Grandeur of the Seas

[karinad]

We haven't been on RCCL for quite a few years and our last one was Explorer of the Sea. The only other class of ships we were on was The Radiance. The Grandeur goes out of Baltimore, so, no flying! We've never been on a ship as old as her. Would we be disappointed??

[highfields]

NO!  Absolutely not.  You will find the staff and crew some of the very best.

[HOSKI]

I hope not as I have her booked for October.  She is currently in dry dock.  I've been following some groups who love her and recent pictures look great.

[sixesandeights]

I am very much looking forward to going on Grandeur for the first time in April.  It is not a mega ship so it doesn't have all the newest things found on those boats, but they also don't have 5000+ people on board.  The advantage of a smaller ship is they can get into more ports.  The itineraries are really nice especially on the longer trips. 

[Clarea]

1 hour ago, karinad said:

 ... Would we be disappointed??

Tell us what you look for in a cruise.

[BND]

I love when people say she's "old".  She's not.  She's older than other ships, but she's got years left in her.  We're going on her for the 7th time in 4 weeks.  Grandeur cruisers are loyal.  The crew is wonderful and the ship is great.  She's on her way to Freeport to drydock. She left yesterday so should be there tomorrow sometime and will return to service on 22 March.  We can't wait to go on her again. It's the most relaxing ship we've ever been on.

[karinad]

36 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

Tell us what you look for in a cruise.

We're not looking for the big slides or rock climbing walls, etc. Good food and a variety of choices. A well maintained ship and a variety of entertainment. My husband plays in a rock band, so, we do look for a venue with a good band. It's always nice to have a good service staff and a nice cabin.

 

We're not game playing or casino going people. It's always nice to have that "wow" factor when you first board the ship and I don't think that we were ever not wowed  after being on about 20 cruises.

[Clarea]

2 minutes ago, karinad said:

We're not looking for the big slides or rock climbing walls, etc. Good food and a variety of choices. A well maintained ship and a variety of entertainment. My husband plays in a rock band, so, we do look for a venue with a good band. It's always nice to have a good service staff and a nice cabin.

 

We're not game playing or casino going people. It's always nice to have that "wow" factor when you first board the ship and I don't think that we were ever not wowed  after being on about 20 cruises.

 

You may be disappointed by the minimal WOW factor on Grandeur.  However, the food will be similar to other RC ships and there will be various live music venues around the ship.

[rimmit]

1 hour ago, karinad said:

We're not looking for the big slides or rock climbing walls, etc. Good food and a variety of choices. A well maintained ship and a variety of entertainment. My husband plays in a rock band, so, we do look for a venue with a good band. It's always nice to have a good service staff and a nice cabin.

 

We're not game playing or casino going people. It's always nice to have that "wow" factor when you first board the ship and I don't think that we were ever not wowed  after being on about 20 cruises.

 

There will not be much wow factor,  but I will say she is in much better shape than the enchantment.

 

The bands are “ok”.  Nothing special.  I found the house bands on NCL superior in all aspects.  Lots of energy and really gets the crowd going.

 

The staff is excellent and their best asset. Being a smaller ship they are much more capable of keeping service at a higher level.  We have never been disappointed in the service.  The food is comparable to other RCI ships.  The entertainment is hit or miss with the headliners and RCI is clearly sending their top singers to the Oasis class and Anthem class, as we feel that the Grandeur is definitely getting their B list singers at best.  They try their hardest....  but their pitch is definitely off, esp in comparison to the singers on the larger ships.

 

It’s still a great time.  Just lower your expectations on the entertainment front and you will be fine.  We love going on her, but accept her flaws for what they are and know going In that the bands and singers and entertainment in general is not going to be on the same level as the newer ships or really even the Voyager class and above.

 

The cabins are a little tired, in that we have yet to get one with all the drawers or closet doors operating correctly despite us notifying GS.  Supposedly they will get new carpet over the next two weeks.

 

We love the smaller ship size though and love getting to know the fellow cruisers, esp on the longer 12 night sailings.  Overall a cruise is still better than on land. Just don’t be nit picky and it will be a great time.

Edited March 9, 2019 by rimmit

[wishuponasea]

Do you know what they are doing with Grandeur in drydock? We have not been on this ship before -- first time will be in October for a 9 night cruise.

[rimmit]

We were on the Grandeur right after the dry dock.  There were no cosmetic changes that I could detect.  I asked the concierge and they said it was for marine maintenance.  No other changes.  They didn’t even clean the windows or put on a. New coat of paint on the exterior.

[Davebhoy]

We had a great time on Grandeur last year.

 

It became a bit of a ghost ship after midnight (think there were maybe 10 folk in the disco) and the Centrum was empty earlier than that, but that was OK by us.

 

Bands weren't as great as other RC cruises (could've done with a guitarist to cover livelier songs than the pianist) but again, it probably suited the crowd on board.

[BND]

8 hours ago, rimmit said:

We were on the Grandeur right after the dry dock.  There were no cosmetic changes that I could detect.  I asked the concierge and they said it was for marine maintenance.  No other changes.  They didn’t even clean the windows or put on a. New coat of paint on the exterior.

We just got off the 6 April GR cruise last week.  They replaced pretty much all the carpeting.  It was very obvious and looked great.  They also did paint the exterior.  The hull was completely painted as were other exterior areas.   The inside of the ship was very clean also.  They didn't add or take away any venues because this was a maintenance dry dock, but the did do some cleaning and painting.

Edited April 23, 2019 by BND

[SRF]

We were in the same cruise.

 

The headliner acts were very good.  The two band headliners were excellent.  And Giovanni in the Schooner Bar was also very good.

 

I have no real complaints about the food. 

[birdylady]

There were a couple folks sailing recently who were doing live posting.  The current thread is this one - LiveGrandeur418

 

We're sailing Thursday and one of our folks will be periscope-ing it.

 

Hope this helps.
Erika

[rimmit]

40 minutes ago, BND said:

We just got off the 6 April GR cruise last week.  They replaced pretty much all the carpeting.  It was very obvious and looked great.  They also did paint the exterior.  The hull was completely painted as were other exterior areas.   The inside of the ship was very clean also.  They didn't add or take away any venues because this was a maintenance dry dock, but the did do some cleaning and painting.

 

The hull must have been painted Between mar 28th and apr 6th as it was incredibly rusty.  Me and several other passengers were highly disappointed that the ship didn’t have more improvements in the dry dock especially a basic coat of paint and window washing.  They were washing windows during our cruise however, which I appreciated.  The carpet in our cabin definitely had stains and it was a suite and the main hallways also.   From my observation and confirmation with the crew they did not do anything in dry dock.   But the crew and concierges has been wrong many times before, and maybe the stains just appeared in the short time span.  Which spaces in your opinion were replaced?   I thought the MDR chairs looked new, but other than that everything else seemed about the same.  There was also no “new carpet” smell on ships post dry dock that I normally can detect.

 

the ship was very clean but other than that and maybe MDR chairs,  it seemed the same to me, but I could easily be wrong but it looked pretty worn to me in some venues.  I can guarantee the suite carpet in 8000 was not replaced though.  That I am sure of based on the condition, stains, and wear.  (I do sit ups and push ups in my cabin and get a real up close and personal look of that).

Edited April 23, 2019 by rimmit

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, rimmit said:

 Me and several other passengers were highly disappointed that the ship didn’t have more improvements in the dry dock especially a basic coat of paint and window washing.

Not unusual to have only minimal work done on older ships, which will likely be leaving the fleet soon.

[rimmit]

7 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Not unusual to have only minimal work done on older ships, which will likely be leaving the fleet soon.

 

Yep.  The spend all their paint budget painting the Oasis class ships.  

[BND]

8 hours ago, rimmit said:

 

The hull must have been painted Between mar 28th and apr 6th as it was incredibly rusty.  Me and several other passengers were highly disappointed that the ship didn’t have more improvements in the dry dock especially a basic coat of paint and window washing.  They were washing windows during our cruise however, which I appreciated.  The carpet in our cabin definitely had stains and it was a suite and the main hallways also.   From my observation and confirmation with the crew they did not do anything in dry dock.   But the crew and concierges has been wrong many times before, and maybe the stains just appeared in the short time span.  Which spaces in your opinion were replaced?   I thought the MDR chairs looked new, but other than that everything else seemed about the same.  There was also no “new carpet” smell on ships post dry dock that I normally can detect.

 

the ship was very clean but other than that and maybe MDR chairs,  it seemed the same to me, but I could easily be wrong but it looked pretty worn to me in some venues.  I can guarantee the suite carpet in 8000 was not replaced though.  That I am sure of based on the condition, stains, and wear.  (I do sit ups and push ups in my cabin and get a real up close and personal look of that).

No, the hull was painted in drydock.  John Blair posted video on his FB page of it being done.  The MDR chairs were replaced last summer.  We were in 8564 (Jr Suite) and our carpet looked new/clean.  All the public spaces had nice new carpeting.  Several people mentioned it.  We've been on GR 7 times and it looked great. Carpet doesn't always smell, btw.

 

This drydock was never intended to do anything but maintenance, mechanical work and cosmetic work.  This is not the scheduled update/upgrade type drydock and it never was supposed to be.

Edited April 23, 2019 by BND

[SRF]

They do need to do something about the outdoor screen in the pool area.  LOTS of dead pixels.

[dodgestang]

Was on Grandeur Aug 2018 and Dec 2018.....just got off Anthem this weekend.  I liked Grandeur better.  Was easier to find some live music, sit down and relax.....with the Anthem I felt like I spent the whole cruise walking places.

 

My 12 and 8 yr old liked the Anthem better because they felt like there was more to do for them....but at the same time....they didn't have an issue spending a day at the pool on Grandeur, playing bingo, listening to music in the centrum.

[BND]

1 hour ago, SRF said:

They do need to do something about the outdoor screen in the pool area.  LOTS of dead pixels.

LOL, It's actually better than it was a couple of years ago.  The pixels now aren't dead perse, but visible.  A couple of years ago they were completely dead as in no picture at all on a few of them.  A screen that size will always show pixelation.

 

Also, so many people don't realize that a ship the age of Grandeur isn't old by marine standards.  Too many are just used to new and shiny and expect all ships to look that way.  What's important is the seaworthiness.  Salt and sea air causes rust and corrosion.  It's impossible to stay ahead of it.

Edited April 24, 2019 by BND

[rimmit]

On 4/23/2019 at 7:10 PM, dodgestang said:

Was on Grandeur Aug 2018 and Dec 2018.....just got off Anthem this weekend.  I liked Grandeur better.  Was easier to find some live music, sit down and relax.....with the Anthem I felt like I spent the whole cruise walking places.

 

My 12 and 8 yr old liked the Anthem better because they felt like there was more to do for them....but at the same time....they didn't have an issue spending a day at the pool on Grandeur, playing bingo, listening to music in the centrum.

 

Our kids are the same way.  They like the Anthem better.  We like the Grandeur.  We just like smaller ships better in general.  Easier to make new friends.   Much more camaraderie especially on the 12 nighters.  Crew really gets to know you.  Ever since the era of mega ships that personalized service has disappeared.

[smilz]

Sailing on Grandeur in November. We loved her 2 years ago. The service is probably better than all the other RC we have done! Parking is so much easier and cheaper than NYC. Does she lack the sparkle and luster of the newer ships? Yes. But the entire crew will make sure your cruise is great! There was a post a few weeks ago about her being sold. We'll be sad to see her go!

[mskaufman]

We are on in December.  Waiting to hear your report.