Grandeur of the Seas, Voyage of the Saints, November 10-22, 2018

[laumicmah]

So my Jan cruise on her will be the 9 nighter. Do you think we'll have menus #1-9 of your menus or they could be different?

[Wildcatfish]

Looking forward to hearing about St Croix since our April Grandeur cruise stops there.  Haven't been to St Croix, and we're anxious to hear your thoughts.

 

[signman]

Hi Roy.  I'm on the Voyage of the Saints too, but mine goes from Fort Lauderdale next month on Celebrity Silhouette.  We hit 7 ports but include 5 Saints.

 

St. Thomas

St. Maarten

St. Kitts

St. Lucia

St. Georges, Grenada

 

I'll be following along as I've never been to St. Lucia, so anxious to see what you do there.   I still have time to decide but will probably do a full day tour (not thru ship) that visits the Pitons, volcano and mud baths, waterfall and Sugar Beach.  What are you planning?

 

 Enjoy your cruise.  

[EeyoreRN]

Hi, Roy!  I'm following. Thanks for taking us along on another adventure.

 

I didn't realize RCI ran this itinerary out of Baltimore. Great to know for future planning.   Looking forward to reading more. Have a great cruise! 

[Krazy Kruizers]

I am enjoying your reports and pictures.

 

Hope the person who had the medical emergency is all right.

[rafinmd]

10 hours ago, laumicmah said:

So my Jan cruise on her will be the 9 nighter. Do you think we'll have menus #1-9 of your menus or they could be different?

I think I'd better leave that to others who are more regular on RCI.  I would certainly think that if one of our last 3 menus is for a formal night that would become one of your nine.

 

I'll note one thing I hadn't expected.  The dining room is open for lunch on sea days and the menu on the boards is in a strange order.  It starts with lunch deserts, then other items for lunch, an the dinner menu starts in the middle of the 3rd page.  I'm just going to go with it.

 

Thank you EEyoreRN and Krazy Kruizers.  I do think I will have time today to watch the Nieuw Amsterdam and Prinsendam sailaways.  The Prinsendam is in St. Maarten which is our final port so I'll be interested in the weather.  EEyoreRN, this is a pretty standard 12 day itinerary this season with the ship on a 3-week cycle of alternating 9 and 12 day itineraries.  They're doing it again next year with Barbados in the mix rather than Antigua.

 

I am running a bit behind on today's post but this day won't be as busy as yesterday so I will get there.

 

Roy

 

 

[rafinmd]

11 hours ago, Wildcatfish said:

Looking forward to hearing about St Croix since our April Grandeur cruise stops there.  Haven't been to St Croix, and we're anxious to hear your thoughts.

 

You will probably not be very pleased with my report for this trip to St. Croix.  The only tour I saw that interested was a repeat of the one I did on Enchantment in 2013, so I will add a link to that.  This time I will just go into Fredrikstad for a bit of routine shopping (I forgot a charger cable for my cell phone, plus soda).

 

https://getawaysfrom21044.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/enos-day-5-wednesday-january-30-2013-st-croix-usvi/

 

signman, I'm not doing much in St. Lucia either.  I've been there several times.  I'm not a beach person but the beaches are beautiful, and so are the Pictons.  You should have a great day.

 

Roy

[jimbri]

Always enjoy your reviews and photos.  Have a great trip!

[Happily@Sea]

Roy, 

 

I'm following along but waiting for you to get to warmer waters. EE and NA were already in port by the time I checked this morning - both sailing away at 4 pm EST. If past habits are maintained - a little early from Nassau and close to ontime for Orangeburg.

 

Carole

[Rogueperson]

14 hours ago, laumicmah said:

So my Jan cruise on her will be the 9 nighter. Do you think we'll have menus #1-9 of your menus or they could be different?

 

Probably not.  I did two 9 nights within 5 months of each other last year on the Grandeur in February and July, they did use mostly the same menus, but did not use them in the same order.  Also, even those same menus had an addition or two, or missing an item from the previous time.  Your best bet is still to visit the dining room to see what's posted earlier in the day unfortunately.  I am on a 9 night in 2 weeks, and I suspect the menus will be similar as well, even though its a different ship.  I've compared my own trips with others, and the menus, lunch and dinner have more similarities across the fleet than differences.

[rafinmd]

Day 1, Sunday, November 11, 2018, At Sea

When I got up we were roughly off the coast at Kitty Hawk.  I started to walk on deck 5 but it was closed off at the bow.  The bow gates did open later and the bow on the Grandeur is full of mooring equipment but the track around the bow is pretty close and extends almost the full length of the ship.

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I walked 6 laps on the deck 9 jogging track but it was still quite windblown.  The sun came up through the clouds about 6:30.

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Sunday was recognized with the playing a Joel Osteen video in the South Pacific Lounge at 8.  When I passed through the lounge on the way to the Diamond Club I only saw 5 people watching.  I observed Sunday in the afternoon with a taped sermon from a HAL Chaplain and the day’s lectionary readings.

I snack my way through breakfast and went up to the WJ about 9.  As I crossed the pool deck afterwards there was a lifeguard looking quite bundled up.  I stuck my hand in the water and it was well heated but getting in and out would be quite a challenge.

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There was a large group in the South Pacific Lounge for the Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle, with Cruise Director Mike and Activities Manager Cece taking the lead.  One of our members had been very nice to make nametags for everybody.  Most Cruise Directors seem annoyed when the subject of private tours comes up but Mike actually took the lead to see if anybody wanted to make an announcement.  There were several door prizes.  I won on my first couple of Royal Caribbean cruises but have not been lucky since.

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After the Meet and Mingle we had the Crown and Anchor Top Tier welcome in the Palladium Theater.  We were welcomed by Captain Thor, the Loyalty Ambassador, Hotel Director (on her final Grandeur cruise) and Cruise Director.  There was a bit of comic relief when Captain Thor mentioned that his success was due largely to the assembled department heads in the balcony and Mike made a mad dash to the balcony.  Some statistics were mentioned–There are 1998 guests on this cruise which includes 1483 C&A members (508 Gold, 268 Platinum, 156 Emerald, 340 Diamond, 196 D+, and 13 Pinnacle).  Captain Thor then introduced the senior officers on the ship and several people were called up for presentations.  That included 2 milestones (1050 and 770 points), and the top cruisers with 1473 points.

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There is one guest speaker on board.  Dr. Sehdev Kumar started off his series at 11:15 in the South Pacific Lounge with a talk on “Discovery of the New World”.  I watched part of the talk but left about 11:45 to be on deck for the noon update by Captain Thor.  At that time our nearest land was Moorehead City NC, and we had sailed 297 miles with 1165 to go until Frederikstad.  I found it still a bit chilly on deck without a jacket but it was much warmer than in the early morning.

Immediately after his update Captain Thor joined a Veterans Day celebration in the Centrum.  A pair of huge cakes was set up to be enjoyed after the ceremony.  

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A LARGE contingent of veterans assembled on the stairs and Mike, Captain Thor, and the Hotel Director each read poems.

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The ceremony concluded with taps and a song from one of the new cast singers.

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After a very busy morning the afternoon was time to chill and relax a bit.  There was some chop to the seas, not bad but enough so the seasick bags were in the stairwells, just in case.

Our first sea day led into our first formal night.  I was part of a small minority in a tux, there were quite a few in suit and tie and a number of others in lesser stages down to quite a small minority dressed very casually.  One of the table 314 group was away at a Chef’s Dinner, the other man was in a nice sharp suit and his wife in a lovely gown.  I chose the fruit salad, duck, and carrot cake with ice cream.

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In between seatings Captain Thor met guests for photos in the Centrum and then made welcoming remarks and introduced the senior staff.

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The featured entertainment was Mark Preston.  A former member of the Letterman he gave a very good performance although I must admit to being a bit drowsy.

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As my parting shot, most holidays in the US are moved to be on Mondays.  Veterans Day has always been an exception and celebrated on the actual day.  This year is the exception as the Federal Holiday and closings happen Monday when things would normally be open.  This makes it effectively a 2-day holiday.  November 11 is the date of the armistice that ended World War I.  It seems appropriate that we should have a double celebration on the 100th anniversary of the armistice signed November 11, 1918.

Roy

 

[rafinmd]

2 hours ago, Rogueperson said:

 

Probably not.  I did two 9 nights within 5 months of each other last year on the Grandeur in February and July, they did use mostly the same menus, but did not use them in the same order.  Also, even those same menus had an addition or two, or missing an item from the previous time.  Your best bet is still to visit the dining room to see what's posted earlier in the day unfortunately.  I am on a 9 night in 2 weeks, and I suspect the menus will be similar as well, even though its a different ship.  I've compared my own trips with others, and the menus, lunch and dinner have more similarities across the fleet than differences.

Thanks Rogueperson.  (and Carole).  Actually, there's no need to visit the dining room.  The menus are posted on all the sign boards around the ship, and I think they get posted quite early,  Here's how:

 

From any sign board click on the Dining square at the bottom of the display, then click on "Complimentary" near the top:

 

 

 

Finally touch "Main Dining Room (or My Time or Family), and finally "menu" near the top right:

 

 

Any of those choices will give you the day's lunch and dinner menus.  I just took a wild guess and tried it with "Family Time Dining" to see if it would include the kids menu but no luck on that.

 

I have now posted the Compasses and Menus through today (Nov 12) at the links I gave in post # 25.

 

Roy

 

PS: Grandeur will get a new Hotel Director on the next cruise.  I don't know if that will have any effect on how the menus are rotated but it just might.

Edited November 12, 2018 by rafinmd

[rafinmd]

On 11/10/2018 at 9:28 AM, kurtp13 said:

What can you say about the differences between Enchantment and Grandeur?    I did a 12 night on Enchantment out of Baltimore before and now have a 9 night on Grandeur set up for March.    I found Enchantment to be crowded in common areas (theater, buffet) and I thought it might be because of the extra cabins.   

The differences are a bit of a mixed bag.  I think seating in the WJ is about the same as the Enchantment has a little covered extension on the port side running aft from the stairs that probably makes the ratio of WJ seats to beds about equal between the 2 ships.  I think the serving areas on the Grandeur are somewhat less crowded but not by a whole lot.  It looks like they are also trying a few things to speed up service.  I noticed in the morning that the omelet station they had a waiter taking orders and passing them to the cooks to make the process a bit more efficient.  I haven't had an omelet yet but will tomorrow.

 

I think the biggest difference was in the Theater.  It isn't super roomy but my impression is significantly less crowded than it was on Enchantment.

 

Roy 

[Krazy Kruizers]

I am enjoying your reports and pictures.

 

Many, many years ago we did one cruise on RCI -- way before they had all the rock climbing, etc.  We were not impressed with RCI.

[Pumbaamd]

Roy,

As usual we are following along. We have enjoyed several Grandeur cruises. Our repo cruise on her from Baltimore to NOLA in 2006 was outstanding. Have a great time!

Rick and Deirdra

Edited November 12, 2018 by Pumbaamd
update

[BND]

On 11/11/2018 at 2:11 PM, rafinmd said:

Welcome aboard cruisecrazybaltimore.

 

I think a number of followers are planning on this cruise in the upcoming months.  I am posting the menus and compasses to my blog as linked above.

 

A couple of heads up.  I think most succeeding cruises are going to St. Thomas, instead of St. Croix.  Also, your entertainment schedule will likely be quite a bit different from ours.  At the Meet and Mingle CD Mike (he posts on Cruise Critic as DJMike) indicated that a brand new cast of Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers just boarded yesterday.  Most if not all have never performed at sea before and they are in a period of very intensive rehearsals with their first show much later than would normally be expected.

 

Roy

Why do you say that about St Thomas?  Our april 6 12 night itinerary has St Croix on it.  I think like some ports, they alternate.  We've never been to St Croix before so interested in what you think.

[scgirlatheart]

Following along, thanks for taking the time to review the Grandeur.   I'm enjoying your review.   We will be on our 3rd cruise aboard her in December. 

 

Never realized we could have lunch at Park Cafe on Embarkation Day.  As my husband has mobility problems and it's so hard to find a table in the Windjammer this is a fantastic tip.  Thanks!

[kurtp13]

3 hours ago, rafinmd said:

I think the biggest difference was in the Theater.  It isn't super roomy but my impression is significantly less crowded than it was on Enchantment.

That will be a huge improvement because it seemed like we needed to be very early to a show to get a good seat.  The theater was a bigger irritant for me than the buffet.  

[rafinmd]

Thank you everyone.  The mix of St. Thomas vs St. Croix may be more equal than I thought.

 

Day 2, Monday, November 12, 2018, At Sea, windy with rain

Having had a bout of the drowsies I turned off the alarm when it rang and slept until about 5:45.  I headed up to deck 5 a little after 6 and as I approached the door I could hear the wind really howling.  I walked a bit on inner corridors but was up on deck 9 about 6:20.  The official sunrise had passed but it was quite cloudy and the sun had just found a first opening in the clouds.  The wind was not then as awful as it seemed on deck 5 and I took a lap around deck 9 (possible but totally unpleasant) but did most of my walking for the day inside the ship.  Sadly, the day did not much inspire me to take many photos.

http://getawaysfrom21044.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/dawn1112.jpg

Determining where we were was not really simple.  When I got out my GPS it showed the nearest city in North Carolina, just a bit further away.  We were headed Southwest and the coast line was jagging southeast.  We were more or less equidistant between North Carolina and Nassau.  When I looked at our latitude we were about even with Jacksonville.

It was a pretty quiet day for me with just a few planned activities.  The main one in the morning was a talk on “Movement of People Across the Globe and to the Caribbean”.

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When I tried to go on deck for the noon update from Captain Thor I found that both deck 5 and deck 10 were completely closed off due to the wind.  He indicated the nearest land was the Bahamas 350 miles away.  He gave us early notice that our clocks would be going forwarded and reminded us that our phones might not update the time at sea.  He indicated the relative wind speed was over 40 kt and we had sped up to get away from the current weather ASAP.

My main activity for the afternoon was a future cruise talk on Alaska.  While my hands down favorite for Alaska there was one itinerary that looked interesting.  The Ovation will be doing a unique one time cruise in May.  Her trans-Pacific will end in Vancouver and then she will do an 11-day repo to Seattle for her main season with a nice selection including a couple of unusual ports.  After my cruise on the Anthem I have no desire to return to Quantum Class (and I already on Cunard then) but for people who would like this ship this itinerary is worth a very serious look.

I was the only one at table 314.  Not sure if it was the ship movement (I hope not too many people are bothered by movement that was not too serious) or something else but service ended up faster than usual.  I chose the fruit plate,  roast chicken, and apple pie.

http://getawaysfrom21044.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/dishes1112.jpg

The featured entertainment was ventriloquist Michael Harrison.  He was entertaining but not one of the better ventriloquists I have seen.  I was out of the dining room in time to catch the second half of the first show and then returned for the second half of the 8:30 show, getting me out in time to make up for a little bit of the hour we lost overnight.

I will reach out to Tuesday Morning and the morning show for a parting shot.  Mike and Cece were sharing a joke between 2 men talking.  The first said “When I was in the Army I lost my rifle and they charged me 85 dollars for it”. The other responded “Now I know why the Captain always goes down with the ship”.

Roy

[Nessa1dc]

Excellent Review so far....I understand that they don't have a place to place your carryons when you arrive?

 

Does anyone know if there is a special place for Suite Guests (Grand and above) for Breakfast and lunch?

 

Was the casino crowded?

 

Thank you in advance and have a wonderful cruise.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great report.  Weather along the east coast is bad.  We had a lot of rain overnight.

 

Wish HAL would get better entertainment.  Food looks good.

 

Love the parting shot comments.  I had an administrator who lost a tank in WW2.

[rafinmd]

Thank you Krazy Kruizers and Nessa1dc.  I have not been in the casino because it reeks of smoke.  Suite guests can get breakfast in Chops.

 

Day 3, Tuesday, November 13, 2018, At Sea, windy with sun

I chose to hold off a day on resetting my clocks and woke up about 5:45 on the new time.  The morning was still very windy with both decks 5 and 10 closed off and I walked about a half hour on inside corridors.  When I got up to deck 9 the sun had officially come up but at that time there was no opening in the clouds.  Our location was essentially 525 miles due east of Nassau.

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Since I wouldn’t be walking I went up to the Viking Crown Lounge for a little while.  The Grandeur doesn’t really have a lounge at the front of the ship but the midship Viking Crown is a pretty good substitute.  It’s pretty quiet during the day but I understand a pretty active night club at night.

http://getawaysfrom21044.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/viking.jpg

I did later take one lap around deck 10 and deck 5 partially opened for a while.  I keep making new discoveries.  While most covered pools have moveable roofs Solarium does not but the windows looking out to the side on deck 10 do let air in from the top.

http://getawaysfrom21044.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/solariumtop.jpg

Today’s 8:45 lecture was on the subject of water, it’s properties and it’s place in civilization, commerce, and world politics.

The morning was a mix of things with nothing in particular standing out.  In his noon update Captain Thor indicated relative winds of about 40 knots.  A steel band was playing on the pool deck at lunch time.

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The bellyflop competition was on the pool deck in the afternoon.  The winner was a gentleman of about 370 pounds.

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I was again the only one at table 314.  The menu was a new one for the wait staff as it apparently is not used on shorter cruises.  I chose the fruit plate, roast turkey (early Thanksgiving) and Key Lime Pie.

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As I left a guitar and violin duo was playing in the Centrum with a very nice sound.  The wind had subsided a bit and I walked back forward outside with a moon shining pretty well.

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The featured entertainment was Mike Santoro, a billy Joel tribute artist.  He put on an excellent show.

http://getawaysfrom21044.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/santoro.jpg

I will take as a parting shot a poem written by Christopher Paolini and presented by Dr. Kumar.  It seems very appropriate for a cruise starting and ending with 3 sea days:

“The sea is emotion incarnate.  It loves, hates, and weeps.  It defies all attempts to capture it with words and rejects all shackles.  No matter what you say about it, there is always that which you can’t”

Roy

 

[Defender1158]

35 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

 

 I  did later take one lap around deck 10 and deck 5 partially opened for a while.  I keep making new discoveries.  While most covered pools have moveable roofs Solarium does not but the windows looking out to the side on deck 10 do let air in from the top.

 

 

Actually, Grandeur's Solarium roof does open.  I was on a 12 night "Saints" cruise last year, and they opened it several times.  They only moved the forward half that goes under Izumi's, because the aft half was blocked by on-going scrubber construction.  

/Greg  

[Krazy Kruizers]

Enjoying your report and pictures.

 

Hopefully you will get better weather for your early morning walks.

[rafinmd]

Thanks Defender1158 and Krazy Kruizers.

 

Day 4, Wednesday, November 14, 2018,  Frederiksted, St. Croix, 1452 Nautical Miles Later

Well, the record stayed intact that for most of our journey we had windy, not very pleasant weather.  I had thought I might do a little walking on deck (but mostly ashore) but the closed signs made it clear that would not happen.

In the Tuesday noon update Captain Thor had indicated we would arrive in St. Croix at 9 and be cleared to go ashore about 9:30.  In fact, land was clearly in view when I went to the WJ to start breakfast at 8, the first lines went out at 8:25 and Mike announced we were free to go ashore at 8:50.

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The island of St. Croix is about 20 miles east to west and 5 miles north to south.  The main settlement of Christiansted lies about the middle of the north coast but has no port.  The port is at Fredriksted, about the middle of the west coast.  When I was here in 2013 I took a walking tour in Christiansted but there were no tours that interested me this time.

It is a long dock, about .3 miles from the gangway to the port gate.  As you leave the ship there is an imposing red building just to the left of the end of the dock, it is Fort Frederik.

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 It was after 10 when I finally left the ship and at the end of the dock I turned right, away from Fort Frederik.  For the first several blocks the street fronted along the shoreline and after about 2 blocks there was a veterans memorial with 5 markers, one for each branch of the service (no names on Coast Guard marker)

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About a half mile south of the dock there was a boat ramp and a sort of beach.  That appeared to be pretty much the end of town and I walked a couple blocks away from the shore and then back towards the dock.

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Frederiksted had a very worn look, much of which was likely damage from hurricane Maria.  There was some evidence of repair and reconstruction but at a far slower pace than many islands. On the way back along Prince Street I passed an Anglican church and a bit later St. Patrick’s church.  

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The streets here tend to have royal names (It is originally a Danish colony, acquired by the US in 1917), and I walked a couple blocks each of Queen and King Streets.  I had hoped to find a grocery store and perhaps a book store but there was not much available.  I did find a grocery store but it was pretty limited.  My only other shopping was a t-shirt from the local fire department.

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The best looking beach is to the left from the end of the dock, just on the other side of Fort Frederik.  It is a total of about a half mile walk from the gangway, or a quarter mile walk using the free dock shuttle service.

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The beach also had great views of the ship.

I was starting to feel like it was time for lunch but took a short diversion into Fort Frederik.  Over the years it has served roles as varied as military garrison, jail, court, public library, and telephone but now serves as a museum.  Things I noted there were the parade ground, a display of stilts, a solitary confinement cell (for runaway slaves), and the quarters of the commandant.

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I returned to the ship a little before 2.  Lunch was pizza and ice cream and I was going to take a walk around the jogging track and just as I got to the back of the ship the skies opened up. It had been sunny all the time I was in town but my timing in returning to the ship was fortuitous.

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The internet had been glacial to non-existent all day but I spent a lot of the rest of the afternoon organizing photos.  

All aboard was 5:30 but Captain Thor came on a couple minutes before that with his sailaway message and the gangway was already stowed by the time I got up to deck 5.  The last lines came in and we were moving by 5:40.  I started to walk around the ship but by the time I got to the starboard part of deck 5 we had another downpour.

With a planned 6PM sailaway and 5:30 dinner seating I wanted to be on deck for sailaway so I booked Chops for 6:30.  They were actually ready for me at 6.  On all my prior visits at Chops I have gone for the steaks but decided it was time to try something else.  My choices were the Caesar Salad, Rack of Lamb, M&C, and Red Velvet cake, all delicious.

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Apparently, on a 12-night cruise Royal sends 8 headline acts and the singers and dancers will do 2 shows, leaving 2 nights blank.  What we had tonight was called “Musicians Showcase”.  The Grandeur of the Seas Orchestra had the stage themselves, presenting the music of their choice.  The musicians (mostly from Ukraine) have Jazz background and the program was primarily Jazz although Ivan at the Piano played a classical solo.  When I booked Chops I had not realized this would be a single 7:15 show so I was thankful that Chops took me a half hour and I was there for the start of what I thought was a fabulous show.

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After the show I continued organizing photos and got about half way through this post before heading to bed about 11.  I understand the Love and Marriage show that I missed went very well.

My parting shot will be a wish for continuing recovery for St. Croix.

Roy