Carnival cruiser interested in the Grandeur

[finoky]

Hi, first let me say this is a legit post. Not looking to start trouble or stir any pots! We are seriously thinking about taking the 9 day out of Norfolk next May on the Grandeur of the Seas. Gas being what it is these days, and Norfolk being only 25 minutes from us, there will be no flights to deal with. We will have about 16 people, all friends and family sailing in our little group. The adults are all in our mid 40's. Included will be four teen girls ranging in ages from 15-17. None of us are big drinkers or partiers. We enjoy the usual activites that can be found on most of the ships like the shows, live music, casino, etc. So, what can some Carnival cruisers expect from RCL. How does the food and menus compare? Is there a dedicated teen area? Balcony cabins? Etc.. Any info is greatly appreciated, thanks.:)

[megsterl]

I have not been on carnival but i have been on the grandeur it was my first cruise and is still one of my favorite ships. The ship itself is on the small side and doesnt have some of the luxuries the new RC ships have such as the ice rink or promenade. That being said some people including myself enjoy the smaller ships better. The fact that you are going with a large group makes it fun as well that way if you want to go the club at night even though your not big drinkers or party people you know there will be a good crowd. Food is very subjective and I have never had any big complaints about food on any line. My big thing is you and your friends will make the cruise go, have a great time and try not to compare the two lines to much. The other thing to remember is it seems to me that whatever cruise line you go on the first time will always have a special place in your heart and like i said try not to compare too much have a good time and keep smiling.

[Pumbaamd]

Grandeur is smaller than most other RCCL ships. She is a Vision class ship, just a notch above the even smaller Soverign class. However still a nice size ship, at 74,000 tons she is well equipped. She has an outdoor pool as well as the indoor Solarium pool, for adults, which has a bar and a snack area (limited hours for the bar and food).

We sailed on her in a large group from Baltimore to NOLA in 2006 for her repo cruise. This cruise was 13 days, and, we were never bored or had a problem. We had aft JS 8088, a larger suite facing aft. Extremely nice, but a long walk to anywhere.

The staff and crew were excellent. Our cabin steward, Mr. T, was always available and helpful. He was a major factor in us enjoying our cruise. In the Dining room, head waiter Geno, and his assistant Katrina, made our table a lovely experience.

We can not give Grandeur and her staff and crew enough credit. It was a truly outstanding cruise.

(RCCL, we know you are reading this . . . the above staff and crew deserve extra credits. They were wonderful!)

Rick and Deirdra

[fendbass]

We took a family cruise (14 people) on Granduer of the Seas out of Tampa in mid-Febuary. My mom who paid for the cruise, was first going to book a Carnival cruise (the Inspiration, I think), but, I talked her out of it

 

Both ships are on the older, smaller side, because they will just barely fit under the Sunshine Skyway bridge

 

My main issue with Carnival is the stateroom setup. There are either 2 single beds at a 90-degree angle, or, they are pushed together to make a king-size bed, but, the person on the inside has to climb over the person on the outside to use the bathroom at night. The Granduer has a conventional cabin setup, and lots more balconies. It was the first time my parents had had a balcony, they just loved it.

[Di's going to cruise again]

I've cruised on Carnival, too. Miracle, Glory, and Inspiration. I sailed Granduer two years ago, and I will sail her again this October from Baltimore. Love the Baltimore departures - 20 minutes from home!

 

I think it's unfail to compare the smaller Grandeur to the larger Carnival ships, but here are my views:

 

Food - better on Carnival. There was more to choose from on Miracle and Glory (like the fish -n- chips bar and sushi). Both have pizza. Dinner menus were about the same. You may find some dissapointments in the food if you are used to the larger Carnival ships.

 

Service - Hands-down better on Granduer. I've had hit-or-miss service on Carnival, but on both of my RCCL sailings, I had great service.

 

Ship - Carnival ships are a bit 'Las Vegas', while Granduer was more 'Phoenix'. Gaudy vs well-appointed. That didn't bother me much, as I like both Las Vegas and Phoenix.

 

Make sure you go the shows early - they get crowded fast.

 

All-on-all, the ease of getting to the ship from home; and then getting home from the ship makes sailing the Granduer a win-win for me.

[Jrabbit128]

I actually went on my first RCCL cruise on the Grandeur about a month ago and it was nice. My hubby and I had only done Carnival before which we loved!!!! My sister and her family wanted to go on Royal so we booked the Grandeur since it was during the week the kids were off of school. Unfortunately, my sister was not able to come. But my hubby and I had fun, despite the engine problems we had. The ship was nice. We had an inside room, which we always get since we are hardly in the room anyway, and it was smaller than Carnival's but still nice. We had the best waiter of all, Rashmann, and he was in charge of the overnight room service so when we would order, he would send some desert to us too! He was the greatest! The staff was all really nice! I had issues with RCCL prior to the actual cruise so before I even went on the ship, I was vowing never to go on Royal after this, but once we were on board, everything changed! I think you will like it! My suggestion to you is try to make friends with the waiters, especially a waiter named Julius who is Philippine. He is great with the drinks. If you tip a little extra, he will hook you up!! And by far, you MUST go to the Quest show! Get there very very early because it gets packed really fast but trust me...it is worth it! We had so much fun, my hubby lost his pants...LITERALLY!!! That was the greatest show they had!

[finoky]

Thank you all so much for the great responses. I have been really looking into this cruise since fuel prices have skyrocketed out of control. We used to be able to fly to Florida, hotel day early, balcony cabins, stay an extra day after the cruise, all far cheaper than we could cruise locally here in Virginia. That's not the case anymore. The pictures I have seen of the ship so far online are very impressive. I must say that the decor looks very nice. I really like the itinerary and what's not to like about a 9 day cruise. Right now I would say we are 60/40 in favor of this cruise.

[ispooks]

my family sailed grandeur last august - myself, husband and 2 sons - were 9 and 14 at the time... they do have a teen area - they did not have as many kids as we were used to on the larger ships, but my kids had a blast! sometimes the teen area is used for the younger kids, and they set the teens up in a lounge, but it is pretty organized for that age group and the staff in the teen and kids sections were great! they had teen dinners together, as well as activities... we found the ship to be very well kept up, staff was good, food was ok, even the pizza and hot dogs were ok, but we certainly did not go hungry!:) we all enjoyed ourselves and are booked on a larger ship this year - mariner of the seas, but we all had fun on grandeur!

 

hope this helps!

[finoky]

Thanks again for the replies. Well, having changed my signature I guess we are going on the Grandeur after all. Everyone in the group seems very excited about this cruise, myself included. Now we just need to decide on either the May 7th or May 21st sailing. Should know in a few weeks and then we can go ahead and plop down the deposits. Maybe I should now look into changing my CC screen name!

[silentbob007]

I think where Grandeur really trails Carnival is in the food. There are not as many different options available and the food is not as good ... can't really even compare the two different pizzas, for example. However, Grandeur does have an adults only area that is very nice and is overall a very pretty ship.

[ccxnola]

Tony,

Grandeur was our first cruise! We made a plan to try 'several' cruise lines when I first retired - and Grandeur was our first. Then after only two others (in our price bracket), we decided that RCCL would be our cruise line of choice and I must admit Grandeur is our favorite! (see my sig below) We were fortunate to sail with Rick & Deirdra (Pumbaamd) and many other GREAT Cruise Critic folks when Grandeur was brought back to New Orleans after Katrina - and it was a GREAT cruise with excellent service from the staff, interesting ports to visit, good food in the dining room, GREAT room service (morning breakfast on the aft balcony was really special) and most of all, a fantastic group of CC folks on-board. Be sure to get to the Roll Call, sign-up for the M&M and if there is not a HTGE (Home Town Gift Exchange) going, email to me (ccxnola at aol dot com) and Ill tell you how it's done. All good fun!! Have a GREAT cruise on Grandeur!!