Grandeur - Anyone just back?

[VacationGirl]

Will be sailing on Grandeur December 4 and just wondering a couple things...

 

1) Did you get to Grand Cayman

2) How did she look after the refurbishing

3) Any special tips

 

Thanks and wishing everyone a Very Happy Thanksgiving!

Marsha

[bemarshall]

Hey Marsha, I was just wondering the same thing. I'd like to add a couple of questions:

 

4. Any problems getting alcohol on in your carry on or checked luggage?

5. What time did you arrive at the port and eventually were able to board?

 

Thanks!!

 

Beth

[VacationGirl]

Glad you added those questions...especially about embarking which can never be too early!

[Bookfinder]

We just returned from the Nov. 13 sailing. The Grandeur is a beautiful ship. I'm not sure what was done during the refurb but she is a very nice ship.

 

We were the first to board at 11:00 am. They asked us to wait in the lounges and not go to our rooms until 1:00 pm. Lunch was served in the Windjammer at Noon. We checked our room at 11:30 and it was ready so we put our stuff away and went to eat.

 

We did go to Grand Cayman but all the water excursions were cancelled due to high winds and waves. Some of the restaurants were not open but many of the businesses along the pier were doing business as usual. It was just a shame to see how badly the hurricane had damaged the island. It still has the most beautiful blue water.

 

We were surprised by the food. We certainly did not go hungry but it was prepared differently so you may want to ask your waiter for an evening suggestion. Alfred was great and his suggestions were usually a good choice. An example was the shrimp scampi -- I'm old and have never had scampi prepared that way. My DH would not eat his but didn't fuss. Another was the prime rib -- The menu said "Au Jus" but it came with brown gravy not "Au Jus". Just little things -- not sure if it is across the line or just this particular chef. Another was the combinations for the entrees and appetizers. They didn't seem to go together. The desserts were wonderful and were as advertised. I thought they should pay the dessert chef more since he/she saved the day.

 

The Cruise Director is very good as was the entertainment. We particularly liked the booked entertainers. We did not do well in the casino but we did the slots a couple of times. When they did not pay (at all) we called it quits.

Our table mates did OK at the tables.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions and I will try to answer. Hope you have a wonderful cruise. It is a great week.

[VacationGirl]

Bookfinder-

Thanks for taking the time to respond to our questions! Sounds like a great week and any week cruising is better than a week working ;-)

 

Marsha

[bananarama]

Hi, was just curious as to who the Cruise director was and how the staff were... were the activites fun, what would you recommend participating in? Did you play Bingo?

[beachbabe]

Hi just got off the same Grandeur cruise with bookfinder - hey bookie! The Grandeur was a nice ship although being a first time cruiser on the fourth deck with a ocean view cabin - I was a little surprised at the dirt on my window and the severly banged cabin doors. Maybe this is just a common thing on a slightly older ship but I am not sure. I sat at dinner every night with the entertainers and will tell you they are wonderful folks and good at what they do! I particularly like Tyler Knight and his assistant Missy. Missy is a sweetie and gave us great info about stuff to do in the ports of call. I found the food to be good but not overly impressive. We got on ship at around 12 and our cabin was ready at 1:30. At Grand Cayman we did the Grand Cayman snorkle which was great - when I wasn't swallowing salt water (first timer). Tom Canosa was the Cruise director and is a hoot! Got to go to the quest game and participate - it was hilarous. Most of the games that I went to were fun and entertaining. Would do it all again in a heartbeat. Have a great time!

[Bookfinder]

Beachbabe:

 

Glad you made it home OK. WOW - You HAD to sit all week across from that good looking Tyler Knight. That was worth the price of the cruise.

 

We had dirty windows in our cabin which should have been cleaned. They were covered with finger prints and sea spray. I thought perhaps the reason they were not cleans was because it was so cold and rainy when we boarded.

 

I agree about the food. It was disappointing but as I said we did not go hungry. I just thought it was prepared differently and there were very stange combinations.

 

We went to the game involving Married Couples and it was a hoot. I can't remember the exact name but it was on the last sea day. It is a must.

 

Beachbabe - glad you got to snorkel in Grand Cayman. I thought they had cancelled all the water activities due to high waves. The water there is so beautiful.

 

I know these folks will have a wonderful time. The negatives were small and certainly did not keep us from having a wonderful time.

[bemarshall]

Thank you both!! I really appreciate your comments.

 

Good to know that you made Grand Cayman ...

 

Beth

[Cru]

Glad to hear you all had a good cruise. We sail in less than two week on her out of New Orleans. We are booked inside on deck 4, it looked rather convienent being in the middle of the decks and on the main dinning room deck at that! Figured on formal nights we wouldn't have the elevator hassle in our spiffy attire :)

 

Also glad you made it to the Grand Cayman port, we are hoping all works out for our trip as well.

 

How was the shopping on your cruise? We are hoping to get some jewlery for christmas presents, all the females in my family keep emailing me ring sizes, I think it's a hint!!!! I want pearls and a new ring too!

 

Thanks for all the advice!

[VacationGirl]

Cru,

Are you sailing on the 12/4 cruise? If so, Grand Cayman has been changed to Key West and it will be our first port. Just wanted to update you as we'll be on the 12/4 sailing as well.

Bon Voyage!

[Kyra]

Cru,

Are you sailing on the 12/4 cruise? If so, Grand Cayman has been changed to Key West and it will be our first port. Just wanted to update you as we'll be on the 12/4 sailing as well.

Bon Voyage!

Hi VacationGirl,

I am on the 12/4 sailing too. Have you visited the Roll Call thread for it? I am so looking forward to this cruise!!

 

and Thanks to those who have posted their comments about the Granduer, I have been wondering how she is.

 

;) Kyra

[robtraci]

We are just back from the 11/20/04 sailing and our ports were Key West, Cozemel, and Costa Maya. We ended up going to Key West on day 2, Coz on Day 3 and then Costa Maya on Day 4. We could not port at Costa Maya due to the high winds (the crew calls it Costa Maybe) and due to a medical condition on board we went full speed back to Coz on day 4 arriving at 2pm and staying until day 5 at 5pm. Just a note about the ships crew. They overbooked quite a few shore trips and many people were left hanging. I was booked on a snuba and did not find out it was over booked until I was 7 miles out on a boat. I had to sit and watch everyone else snuba. Next day I had a sitter confirmed that didn't show.

I wish I could say I had a better trip. Hope you have a better one.

[PattyW]

We were also on the 11/20/04 sailing. I found the food itself much improved over my last RCCL sailing, and the dining room service was the best I'd ever had on a cruise (Anil was our server). We were very happy with the vacation.

 

 

Like the previous poster, we also had problems with the shore excursion desk, but not being overbooked. Rather, they either were extremely uninformed or they flat out lied to us about Playa Mia/Playa Sol (with a second full day in Cozumel we were scrambling for things to do). We asked them why, aside from the open bar (I'm pregnant and my husband doesn't drink often so we certainly didn't need that), we should book their excusion ($28) rather than doing it on our own ($12) and they told us that $12 simply got us into the beach club and that everything else (pool, chairs, umbrellas etc) was extra. We decided to do it on our own anyway and found out that the pool was included, that the chairs were included and that we would have had to rent an umbrella under both circumstances. That was very annoying. I know that they want to push their excursions, but geez . . .

[lacruiser]

Vacationgirl, how did you find out that Cayman was out and Key West was in? Did RCI tell you this or your TA? I am on the 12/11 sailing, and had emailed RCI about the itinerary -- below is what I got back today:

 

"For the month of November, Grand Cayman is expected to accept two cruise ships per day, across all cruise lines. We are working with the Cayman port authority to confirm as many of our scheduled calls as possible for the next month. As we do not expect to get all of our previously scheduled Cayman calls confirmed, our highest priority is to confirm Cayman for the ships with the least attractive alternative ports, to minimize impact to our guests. While we would like to be able to announce the next month worth of information, the port authority is unable to confirm that far out. It is quite a task that the island is dealing with and we are currently working on a week-to-week informational basis. Please contact our Reservations department at 1-800-327-6700 or your travel agent as your sail date approaches for further information.

 

Thank you for choosing Royal Caribbean International."

 

That seems to suggest to me that the December stops are still up in the air, so I'm wondering if we'll have to switch Cayman for Key West on 12/11. (Then again, sometimes I wonder if the right hand knows anything at all about what the left hand's doing... :rolleyes: )

[Cru]

We are on the Dec 11 too. If we get Key West it will be okay with me. I've only been there once for one day and mu DH has never, of course if we make Grand Cayman we look foward to our snorkel trip!

[Kyra]

Vacationgirl, how did you find out that Cayman was out and Key West was in? Did RCI tell you this or your TA? I am on the 12/11 sailing, and had emailed RCI about the itinerary -- below is what I got back today:

 

"For the month of November, Grand Cayman is expected to accept two cruise ships per day, across all cruise lines. We are working with the Cayman port authority to confirm as many of our scheduled calls as possible for the next month. As we do not expect to get all of our previously scheduled Cayman calls confirmed, our highest priority is to confirm Cayman for the ships with the least attractive alternative ports, to minimize impact to our guests. While we would like to be able to announce the next month worth of information, the port authority is unable to confirm that far out. It is quite a task that the island is dealing with and we are currently working on a week-to-week informational basis. Please contact our Reservations department at 1-800-327-6700 or your travel agent as your sail date approaches for further information.

 

Thank you for choosing Royal Caribbean International."

 

That seems to suggest to me that the December stops are still up in the air, so I'm wondering if we'll have to switch Cayman for Key West on 12/11. (Then again, sometimes I wonder if the right hand knows anything at all about what the left hand's doing... :rolleyes: )

 

I know I'm not Vacationgirtl, but I can answer that we found out about the change from RCI. I was checking our itinerary on a regular basis because Grand Caymen has been up in the air and last week our itinerary changed on the website to include Key West instead of GC. Someone else in our Roll Call thread noticed this also and called RCI to confirm this. I also called RCI to confirm it and also noted that it was changed on my online reservation as well.

I had noticed that when I was looking at the Port Authority site for GC it listed Granduer as there every other week for the month of November, which I assumed would continue into December. That would mean that our sailing (12/4) would not be going to CG, but the following date (12/11) would most likely be going.

If though you are diverted to Key West we found a wonderful snorkling/Dolphin encounter at http://www.keywestsebago.com/dolphinecho.php

 

which is what we have decided to do since the whole Stingray thing won't be happening for us this year.

 

wow that got long winded..lol

;) Kyra

[VacationGirl]

Lacruiser~

 

I found out from our TA on Wednesday. However, I think RCI was also preplanning for the change since the weekend before Thanksgiving their website listed the change in our itinerary and went back to "normal" plans the following day. Needless to say I wasn't surprised entirely when the change became a permenant one. I'm just glad we had enough time to make the change in our plans (group of 110) so we could adjust and notify Capt Marvins in GC that we wouldn't be there. I'm going to miss CG but sometime in my lifetime I'll be there and the residents will be ready!

 

Enjoy your cruise!

Marsha

[bemarshall]

Marsha and Kyra, I was wondering what time RCL says you will be in Key West. If Kyra's assumption is correct, then we may not be going to Grand Cayman as we are on the 12/18 sailing. I tried to check RCL's website, but it appears that it is down. Was wondering if you would be in KW for the Mallory Square sunset festivities -- if you are don't miss it -- lots of fun!! We've been to Key West for the last three years on a land vacation and loved Mallory Square. I hope to get to take my son there if we do skip GC and go to KW.

 

Thanks,

Beth

[joeyancho]

http://www.caymanport.com will tell you what ships will be in Grand Cayman on which days. The Grandeur 12/11/04 will be going to Grand Cayman. Hope this helps. Bon Voyage......

[Phamer55]

Hi. Does the Grandeur have a movie cinema? If not, do they show movies in any of the showrooms?

[Corey]

We were on the 11/20 sailing of the Granduer. We thought the food was not as good as we had on Mariner last year. We had the best service in the dining room we have ever had on 10 cruises (Katrina was our waiter). The ports were not so good as I think Key West is better at night, and 2 1/2 days in Cozumel was a bit much. They do not have a movie theater as such but they did show a movie in the Paladium one afternoon. We drove to port and getting to the peir was a nightmare, but the debarkation was the best ever was off the ship in 15 minutes after they started calling tag colors. The ship was nice and I think they changed the carpet and some bed mattresses in drydock. Daune Davis was the cruise director and he was just so so, not bad but certainly not the best. We also felt that the entertainment was not as good as on the Voyager class ships. Any other questions just ask.

[Kyra]

Marsha and Kyra, I was wondering what time RCL says you will be in Key West. If Kyra's assumption is correct, then we may not be going to Grand Cayman as we are on the 12/18 sailing. I tried to check RCL's website, but it appears that it is down. Was wondering if you would be in KW for the Mallory Square sunset festivities -- if you are don't miss it -- lots of fun!! We've been to Key West for the last three years on a land vacation and loved Mallory Square. I hope to get to take my son there if we do skip GC and go to KW.

 

Thanks,

Beth

on the itinerary we ahve now it says 7am to 2pm for our Key West port.

so unfortunatly we won't be there for sunset. I have heard they are gorgeous though.

 

have a great Cruise everyone!!

;) Kyra

[lacruiser]

Kyra, vacationgirl & everyone else for the good information. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for GC!