Grandeur - 8 day Thanksgiving Review

[RSLeesburg]

Hi everyone. We just returned from the 8 night Bahamas cruise over Thanksgiving on the Grandeur of the Seas. This was our second cruise and our second time on Grandeur. We loved our first cruise on her last September to Bermuda, and we had a great time on her this trip too.

THE SHIP & PORT:

As has been noted many times, Baltimore is one of the easiest ports to reach and boarding is super simple. We left our house in Leesburg, VA around 9:00am, arrived at the port around 10:40am, and were eating at WJ by 11:40am. We purchased the dining package (3 restaurants) and beverage package (Royal Refreshment). We stopped by to pick up our son’s wrist band. The ship itself was just as beautiful as we remembered. She is elegant and classy. After lunch at WJ, we headed up to VCL and CL to wait for our rooms.

TIP NUMBER 1: The VCL and CL are great places to hang out and wait for your room to be ready. There was no bar service in VCL, but it was quiet and plenty of room to sit down and relax (it was 35 degrees out, so too cold to hang out on the pool deck).

THE CABIN:

We booked another Grand Suite (8014) this year, and it was amazing. We had three chairs, a small table, and two loungers on the balcony. I saw someone else post pictures of their GS in another review, which is good because I once again forgot to take any pictures before we unpacked our bags. Last year we were in 8514 (starboard side), and heard some noise from chairs being moved on the pool deck, so we thought we would try the post side this year. It was even noisier; however, I think the noise was from kids running up and down the stairs, not on the pool deck itself. QUESTION: Did anyone staying on the starboard side also hear the pounding of feet going up and down the stairs? I would be curious to know if this was just us that heard this, or if both sides heard it. We did have one tiny maintenance issue – sometimes the tub faucet would drip. Other than that, the room and our steward, Ikadek, was fantastic. I remember someone asked about the beds in the GS cabins on Grandeur. On both of our cruises, we found the beds to be very comfortable, but this could be a personal preference, so take that with a grain of salt.

TIP NUMBER 2: I know there is lots of advice on CC about how to configure your phone for on the ship. I turned off voice and data roaming, and watched the service like a hawk. We had Verizon LTE service almost the entire journey down the Chesapeake Bay, so if you want to call, email, or text, you have about 8 hours or so at the start of your journey. I used this time to check CC a few times – I know, I know, I need help :D

THE FOOD:

I will start off by saying that we are not MDR people. We had a bad experience last year both with our head waitress, who was just flat out rude when we declined to buy the wine package, and our son, who was overwhelmed by the MDR. We had to leave early on the first night, and he refused to even enter the MDR on the second night. So, we ate almost exclusively at the WJ for the rest of the cruise. Our son loved sitting outside the WJ and watching the waves as he ate. And to be honest, we loved it too. The food was fine (to us), and the views were breathtaking.

On our last cruise, we ate one evening at Izumi to celebrate our anniversary, and had such a great meal, we decided to try all three specialty restaurants this trip. On the first night, we ate at Giovanni’s (my favorite meal on both cruises so far). Our son ate off the new kids menu; however, we had to ask for it – I think they would have easily let him order off the main menu. We ordered him a Focaccia bread pizza as appetizer, spaghetti with meat sauce for main course, and chocolate cake for dessert. We had the scallops as appetizer; our son actually tried and ate one and loved it. I had the veal osso buco and pappardelle pasta and my wife had the stuffed shrimp and crab raviolis, and for dessert I had the Tiramisu and she had the cannoli. The food was amazing, and even better, our son was excellent through the entire 1.5 hour meal. I would also like to say the staff was fantastic. We ate at Giovanni’s twice for suite breakfast, and they were always warm and friendly. We ate at Izumi on Day 4 (just my wife and I), and had another amazing meal. My wife had the vegetable tempura and spicy tuna and eel roll, I had the chicken kara-age and hot rock (tenderloin). The food and service was fantastic. We ate at Chops on Day 6. I had the pepper bacon appetizer, short rib for main course, and mud pie for dessert. My wife had the scallops for appetizer, prime rib for main course, and red velvet cake for dessert. Everything was amazing, although I would order the red velvet cake over the mud pie next time. One thing we noticed was that Giovanni’s and Izumi were almost empty the nights we ate there; there were maybe 10 people at each restaurant. This was incredible on a ship with over 2,000 passengers.

TIP NUMBER 3 – if you are seeking a nice romantic and quiet/intimate dinner, check out any of these restaurants.

[RSLeesburg]

THE ENTERTAINMENT & ACTIVITIES:

We cannot really comment on these, as we did not manage to catch any of the shows this cruise. We had 7:30pm reservations for the specialty restaurants, so that usually eliminated both the early and late shows, which could also explain why these restaurants were so empty. My wife did take the sushi making class at Izumi one morning, and she had a blast.

In terms of Adventure Ocean, we knew there would be more children on board this cruise as it was over the holidays, and I was a tad bit worried with how the Grandeur would handle this. The answer is much better than I expected. There were about 540 children on board, most falling into the 10-17 range – lots of teenagers. One interesting tidbit, as we were registering our son at AO, I overheard the councilor informing one mother that the club did have capacity limits – 40 in aquanauts room, and 40 in the explorers/voyagers room, and that when these limits were reached, they would turn children away. This was first time I have ever heard about this, and the next morning, there was a huge line to get into club. I never heard of any children being turned away during the cruise, so maybe they never reached their capacity limits – but it is certainly something to be aware of. Our son loved the club, and kept asking to go back. He met several new friends on board, and we ran into them and their parents routinely on and off the ship.

In terms of activities, I did notice a lot more activities geared towards families and the teenagers than on our last cruise. For example, the outdoor pool was heated when we boarded and the first sea day. Also, they had a movie in the Palladium almost every afternoon, and most evenings on the pool deck. They closed the VCL one evening for a teen dance party, and numerous 18+ informal meet and greets. They had family scavenger hunt, bean bag toss, shuffleboard, bingo, trivia, and Wii bowling contests. I know, many of these may be a little lame for a teenager, but I felt that the activities staff really tried to provide the most that they could with the limitations of an older, smaller ship.

THE ITINERARY:

We had four scheduled port stops – Port Canaveral, Nassau, Coco Cay, and Key West. At PC, we did the shuttle over to Coco Beach. The weather was windy and overcast, but that did not stop our son and his friends from enjoying the beach. We also ate at the Sandbar Sports Grill.

TIP NUMBER 4: For anyone else sailing on this itinerary, and worried about missing your football games, the Sandbar has the NFL package, and was showing all the games on various TV screens. We were in port from 10:30am to 9:00pm, so you could definitely get your football fix at this cool bar, and the food is OUTSTANDING!

The best part of the PC stop was watching the parade of ships departing around 4:00-5:00pm. There were four – Carnival Liberty, Freedom of the Seas, Carnival Sensation, and Disney Magic. We got the biggest cheer from Freedom, although the shouts of “our ship is bigger than yours” did hurt a bit. But that’s OK, we started our cruise two days before them, and next year, we will be on Freedom J

We arrived around 1:30pm, and were in port with Allure, Carnival Conquest, Carnival Fascination, and Fred Olsen Balmoral. We watched Allure leave around 2:00pm or so – what an amazing ship. We headed back to the room to change, but our son fell fast asleep and by time he woke up, the sun was starting to set, so we just stayed on. We really had no plans for Nassau, other than maybe exploring Straw Market or walking to Junkaroo.

The following morning we anchored off Coco Cay. There was a Norwegian ship (XXX) off our port side, and we were joined by Enchantment off our starboard side. Coco Cay is beautiful, but I really question the decision to put close to 5,000 people on that island on the same day. We tendered over around 9:30am, and found a place on the beach, but there were huge lines for almost everything. Our son was hugely disappointed that he was not tall enough for the water slide. We knew it would be very close, but he just fell short. What made matters worse is that the staff gave out bracelets to lots of shorter kids who were enjoying the slide. I understand that our son was not tall enough, but just wish that the staff consistently enforced this rule – it is very difficult to tell a 5 y/o that he is not tall enough to go down the slide, when there are lots of kids much smaller than him who were allowed on.

We missed Key West due to high winds, so that was very disappointing.

COMING HOME & LEAVING:

This was a piece of cake. We went up to the CL, and Jorge walked us off around 8:30am. We pulled into our driveway around 10:15am. My wife and son did not want to leave, so pulling them off the ship was the hardest part.

IN SUMMARY:

We had another great cruise, met some wonderful people – Happy Holidays to Rick and Tammy, Mike and Laurie, Nina and Earl, Russ and Diana, Melissa and Rowen, Keith, Ann, Katherine, and Lauren, and the others we missed. This year we booked our next cruise while on-board, so we will be seeing everyone again on Freedom of the Seas next Thanksgiving.

Let me know if you have any questions. I have all the Cruise Compasses and AO Daily Planners, which I will try to scan and post in the coming days.

[masonpips]

Great review! Just off Oasis yesterday so I love reading other people's Thanksgiving cruise reviews!

[stellarose]

Excited to be on grandeur in a few weeks. Kids 10 and 12. Hope they like AO. Wonderful tips.

[drarill]

Great review!! Thanks for sharing your cruise with us!:)

[RSLeesburg]

Excited to be on grandeur in a few weeks. Kids 10 and 12. Hope they like AO. Wonderful tips.

 

 

Are you on 8 day or 10 day itinerary? Is it over Christmas or before? The sea days will be hardest, as it is very cold the first day or two, although with heated pool, the kids can use the outdoor pool by mid Day 2 or so. They combine the 6-8 and 9-11 groups on Grandeur, but I think 12 falls into the teen group. I grabbed one of those activity sheets, so will post that if I can find it :). If you are not sailing over Christmas, there will be less kids, so I would imagine they will let the 12 age down into AO. If it is during Christmas, they may not as there will be lots of kids on board.

 

I think they will have a great time. But, if you have spoiled them with One of the bigger ships, they may be disappointed. Luckily, our son has never been on the larger ships, so he doesn't know what he might be missing...lol

 

It is a great ship and great crew.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[kftw]

Thanks for your review.

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Great review! Thank you!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[sportsphotos]

We were looking forward to your ships stop in key west since we have never been on this class before. We are booked in March out of Baltimore and wanted to see what she looked like. We stayed in KW for the week and yes those couple days it was windy for sure. It was real busy in town every day in KW due too the ships in port every day but Wednesday due to the 40 MPH wind.

[RSLeesburg]

We were looking forward to your ships stop in key west since we have never been on this class before. We are booked in March out of Baltimore and wanted to see what she looked like. We stayed in KW for the week and yes those couple days it was windy for sure. It was real busy in town every day in KW due too the ships in port every day but Wednesday due to the 40 MPH wind.

 

 

Double bummer. I hope you enjoy Grandeur and have a great cruise in March. People seem to polarize one way or the other about Vision class ships - they either love them or hate them. It is unfair and unrealistic to expect the amenities of an Oasis or Freedom class ships. These are beautiful ships - lots of glass, views of the ocean from almost anywhere on the ship.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[Jyllie63]

Nice review :) . I guess we sort of met...I was the one with the grandbaby that your wife thought was adorable (the 2lb at birth one :) )

[RSLeesburg]

Nice review :) . I guess we sort of met...I was the one with the grandbaby that your wife thought was adorable (the 2lb at birth one :) )

 

 

Yes. I thought that was you, but didn't want to guess and be wrong :). I saw your grandson as we were walking through customs and told my wife - look at him, his first cruise before he even turned 1. I was...um... quite a bit older last year when I took my first cruise. Well stay warm out there in Ohio, and maybe we will see you again sometime on another cruise - plenty of room on Freedom next year...lol

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[Jyllie63]

Yes. I thought that was you, but didn't want to guess and be wrong :). I saw your grandson as we were walking through customs and told my wife - look at him, his first cruise before he even turned 1. I was...um... quite a bit older last year when I took my first cruise. Well stay warm out there in Ohio, and maybe we will see you again sometime on another cruise - plenty of room on Freedom next year...lol

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

A tempting as it is, I'm pretty sure my boss would fire me if I take another vacation during black Friday :) . We really do want to do Freedom next..just not sure when.

[kleo30]

Great review. We were on the cruise before yours. It was the best cruise we've ever done. We booked the Grandeur for next November. We considered the Thanksgiving cruise, and then decided on the one after it. How many children were on your trip?

[RSLeesburg]

Great review. We were on the cruise before yours. It was the best cruise we've ever done. We booked the Grandeur for next November. We considered the Thanksgiving cruise, and then decided on the one after it. How many children were on your trip?

 

 

Hi there. The count I heard was about 540 children. If I had to guess, I would say 20-25 percent were 8 and under, and the rest were 9 and older.

 

Next year, they are doing same 8 day itinerary, so I would lean towards week before or week after too, as I think they are both 10 day itineraries, and IMO, Grandeur is fantastic ship for sea days (for an adult). Last year, they had 10 day for Thanksgiving, and I heard that there were only 150 kids.

 

Enjoy your cruise (the waiting is the worst part...lol)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[kleo30]

Thanks for the quick answer.

 

The waiting is the hard part. We need to make sure my husband can get vacation that week. He works in PA, and it is gun season, and hunting is a big deal. The week before is my son's wedding, or we'd be on that one. We're hoping to cruise and unwind from the wedding craziness, which is why we decided to not go on the Thanksgiving one because the amount of kids would be higher. I love kids, but not so much the lack of parenting some kids have.

 

My husband was stationed in Key West when in the Navy. He really wanted to do a trip with that itinerary, but so far we've not made that work.

Hi there. The count I heard was about 540 children. If I had to guess, I would say 20-25 percent were 8 and under, and the rest were 9 and older.

 

Next year, they are doing same 8 day itinerary, so I would lean towards week before or week after too, as I think they are both 10 day itineraries, and IMO, Grandeur is fantastic ship for sea days (for an adult). Last year, they had 10 day for Thanksgiving, and I heard that there were only 150 kids.

 

Enjoy your cruise (the waiting is the worst part...lol)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[RSLeesburg]

Thanks for the quick answer.

 

 

 

The waiting is the hard part. We need to make sure my husband can get vacation that week. He works in PA, and it is gun season, and hunting is a big deal. The week before is my son's wedding, or we'd be on that one. We're hoping to cruise and unwind from the wedding craziness, which is why we decided to not go on the Thanksgiving one because the amount of kids would be higher. I love kids, but not so much the lack of parenting some kids have.

 

 

 

My husband was stationed in Key West when in the Navy. He really wanted to do a trip with that itinerary, but so far we've not made that work.

 

 

Hmmm... Well, I cannot say that every child/teenager was a complete angel on the cruise; however, I also cannot say that having all the kids on board made the cruise less enjoyable than our previous cruise on Grandeur (when there were only 40 kids on board). You did see kids running in the hallways and up/down stairs, and occasionally hanging out in stairways, but for the most part, they were not a problem that I saw. Missing Key West and having three sea days was a bit rough on the kids, as one day was almost too windy to go outside, one day we hit some rough water, and the last day it started to get very cold.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[LBumb]

great job

[mustangjoe]

:)

Great review. We were on the cruise before yours. It was the best cruise we've ever done. We booked the Grandeur for next November. We considered the Thanksgiving cruise, and then decided on the one after it. How many children were on your trip?

 

We will be on that cruise next November. We booked it in June and the wait is killing me.:)

[shoshona2]

Hi RSLeesburg,

 

We are taking the Grandeur in July of 2015 to Bermuda. I've been reading about plumbing problems and sewerage smell on the ship in November. Did you experience any of this??? I know the Grandeur is an old ship for RCCL, but love the size and the destination. We had major toilet problems on the Voyager and Navigator years ago when one side of the ship didn't have toilet service. They kept saying a child threw a wash cloth down the toilet.

 

Sheila

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your report.

[maureencruiser]

Glad you had another great trip on Lady G! :D

[RSLeesburg]

Hi RSLeesburg,

 

 

 

We are taking the Grandeur in July of 2015 to Bermuda. I've been reading about plumbing problems and sewerage smell on the ship in November. Did you experience any of this??? I know the Grandeur is an old ship for RCCL, but love the size and the destination. We had major toilet problems on the Voyager and Navigator years ago when one side of the ship didn't have toilet service. They kept saying a child threw a wash cloth down the toilet.

 

 

 

Sheila

 

 

Hi Sheila,

 

The infamous sewer smells. One day my wife and I were sitting in the centrum, and she got a whiff. All I could smell was a little smoke from the casino. So, I would say that it still makes an appearance from time to time. On this past trip, we did not have any toilet issues, but on our first trip, we did have some delayed flushing. Our son thought it was so funny - guessing when the flush would come after you pushed the button. One crew member told us about one couple who would routinely book the cheapest rooms on the three day cruises and purposely flush something down the toilet, so that they could complain and get OBC. RCI tracked these complaints, and finally put them on the "no sail list" - but whenever, I heard that someone flushed something down the toilet, I wonder if it was done on purpose or not.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[Philly Steve]

Thanks for the review and it's always nice to hear from another Grandeur fan. :)

[shoshona2]

thanks, RSLeesburg, for the reply. I will keep checking the boards since I'm not sailing until July 31st.

 

Sheila