Grandeur updates since dry dock?

[smokeybandit]

Just now, Mum2Mercury said:

We're confused though:  We'd heard that Royal was selling Grandeur, and we thought we'd be among the last people to sail her -- but now she's in Dry Dock.  Doesn't sound like something a company would do with a ship they plan to sell.  

One of those situations where if someone's willing to buy, RC would sell. But in the mean time, cruises continue

[Another_Critic]

47 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

We're confused though:  We'd heard that Royal was selling Grandeur, and we thought we'd be among the last people to sail her -- but now she's in Dry Dock.  Doesn't sound like something a company would do with a ship they plan to sell.  

 

Drydocks are mandatory, not optional.

[Mum2Mercury]

57 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

One of those situations where if someone's willing to buy, RC would sell. But in the mean time, cruises continue

That makes sense.  I wonder how they manage the transition period; that is, the time when people have made reservations.  I suppose they'd say, You take possession a year from now after our current reservations are finished. 

8 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

Drydocks are mandatory, not optional.

Well, they're mandatory if you're going to carry passengers.  If Royal were really serious about selling (and the post above makes it sound like they're open to it /not actively seeking a sale), they could dock the ship, making it available only for perusal by potential buyers.  Maybe?  

[RFerrington]

There have been 2 “official” notifications that Royal was selling Grandeur already.  …and both of those have been nixed.  There is just no market for used cruise ships anymore.  My guess is that they will run the Vision class ships until they become financially unviable and then Royal will scrap them.  

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, RFerrington said:

There is just no market for used cruise ships anymore.

Smaller lines, like Margaritaville at Sea, may buy some.

[BND]

2 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

One of those situations where if someone's willing to buy, RC would sell. But in the mean time, cruises continue

She was scheduled to be sold before the pandemic to Pullmantur. When they went out of business, Royal kept her.

[RFerrington]

9 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Smaller lines, like Margaritaville at Sea, may buy some.

I should have said, the used cruise ship market has receded recently….yes, there is still a limited market.  🥱

Edited May 19 by RFerrington

[RoperDK]

7 hours ago, la_croisiere_s'amuse said:

@cruisegirl1, @RoperDK, I hope you enjoyed your cruises. 🙂 Any thoughts to share with us on the ship's condition after dry dock?

 

 

We enjoyed our B2B cruises very much.  We usually cruise on the larger ships and we were pleasantly surprised with Grandeur.  I thought the common areas looked quite nice.  I didn't notice anything in disrepair.  We were in a Grand Suite and the cabin condition inside was great.  Carpet and fabric coverings looked brand new.  Bed was very comfy.  Even though the cabinetry and bath fixtures were older, they looked and worked just fine.  Balcony furniture was a little beat up.  Our AC stopped working at some point, but it was fixed quickly.  I did hear that people in lower deck cabins didn't feel they were in as good a shape as ours. 

 

The internet worked very well.  There was good connectivity in all areas.  The crew were amazing.  I guess that is a big plus on the smaller ships.  We really enjoyed the Centrum entertainment.  We didn't go to any of the theater shows.  We felt that the food was good.  Food was great in the specialty restaurants, very good in the MDR, and the Windjammer was just fine.  I'm not sure that kids would have enough to do on this size ship.  We will definitely book Grandeur again!

 

Let me know if you have any other questions.   

[ONECRUISER]

4 hours ago, RFerrington said:

There have been 2 “official” notifications that Royal was selling Grandeur already.  …and both of those have been nixed.  There is just no market for used cruise ships anymore.  My guess is that they will run the Vision class ships until they become financially unviable and then Royal will scrap them.  

Yes, this going back even 5 yrs. With Royal Ships average passenger capacity running 120% guess not in real hurry. What I pay on Radiance Class, same Cabins on similar Vision Class cruises are lot higher cost with less Cabins not already filled. So looks like they are still making $$$ 

[leaveitallbehind]

3 hours ago, BND said:

She was scheduled to be sold before the pandemic to Pullmantur. When they went out of business, Royal kept her.

Funny how time flies by - we were on her on December 14, 1996, for her maiden voyage. (Met Richard Fain, at the time Chairman and CEO of RCCL, on board).  Sailed on her two other times since. Enjoyed those cruises a lot. And she is now the oldest ship in the RCCL fleet, and likely soon to be no more.  

Edited May 19 by leaveitallbehind

[Mum2Mercury]

4 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Smaller lines, like Margaritaville at Sea, may buy some.

Yes, I'd expect that's the target audience for a ship like Grandeur, though if what I read about Margaritaville is true, I can't see them staying in business for too much longer.  

1 hour ago, RoperDK said:

We enjoyed our B2B cruises very much.  We usually cruise on the larger ships and we were pleasantly surprised with Grandeur.  I thought the common areas looked quite nice.  I didn't notice anything in disrepair.  We were in a Grand Suite and the cabin condition inside was great.  Carpet and fabric coverings looked brand new.  Bed was very comfy.  Even though the cabinetry and bath fixtures were older, they looked and worked just fine.  Balcony furniture was a little beat up.  Our AC stopped working at some point, but it was fixed quickly.  I did hear that people in lower deck cabins didn't feel they were in as good a shape as ours. 

We chose an Inside Guarantee on Grandeur and were assigned to a handicapped cabin on Deck 3.  I didn't particularly like the deck -- felt far from everything -- but we were quite happy with our room.  Everything was in good condition; our bed was not top-notch, but I'd rate it a B, and our AC worked great.  The one thing I didn't like was the shower, which had no curb.  We had to mop up after every shower, but that was a result of being in a handicapped room -- not anything that needed fixing.  

1 hour ago, RoperDK said:

We really enjoyed the Centrum entertainment.  We didn't go to any of the theater shows.  We felt that the food was good.  Food was great in the specialty restaurants, very good in the MDR, and the Windjammer was just fine.  I'm not sure that kids would have enough to do on this size ship.

Yes, enjoyed the Centrum -- especially enjoyed finding a seat on an upper level, where we had some privacy but could hear the music.  

We particularly enjoyed the loveseats in the theater.  Haven't seen that on any other ships.  

MDR food was good, and we thought the Windjammer was great -- they did a different grilled chicken every day at lunch, and I had that (or fish) plus a salad every day.  

A couple other things we enjoyed:  

Boarding in Tampa was super easy.  Small size has its benefits. 

My engineer husband geeked out as we sailed under the bridge on the way out to sea.  

We loved Windjammer's barstool seating looking out over the ocean.  I particularly remember we sat on those stools and watched a huge storm rolling in while we were docked in Cozumel -- weather wasn't our friend on that cruise.  

I particularly enjoyed Park Cafe being adjacent to the Solarium Pool.  

I do agree that our adult children might not've enjoyed Grandeur as much as we did.

1 hour ago, RoperDK said:

We will definitely book Grandeur again!

Yes, we'd choose Lady G again in a heartbeat, though I would expect to pay less than larger, newer ships.  I think our tickets were $360 for a one-week cruise.  

Windjammer.avif

[ONECRUISER]

1 hour ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Funny how time flies by - we were on her on December 14, 1996, for her maiden voyage. (Met Richard Fain, at the time Chairman and CEO of RCCL, on board).  Sailed on her two other times since. Enjoyed those cruises a lot. And she is now the oldest ship in the RCCL fleet, and likely soon to be no more.  

Nice, was on Grandeur 4 times from 1997-2002 inc my first two 10niters. Grandeur was also last Cruise took with my Wife before she passed away. Beautiful ship, known for all the Sea views with all the Glass. Radiance Class was designed using some of the best from Vision and Voyager Classes. Was on Sovereign Cruise #004, Grandeur #012 and Voyager #008, back when they numbered them for us

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, ONECRUISER said:

Nice, was on Grandeur 4 times from 1997-2002 inc my first two 10niters. Grandeur was also last Cruise took with my Wife before she passed away. Beautiful ship, known for all the Sea views with all the Glass. Radiance Class was designed using some of the best from Vision and Voyager Classes. Was on Sovereign Cruise #004, Grandeur #012 and Voyager #008, back when they numbered them for us

We have a similar history.  First cruise was 1992 Sovereign, then Majesty, (both a couple of times) also Grandeur as mentioned as well as Voyager.  And then on to today with a total of 18 different RCCL ships (19 with Odyssey upcoming) across all classes (except Icon), many several times.  Have enjoyed them all for different reasons.  Also do remember when they numbered the cruises - just don't remember which was which anymore.  LOL.

Edited May 19 by leaveitallbehind

[cruisegirl1]

On 5/19/2024 at 3:32 PM, leaveitallbehind said:

Funny how time flies by - we were on her on December 14, 1996, for her maiden voyage. (Met Richard Fain, at the time Chairman and CEO of RCCL, on board).  Sailed on her two other times since. Enjoyed those cruises a lot. And she is now the oldest ship in the RCCL fleet, and likely soon to be no more.  

Lovely memories as well of  our first RCCL and Grandeur cruise back in April of 1997. Still have the boarding photo with the " Miami Inaugural Season" as part of the photo backdrop.  Have been back on a few times throughout the years.  I like to see what has changed, and what has not. 

M

[renza]

Vision class ships will be sold off or scrapped in four or five years. Royal is going to have a discovery class that is going to be smaller ships like vision class. It’s already in the works.

[Another_Critic]

5 minutes ago, renza said:

Royal is going to have a discovery class that is going to be smaller ships like vision class. It’s already in the works.

I've heard that Discovery class is closer to Voyager class.

[renza]

1 hour ago, Another_Critic said:

I've heard that Discovery class is closer to Voyager class.

It’s gonna be more of the radiance class. Smaller ships that will be able to get into many ports that the larger ones can’t.

[RobInMN]

1 hour ago, renza said:

It’s gonna be more of the radiance class. Smaller ships that will be able to get into many ports that the larger ones can’t.

I am not sure where you are getting you information, but every time a captain has mentioned anything about size at a Q&A, they have mentioned Voyager class, and even freedom class. While I would personally love a Radiance class size ship with the modern amenities, I really don't think that the economics of a new Radiance class size ship will work for RCI. There are a couple threads where this has been discussed quite a bit. The length and beam of Voyager vs. Radiance is not that great: 

Voyager class: 311m x 48m, 64m above the water, Freedom 339m

Radiance Class: 293m x 33m (can't find an official stat, but an estimate of 52m)

Radiance was specifically built as a PanaMax, which is 290m x 33m, 58m above the water line.

NeoPanaMax is 366m x 51m, and still 58m. The 58m limit is not due to the locks, but the bridges. Bridges appear to the the limiting factor for a number of ports. Maybe more so than pier. We went on the Arctic Circle on Jewel (Radiance class), and in Flam, the ship is longer than the pier, and in Honningsvag, I swear the pier is less than half the length, maybe closer to 1/3. So I am not sure how much pier length/width is a true limiting factor.

 

My guess is that we will see something close to the length and beam of Voyager, possibly longer, but limiting the height to something that can get under the bridges that they need to. So probably 58m max, and probably using retractable stacks. It will meet other Panama Canal requirements, like the life boats being within the hull line. and likely a self-contained tendering ability like the current Radiance class.

 

 

[renza]

My son works for royal. That’s the information he has

[RobInMN]

The same son that did a summer internship with royal and said that the Quest was never coming back after COVID?

I think I'll put a bit more weight on what the captains are telling people at the Q&A's.

 

But until there's some official announcement (or a very well sourced leak), it's all speculation.

[renza]

57 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

The same son that did a summer internship with royal and said that the Quest was never coming back after COVID?

I think I'll put a bit more weight on what the captains are telling people at the Q&A's.

 

But until there's some official announcement (or a very well sourced leak), it's all speculation.

Now he is not an intern but a full time employee working on a ship. With all the details from headquarters 

     Actually our neighbor is a royal captain as well. It’s Michael Bailey that has all the information. 

Edited May 26 by renza

[BND]

4 hours ago, renza said:

Now he is not an intern but a full time employee working on a ship. With all the details from headquarters 

     Actually our neighbor is a royal captain as well. It’s Michael Bailey that has all the information. 

No one has all the details except at the top.  The Captain knows more than most, but the employees/crew/staff don't know everything lol.  

[BND]

5 hours ago, RobInMN said:

The same son that did a summer internship with royal and said that the Quest was never coming back after COVID?

I think I'll put a bit more weight on what the captains are telling people at the Q&A's.

 

But until there's some official announcement (or a very well sourced leak), it's all speculation.

This, but the reality is, Royal is not going to abandon Tampa or Baltimore so they need ships that will fit in both. Baltimore cruises routinely sell out weeks before a cruise.

[RobInMN]

5 minutes ago, BND said:

This, but the reality is, Royal is not going to abandon Tampa or Baltimore so they need ships that will fit in both. Baltimore cruises routinely sell out weeks before a cruise.

Yep, hence my comments about height being a factor.

When we were on Radiance in April on the PC cruise, the captain straight up said that bridge heights for ports they want to service was a large?/main? consideration in the design.

 

[BND]

7 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

Yep, hence my comments about height being a factor.

When we were on Radiance in April on the PC cruise, the captain straight up said that bridge heights for ports they want to service was a large?/main? consideration in the design.

 

We were on Vision in April and have been on Jewel, GR and EN and for the last year or so, the Captains have all said basically the same thing on the ships we've been on then.

Edited May 26 by BND