Live! DragonOfTheSeas' B2B on the Grandeur of the Seas 3.28 to 4.18.19

[h20skibum]

How has the water temperature been in the pools?   

 

It it looks like it was a nice day in Charleston yesterday.   Better than here, where it is snowing today.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I have not gotten in either pool--so, I can not tell you from personal experience.  There were a number of people by the pool yesterday.  However, there were only a couple of people in the pool.  The hot tubs were in use.  

 

The weather yester day was in the high 60s.  That is a little too cool for me to swim.  We are expecting high 70s today in Port Canaveral.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

 

Last night the entertainment was called "All that Jazz."  We had seen the show before.  Rather than a scripted show it was more a series of musical numbers.  the blonde lead female is very good. 

 

 

 It is hard to see from the picture.  The singer was behind the screen and a series of artists was projected in front of her.  

 

 

 

There was a late night comedy with Nora Lynch last night. We usually go to those.  However the Virginia basketball game was on March Madness. It was on in all the bars and the cabins.

Edited March 31, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

 

My favorite pictures are always sunset at sea.  I have not been posting those so here is the one from last night.  I took this one through the window.  It is not very clear. I will do better tonight. 🙂

 

Edited March 31, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[LuCruise]

Nice review.  Grandeur was my very first cruise so it has a special place to me.

Wow...21 days on a cruise. Not bad! 😊

Edited March 31, 2019 by LuCruise

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We were scheduled to arrive in Port Canaveral at 10:30.  We were almost an hour early.  Here are some pics from the sail in.

That is the Port area above and below.

 

We had lots of company from little boats.  They usually stay away from the cruise ship.  But, these boats were brazen. 

 

You can see how close this one was.

 

We headed for the channel to enter the port. 

 

Then we had a couple more :friends join us.  Look how close they were.  . . .But, we paid them back.  They bobbe up and down when we passed. 

Edited March 31, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We bought a tour from the cruise ship in this port. It is the Ron Jon Shuttle.  It is transportation the Ron Jon Surf Shop that is across the street from Cocoa Beach.  We bought it when they offered a sale a few months ago.  I think it was $38 for the two of us.  We did not feel we would save all that much taking a taxi.  The shuttles run in a loop all day.  

 

We knew we could get a taxi at the port going to the beach.  We are not sure how easy it is to find a taxi back.  So, we took the easy way out. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

These are all pictures of Cape Canaveral as we pulled into port. 

 

 

You can see the water entry is blocked off.

 

They have built a high retaining wall.  I am sure it is to discourage visitors. 

Edited March 31, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

 

Here are the final sail in pictures. There were lots of people on the jetty pier watching the ship sail in.

 

This was a small casino boat.

 

There were several ship in port.  There were some merchant ships.  On the left is the Oasis and you can see a Carnival ship in the background. 

 

 

Here is a close up of the Oasis of the Seas. 

Edited March 31, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[Arzeena]

On 3/29/2019 at 4:10 PM, crisndeefromde said:

anxious to see what you think of all the dry dock improvements.  I follow Mr. Blair on FB and have enjoyed seeing a drydock in progress.  We enjoyed this ship when we were onboard two years ago.  I would rather be on this one then the anthem..great crew

 

Just got off the Anthem and I absolutely agree with you about that!

[superduper123]

Enjoying your review. I will be boarding the Grandeur when you return, on April 18th.

[dutchclogs]

1 hour ago, Arzeena said:

Just got off the Anthem and I absolutely agree with you about that!

 

This is encouraging and reassuring for  our cruise on Grandeur in July. I'm slightly concerned  about how our late teens/twenties sons will find the 'old lady' but we really like the NE and Canada itinerary and there does seem to be a happy ship feel!

[flpenguin]

18 minutes ago, dutchclogs said:

 

This is encouraging and reassuring for  our cruise on Grandeur in July. I'm slightly concerned  about how our late teens/twenties sons will find the 'old lady' but we really like the NE and Canada itinerary and there does seem to be a happy ship feel!

We are in the same boat sailing with a 17 year old and 23 year old but we also wanted the NE/Canada itinerary so told the girls they will just have to find things to do

[breezy_carol]

18 hours ago, Yorkvillain said:

 

I'm a nerd. I zoomed in. That's the Dodgers-Diamondbacks game. 

Ahhh, I thought the grey uniforms were the Yankees and I knew that is who the Orioles were playing.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We spent our afternoon at Shepard Park which is directly across the street from the Ron Jon Surf Shop location. It has showers and restrooms and we were able to rent an umbrella and chairs. They were $28 for an umbrella and two chairs for 3 hours. You have to give them a $10 deposit which they gave you back when you returned it on time. They had a day  rate but, we weren't interested in staying any longer than 3 hours.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Since a couple of you had questions about teens I stopped and got one of their cruise compasses.  These activities are designed for the 12-17 age group. 

 

There is one compass for days 1-5 and I assume there will be one more for the rest of the cruise.  

 

Every night there is a dance party for teens only.  I can not say how well attended it is.  I have not seen many teens on the ship. 

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Here are a couple of pictures of Cocoa Beach.  Today is a Sunday and there were lots of people on the beach.  the traffic was pretty slow.  There is a billboard in the port advertising Ron Jon that says it is 4 miles.  It took us 35 minutes to get there. 

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We are in Miami today.  I was up early for the sunrise again.  Bad habits are hard to break. 😁

 

 

 

The Miami sail in was beautiful.  We sailed parallel to the coast all morning.  It seems to be one high rise after another. 

 

 

The beginning of South Beach

 

High rises in Miami Beach

 

This was a large marina between Miami Beach and the city of Miami. [above and below]

Edited April 1, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[sixesandeights]

How has the food been in the MDR?  Havent seen much food info!!  I will be on board on Saturday and would love to hear about the dining.  Thanks!

 

6&8

[atb]

I didn't see this yet; could you post who the concierge is in the Diamond and Concierge Lounges?  Please and Thankyou

[DragonOfTheSeas]

25 minutes ago, sixesandeights said:

How has the food been in the MDR?  Havent seen much food info!!  I will be on board on Saturday and would love to hear about the dining.  Thanks!

 

6&8

It has been variable for the most part.  We had a pork loin on night 3 that was almost too tough to cut.  Also, a flank steak that our dinner partner had was tough. The prime rib on night 2 was very good. 

 

I am a fan of the French onion soup they serve each night.  I have had it twice already.  DH has said he thinks the desserts are better than they were the last time we cruised.  

 

I will post my impression of the food toward the end of the cruise.  I am not sure I have given it a fair test yet.

 

I will say I was annoyed yesterday.  We got back from the beach around 4.  We had a late breakfast so we did not eat in a beach restaurant.  Also, it was a Sunday and we could see they were very crowded. 

 

The Windjammer closes at 3pm.  So we headed to the Park Café to get a sandwich or a snack to last us until dinner. [8pm for us]  However, they were out of everything.  . .  and they had no intention of getting more.  They are open until 5:30pm.  I took out my camera and took pictures of the empty cases.  DH said aren't you open until 5:30?  There were about 10 of us standing there.  We just left. The person serving wasn't sure what to do.  Hw went and got a chef. who looked at the milling crowded and said he would have someone make a sandwich if someone wanted on.  What I did not understand is why the did not replenish the cases as they became empty. We plan on eating in a South Beach restaurant today.  But, I will check the Park Café this afternoon to see if the same thing happens today. It could have just been a one-off.

[Rogueperson]

Did you say you were using the Surf only option internet?  Is it possible to get a speed test of that?  I've always used the Surf and Stream option, which is pretty slow so I'm curious how slow Surf only option is.

[GarlicBread]

1 hour ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

It has been variable for the most part.  We had a pork loin on night 3 that was almost too tough to cut.  Also, a flank steak that our dinner partner had was tough. The prime rib on night 2 was very good. 

 

I am a fan of the French onion soup they serve each night.  I have had it twice already.  DH has said he thinks the desserts are better than they were the last time we cruised.  

 

I will post my impression of the food toward the end of the cruise.  I am not sure I have given it a fair test yet.

 

I will say I was annoyed yesterday.  We got back from the beach around 4.  We had a late breakfast so we did not eat in a beach restaurant.  Also, it was a Sunday and we could see they were very crowded. 

 

The Windjammer closes at 3pm.  So we headed to the Park Café to get a sandwich or a snack to last us until dinner. [8pm for us]  However, they were out of everything.  . .  and they had no intention of getting more.  They are open until 5:30pm.  I took out my camera and took pictures of the empty cases.  DH said aren't you open until 5:30?  There were about 10 of us standing there.  We just left. The person serving wasn't sure what to do.  Hw went and got a chef. who looked at the milling crowded and said he would have someone make a sandwich if someone wanted on.  What I did not understand is why the did not replenish the cases as they became empty. We plan on eating in a South Beach restaurant today.  But, I will check the Park Café this afternoon to see if the same thing happens today. It could have just been a one-off.

 

Yes it was a one off, USPH were onbaord yesterday doing their inspection. 

Apparently almost no food in the crew mess in the evening either according to a friend onboard. 

[Clarea]

10 minutes ago, Rogueperson said:

Did you say you were using the Surf only option internet?  Is it possible to get a speed test of that?  I've always used the Surf and Stream option, which is pretty slow so I'm curious how slow Surf only option is.

 

Surf only is typically limited to 0.5Mbps, Surf & Stream to 5Mbps.   These numbers will be lower as the load increases.

[Stella777]

I also like to stand topside when we go under the bridge. I always think eventually the ship will hit the bridge but i know that they know the right time to go under the bridge and avoid any mishaps. Counting down the days to board the ship!