kleo30

Our first cruise was November 2011. It was 10 night Eastern Caribbean on Explorer. We had a grand suite for $1649 pp.

 

kleo......you're reading my mind!!! I was just sitting here thinking about those cabanas! Will definitely find out about the cost. I want one this time! I'm thinking if you are eating lunch in their restaurant' date=' there might be a lower cost involved. And the restaurant is VERY good....so that's a no brainer. Stay tuned!![/size']

Thanks Jane. We plan to eat and drink at their restaurant/bar.

Thanks so much. Look for the next one in late September!! :D

Those look like awesome itineraries! Can't wait to hear all about it. If you are going to Palm Beach again, would you be able to find out how much the cabana rentals are, please?

It is for us.

After lunch' date=' we went back to the cabin to unpack. On this ship, they deliver the luggage for deck 8, at least, to the centrum area of deck 8. I knew this from before, so I went there and found our luggage and water immediately and a cabin steward brought it all back to the cabin for me.

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I'm looking forward to reading your review, Jane :)

Do they deliver luggage this way on Grandeur, too?

Something more necessary and more basic. :)

Full length mirror?

I do wear a slip, but it is a shapewear slip, so more for smoothing and less for modesty.

We only have limited vacation, so can only go once a year anyway. We go suite. We've done 2 GS and have JS booked for this year and next.

We like long cruises (10 or 11 nights), and I spend quite a bit of time in the room and love the space.

We are on this same sailing. I've been wondering the same thing about dinner reservations, both specialty and MTD.

I am really enjoying your review. I love the Explorer :)

Explorer 11 night Southern Caribbean in Nov. 13

The one before that was Explorer 10 night Eastern Caribbean in Nov. 11.

We have two 10 night cruises planned on the Grandeur for Nov. 14 and 15.

He told me to go to Limetree Beach. A place called Blackbeard's Bar or something like that. I googled it and it looks pretty good. It's near Frenchman's Reef' date=' so it's not far from the Havensight area. I'll have to do some more research[/size'].

Thanks Jane. If you go before November, I'll be watching for your review ;)

And, did the Palm Beach people give you prices for the cabanas? I'm interested in that, and couldn't find an email link on their website. Nice of them to let you lounge there out of the rain. They are going to wonder what happened to you when you didn't show up on week 4 lol.

We had such a nice day. (Added on to all those other really nice beach days from the Indy B2B) Before we left there we chatted with a nice young man at the bar who has lived on the island for the past 4 years. He gave us a tip about a quieter place to try out next time. Might have to check it out.

So where is the quieter place?

We are considering visiting Emerald Beach. We've been to St. Thomas once, but did a snorkel excursion and shopped, so the beach thing is something we've not done there.

We are heading to Palm Beach in November! That place looks gorgeous and relaxing; just what we are looking for.

I was waffling about going back to Orient Beach, and thought maybe we'd try Le Galion, but your pictures/review have made my decision easy. Palm Beach :)

Jane, I love reading your reviews. I was just wondering if you'd be cruising again soon so I could live vicariously through you :)

We had Nizar on Explorer last November. We really liked him.

Kelly, I loved, LOVED both of your reviews. You and your hubby look like a blast! We are cruising on Adventure - southern caribbean route. I wanted to take Allure and go on an Eastern route but our friends really wanted southern.

 

Why not join us?? We are pretty fun ourselves and Crystal and Dave are as well. Dave is a TALKER...Doug would love him!

 

Anyway - I spent the morning reading the reviews and love the pictures as well. I'm trying hard to lose weight for this cruise as I'm super short 4'11" and it's so hard to keep it off. I'd be over the moon with 30 lbs off and really happy with 20.

 

Take care and thanks so much! Mary

Mary, that sounds like such fun! We do like to have a good time. Losing weight/maintaining...gosh is that work. Worth it though :)

We're doing Grandeur in November and then Liberty next October. Maybe we'll meet up sometime in the years after? I really want to do a Radiance class ship sometime, and we're planning to do Panama Canal in '19 for our 30th anniversary.

Denzil left for vacation the day we boarded Explorer last November. But he was so helpful through email with all my questions. I was sad to not meet him. We did enjoy Nizar as concierge though.

I was just searching the forum for any voyager class grand suites 1260 & 1264...we have them coming up (sigh...not soon enough!) on Adventure with our friends.

 

Thank you for posting the pictures.

 

Mary

I have pictures of 1574 on Explorer in my reviews (links in signature). We stayed in that suite both times, so either will have pictures.

You are going to LOVE the suite.

I like reading other peoples' trip reports about their fabulous suites but I literally feel faint when I hear how much they paid. I just couldn't do it lol.

Our first GS was $1649 pp for 10 nights on Explorer. The balcony we switched from was a 9 night on Explorer for $1449. I was shocked and grabbed that up right quick.

We've been on 2 cruises, both times in a GS. We have a JS booked for our next 2.

The first time, we had to reschedule from April to November. We paid only $400 total more for 10 nights in a GS than we did for 9 nights in a balcony....that was a no brain decision. We got a killer deal. The second time we wanted the same room, although we did pay more.

My boys are all grown. I stayed home and home schooled them. So we were used to living on my husband's income. I have a part-time job with Weight Watchers, which I love, and we use for vacation and extra expenses.

The first 22 years of our marriage we tent camped because that is what we could afford and be able to have me stay home with our boys.

I would say it is absolutely worth it. We love the perks, the bigger room, the bathtub, and CL, the behind the scene tours, the extra things we were invited to, ordering from the MDR menu in the room and eating on the balcony, and the reserved seating at the pool. We go on 10 or 11 night trips, and I have health problems, and I do spend more time in the room than most people.

I'm looking forward to the JS on the aft in November on Grandeur and the JS aft next year on the Liberty for a short 5 night to Bermuda. Our son is getting married, so that is where my extra money will mostly go.

We are looking at a Panama Canal cruise on our 30th (5 years) and are planning and saving for a GS that trip. It's 5 years from now, so it's easier to make that happen.

We really liked the ability to order from the MDR menu for room service. At least once we'd have dinner on the balcony. They do bring all the courses at the same time. We just asked them to set them up on the bar. They did set the table with a white tablecloth.

Also the concierge lounge coffee and evening drinks (although we went to the overflow lounge on Explorer), and the reserved pool seats were things we liked.

If you are going to Labadee, Barefoot Beach is really nice, too.

My husband enjoyed the bridge tour both times we had a GS.

ETA: After reading the previous replies I wanted to add the invitations to things. There was a cocktail party one night for suite and pinnacle guests. We had a beautiful buffet dinner in the WJ one night. They set aside a portion of the WJ and set the tables really nicely, had a gorgeous dinner, with wine and champagne being served by servers, and several officers in attendance. It was really nice.

Breakfast in Portofino is really nice, too, but we like breakfast on the balcony most days.

Are there bats in the caves?

From the photo website:

 

Here is a current list of ships that do not offer digital photos with Get the Picture! at this time. If your ship is listed below, you are welcome to purchase printed photos online or onboard.

 

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line:

Brilliance Of The Seas, Grandeur Of The Seas, Jewel Of The Seas, Majesty Of The Seas, Monarch Of The Seas, Radiance Of The Seas, Splendour Of The Seas, Vision Of The Seas

Thanks for posting that. Disappointing that Grandeur doesn't have that capability. We bought the CD both times on Explorer.

Yes, some ships don't have the equipment needed to make CDs. We only had the option to buy prints on our most recent RCL cruise.

Does The Grandeur have the capability to make the photo CDs?

Love your photo btw. My question is did they offer that many opportunities for pictures??? I sail the explorer in Sept, 5 night to Bermuda. I am used to getting the cd on Disney but obviously you have a ton of opportunities on Disney with the characters and other backdrops. I ended up with 350 pics for $299. I love coming up with our own creative pics for the white backdrops. What other times do I have to build up my photo collection???

Thank you. That was one of my favorites :)

We were on an 11 night Southern Caribbean. So lots of opportunities to have pictures taken.

They had picture stations set up outside the dining room on all 3 decks each night. Sometimes they had them by the stairs, also. They had the white background down on the 3rd deck by the photo gallery. On formal nights there were twice as many photo stations. Picture opportunities when you get off the ship at a port, and in the dining room, and wandering around the ship, on the pool deck, and at Labadee. We paid less than $300 for the disk and prints.