The Grandeur Repositions to Baltimore

[DragonOfTheSeas]

The ruins of Fort Amsterdam [date to 1632] are accessed via a path adjacent to Divi Little Bay Resort. The view is spectacular from the fort site, but, the ruins are not in good shape.

This is Phillipsburg in the background:

. . .and we could see the ships across the harbor.

 

It is a shame they are not doing a better job of preserving them.

 

 

An old cistern:

It is interesting that they have poured a concrete floor adjacent to the fort site and use it for private parties. They were erecting a tent for a party that night.

We ate lunch at the beach side café. It was tasty and not a bad price for a resort. [$9.95 for grilled chicken sandwich w/fries]. When we were done we took a taxi back to the port.

 

I wanted to check email so I bought internet time at the Telecom Boutique at the port. [$4--15 min and $6--30 min] It was a bargain compared to RCL prices and allowed me to keep in touch with our children. I had some trouble connecting and they had tech support to help me. [and it was air conditioned . . .ahh!]

[DontTreadOnMe]

We stayed in an aft JS on deck 8. Never had a sewage smell anywhere on the ship. And I was all over the ship.

 

Did have the delayed flush on two or three occasions.

 

Disappointed that the new TVs are just TVs. No way to view menus, book excursions, check your bill, etc.

 

Sinks in the head are too small and the faucet is too low and too short. I couldn't fit my hand underneath it enough to rinse my whole hand. Ended up using the tub for hand washing.

 

Like others, I was surprised to find rust on a ship that was less than a year out of a refit. And rails needing attention. Even the furniture in my JS looked like it had never seen any wood oil or polish. Maybe that was intentional?

 

Still, really enjoyed the trip. Lots of ports of call to explore. Could have used a couple more sea days!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

That night was formal night and the Captain’s “Welcome Aboard” reception. It was held in the Centrum on decks 4 and 5 [at 7:30-8:30 for both seatings], where they had tables of champagne flutes.

 

Here are a couple of Centrum pictures I took when we arrived. My pictures from the reception did not turn out very well. There were spotlights all around and they washed out the pics.

 

 

This looking up at decks 5-8. You can see the tracks at the top used for the aerisal show.

 

 

Near the begining of the reception two women descended from aerial chandeliers to pose with some guests for pictures. [took 10-15 minutes] The first 32 people got to have their picture taken beside the chandelier.

 

 

 

They were dressed like snow queens and holding a bottle of champagne.

 

 

 

Then the Captain posed for pictures for 20 minutes. It was not until after this that the Captain gave his comments.

The Centrum is a lovely venue, but much too small for all the ship’s guests. There was very little seating. If you can not stand for lang periods make sure you arrive early so you can get one of the few seats.

 

Sorry--I got a couple of the pics out of order. I made it worse when I tried to edit. so, I will leave it. You can get the idea. :)

[seacats]

Does anybody know the cabin number for the cabin shown with 2 windows, 2 chairs, and a sofa, it's huge! Sorry referring to link posted above.

[dixieva]

Sinks in the head are too small and the faucet is too low and too short. I couldn't fit my hand underneath it enough to rinse my whole hand. Ended up using the tub for hand washing.

 

Like others, I was surprised to find rust on a ship that was less than a year out of a refit. And rails needing attention. Even the furniture in my JS looked like it had never seen any wood oil or polish. Maybe that was intentional?

 

Still, really enjoyed the trip. Lots of ports of call to explore. Could have used a couple more sea days!

 

 

We are just off Enchantment of the Seas and our JS had those new sinks. We hated them too! Pretty much useless for washing hands or anything else. We had almost no water pressure in that sink which actually was a good thing since it drained very slow.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Who is the new CD if you can say?

 

We are looking forward to sailing on Grandeur again the end of August into September on a B2B to Bermuda and then on to Canada and New England. We have sailed on her twice before, both with Captain Rob, who we do enjoy. Unfortunately, he is now on Rhapsody. We also had John and Katrin Blair twice as CD's (Grandeur in 2009 and Enchantment in 2012) and though some may not like them, we found them to be good to great.

 

 

Mary Anne

 

The Captain was Espen Been from Oslo, Norway.

 

Jimmy Rhodes was the CD. He said he was new to the ship--however, another person posted on this thread teir friend would take over as CD on May 10th. I am not sure if he is filling in or started earlier than expected. He had a good sense of humor. I would put him in the good category. Our last cruise was aboard the Explorer with Richard Spacey. [he was great!!]

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Does anybody know the cabin number for the cabin shown with 2 windows, 2 chairs, and a sofa, it's huge! Sorry referring to link posted above.

 

We had a JS on Deck 8. Here are the new digital location finders. They were very handy. One day I was going to a scrapbooking session in conference room A. It was in the South Pacific Lounge. I would never have looked there.

 

 

 

 

It was very roomy --but, certainly not as large as a Grand suite.

Here are a couple of pics of our cabins. 8056.

 

 

There were plenty of cabinets and drawers for storage. We had 2 empty drawers. LOL The closet was not a walk-in closet as on some ships in JS.

 

 

The balcony was not huge, but had plenty of room.

 

 

The safe used a number key pad rather than the older style credit card safes. We liked that.

[Ocean Air]

Dragon of the Seas - enjoying your information and pictures of the Grandeur. Thank you, we are sailing in December and I have been searching the for reviews, yours are the first I have found :) and you are doing a fantastic job :)

[DragonOfTheSeas]

. . . We are just off Enchantment of the Seas and our JS had those new sinks. We hated them too! Pretty much useless for washing hands or anything else. We had almost no water pressure in that sink which actually was a good thing since it drained very slow.

 

 

I agree that the vessel sinks in the bathroom were not the best idea. The faucet is too close to the bowl and the water pressure is weak. I am sure they are designed to reduce the flow and conserve of water. [i wish they did not LOL]

 

However, as you mentioned this is not unique to the GOTS. This is how they are updating bathrooms when they refit ships.

 

**RCL --if you are reading, save yourself the trouble. **:)

[dixieva]

You're probably right on trying to conserve water but when we have to resort to washing our hands in the bathtub I don't think that's working too well.

And those sinks probably cost lots more than the old sinks. What a waste of money.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Our port day in St Kitts was the longest of the cruise. [8am - 7pm]

 

 

It took a little longer for the ship to clear customs, so they did not open the gangway until 8:35am. There was a HAL ship at a different dock and the Carnival Valor berthed beside the GOTS. The port welcome area was unusually busy since many tours began at 9am and passengers were later getting off the ships than they expected.

 

This is our second visit to St. Kitts. The last time we hired a taxi tour at the port with several other couples. The guide was not the best. So, this time we pre-booked a tour based on reviews. We went with Paradise Island Tours for their “Panoramic-Best of St Kitts” tour, led by Rosevelt Taylor, owner. He was listed on Trip Advisor as the #1 tour. Eighteen of us rode in a small, comfortable, air-conditioned bus.

 

The tour included:

· a driving tour of Basseterre;

· several stops to look at native vegetation and get an explanation of their medicinal uses, etc;

· commentary on the history of St. Kitts;

· a 30 minute stop at the Romney Manor which is a botanical garden and the home of Caribelle Batik;

· a 45 minute stop at Brimstone Hill Fort, a UNESCO site. The $8 fee was included in the tour price;

· a stop at Timothy Hill for a panoramic view of the Atlantic and Caribbean on the two sides of the peninsula.

 

Those that wanted to stay at the beach had to agree to be picked up at a given time. We selected 3:30 and he came back to get us. Others returned directly to the ship.

 

I would highly recommend this tour. We got to see the highlights of St Kitts and learn a little about their history and culture. Roselvet served 10 years in the US Army and lived in Texas. His English is excellent and he even says some American expressions, such as, “moving right along.” He had a good sense of humor. He provided water and even gave us some rum punch to celebrate the end of the cruise season. He told us we were the last ship! We heard this at every island. He told us the Caribbean season was October 15 to April 15. [i am sure that is why RCL repositioned the ship at this time. They were able to get a berth at the various ports of call since other ships had stopped calling]

 

 

We did not attend the “All Access” production show—but, heard it was good.

 

I will put St Kitts pics in the next post. I thought this would make more sense if you could read it without the pictures breaking it up.:)

[skiiergirl]

Dragon,

 

You have mail.

 

Ski

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Welcome to St Kitts:

 

 

 

St Kitts is an island of lush vegetation and few people. We heard there are more monkeys on the island than people. However, the only monkeys I saw were in captivity.

 

 

This was our home for the day.

 

 

 

After we toured the city and had a few stops in the country side we visited Romney Manor.

 

 

 

 

Rosevelt Taylor explained the plants we saw.

 

[dwdwnurse]

I was in 3023. It wasn't as bad as some of the older reviews made it out to be....but it was there every so often. Didn't really impact my cruise as it only lasted a few minutes. It wasn't in the Centrum at all.

 

I don't know the cabin # of the lady on Deck 2 aft.

 

It seems like it was just a sporadic thing maybe hitting only a few places and if you weren't there when it did, you wouldn't even know about any smell.

 

Thanks so much for letting me know. I upgraded from a deck 7 interior to deck 4, so I'm hoping the smell doesn't go to that level! So glad it wasn't too bad for your cruise :)

 

Thanks again!

[Scrapnana]

Enjoying your review and great pictures.. I would love to sail from Baltimore one day - the idea of not having to fly sounds wonderful.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Enjoying your review and great pictures.. I would love to sail from Baltimore one day - the idea of not having to fly sounds wonderful.

 

Baltimore is one of the easiest cruise ports. The Terminal is immediately beside I-95. [1 exit N of the Baltimore Inner Harbor] It is all one floor--so no dragging suitcase, etc up escalators there is lots of seating if the ship has not started embarking.

 

The only issue I have had is security gets really crowded around 12:30-1:30. New cruisers read the ship docs and they say boarding starts at 1pm. Try to arrive before or after this time.

 

Parking is easy and at $15 is mid-range. [much better than the $19 in NJ]

 

The only downside is that it is not in a scenic location. [very industrial]

 

There are several hotels that do sleep, park and cruise packages.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Romney Manor is built on the foundation of the old Samuel Jefferson estate. [Thomas Jefferson's grandfather]

 

 

 

Ronmey Manor is home of Caribelle Batik. You can watch them create the designs and dye the cloth. Here is the Batik drying on the line.

 

 

The tower on the Manor property was a popular photo spot. I had to wait to get a clear shot. The plants were beautiful. Everything felt very lush.

 

 

Next we visited Brimstone Hill Fort. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. There is no way anyone could have stormed this fortress. The views were over the top. It is a must see attraction.

 

 

 

The steps leading up to the top of the fort made me feel the burn. LOL

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

This is another view of the walk up to the top of the fort. the buildings in the foreground are the Visitors Center, gift shop, and a snack bar.

 

 

After we left Brimstone Hill we stopped at Timothy Hill. You can see the Atlantic Ocean on the left and the Caribbean on the right. That is its sister island of Nevis in the backgound.

 

 

 

 

The area below Timothy Hill is the area of the island with all of the resorts.

 

 

Another view of the same area

 

 

Then Rosevelt dropped us off at the beach for a couple of hours. He was waiting for us when we got to the designated spot for our ride home.

[Jen248md]

 

The safe used a number key pad rather than the older style credit card safes. We liked that.

 

We were in "steerage" as we like to call it - deck 2 interior slightly aft (2053) - and our safe required a credit card to shut. It was annoying to always have to carry a credit card around. I think last year on the Enchantment we used our sea pass.

 

We didn't have any sewer smell issues but I agree that there were some things that surprising for a recently refurbished ship - especially the hard to read elevator numbers and the quirky elevators that kept going in and out of service (we saw that in all elevator banks).

 

We did have some minor flushing issues. On the last night the bathrooms outside the dining room wouldn't flush and there were a ton of people using them between the dining room and the centrum shows (probably around 9:45 pm).

 

We did have a great time on the cruise.

 

The first day there were definitely some nerves amongst the new crew, but I definitely think they were getting more comfortable each day. We had some housekeeping issues - missing cruise compasses, putting covers back on water glasses that we were using with water in them instead of replacing the cups, etc. Nothing that affected our trip but little quirks.

 

Deck 5 did get quite slick and the crew was trying to keep up with it on the last couple of days as we got a lot of salt spray from rougher seas. By the end you couldn't see well out of the dining room and centrum windows with all of the salt spray.

 

We did not eat at the Windjammer at all during the cruise. We did have late lunch at the Park Cafe a couple of times. They have a make your own salad option there.

 

In San Juan we got to the pier around 2:30 and breezed right through check-in and boarding. They did move all aboard up 2 hours but didn't notify us ahead of time. The muster drill had a lot of coast guard presence.

 

Overall we had a great time and I would love doing similar itineraries in the future. I like the convenience of Baltimore but I am not a big fan of the Bahamas.

 

We had a great group on the roll call board and had a great tour in Samana, meet and mingle, and slot pull (we skipped the gift exchange - brain wasn't working on coming up with great gift option).

 

Jen

[dixieva]

Jen-just a heads up about the safes that require a card to open/close. It does not have to be a credit card. Any card that has a magnetic strip on the back will work. Something like a grocery store rewards card, library card, gift cards-anything will work as long as there is a black strip on the back.

 

Glad you had a good cruise!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

One area I feel that GOTS needs to step up its game, is onboard activities. The Cruise Compass seemed very skimpy to me. There was no shopping show, no port talks, etc. I think there was only one movie under the stars on the big screen and one basketball playoff game shown there.

 

I think one thing that hurt was dedicating the South Pacific Lounge to the Diamonds each night. [Don’t flame me –I do not begrudge diamonds their well earned perks.] The problem was that it was the largest venue on the ship and one of the few public spaces. It was out of service for a big chunk of the evening.

 

The only other evening event in this lounge was karaoke. [it seemed like every night] Other nights there were no activities scheduled there. On the Enchantment they used the lounge for Big Band dance music one night and a sock hop another, etc.

 

I think they are working on transitioning from a Latin influence cruise to a US/Canada/European audience. I am sure as the new crew gets confortable they will begin adding things.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

On day 4 we docked at St John, Antigua from 7:00am-5:00pm. We were the only ship in port. Yeah!!

 

 

 

 

The ship docks right in St John.

We had a nice beach day at Valley Church Beach. I know it looked empty when we got there. but, I t got crowded by afternoon.

 

We took a taxi with 4 other people. [$32 for 1-3 or $8 pp] There is only one restaurant here, The Nest. It sells food/drinks and has restrooms.

 

They rent chairs [$5pp] and umbrellas [$10] We rented two chairs and sat under a very shady tree.

 

 

Valley Church beach is not good for snorkeling. The water is not clear enough. It has a milky look--but, the sand is soft.. I know I read why this is—but, I can not remember.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Once we got back onboard I was very busy. I attended a scrapbooking session at 4pm. They had one complimentary kit and another for sale. I did not see anyone purchase a kit.

 

At 4:45 we had our scheduled Meet and Mingle. It was a little odd to have this so far into the cruise. But, the itinerary was very port heavy and they could not schedule it any other time.

 

Here is Lynn from the CD staff. She was new to the ship, too.

 

We had 118 people signed up and most of the attended.

 

 

We met in the Viking Crown Lounge. It was a very quick meeting. The Crown and Anchor returning cruiser reception began at 5:15 in the theatre. [we missed the first half] The highlight of the reception was a special performance by the professional Tango couple and their 9 year old son. [he could tango like a champ!]

 

 

[CRUSINGFAMILY]

One area I feel that GOTS needs to step up its game, is onboard activities. The Cruise Compass seemed very skimpy to me. There was no shopping show, no port talks, etc. I think there was only one movie under the stars on the big screen and one basketball playoff game shown there.

 

I think one thing that hurt was dedicating the South Pacific Lounge to the Diamonds each night. [Don’t flame me –I do not begrudge diamonds their well earned perks.] The problem was that it was the largest venue on the ship and one of the few public spaces. It was out of service for a big chunk of the evening.

 

The only other evening event in this lounge was karaoke. [it seemed like every night] Other nights there were no activities scheduled there. On the Enchantment they used the lounge for Big Band dance music one night and a sock hop another, etc.

 

I think they are working on transitioning from a Latin influence cruise to a US/Canada/European audience. I am sure as the new crew gets confortable they will begin adding things.

 

We too were on this cruise and agree with virtually everything that has been said by all providing their reviews of this cruise.

 

Personally I really felt like there were alot of excuses this cruise. There was no North American tea for example on the first couple of days and then one type showed up after that and a trickling of others as days passed. The reason there was no tea -- this is a repositioning cruise.

 

Activities on the compass, I agree, very lacking.

 

The sink, totally agree, useless. Shower had great pressure though.

 

We were on Deck 4, no sewer smells to speak of, however toilet flushing was a real issue for us. One night the toilet didn't flush at all, but eventually it did clear. Our cabin was clean on arrival so cudos to our cabin attendant. The upgraded washroom was a joke. They put a melamine wood grain corner unit that took away from the beauty of the washroom but more importantly was useless. We had a flat screen tv and a pin select safe.

 

I did not find the cruise staff to be at RCCL standards at all. Cruise director was fine and quite friendly.

 

This is the first cruise where I felt nickeled and dimed. Meaning that there were cutbacks visible everywhere.

 

As for escargot, they are a thing of the past with RCCL and thanks to our previous comments have now been removed from the menu altogether. Lobster was available on the second last night, but if you wish to have a second tail, you will pay for it :eek::eek: I don't know how much but I can tell you this, the quality of the lobster tail would have to improve dramatically before I would ever pay for it. In fact, we had to send my husband's back to the kitchen it was so bad. It was replaced with something edible.

 

My main positive comments of this cruise would go to the dining room. The food was well presented and served very hot, something that is generally lacking in the dining room in my opinion. So cudos to Grandeur for that. Also, in general the dining staff was outstanding. Our assistant waiter was fantastic!!!!!! They told us that they had won award for being the top ship in the fleet for dining room for the last three weeks. I believe that and its well deserved.

 

Both the Diamond and Diamond Plus lounges are too small. The configuration of the Diamond Plus lounge is terrible for socializing which to me is the purpose of those lounges. They have mainly two seat tables and the configuration doesn't even allow for rearranging the furniture so to me, this was a terrible experience.

 

In General I did not like the refurbishments. They did not do anything to "improve" Grandeur. I feel the South Pacific lounge visually does not look nice with the Diamond Lounge kind of stuck in the there and is now closed off with the insertion of Conference Room A on one side and the Diamond lounge on the other. The same thing occurred in the Viking Crown lounge. Izumi restaurant has taken more than half the lounge and the Diamond Plus lounge has taken some of the other half. The one good thing in both the Diamond and Diamond Plus lounges in the view--very nice. Both of these lounges are not separated from the South Pacific Lounge or the Viking Crown lounges by a full wall. Therefore if there was any noise coming from those venues it was heard loud and clear in these lounges, again not providing a good social environment. Of the refurbishments the only thing that was great, is the Park Cafe. Roast beef sandwiches were fantastic! That being said, late night choices are basically hot dog and hamburger. No pizza, except dried out cardboard in the Windjammer at lunch time. No pizza in any other venue.

 

We also found Grandeur tired in some ways as well. Painting etc.

 

Cleanliness seems down as well. No visible cleaning staff like we normally experience. I can tell you this, the door that was closed every evening on Deck 4 at the Centrum, the door handle was dirty on Day 1 and still the same marks on it on Day 9-- not good. Never saw much vacuuming going on either. I also didn't care for the colouring of the new carpeting, that's just a personal thing.

 

Windjammer food was terrible in our opinion, again because of cost cutting. Entertainment was poor as well, I suspect because of costs as well.

 

I heard alot of "this is a repositioning cruise" as the reason for why they didn't know things, didn't have things etc. We paid a cruise fare for a cruise up to expectations, if repositioning is not a quality product we should be made aware.

 

They have moved virtually everything to the Centrum now in terms of entertainment, which is a poor decision in my opinion. As already mentioned there is no seating. Leaving that aside there is no good "viewing" either. We did not attend things in that venue as like many I cannot stand for only a very few minutes. This could be done to keep entertainment short.

 

Something my husband noticed was the life ring in the Solarium was inaccessible behind deck chairs during the day, hopefully its never needed.

 

I would rather pay more in a cruise fare than feel like I have untrained crew, substandard food, fewer activities etc.

 

We are now considering another cruise line. That is not to say that there was any one thing that is changing our mind, just alot of things steadily going downhill. For the record we are Diamond Plus so I think that says alot.

 

It was in general a good cruise, but not up to a standard we grew up with.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

 

Lobster was available on the second last night, but if you wish to have a second tail, you will pay for it :eek::eek: I don't know how much but I can tell you this, the quality of the lobster tail would have to improve dramatically before I would ever pay for it. In fact, we had to send my husband's back to the kitchen it was so bad. It was replaced with something edible.

 

My main positive comments of this cruise would go to the dining room. The food was well presented and served very hot, something that is generally lacking in the dining room in my opinion. So cudos to Grandeur for that. Also, in general the dining staff was outstanding. Our assistant waiter was fantastic!!!!!! They told us that they had won award for being the top ship in the fleet for dining room for the last three weeks. I believe that and its well deserved.

 

It was in general a good cruise, but not up to a standard we grew up with.

 

I think in general D and D+ cruisers remember when cruising was a little different.

 

I agree that the dining room staff was very good. They went above and beyond. I think the food was the same as I had on the Radiance last summer. It was different that on the Exporer in the fall because they had the new menu. I was surprised the GOTS still had the old menu.

 

About Lobster night--we waited a long time to get entrees that night. [maybe 20 minutes] After dinner was over I asked the waiter what happened. I could tell he was upset. [but was too professional to say anything]

 

He said the kitchen had to cook more lobster. That they are not used to serving this meal. They only serve lobster on ships with US ports. This was the first lobster dinner the kitchen had served. :eek:

 

There were many lessons learned this cruise.