Chipmoose

No fridge in the ocean view on grandeur, but ask your steward for an ice bucket and ask him or her to keep

it filled and they will fill it twice a day if needed.

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We did as well, and got a nice outside room with a window. It may have been a less desirable room because it was all the way up front , but We loved it because it was very quiet and secluded.

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I think the waiters are encouraged by their senior staff to ensure that guests are aware that there is a buffet available.

I suspect you're right, the mdr is so large and the buffet not so much, I would have never known there were buffet items had we not been told by the waiter.

On our cruise last month, the ship's shopping guy told us about a watchmaker in Detroit called "Shinola". Their story is pretty cool, and for me buying from a company from that city would be a plus. But I have never owned one so I cannot vouch for them. They run from about $500-$2000, and as far as I could tell, were not available on the ship but were in few of the shops in Nassau.

Mike

I am with Ed & Barb, they may do a great job of cleaning, but what about that one staff person or back to back cruiser that stayed on the ship, and carried on the virus to the next cruise.

Mike

I haven't seen these and as far as I'm concerned these are discriminatory and should not be allowed under UK consumer law. No way am I going to pay full price for 2 of us if I know that for groups of 4 or more there are what are effectively exclusive discounts.

I don't see it as discriminatory, as someone previously stated, it is a group discount. I have often seen it used here in the US at zoos, parks, museums etc..

A kid on a school field trip going to a museum does not always pay the same price as if Mom and Dad were taking the kid. I see it the same as buying in quantity, you buy 3 at one cost, but if you buy 4 or more, you get a discounted price.

Mike

Just curious, does the deep cleaning in between cruises almost always solve things? Since they began doing this, do they ever have back to back outbreaks on a ship?

TIA,

Mike

I would not necessarily count on it, we were on the Grandeur for the Nov 10 game and I was told the Ravens vs Bengals game was not shown anywhere on the ship except on some passengers tablets. We were in Port Canaveral at gametime and so diehards could get to a local bar and watch, but you would think that a cruise coming out of Baltimore would show a Baltimore game. I was told that the cruise is in contract with what games they can show, and I did notice that the only games shown on the cabin tvs were also the ones shown on the large screen. They did show the Sunday night game thruout the ship, and that is on NBC, so I am guessing that it is only the NBC games that were on the ship (the Ravens were playing on CBS that Sunday, but it looks like they are playing the Steelers Thanksgiving night on NBC, so maybe that will be on)

Good luck, hope you see the game!

MIke

I do not think it is available for shorter cruises, but on cruises of 7 or 8 nights I believe the Fishermans Plate, which is a small lobster tail and shrimp, is offered on the 2nd Formal night, at least it was on our recent 8 night Bahama cruise

I enjoyed all of the fish entrees. My favorite dish was some type of ****ake mushroom dumpling or potsticker. It had an Asian name I wish I would have written it down, but it was so delicious, I had to have a second entrée that night.

I also thought the lobster tail, although small, was as good as any I have had.

Our table mates did the bike tour in Key West and seemed to enjoy it.

Just got off the Nov 8 sailing, for which I signed up for 3 excursions. On our cruise Coco Cay was cancelled, due to high winds so no tendering, no shore ex there.

At Nassau I did the snorkeling at rainbow reef, and it was fun, a 20 minute boat ride to the area, an hour snorkeling at the site, and a 20 minute boat tour of Paradise island and the harbor on the way back. We were the only boat at the site for a bit, then 3 catamarans showed up and dropped a bunch of snorkelers, and it got crowded.

We also did the conch train excursion at Key West, and this was just so so. It was supposed to be hop on/hop off, but only 3 stops to hop off. One of those stops was only for 1 minute, and I tried getting off and the train started going before I could get off. The tour itself is ok, mostly historic houses and buildings around key west, but I'd of rather they stopped at some of best sites like sloppy joes or the southernmost point, at least long enough to get some photos. It just keeps rolling.

Hope you have fun...we did, great ship!

Spanky, did you have the earlier dining? We ate at 8:00 pm and the theatre was not so crowded, but I heard that show attendance was lopsided, with lots of folks going to the show timed for the 5:30 dining folks, and not as much for the show timed for the 8 pm dining folks. I really enjoyed the theatre, the loveseats were very comfortable.

You are right, the centrum shows were near impossible to get a good seat for, I got a standing room only view of one or two shows, but saw so little of the aerial act that I enjoyed watching them practice earlier in the day more than I did trying to catch glimpses at the actual shows.

Mike

Spanky,

From Tim's photo, I believe it was you that helped my wife and I with the trivia in the schooner bar, (Elvis Presley died in 1975)?

If so, thanks for your help!

Mike (& Jan)

>I apologize, I don't recall who asked about Escargot, but I came as close >as I could to that info on the dining room menu board!

We just got off the Nov 8 sailing and although the escargot were not available early in the cruise, we enjoyed them late in the cruise.

This was our first cruise, and what a treat it was. Everything about the cruise exceeded all of our expectations, with one slight exception with the customs process leaving the ship to go into key west. Later in the cruise we went to a Q & A session with the ships officers, and the hotel manager apologized and promised that it would be done differently in the future. (too many folks needed to get off the ship for excursions and all lined up for customs in the same spot an hour ahead, lots of butting, no crowd control, and some tempers flaring). Once the customs agents finally started, it did go quickly)

The food in the MDR and the WJ was good to great, and the service by all the dining staff in both places and by our room steward was the best I have ever experienced. There were so may events on our at sea days that sometimes we missed things we really wanted to do in order to do something else.

Thankfully we did not have any of Tim's AC problems. We were all the way in the front on deck 4, and although our mattress was fine, we had a hard time sleeping thru the storm we went thru leaving Key West, quite a ride!

Cant wait to sail Royal again. :)

Mike & Jan

Another one of the 80+ CruiseCritic maniacs here....joining you on what is sure to be a fun cruise!

:rolleyes:

I had similar problems a few weeks back, received an immediate generic email saying my order had been received, but a week went by and my credit card had not been charged, so I called and was told there was no record of my order at all.

Mike