Grandeur of the Seas Review

[TerpsBball]

My family and I took the Grandeur of the Seas to Bermuda on September 24th. We returned on the 29th. Here’s my review.

 

1. Our stats - I am 38 and have cruised 6 times (5 on RCCL and 1 on Celebrity). I won’t say how old the wife is, but she’s close to my age. She has cruised 3 times (2 on RCCL and 1 on Celebrity). My son is 4 (1st cruise). My daughter is 2.5 (1st cruise)

 

2. Reservation Info – We booked this trip in July of 05. Initially, I booked a JS (#8088). I did this over the phone with the RCCL rep and had the map of the ship in front of me, so I could tell where all the available cabins were. Then, I made payments every month through the website. This was very convenient.

 

3. Documents – I requested mailed documents, which arrived about 3 weeks before we sailed. I had passports for my wife and me and birth certificates for the kids.

 

4. Upgrade Fairy – About a month before we left, we were upgraded to a Royal Family Suite (#8584), which was one of the two in the back! More about this later.

 

5. Port of Baltimore/Embarkation – We live about 45 minutes from the port, so we drove. I had printed directions from the Maryland Port Authority website and had the parking fee ready. We arrived at approximately 11 am. In 10 minutes we were on board. The agents told me that around 2 pm is the most crowded time. The cabin was not ready, but we were able to drop off our carry-on bags and head to the Windjammer.

 

6. Cabin – The cabin was incredible. There were two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a good sized living room. The living room had a TV with a separate DVD/VCR. The main bedroom also had a TV. There was a refrigerator, which we used for the water we carried on and the kids’ drink cups. I would recommend sippy cups for anyone traveling with kids. We took them to every meal and they eliminated spills.

 

Each bathroom had a shampoo dispenser on the wall. The bathroom with the tub was supplied with bottled lotions and conditioners.

 

Storage was more than ample. We had plenty of closet space and hangers, as there were only 4 of us and the cabin is designed to sleep 8. We put the kids’ clothes in Ziploc bags, which was a great system. One outfit went into each bag.

 

We took night lights, but we were unable to plug them in as the sockets were located on the vanities and there was no room to plug the light in (the tall vanity lights were directly above the sockets).

 

There was the normal wear and tear to the cabin, but it wasn’t anything that detracted from the trip. Just put it into perspective of your own home. This ship is 10 years old. If your house is 10, there will be some worn areas, no matter how well you treat it.

 

There was a safe in the room. You had to use a credit card with your name on it to activate the lock. I didn’t care for this, as I only wanted to carry my Sea Pass. When I was on the Millennium, the safe combination was programmable (keypad).

 

Our stateroom attendant, Clairon, was wonderful. We had towel animals, which the kids loved, and she was very prompt with everything.

 

On this ship class, you couldn’t check your Sea Pass account via the TV. You had to go to the Purser’s desk.

 

We had an egg crate top on our bed. The kids’ beds did not. However, I laid on the kids’ beds when we were putting them to sleep and the mattresses felt fine.

 

The balcony was HUGE. It was the starboard aft suite. The balcony was kind of “L” shaped. Pacing it off, it was approximately 225 square feet.

 

You could feel some vibration from the engines, but it was not at all bothersome.

 

7. Food – Okay, here’s the real subjective category. I started cruising nearly 20 years ago, and, yes, the food isn’t the same. However, I still thought it was very, very good.

 

a. Dining Room – Our waiter, Edwin, and assistant, Juan, were fantastic. The head waiter was really great, too. They were so nice with our kids and everything was handled promptly. The food was quite good. There was a “miss” or two (BBQ ribs for lunch, a desert here and there), but overall, I would say it was still nearly excellent. The beef was particularly good, as were all the cold soups. The iced tea was some of the best I’ve ever had. The lemonade was strong, but tasty.

 

b. Windjammer – I thought this food was very good, too. The selection was tremendous. With the exception of lunch one day, we ate breakfast and lunch here every day. The staff was very polite and accommodating. I particularly liked how a waiter would come around pushing a cart of beverages during breakfast. I didn’t have anything in here I didn’t think was good. The only “dig” I can give the Windjammer is the location of the beverage station. It’s too close to the first serving line. Therefore, it became a little congested there at times. We did have the pizza/hot dog/burger one day at the Solarium grill. They were all very good.

 

c. Room Service – Our kids like a snack before bed, so we put in a standing order for a fruit tray and cookies every night. These were delivered to our room around 8 pm every day and were delicious.

 

8. Bermuda – Bermuda was beautiful. We spent a lot of time at Horseshoe Bay. Specifically, we went to the little cove on the right side of the beach area. When you come down the hill, the main area is on the left. Just walk to the right of the café/rental building, and the cove is there. The water was calm and shallow, which was perfect for the kids. It also wasn’t crowded, so if you just wanted to get away from the larger crowd at the main area, this was a great place to be. Little fish also freely swam around you.

 

We walked around the Dockyard. There were the typical types of shops with many nice things. Some of the prices were high, but it was nice to see some local crafts.

 

We purchased the bus/ferry passes on board ship. Bus #7 took us to/from Horseshoe Bay. Spend the $1 to get the shuttle ride back up the hill from the beach.

 

9. Entertainment – Here’s the breakdown…

 

a. Welcome Aboard Show – This was quite nice. The entertainment was a comedian/juggler, Mark Angelo. He was great. However, we learned he unexpectedly left the ship that night. I never did hear why – anyone know? Regardless, his act was great and they showed it repeatedly on TV for the next two days. This was invaluable, because the kids loved it. They could watch that while we got ready for dinner.

 

b. Broadway Style – We went to the first show by the singers and dancers, but we left early. It was much too loud. They were good, but the sound was too high. Others commented on this as well.

 

c. Bermuda Show – There was a show given on land at the Dockyard in Bermuda. I can’t rate this one highly. It was on a grassy area next to the Dockyard, but there were only about 150 chairs. So, you were either sitting or standing, which made viewing the show difficult. The first act was a local DJ who got 12 people from the audience and divided them into two teams. Then, different music was played and the teams danced to it. This went on for 45 minutes. I thought that was ridiculous.

 

The next act was the magician from the ship. He did a grand total of 4 tricks. #1 - He came out and acted like his mike wasn’t working, put it in a paper bag, and crumpled up the bag. #2 - Then, he did a rope trick but cutting a rope in two, knotting it together, and had the length of the cut pieces change. #3 – He used a girl from the audience and did the trick about pulling the continuous chain of paper from his mouth. #4 – He pretended to saw a man’s head off. He was on for no more than 10-15 minutes.

 

The next act was a guy with a duck puppet who talked like Donald Duck. He was really funny, and the audience loved it.

 

The next piece was a group of dancers that danced to music for a while. This was boring.

 

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this show.

 

d. Farewell Show – The RCCL singers and dancers put on a new show. It was about an hour long. Then, the staff did there farewell thing. Unlike previous cruises I’ve been on, no cruise video was shown. However, they were selling the video, along with other stuff on the DVD (facts, behind the scenes, etc) in the photo gallery for $29.95. I bet if they showed the video, they might have sold more DVDs.

 

The RCCL singers and dancers show was good, but I thought it was a little long. So, overall I’d rate this show as average.

 

10. Disembarkation – We chose the self-assist option and this was easy. We were on deck 8, so when we called for an elevator, we could get on that was pretty empty. We stopped on floors going down, but people were not able to get in due to luggage. You got off the ship on deck 2, so those on decks 3 and up who had luggage might have had some difficulty getting an elevator. The ship docked at 8 am. We were let off at approximately 8:30 and were home at 9:30.

 

11. Overall Experience – It was a great cruise. There were some little things that could have been improved upon and not every meal was perfect. But, these few things were easily overlooked. The ship is 10 years old and shows its age in some areas, but is still very beautiful. The crew was great and very helpful.

 

If anyone has any specific questions, I’ll be glad to answer.

[ozzie63]

To TerpsBball, I appreciate hearing such a honest and postive response to your cruise experience. This has been our experience. RCCL has bent over backwards to make our cruise enjoyable, we have been on the Grandeur 4 times. Each time we enjoy it more. Will be going again 12-09-06 out of N/Orleans. Thanks again.

Ozzie63:D :D :D

[signman]

You said the iced tea was very good. I am assuming you are talking about the tea in the dining room. Was it fresh brewed? Unsweetened or Sweetened? Thanks.

[wraithe]

You said the iced tea was very good. I am assuming you are talking about the tea in the dining room. Was it fresh brewed? Unsweetened or Sweetened? Thanks.

 

Off topic, but... I'm going to be in Baltimore for a second cruise on Grandeur and would like to be able to say hello and thanks for many good post and good information about Baltimore, if that's possible. Please email me if you would, the address is in my sig. Thanks, and if I don't get to say hello, I really appreciate the info that you've put out over the last year. It's helped a lot.

[TerpsBball]

We drank the iced tea at both the Windjammer and in the Dining Room. I believe it was fresh-brewed, although I don't know the brand. It wsa definitely unsweetened.

[crnkra]

How did you get the upgrade to the Royal Family Suite?????

We are also booked in a JS leaving this Sunday. We would love that suite.

[ncdazz]

thanks for the review! leaving in 19 days with same itinerary. did you go to snorkel park?

[cdillon23]

I am taking my first RCCL cruise in November and with all of these positive review of all the RCCL ships I will be cruising RCCL a long, long time.

[cdillon23]

Sorry, double post. :(

[TerpsBball]

1. How did you get the upgrade to the Royal Family Suite?????

 

-- No idea. I watched the RCCL webpage and noticed at least one RFS was still open about a month before sailing. My guess is they felt since it was off-season, they had a better chance of selling a lower priced room than the RFS, so they upgraded us to that room and some one else to our old room.

Therefore, they could open up a cabin which some one looking for a last-minute bargain would snap up.

 

2. Did you go to snorkel park?

 

-- No, we went to Horseshoe Bay. However, a coworker was on the same cruise. He and his wife went diving and said the coral was fairly bland looking.

[hogwildcruzers]

Thanks for an honest and great review, glad your cruise was a good one, we can't wait until our Grandeur cruise gets here.

[angelpug]

Thanks for the great review. We're alos leaving this Sunday, and can't wait to step aboard the Grandeur again. Were' actually booked in your original cabin!!

 

We were already on the Grandeur this past summer for the 9 day Caribbean, and LOVED it!

 

Take Care,

Jaime

[KillaFee]

I love the Grandeur. Went on her when she was pretty new (and I was still in my teens:eek: ) and then again this year....I love her. We had a fantastic time and my boyfriend finally understood why I like the "smaller" ships so much.

Laura

[m-and-m]

 

9. Entertainment – Here’s the breakdown…

 

a. Welcome Aboard Show – This was quite nice. The entertainment was a comedian/juggler, Mark Angelo. He was great. However, we learned he unexpectedly left the ship that night. I never did hear why – anyone know? Regardless, his act was great and they showed it repeatedly on TV for the next two days. This was invaluable, because the kids loved it. They could watch that while we got ready for dinner.

 

My husband Mark actually left the ship the first morning in Bermuda, as scheduled, in order to fly to another ship to do a show. Quite often he's on board for the entire cruise, sometimes, not. :-)

 

Thanks for your nice comments!