Grandeur 8/27 - 9 night review - long....

[capnlars]

Just off the Grandeur of the Seas, 9 night Caribbean trip. We are a couple in our late 40's, from South Florida. This was our second time on the Grandeur and our 18th cruise on RCI and we are Diamond Plus C&A. Why did we travel all the way to Baltimore when we live within 2 hours of 3 other ports??? Well, we really wanted a longer trip than 7 days, and we liked the itinerary with 4 sea days - 2 at the beginning and 2 at the end.

 

Overall, it was a great trip, wonderful ship, great crew - however things don't quite "run well", we found, on the Grandeur. There seemed to be a lot of "the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing". There was nothing that really bothered us, as we are VERY easy-going cruisers (unlike most Diamond Plus according to our room steward) - but there were lots of people complaining about things. Might be a Baltimore thing, as we didn't find the crowd (almost all from the BWI area) very friendly or courteous.

 

We arrived at BWI on Monday, 3 days before the trip so that I could visit a client in Prince George's County on Tuesday. Wednesday night before the cruise we stayed at the Courtyard at Inner Harbor. We played tourist for the day, visiting the aquarium and inner harbor and taking the water taxi around as if it were an excursion. The aquarium is really worth a visit if you are there.

 

We left the hotel about 10:30 am on Thursday and caught a cab to the port, which was less than a ten-minute ride away. There was no wait to drop our bags, and we were in the check-in line very shortly afterwards. They were passing out forms to fill out asking if you'd had any flu-like symptoms, etc in the last few days. We went to the check-in counter and were processed right away. Within a few minutes we were onboard, heading to Windjammer.

 

On the way to the Windjammer, we ran into the woman who was our Head Waiter when we were on the Grandeur last year - she approached us saying she remembered us from back then. It always amazes me when this happens, as I am terrible with names and faces. We had lunch in the Windjammer and waited until our room was ready. For the second time this month (we were on the Monarch Aug 7) I was able to have Honey-Stung Chicken!! It was a bit dry this time, but I still enjoy it.

 

At 1pm we went down to our cabin. We had OS 8000, which is the forward-most cabin on deck 8 on the port side. We really like some of the new suite perks. We had bathrobes and slippers, upgraded bath amenities, a large bottle of Evian water. Also there was a booklet containing menus for pillows, board games, drinks, wine, and champagne, and full menus for lunch and dinner. Each day the dinner menu was changed. We were allowed to order any items from the main dining room during serving hours. Even though we didn't take advantage of this, it was nice to be able to know what was being served the next day. The OS is a great cabin, huge with lots of closet space and a big balcony. As you walk in the room, there are two large closest to the right, with the bath to the left. The bath had a toilet, a bidet (great for cooling beer!), a large stand-up shower stall, jacuzzi bathtub, and 2 sinks. As you go further into the cabin, the bed area was to the left, with drawers/makeup area, TV to the right. This is all separated from the "living" area, which had a large sofa/sofabed, dining table and chairs, entertainment center with large screen TV, stereo, DVD/VHS, Cassette and CD players. The balcony has 2 regular chairs and a table, along with 2 lounge chairs with a small table. The balcony is next to the outside bridge extension - so we have a good view when they are operating from there. Luggage was in the room by 2pm. We then met our room steward, Ferdinand. He explained the room layout, and told us about the muster drill which was at 3:30.

 

We went down to make reservations for MTD - which we will NEVER do again. After making reservations for 7pm for every night, we were told "Well, I hope we have a table for you when you arrive." He suggested we change to either 6p or 8:30p. This comment was repeated to us almost every night as we left. Hmmmmm, what's the point of the reservation then? Turns out we only had to wait a little once or twice, but still.

 

There were no life jackets required at the drill. Additionally, the long announcements that are made concerning the guest conduct policy and "Save the Waves" program were made before the drill started - so that the actual time outside was pretty short. We were back in the cabin by 3:45 or so to enjoy the sailaway from our balcony.

 

I loved being on the Chesapeake again – as I spent a good portion of my youth sailing there. We watched as we passed under bridges on our way out. We thought maybe the shops and casino were not able to open until after we were in the ocean, which is about a 9 hour trip, but everything opened up right after we left the dock. We walked around the ship and met a great bartender, Raj. Raj would search us out at the pool and took great care of us for the rest of the trip.

 

Went to MTD at 7, for which we had a reservation for a table for 2. Our Head Waiter was Georgi, who was the head waiter for the MTD section. We had Peter for our Waiter and Fabio for our Assistant. We have rarely seen anyone hustle the way Fabio did!! We quickly found, however, that MTD is not for us. Even though you are not really rushed in and out, the wait staff is SO overworked that they are rushing around like crazy. This ends up making you feel like you have to hurry too. While the level of service was close to that in traditional seating, it just wasn’t as good. There was almost no interaction as they were just too busy to talk. MTD is great for some, but just not for us.

 

We went to the casino in the evening and it was not very crowded when we were there. Nancy lost a bit on the slots, I won a bit playing Blackjack. The minimum on the Blackjack tables is now $6. There were some afternoons where they had $4 minimum, though.

 

We spent the next 2 days at sea, spending a lot of time on the balcony and relaxing. I travel a lot for work (2-3 weeks/month), so cruising for us is about just spending time to ourselves and together. The first sea day was the Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle. This was hosted by the Cruise Director (Clo). We were able to put some faces to their screen-names, That afternoon we had a “cabin crawl”. We got to see a larger inside, and outside, an aft corner Jr Suite, the Royal Family Suite, and our Owner’s Suite (in that order).

 

Sunday afternoon we pulled in to San Juan, our first stop. We did not plan anything for there except for dinner at a restaurant called Barrachina. This is the “birthplace of the Pina Colada.” As Nancy realized she was going to run out of books, and I wanted a cable to hook our MP3 up to the stereo system in the room, we caught a cab to a really nice mall. Cab fare was $10 each way. Later, we just walked around San Juan. We walked to and from the restaurant for dinner, and did not feel insecure at all walking around after dark. We would recommend this restaurant to anyone who goes to San Juan. We left San Juan around midnight.

 

At 8:30p at night, we had a note slipped under the door that our excursion for the next day at St Thomas had been cancelled due to lack of participants. This was a little annoying since the excursion desk closed at 8pm and now we had nothing to do for the next day. This was our first example about things not “running” well on the ship. They really should have let us know in time to make other arrangements.

 

The next morning, we woke early to get to the excursion desk when it opened (7am). We were given a very short list of excursions that were still available. We ended up with the Turtle Cove Snorkel and Sailing excursion. Turns out this was one of the highlights of our trip. After boarding a “pirate-like” boat, we motored to Turtle Cove. During the trip the crew handed out our snorkeling gear. When we got to the cove, they tied off to a mooring ball, and explained what we would see. We spent almost 2 hours in the water. There were many sea turtles large and small. They were feeding on the bottom, but would come up for air every 10 minutes or so. If when you see them come up for air and you just freeze, they will come up right next to you, stay on the surface for a short time, and then swim back down to the bottom to feed. I got some “National Geographic” quality pictures using our camera which can go under water. The crew on this excursion was just excellent – we were entertained on the way back, which we did under sail. They served local beer and rum punch, chips and salsa on the ride back.

 

Tuesday we were in Semana, in Dominican Republic. We signed up for the Mangrove and Cave Exploration excursion. This was great, but a very hot day. One of the suite perks was Priority Tender tickets. If you did not have these, you had to go to the Centrum at 8:30am, and get tickets with a specific number to get off the ship before noon. We were mistakenly sent 2 sets of tickets – neither which we needed as we had an excursion. We went down the Centrum at 8:30, and gave our tickets away to people waiting there. Made someone’s day!! We did not have to tender in, as the excursion boat picks you up directly from the ship. It was an open (why it was hot) motorized catamaran. We had about a 30 minute ride across the bay to the park. We then motored around what was the most beautiful scenery either of us have ever seen. There was a couple of stops to go into some of the caves, where there were ancient drawings, etc. The guide was very informative. On the way back to the ship, we stopped at one point to enjoy watching dolphins that were right next to our boat. After a quick bite to eat, we boarded a tender to go to shore to see what was there. We got onshore, took one look around, and got back in the tender. There’s just nothing there where the tender lands and we didn’t want to hire a cab to ride around. Semana is just getting started as a cruise port, I’m sure there’ll be more there in the future.

 

Wednesday was Labadee. We’ve been there many times, but have not been there since the Zip Line and “Roller Coaster” were put in. We signed up for the Zip Line at 10a and the Labadee Snorkel Safari at 1pm. Progress on the dock there looks really slow. The Zip Line was fantastic, although a little pricey at $89. First you get a safety briefing and are taken to a short line to see what it will be like and practice the different “positions” that you might need. There are different positions to use on the long one depending on the wind at launch time. After the short line, you are put into some jeep-like vehicles for the ride up to the platform. The view from the platform was spectacular. The ride down was a blast. After lunch, we went on the Snorkel Safari. You board a boat and head to a nearby reef, about a 15 minute ride. We were given snorkel equipment, and one of the crew lead the swimmers around the reef. He would bring up interesting things from the bottom, like sea urchin, sea cucumbers, etc. He also picked up a large jellyfish for us to touch. This was a very nice snorkel stop, and we’d recommend this as a good excursion. After getting back to Labadee, we decided to try the “Roller Coaster”. This is more like a luge type ride. You are in this small “car”, and you have control of the brakes. The car ascends the hill to the top next to the Zip Line launch ramp. Then it goes downhill and around cool curves for maybe a 2 minute ride. At $39 a ride, it just isn’t worth it. I also think it’s only a matter of time before someone stops their car on the track and the person behind crashes into them. We ended up being at Labadee from 9a to 4p for a great day.

 

Thursday and Friday were Sea Days, our favorite! We were invited to the Captain’s Cabin for cocktails on Thursday evening. Wow! It was us and the couple from the Royal Suite (who we are sorry we didn’t meet earlier as they were a blast), the Captain, and some senior Guest Services staff. The Guest service people were on our Monarch LA-Miami Repo last year and knew us. Unlike most Captain Table dinners we’ve been invited to – which tend to be stuffy and socially uncomfortable to many – this was just great. It was very relaxed, a lot of laughs, and Captain Rune is very easy to talk to. We spent an hour there, then about 20 minutes afterwards talking with the Guest Services staff. We were given email addresses and told to contact them if we are going to be on Grandeur again.

 

Friday at sea started the debarkation confusion. We had gotten a letter stating that we would get White luggage tags to get off first (after self-serve) and were given directions to go to a lounge where we would be escorted off the next day. We ended up being given Gray 1 tags, which the chart showed would be like the 5th group to get off. Our room steward was confused as he had always handed white tags to the people in the full suites. I went to Guest Services who said they ran out of white, and ours would be called first and not to worry.

 

At 5pm, we were invited on a Bridge Tour. We met in the elevator lounge on Deck 8, and were escorted to the Bridge. Security was kind of a joke. They asked if we had photo ID with us, which no one did since it was not stated on the invitation. The list of attendees they had was not our group, so that was confusing them too. Then they started scanning us with a hand wand. I was number 3. Right before he scanned me, he put the wand to his metal watch, and nothing happened. Then he turned the device on and tried again and it sounded. He scanned me without scanning the first two again. It’s not like any of us could have done anything bad, but the “illusion of security” was not there. Captain Rune hosted the tour himself, and it was very informative.

 

Went to the casino after dinner, where Nancy hit for $600 and I hit for $100 within the first few minutes of being there. We promptly left, probably ahead about $500 when it was all said and done for the whole cruise in the casino. We packed, set our bags out, and went up on deck to watch us enter the Chesapeake and go by the Tunnel Bridge (or is it Bridge Tunnel?). Kind of cool to watch the headlights disappear in the water, go to the other side of the ship and watch them come up again on the other side.

 

Well, debarkation was as confusing as we heard it was on this ship, and as we anticipated with the different stories about luggage tags. There were some problems with the computers that customs/immigration were using, so there was a little delay getting off. We saw a couple we knew at the airport later, and they said they were in their departure lounge for almost 4 hours and didn’t get off until 11:30a. Of course, the first tag color they call is “White”, which supposedly they didn’t even have. We just followed the crewperson and got off then. Our bags were waiting, so it was not a big deal.

We took a cab to the airport which I would HIGHLY recommend. RCI offers transfers for $39 per person. The cab is fixed-rate to the airport for $30 no matter how many people.

 

Overall, this was a great trip. The little logistics things didn’t really bother us, although we heard people complaining loudly about them. The ship was nice, the crew was great, the accommodations were great, the time away was great.

 

Nancy will be posting picture on webshots, I will add the link to this thread later when she does that.

[yogimax]

Thanks for a great, detailed review!

[dixieva]

I have a question if you don't mind. We're in the Royal Family Suite next month on Grandeur. I know there's no concierge lounge on that ship but I heard that they would have a place set up in one of the bars for the "Happy Hour" for suite guests. Did you find that to be true? And also did you get tickets to use for the free drinks? I heard you get one free glass of wine per person. Were soft drinks free for the non-drinkers?

 

Thanks.

[capnlars]

I have a question if you don't mind. We're in the Royal Family Suite next month on Grandeur. I know there's no concierge lounge on that ship but I heard that they would have a place set up in one of the bars for the "Happy Hour" for suite guests. Did you find that to be true? And also did you get tickets to use for the free drinks? I heard you get one free glass of wine per person. Were soft drinks free for the non-drinkers?

 

Thanks.

 

They had not started the new 9/1 "benefits" during this cruise, so I can't answer your question - sorry.

[dixieva]

ok thanks anyway.

[CeeAngel]

Sunday afternoon we pulled in to San Juan, our first stop. We did not plan anything for there except for dinner at a restaurant called Barrachina. This is the “birthplace of the Pina Colada.” We walked to and from the restaurant for dinner, and did not feel insecure at all walking around after dark. We would recommend this restaurant to anyone who goes to San Juan.

Tuesday we were in Semana, in Dominican Republic. We signed up for the Mangrove and Cave Exploration excursion.There was a couple of stops to go into some of the caves, where there were ancient drawings, etc. The guide was very informative. On the way back to the ship, we stopped at one point to enjoy watching dolphins that were right next to our boat..

 

Hi, first off...great review! We also stayed in OS 8000 when we were on the Grandeur. I loved the cabin but didn't like (well, my stomach didn't like) being all the way in the front of the ship. I don't mind the side-to-side motion, but can do without the front-to-back motion.

 

A couple of questions if I might...We are also planning on going to Barrachina's when in San Juan. When you said you walked to the restaurant did you mean from the ship? Which dock did the ship use? Do all of Rccl's ships use the same dock in PR? Also, on the Mangrove & Cave Exploration excursion in DR, you mentioned a couple of stops to go into the caves....do you swim into the caves or are the cave entrances large enough for the boat to enter?

 

Thanks,

[capnlars]

Hi, first off...great review! We also stayed in OS 8000 when we were on the Grandeur. I loved the cabin but didn't like (well, my stomach didn't like) being all the way in the front of the ship. I don't mind the side-to-side motion, but can do without the front-to-back motion.

 

A couple of questions if I might...We are also planning on going to Barrachina's when in San Juan. When you said you walked to the restaurant did you mean from the ship? Which dock did the ship use? Do all of Rccl's ships use the same dock in PR? Also, on the Mangrove & Cave Exploration excursion in DR, you mentioned a couple of stops to go into the caves....do you swim into the caves or are the cave entrances large enough for the boat to enter?

 

Thanks,

 

We docked right at the south end of Old San Juan - not sure what it was called. It is NOT the same dock as the Adventure of the Seas uses that is next to the little airport. Barrachinas was about an 7 minute walk.

 

On the excursion, you get out of the boat to go in the caves. They pull up to a dock for each stop. This is a "dry" excursion, although I could see getting wet in the boat to or from the ship if it's really windy and/or rough.

[fb0075]

What time did you make it to airport and was there wifi in the cabin?

THANKS

[Shmobo]

Larry and Nancy,

 

Glad to meet you both! I wish we were as lucky as you guys with the slot machines!

 

Jen

[capnlars]

What time did you make it to airport and was there wifi in the cabin?

THANKS

 

We were at the airport by 9:30 am. There was another couple from the cruise that was on our plane to Charlotte - they did not get off until after 11:30a. I would be hesitant to book a flight before noon.

 

WIFI is only in certain areas of the ship. If your cabin is very close to one of those areas you might be able to pick up in the cabin. I was not able to pick up in our cabin (all the way forward, Deck 8, port side).