

The crew is great though and we always have fun on her.  Bigger is not always better.  The older smaller ships are much easier to get around on.  Shorter waits for pretty much everything.  We don’t need water slides or flow riders.  Just give us a decent solarium and shows and we’re good.  Because she’s small, she can get into some less traveled ports too.  Would I take the grands on her?  No. But there’s still a market for her.  

[Merion_Mom]

36 minutes ago, cruiselvr04 said:

We loved Grandeur, sailed on her twice in the last year and have her booked for 2024.  She is old.  Our mirror above the desk came crashing down while we were out but they quickly replaced it.

 The Jr suites are smaller than average.  

 

In the ocean views, the beds are low to the floor and it’s hard to put a suitcases under them.  No cooler. 

 

The crew is great though and we always have fun on her.  Bigger is not always better.  The older smaller ships are much easier to get around on.  Shorter waits for pretty much everything.  We don’t need water slides or flow riders.  Just give us a decent solarium and shows and we’re good.  Because she’s small, she can get into some less traveled ports too.  Would I take the grands on her?  No. But there’s still a market for her.  

Interesting.  I have never had difficulty sliding my suitcases under the bed.  I can't count the number of times I sailed on Grandeur.

[shipgeeks]

28 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

Interesting.  I have never had difficulty sliding my suitcases under the bed.  I can't count the number of times I sailed on Grandeur.

Agreed, and the same on Vision and Enchantment.  The only time I had to squeeze was when I took an oblong canvas suitcase (large duffel?) with the zipper around the top, and fairly stuff sides. Now we use hard-sides, and slide them under either closed or open. It's just a matter of sliding it over the horizontal bar that connects the bed legs when starting the process, then the rest is easy.

[cruiselvr04]

Maybe we just had a bad bed?  It was lower to the floor, noticeable even when getting in and out.  The DH lifted the beds and I slid them under and the bed frame kind of had to rest on the suitcases.  The Jr suite one was normal height, just the ocean view on deck 4 was low.  I remember because we had a conversation about it. It was strange because that’s the only time it’s happened.