Jan 13-20 2018 Cruise on Grandeur of the Seas, Now With Improved Steering!

I just went online to post this review and I saw that Lossforgain had already begun one for the same trip! Ah well, I am sure his review will be excellent, and probably even better since I am still trying to figure out photos! But, more reviews are better than too few I suppose, plus I've always enjoyed the reviews on this board, and its definitely past time to give back to all the kind folks on these boards. This narrative is all in one post, but I'll add pictures from my phone as I can with notes in later posts. So, here I go, with apologies in advance for the long post:

This cruise was booked to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary which was in October. We had originally booked a land based resort for a few days, but an overactive hurricane season rendered those plans, while not impossible, certainly not as enjoyable as we were hoping. So we cancelled, in time to get our money back. I was worried we would let our big milestone pass without doing anything more than dinner out, as my husband’s work schedule is very demanding and he doesn’t often take time off except for a week every summer.

But surprise! My husband suggested looking into a cruise in January, at a time when our two older kids would be home from college and able to look after their little sister, plus our menagerie of animals. Before he could change his mind, I hopped back online with our travel agent and found this Grandeur cruise with dates, an itinerary, and a balcony and a price that worked for us. I was especially excited for a cruise out of Baltimore (just 45 mins from our house on Capitol Hill in DC) and for the itinerary since I have never been to Charleston. Plus a 9 day cruise seemed like a real luxury for my husband.

Disappointment

The Grandeur experienced problems with the rudder a day or two before heading back to Baltimore. Initially they were reported heading to Freeport and then it changed to Port Canaveral. We received the email informing us of the delay, and offering full cancellation, or 50% back as OBC on the cruise only portion of our fare. We also got refunds on our beverage and internet package. We heard about 250 departed the ship from Port Canaveral, I don’t know how many exactly cancelled. I do know that there were no room upgrades available when I checked, and I do know some people on our FB and cruise critic pages said they were cancelling. Of course we decided to forge ahead as a 7 day vacation is better than nothing.

RCL did give us a substantial amount back for the loss of days, and port charges, taxes, fees, plus shortened drink package days and then our excursions we booked for Coco Cay, and for that I am very grateful. But, as I note below, I do wish they had done a little more to make our time WOW like they kept saying they would do in the emails when they cancelled the days and the ports.

Day 1 (Jan 13) Boarding

We arrived at the terminal about 12:15 and breezed through Security. We were lined up in the terminal in order of check-in, and that was very well organized and orchestrated too by Royal staff. There was a lot of hawking of specialty restaurants and a special brunch with lobster and mimosas ($30 pp) to use up that OBC. When someone asked if there would be lobster night one night in the Great Gatsby, rep said no because it’s a 7 day cruise now. That they would pressure people to buy this lobster brunch in order to sell the lobster they already had for the 9 day instead of having a lobster night is kind of a bum deal IMO. However, on the last formal night, when we ate again at Chops, we did hear that the Great Gatsby had lobster as an option.

Boarding started a little before 1 and by 1:13 we were having drinks in the Schooner Bar. Hubs is a big bourbon fan and so in case anyone else is interested they had Buffalo Trace, Makers, Whistle Pig and Four Roses in Schooner.

Muster was held inside due to the cold and ours went off without a hitch in the South Pacific Lounge. We ended up briefly on the naughty list since we were told to be on one side of the room, but really we were supposed to be on the other side, so they called us out at first as a no-show!

Cabin

I loved our balcony cabin 7144 which was the very last balcony on the port side of the ship. This was something I had wondered about when we got this assignment for our GTY. From pictures of the outside of the ship, I couldn't quite tell where it ended in the line of cabins. I knew it was towards the end, but unclear if we would have a "regular" balcony. As usual, I needn't have worried at all, it was a regular sized balcony. Only difference was that as we looked out to the sea, to our left was a steel door, and to our right was the usual partition from the other cabin.

The cabin and bath were ver clean, had enough space for all our stuff, and even though the decor isn't perhaps quite up to date, I didn't feel like it seemed cheap or ragged. We were very pleased with the room overall.

Dinner in Chops night 1

We had purchased the 2 night BOGO deal and so our first meal was in Chops. When we got into our rooms, we did not have a notice for a reserved time, so we went by Chops and asked. We asked for a 7:30 table, so that was fine. I was just a little confused because I thought they were supposed to let you know what time with a note in the room.

Now, the food at Chops: I have to say that we are foodies, and steak places are some of our favorite spots. We have eaten at some of the best steak places in DC, The Palm, Morton’s, Ruths Chris, Capitol Grill and others. We were expecting Chops dinner to be just better than what we would probably get in the Great Gatsby. But we were absolutely blown away by how this meal very favorably compared with on shore, high-end steak houses. I had the filet, and my husband had the prime rib. Both were excellent. I had the bacon appetizer and hubs had the shrimp cocktail. Then I had the mushroom soup, and husband had the wedge salad. Desserts were equally delicious. The bread basket was awesome too.

That night, passing under the Bay Bridge was honestly a huge thrill for me. It was cold and windy, but it was so cool to go under this bridge that I've driven over more times than I can count. I was surprised that there weren't more people out there with us, but we thought it was super cool.

As soon as we were out of the bay, boy could you feel it. Lots of rocking and rolling as we hit the Atlantic that night. I had taken Bonine, so had no seasickness, though the rocking did wake me up from a deep sleep several times.

Day 2 At Sea

It's cold-but people were watching football games outside by the pool. Note to other cold weather cruisers: Bring a lap blanket! Lots of people using multiple towels to stay warm. I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't feel totally jammed inside. While the Solarium is crowded, we find a few loungers near the entrance to the pool deck, looking out over the sea.

Later in the cruise, the Solarium was always packed no matter what time. We noted that some very rude towels and a novel or two are seen lounging alone on many many chairs for hours at a time, with no human to claim them and keep them company. ;p

Dinner in Giovannis

We were so happy with the Chops meal, that we were excited to try Giovanni's on the second night. Hubs and I are both italian, and dont eat out at Italian places much since I definitely make everything better at home! So it's a tough crowd at Table 6, I know. With that said, the food was not bad. I did have my heart set on the rack of lamb, but about 20 minuntes after we ordered, we were informed that it wasn't up to par (according to the waiter) and so no lamb for me. Which was weird because even after they told us this, we saw other lamb entrees being delivered, at least two. Even though I had the filet the night before, somehow I agreed to it again. It was fine. Pastas were okay. A little overcooked. Honestly, the meal was so unremarkable that I barely remember any of it. I wouldn't eat at Giovanni's again.

Day 3 Port Canaveral

Due to the skipped Charleston port, we weren’t supposed to get in here until 1. We must have made up some time somewhere along the line and we were docking at 11:30 instead. Off the boat by 1, took a Lyft to Ron Jon and main drag of Cocoa Beach, did some shopping, walked to the beach. Sooo windy. Sand was blowing so hard it stung our legs. We had a great lunch at Sandbar Grill. Excellent fish tacos and fun Hurricane drinks-you could get Cat 1 all the way to Cat 5. Very fun atmosphere. Would definitely recommend to others and go again myself.

Day 4 Nassau

For the first time, we saw the sun as we were cruising to Nassau. Finally! Lots of people on the pool deck, but the wind was significant. We sat out for a couple of hours, hunkered down on a lounge chair blocked by the low wall behind us. It was great to feel that warmth! I think we even got a little sunburned that day. After all was said and done, I'd say this 3-4 hour stretch was the only sun we had on this trip.

Pulled into Nassau a little ahead of schedule once again. We had an early lunch onboard and walked off the ship right around noon.

This is only our second time in Nassau, and our first time we did a snorkeling trip which was great. But we didn’t walk around town at all. So this time, we decided to do a quick walking tour on our own. We walked to Queen’s Staircase, Government House, Greycliff Hotel and . We are fairly intrepid city folks, but even I was a little nervous on this tour by ourselves. No one seemed particularly threatening, but getting lost in a very poor section of town was not fun. We then walked around the shops a little, didn’t buy anything, as I hate getting hassled to enter the store, being handed a “coupon” for xx% off and that kind of hard sell. By the time we got through this strip, I just wanted to get back on board. Not pleasant or fun. Almost as soon as we got back on board the Grandeur, the Captain announced that the winds were too high and so, as expected. . .

Day 5 Coco Cay canceled, still in Nassau. We awoke to very drizzly and ugly weather out our balcony window. We had thought we might take another tour or walk to the beach or even the rum factory, but with the weather decided to stay on board and read. Tried to go to the movie in the Great Pacific Lounge, but when we arrived about ten minutes before the movie, all seats with vantage points of the screen were taken. It was pretty jammed in there. Definitely looked like a lot of people had decided to stay on board instead of going into Nassau thanks to the weather, and the general boredom with the port as we had already been there one day. I don't understand why they don't have a bigger screen or move it to the Palladium. Lots of people in the Schooner for the multiple trivia contests too.

We sat for a long time in the Solarium where, as to be expected, we witnessed the usual chair hogging with six prime loungers tagged with a blanket or a book. We arrived around 10:15 and no one came for the seats. Finally one guy timed the absence and at 30 mins asked the staff to move the items so he could sit. By this time it was around 12pm. Staffer at first didn’t want to do it and said that on rainy days they allow for an hour absence, which didn’t really make sense to me. The guy pressed him, and so the RC staff reluctantly removed one of the towels from one lounger. A while later, another couple came over and when told of the seat saving by guy #1, they also asked staff to remove the items from two more chairs. Again, staff was very reluctant to do so. At about 2 or so, an elderly couple came into the solarium and complained loudly about the loss of their seats, and argued with the staff that they had only been gone for 30 mins. I don’t know what they expected him to do at that point. There were no seats, and I know that the seats had been empty since at least 10am when we arrived.

Day 6 At Sea

Very rough and angry seas again today, so many people were hunkered down in cabins, since it seemed very empty all over the ship. Windjammer was a dicey proposition with people sliding and trying to hang onto plates. We both needed Bonine to get through the day, and spent a lot of time in the cabin that day.

Day 6 also found me at an onboard excursion, which was the best thing I did on this cruise! The Behind the Scenes Tour. It was a great chance to see the entire ship and meet the staff that keep the passengers safe, fed and comfortable. We visited the Bridge, Kitchen, Bakery, Laundry, Supply rooms, Recycling Operations, Staff I-95 corridors, Crew dining and Lounge areas, Engine Room. It was very interesting and informative. Every crew member we spoke with was clearly proud of their work, and happy to engage with us and tell us all about their work. It was a long tour, over 2.5 hrs, and I would highly recommend it as an option on a sea day. We even spoke at length with the Chief Engineer regarding the rudder issue, and while he spoke in alot of technical engineering speak, it was super interesting and impressive to hear about the issue and how they repaired it.

I took a ton of pics from this tour I was just so enthralled. Hopefully I can get them all uploaded. Stay tuned!

Day 7 At Sea

Seas are calmer now, so it was a fairly smooth return trip up through the Bay. Outside Virginia Beach we catch sight of what appears to be a warship. Several seemingly knowledgable navy types declare that it is NOT a US Navy vessel, and later someone posts pictures to our FB group and posits that it's a Russian warship which Fox News has been reporting as showing up along the US coastline of late. I have no idea if this is true, but I wish I had taken pictures of it for sure!

Day 8 Return to Baltimore

Returned to Baltimore early in the morning, no issues doing self disembarkation. Pretty quick, except for waiting on elevators to have room.

Main Dining Room (Great Gatsby)

I thought the food here was okay overall, if a little on the bland side, with some entrees not good at all. I will say that the French Onion Soup on Grandeur is far better than what we had on the Enchantment a few years ago, which was basically not edible. But the Grandeur version was excellent. On the first night we ate here, we both ordered fish, which was so overcooked and tasteless we couldn't eat it. Other two nights in the Great Gatsby, we found the appetizers and soups to be very good and the main entrees not very good. The desserts were all very good though, and all the baked goods throughout the ship were excellent!

One morning we went to the MDR for breakfast and boy was that a mistake. The eggs we ordered were terrible. My husband ordered the Eggs Benedict, and the Hollandaise sauce was a congealed cold mass on top of basically a hard boiled egg. The bacon and sausage looked terrible. Interestingly, the buffet set up for yogurts, salmon, oatmeal, was terrific. We fortified ourselves here and never went back to MDR for any meal other than dinner.

Windjammer

I think the Windjammer overall has the best food on ship for every meal. I know it's not for everyone, but all of the food is pretty well-prepared and tasty. I mostly enjoyed the fresh made eggs and yogurts and fruit in the morning. At lunch the salad bar was amazing. I am still thinking about the cheese spreads they had every day. One day it was a garlicky cheese, another day a pimento spread. The next day was one flecked with chives and onions. None of these were smooth cream cheese type spreads, but rather a chunky shredded with multiple types of cheeses it seemed to me. I also LOVED the meat salads. The roast beef salad was fantastic. And on their breads? Wow! I was in heaven. They didn't have a ton of salad bar options, but just enough for me to want a salad every day at lunch. And several times the ethnic dishes at the grill counter were excellent too. One day they had banh mi (Vietnamese) sandwiches that were as good as I've had at any Vietnamese restaurant in the little Vietnam corners of DC. Really!

I did eat dinner in the Windjammer one night when we were starving before our Great Gatsby time slot at 8pm. Honestly, I wished we could have skipped out on our tablemates and just eaten in WJ. We got a quick snack, but everything looked delicious.

The desserts every night were pretty good, even though some looked better than they tasted. I think that their mini Padovas are the best thing going, with the sugar free Lemon cookies and Coconut Ranger cookies a close second. I can't even talk about the bread again, because clearly, I could rave about it forever. But everything baked in the Windjammer was awesome. I am very glad I don't have a gluten allergy. But even the gluten free table looked good! And the chicken filets there were better than the ones in the regular buffet line. Not as dried out I noticed.

Staff

I think the staff on the Grandeur, like the staff we encountered on the Enchantment are exceptional. They are all friendly without seeming fake or insincere. Ange in Schooner Bar was our absolute favorite. Our wait staff Hector and Li Ping were fantastic. Our cabin steward Jason was a sweetheart too. We felt very well taken care of the entire time.

Activities

For a cruise where they cancelled two ports, and then had to cancel yet another, I really didn't think that the Cruise Director or Activities staff went above and beyond to come up with stuff to do. Nassau is a terrible port, and one day there is stretching it IMO, so we really had three days on ship consecutively. They showed movies in the South Pacific Lounge on a relatively tiny screen, and people claimed seats there so early, there was no where to sit and still be able to see the screen. (They also showed movies in the Palladium Theater a few times) I thought the musical shows in the Palladium were not good though we didn't make it to the comedian or the ventriloquist.

All of the bands I thought were quite good. Real Vibes, Celebration Band, Rosario Strings were terrific. We had a few couples who danced every dance, and made us all jealous with their skills! One couple, with a beautiful, charming wife with her dapper husband were honestly a joy to watch and I had a lot of fun thinking about someday when we retire and taking dance lessons to get up to their level! *sigh*

We did the trivia several times in the Schooner Lounge, but there's only so much trivia you can do. I really, really wish they had done things like an impromptu "pop up" dance party in the South Pacific Lounge in the middle of the day, or double up on the movies (who wants to watch a movie out on the pool deck in high winds and cold temps?) or a "Learn a New Game" session to learn Dominoes, or Mah Jong or Cribbage or just ... SOMETHING. I have no desire to cruise on the mega ships, being kind of a "young-fogey" at heart, but I would love to learn some of these games to pass the time when I do decide to cruise again.

Drink Package

I purchased the drink package for both of us at the rate of $41ppd. I thought this was a bargain for as much as we drank. And there were some days we didn't drink more than 2 alcohol drinks a day-those being the really rough sea days! It was fun to pick and choose and not worry about whether we liked the cocktail or not. We could order another! And my husband did really like trying some different bourbons and other whiskeys. It was fun.

As Lossforgain noted in his post, I like cruising, but getting over the disappointments was tough on this cruise. I know there are those folks who will chide me with "Being on a cruise is better than being a work!" or "Have to make the best of your cruise" etc etc. You can't control the weather, but I did feel like we were stuck inside for three days on a boat at the end of this cruise, with little or nothing to do.

Thanks for your review. We're thinking of going on the Grandeur next year so it is helpful.

I still say a bad day on ship is better than a good day at work!

I'm also one of those crazy people that love the feel of the ship rolling and pitching.

I do love the size and layout of this ship, along with it's sister, the Enchantment. Views of the water from all over, very easy to navigate, friendly crew, good food. I'd definitely like to go on her again, but definitely not during January again.

Nice report, thanks!

Thanks for your review! We're looking forward to our upcoming Grandeur cruise.

Citymom92, thank you for your in depth report. As for Day 6's very rough seas. I wonder if they're not using the stabilizers ? I understand that they're not completely effective. But with things going wrong it's possible that the stabilizers are either not functional or RCI just wants the ships to not deploy them unless absolutely necessary. It's not surprising that with the age and condition of the Grandeur. Case in point, three years ago we were on the Anthem in January, we had rough water about 2:00am from Bayonne, it lasted two days. On the return trip leaving St. Kitts RCI had flown out an engineer/tech from Europe trying to find why one of the stabilizers wouldn't extend. he couldn't find the problem so as a result of another named Winter storm that was coming off the east coast from S.Carolina the captain decided to hug the coast and stay behind the storm. This gave us another Sea Day but we made it back to Bayonne ok. UNFORTUNATELY, the following cruise the Captain sailed right into another named Winter storm which made world wide news headlines for the Anthem. And most of you know the rest of the story with the ship and her Captain.