Grandeur review 8/22/14 sailing

[wild0826]

This review is for Grandeur of the Seas sailing 8/22/14-8/29/14 with ports of call in Port Canaveral, Nassau, and Coco Cay.

I will try to cover the everything that I experienced. If there is anything I do not cover feel free to ask questions. I will try to answer if I can. If I can't answer I welcome anyone that happened to be on the sailing to jump in and answer if they can.

 

Embarkation

Myself, husband, and 17 year old son sailed together. We drove to the port which was about 4 hours away. Upon arrival we dropped off our bags with the porter then proceeded to pay and finally park. If anyone is interested the parking was $15 per day for a total of $105 for the 7 day trip. We grabbed our carry on bags and proceeded to the security line. After we were told to empty pockets of cell phone etc, I realized I didn't have my phone. My son and I proceeded through security while my husband went back to the car. Luckily I dropped it in the car and not anywhere else. We were given health forms to fill out. After doing that we proceeded to the priority check in line and were checked in very quickly. We didn't have passports but used birth certificates and state IDs and that was fine since it was a closed loop cruise. We were on the ship by 11:15. There were many tables promoting drink pkgs., wine pkgs., and specialty restaurants. We each got a soda pkgs. DH and I aren't huge alcohol drinkers so we decided that if we buy any drinks we will do that individually, so the alcohol drink pkgs. wouldn't be beneficial. We did bring on the allowed 2 bottles of wine onboard. We consumed them in our room, so did not have to pay $25 corkage fee. We requested a bucket with ice when we wanted to drink it and that was no problem. After boarding we proceeded to the Windjammer and had lunch. By the time we finished eating it began to really get crowded. We sat on the pool deck till 1pm when our room was ready.

 

Room

We had a third floor inside room. The room was made for 4 because it had 2 pullman beds. Really and truly it hardly fits 2 comfortably, but I am not complaining because I knew that when I booked. It was just the most affordable option at the time so it is what it is. Our room was directly across from an employee only area. We weren't in the room much during the day but late evening when we were in our room it was noisy. The crew was constantly coming in and out of that room. We would hear dishes banging and carts rolling etc. my husband didn't notice but I am a light sleeper. At times there was also noise coming from a deck below us. Would hear banging and what sounded like power tools from time to time. I am a glass half full person so didn't let it affect my vacation. Good point of the crew area being directly across from us is that at any point we needed anything and we couldn't find our stateroom attendant there was always someone coming out tat we could ask. See half full lol. I am not going into detail again but on day 2 late night my husband discovered a bedbug in the bed. All in all we reported it. They did check the room and found a small infestation according to them. They treated our room, luggage so not to bring them back home with us, and cleaned all our clothes. We also received a letter stating we would receive a next cruise certificate worth 35% of what we paid for this past cruise. If you want anymore detail you can read my previous thread about the situation. The bed was ok for me but my husband had to request extra padding due to his back problems. He has scoliosis. The room attendant kept our room clean and was great. Well thats what I have so far. I will continue with review of the food and more on my next post. Any questions so far?

[dancinman66]

Great outcome and love the positive spin on the review

Things happen and was dealt with

Thanks for your review

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[wild0826]

I will continue with my review where I left off.

Food

Now this is an area that is very subjective. Everyone has different tastes but I will give you my take on my experience. The food overall was great. I say this because mostly any food I do not have to cook is great lol. Seriously though it was satisfactory. We ate in the windjammer for breakfast 3 times. Other days we skipped breakfast. The breakfast was fine. It is really hard to mess up breakfast. Had lunch in the dining room once. Had the tutti salad and the palm sugar chicken. Really wish I knew the salad was a full meal before I ordered the chicken. Shared the salad with my husband, but was still too much for me to finish all. Had lunch in the Windjammer a couple times. It was ok. Now I wouldn't say it was fabulous but I was always able to find something to eat. Had Bbq lunch on the pool deck once. I will get into more detail when I talk about ports, but we skipped Coco Cay. The Bbq lunch on the pool deck is the lunch we should have had on the island. That lunch was great. They had jerk chicken, bbq ribs, rice and beans, and so much more. it was really good. Took the sushi making class and ate the sushi we made at Izumi. Guess you can say it was sushi breakfast because the class was 9:30 in the morning day 6. Now I will say if you are interested the class was announced at the cooking demo. Other than that it is not advertised, so I would advise you to go to the cooking demo. You get to sample some dishes from the specialty restaurants so thats a plus. The class was $25 per person. DH, DS, and I all took the class. It was fun. Besides the sushi we made they also gave us edamame, miso soup, and mimosas, OJ for those underage. We made 2 rolls and 2 sashimi. my husband was the only one able to finish eating all he made. It was very filling. They did provide take away containers if needed. We didn't try any other specialty restaurants so I cannot speak about that. We ate in the dining room every night but one. We had My Time dining. The food was good. I have no complaints. I enjoyed everything that I ordered. On day 3 we missed the dining room because we got back from our day in Universal Studios by 8pm and then we were told to go to guest services after arriving back on the ship to deal with the bedbug issue we reported. By the time we finished the dining room was closed so we just ordered room service. My son wasn't hungry since he bought and ate that giant Turkey leg in Universal, so we only ordered for DH and I. We both got burgers. I do have to say the fries were waaay overdone and the burger was bland. If it wasn't for the ketchup, lettuce, and tomatoes, it would taste like you were eating cardboard. I was hungry and it was still edible and I didn't starve. Told you glass half full kind of person. Did go to Park Cafe once. I have never been on Allure or Oasis so I cannot compare it to their Park Cafe. I had the famous roast beef sandwich and my husband had a jerk pork wrap. DH didn't like the wrap too much because it was cold and it had rice and beans in it. He wasn't a fan of the taste or texture of cold rice and felt it should have been a warm wrap, not cold. The roast beef sandwich was great. I wasn't too hungry and just wanted to try the roast beef since I have read so much good things about it on this message board. So I had a couple bites and gave DH the rest of it. He loved it.

 

Ports

This cruise was to call on 3 ports; Port Canaveral, Nassau, and Coco Cay. Our first stop was Port Canaveral day 3. We wanted to see the new Harry Potter exhibits in Universal Studios so we purchased our round trip bus tickets through cruise planner. They were $35 per person. There were several buses going to Universal. I do know if anyone is interested that there were buses going to Disney also for the same price. We departed 11am and arrived in Universal a little after noon. We were told to be back at the bus by 7 pm. We had to purchase our own tickets into Universal. You can choose to go to either Universal Studios or Universal Island of Adventure. We chose Universal Studios. The cost eas $306 and change for the 3 of us after tax. The longest line we waited on was the escape from Gringots ride in the Harry Potter section. It was estimated at a 90 min wait, but it took more like only an hour. Every other ride except the roller coaster was no more than a 20 min wait. We got to go on every ride that we wanted to. Only rides we skipped were the kiddie rides; our son is 17 so thats self explanatory. We also skipped the roller coaster called Rock It. It was a no from the start for my husband and I since we aren't roller coaster people but our son DID want to go on it but the wait was estimated at an hour and we got to the ride around 5:45. Didn't want to take a chance being late for the bus. We enjoyed everything else and got back to the bus by 6:45 and pulled off promptly at 7pm.

Our second stop was Nassau on day 4. We arrived at 1:30 pm. Initially we didn't plan to get off since we have been there before, but we changed our minds and decided to walk around a bit. We went to the straw market thats not too far of a walk from the pier. We just picked up a few tee shirts for a couple of my former students back home. We browsed shops and then returned to the ship and spent the rest if the day in the pool. Qe pulled off from Nassau @ 11:30 that night.

Our third and final stop was Coco Cay. When we arrived day 5 the captain announced that the wind speed was high and the waves were high and strong. He told us that Enchantment was there also but decided to leave and head to their next port which was Nassau for them. He said we would stick around till 10:30 am and see if the sea calms. Well by 10:30 it didn't and the island remained closed so we had to skip Coco Cay and just make it a day at sea and headed back to Baltimore. I was disappointed since I was looking forward to snorkeling, but we understood that the waters weren't safe for tender. It became another pool day on deck with the BBQ lunch that would have been on the island. The CD staff did a great job reworking activities. We did notice the turbulence of the water. Day 5 and 6 were ruff. The shipped rocked constantly. I have never been on a cruise where I felt the movement so much. Many voiced in halls and elevators that they stumbled while walking on more than one occasion from the turbulence. My husband felt nauseous on more than one occasion but he refused to take anything for it . It was really rocky. The decision not to tender was a great one.

I will try and finish up the review later and post the rest. Any questions so far, feel free to ask.

[wild0826]

Here is the final part of my review. Feel free to ask any questions.

Ship

Grandeur is an old ship but it still has class and elegance. At times you did notice the age of the ship, but it was kept clean. The staff was amazing . We loved the CD staff. Great applause for everyone especially Ricky the CD , Andre the Activities manager, Dez and Erica the bingo duo and Katie the Zumba queen. They all were upbeat and very friendly. There is no promenade but I didn't miss it. The centrum was good enough. The aerial shows performed there were amazing. Many events were conducted here including the cake demo, aerial shows, battle of the sexes, art auctions, and more. Quest was hilarious as usual. We only attended 2 shows in the theater. They were both good.

My son stayed with us most of the time. Usually we hardly see him but he didn't find much to do. There were some activities in the team room but not much appealed to him. I guess he is at that awkward age of 17, feels too old for some teen activities but feel too young or not old enough for some adult activities. The arcade was small, but it is a small ship so wouldn't expect it to be too big. We played bingo several times. DH won the first day we played but had to split $84 with 3 others. Better than nothing I say. Didn't have any luck any other time but it was still fun. Played the slots one night. Had fun even though we didn't walk away with any winnings.

Pool deck was crowded on sea days as we expected. We did notice security making sure children didn't dive into pools or climb or stand in the jacuzzi area. I did notice staff removing towels from deck chairs.

We went to the fitness center once. It wasn't too crowded and there were machines available to us to work out on. If I missed anything else about the ship feel free to ask.

 

Debarkation

We put out our luggage the night before. We went to Windjammer for breakfast by 7:00. Our luggage tags were called around 8:20. Getting off was pretty easy. We got through the customs line quickly and retrieved our luggage and went back to our car. We got back home by 1:30 pm. Already missing the ship and starting to plan next years cruise. I want to aim for Oasis. Hope I gave enough info. I tried to cover all areas. If there are any questions you want to ask then I will try to answer if I can. I do have the compasses but they are in a bag that I still haven't unpacked as yet. If anyone is interested I will try to take pics of them and post them also when I get to them.

[luv2cruiserccl]

I was also on your sailing had fun and Baltimore check in luggage was great!! Very easy and grandeur a great ship even thou we missed coco cay

 

sent from my galaxy s4 please excuse any error's thanks

[wild0826]

I was also on your sailing had fun and Baltimore check in luggage was great!! Very easy and grandeur a great ship even thou we missed coco cay

 

sent from my galaxy s4 please excuse any error's thanks

 

Yeah check in was very easy. My first time taking a cruise where I do not have to fly. Have to say I loved it. Would be great to sail out of Baltimore or even Jersey next time.

[luv2cruiserccl]

Yeah check in was very easy. My first time taking a cruise where I do not have to fly. Have to say I loved it. Would be great to sail out of Baltimore or even Jersey next time.

 

We have always flew to florida or san juan pr and I agree baltimore was great easy and look foward to doing again sometime

 

sent from my galaxy s4 please excuse any error's thanks

[fishbonz]

Thanks for the review we will be on her next march for the first time. Any little secrets spots to look for,,how was the solarium on ses days,,I know I have another question or two but the brain isn't working quite well with only one cup of coffee now :D.

[wild0826]

Thanks for the review we will be on her next march for the first time. Any little secrets spots to look for,,how was the solarium on ses days,,I know I have another question or two but the brain isn't working quite well with only one cup of coffee now :D.

 

I did notice that deck 10 outside forward was quiet at times. Would see some people there during the early morning and evenings relaxing. We would pass there in our early morning power walks on deck. They also had some stairs that led to an upper platform and would see others doing yoga there I think. Anither spot I remember is port sude deck 5 toward the aft right outside the dining room. Would often see others there in the evenings taking pictures or just standing looking at the view. There was never many people there so thats a good spot.

I only went into the solarium one day and thats when I went to Park Cafe. It was a sea day and it didnt seem very crowded. Most people were outside by the main pool deck. Hope that helped.

[retiredgram]

Thanks for the review we will be on her next march for the first time. Any little secrets spots to look for,,how was the solarium on ses days,,I know I have another question or two but the brain isn't working quite well with only one cup of coffee now :D.

 

I see that wild0826 answered your questions.

May I add that we have sailed on the Grandeur several times and on sea days, the Solarium lounges do fill up early. If you want to get chairs together, get there early.

[retiredgram]

I see that wild0826 answered your questions.

May I add that we have sailed on the Grandeur several times and on sea days, the Solarium lounges do fill up early. If you want to get chairs together, get there early.

Tried to edit but too much time had elapsed.

When I mentioned the Solarium, I am going by what we experienced on 2 different B2B cruises the past 2 years during the winter.

[chuckrock12]

Thanks for the review. My wife and I were also on this cruise. Great time overall. This was our first time sailing out of Baltimore, we usually sail out of Bayonne. This port is definitely better organized than Bayonne. Easy time getting on and off the ship. Was also disappointed about Coco Cay but totally understood due to safety. Only complaint I have is that the cruise ended, lol!

[PTAngel]

We were on the Grandeur in March & I am going again in October for 8 day Bahamas with Key West included. We were on the cruise when the jogging deck cracked. I know I have read that there have been times when the ice cream machine(s) were not working. I have read many negative comments about all ships but I loved my first cruise so much that I am going back for another 3 cruises. Thanks for your review. It makes me just that much more excited to go back. It almost feels like home already. The convenience of this port is phenomenal since it is within driving distance for many people. It appears to be extremely efficient too. Of course, I have nothing to compare it to but I love this port & ship.

Edited September 2, 2014 by PTAngel

[WahooFan]

We leave in 50 days for an all girls cruise, hubbys stay home:D. We are super excited. Thanks so much for posting a review. Our cruise also does Key West. We are doing Disney but when you took their transportation to Universal was there only a one time for your return or was there different timed buses heading back to the ship? Also since this will be our first RCCL cruise, how was the room service menu?

Thanks again for the rview.

[PTAngel]

Wahoofan, we are also 2 women cruising without our husbands on your cruise in October. Hope to see you there at the M & M.

[wild0826]

We were on the Grandeur in March & I am going again in October for 8 day Bahamas with Key West included. We were on the cruise when the jogging deck cracked. I know I have read that there have been times when the ice cream machine(s) were not working. I have read many negative comments about all ships but I loved my first cruise so much that I am going back for another 3 cruises. Thanks for your review. It makes me just that much more excited to go back. It almost feels like home already. The convenience of this port is phenomenal since it is within driving distance for many people. It appears to be extremely efficient too. Of course, I have nothing to compare it to but I love this port & ship.

 

Hope you have fun. It is very convenient . It was great. Something would have to be real bad for a negative review from me. I always try to find a positive. Your vacation is what you make of it. I believe that if you intend to have a great time you will. I look forward to sailing on Grandeur again

[wild0826]

We leave in 50 days for an all girls cruise, hubbys stay home:D. We are super excited. Thanks so much for posting a review. Our cruise also does Key West. We are doing Disney but when you took their transportation to Universal was there only a one time for your return or was there different timed buses heading back to the ship? Also since this will be our first RCCL cruise, how was the room service menu?

Thanks again for the rview.

 

There was only one time to get the buses going back from Universal .If you missed it you were on your own to find a way back to the ship . Think this was the same with Disney. The menu was ok. Nothing from the dining room though. I only had the bigger which was bland so can't speak for anything else.

[jc4me]

Thanks for the review. We are leaving on her Thursday. This is our first RC cruise and out first time cruising out of Baltimore. Looking forward to it!

[luv2cruiserccl]

Thanks for the review. We are leaving on her Thursday. This is our first RC cruise and out first time cruising out of Baltimore. Looking forward to it!

 

I was on the aug 22nd sailing baltimore was the easiest check in and how you drop your luggage off was awesome u will like it.

 

sent from my galaxy s4 please excuse any error's thanks

[B-52]

We sailed n the Enchantment and Baltimore was great....we did stay at a hotel in the inner harbor for a day or two prior.

 

Next year, we have both the Grandeur 7 night and the Liberty 9 night booked at the same time.

Between now and then we have to make up our minds which one and cancel the other...so I enjoy reading reviews such as these...

 

I'm not all that thrilled with the Port Canaveral itinerary though....

[cruise2snorkel]

Thanks for the review we will be on her next march for the first time. Any little secrets spots to look for,,how was the solarium on ses days,,I know I have another question or two but the brain isn't working quite well with only one cup of coffee now :D.

 

 

Was also on this sailing 8/22, what a great time! The pool in the Solarium never seemed real busy to me when I would walk through to go to Park Cafe. It was extremely hot and humid in the solarium due to being enclosed by the roof. Though I've heard it is retractable it was never opened. When I was in the main pool with my DD I heard several adults complain they would rather use the Solarium but it was too hot for them to sit in there and were unable to enjoy the sun due to the roof.

Edited September 3, 2014 by cruise2snorkel

[William W]

I was also on the Aug 22nd sailing of the Grandeur. I found the ship to be fairly crowded.

 

You can really feel it at the Windjammer, on Embarkation day as well as the day when they cancelled Coco Cay.

 

There were times where there were no clean plates available at the stations, let alone empty tables. Also, it does not look like the kitchen staff was able to keep up with demand as there were often empty food trays at the steam table.

 

To me, it seems management did not properly staffed Windjammer as they know the numbers of people that are on board that particular week..

Edited September 3, 2014 by William W

[MochaJava8125]

We didn't have passports but used birth certificates and state IDs and that was fine since it was a closed loop cruise.

 

Can you please define "closed loop cruise" for me- a newbie?

[Clarea]

Can you please define "closed loop cruise" for me- a newbie?

Leaves and returns to the same US port.

[katdew]

Thanks for the review. Going in July with 25 family members:first time out of Baltimore. Would really like to see the compasses;if you have time to post them.