Grandeur OS Dec 20 = 28 2019

[mskaufman]

Here are some notes from last week's voyage on Grandeur.  Happy to answer questions.

 

Embarkation - Thanks Baltimore for another great experience.  I live less than a half hour from the port.  I left my house at 10:40 and I was having lunch in the Windjammer by 11:40. Quick and easy.

 

Food - Food was good, although not awesome.  Breakfast covered the basics and was good.  Lunch in Windjammer was also good.  It seemed like they were emphasizing things like hot dogs, burgers, and pizza although there were other options.  Fish was grilled and tasted the same daily.  Also, veggie burgers were out front and did not require a special order.  Desserts were fine and varied. Dinner in the MDR was very good.  Dishes were well presented and service was excellent.  Food quality was better than good.  Most nights the only salad option was the, always available, Caesar Salad.  A mixed salad was not an option.  Soups were always excellent.  Some special desserts on Christmas.

 

Cabin - We were on deck 2 forward.  Recommend keeping away from that area.  It seemed to be over the thrusters noisy when entering or leaving port.  We had a problem in the stateroom with some kind of leak. Let's just say the carpet was squishy.  The housekeeping supervisor for deck 2 was wonderful in resolving the problem and making sure we had adequate accommodations. 

 

Entertainment - Varied and good.  Cruise Director (Clo) was excellent.  Remainder of activities staff were very good, although at times staff members for whom English was a second language were sometimes assigned to a game where knowledge of English was important to know if answers were the same or not.

 

Ports

First two sea days - Weather was not good.  Wind blowing at something like 50 mph.  Lots of people with motion sickness.  As cold as it was there were kids in the pool while the lifeguard wore a woolen hat.  

 

Coco Cay - Weather made it not quite perfect.  Light rain in the morning then a break.  It was more muddy than sandy.  About 2pm the monsoons came.  When we got back to the ship we were soaked (and never went in the water).

 

 

[jcl410]

Thanks for posting! We're scheduled to go on the Grandeur in October.

 

We got married on her in 2009, and are looking forward to one more trip on her before she leaves the fleet.

 

Aloha,

 

John

[ONECRUISER]

Thanks for sharing, loved this ship. Was on it two 10&11 nite Cruises 17 & 20yrs ago. Single Father with 3 young kids, many great Memories. Wish could get on it one more time.

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review and pics!

[mskaufman]

6 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

Thanks for sharing, loved this ship. Was on it two 10&11 nite Cruises 17 & 20yrs ago. Single Father with 3 young kids, many great Memories. Wish could get on it one more time.

 

This was our second trip on her.  The first was in something like 2002 or 03.

[Carol28]

Going on her in late March. I'm just worried about the noise issue above our cabin 8508. We tried to select one that had nothing above us, but I've read recently about lots of noise from above in other staterooms on this level. And, I also read about several cabins that had leaks.  

Edited December 30, 2019 by Carol28

[SRF]

We have sailed in 8516 3 times.  There is some noise from them moving tables and chairs around in the morning.  It was not enough to wake us,  but noticeable if you were awake.

 

No noise from other cabins (and 8516 is a connecting cabin).

 

No leaks.

[island lady]

1 hour ago, SRF said:

We have sailed in 8516 3 times.  There is some noise from them moving tables and chairs around in the morning.  It was not enough to wake us,  but noticeable if you were awake.

 

No noise from other cabins (and 8516 is a connecting cabin).

 

No leaks.

 

How about 8588 (hanging off the tail end)?  Doing that one in June and then forward to 8532 in September.  

[ONECRUISER]

5 hours ago, mskaufman said:

 

This was our second trip on her.  The first was in something like 2002 or 03.

Kool, In 2002 did  10nite on Feb 1 and a 9nite on Apr 26. Was our first Cruises longer then 7nite...

[shipgeeks]

OP, you mentioned CD Clo.  Is she an Irish woman?  The CD on Regal Empress, many years ago, was named Clo.  Could it be the same?

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, shipgeeks said:

Is she an Irish woman?  

Yes, she's been with RCI for a long time.

[bbixler18]

Was on this cruise myself.  Loved the fighter jet show on Friday afternoon off of the Outer Banks!  Never realized how loud those things were but then I had never been that close to one...WOW!

[Cru1s1ng2009]

We almost always sail out of Baltimore. I got a quick 4 ngt for my DD 18 bday on Indy. Can I say we had a great time but nothing beats the grandeur in my book? My dd commented at dinner that the crew is nice but not like those who work on Lady G. She also said she liked the smaller ships because you really only do the extras once and that's it.

We sail on her on November for 12 glorious nights where we will say goodbye to her and welcome Enchantment back for our next one.

 

Glad you had a good time!

[BillHoo]

All nice reivews.  I'm sailing GOS in late September.  First time on that boat.

 

Hopefully the hurricane season will be mild.

Edited December 30, 2019 by BillHoo

[mskaufman]

7 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

OP, you mentioned CD Clo.  Is she an Irish woman?  The CD on Regal Empress, many years ago, was named Clo.  Could it be the same?

Clo is the CD.  We thought she did an excellent job.  Her jokes were good, although sometimes it seemed too scripted.  

[mskaufman]

5 hours ago, bbixler18 said:

Was on this cruise myself.  Loved the fighter jet show on Friday afternoon off of the Outer Banks!  Never realized how loud those things were but then I had never been that close to one...WOW!

 

A little more detail on what happened.  We were in the Windjammer and could see something coming at us for about 20 seconds before it got there.  Turns out we were buzzed by a US fighter jet.

[mskaufman]

12 hours ago, SRF said:

We have sailed in 8516 3 times.  There is some noise from them moving tables and chairs around in the morning.  It was not enough to wake us,  but noticeable if you were awake.

 

No noise from other cabins (and 8516 is a connecting cabin).

 

No leaks.

 

We had friends in 8514 who remarked that they could hear things being dragged across the pool deck.  They did not think it was a show stopper.  They were very happy with the cabin.

[bbixler18]

15 minutes ago, mskaufman said:

 

A little more detail on what happened.  We were in the Windjammer and could see something coming at us for about 20 seconds before it got there.  Turns out we were buzzed by a US fighter jet.

 

We saw it 3 times from our aft balcony.  It was a wild show.  The last time he flew from our right to left and when he was basically directly behind the ship, he pulled it straight up and rolled it over when it got into the clouds.  Just an awesome display of power and I'm sure he was laughing his ass off.  I would have to assume the captain was aware this would/was happening.  I mean he made at least 3 different "buzzings".  And maybe a fourth that we heard but didn't see at first.

[SRF]

20 hours ago, island lady said:

 

How about 8588 (hanging off the tail end)?  Doing that one in June and then forward to 8532 in September.  

 

Did the Royal Family (now 2 bedroom Grand) Suite on Granduer at the stern once.  LOVELY room.

 

No noise issues.

[mskaufman]

10 hours ago, bbixler18 said:

 

We saw it 3 times from our aft balcony.  It was a wild show.  The last time he flew from our right to left and when he was basically directly behind the ship, he pulled it straight up and rolled it over when it got into the clouds.  Just an awesome display of power and I'm sure he was laughing his ass off.  I would have to assume the captain was aware this would/was happening.  I mean he made at least 3 different "buzzings".  And maybe a fourth that we heard but didn't see at first.

 

Sounds like I missed part of it.  WOW!

[suesnake2002]

Op giggled at your comment on the english language. Was it Romeo from the phillipines?? He ran alot of the trivia and alot of people had trouble understanding him. It was comical 

[island lady]

3 hours ago, SRF said:

 

Did the Royal Family (now 2 bedroom Grand) Suite on Granduer at the stern once.  LOVELY room.

 

No noise issues.

 

We are JS on deck 8 mid wake.  Thanks for the update!  Good to hear it's a quiet area.  I never book aft cabins on the Radiance ladies on deck 10 due to the open WJ up there overhead with the scraping chairs.  With the spa up overhead on Grandeur...agree was always quiet on deck 8 on sister EN...(AKA Enstretchment) as well.  

[mskaufman]

3 hours ago, suesnake2002 said:

Op giggled at your comment on the english language. Was it Romeo from the phillipines?? He ran alot of the trivia and alot of people had trouble understanding him. It was comical 

 

Yes, Romeo was one who had trouble with English.  One night he was doing majority rules and had no clue that throw up, vomit and puke were the same answer.  Comical is correct.

[Philly Steve]

Thanks for the review and pics.  Will miss Lady-G when she leaves the fleet.  We will say farewell come April 4th after a half dozen cruises. 

[mskaufman]

Here is a link to some more pictures

 

https://granduer2019.shutterfly.com/