Grandeur 3/7-3/12 review

[jimmyatc]

OK....i'm gonna try writing my 1st review of a cruise (my 6th cruise overall), so bear with me. I will do it in cronological order for the most part....and if you have avy questions, please ask :)

 

I (52) was travelling with my 49 yr old sister & 73 y.o. mother. Our best friends (52 & 62 y.o. couple) were going with us.

 

We arrived at the Tampa port at 11:15AM to unload our bags. Parking at Tampa is 12 per day ($60) if you park yourself, or 15 per day ($75) for valet parking. It is well worth the extra $15 plus tip to all get out and go together into the terminal, instead of waiting for the driver to park the car and return. I wish more ports would do this. The cars are parked in a protected fenced-in area, instead of the parking structure, so I think that is an advantage also.

 

EMBARKATION: We got to security at 11:20, and we were on the ship at 11:35 !! That was our fastest ever!! Two things I wanted to mention about the terminal ---

First at security....I had 3 bottles of water in my carry-on including one in a side slot on the bag, and nothing was said about this, which was fine. BUT my sister was sipping a bottle of water, and they made her finish it and through it out before going through the checkpoint. Very strange...apparently, open bottles of water are a larger security threat than closed ones....figure that out :confused:

Second at checkin.....on the entire cruise, we only met one "less than friendly" RCI employee...and this is where it happened. The lady at the checkin counter was not courteous at all. When we asked here a few questions, we got 1 or 2 word answers (and an attitude). To make matters worse, when we got on the ship, our charge cards didn't work..and we had to go to the main desk to get them activated. There were no lines at checkin (in fact, they really had too many windows open), so there was no reason for her to act this way towards us. She was very un-RCI employee like.

[jimmyatc]

WINDJAMMER: We went straight to the Windjammer buffet--ah--so we thought we were going straight there. I looked on the info sheet we received at embarkation and saw that it was on Deck 9, so we headed straight to the back of the ship on Deck 9. I thought all RCI ships had the buffet in the back, but it was at the front!! Oh well....we found where the solarium was...lol.

There was a very good selection of food at the windjammer every day for breakfast & lunch (never went there for dinner). Food was very good..just wish there were more drink choices.

 

ROOM: At 1PM, we went to our junior suite on deck 8. Room was very clean, but was showing alot of "wear & tear" in the bathroom. The Grandeur junior suites also don't have the extra-large closet (that doubles as a changing room) that is common to the Voyager & Freedom class ships. We met our room attendent Hudson. We have been on 6 cruises now, and Hudson is now one of our 2 favorite attendants ever. He seemed to only have one speed....very fast!! He was very helpful to us many times (in addition to his normal duties), and would always go out of his way to say hi to my Mom and make her feel special....a huge plus with me :)

 

DINNER: We had the early seating, and were originally scheduled to sit at a table for 10 (us 5 and others). When we went back to our room to get ready for dinner, we received a note that we had been moved to a table of 5 by the window (just what we wanted). We met our waiter Mirko from Serbia and asst. Donato from the Phillipines. Mirko was very friendly and helpful all week, but was very quiet. We really didn't get to know him as well as past waiters/waitresses we had. I think Donato was very new at the job, because on the first day, he had alot of trouble keeping up with the soft drink orders and bread. He seemed to get much better each day as he developed a "system"....and he was always smiling!!

Food was standard RCI menu, and was very good. Never tried the $15 Chops steak because the regular one was fine. We were also surprised to see lobster on the menu, as we were told on a previous cruise that it was only served on 7 day or longer cruises.

One complaint here...and it is directed at RCI management, not the wait staff ----- you NEED to bring back the bartenders in the dining room. Making your waiter turn in drink orders and bring them to the table really slows down the dinner service. We heard this from many people on the cruise.

[jimmyatc]

COMEDIAN TOM BRISCOE: We arrived at the Welcome Aboard show late, but in time for Tom Briscoe. He was fairly funny (about a 7 out of 10), but when he did his late night show three days later, he was not funny at all (maybe a 3 out of 10....and he repeated some of his opening night jokes..a real no-no when performing to the same audience).

 

CD DAN WHITNEY & ASST CD RACHEL FISH: I would put Dan Whitney at about the middle of all the CD's we have seen. He was extremely funny at the Belly Flop competition and his morning show on TV, but seemed to be going through the motions as the MC for the production shows. We also didn't see him around the ship that much at other times... the best ones seem to be everywhere.

NOW HERE THIS RCI --- PLEASE promote Rachel to the CD position NOW. She is absolutely fantastic and deserves it. She is very funny, quick witted, tireless, very personable and a great event MC. She also seemed to show up at every event on the ship, even if she wasn't part of that event. She makes it a point to say hi to everyone she passes. She has all the qualities of our all-time favorite CD's.

 

NOTE TO CD STAFF: Now everyone on this cruise knew that there would be a good number of early spring breakers on board, and that is not a bad thing. They made events such as the belly flop competition better than usual....but the staff should watch out about excluding the older cruisers from events. For example...all the judges from the audience for karaoke superstar were young kids (every night).....all the contestants for Majority Rules were young kids.....all the contestants for the Battle of the Sexes game show were young.....etc. There were many older people in the audience for these games, but the usual way the staff pick contestants was this announcement..." the first 8 people on the dance floor will be our players". So naturally the 18-25 group sprinted to the floor, thus excluding us older folk. A better way might be to asked for volunteers 25 & under, then 26-50, then 50 & older. This will give you a nice crossection of players, and everyone will enjoy it. Just a suggestion to the CD staff and RCI :)

 

KARAOKE SUPERSTAR: Always a great time, but the talent seemed to be very limited on this cruise...in fact the weakest I have seen on all our cruises (yes, I am a big Idol fan..lol). If you have missed this event on your cruises, try to catch it one night...and you will be hooked too.

[jimmyatc]

COZUMEL: One of our favorite ports.....good shopping with limited harassment...great bars....excellent state park where you can swim with the dolphins.

NOTE ABOUT PRICES: I actually got this advise from a Cruise Critic thread, and it is absolutely true --> Ask a vendor what the price is for an item...then divide by 3. You can usually bargain down to one third of the original price. This workes especially well with jewelry. My sister was quoted $250 for a bracelet. She worked the price down to $110, then said to the vendor that she changed her mind and didn't want it anymore.

As she was walking out the door, the vendor yelled $90...and that is what she paid. She also got a $24 (marked price) beach towel for $9. It worked well a few other times too, but I can't remember the items now.

 

COSTA MAYA: Small new village at the pier is apparently at least partially owned/built by RCI. Good food, nice friendly vendors, nice pool (good thing...the beach is all rocks)....but the prices are much higher than in the town of Muhahaal (spelled something like that). I suggest looking at the items at the shore shops, and then checking in town ($4 p.p. cab) for a lower price. You can always buy it at the shore shops on the way back to the ships.

There were 2 Mexican army officers in full gear "patrolling" (and I use that term loosely) the cruise ship pier. Their main job seemed to be posing for pictures with bikini clad girls. I know there is unrest in Mexico inland, but I would have felt safer if they were patrolling Muhahaal, instead of the dock. Any "bad guys" would have to go through Muhahaal and the village at the pier to get to the dock, so they seem to be in the wrong place....just my opinion.

[Buckeyefan]

Thanks Jimmy. My teenager wants to know - how was the pizza and self-serve ice cream.

[hairdoer]

Jimmy....we are going to Bermuda on Grandeau in Sept. Our cabin is on deck 8.....can you tell me which cabin you were in???? We are also in a JS. Hoping the balcony and bit larger room is worth the money???

[jimmyatc]

Thanks Jimmy. My teenager wants to know - how was the pizza and self-serve ice cream.

 

I was gonna answer this later as part of the solarium part, but now is just as good ----Pizza, hot dogs, and hamburgers are always available in the solarium (deck 9...back of ship). The pizza was pretty good (being a NYer, I know what good pizza is... lol ). It was almost always fresh out of the oven, but if it was on the rack too long, just wait a few minutes and a fresh one will be coming out.

The hot dogs and hamburgers were another thing. They were put out on a table in a large dish with 2 sternos underneath to keep them hot.......doesn't work at all. They were always luke warm or cold. On the other RCI ships, you go up to the counter and ask for them. They take them fresh of the grill and give them to you...nice and hot. NOT HERE. The entire pan of about 50 burgers or hot dogs comes out from the kitchen...so they have been sitting in the back for some time before they are brought out. Even if you find a burger that is semi-hot...by the time you add fixins, it is very cold.

This was the only food related problem we encountered on the ship. They need to change this system.

 

The ICE CREAM was great !!! They had vanilla, chocolate, and swirl soft serve available from about 10AM to 7PM every day right next to the pool on Deck 9. I think this ice cream machine was my weight gain downfall on the cruise...lol. I was "forced" to stop at it every time I walked past it (and I walked past it alot !! )

[jimmyatc]

Jimmy....we are going to Bermuda on Grandeau in Sept. Our cabin is on deck 8.....can you tell me which cabin you were in???? We are also in a JS. Hoping the balcony and bit larger room is worth the money???

 

We were in room 8560 (right side - aft) and our friends were in 8030 (left side - forward). We had 3 people in our room, so we needed to use the sofa bed. The extra room made it possible to walk out to the balcony without having to climb over the foot of the bed (as happens in the standard rooms when the sofa bed is open). You also get a tub in the JS...the standard room only gets a shower. The balcony was longer too, but they still only provided 2 chairs on it. We requested and received a 3rd chair too.

 

One big negative about the Grandeur....standard suitcases DO NOT fit under the beds, as they do on the newer ships. Some of the extra room we had was used to place the empty suitcases against the wall. I have no clue where they put suitcases in the standard rooms ...

[jimmyatc]

SOLARIUM: Read post #7 above to learn about the food in the solarium.

 

The solarium was a very nice, quiet place away from the spring break noise of the main pool. The roof was left closed the entire 5 days...which was strange since it was definitely warm enough to open it on this cruise. It was good to see security enforcing the 16 and up age limit too. If people-watching is your thing, head to the main pool....if you want to read and/or relax, the Solarium is definitely the place to be :)

 

MARK TAYLOR - CHAMPION OF MAGIC: Closing show on day 5, and one of the best shows we have ever seen on a cruise ship...definitely not to be missed. I am usually not a big fan of magicians, but he totally dazzled us with routines we had never seen before.

 

DISEMBARKATION: Simply put..the best we have ever experienced. We were called within 5 minutes of our assigned time. A few minutes later, we found our luggage. There was no line at customs, so we were through there in less than 2 minutes. We gave our valet stub to the attendant and we were on our way (packed and in the car) in another 5 minutes. Fantastic!!!! In under 15 minutes, we were on our way home....of course we were very sad that the cruise was over :(

[jimmyatc]

RANDOM FINAL THOUGHTS:

 

1. The ship was older and doesn't have all of the current perks of the newer ones, but the CREW was outstanding....as good as we have seen on any RCI cruise.
   
2. Needed to use the medical office one day for a recurring cough...the staff there was Fantastic...especially nurse Paula Cruz (thank you so much!!!!! ). On the day I was there, the office was swamped. Crew members were being seen as this is their time period, as well as many passengers coming back on the ship very, very drunk...two of them actually passed out. Through all the craziness that was going on (including a computer crash in the office), Paula was very professional and extremely courteous. I just hope RCI reads these reviews so fantastic crew members like Paula are properly recognized for their contributions to our great cruise!!! I am also sending an email to Customer Service to inform them how great she was. :)
   
3. Final thought about Karaoke Superstar ---- this "Idol" competion is held 3 or 4 times at night in the South Pacific lounge to a packed house. It is obviously one of the most popular events on the ship......so it was very strange that the finals were held at 2:45PM (on a beautiful sunny day) in the Palladium theater on day 5, instead of at night like the rest of the week. The crowd was obviously the smallest the entire week, and that was too bad. After the closing night show, there was nothing else scheduled for the Palladium theater, so there is no reason it can't be held at night there.
   

a few more thoughts to come later today.

[starlake]

jimmyatc,

I have ejoyed reading your review. The Grandeur is one of my favorite ships.

I have to agree with you about the crew. They are wonderful. We had our best waiter and assistant waiter on our last cruise on the Grandeur.

 

We have always been able to put our suitcases under the bed. 26 and 28 inches. Sometimes you have to do a little lifting of the end of the bed, and they slide right under.

 

I am really disappointed to read about the hamburgers in the solarium. When we were on the ship last Oct., they were freshly made---you usually had to stand in line to get one.

 

Thanks again for your review.

[gvi]

Thank you for the review. We are on Grandeur in August - in the same cabin! 8560. We will be sailing with our two sons (11 and 5). I'm hoping the cabin will work out. We had a standard balcony on Freedom last July and it worked out.

 

Thanks again for all your comments!

[jimmyatc]

Thanks all for your kind words. Another thing I just thought of....

 

SODA PACKAGE: A lot of people have left some "less than stellar" comments on Cruise Critic about service (long waits, less than pleasant service, dirty looks, being ignored) when you go to a bar and try to get a soda refill. Well, I don't know if RCI has had a talk with bartenders and waitstaff, or if it's just the great staff on the Grandeur, but they were absolutely great when getting us refills. No complaints...no slow service...no one ignored us.......just typical great RCI service. This was the first cruise that I felt the soda package was fully worth it. Thanks Grandeur staff.

 

GVI --- the cabin will be perfect for your family. The sofa bed is perfect for your 2 kids, and the entrance to the kids club is almost directly above you on Deck 10. Have a great time !!!!