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I like cruising from Port of Baltimore since I live close to the pier. As a result I've done 20 cruises on Enchantment and 36 on Grandeur. I've got 7 more booked on Grandeur between now and December 2016.

Have also done Jewel 3 times Radiance 2 times and Sovereign, Empress, Brilliance, and Mariner once each. I'm also getting ready to do my first cruise on Serenade.

It is so nice seeing people on the same ship or different ones.

Capt Trond may still be assigned to Gr, Capt Ole-Johan may just be a fill in until Trond was due back 11-6

In talking with people onboard in December they said that Captain Trond would be back when we are back onboard in December. It sounded, though they didn't specifically say it, that Captain Ole-Johan was finishing Captain Espen's rotation.

Having no tram makes it hard for my mom to get off the ship. She has trouble walking a distance, and she considers the Heritage Wharf pier a distance, to get to a tram, taxi, or excursion. She's stayed on the ship the partial days we were there in May and September because she couldn't walk that far. She doesn't use a scooter at home and doesn't need one on the ship so is hesitant to get one for the pier and have to learn how to use it.

Although I saw a few people carrying around the cups, didn't notice any of the freestyle machines. My dh thinks there were a couple as you exit the Windjammer.

 

 

There were two near both entrances to the Windjammer last November when we sailed on the GOS last... I can't remember if there were any more on board...

 

Bob G

 

There is also one beside Ben and Jerry's on deck 6.

Captian Espen Been will be transferring to Freedom. On facebook someone said that their friend who had supper at the captains table Saturday said it would be after this cruise. I was thinking that on the September 11 cruise he said it would be about a month.

I don't remember for sure who it was mentioned that was taking his place other than it was a name starting with O so switching with Captain Olson from Freedom might be what is happening. It was mentioned that Captain Thrond Holm would probably be on our December 9 cruise.

Since its return to Baltimore through our Bermuda cruise in May early seating has been 5:30 and late seating has been 8. They have run mtd from 5-8:30. Things could have changed since May.

DW and I ran into a large group of people in Portifinos who practically live on cruise ships. They were at the table next to ours, and were very loud and obnoxious (in a funny kind of way). They all ranged from spending 6-9 months of each year on an RCCL cruise. One couple had spent 7 months on the Grandeur over the previous winter.

 

Oddly enough, not one of them was spending a large amount of time on that ship (Liberty), and they didn't plan to take that cruise together. One of the guys who we talked to later said that when you cruise that much you always run into others you've cruised with before, and that's what happened there.

 

Sounds like a good way to spend retirement if you ask me... though I would try to move around ships more or at least choose a ship that moves and doesn't do the same itinerary each week.

 

I would also love to do a trip where I take the TA on a ship that's going to Europe for a dry-dock. Spend the 6 weeks or so for the dry-dock seeing Europe, and then sail the newly minted ship back on the return TA.

I cruise on Grandeur frequently and think I may know the couple that you are talking about. They are a really nice pinnacle (obviously) couple. They don't like winters so they get on Grandeur sometime between October 25 and November 2 and stay on through about the end of January. They take 2 days and get on Rhapsody for the months of February and March.

There are a couple other couples on Grandeur that typically get on for the Thanksgiving cruise and stay on until just after Christmas.

What is Carly B like as a CD? Anyone know?

I like her a lot. I've booked a couple cruises simply because she has been cd on them. She's visible around the ship and approachable.

I've heard that she's going to be on mid September through mid November.

Mitch Merucci says that Jeff Arpin will be his replacement on Grandeur.

Any idea of whether this will be a 2 or 4 month contract? I know its personal preference but he's not my style of cruise director. There are several I'd rather have instead. I sailed with him for 3 weeks over Christmas a couple years ago.

Awesome, thanks for the info.

 

There you go, Bill!! Love Grandeur :)

Love the Grandeur as well. Next month I'm taking my 36th and 37th cruise on that ship - I also did 20 on Enchantment.

Grandeur did stop in Miami in 2007 as a port stop. itinerary was Baltimore, Miami, Key West, Cozumel, Port Canaveral, Baltimore. At least on the cruise I was in the ship got into port around 2 and my mom and I sat on our balcony watching the other ships leave port at 4.

2006 Grandeur did Baltimore, Freeport, Coco Cay, Cozumel, Costa Maya, Port Canaveral, Baltimore.

On the southbound radiance, at least on the July 3 cruise, formal nights were night 2 and 5. Night 2 was the day of the glacier and 5 was Icy Straight point where the last tender was 3:30. Day 6 was Ketchikan where all aboard was 5:30. Not sure if the northbound cruise is different since the port order is reversed.

I wouldn't mind Giovanni's being a per item charge. My mom and I usually only go the first night when it is buy one get one free (we're d+ and pinnacle). We'd go more but can't justify $50.00 between us when all we want is a caprice salad, lintel soup and maybe a shared desert.

In talking with Andre on the May 8 cruise he is expecting to come back to Grandeur as activities manager at the end of his two month vacation.

Andre Miller (AM on Grandeur) will be on the ship until June 12, and then heading to vacation. After vacation he is scheduled to return to Grandeur but still as the AM -- this info was gi ven to me directly from Mitch Merucci, as well as his own information about his next contract assignment to be on Voyager.

 

From others that work within the Royal entertainment world, they usually do not promote AM to CD 'on the same ship'. The AM might fill in for a week or two as CD on a ship that they normally are the AM, but it usually doesn't become a permanent placement.

Don't doubt that this is true. He was mentioning that he'd like to stay in Baltimore (which it seems he will do as activity manager) because his fiance lives in Massachussettes and Baltimore is easy for her to get to so that she can cruise with him occasionally. When I talked with Andre he mentioned he was returning but, like probably many of the activity managers, wouldn't mind a promotion on a ship he is already familiar with.

Just got off Grandeur today. As of now Andre is scheduled to come back to the ship after vacation. With Mitch going to voyager as cd it would be nice to see Andre move up to the cd position.

Talked to Mitch on Grandeur. His contract ends late August. As of now he is scheduled to go to Voyager rather than return to Grandeur after vacation. He wasn't sure who his replacement would be. Andre's vacation ends about the same time. Would be nice if he got the promotion and stayed with Grandeur.

I agree that Mitch is good. I've sailed with him as cd once on Enchantment and 3 times on Grandeur. I know Daryl better having sailed with him as activities manager 10 times (once he was also the fill in cd for the cd who had to leave a cruise early).

Am hoping Darryl comes back stateside. He really deserves to be a Cruise Director!

Agreed. Since I cruise out of Baltimore frequently I'd love for him to come back to Grandeur as cd.

Unless Darryl's contract gets changed, he's on radiance for a 4 month contract. He said he'd be on early July when I'm on.

This change makes what happened to me in December make sense. I went to Guest Services because the computer hadn't given us the discount from our card. My mom is D+ and I had turned pinnacle the cruise before. When guest services saw my card they took the charges off our bill and said that I needed to make sure it said pinnacle from now on. On the b2b the computers hadn't had time to catch up with my point total.

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In his noon update Captain Trond reported we were offshore from Cape Lookout NC. We have sailed 345 miles with 1073 to go. We have 13kt winds and a temperature of 66 (much colder in the morning), and things are forecast to improve for our 2 remaining sea days. On my just completed cruise I had an extremely good team in the dining room. After the update I was walking through the Windjammer, encountered Assistant Waiter Alroy, and put the finishing touches on a WOW card. I actually waited just a bit for lunch, going back to the Park Café for a roast beef sandwich and was very pleased. In fact I’ve been very pleased with the food this cruise. I’m a bit of a finicky eater and sometimes have trouble finding a dish that meets my fancy. The menu has 3 everyday “Classic” entrees I’ve been wanting to try, but have so far found something irresistible in the regular part of the menu every day. quote

Thank you for your review. I'm another that thinks the Grandeur crew is the best in the fleet.

Good to hear that Alroy is back on Grandeur after his vacation. We met him in September and November and thought he was fantastic. Hopefully he will still be on May 8.

My mom and I have had s1 a couple times. It is near the path and close to the entrance and bathroom. The people walking on the path have never bothered us. We've had plenty of privacy. It is, however, not the closest to the buffet. That would probably be about s4 or s5. The view is nice but is somewhat blocked by rocks on the right side and you can't see the ship in the background, if that matters.

We like it for the reason others may not - right off the path and close to the bathroom since my mom has some mobility issues on sand.

I've had so many times that its hard to narrow it down.

One favorite is in 2009 I accidentally left some postcards in the room when we left the ship. The stateroom attendant remembered we would be back on the ship in a few weeks so he put the postcards in his cabin until he saw us again.

Other times we've had people we know on board (we sail the same ship frequently) tell others that we know that we're onboard so they come looking for us to say hi and give us a hug.

Another time my mom mentioned to the windjammer manager how much she liked the strawberry bisque soup that evening. He put some in two bowls and brought the soup to us the next night for supper.

Last one I mentioned. One cruise the first person we saw as we got on the ship was Darryl Dyball, the actives manager. He had to go down to deck 1 for something and saw us coming so he waiting to be able to say hi. Also knowing how much we enjoy the Evergreen Trio he mentioned that they were joining the ship on the 2nd cruise of our b2b.

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