WVHillbilly

For what it's worth, we booked Alaska for May 2020, when our TA was calling Princess, they commented that their 2020 cruises were selling better than the 2019 cruises.  This may be the reason for the sales for 2019 being so good.  I agree with the others book what you want now and reprice if things go down.

7 hours ago, ladytaekwondo said:

Wonderful review!  Loved your photos!

Thank you.  Heading out to board the Majesty of the Seas next month and will be doing another post cruise review.

We had the clam shells in December, they were just past the floating bar.  We grabbed a drink on the way to the clam shells and then waded out to the floating bar for another one, so don't remember if there was one closer.  I don't think the food was more than a 5 minute stroll (slow walk).  No paved pathways just sand, the road (tramway) was hard packed sand and easy walking.

One thing I like to do before sailing is to watch some of the videos that you find of the ship and to study the deck plans so you have an idea where everything is.  This will save you from wandering the ship feeling lost. 

We were able to get Kraken Rum on both the Oasis and Grandeur.

Have only been to two M&Ms, there wasn't much mingling at either one.  I agree with having everyone introduce themselves, and/or have an event that encourages actually mingling. I also agree with having the M&M not so early in the morning.

Looking forward to your photos of the ship.  We are booked on Royal for and Alaska cruise in June 2020.  What type of room and deck are you on?

Guys, Thanks for the input, yes I am an amateur photographer and really am new to digital photography with a DSLR.  And I see where file management would be difficult with RAW files, I will just continue shooting in both modes just so I have the option.  I am using After Shot Pro 3 for post processing as I didn't like the monthly subscription that Light Room has.

Thanks for the input, I guess I will try post processing on a jpg and raw file to determine how each looks at the end.  What I have used raw processing for is to enhance colors lighting to basically change the available light to something that I would have liked to see.  Hard to control natural lighting/time of day without post processing.

I have a question regarding shooting both in RAW and JPG.  A little more than a year ago I invested in a DSLR and initially shot everything in JPG, about 6 months ago I learned about shooting RAW.  Since then I have been shooting in RAW and JPG, now I post process all the images that I want to post or print using After Shot Pro3 or Paint Shop Pro.  Everything is saved to a hard drive and the cloud.  I haven't used the JPGs and am wondering if anyone shoots only in raw and what is the benefit to keep shooting in both RAW and JPG.

Grandeur is a great ship, we had an ocean view on deck 3.  Below is a review I posted of our 9 Day cruise this past December.

Traditional dining is typically 5:30/6:00 and 7:30/8:00, I think it is dependent on the time of year, we had the later times on Oasis in April and the earlier times on Grandeur in December.

I just checked the ones we had on the Oasis and yes a disposable plastic straw fit into the opening.

Had them in the MDR on Oasis and Grandeur, learned on the Grandeur to ask for a small bowl.

Went to Coco Cay in December on the Grandeur of the Seas, when we first boarded per James Van Fleet he said we might not be able to tender due to weather, fortunately the weather improved and we were able to tender.  The biggest part of the island is closed off for construction; however when we were there was plenty of room at the beaches.  It turned out to be a very nice beach day.  I have some pictures on my review and also pictures of the construction at the links below:

7 hours ago, JTBCruiser said:

Great detailed review.  DW and I are looking forward to cruising on this ship late March.  Very positive reviews about the crew and the smaller size ship is right for us.  We don't need bells and whistles, as long as there is room in the hot tub, we are happy as can be.

Definitely a great ship to relax on and enjoy the sea.

19 hours ago, dodgestang said:

So the real question to ask yourself is....how does it feel knowing I was most likely standing right next to you snapping the same photo within seconds of you (based on bird placement?)   😉   LOL

Hi looks like we were both on deck 5 together.  

Ship - Grandeur of the Seas 

Deck - 3

Stateroom # - 3090

Stateroom Category – Ocean View

Starboard or Port Side - Port

Quiet Stateroom?  – Yes, other than hearing young children run up and down the hallway at times and heard gangway equipment being moved around/put away one night.  Room is directly below the deck 4 gangway door.  I'd choose this room again.

Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - No.

If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? - N/A

Any specific problems with this cabin? - No.

Any other comments? - Room was just off the forward elevators, this made it very easy to get to other venues on the ship.

DSC_0671.NEF

1 hour ago, junior8 said:

WVHillbilly,  

  Thank you for the great review. I am in CT and cruise solo. Have always been hearing about the great job done on Grandeur. 

I am doing Anthem in May and Oasis from NJ Oct 2020. I am really thinking of GOS in between them. 

Appreciate the information. BTW, which did you prefer Oasis or Grandeur?  I think the bigger Oasis will be too big for me but I have to give it a try because one never knows

 

Brenda

Brenda

It's hard to say which was better as they both were good and each had something to offer.  On the Oasis we enjoyed Central Park especially in the evenings.  The Grandeur's Schooner Bar was more laid back in the evenings than the one on the Oasis.  The only time you notice the crowds on the Oasis is at the beginning and end of the shows, especially around the elevators.  The shows on the Oasis were a bigger production and felt more like Broadway shows.  We are pretty easy going people so we try not to get upset at the small things.  I guess what I'm trying to say is I would sail on either again without hesitation.

Okay time to wrap this one up.

Summary

Grandeur of the Seas was our second cruise, with the first one being the Oasis of the Seas.  Everyone told us we did it backwards, as we were supposed to start small then go big.  I booked this cruise for the cost and also everyone I talked to spoke highly of the ship and its crew.  She had very few detractors so I booked her even before we set sail on our first cruise.  I’m going to touch on various aspects of the ship and give you my/our perspective of it.  If I don’t touch on a subject/aspect you have questions on ask away.

The ship:  Launched in 1996, she has quite a few nautical miles on her; she shows her age in a few places.  I observed a few areas on deck 5, where corrosion has eaten away a few doors/panels; but everything was freshly painted.  Now that the bad part is out of the way; I found the ship to be tastefully decorated, clean and well maintained.  It was very easy to get around to the various portions of the ship.  The ocean was visible from many venues on the ship from the Centrum, all the bars, and restaurants, something that was missing from the Oasis.

The room:  We had and ocean view room on deck 3 directly across from the forward elevator lobby.  The room was clean and everything worked.  I experienced the clingy shower curtain, first shower it reached out and caressed by backside when I wasn’t looking.   Thanks to hints I received on the forums, a few binder clips at the bottom put a stop to our affair.  The bed was firm and we found it comfortable.  We asked our room steward for ice on the first day and she dutifully provided fresh ice twice a day.  I did hear noise from kids running in the hall several times and one night I could hear sounds from the storing of gangway equipment above us for about 20 minutes when we left Port Canaveral.   

Dining:  Most of our meals were taken in the MDR.  Seating at breakfast we had a short wait on a few occasions, but most of the time we were escorted right to the table.  We had early traditional seating at a six top table; our waiter was Salmen and the assistant waiter was Jely.  Salmen was charming and engaging constantly checking to make sure our meals were good.  Jely was very sweet and her primary job was keeping our glasses full and clearing the table.  Dining took anywhere from 1-1.5 hours from start to finish, although the 1.5 hour could have been partially due to the pleasant conversations we had with our tablemates.  We did find out that the dining room opens 15 minutes before the assigned time.  One couple liked to make the early show so they would take our orders first and usually got us out by 6:30. Were pretty easy to please and always found one or two things we’d like to eat.

We had a few meals in the Windjammer; I found the organization in this one much better than the one on the Oasis.  The food was typical buffet food, never had too much trouble finding a seat.  I had a few lunches at Park Café, both times I tried the soup and carved meat sandwich.  Both of those meals were light and the hot soup hit the spot on the couple of cool days that we ate there.  Café Latitudes was a good place to get our morning coffees; we also had a muffin there one morning that was pretty good.

Entertainment:  We watched several shows in the Palladium Theater, and enjoyed all of them it was never hard to find a seat.  In fact there were always plenty of open seats at each show.  Mike was an excellent CD and CC was also very good as the AD.  The Schooner bar was our favorite go to spot whether it was playing trivia or listening to the piano player or string duet.  Two waiters were standouts in the Schooner bar and they were Kadek and Leslie.  Whenever they saw us they greeted us by name and remembered our favorite drinks.  The Centrum had a few good shows; however it was difficult finding seats at times and twice we found seats just off the stage area on deck 4 and when the show started our view was blocked by people standing in front of us or once everyone started dragging the chairs into the walkways to sit where they could see.

Pool deck:  Mostly due to the cold weather there were always plenty of chairs available.  Finding chairs in the Solarium was a challenge a couple of times; all but one time we were able to find a lounger for a couple of hours, that one time we had to take a table and chair off to the side.  The Solarium was open to all on the first and last sea day.

The crew:  Outstanding, excellent and superb are words that describe every crew member we engaged on the ship.  We have already mentioned several of them here by name but there were many more who we met that were just as pleasant and great to engage.  I don’t think we ran into a single crew member who wasn’t friendly and upbeat.

Okay that’s about all I can think of to comment on if anyone has any questions I’ll do my best to answer them.  Thanks for following along and oh yeah we booked the Majesty this April while on board the Grandeur.  Next cruise incentives were reduced deposits ($100 pp) and they were offering onboard credit up to $600.  FYI we got $50 for and ocean view on the Majesty, not much but $50 bucks is $50 bucks that wasn’t offered before we cruised.

Day 10 – Debarkation Day

After our last breakfast in the MDR, it was back to our room to pick up our carryon bag.  One final check of the room for forgotten items and it was up to the South Pacific Lounge to wait for our departure number to be called.  We were scheduled for an 8:45-9:15 departure, at 8:45 they called our number and it was down to deck 4. Embarkation was painless, once we hit the gangway it was a brisk walk to customs, a quick glance at our passports and we walked into baggage claim.  We walked toward the pickup area and waited for our son to pick us up. Soon we were heading up the ramp to I95 South and the cruise was over.

I’m going to do a summary of the ship and cruise to finish up the review, thanks to everyone who followed along.

On ‎1‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 11:14 AM, ptod said:

Loving your review.  Your pictures are great!

Thanks, love taking pictures.

2 hours ago, retiredgram said:

Thanks for the review.  Your photos are beautiful.

Thank you, I enjoy taking photos and hope that my review is helpful to others wishing to sail on the Grandeur.

5 hours ago, Rogueperson said:

Wow, i've never seen the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel in daylight during a cruise.  Usually, going out, we get there past midnight, and coming back, we usually pass it around 8 or 9pm.  You must have seriously been hauling to get up from Nassau so early.  Did they close the casino early?  They usually close the last day at 6pm or 7pm on my last couple cruises out of Baltimore.

Yeah I think we were hauling azz to get out of the rough weather, we were at the mouth of the Chesapeake about 3.  They had announced earlier in the day that things would be closing at 3.  I thing we hung out a bit waiting on the pilot boat before entering the bay.

I enjoy reading others experiences on cruising. I have not done any live reviews as I don't get the internet on the ship and am afraid that doing a live review would take up to much of my time on the cruise.  Even though a ship has been reviewed countless times, it's always good to get a different perspective.  Plus that person may have done something different, seen something new.  So I say write on and give us your perspective.