Grandeur Dilemma

[kitt82078]

So we are planning a group cruise with several families and some friends celebrating honeymoons and anniversaries. We really want to go to Bermuda, and the Baltimore port is decent driving distance between the two largest groups going. (Half of us are in NY, half in NC). However from reading posts on this board I am second guessng our choice of Grandeur on the Seas.

 

First Question: Are the kids going to be happy in the kids club? Is it big enough to keep them entertained, they were thrilled with Disney kids club and we rarely saw them, but us parents are so over DCL.

 

Second: some people going are first time cruisers, will they be dissapointed by Grandeur? We're not looking for ziplines here, but still want to feel like this is a special vacation for them. And want them to be eager to sail with us again.

 

Dilemma: We could sail out of Cape Liberty, which MIGHT make one or two families from NC change their mind because that is a long drive with little ones with a hotel overnight somewhere. However, the cruie would be 5 or 6 nights, not 7. And we would be on the Explorer - definitely one of my favorite ships....

 

I just can't decide what to do?! Also, my inlaws live in NY, and while they will not be going, I am sure my husband will want to go see them since we are already in NJ.....

[PattyG12]

See if the NC group can take the train to Newark? I'd definitely go with the Ex with kids. Grandeur was very nice and the first timers would love it.

[papaflamingo]

Not sure about kid activities, but if the weather is nice the pool generally works. We just got off of Legend (same class), and it was one of the best cruises ever. So first time adults should love it. The key is managing expectations. If they look at Allure and expect the same activities, dining, shows, etc. on Grandeur, they'll be disappointed. But if they know what is on the ship, they won't. As for the kids program, I don't have personal knowledge, but it seem pretty successful on all ships.

[spookwife]

First Question: Are the kids going to be happy in the kids club? Is it big enough to keep them entertained, they were thrilled with Disney kids club and we rarely saw them, but us parents are so over DCL.

 

Second: some people going are first time cruisers, will they be dissapointed by Grandeur? We're not looking for ziplines here, but still want to feel like this is a special vacation for them. And want them to be eager to sail with us again.

 

 

 

1: general consensus is they will most likely enjoy it. GR as a ship is smaller with fewer bells and whistles but there is a climbing wall.

 

2: we LOVE GR.. she is small without being crowded she is elegant and not flashy. we also feel that her crew is MUCH more tight knit, attentive and friendly. she is very cozy and intimate.

[kitt82078]

For what its worth we re going to enroll the girls (4 and 6) in the barbie experience too. This is a pretty diverse group of retiree gramdma, families with young kids, and early 30's newlyweds....

[nmuller328]

We did a family cruise last May- 21 members ages 75 - 10 yrs. We were coming from NY, MA, TN, VA & SC- we had a narrow window when everyone could make it- so Mom booked 11 rooms on the GOS. Many were first time cruisers- several had done other larger ships- Oasis & Eclipse. General consensus was ship was too small- not many activities-we definitely were not wowed. We were only on board for a few days as the cruise was cut short by the fire- but felt we had maxed out on the ship. Still can't say enough as to how the crew wowed us during the crisis. Half of the family has rebooked the Oasis - we head there this weekend- the other half (many of the 1st timer cruiser- weren't interested in trying it again- not due to the fire- just wasn't impressed with cruising- I think it was the lack of activities on the GOS for the 20 somethings.

 

Highly suggest a larger ship.

 

N

[TipsyT]

Just off the Grandeur on March 8th. Most disappointing cruise of my 8 so far. I regret taking my mom and cousin on this as their first cruise.

 

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[RSLeesburg]

For what its worth we re going to enroll the girls (4 and 6) in the barbie experience too. This is a pretty diverse group of retiree gramdma, families with young kids, and early 30's newlyweds....

 

 

We took Grandeur for our first cruise with our 3 y/o last Sep to Bermuda, and loved the ship. Between kids club and pool, our son was thoroughly entertained - however, he had not been spoiled on a larger ship. I think GR is great for younger kids, especially first timers - however, as has been mentioned above, if you need lots of bells and whistles, then you will have to move up to a bigger class of ship. Explorer definitely has more to offer in this regard. You could also look at Breakaway, which also goes to Bermuda.

 

 

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[TipsyT]

Woops, I hit the send arrow prematurely. Let me explain why I was disappointed in the Grandeur.

 

While the food in the MDR was great the service was just so so. Not once did anyone pull out a chair to help seat my 86 year old mother who was using a walker. Most of the time they acted like her walker was a grand nuisance and would shove it about waiting for our assigned waiter to put it aside as if it was not their job. Our waiter and assistant waiter were never at the table to greet us as we got there. Perhaps I've been spoiled by Princess where we were often escorted to our table and seated and certainly were never allowed to carry our own drink glasses or bottle of wine to the table (these were put on a tray at the dining room door and served to us after we were seated).

 

Every activity felt like a sales pitch for something to spend your money on. Even the Love and Marriage show was pitching the drink of the day by having the staff sipping and reminding you to flag down a waiter to get your commemorative glass. Problem was, the few times we would have liked to actually get a drink there was no one around to make that happen. The ship felt very under staffed. We sat for many hours in the piazza and solarium with trash covered tables all around unattended.

 

The food in the buffet and cafes was ok but nothing fantastic.

 

I believe our cabin steward would have gotten us anything we asked for but was not proactive about our needs at all. Example: we asked for a filled ice bucket which we used for drinks before dinner. On the second day, we stuck a bottle of wine in there to chill figuring our steward would change this out for an appropriate wine chiller and leave wine glasses. Never happened, just kept sticking our wine bottles in the small ice bucket and left regular glasses.

 

The cruise director was uncomfortably unprofessional and I believe the lack of quality entertainment was his doing. There was a good comedian and one good band. It was almost unbearable trying to watch the Morning Show as the CD and his assistant were so rude and obnoxious I almost thought they were drunk when taping.

 

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[TipsyT]

It's the little special things that happen on a cruise that are supposed to Wow you and all-in-all I'd have to say they were missing on the Grandeur. I would highly recommend another ship or even another cruise line since this is supposed to be a celebratory cruise for y'all.

 

As always, this is just my opinion. Your mileage may vary!

 

Trish

 

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[RSLeesburg]

It's the little special things that happen on a cruise that are supposed to Wow you and all-in-all I'd have to say they were missing on the Grandeur. I would highly recommend another ship or even another cruise line since this is supposed to be a celebratory cruise for y'all.

 

As always, this is just my opinion. Your mileage may vary!

 

Trish

 

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I would have to disagree slightly. Maybe this is what seasoned cruisers are looking for - the little touches. I have read numerous complaints on CC about lack of chocolates on pillows, no stationary in rooms, being escorted to rooms, etc. When I took my first cruise, I had no expectations of any of these things. Everything was new, and the things that "made" that first cruise wonderful were not these little things - they were the big things! It was not how good the food was, or how attentive my servers were, etc. It was the experience of being at sea for the first time - standing on the pool deck and watching the ship pull away, running up to deck 10 to watch as we just barely fit under the Key Bridge, sitting on the balcony watching the waves rush by, hitting the Atlantic and feeling the ship rock in the rough seas, and the sailing around Bermuda and docking. This is what thrilled and excited me on my first cruise, and in this regard, I think Grandeur would easily deliver this same thrill to a first timers.

 

 

 

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[spookwife]

For what its worth we re going to enroll the girls (4 and 6) in the barbie experience too. This is a pretty diverse group of retiree gramdma, families with young kids, and early 30's newlyweds....

 

 

double check.. that may not be an option at all on GR I certainly do not remember seeing it advertised. GR does not have any of the character stuff on board

[nmuller328]

It's the little special things that happen on a cruise that are supposed to Wow you and all-in-all I'd have to say they were missing on the Grandeur. I would highly recommend another ship or even another cruise line since this is supposed to be a celebratory cruise for y'all.

 

As always, this is just my opinion. Your mileage may vary!

 

Trish

 

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Totally agree with you- felt that the over all staff was either those who couldn't hack it on a bigger ship or in training. Even one of the activity staff members had no enthusiasm for her job and it was evident in every activity she was involved in- she did most of the trivia as well as the CC M&M- overheard her under her breathe how "excited" she was to be there to meet this group. Though after the fire- I had a totally different experience - they were spot on. We didn't see the hard sells- but again it was only a 3 day cruise.

 

Young families,and couples not looking for many activities- may enjoy the ship.

N

[Raenstoirm]

Even one of the activity staff members had no enthusiasm for her job and it was evident in every activity she was involved in- she did most of the trivia as well as the CC M&M- overheard her under her breathe how "excited" she was to be there to meet this group.

 

We had a bit of a different experience, but not much. We brought Grandeur "home" to Baltimore from South America, so we had 9 days on her (only 2 of them were sea days). The crew and staff were what I might call disheveled, but we chalked that up to the swapping out of the south american crew with the American crew and the learning curve. Half the staff was being reassigned after our cruise and the other half had literally boarded with us. Jimmy was our CD, but we only saw him maybe twice the entire cruise (he too had just come on board). However we LOVED the CD staff. We loved Lynn (I think she is still on) and Melissa in particular (Melissa was leaving to head back to a South American itinerary after our cruise).

 

She is rather, um, boring. If you enjoy laying by the pool, just relaxing she is great, perfect in fact. If you are more of a mover and a shaker you may find her boring. We survived the 2 seas days but didn't love them. We briefly thought about getting back on her this spring because Ricky (our favorite CD) is on her till May, but figured we wouldn't enjoy another few sea days.

 

Cant comment on the kids clubs since we don't have kids.

Edited March 11, 2014 by Raenstoirm

[hansolosmom]

Our second cruise was on Grandeur, the first was Disney. We had a great time. Our boys were 5 & 7 at the time and they had fun. Although at that age they didn't spend tons of time in the kids club they liked to be with us, so we mainly hung out at the pool with them.

 

It doesn't have all the bells & whistles of the newer ships, but really neither does the Explorer. Explorer does have the promenade & ice rink but it doesn't have the flowrider, so I don't really think of it as that far a step above Grandeur IMO.

 

We're cruising in April & chose the Grandeur over the Explorer.

[hansolosmom]

For what its worth we re going to enroll the girls (4 and 6) in the barbie experience too. This is a pretty diverse group of retiree gramdma, families with young kids, and early 30's newlyweds....

 

double check.. that may not be an option at all on GR I certainly do not remember seeing it advertised. GR does not have any of the character stuff on board

 

Even though they don't have the characters they're offering the Barbie thing. I got an email about it for our cruise in April even though I'm a little outside the target age for the activity :D

[hansolosmom]

 

I believe our cabin steward would have gotten us anything we asked for but was not proactive about our needs at all. Example: we asked for a filled ice bucket which we used for drinks before dinner. On the second day, we stuck a bottle of wine in there to chill figuring our steward would change this out for an appropriate wine chiller and leave wine glasses. Never happened, just kept sticking our wine bottles in the small ice bucket and left regular glasses.

 

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I wouldn't assume the cabin steward would do anything without being asked. We had one ask about something along the lines of your wine bottle & he said he didn't automatically do those things because of all the different types of passengers. I kind of took it to mean he had chilled someone's wine bottle and they got annoyed with him since they didn't like it chilled.

[GiannaD]

We had a bit of a different experience, but not much. We brought Grandeur "home" to Baltimore from South America, so we had 9 days on her (only 2 of them were sea days). The crew and staff were what I might call disheveled, but we chalked that up to the swapping out of the south american crew with the American crew and the learning curve. Half the staff was being reassigned after our cruise and the other half had literally boarded with us. Jimmy was our CD, but we only saw him maybe twice the entire cruise (he too had just come on board). However we LOVED the CD staff. We loved Lynn (I think she is still on) and Melissa in particular (Melissa was leaving to head back to a South American itinerary after our cruise).

 

She is rather, um, boring. If you enjoy laying by the pool, just relaxing she is great, perfect in fact. If you are more of a mover and a shaker you may find her boring. We survived the 2 seas days but didn't love them. We briefly thought about getting back on her this spring because Ricky (our favorite CD) is on her till May, but figured we wouldn't enjoy another few sea days.

 

Cant comment on the kids clubs since we don't have kids.

 

Ricky is a great CD. Who is the activities director for this spring?

 

 

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[londongal796]

I can't comment on the kids side of things, but there did seem to be plenty of things for them to do as I honestly didn't notice them too much on the cruise I was on (although this was in the Med in September 2012!).

 

The ship itself is wonderful and we had a great time on it. I personally prefer the slightly bigger ships, but if I had never been on one of them before, I certainly would not have been disappointed. I also love the Solarium as the roof can be closed in bad weather and you still have quite a nice warm area to hang out in (something I have really missed since we had this experience!).

 

The only thing I missed on the Grandeur compared to the Voyager Class of ships (the only other ones I've been on so far) was the Royal Promenade. I liked walking up and down it before dinner. But it wasn't a massive loss. It just meant more time in our room and less time window-shopping before eating.

 

The food on board was great, the service was great, and frankly, the shows were some of the best I've ever seen. The onboard selection of alternative dining is frankly one of the best. We have missed Izumi ever since our experience with it, and that alone would tempt us to cruise on Grandeur again! (But don't go for lunch, only for dinner! There is hardly anything on the lunch menu!)

 

We were onboard right after she'd been upgraded as well, so we really enjoyed all of the new TVs in the rooms and the touch-screen TVs located throughout the ship where you could help navigate yourself as well as check the dining menu.

 

I'd definitely recommend it if it is the most convenient port for everyone. I don't think you'd be disappointed. (With one condition: I know nothing about the kids activities! Sorry!)

[myhouseofmouse]

For someone who just booked this ship for our family’s first cruise later this summer, I love this thread and all the comments and feedback on the ship. I have to say that I have the same concern as the OP as to will our family really love the ship and feel that we got our money’s worth out of it. But after considering timing, location and price, this one was the one we went with. I do love the sounds of all the bells and whistles of the bigger ships...more to do, more options to keep you busy. But on the other hand I love the idea of the smaller crowds that will be on it and the more intimate.

Which side will end up winning??? I’ll let you know my thoughts after the trip. The thing I know is to keep doing research on the ships, find out as much as you can about what ALL is on the ship. The more I research it, the more impressed I am with just how much there is to do on it. The opinions on here and out there are great and all, but they “Other” peoples experience and how do you know whether they will be yours!! Since I already have it booked, I am usually all the good and bad reviews to learn and make sure I do what I can to make the most out of our trip.

[iheartbda]

I'm always intrugued how different people can have such polar opposite experiences on the same ship and EVEN on the same sailing. I guess it all boils down to different expectations.

 

Just got off the Granduer and had a very attentive crew. One night I ask for just a little ice for a once time use and the bucket was filled every night from then on. Our steward greeted us by name all the time and if one of us was not in the cabin he would tell the other or say she just left. I made a big boo boo by using metal clips to weight down the showere curtain so I wouldn't be attacked by it. Unfortunately, the clips left rust marks on the curtain :o and it promply changed.

 

We had MDT and sat in the same section so had the same waiters. We were greeted by name, always escorted to our table, chair was pulled out for me and pushed back in, and napkins placed on our laps. It was my birthday and even with MTD, they found me to bring a cake and actually, they sang twice, using my name not something munbled like Happy Birthday umm-maraaa-umm-unintelligeable.:D The head waiter was always around making sure everything was right. He even told the bar server that I shouldn't have to ask for him he should be right there asking if I wanted anything.

 

I thought there were activities for all ages goups and different type of music and dancing for varied age groups as well. The ship is on the small size, as ships go these day, but I never found it crowded or hard to get a seat anywhere. Plenty of seats on the pool deck if you did not have to be first row at the pool, especially one deck up which was a bit quieter and you could see everything going on below.

 

My only complaint, and complaint may be too harsh, but I thought the singers in the productionshows were weak and being a dancer, I did not care for the choreography in the first show. They did up the dancing in the next show.:)

 

I lied, I do have another complaint and I think this one was legitimate. After surgery, I was stuck using a cane and always try to take care of myself. However, with the 20-30ft waves we had, it was quite challenging, crew included. I entered the Windjammer and causiously made my way to one of the station holding on to whatever I could. Finally got to where I wanted and we hit a monster wave at which point I knew I would never be able to carry anything. Any number of crew passed me on the way in and the way out with no offer of help. I guess it was my fault for not asking but on our Oct. cruise, as soon as a crew saw my cane they were right there to help and we weren't even in rough seas.

 

Conversly, at breakfast one morning, our assistant waiter was working the beverages. He got my coffe and carried to where my friend was sitting at the windows with the high stools. No stool next to my friend so he carried one over for me and those babies are HEAVY, his eye were almost popping out.:eek:

 

Ricky, the cruise director and Darryl, the activities director were running on high test.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to book the Grandeur again.:)

Here's a nice review of the same cruise.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2006322

[greenline]

Interesting reading my wife and I are booked in a suite on this ship in Sept. I like reading others comments but will reserve judgement till we get back. We were on the Explorer two years ago and thought she was a great ship had a blast there food was great and the shows were good. We were on Carnival Pride last year and read many bad comments about it before we left and was wondering if we made a mistake but as it turned out we had a great cruise and we did not have one complaint. It is still nice to read what others have to say.

ERS

[Doc Rick]

My wife and I live in Delaware, so it's about a 2 hour drive to Baltimore or 4 hours to Bayonne, NJ. We have cruised on Explorer about 7 times, and Grandeur twice in the past year.

 

We booked the Grandeur these two times basically for price, Time of travel, and itineraries. It was just my wife and I, so we didn't mind the intimacy of the smaller ship - and we got excellent prices. With that said, I would recommend the Explorer over the Grandeur - especially for a group. I have a lot of family members that have never cruised before, and I would not take them on the Grandeur for a "first cruise." Basically - it's too small.

 

It's worth an extra 6 hour +/- drive to Bayonne in my opinion.

Edited March 13, 2014 by Doc Rick

[Morecruisesplz]

We have always loved the Grandeur and the refurb has only made it that much better. Cruised her last Thanksgiving -- 4 adults. We have not take our grandchildren back on her since she is back in Baltimore but plan to do so soon. The addition of the specialty restaurants is a big plus and the offers they were making to get cruisers to try all 3 were amazing. We couldn't afford not to eat there!

 

Our service everywhere on the ship was super. Not one complaint. (And, unfortunately, I can not the same about recent cruises on Freedom, Adventure and other larger ships.)

 

I can't imagine how the kids club on the Grandeur is different than the kids club on the Explorer -- unless the one on the Explorer is larger. My guess is the activities are the same cruise line wide.

 

The Grandeur is not the Majesty folks! It's not small.

 

Don't second guess yourself and upset your family. Go and enjoy your cruise.

[negc]

We sailed on Grandeur to Bermuda last year, the sailing before the fire, and had a wonderful experience despite being in an inside room on Deck 3. Thought that the aerial shows were a terrific addition to the entertainment schedule and that the new Diamond lounge and the Concierge Lounge were great. We had the same excellent service that we have come to expect from RCI and have sailed on every class of their ships and found something to like about each. Certainly she doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the larger and largest ships in the fleet, but she still offers plenty of ways to fill your day and night. The covered solarium is a plus in my mind and the showrooms are beautiful.