Grandeur Review 11 Day May 31 to June 11th

[toad2]

Wonderful, Wonderful, Cruise.

 

We drove into Baltimore the night before the cruise and stayed at the Comfort Inn by the airport. We were able to leave our car there and we were given taxi vouchers for to and from the port. The taxi got us to the port around 11:45 and we were on the ship by 1:00. Check in went very smoothly.

 

We had a large inside cabin on the 8th floor. Our cabin was very nice. They only trouble we had while on this cruise was with the toilets. You would push the button to flush them and sometimes it would be 15 minutes before it would flush. Most of the ship was having that problem. There was also a sewer smell at different times on different floors. Our cabin attendant was Jo and she was just great. If we left for 15 minutes and came back, our cabin was always made up. We never had to wait. She also always opened our door for us whenever she was in the hall.

 

The ship shows some wear and tear but is still a beautiful ship. This was our 3rd time to sail on her.

 

We found the food to be better on this cruise than on the Brilliance in April. The menu's are now different so that may be why. The desserts were very good and the flourless chocolate cake was wonderful. It tasted just like fudge. There were a few nights when the menu wasn't to appealing but we always found something. This was the first cruise that I found them to be stingy with the lobster. There were 10 of us at the table and everyone wanted a second lobster because they were very small. Our waiter brought 4 more out and set them there for everyone to split and he did find one more for my son but some at the table never did get anymore.

Our waiter Jeorge was the greatest. He entertained us every night and even played jokes on some of my uncles at the table. We laughed so hard people thought we were all nuts.

We really liked the new lunch menu. It is the same everyday except for a daily special and different soup. The tutti pasta was wonderful. They make it to order. We had lunch in the dining room 4 or 5 times and always enjoyed it. I'm not a big breakfast eater so didn't have breakfast too much. They call the Bacon in the Windjammer "American Bacon" and my aunt told them that is is not like american bacon because it is half raw. It was hard to find a crisp piece of bacon.

 

The entertainment that we saw was a little disappointing. We really looked forward to Knight Magic and Gary Muledeer. They were very disappointing. There was another comedian that was very good though. We enjoyed the entertainment of the casino very much even though none of us came home winners. The dealers were very friendly and helpful.

My uncle and I went dancing a few times and that was a lot of fun. The girl that sang in the centrum and sometimes in the South Pacific Lounge was excellent. The pool band was so,so. They couldn't compare with the one on the Brilliance.

 

The games that we participated in were a lot of fun. We also used the gym facilities and they were great. My uncles got in the hot legs contest and the texas holdem.

 

Loved all the ports except Freeport. Beware of the taxi drivers. You are told they charge $4 per person but if they can't fill up their taxi, they say that they can charge you whatever they want. They all have the taxi vans. We had to wait for 30 minutes to be taken back to the ship because the taxi wouldn't leave until it was filled (overfilled actually). I don't think that I would get off the ship here again.

Loved San Juan and St. Thomas but St. Marteen is the greatest. Port Canaveral was okay. We went to Universal Studio's. It was okay but not something I wanna do again. My 2 aunts, my husband, my son, and I went together. Well, while getting off the ship they got in line first, when we went to join them some lady took a fit on us for getting in line with them. She just keep repeating "THE LINE IS BACK THERE" I just ignored her but should have said, if your children come up to join you line, are you going to send them to the back? Some people.

 

Our cruise critic party was so so. The CD did come and tell us a lot of info that was interesting. I made a few really good friends out of the group, Helen, Wally, Beth, & David. Made a lot of other friends on the ship also. Everyone was so friendly and outgoing.

 

We had to wait until after 11 to get off the ship but once they called our color we were off within 10 or 15 minutes. Got our luggage right away and called our taxi to pick us up. There sure was a big line outside waiting for taxi's. It seemed to be moving pretty fast. When we got back to the hotel my car wouldn't start so we has to call AAA. They came within 30 minutes and we were finally on our way home.

 

This was a WONDERFUL CRUISE, had a great great time and can't wait to sail on her again next spring. My son liked the Brilliance better because he had more friends.

 

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.

 

CINDY

 

NCL NORWAY 6/93

RCL GRANDUER 10/97

RCL SPLENDOUR 3/99

RCL GRANDUER 3/02

GALAXY 5/19/03

RCL BRILLANCE 4/9/04

RCL GRANDEUR 5/31/04

[gambler]

Hey Cindy, What a great review. I was on the same sailing and agree with about everything she said. We had a larger outside room on the 3rd floor and had the same toilet flushing when it wants to and sewer smell thing. I am still hoping to do a review, just so busy with son's karate right now. Did you book something for nexy year??

 

Helen

 

Monarch of the Seas 09/92

Majesty of the Seas 11/93,11/95

Sovereign of the Seas 09/94

Grandeur of the Seas 11/99,11/00,06/01,02/02,05/04

Navigator of the Seas 12/02,11/04

Rhapsody of the Seas 06/03

Radiance of the Seas 11/03

 

 

[maxtonio]

We're planning on doing Universal too when we're in Port Canaveral. Did you do Universal Studios or Islands of Adventure? Did you get to see/ride a lot? What time did you get to the park, and what time did they pick you up to bring you back?

 

Thx!

[lbandbuggy]

Thanks for the review, I am leaving out of Balt on July 4. Thanks for the info about Freeport, I have been wondering about that...we were thinking of taking the catamaran excursion to the marketplace, did you hear anything about that? We loved the trip we made like that in Jamaica, and were hoping to have as nice a time as that.

[Littlegoo75]

Good to see your review. I am thinking of booking the husband and I on a 10 night out of Baltimore some time in Sept.

The only cruise that we have been on together has been a 7 night on the Pride when it was only a couple of months old.

The age of the Grandeur has me a little worried. With so many ships out there, I figured I would always sail on the newer ships. Being that we live in the D.C. area, it would be nice to just drive to Baltimore, and not have to worry about taking a flight anywhere.

Does anyone know how much it would cost to park at the pier for 10 days? Are there a lot of hotels that will allow you to park for free if you stay there the night before? Do you think we would be better off taking some sort of shuttle or a limo service?

The price is good for a 10 night cruise, so that is why I am considering this sailing. I would much rather spend the extra days at sea rather than spend them flying to and fro Florida.

 

??????????? November 2004

Carnival Pride 4/27/02

Sitmar Fairsea 4/ 1983 ( I was just a little kid!!)

[isujim]

Cindy:

 

Great review and glad you had a good time.....just wanted you to know the BBC thread is still going strong....everyone would like to hear from you and about your cruise.

 

Jim

 

Nordic Prince 8/88

Viking Serenade 3/93

Enchantment 3/01

Rhapsody 9/02

Splendour 4/03

Rhapsody, 9/03

Brilliance, 4/04

 

Until Our Caribbean Princess Cruise

 

 

Until Hawaii on Inifinity

 

Until Vision/Mexican Riviera

[checkard]

toad 2 - We were on Grandeur the week of May 21-31 and they had the same problems with the toilets minus the sewer smell. The toilets in the ladies room by the theatre were not working right most of the time. They had that time delay flush thing going just like you said.

 

Must have changed cooks in the Windjammer. We always had crispy bacon. I even remarked about how nice it was to have it cooked that way.

 

Our dining room waiter was Sonay. On lobster night we were each served our meal, then he came out with a plate of lobsters tails and said we could each have 2 more tails if we wanted them.

 

Where are you from in PA??

 

----------------------------

Explorer 11/2001

Explorer 12/14/02

Serenade 10/13/03

Grandeur 5/21/04

----------------------------

 

Until Voyager 10/8/04

 

<MARQUEE>Won't Be Long Now till we'll be cruisin'</MARQUEE>

 

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<a href="http://www.escati.com/counter98/free_time_codes.htm">

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[P&DIn DE]

Hello, we are sailing on the Grandeur 7/18/04, our first cruise. We are so excited, but now I am nervous after reading the septic problems, I just want every thing to be A-ok!

Pam & David

 

counting the days! Grandeur

[toad2]

Helen,

We didn't book yet but we are planning on going out of Baltimore next year. None of the aunts and uncles want to fly anywhere. We don't care much for the Grandeur's iterary next year but we are just as happy staying on the ship. If the price is right we just might do the 9 day then 5 day back to back.

How is the karate coming along?

 

Maxtonio,

We did Universal Studios. We caught the bus at 10:30 and it took about an hour to get there. The lines for the rides were anywhere from about 15 minutes to 45 minutes long but we got to see and do enough. Don't miss Back to the Future and The Mummy if you go there. They are awesome. The first bus to go back left about 6 and the last bus left at 7.

 

Ibandbuggy,

Didn't hear anything about the catamaran excursion.

 

Littlegoo75,

It is $10 per day to park at the pier. Check out park/sleep/fly.com. It will tell you the hotels that have the sleep/park packages. There were 4 of us and I think it was around $140 with taxes and all. That included 1 room for the 4 of us, breakfast buffet, and taxi vouchers to and from the port. We called the taxi driver as we were getting off the ship and he was there within 1/2 hour. My relatives had a van service take them to and from the port from Martinsville, WV. I think that cost them about $80 per person. Personally, I would do the park/sleep thing again.

The Grandeur is still a beautiful ship. It is going in for refurbishing in the fall.

 

Hi Jim,

I'll be checking in with the BBC'S. Just been kinda down in dumps since we got back.

 

Checkard,

We are about 40 miles south of Pittsburgh in a little town called Brownsville.

Maybe they were short of lobsters on our cruise, lol.

 

Pam & David,

Don't worry about the toilets. We didn't let it bother us. At least they flushed eventually and our room never smelled, just the hallways.

 

CINDY

 

NCL NORWAY 6/93

RCL GRANDUER 10/97

RCL SPLENDOUR 3/99

RCL GRANDUER 3/02

GALAXY 5/19/03

RCL BRILLANCE 4/9/04

RCL GRANDEUR 5/31/04

[sundeck]

We too are sailing July 18 on the Grandeur.

Hope that toilet flushing problem is fixed by then and they don't wait till it goes to drydock to fix it!

Surprised to hear this happened on a few cruises and is still not resolved.

 

I'm gonna call RCCl about it.

It doesn't sound like something that can be ignored.

Yuck! Vacations are too important and expensive to have to worry about septic problems and smells!

[Mike&Lorraine]

We were on the same sailing. Excellent trip - ship was great. We noticed the sewer smell once or twice, but it certainly didn't ruin the trip. We noticed the delayed flushing twice during the 11 days.

 

About Universal. We went to Islands of Adventure with our two kids - ages 3 and 4. It was a mistake - we should have gone to Disney. There were very few rides in the park - maybe a dozen total, and only 3 that our kids could go on. What really annoyed us about it was that it looked like one giant gift shop with lots of very overpriced food stands. It really turned us off that the Cat in the Hat ride dumped you into a Cat in the Hat gift shop. What are the chances of leaving without a Cat in a Hat?

 

Just our opinion, but it looked like a cheap knock-off to Disney. I say go for the real thing. Of course, the other park may be different, but this was our opinion of Islands of Adventure.

[P&DIn DE]

Hi Portsider!

still looking for others sailing with us on July 18th! the count down is on!

hope to hear from you again!

Pam & David

P.S. I will not worry about the toilets!!!

 

counting the days! Grandeur

[P&DIn DE]

HI Portsider!

Still looking for others on our July 18 sailing!

Hope to hear from you again . I will keep checking this thread.

The Count down is on!!

Pam & David

P.S. I will not worry about the toilets!!

 

counting the days! Grandeur

[erin_cruisers]

Grandeur sailing out of Baltimore

In spite of the excellent reviews above, I have noted a few more questions concerning the Grandeur sailing out of Baltimore, so here is my (brief) review of our cruise.

 

1. Getting there. We drove down from Erin to Annapolis (10 hours) and enjoyed the weekend touring Annapolis and the Maryland crab! Monday we drove up to the terminal and got there around 11:30 AM. We parked at the lot for $10.00 US/day. We found out too late about the Stay/Park deals at some of the nearby hotels, which would have saved us a bundle, but at least we figured our van would be safe and closeby when we returned. As it happened we ended up driving a couple to the airport as their ride was cancelled.

We were on the ship by about 1:30. We went straight to our cabin (7140) and enjoyed champagne and canapes.

 

2. The Service. Within 10 minutes their was a knock at our door, and we met our stateroom attendant, Winston. This charming gentleman really made our stay absolutely enjoyable. There wasn't anything more that we could ask for. We introduced ourselves, he asked if there was anyghing we need , just to ask. So I mentionned that we would like to have our Ice basket filled, and that we would probably put our own drinks in the fridge.

No problem, Winston kept that Ice bucket filled 24/7.

Also, we could come back to the room any old time, and have a shower, leave, and come back an hour later, and all the towels changed, bathroom spotless. I mean, it was amazing. I swear it was like he was hovering outside our room just waiting for us to leave, yet, we seldom saw him. We would leave notes for him, if we needed something, laundry, take a bottle of wine to our waiter, etc..

Our waiter, Szolt was also amazing. On the second day, he asked each of us for our names, and by the time, we left that evening, he said good night to each of us by name, and remembered us for the rest of the cruise. He also remembered our likes, dislikes, and special requests.

 

The rest of the staff we met, also have to be commended as being very attentive, and courteous. I never saw any staff being rude, but we did see lots of rude passengers. In some cases I felt bad for some of the staff who took S#!^ for absolutely for no reason.

So, it was the service on this ship that really made us repeat customers.

 

3. The Ship. Yes, it's old by cruise standards. (But then what am I?) Ooops. I wish I was in better shape too! We had a good laugh when we got in our stateroom over the fabric colours, etc. but then that was it! We got into holiday mode, and never thought about it again. I understand it will be in refit later this year, and likely modernized, but if I had the chance to sail it again before refit - I sure would!!

The smells! Some have criticized the ship due to the sewage smells. Yes, at least once or twice a day, you could notice a whif (and just a whif) on certain levels of the ship in certain areas, that smelled like they were emptying the bilge or something like that. But it went away, (or maybe we were walking away from it?!) and never really bothered us much. It was NOT noticable in our room. The only quirk in our cabin, was that the shower didn't drain very well, and puddled in on the floor. Not the toilet, just the shower. So we would use up 1 or 2 towels just to soak that up. But never fear, the amazing Winston would magically appear within minutes to clean and replace. (And while he was at it, replace the 3 ice cubes I used in my drink, and, make a sculpture out of the pillows on our bed).

 

4. More Ship notes. Deck chairs. Wow, it was true what I read here about chair hogs. Every day, it seamed that people would just lay a towel and book on a chair first thing in the AM only to return 2 hours later to claim it. There sure was a lot of ROYALTY on our cruise!!!! What was really funny, was the day we got a sudden rain shower, and we watched as half the deck chairs and contents got soaked. Of course those that were swimming, eating, etc. were there to retrieve their belongings immediately, but clearly half were probably elsewhere on the ship. So, the deck chair police "helped out" by collecting the wet towels and "stuff", making room for all the legitimate 'pool patrons'.

 

The Solarium became one of our favorite places, because of it being a little more quiet there, padded chairs, no kids, (well few kids. It seemed the parents had trouble reading I guess). Also less windy, and the two hot tubs were usually less crowded.

 

The casino was TIGHT. Seriously, lost more than we should of here. Finally, got smart and opted to spend our money in the bars instead, where the ROI was more enjoyable!

 

The theatre shows were generally very good, we thought. No it wasn't broadway, it's a cruise ship! We didn't pay $100.00 each at the door, and it sure beats TV!!

We only missed two shows - the juggler/magician and the final show. I think we were busy taking advantage of each other (or something to that effect).

 

There really is LOT's to do on a cruise ship, and each night we would highlight what we wanted to do the next day in our Cruise Compass, and each day, we'd only do half of that. In fact I took a book, and only read two chapters.

 

5. The Ports of Call.

We did NOT do one planned excursion. Too darn expensive, by the time you convert from US to Cdn., they all seemed like rip-offs. And from what we heard from our tablemates, most of them had mostly negative comments about their excursions, and wished they had booked them on their own. So, we were glad that we "did our own thing" at every port.

 

Well, we didn't get to Coco Cay, unfortunately. Would have liked to see this little island, but it was taken off our itinerary.

 

Port Canaveral. This was our "Beach Day/ Shopping for Bargains day". Went to Ron Jons, and spent hundreds!! Came back with bags and bags of bargains. (Believe it or not we bought 3 winter coats (dirt cheap)- from Ron Jons!!!). Then took it all to the beach. Yes, we're nuts!! We missed out shuttle, so had to pay a ridiculous fare to take us back. Lesson here - Don't miss the cheap shuttle busses!!!

 

St. Maarten. I went on the 12metre challenge (booked it from Canada - another good deal). Margaret went to the beach nearby and did more shopping. We simply could not believe the garbage at the side of the roads in town. We actually saw people driving their cars, and throwing their empty beer/pop bottles out of the window onto the road!!

This was the only negative thing we saw. Great deals in town though on jewellry, booze, etc.

 

St Thomas. Oh, yeah! WE GOT MARRIED today! on the nearby Island of St. John!! We ferried across and met our wedding planner who drove us to Hawkesnest Beach to be married. So, needless to say, the day was a blur, and we have to say we missed most of the Island(s). But we can't wait to go back to St. Thomas and St. John. (The pictures are beautiful.)

 

San Juan. Well, it rained, then it rained, then rained some more. Good thing we packed umbrellas and rain coats. We did our own walking tour of the city. Found a little bakery/restaurant and had a great meal before rushing back to the ship (with just moments to spare)

 

Freeport. We had only half a day here, bummer! So we elected to go to the beach for some snorkeling, but the waves were too big, so just swam. Met some of our cruise buddies at a swim up bar at one of the big hotels and then had some great food (conch fritters, and conch soup) at a restaurant in the middle of the Shopping mall. The mall was a bit of a dud (as others have posted here).

 

Summary: It was absolutely fabulous holiday. Can't wait to cruise again!!

[luckymomx2]

I was wondering if you knew approximately how many kids were on your sailing? We're looking at doing the Grandeur end of next May and my kids will be finished with school but the local kids will not. I don't think I'll mind if the kids have the clubs to themselves!!

[MikeandLorraine]

Hey Glenn and Margaret. Great review! I agree that it was a great trip. Congratulations on your wedding. I wish we could have hooked up more during the cruise. We were a bit rushed at the M&M - my daughter was hungry and tired, so we only had a few minutes, mostly chasing her around the lounge.

 

Lucky mom - There weren't many kids on the ship for our sailing. I think they said tehre were 70 total. My kids are 3 and 4 and there were only 20 in their age group. It was great. There were kids for them to play with, but AO was never crowded and they got a lot of individual attention from the counselers. They loved the program and both of them cried getting off the ship. I would imagine it'll be about the same next year. This was the last sailing without a lot of kids. The June 11 sailing had over 400 kids on it! I honestly don't know how they were going to handle it. The AO facilities are not that big and there's not that many counselers. I'm glad we went the week we did.

[luckymomx2]

Thanks! I'm hoping the price for the May 27th next year is not much more expensive than the other sailings since the one we're looking at will be over Memorial Day weekend. We were on the Disney Wonder last year which of course had a ton of kids but I know RCI's kids club is not near the size. My kids will be 6 & 7 at the time of sailing so it will be nice for them to be in the same age group this time. Thanks for the info!

 

PS...I really like your itinerary. I would prefer going to St Maarten and St. Thomas over Cozumel, at least while my kids are still younger. Thanks again!

[MikeandLorraine]

Your kids will love it. I have a question though. Where did you find next year's schedule? We've been waiting and waiting. I didn't think it was out yet. I just checked RCI's site and nothing is showing.

 

Thanks,

 

Lorraine

[luckymomx2]

One of the reps from RCI read me the itinerary, probably because I kept bugging them! I don't know about the Bermuda sailings because I'm not interested in them but here is the itinerary RCI read to me, and later I found on a travel agent's website (no prices of course)....

 

Fri, May 13: Baltimore

Sat, May 14: At Sea

Sun, May 15: Freeport, Bahamas

Mon, May 16: Cococay, Bahamas

Tue, May 17: Key West, Florida

Wed, May 18: Cozumel, Mexico

Thur, May 19: At Sea

Fri, May 20: Port Canaveral, Florida

Sat, May 21: At Sea

Sun, May 22: Baltimore, Maryland

[erin_cruisers]

LuckyMomx2: Well, that's good to know. I too have been waiting for next summers sailing schedule. I guess I'll bug our TA too!

I think next year, we may have some extra family members with us, so we may just be doing a 7 day trip.

 

Lorraine: Hi again!! Yes, we missed you @ the M&M. They should really plan two M&M's - one at the beginning and one near the end, eh?

Hope everything went well for you (apart from the lounge chasing episode LOL)

[toad2]

Mike & Lorraine,

The future cruise consultant had next year's schedule but didn't have any prices yet. The Grandeur will alternate with the 9 day Caribbean then 5 day Bermuda. We really liked the itenerary this year better.

[erin_cruisers]

Help!!!

We've lost an address.

When we sailed May 31st we met a very nice couple, named Jerry & Pam from Maryland.

We thought we had their address, but now can't find it.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on how to find them? Or contact them?

Is there a board for contacting previous cruisers?

Any help would be appreciated...

 

Maggie & Glenn