Just returned - Grandeur 4-7/4-14

[drpclarke]

This was my fifth cruise - third with Royal Caribbean - and after a not-so-wonderful cruise with Sovereign, my faith in RCCL has been restored!

 

Embarkation- Trouble getting the bus transfer. We waited over an hour at the bus stop thing at the airport, in the freezing cold, to catch the bus. However, embarkation itself was very smooth - no wait in lines!

 

Food-The answer is....it depends. Some things in the Windjammer unnerved me a little bit ---smoked salmon in every form, I swear it was leftover from breakfast the day prior. And vegetable curry? I love the stuff, but was it fresh daily, or the same batch??? Yikes. And the dessert police, too....somewhat of a bummer. However, the dinners in the dining room were surprisingly good with the exception of the infamous steak and some broiled cod thing I had. The duck, the escargot, the shrimp cocktail, and some beef thing my honey had on formal night were all wonderful and quite a surprise. Hey, the wings offered by room service (not the ones at snacktime) were pretty good too!

 

Adventure Ocean - my eight year old was okay with it, but not thrilled. I do not think this was an indicator of the quality of the program as there were many activities going on ---my son is just a quiet type.

 

Cabin - small shower, but you know that going on a cruise. Very clean.

 

Bars- I swear whenever I went to the Schooner Bar it was closed. Now, the bartender in the casino was fabulous- learned our names immediately, and occasionally gave us free drinks too. Yum!

 

Behaviors-Some smart alecky teenager types were in the solarium and were just being loud and obnoxious - but boy, security came after them. Lots of kids on the cruise, but man, anything inappropriate or loud was addressed pronto!

 

Service- Absolutely fabulous. OUr cabin steward, Basil, was just yummy. The waiters in the dining room were all wonderful.

 

Activities:

art auction - I was stupid and missed the meet and mingle because I was so convinced I would win something in the art auction. Stupid, stupid.

 

shows - can't help you there....didn't go to any.

 

trivia games - I'm a junkie and did those. Some were hosted by "Erky from Turkey".....a little nerdy man, but quite hilarious and very popular...even to the point where he offers "Dollar Bill Origami with Erky" and a huge crowd shows up.

 

Bingo - hey, I didn't win.

 

Ports:

Grand Cayman - we got off the boat early so we spent a LOT of time on the island, then did the land and sea tour. The submarine thing was nice, my son LOVED it. I was disappointed in the turtle farm, and Hell is certainly nothing to write home about. However, we left feeling like we had really seen a lot of Grand Cayman, between the tour and our exploring earlier.

 

Costa Maya - very crowded, but definitely a place to have fun. Can buy inexpensive Mexican souvenirs, also. We were signed up for the Mayan Reality Tour ---and the bus broke down in the jungle. Waited for an hour until we were "Rescued". Our tour guide obviously felt bad but handled it so well....gave everyone beers while we waited. RCCL refunded all of us. In spite of that, it was a good day..lots of fun with people on the bus, and we did get to see Costa Maya.

 

Cozumel - took our son to Tulum - the Express tour, which worked out perfectly with our schedule. On the way back, went to Cozumel for shopping and had THE WORLD'S BEST MARGARITAS AND GUACAMOLE at ...oh crap, I can't remember, it's like PEdro's Porch or something. Great souvenir shop there and made a bunch of purchases. It was our second time there and definitely remains our favorite place in Cozumel.

 

New Orleans - we did the city tour the last day and saw how the city is bouncing back from the hurricane - even though so much damage is still evident. Made us thankful for what we have.

 

 

Hand sanitizers are everywhere. I wish people would USE THEM!

 

I was leery about going on this cruise - especially it being the week before dry dock ---but everything was in perfect order. No complaints, other than I wish I was still on it. This definitely ranks up there as one of my favorite cruises.

 

Rachel

Fantasy 12/00

Imagination 6/01

Splendour 6/03

Sovereign 12/04

Grandeur 4/07

[Safetyal]

Quick question, what are the dessert police? Not familiar with that one.

[drpclarke]

It's so piddely, but kind of funny----gone are the days when you could walk to the dessert bar in the Windjammer and put different things on a plate yourself. Now there are servers, and you have to point to what you want, and they'll serve you. It's okay, until you get behind someone who wants a detailed ingredient list for each and every item...

[Safetyal]

It's so piddely, but kind of funny----gone are the days when you could walk to the dessert bar in the Windjammer and put different things on a plate yourself. Now there are servers, and you have to point to what you want, and they'll serve you. It's okay, until you get behind someone who wants a detailed ingredient list for each and every item...

 

Ah, now I understand. Not being much of a dessert person, I may not have noticed. I do all of my overeating on the main course, and boy do I over eat.:D

[unggoy]

I thought it was kinda odd that there was dessert police as well.

[wolfcathorse]

Rachael, did you have Capt Remo (the old guy with white hair?)

 

Costa Maya is an artificial port owned and built by the cruiseline. If you really want to see Mexico there you gotta take a cab to Majahual. Even that's losing it's sleepy fishing village theme with all the bars opening up on the beach.

[CrusingJoe]

Rachael, did you have Capt Remo (the old guy with white hair?)

 

Costa Maya is an artificial port owned and built by the cruiseline. If you really want to see Mexico there you gotta take a cab to Majahual. Even that's losing it's sleepy fishing village theme with all the bars opening up on the beach.

 

Did the captian say anything about what was going to be done to the ship in dry dock?

[ispooks]

sounds great! we are going on grandeur in august - wondering what the room service menus are like for the kids, not sure if we are taking them to dining room, or buffet, or room service - can u compare the room service menu to the dining room choices for kids?

 

thanks!

[silentbob007]

In Cozumel ... sounds like you went to Pancho's Backyard at Los Cincos Soles.