Bob327

I was on the same Bermuda cruise and enjoyed it. Sure the weather was horrible and people got sick but that is just the chance you take when you cruise in hurricane season. The ship is older without all the glitz of the new floating shopping malls but as far as I am concerned it is well maintained, just the right size and had an excellent friendly helpful crew. To each his own but I have no interest in sailing on the huge new ships I prefer the layout and size of the Vision class ships where you can actually see the ocean from most of the public areas. As far as activities there is something for just about everyone and plenty of great public areas like the Viking lounge and solarium to just relax and enjoy the sea view if you so please but what do I know I am just one of those annoying old farts that seem to bother you so much.

I have to agree...BUT then again I am 71.

We have cruised on large ships and even on ships smaller then The GOS and in all honesty I'll take a Vision Class ship any day.. My wife and I do not care much about the Solarium (indoors) but to each his own...Entertainment is usually "ok" but we get just as much entertainment just watching other people fo their thing ... I'm an early raiser enjoy drinking a cup of coffee waiting for the sun to come up and the windjammer to open for breakfast.. And I am not alone because the early raisers must have a BS club that meets every morning

Bob G

Grandeur had the smallest inside I have ever seen at 124 sq feet. I had to maneuver over the mattress at the end of the bed as it was hard up against the bureau. Room only for a chair, no couch. DH and I could not stand up at the same time unless one of us was in the closet area. I strongly recommend upgrading to an ocean view unless you truly are never in the cabin.

I believe the smallest inside cabin we have ever had aboard the GOS was about 137 sq foot...which is not big ...and we always desperate the beds into twins . a couple of times I think we had 147 or so square foot cabins..and yes you can tell the difference those 10 square feet provided

BUT my wife uses a mobility scooter when we keep in the room which makes it more cramped as it alone takes up a good amount of floor space.

Still not very much of a problem .... most have one chair (in addition to the wooden dresser chair) some have a small 2 person couch ..We honestly would have a hard time dancing in the room but two of us never had to bump into each other....

Bob G

I'd take the interior, on any ship, at any time.

 

Save the 160, put it towards a bev package or a couple of all inclusive beach days.

 

Do some people ever stay in their cabins when they aren't asleep? Weird.

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I agree...My wife and I discovered that we do not do a darn thing in our rooms except sleep so we have been taking ONLY inside cabins for quite a few years Plus we cruise 2 or 3 times every year ...

The savings help pays for my bar bill and does pay for the cola package my wife buys

Bob G

Although I saw a few people carrying around the cups, didn't notice any of the freestyle machines. My dh thinks there were a couple as you exit the Windjammer.

 

 

There were two near both entrances to the Windjammer last November when we sailed on the GOS last... I can't remember if there were any more on board...

 

Bob G

I have not been on her since last November....but to be honest the only complaints I have had is that the ice cream machine on the smoking side of the ship on Deck 9 has not been operational the the last 3 cruises ( had to walk over to the non smoking side for an ice cream cone)..and the lack of ash trays has always been a problem in the afternoons......

We Cruse at least twice a year we have only been going out of Baltimore the last 5 years or so because its only an hours drive ..and getting on and off the ship is quite easy ... so we are limited to either The Royal Caribbean or Carnival...I just prefer Royal Caribbean and I find the Grandeur fine...nice size.. (not huge) never had any complaints about the shape of the ship nor with the plumbing..

That said I guess you never know what it will be looking like tomorrow .....

We are booked for Nov 29th...

Bob G

We have ONLY book interior rooms for maybe 5 or 6 years now because frankly we only sleep in the darn space ...we also cruise 2 or 3 times a year ...

Been on the Graudeur 4 or 5 times and and 2 of those were B2B cruises (18 days ones) ..while the rooms are truly SMALL we had no problem at all even on the 18 day B2B trips.. We have never had a small refrigerator in our rooms ..

They do have at least 2 floor plan configurations for interior rooms (that I know of anyway as they may have more) both of the 2 configurations that we have had both worked for us.. the one room we had them remove one of the Upholstered chairs..from (My wife uses a mobility scooter which takes up space inside the room)

I never saw the need to carry water on board ... there is plenty on board and its not a problem keeping some in the room at night ...

You will have no problem getting a cold pack etc to store your insulin in .just ask the room attendant ...these guys/gals are terrific only thing we do now is carry our own door stopper so my wife can use on the door to keep it open until she drives her scooter in or out of the room on a few ocassions they could not come up with one..

Bob G

What did you do in the ports?

MAYBE I will get off the ship and walk around...I usually visit one of the bars on board unless there is an excursion that I would be interested in...

Pools Hot tubs etc are never crowded...

I traveled a lot before i retired and the grass is green and the sky is blue EVERYWHERE ... the only difference no matter where you are is that people talk funny

Bottom line is that I go for the ship and honestly could care less where it stops

Bob G

I've seen a few posts that say that the staterooms on the Grandeur are a little too warm. Does anyone else feel that way?

I have NEVER found that our staterooms have been WARM ever ..Small yes BUT we gave up on Balconies gosh close to 10 years ago as a waste of OUR money .and normally we will book an inside over an ocean view because we simply only sleep in the darn room...

We have been on deck 3 and 4 many times always close to an elevator (my wife can not walk very far and uses a mobility scooter) Noise has never been a problem either...

Bob

My wife and I cruise 3-4 times a year and usually 2 of those are back to back

BUT we live within an hour of Baltimore and leaving a day early to fly to Florida, get a room then get on board the next day is just not out thing..So for the last

5-6 years we have only sales out of Baltimore and today that leaves us with a choice between Carnival and RCI ...and no choice of which ships..

I NEVER BOOK early... We are both retired so its no problem to check prices 3-4 times a week (its a game really with us) to see what "deals" are being offered in the next 2-3 months when we see something we hop on it...

BTW... we stopped booking Balconies.... then stopped booking Ocean View, and now only book inside rooms. Its not that we are frugal but we both enjoy cruising , In 2014 we will have sailed (next weeks cruise included ) a total of 36 nights ...cost well under $100 dollars a night pp ..

If prices no longer drop I guess we will not sail as often as we have been

Bob G

We (my wife) have used every thing from a Pride Victory to a Pride GoGo on various cruises.. Plus we normally book interior rooms since we only sleep in them...

Never really had any problem of any kind ...with either sized scooter...

We Prefer the smaller GoGO (4 wheel) to cruise with the only thing we have learned to take with us is a door stop so my wife can keep the door open while she drives inside if I am not around ...(most of the time we had no trouble getting one from the steward But heck they are small and easy to carry on yourself ..

Next Cruise is in 10 days and you bet both of us are ready...r

Bob G

Very old thread ...But I have 2 Pride Victories (for my wife) but heck I use one just to keep up with her around the yard etc...BUT we also use a GoGo Ultra for her to use at church and to go shopping with (it is small enough even for her to lift up the front end and then push it into mini van (with the center seats removed) ..We use the GoGO on cruises ...all the time... Tenders can be a problem BUT not if you do not ever get off the ship at ports where tenders are used...

Yes it does have "some" clearance problems but nothing that has ever been major..if it happens and I am not around she just gets off flips the switch to put into free wheel and push it a foot or so..

Beats spending a couple hundred bucks to rent a scooter one (we have done that before and the rental fee for 3 cruses = the new price of a new GoGO scooter)

One big tip however if you buy ANY PRIDE Scooter if you store it or do not use it for extended periods of time remove the batteries and rubber-band the speed control to either FULL Forward or FULL Reverse .. Otherwise the speed pot may corrode and will not function at any speed except extremely slow... We had this problem with several scooters we owned over the years UNTIL we started rubber-banding the speed pot (the levers) every winter when she does not use the scooter much ..have not had a problem in years

Bob G

Maureen...We did back to back on this same cruise and the 10 day one to the Caribbean that left on the 14th ...

The car you did not know what it was is a kit car

1927 Bugatti Type 35 Boattail Speedster replica

The Free Style coke machines were working before we got out of the bay on the 14th

I overspent on 5 cartons of cigarettes on board ($112 for 5 cartons) They only cost $85.00 for 5 cartons in St Kitts ... LOL

Anyway enjoyed your review ..you saw more then I did as I spend most of my time in the sinners corner on the pool deck with a bunch of very fun loving Canadians ... who introduced a new drink to the bartender ... when the bartender asked what to call it they just responded DAMN GOOD ! I still do not know what it is BUT I can verify I stopped by the liquor store on my way home on Christmas Eve and got all the ingredients ..

I had a lot of DAMN GOODS...and I also had a DAMN GOOD time...

Thanks again for the review...

Bob & Barbara

I just got back Christmas eve from back to back cruises on RCI ...

I turned 70 on the second cruise and had no problems with any of the excursions now that I am officially an old man...

Seriously I suspect its the individual vendors insurance company that calls the shots ...I honestly have no problem with that since excursion rates are already higher then I think they should be in general...

Bob G:cool: