AtSeaAlways

Was anything important removed from Enchantment? A few more balcony cabins and venues would seem sensible on this class. One thing you get on the new megaships - lines.

We found a clue as to why the promenade deck has not been converted to gear storage - the Swedish Captain walks on it for his exercise. DW here delights in a few miles a day and I feel this is a great feature on a ship. There is an Argentine Tango show aboard. We missed it - the cover band was on. They did a mini version later in the week it was stylish. The photo is of our friends. Actual dancing is best in the lounge as the floor in the Atrium is small. The band tells me they are working on more country songs. I tracked down the Hotel Director and Food and Beverage Manager in the big safety drill and told them how happy we were with the operation in My Time - No Reservation. Christian again found us a table for two. They zipped out apps and mains for us in 32 minutes as we were racing to the cover band show. The fish dishes were perfect. F&B said I made his day. There are about a dozen of us still taking airborne virus precautions. But it all feels more normal. I put in three lowish $30-70-100 pp RoyalUp bids on the second leg of this trip from run of the ship inside. OV, Larger Ocean View and Balcony. I got an email per bid about four days from departure saying they got it, and "won" the Larger Ocean View one - across the hall yesterday. The inside is actually fine. Rumor had it they are repairing the retractable roof over the aft pool. The piped in music is there and it feels stuffy. The try yesterday was halted by lightning. If you like a classy traditional experience, this is the ship for you. The best line yesterday in the MDR "Is there a long wait for a made to order Omelette?" The reply "Not if you have the right waiter" I feel for the Pool Deck Supervisor- he gets it all perfect and the slippery puddles mopped up - then we get a five minute rain shower. Lots of deck chairs - on this ship - tidy rows. The decaf sign is missing at 0500 coffee on the pool deck - but no music- yaa - green tea it is 🙂 It would be good to take this cruise again - wait - we are 🙂

No sign of the birds. I looked it up - actual sea birds can drink salt water and live on seafood. There is rainwater on the decks but no natural source of seeds.

This one might have an MOV in it. And the space is tight. On the Grandeur, there are four outlets over the desk. Two 115 V US style - a bit recessed. And two Euro style. A $2 two pin Euro to US style adapter converts these. Most cell phone switching chargers are happy on 250V 50hz Euro power- read the label. The lines need to own this mess. If you must carry a device - the lines must provide a way to charge them safely. This is like filling guest water bottles. A trivial engineering problem made difficult by tradition and stalling. The CLIA should design a simple cube tap and test/brand it - they might cost a dollar or two. Or come up with a replacement outlet /charger.

Yes the crew at the No Reservations side of My Time really are rocking it. Despite controlling maybe 15-20% of the MDR tables, they get the guests in and fed. The Head Waiters help clear tables and seat people and grab empty plates. It all reminds me of Texas Roadhouse - where they have made speedy table turnover into a business model. We have the highly coveted pre 2020 MDR fixed shared table reservation for eight - LOL - but last night Christian snuck us in at 7:30. They have made a lot of tables for two but they are pretty tighly spaced. The food was good -on this ship they have figured out fish. The guys posed for me - Roger L Christian C Deckster R. They joked promotions were based on who was the most handsome 🙂 I think on a smaller ship the MDR gets more leadership focus - on a huge ship with 15 venues it might turn into just the place where the inside cabin people eat 🙂 We had a good time at the Ballroom session - they played a Foxtrot or two. A fancy dance couple aboard asked them to move the event to South Pacific which has a large wood dance floor. There are reports of PA system issues there. In Downtown Galveston there is a two step bar - Buckshot - go early - the default music is Nashville - which pays homage to tradition but is hard to actually two step to.

We tried an inside for the first time ever. On this ship they have a couch. That seems a bare minimum for ten days. RoyalUp refused to accept the booking number for leg #1- that 30 day error. Leg #2 it took a smallish bid. 48 hours later we are good. The savings can be staggering. Our actual cabin had a connecting door - so a chair.

The Band in Motion is an epic rock cover group. Guitar solos for the ages - yep. We got them playing some Two Step. Except off of Texas many forgot or ignored the line of dance which makes it hard on a small dance floor. Actual ballroom tonight with the orchestra. Carnival gets points for poolside Mexican food - for dancing - RCCL. Felt a bit geeky - quite a few suits and up for Dress to Impress night. And door pass lanyards are not a thing.

As has been covered elsewhere, on ship's power, home surge supressor MOV parts tend to catch on fire. So simple and basic is safest - no USB ports probably. This one has been on several cruises lately.

Let's talk about the ship. So far- I am impressed. The first surprise - a real teak walk around promenade deck. About .25 miles/lap. How this translates to slices of cake I have no guess. These decks don't exist on finer ships LOL or are gated off and filled with spare ramps on say the Vision. Compared to Carnival in the same price class, the MDR is open a lot. We are avoiding shared tables still - after the first day it was walk in. MDR / My Time had a "no reservation" aka steerage side door and Christian snuck us is last night. MDR food and service are amazing. One good MDR test - how does the "pick up" team of random staff do at breakfast and lunch. In a slack operation you wait forever for everything. Not here. They had an amazing sole and potato lunch mmm. They had an Officers Coffee that was well attended. The Captain is a Swedish Mopar guy. I will ask how he gets vintage V8 parts he finds home. I told somebody this seemed a happy ship - and it is reported the Grandeur has very high crew satisfaction scores. Shhh.

Beware of imposters in Galveston. The sign at the Tipsy Turtle said to beware of hungry gulls. The birds I saw were black 🙂 The drive to the port via downtown Dallas and Houston was not relaxing. But the island is fine. Hotels may have balconies and cruise parking /shuttle packages. One (to be named later) had a $40 parking pass for as long as your cruise lasted. Hunt for those rate codes they are not obvious. October is the shoulder season. $106 was an amazing hotel rate on the water, usually across the street.

For no apparent reason it was time to go back to sea. The key to this is to clear your calendar (or toss it out- easier if you are retired) and find cruise deals online. In driving distance for us are a few ports. New Orleans is nice - it was time for new options. Prices in October were lowest on RCCL short runs out of Galveston and inspired by @MeganGC1983we found a pair of silly cheap inside back to backs for $170 each. This will be a trip in steerage. More on that later - I am a price buyer 🙂 This got a late start but we'll eventually catch up. Plus as they say in the Bahamas- if you are not on Island Time - you need to be. So get your shots and hang on.

It has been strange lately. Years ago you all showed up at 1015 and sat in chairs and stood in lines for 45 minutes or an hour while they typed stuff in and dug in boxes for your card. Now after all the cutbacks LOL you show up, they do a few tablet scans and you walk on. This week I took the 10:30 (vs 12) hotel shuttle for an 11:30 appointment. Got there at 11 - oops - walked on almost without stopping. This was a small ship.