"Live" From the Grandeur of the Seas 7-22-05

[divaofdisney]

Radio- thanks for a great beginning. Your pictures are wonderful. Having lived in Balto. almost all my life before moving here to Ocean Pines in 2000, makes me feel a bit closer to the picture. I know extactly where Perry Hall is. It was nice to see a picture of the terminal. Wondered what it looked like. Are there alot of people on this cruise or is it hard to tell? Anyway, have a wonderful and restful vacation and I really look forward to your posts and the great pictures! :D

[Radio]

Hi Stephanie...I heard that the ship was filled up....At least that what Guest Relations told a passenger while I was at the Pursers desk...

 

Here's a couple more.....

 

Radio

;)

 

 

Leaving the Port

 

 

 

 

Approaching the Key Bridge

 

 

 

Plenty of Room.....

 

 

 

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge as viewed from the Viking Crown Lounge.....

 

 

 

 

.

[NormanW]

EXIF data is not present in your pictures. :(

 

What we like to do is keep the camera's RTC within 10 sec of true time so all pictures' EXIF can give exact time of location when taken. Makes tracking easier.

 

When does the casino open? Do you have to pass the CBBT first?

 

Get a few shots of the starboard side of the bow if you can. I'm curious to see if the repairs from the 4/20 incident are easily discernable.

 

 

Enjoy the cruise - sounds fun. :)

 

Cheers,

 

-Norman

 

p.s. WX should be uneventful but do expect some swell action from Franklin. With the planned bearing it should be rather pleasant although I'm sure there will be whiners.

[Bonnie Voyager]

http://community.webshots.com/photo/401789380/401805632upOpeC

 

Also, if anyone is interested, here is a link to my review of the Grandeur cruise to Bermuda that I just disembarked as Radio was boarding...

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=208815

[NormanW]

Easily discernable: CHECK!

 

Wow that will be taken care of in drydock - hopefully. :)

 

Thanks for the picture.

 

Cheers,

 

-Norman

[Bonnie Voyager]

When you actually stop and look at the "repair" it is very obvious, but unless you are specifically looking for it, you don't really even notice it's there! I had forgotten all about it until someone reminded me and then I made a point of walking up to that area with the intention of finding it and photographing it.

[boandvicki]

We were on the Granduer last month. Hope you have as good a time as we did.

Tell Skippy to remember keep his mike off when he's going to the bathroom. He was very entertaining at Bingo one night.:)

[RandyD]

Radio, thanks for your sincere and honest enthusiasm. You passed by our house about 8:15 this evening, but I agree that it was so humid that we could barely see the ship and figured that you were getting ready for dinner, so we did not go out into the heat to wave.

 

Friends, who now live in Baltimore, recently contacted us thinking that they might like to try a cruise (during a specific week). After looking around, my suggestion was that they go on the shorter Bermuda cruise that follows yours. I figured that was safe for someone who is not sure about cruising, and with teens. They first leave tomorrow for a week on Eastern Shore and then board GoS next Sunday. So today I sent her the connection to your thread so that she can check it when repacking their suitcases next weekend.

 

I have previously told her to have her older son check out CC for RCI to get an idea of what to expect, and the way your thread is starting, I'm sure that they will find the information and pictures of interest.

 

Have the greatest time and I hope that you like a few bumps in the road in the event that you encounter that "F" storm. Randy

[CBRB5146]

Hey Radio Thanks for the info and great pictures. We are waiting patiently for our turn, in Sept.

 

Keep the info and pictures coming

[gambler]

Great pics and info so far!! Thanks. Hope you make it to some ports.... If you happen to have Jennifer as your waitress or Geraldine or Tony as your Head waiter, they are the best.

[JeffHatfield]

At the C&A repeater party, someone asked the Capt about the dent on the hull. His reply was "Before it was a dent, it was a hole." He seemed to be good natured about, though he didn't want to talk about it.

[TPKeller]

Hi Radio! It was really great to SEE you this evening!! Even if you were a tiny speck! :) (mdmourges, I was at Sandy Point State Park, just north of the bridge...)

 

I am anxious to see how the pics turn out. I haven't gone digital yet, and I didn't get home in time to get them processed tonight... traffic... yuck. I should have something tomorrow though.

 

I was using a 300mm zoom with a 2x teleconverter, so I was getting a 12x magnification factor. (In common sense terms, I was able to just about fill the frame of the viewfinder with the ship from top to bottom at the maximum zoom.) As I may have mentioned elsewhere, my goal is to get a very large panoramic view of the Grandeur, similar to what I got of Navigator a couple years ago.

 

I gotta say, it was pretty cool to talk to someone by cellphone as they sailed by on a cruise ship! Yeah, maybe I am a geek.. shhhh, don't tell anyone! :)

 

[pensive mode on] It's always a great experience when you leave the world of "cyber cruising" that I and so many of us live in through these boards, and enter even a little bit of the world of "really cruising" such as driving a couple hours to the edge of the water, and watching the magnificent sight of a beautiful ship sailing by! [pensive mode off now]

 

Many will be watching this thread, thanks for taking the time to keep us up with what is going on!

 

Theron

[rccruisers]

Radio...as always, looking forward reading your posts. You make us feel we are right there with you. I always enjoy following you on your cruises, because like us, you really enjoy yourself.

 

Have fun and I think you will find those wings in the concierge club. They might not have them now, but if they do, they are really good. ;)

[Dancingitup]

Radio,

Thanks for the wonderful pictures. They bring back many great memories (06-24-05).:)

If you get a chance please tell a cabin steward named Rigoberto that I said hello and please post a picture with you.

Thanks

[MisterBill99]

We were on the Granduer in June. Best trip we ever took. I think they served hot wings at the afternoon tea in the Windjammer.

Hmmm.. that doesn't sound like afternoon tea food, but it certainly makes me more interested in checking it out!!!

 

BTW someone who wrote a failrly negative post about his recent voyage on GOTS claimed there was no afternoon tea.

[Pumbaamd]

The Windjammer has tea bags (Lipton, green, flavored, etc.) available whenever they are open. Wings? That's another story. Seaview? Have never seen them on RCL. However, RCL, we know you are monitoring here. How about some wings in the Seaview Cafe or Solarium pool? It would be a big hit and a very nice change guests would notice. Tyson Foods sells a frozen wing that is extremely good. Give them a call.

[MisterBill99]

Afternoon tea is more than a cup of hot tea! It's finger sandwiches (not made with real fingers!), pastries, etc.

 

See http://www.cruisemates.com/articles/reviews/rci/grandeur.cfm

 

"RCI provides a delightful afternoon tea in the Windjammer with a bread pudding or cobbler along with dainty sandwiches, cakes, cookies plus ice cream cones and sundaes"

[Merion_Mom]

Afternoon tea is more than a cup of hot tea! It's finger sandwiches (not made with real fingers!), pastries, etc.

Drat! There goes another cherished fantasy! ;)

[Radio]

Radio...as always, looking forward reading your posts. You make us feel we are right there with you. I always enjoy following you on your cruises, because like us, you really enjoy yourself.

 

Have fun and I think you will find those wings in the concierge club. They might not have them now, but if they do, they are really good.

 

 

No Concierge Club on Grandeur, but i think I remember them being avaiable at the Diamond Repeaters party...

 

Were off the Coast of Cape Hatteras..and I cant beleive that I still have a VZW connection....

 

Nice picture ,BonnieVoyager ! I hope the fix it soon.....

 

No announcement yet on our next port of call...

 

Hopefully TPKeller got a nice pic of me waving !:D

 

Stay tuned...

 

Radio

;)

 

 

Here is our current position.....

 

[NormanW]

Were off the Coast of Cape Hatteras..and I cant beleive that I still have a VZW connection....

 

Radio:

 

I would presume the connection is in the 128kbps range there? You were probably hitting express speeds in places along the Chessie Bay?

 

Either way it is nice to have that connection eh?

 

It's possible to do video (no audio) at 24kbps and have very decent quality and framerate. The storm chasers are all over this now and the coverage is great and the networks are great. Heck before we know it we'll have broadband on a global scale. Of course we'd never let this interfere with the fun part of cruising as always however it's always good to be connected. The internet has been a part of our life for over 25 years so...

 

Cheers,

 

-Norman

[TPKeller]

Were off the Coast of Cape Hatteras..and I cant beleive that I still have a VZW connection....

 

Here is our current position.....

Hi Radio!

 

I see you are GPS equipped as well! :) No other way to travel, I believe!

 

I have a suggestion for you, for when you DO lose your VZW connection. Once you are on the ship network, I suspect it'll be very slow. I suggest you go into your CC Control Panel settings and lower the number of posts you see per page. Especially if you keep putting nice pics up for us to see.. that way the old posts won't have to load up each time you check the thread. Just a thought.

 

I'm sure you are watching the storm, the NHC discussion indicates they really have no idea what it's going to do. So take your meclizine and watch out for the walls. :)

 

Theron

[stillfrantic]

Great pictures! I'll be just down the hall. Wasn't sure about the D1, but they look terrific! Less than 2 weeks for me! :)

[TPKeller]

I don't know if you have these links or not... looks like once you get past Franklin, it's smooth sailing:

 

Southeast coast:

http://www.oceanweather.com/data/SE-US/index.html

 

Gulf of Mexico:

http://www.oceanweather.com/data/Gulf-of-Mexico/index.html

 

Theron

[suzq]

Great shots! I didn't think they had wifi (too bad) and I am curious how you pick up a signal while in the various ports. I want to post pics along the way to my moblog when I go 8/5! Have fun and keep the pics coming! :)

[cheezwhiz]

We had a great time on sailing 7/8.....I must say the food and service was excellent and I enjoyed the 9 days instead of the normal 7 days.