Grandeur of the Seas Review with Pictures- May 12, 2016

[amrgirl95]

 

After that, I went back to the room to get ready for diner. Sunset was at 7:32, so while we were waiting for our food, I was watching the sunset through the dining room’s windows. I got up and ran out to the open deck to take a few pictures of the sunset. That ended up being the only sunset I ever really saw, due to the weather.

 

 

Dinner that night was the Coconut menu. My family and I had done two nine-night Royal Caribbean cruises on the Explorer of the Seas before, so I was pretty familiar with the menu, and I knew what I wanted to eat each night, because that’s the type of stuff I like to plan out. We had three different menus that I had never had before on our trip, so it was nice to switch it up. This night was one of the different menus. I had the paupiette of roast beef and chilled tropical mango soup for my appetizers. I asked the waiter what the roast beef was like, and he said it was just roast beef with cream cheese. It was just that, and it was really good. Too much cream cheese tends to bother my stomach, so I only ate one and gave the other one to my mom, and she enjoyed it. The soup was good, and I could taste the coconut in it. I had the vegetable pad Thai for my entrée, which was really large. There’s a really good Thai restaurant near us that my mom and I frequent, and I had their pad Thai once, and the one I ordered on the ship was nowhere near as flavorful or spicy as the place we normally go to, even with all of the peanut sauce poured on it. I did give a bite to our family friend, who found it spicy, but I think she’s a lot more sensitive to that, whereas I tend to eat spicy food and not notice it. I did realize that our family friend did not like a lot of what was served in the MDR for dinner, and, since I figured she wanted something simpler, I told her to ask for a kid’s menu. She ended up ordering off that a bit. I have a picture of it if anybody would like to see it. For dessert, I had the lemon sorbet. It was a lot better than the pineapple sorbet.

 

This is the paupiette of roast beef.

 

 

After dinner, my mom and our family friend went to the show and then to karaoke. I believe our family friend sung a song at karaoke. They ended up grabbing a snack before coming back to the room, so I had just gotten in bed when they got back. While they were out, I went up to the Solarium to read and drink some tea. Since it was after 9:00, the Windjammer was closed, and Park Café was the only place open for food I think. I did notice some children coming in to get food. Most of them came in the Solarium only to get food, and then they left. I saw two girls sitting at a table in the Solarium by themselves, but they were so quiet that I had no idea that they were there until I turned around. I also noticed a family with a young boy, and they were all getting ready to eat in the Solarium. Since the Solarium is supposed to be “adults only,” maybe it would be best to have Park Café located closer to the Solarium’s entrance, so that children can quickly come in and leave with their food. The kids I saw throughout the course of the trip were all really well behaved and nice. On this particular night, I was listening to music in the Solarium via earphones on my phone, which fell of the table onto the ground. A girl who was about 13 years old saw me drop it, and quickly covered the like ten feet between us to help me pick it up, and that was really nice of her. Anyway, after relaxing in the Solarium, I went back to our room and got ready for bed. I don’t know if it’s obvious or not, but we didn’t spend much time in the room. We were really only in there to sleep and to get ready in the mornings, before dinner, and to go to bed. We went back a couple of times during the day if we had to go on an island. I went back and played with my laptop, with the TV on in the background, twice I think. Our family friend may have spent more time before dinner in the room than us, but I think she was just sitting and reading in the room versus on a deck.

 

 

This ship was outside the Windjammer.

 

 

I'll have day six up in a few minutes.

[amrgirl95]

Day Six

 

For our sixth day of the trip, we were docked in Nassau, Bahamas. My family and I had probably been here on a cruise we had taken previously, but we didn’t remember much. I had heard it was not the best port, so we planned to be back on the ship long before it got dark out. Our plan was to wake up at 9:00, get breakfast in the Windjammer at 10:00, go to arts and crafts at 11:00, get lunch at 12:00 in the Windjammer, get off the ship at 2:00, go to dinner in the MDR at 5:15, and watch the sunset at 7:48. The show that night was a magic and comedy show at 7:00 and 8:45. My mom and I weren’t interested in that, but our family friend wanted to go to it.

I was ready for breakfast a bit before my mom and our family friend, so I headed to the Windjammer before them. We did this a couple more times during the trip, and I found it to work really well, since I could claim a table and get my mom’s food and then my food before they arrived. I had the flavored pancakes again, and I believe this time they were pineapple. These just had pineapple mixed into the batter, but they were good. I also discovered the biscuits and gravy. I don’t like gravy like that, but the biscuits were really good. During breakfast, one half of the Windjammer began to close down around 10:30, while the other stayed open until closer to 11:00. The biscuits were on the half that closed down, so if you want them, don’t wait on it. We then ran over to arts and crafts, and made a Scarecrow card. I ran back down to the room to shower and probably put sunscreen on, even though it was currently grey and drizzling out, while my mom and our family friend talked to somebody they had just met. We ran a bit late for lunch in the Windjammer, but finished and went back to the room to finish getting ready to get off the ship. I had recently bought an over the shoulder purse, which was a big step up from the string backpacks I normally use. This purse is big enough to fit my camera body, lens, a water bottle, my wallet, an assortment of make-up and lipsticks, and whatever other small things I carry around in it. It has sort of a magnetic clasp, and the sort of lid part has a zipper on it, so you could store small things in that area. I put our passports in that section. Our family friend had a passport card, which she kept in her wallet.

 

Here are some photos of the Windjammer during breakfast.

 

 

 

Our plan for Nassau was to shop in the straw market and get a drink at Señor Frogs. The drinking age in Nassau, like most of the Caribbean countries I have been to since I’ve turned 18, is 18, versus the drinking age of 21 on the ship and in America. My family took a cruise the day I turned 18, so it’s always fun to say I could legally drink in the places we end up going, even though I don’t drink much and don’t like the taste of alcohol. We discovered that our family friend doesn’t like the taste of alcohol either, so she didn’t get a drink in Nassau. My family and I went to Puerto Rico last summer, and I spent most of the trip looking for a drink that had alcohol in it but didn’t taste like alcohol. Anyway, as we were getting off the ship, I noticed that they were testing at least one of the life boats on our ship. I first saw this when they lowered the life boat next to the window in our room. When we got on land, that life boat was still moving around in the water next to the Grandeur. We were located at the closest docking area to the port building, which was great for my mom. Next to us was the Disney Dream, and on the other side of that was the Norwegian Gem. I don’t believe we spoke to anybody on the Disney ship, but we spoke to one group who were on the Norwegian ship. The woman said that their ship had had some sort of mechanical problem, and that they were going to be docked in Nassau for three days I believe, or at least overnight. This woman was not impressed with the service on her cruise, and she did not seem to be liking it at all. Around 7:30 that night, we could hear a band playing on the Gem’s pool deck, and the band seemed to be one that I liked, so at least they had good music.

 

 

 

Once we went through the port area, we were in a sort of secured shopping area, with different stalls. There was also a live band playing music in that area. As soon as we saw this, we realized that there was no reason to go to the straw market. We were not looking for anything in particular, and this was the perfect place to get our souvenirs. None of the vendors in that area really tried to convince you to look at what they were selling, except for the hair braiders. They definitely tried to engage with you and convince you to come to them. There was a small, air conditioned soap shop in that area, and my mom purchased some soaps from there. We asked the woman working there for a bar recommendation, since we had seen Señor Frogs while on the ship, and it seemed to be a bit too far for my mom to walk on crutches. The woman in that shop recommended Sharkeez. By then, it was hot, sunny, and humid- typical cruise weather that we had not seen much of this trip.

 

This statue was located in the shopping area.

 

 

You could still see parts of the ship from shopping area.

 

[amrgirl95]

While walking around Nassau, we saw cops, security guards, and what appeared to be men in military uniforms. We left the secured area to get to the bar, and locals began to come up to us then, trying to sell us whatever they were selling. Actually, before we left the secure area, a few different people came up to us, selling taxi rides and horse carriage rides.

We went down the street to Sharkeez. After a bit, my mom insisted we switch to the sidewalk on the other side of the road, further from the ship, since you could smell the horses and other scents that went along with them, since the sidewalk was right behind where the horses were standing. We walked to Sharkeez, and, in order to get to the bar, you had to go up a flight of stairs. That was out of the question, so we continued down the street to Señor Frogs. Both of the bars were on the same street right in front of the port. If you exit out of the secure market area onto the main street and turn right, you will pass Sharkeez and the street ends at Señor Frogs. When we were almost there, we passed a group of people, which included a man in a wheelchair. My mom asked them if our destination was handicap accessible. They said it was, if you went through the store so you didn’t have to go up the two steps to the bar. They also recommended sitting on the open patio area, so you weren’t inside with the more party-like atmosphere. When we went, there wasn’t much going on. We were there around 4:00 and, even with three ships docked, it was not crowded at all. We sat on the patio area, and that place had a great view of the water next to it. It was also the best place that I could find nearby to take pictures of the Grandeur and the Disney ship, with the whole ship in the shot. We all had our drinks and my mom also ordered chips and salsa. We used their restroom, which was actually very large, clean, and nice. They also had a restroom attendant. It was about a 15 minute walk there, with my mom on crutches. I probably would have made it there in ten minutes or less if I was on my own, but I also walk really fast since I’m tall. Anyway, my mom got really tired walking there, and since our dinner reservations were swiftly approaching, we decided to take a taxi back. Somebody working at Señor Frogs called one for us, which was nice of them, and I think the manager went out by the road to make sure it was our taxi that we saw approaching. The taxi ride back was $15 plus a few dollars tip, but it was worth it for my mom. It was a nice, clean car, and the driving was safe. We got back to the secure market area, and we finished our souvenir shopping. When we were there earlier, there was a long line to go through the port area that checks your ID and cruise card. When we wanted to get back on the ship, around 5:00, the line was only a few people long.

 

This was our view walking down the street.

 

 

These are from the bar's patio.

 

 

 

 

Right before we got back on the ship.

 

 

When we got back to our room to quickly get ready for dinner, the Disney Dream was pulling out next to us, at around 5:30. I believe that our family friend and I went up to the dining room to get seated while my mom finished getting ready. The menu that night was the Sage menu. I had the duo of melon and grapefruit and baby shrimp salad for appetizers. The first had a good sauce, but only two pieces of grapefruit. The rest of it was honeydew and cantaloupe. The shrimp salad was served in the same dish as the shrimp cocktail. It was basically a shrimp cocktail, with the same kind of decorative lettuce. It had five really small shrimps, and a brandied cocktail sauce, according to the menu. That meant it looked creamier than a regular cocktail sauce. It also had a slice of hardboiled egg and a bit of caviar.

 

[amrgirl95]

My entree was the Singapore noodles. Those were good, and were a really large portion. It had a skewer with four shrimp on it. The noodles were good, but they didn’t have as much flavor as I would have expected. Our family friend said they were spicy, but I didn’t notice it. That was probably just me though. For dessert, I had the warm pecan butterscotch tart, without ice cream. It was good and flavorful, but sort of dry. I think it was supposed to be that way though.

 

 

After dinner, our family friend went to the magic comedy show, which she enjoyed. My mom and I went to deck ten to take pictures of the sunset. Since it had been overcast earlier, there was really no sunset, so I was not happy. We talked to a few different people while relaxing on that deck. We talked to the couple that we ate dinner with on the second night of our trip I believe. They had taken a taxi to Atlantis that day. They were not satisfied with their taxi ride back. I believe the driver ended up charging them a different rate than what they were quoted. Also, the driver yelled lewd comments at women out his window while driving them. A day or so later, my mom was talking to a woman who said she was pickpocketed outside the straw market. I end up walking around Baltimore a lot, mainly the Inner Harbor area, with my purse and my camera. I felt a lot safer walking around Baltimore than Nassau, and I kept a hand on both my purse and my camera while in Nassau, even though the straps for both were around my shoulder or neck.

 

 

 

 

 

There were some seagulls on the ship that came to eat the food that had been left on the pool deck.

 

[amrgirl95]

 

 

 

 

After it got dark out, I got cold, so my mom and I went to sit by the Centrum and we ate some of the pastries from Café Latte-tudes. Our family friend met up with us there. When we got back to our room, we had another towel animal, a turtle this time. Pictured with him is our family’s stuffed turtle, Mr. Turtle. I don’t know how we started it, but my mom got the stuffed turtle maybe like five years ago, and we named him Mr. Turtle. Since then, he has been on all of our family vacations and short trips. I think the cabin stewart saw him and modeled the towel animal after him, which was super cute and thoughtful.

 

Here is my snack. The chocolate thing wasn't a brownie, but some really rich chocolate thing. I liked it, but my mom didn't.

 

 

And our towel animal.

 

 

So that’s it for day six. Since I had a lot of down time at work today, I was able to write two days. I may get two days done tomorrow too, depending on how busy it is and how awake I am, since I have to wake up early to open the store. I'll post at least one more day tomorrow hopefully. My goal is to have this review done by June 9th.

[loubetti]

Very nice photos, and a ship that has some connection with the sea, as opposed to the latest floating condominium blocks, with a shopping mall and amusement park attached.

 

Almost reminds me of Song of America, except the VCL is in the wrong place!

 

Looking forward to the rest! :)

 

[JamesEM]

Enjoying your reports and photos.

[relaxatsea]

Great review and photos, thanks so much!

[amrgirl95]

Day Seven

 

During the seventh day of our trip, we were tending into CocoCay, Bahamas, Royal Caribbean’s private island. We planned to get up at 9:00, get breakfast at 10:00, get off the ship at 11:00, possibly go to card making at 3:00, get back on the ship at 4:00 at the latest, and go to dinner at 7:00. The ship was supposed to be docked at 8:00 and the gangway was scheduled to open at 8:15. The last tender back from the island was at 4:30. Sunset that night was at 7:47 and the show, which was called “All Access,” a singing and dancing production show, was at 7:00 and 8:45. The quest was that night at 10:15 in the South Pacific Lounge.

 

We went to breakfast in the Windjammer. I think the flavored pancakes that morning were orange peel pancakes. That may sound weird, since the orange peel was cooked into the batter, but they were actually pretty good. I know they had orange peel pancakes, but I’m not sure which day that was. Since a lot of people had already gone on the island, the Windjammer was emptier than usual at 10:30. While we were eating, we could see a storm quickly approaching the ship and the island. When we finished eating around 11:00, it had started to rain outside. We took the elevators down to deck five to check with guest services and see if they knew if the storm would clear up soon. Before we walked to the Centrum area, we got distracted by the big storm outside the sliding doors to the promenade deck. It was raining heavily, along with some lightning and thunder. On the starboard side of the ship, it was very windy out. People would get blown back by the wind when they tried to step outside. The three of us stood there for a bit, watching the storm and talking to others near us. We all agreed that the storm looked bad and that we probably shouldn’t try to go on the island right now. We felt really bad for the passengers already on the island. Then, around 11:00, the captain made an announcement that tenders to and from the island were stopped until further notice. After a few minutes, we walked over to guest services, where I believe that they said that the storm should be passing by relatively quickly.

 

This was some of my mom's breakfast.

 

 

Here are a couple of storm pictures.

 

 

 

This was in the Solarium. I found in interesting that the ship was christened on Friday the 13th. The second day of our trip was a Friday the 13th, too.

 

 

We decided it would be easier to not go on the island at all with my mom’s foot, so we went up to the Solarium to relax. We had lunch here, getting the beef sandwiches from Park Café. While there, we spoke to other people who had gotten back from the island. They said that the paths on the island weren’t very clear, and they all had some sand on them. I believe that they said that they were on the far side of the island when it started storming, so they got soaked walking back. We also heard that some people got stuck on the tender for about 90 minutes. While we were still sitting in the Solarium, I could see the tenders start up again. More activities and movies were added to the schedule, but some people still continued to go on the island.

 

 

This was my mom's drink of the day. The cup changes colors when you put cool (and possibly hot) liquid in it.

 

[amrgirl95]

I went outside for a bit to take a few pictures of the island before we went to card making class. This one was run by one of the ship’s activities staff members, and it was different than the ones we went to on other days.

 

 

 

 

Some seagulls had come from the island to visit the ship.

 

 

This was located outside of the South Pacific Lounge, I believe.

 

 

After that, I grabbed some tea and went back to our room to upload my pictures through my laptop and sort through them. I then got ready for dinner. That night, we had the Pimiento menu, so it was Italian night. I had the antipasti, the shrimp cocktail, and the garlic tiger shrimp. Both of my appetizers were good, and the rice with the entrée wasn’t completely saturated with the taste of the shrimp. The maitre’d came by to help take the shrimps out of their shells. My mom and our family friend had the caprese salad and the lasagna, both of which they liked. My mom also had the chilled strawberry bisque, which she liked as well. For dessert, my mom had the sticky bread and butter pudding. I think that she liked it. I had the dessert sampler, which contained a chocolate cake, vanilla cheesecake, and some berry cake thing. The chocolate cake and the cheesecake were both really good, and the berry cake was okay. We sat with another couple that night, and the man told the waiter he really liked cheesecake, and the waiter brought him out a plate with two of the small slices of cheesecake on it. I also had raspberry sorbet, and that was nice, too.

 

Here's the dessert sampler.

 

Edited June 4, 2016 by amrgirl95

[amrgirl95]

While my mom and our family friend went to the show, which they enjoyed, I stepped out to the promenade deck to try to take pictures of the lightning. That failed, and I went up to the Solarium and walked around a bit. I noticed that the Solarium was empty until after the show let out, when it got busier. When I got back to the room, my mom and our family friend were already there. For some reason, the room steward hadn’t come by. We weren’t in the room that evening, nor did we have the “do not disturb,” sign in the door. It was actually pretty easy to get the upper berth down, since it was half down already. We still had ice left over from that morning in the room, and we weren’t super messy people, so it wasn’t that big of a deal, except we didn’t have the cruise compass in the room, meaning we couldn’t plan out our day until we woke up and grabbed our own copy the next morning. Our room steward also didn’t come to our room the next night, either.

 

This map is on the wall outside of the casino, sort of near guest services. Some things had been added in with a pencil, such a CocoCay. I thought it was pretty interesting. They may have also marked some storms on there, but I'm not sure.

 

 

 

This was looking down on the Centrum.

 

 

Here's some of the food in the Solarium that night.

 

[amrgirl95]

Day Eight

 

On the eighth day of our trip, we were at sea, and our plan was to wake up at 9:00, go to breakfast in the Windjammer around 10:00, get lunch in the Windjammer around 12:30, go to arts and crafts at 1:30, get ready for formal night, go to the Crown and Anchor reception at 4:45, and go to dinner at 5:15. The show that night was at 7:00 and 8:45, and it was a singer. We ate dinner that night with a couple who had seen him on cruises before, and they said he was great. My mom and family friend liked him. Sunset that night was at 8:05.

 

We went to breakfast in the Windjammer that morning. I hadn’t noticed it until this day, but there was a waiter who went around the tables with a cart of coffee and hot tea. After breakfast, I believe that I went back to the room to shower. In the room, we had an itemized bill of what we had charged to our stateroom. It was a bit confusing, since it kept showing the daily gratuities, which we had pre-paid, but then it looked like some were refunded. I went on the promenade deck to relax for a bit before heading back to the Windjammer to get lunch. There was a relatively long line for make-your-own tacos. Our family friend didn’t like the beef tacos but really liked the chicken tacos.

 

I think this was the set-up of the cake decorating contest going on in the Centrum that morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that we went to arts and crafts and made a Tinman from Wizard of Oz card. Around 2:00, there was a code Alpha called, for a medical emergency. We didn’t hear anything else about this one. Once we were done with that, I went up to deck ten and tried to lay in a deck chair, but it was too cold out for that. It got sunny for about an hour or 90 minutes that day, and it was overcast the rest of the time. It even lightly rained a bit. I ended up in the Solarium before getting dressed. It was our second formal night. My mom and I went to the Crown and Anchor reception that night. Since it was our family friend’s first cruise ever, she wasn’t invited, so we had her meet us at dinner. The reception was supposed to go until 5:30, but we left around 5:10 to get to dinner. It was your typical reception. My mom had a couple of glasses of champagne, but it was hard to track down a non-alcoholic drink. We were sitting off to the side, near the entrance to be able to leave easily, and the cruise director walked in front of us. My mom actually stopped him and asked if there were any non-alcoholic drinks for me, and he sent a waitress over with one, so that was nice. Like I said, we left early for dinner.

 

The menu that night was the Jasmine menu, which is lobster night. I don’t eat seafood, besides shrimp, so I didn’t get the lobster. I had the roasted peach soup and the prime rib. The soup was good and had chunks of peach in it. The prime rib was also good and it had a fair amount of meat on it. My mom also had the roasted peach soup, as well as the snow crab salad. She’s had that salad before on cruises and has liked it. It has a big crab leg I think on it, and I believe she said it took her a while to get all the meat out. We were sitting with another couple at dinner that night, and the man ordered two of the lobster plates. The waiter brought him a third one without asking. During dinner, all of the dining room chefs came out and stood on the large staircase. Some of them were introduced. The couple eating with us said that some of the wait staff came out during the previous night, which we missed. For dessert, I had the lemon sorbet again. Before we left, our waiter mentioned the post-cruise survey that would be sent out.

 

[amrgirl95]

After dinner, my mom and our family friend went to the show, which they really enjoyed. I walked around deck five and deck ten, taking pictures. I went back inside once it started to rain. Around 7:00, the pool deck and the Solarium were pretty empty. There was a very slight sunset that I was able to watch from the windows there.

 

Here are my pictures from the walk around the ship that night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[amrgirl95]

 

 

I met up with my mom and our family friend in the Centrum, and we redeemed our free spin-to-win tokens that are part of our Crown and Anchor rewards. My mom and I don’t get into gambling, so my mom gave her tokens to our family friend, who described them as a waste of time, so she didn’t like gambling, either. I did win a coupon for six cents, which ended up being a raffle ticket. We then went back to our room and got ready for bed. Again, our room steward hadn’t been by to get the room ready for us this evening.

 

Earlier in the trip, I noticed the toilet in our room making odd noises, which almost resembled a sort of suction noise, if I remember correctly. This day, the noises came back. They seemed to start when somebody flushed the toilet, but they continued for a while after. I lifted the lid while the toilet was making noises, and I noticed all the water had drained out of the bowl. I think I was able to flush the toilet while it was making the noises. It only happened a couple of times, and we never found out what it was.

 

I actually ended up with more time than I thought I'd have today, so I'll be posting the rest of my review over the next few minutes.

[amrgirl95]

Day Nine

 

Day nine was the last full day of our trip, and we were at sea. We planned on waking up at 9:00, getting breakfast in the Windjammer at 10:00, lunch there at 12:30, going to the farewell show at 7:00, then dinner at 8:15. Sunset was at 8:07 that night.

 

This morning, the Windjammer had almond pancakes, I believe. The almonds were sliced, but they worked well with the plain pancake batter. After breakfast, we walked around a bit and sat on the promenade deck. It was getting chilly out, and it was overcast pretty much the whole day. Most of the deck chairs on deck ten were tied up. Sometime during the trip, some of the deck chairs from the pool deck were moved into the Solarium, so that more people could sit in the enclosed area. During the day, the water surrounding the ship continued to lose that dark blue color. By dinner, it was back to the typical murky brown color that we saw when sailing out of Baltimore. We could also see some smaller vessels nearby. When we went to get lunch from the Windjammer, I wasn’t that hungry, so I grabbed my mom her food and had some tea while she and our family friend ate. We had sent our family friend into the Windjammer to see if she could find a table. She couldn’t, so we ate at a table right outside the Windjammer, on the port side, which is non-smoking.

 

There was a towel making demonstration going on in the Centrum that I only saw for a few seconds.

 

 

 

Some of breakfast in the Windjammer.

 

 

 

 

[amrgirl95]

After lunch, I then relaxed in the Solarium for a bit, then walked around the ship before heading back to the room to pack. The room steward had put six luggage tags, one of the Wow envelopes, and one customs form in our room. I think the room steward saw my mom trying to get in our room while I was in it, and opened the door for her. While there, he asked if we needed any more luggage tags. We were fine with those, but I did ask for an extra customs form, which we got. My mom and our family friend met me back in the room and we all finished most of our packing. After that, we got ready for dinner and went to the farewell show, which was a typical farewell show. Since we wanted to make sure we had a good seat, hopefully with my mom at the aisle, we got there around 6:15, 45 minutes early. The theatre only had a few people in it then. Around 6:45, another code Alpha was called, but, again, we didn’t hear anything else about it. Right as the show was coming to a close, we left the theatre to beat the rush out. It was about 8:00 then. I wanted to take pictures of the sunset, but it was grey outside again, and there was no sunset. We could see land in the distance at that time. We heard it was Virginia Beach.

 

Here are a couple of pictures from the farewell show.

 

 

 

I took another picture of the Centrum on the way to dinner.

 

 

We went to dinner and had the Pomodoro menu that night. I had the Spanish tapas plate and shrimp cocktail for appetizers, and the tandoori chicken salad for my entrée. Both of the appetizers were good. On a previous cruise, I had the tandoori chicken salad and really liked it. This time, the chicken was flavored and cut differently. It was not as flavorful as I had expected, but it was okay. My mom had the French onion soup and the rigatoni pasta and liked she liked both of them. For dessert, I had the Williams pear chocolate crisp. It wasn’t really crispy at all, and it sort of only tasted like Hershey’s chocolate syrup with some pear in it. I also had the lemon sorbet. My mom had the key lime pie, which she liked. On this night, the wait staff all gathered on the staircase in the dining room and sang a farewell song.

 

This was the tandoori chicken salad.

 

 

The wait staff gathered on the staircase.

 

 

While we were still eating, we passed over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel I believe. I wish I had seen it in time so I could have taken pictures of it, but oh well. I think I looked at my mom’s phone and saw that it no longer said she was “roaming,” meaning we were picking up cell towers on land. This was around 9:00 that night, but we probably could have gotten a signal earlier. For the whole trip, my phone was in airplane mode with Wi-Fi turned on. I kept it in airplane mode until I woke up the next morning. Even though previously the timer for the Wi-Fi showed I had enough time left, for some reason it said my access code was expired or not working when I tried to log in on the last morning of our trip. Anyway, after dinner, we went back to our room and finished packing.

 

Here's a typical picture of all of the luggage sitting out in the hallway.

 

[amrgirl95]

Day Ten

 

This was the view from our window back in Baltimore that morning.

 

 

On the last day of the trip, I set my alarm for 6:45, so we would have enough time to get up and triple check that the room was empty before going to breakfast. My family and I always tend to get breakfast in the MDR on the last day of our cruise, so that we can have one last meal with people serving us. Right when we were seated, our waiter told us that the menu was limited, meaning no eggs benedict and a few other things. The only omelets offered were cheese, ham, and ham and cheese. I had a ham omelet, some fruit, and some pastries. Our waiter seemed to be in a bit of a rush, but our assistant waiter was super sweet. We were the last group at our table to finish, and she stayed and talked to us for a few minutes before we left, asking us how we had enjoyed our trip and stuff like that. She seemed to be in no rush to get us to leave.

 

My pastries.

 

 

Part of the small buffet offered in the MDR during breakfast.

 

 

Another picture of the MDR during breakfast.

 

 

As soon as we finished breakfast, we went to deck 6 of the Centrum, I believe, where they had wheelchair assistance. We went before my mom went to the restroom, thinking we would put our name down and have to wait for a wheelchair. As soon as we walked up, there was a wheelchair ready for my mom. Since it was before our departure time, I made sure that it was fine for us to get off. The woman coordinating everything said it was, and we began to wait in line for the elevators down. It took a while to get off the ship, since the main gangway still wasn’t open. Going through customs was very easy. My mom and I went through a handicapped line, while I sent our family friend in the regular line. Even though there was only one person in front of us and more in front of our family friend, she still made it through a bit faster than us. Our customs agent was nice and asked us how our trip was. The crew member wheeling my mom dropped her off where our luggage was.

 

We obviously needed a porter to help us, but it was pretty hard to get one. There seemed to be a line of them, but the ones there told us to wait by our bags and that they would come to us. The ones passing by said that they were busy. Eventually, we got one. We said that we were waiting to be picked up, and he brought us out to the pick-up area. It was basically a bus shelter, only slightly larger. For some reason, we were supposed to wait there instead of under the covering of the port building. It wouldn’t have been a big deal, but it was around 50 degrees out and it was steadily raining. Fortunately, I keep an umbrella my backpack, so I was able to access one easily. I wish that I knew where my poncho was in my suitcase, because that would have been so helpful. My mom and our family friend got a spot on the bench in the shelter, while I moved the bags as close as possible to the back of it. I then stood inside the shelter, making sure my camera case and my backpack- with my laptop- stayed dry. Our suitcases got soaked. Also, my dad was running late, so we waited 50 minutes this way. I was wearing my combat boots, which are old and have a hole in the bottom. I didn’t think I’d be walking through water that much, so I wore them, but, by the time we got picked up, my foot was soaked. While it didn’t take that long, we weren’t impressed with way the port handled disembarkation. We were off the ship by 9:15 though.

 

Overall, the trip was great. The weather definitely wasn’t, and that had a big impact on it. We were all very impressed with most of the service that we received on the trip. We made the most of our trip, regardless of the weather and my mom’s broken foot. I don’t think we’ll have the chance to cruise again for probably two years, but we’d definitely sail with Royal Caribbean and Grandeur of the Seas again.

 

So that's the end of my review. Thank you all for reading and for all of the nice comments. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments for me, or any specific picture requests.

[Porcupine123]

Nice and honest review. Thank you! Do you have a copy of the menus? Many are interested in those as well as the Cruise Compass.

[joand452]

Thank you for everything!

[coneyraven]

I can't even begin to thank you enough for this review, pictures, pretty much everything. It makes my wife and I look forward to our cruise even more. Thank You, Mark in Allegany Co Maryland

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Thetrail]

Day Ten

 

This was the view from our window back in Baltimore that morning.

 

 

On the last day of the trip, I set my alarm for 6:45, so we would have enough time to get up and triple check that the room was empty before going to breakfast. My family and I always tend to get breakfast in the MDR on the last day of our cruise, so that we can have one last meal with people serving us. Right when we were seated, our waiter told us that the menu was limited, meaning no eggs benedict and a few other things. The only omelets offered were cheese, ham, and ham and cheese. I had a ham omelet, some fruit, and some pastries. Our waiter seemed to be in a bit of a rush, but our assistant waiter was super sweet. We were the last group at our table to finish, and she stayed and talked to us for a few minutes before we left, asking us how we had enjoyed our trip and stuff like that. She seemed to be in no rush to get us to leave.

 

My pastries.

 

 

Part of the small buffet offered in the MDR during breakfast.

 

 

Another picture of the MDR during breakfast.

 

 

As soon as we finished breakfast, we went to deck 6 of the Centrum, I believe, where they had wheelchair assistance. We went before my mom went to the restroom, thinking we would put our name down and have to wait for a wheelchair. As soon as we walked up, there was a wheelchair ready for my mom. Since it was before our departure time, I made sure that it was fine for us to get off. The woman coordinating everything said it was, and we began to wait in line for the elevators down. It took a while to get off the ship, since the main gangway still wasn’t open. Going through customs was very easy. My mom and I went through a handicapped line, while I sent our family friend in the regular line. Even though there was only one person in front of us and more in front of our family friend, she still made it through a bit faster than us. Our customs agent was nice and asked us how our trip was. The crew member wheeling my mom dropped her off where our luggage was.

 

We obviously needed a porter to help us, but it was pretty hard to get one. There seemed to be a line of them, but the ones there told us to wait by our bags and that they would come to us. The ones passing by said that they were busy. Eventually, we got one. We said that we were waiting to be picked up, and he brought us out to the pick-up area. It was basically a bus shelter, only slightly larger. For some reason, we were supposed to wait there instead of under the covering of the port building. It wouldn’t have been a big deal, but it was around 50 degrees out and it was steadily raining. Fortunately, I keep an umbrella my backpack, so I was able to access one easily. I wish that I knew where my poncho was in my suitcase, because that would have been so helpful. My mom and our family friend got a spot on the bench in the shelter, while I moved the bags as close as possible to the back of it. I then stood inside the shelter, making sure my camera case and my backpack- with my laptop- stayed dry. Our suitcases got soaked. Also, my dad was running late, so we waited 50 minutes this way. I was wearing my combat boots, which are old and have a hole in the bottom. I didn’t think I’d be walking through water that much, so I wore them, but, by the time we got picked up, my foot was soaked. While it didn’t take that long, we weren’t impressed with way the port handled disembarkation. We were off the ship by 9:15 though.

 

Overall, the trip was great. The weather definitely wasn’t, and that had a big impact on it. We were all very impressed with most of the service that we received on the trip. We made the most of our trip, regardless of the weather and my mom’s broken foot. I don’t think we’ll have the chance to cruise again for probably two years, but we’d definitely sail with Royal Caribbean and Grandeur of the Seas again.

 

So that's the end of my review. Thank you all for reading and for all of the nice comments. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments for me, or any specific picture requests.

Great review, fantastic photos. Glad you guys enjoyed yourself.....K.O.:)

[Yorkvillain]

What a great review. Thanks again.

[lenquixote66]

5 more months till I will be on the Grandeur again

[Yorkvillain]

Anna, did you see any drink cards being offered during the week? I apologize if this question was asked already.

[BunnyoftheSeas]

Anna, thank you for taking the time to do this review! You didn't happen to walk by the adventure ocean area, did you? We are going on Grandeur next month and I'm trying to find out if there's one of those Pets at Sea / Build a critter things on the ship. Again, thank you! :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app