Grandeur of the Seas Family Review April 5 - 12

[janice2348]

I am loving your review. We are sailing on Grandeur 4/26. So excited:D

Sounds like you had an awesome cruise.

[cruizinisthebest]

Nice review. Nice pics! Seriously considering Grandeur for next year, which would be our intro to Royal. Hoping the Summer Bermuda itinerary has kids a good amount of kids also. That's the one we're considering.

[aprylstar]

I am loving your review. We are sailing on Grandeur 4/26. So excited:D

Sounds like you had an awesome cruise.

 

Thanks! We did have a great cruise. I will admit that there was added stress from Day 1 due to noro, the crew were obviously stressed & overworked (but trying there best) and by day 7, we had a pretty awful day BUT Days 2 - 6 were pretty great as you can tell from the review. I am pretty laid back, love to enjoy like & am not going to let a few mishaps ruin my fun!!!!!!

[aprylstar]

Day 5 - ATLANTIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

One of the reasons we were on this cruise was to visit atlantis. Originally I had booked the Explorer of the Seas to Bermuda, but my hubby & son loved Atlantis so much last year that we switched ships at the last minute for a week long vacation to the Bahamas on the Grandeur. Of course it would be our luck that we would switch to the cruise with the norovirus!!!!

 

Last year Atlantis was CRAZY busy, being Canadian March break & Spring break & after 12pm the line for everything was nuts. We had gotten all the slides done first thing in the morning, so it didn't really affect us & were planning to do the same this year. To our surprise, there was only a fraction of the people there this time, which was nice.

 

We docked in Nassau @ 8am. Rather than get in the crazy lines to get off the boat, we slept in, went to the dining room & then came back, packed up & got off the boat around 10. We knew that the slides at Atlantis did not open until 10 & 11 PLUS it was the first semi chili/overcast day. Off the boat you can take a cab to Atlantis for $4 per person ($8 round trip). We asked them to drop us off at comfort suites next door where we had a room booked & that was no problem. Atlantis Aquaventure can be quite expensive. If you are booked at the Comfort Suites, you get access to Atlantis for free! Plus while checking in and out you can take advantage of their internet (if you happen to have family members like myself that can not go 1 week without! lol). The bonus for us is that we collect choice hotel points & were able to book the room for FREE!!!!!!!! There are 2 slide sections at Atlantis with 4 AMAZING slides in each. We hit the Rapid River (which sounds the first 4 slides & provides access to the slides) first. It takes a good 45 minutes just to do the whole circuit without the slides (which we also did) & then the Mayan Tower & by 1pm had all the slides done. We grabbed some lunch by the pool & then headed over to Blue pool. Last year we had tried every pool out & we determined this was our favourite. My hubby did not argue, b.c it is the one closest to the Casino!!! My son & myself swam & hit the hot tub for an hour or so while Milan went to the Casino. He had no luck, but the gentleman beside him won 2008 on a 0.40 slot machine. Later that night we heard that many were lucky at Atlantis from our ship! Around 3:30 pm we headed back to the ship. Got washed up, dressed up & enjoyed yet another delicious dinner in the dining room with Edmon & Vincent. Ayden went to the teen club (he probably would have skipped dinner with us if we had let him! lol) and we went to the Love & Marriage show which was HILARIOUS - they really know how to pick their contestants, the Casino for some gambling & the Viking crown lounge for some dancing!!!!!!

 

Here are a few of my Atlantis pics, followed by the compass for the day:

 

NCL Sky & Grandeur of the Seas Docked in Nassau

 

 

Inside Atlantis (next 3 pics)

 

 

 

 

Outside Atlantis (next 2 pics)

 

 

[aprylstar]

The leap of faith - straight down into a shark tank!!!

 

 

Lagoon Area

 

 

Outdoor restaurant (we realized after that their prices are comparable to the snack stand we got lunch from & will definitely eat here next time)

 

 

The Royal Towers

 

[aprylstar]

Day 5 Compasses

 

 

 

 

[spedrson]

 

We docked in Nassau @ 8am. Rather than get in the crazy lines to get off the boat, we slept in, went to the dining room & then came back, packed up & got off the boat around 10. We knew that the slides at Atlantis did not open until 10 & 11 PLUS it was the first semi chili/overcast day.

 

 

We actually docked at 7 and there weren't any lines to get off. The only reason I know this is because I knew there was free wifi in the terminal so I was anxious to get off to Skype with my family back home. My 6yo daughter chipped her tooth on Monday and I was anxious to see how her dentist appointment went. That's the earliest I was up all week!

[aprylstar]

We actually docked at 7 and there weren't any lines to get off. The only reason I know this is because I knew there was free wifi in the terminal so I was anxious to get off to Skype with my family back home. My 6yo daughter chipped her tooth on Monday and I was anxious to see how her dentist appointment went. That's the earliest I was up all week!

 

:) I hope it went well!!! There were no lines at 10 either. I guess everyone just goes with the flow in Nassau. We totally lucked out with the tender lines some how at coco cay. I hear everyone mentioning they waited 1 hour +. We were on one of the first tenders over & when we left a the end of the day, the line was huge, but it was moving & we made it on the tender just before it filled up!

[aprylstar]

Day 6 - The first of 2 sea days.

 

What a gorgeous day!!! Slept in a bit as usual, breakfast in the dining room & met some lovely ladies & then up to the pool deck which was PACKED!!! I contemplated moving towels off the loungers that the chair hogs scooped, but we lucked out & found a nice quiet nook towards the back of the boat out of the wind & in the sun. Ayden was off with his friends that he met up with in the Schooner bar for trivia and Milan & myself did some reading & soaked up the rays. It was nice to have a lazy day after 3 busy port days. We had lunch in the dining room (DH something Turkey that was DELICIOUS, DS burger - nice and thick and juice & myself an avocado corn salad). I asked for grilled chicken on my salad (there was an option on the menu to add chicken to your Caesar salad) and the waiter told me no!!!! He said I could go stand in line at the Tutti Salad bar and ask them for chicken!!!!!!!!!! I was annoyed to say the least! lol My husband said "this is why we should have requested Vincent!". We ate nearly all of our meals in the dining room & something always went wrong at lunch or breakfast. You think we would have learned our lesson Day 2 or 3 & just head straight to the section we had at dinner. Vincent was always on the pool deck for the morning, so I am not even sure if he worked the dining room for lunch, but he is definitely a star employee!!!

 

After lunch we hit the pool deck again for the Belly Flop competition which was HILARIOUS. Ricky does such a great job of pumping up the crowd. He is like an energizer bunny. 2 Gentlemen created enough waves to get us soaked on the sidelines.

 

 

Afterwards I hopped onto the seats outside the hot tub for an hour or so with some friends I had made. Caught some more rays & enjoyed a couple of coronas while Ayden swam & Milan wandered. I could have spent hours on that pool deck, but it was formal night!!!! After the pool Ayden wanted to meet some of his friends. Milan & I went to get ready for formal night & then met him at the rock climbing wall for the teen speed challenge. He did pretty good & had fun. Made it half way up, which is better than a quarter way up on the last climbing wall.

 

 

 

I took a pic of the sea as well. It was like glass Thursday night. So beautiful!!!

 

 

We had another lovely dinner. It was tiger shrimp & lobster tail! My husband had 2 plates! lol I had 1 & my son had salmon. This is the one day I took some shots of the food. Here's one of my son enjoying the roasted peach soup & a nice family shot:

 

 

[aprylstar]

More food shots!!! Roasted Peach Soup, Mushroom Pastry, Escargot, Salmon, Lobster & Shrimp. I have read comments that food was lukewarm. We never had this issue, but we also arrived at the dining room between 530 & 6 every day. I'm not sure if this was why or if it was just good waiters! Every meal we ate in the dining room was DELICIOUS!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

[aprylstar]

After dinner Ayden had made plans to meet up with Ricky & Andre for the morning show. 835 @ the art gallery & coffee shop. He was so pumped about this the entire day!!! Every night the pair of them tape a show that is aired across the ship in the morning outlining the days activities. They are always zany & goofy & on Thursday night, they had my son take part in the entire show with them. I really appreciate that & he will never forget the experience!!! While Ayden was taping the show, Milan and I went to see John Joseph and Johnny B. It was a really funny show! I can't remember who was who, but we liked the taller gentleman that did most of the talking much better than the gentleman on the keyboard, but together they made a great pair. My son met us at the show after taping with Ricky and Andrew to let us know he was off to the teen club as usual. Milan & myself went to the Casino and then to the Lounge for the Quest. If you like to get a little crazy and laugh a lot, this game show is not to be missed. You compete in teams. Every team gets a number & to stay in the game, you need to complete all the crazy tasks they assign you (some of which included men wearing bras, women wearing the mens pants etc). My husband & I woke up in the morning a little foggy & thought "OHHHHHHHHH we competed in the quest last night!!!" we were laughing at ourselves the next day. After the quest met up with my son and walked him back to the room. He read for a bit & we went up to the Viking crown lounge with our muster buddies & did some dancing. It was a fun filled day & a great night!

 

Day 6 Compass

 

 

 

 

[laumicmah]

Loving your TR! Thanks for sharing. My inlaws are getting on the Grandeur (to Bermuda) on April 26. They asked me a couple questions today, but I have never been on RCCL. They are doing the anytime dining, so do they have to make reservations? I told them to go to the dining room the day they get on the ship and make standing reservations for the cruise. Their cruise is 6 nights, what nights are formal? They are really worried about the Noro (they even called to see if they could switch to a later cruise, with no luck). Hopefully the ship will be pretty clear by the 26th. Their last cruise was on HAL and FIL got really sick with pneumonia after they got back and was hospitalized, so it's making them really anxious.

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review and great pictures.

[aprylstar]

Loving your TR! Thanks for sharing. My inlaws are getting on the Grandeur (to Bermuda) on April 26. They asked me a couple questions today, but I have never been on RCCL. They are doing the anytime dining, so do they have to make reservations? I told them to go to the dining room the day they get on the ship and make standing reservations for the cruise. Their cruise is 6 nights, what nights are formal? They are really worried about the Noro (they even called to see if they could switch to a later cruise, with no luck). Hopefully the ship will be pretty clear by the 26th. Their last cruise was on HAL and FIL got really sick with pneumonia after they got back and was hospitalized, so it's making them really anxious.

 

Good morning :)

 

I was able to make reservations for 615 online ahead of time (royal Caribbean - my cruises). I had read before hand that depending on when you want your reservation, it may be hard to get if you don't book ahead of time. I know you can also make reservations on the boat. We went at 615 twice, but most of the cruise ended up going around 530 so we could be out by 630/700. My son always had something on the go & really if you show up at 530 & get an appetizer, you are not actually eating your dinner until 615ish anyways which is a normal dinner time for us at home. This allowed us to see any "early" entertainment and then my son could head to the teen club afterwards.

 

I hope the ship will be clear as well! I think it is a good sign that it is Thursday and nothing is on the CDC website yet :) Fingers crossed for everyone sailing now & going forward!

[aprylstar]

Day 7....................................................... Not a good day in the land of April, Milan & Ayden. I only have 1 pic to share when I scooted out to the centrum to catch 5 minutes of the Aerial show (which was awesome!)

 

 

This is the day my son woke up feeling ill. He didn't even want to go to breakfast, so he laid in bed & watched TV while Milan and I went to the buffet to pick up a few items. We relaxed in the room with him & by 1230 he was throwing up. I waited until 2 to call the nurses station. I was hoping he would throw up once or twice & be done with it but boy were we wrong!!!! 2 hours go by & no nurse. I am thinking they must be really busy which is not good news. At this point we've quarantined the entire family to the state room b.c I don't want to go around the ship spreading my sons germs. At 4 pm I call the station back & find out the wrote our room number down wrong! They had been calling 3524 for hours & the people there kept saying no one was sick!!! This was the story of our life on this cruise - less than stellar service!

 

From day 1 it was apparent the staff were exhausted. When they were not working they were cleaning. One even told me he had not been to his stateroom for 4 days! I was definitely sympathetic to their situation & made the best of the situation, but the bottom line is we paid quite a bit for this family vacation and in addition to the added stress of late embarking, worrying about noro, many of the employees were not doing their jobs. I've left a hint here an there throughout the review (eg stateroom attendant not finishing with our room properly until day 2 & then apologizing, forgetting ice, not cleaning the toilet properly, didn't bring wine glasses until day 4 after we asked her every day.), but I would say the dining room was the worst. The food was always yummy, but our only positive experience with service was with our evening waiters. 1 morning they forgot to even offer us coffee (everyone else at our table had it). Rarely did we get a coffee refill. Butter/Sugar was often forgotten & b.c as guests we were not allowed to touch anything, we couldn't even get up and help ourselves - which is what I would have done in any other situation b.c I understand these waiters are very busy & sometimes make a mistake! On the first night my Waiter actually refused to give me 2 appetizers. He was pretty sour that night. Milan said something to Vincent who was awesome from the start & after that Edmon was wonderful! Most of the pool bartenders were grumpy & served people out of order. I bought the drink package & always tip extra but by day 3 there were no extra tips at the pool bar. (I did always tip extra everywhere else - pool bar staff were the only grumps! lol) The other thing that stood out was lack of consistency in their sanitizing procedures. Some staff would touch our cards, others would not. At the beginning of the trip some bartenders gave me the drink menu until I found out that was a big NONO - no bar menus this week b.c of noro on the previous trip. When they wiped things down the often missed the underneath (eg tables and slot machines where people touch). When you walked from one end of the ship you might be purelled 6 times! They decided not to print teen compasses. I am not sure why b.c they printed ocean adventure compasses. This meant that day 1 teens spent the day wandering in and out wondering what was going on. Thankfully by day 2, they realized the compass was on the interactive screens & that the counsellor John was awesome & did his own thing anyways! (he would do some of the things in the compass but if the group wanted to do something different, he did also) lol My son was pretty stressed night 1 thinking this would be how things would go the rest of the week, but thankfully he found out he was wrong!

 

I saved this rant for last b.c if you read the beginning of my review, you can see that we are glass half full people. Despite many situations that we felt were not up to what standards might be if noro wasn't looming over us, we made sure we had a great time! Entertainent (and entertainment staff) were great & food was always awesome!!!!!

 

Back to Ayden being sick. They apologize for getting our room number down wrong and were at our room by 430. Ayden received a shot in the butt & didn't throw up after that. Several times he felt like he might, but the meds saved him from that. She also provided a tablet form of the shot for later & immodium. By 6pm he was no longer experiencing nausea & extreme stomach pain, he was just uncomfortable. We decided to order him room service & to our surprise 2 of the 4 items that sick people can order were out of stock on the ship. No more apple sauce, no more bananas & when the rice & "green apple" arrived 1 hour later, the apples was partially red!! Ayden really didn't feel like either of these, so my hubby went up to the buffet to grab him a fresh baked bun (no butter) and he ate that. Afterwards he slept a good 12 hours.

 

I was really surprised we were allowed to roam free. I had assumed if one was sick in the cabin everyone else would be quarantined as well. What good is it quarantining my son & then letting DH and myself roam the ship to spread our cabin germs??? I think this policy also helped the noro spread. We took it upon ourself to remain in our room as much as possible. 1 of us had to be in there to take care of Ayden anyways. We left once for the bun & 3 times to stand in the extremely long guest services line.

 

The first trip to guest services was b.c when Ayden got sick were told we would be quarantined until the next day & we had to get off the ship last. We would be directed to a different area of the ship with quarantined people. Everyone had to go in each family, sick or not. Of course the new tags did not arrive. We call guest services, they say the stateroom attendant will provide them. In the meantime, we ask if we can get a few internet minutes for our son since he can't leave the room. Ok they say, but you need to sign up at the internet café. We find our room attendant. No - she doesn't have the tags. We call guest services - they will deliver them ASAP. In the meantime DH heads out to sign up at the internet café. He waits in line at guest services (asks if we can purchase a copy of the morning show our son was on & they tell him no) & then they send him to deck 7. The internet station is not on deck 7 he finds out - it's deck 4!!!!!!! He signs up, gets back to the room. I call guest services & let them know we are signed back up - what should we do. Purchase the $49 package (90) they say & then call back and we will credit. We do this call back & when my DH says we are calling to get a credit, the woman's response is "why would we do that?" in a very RUDE tone. He explains & she says it is taken care of. A half hour goes by and still no luggage tags. At this point we just want to relax after dealing with a sick boy all day, but back down to guest services I go. Wait inline for another 20 minutes, get my tags & find out they did not credit the $49. In fact the woman can't figure out why they instructed me to buy a package, when they could have just added a coupon credit to our account b.c they can't actually refund what's been used. Now they gave us a partial refund for what we did not use, put in a special request for some sort of OBC to cover what minutes had been used (which I had to later check up on to make sure we received) and then gave us a coupon credit for what we did have left so that we had the original amount of minutes we stared with. WHEW!!!!!!!!!!! Back to the room we go. It's now 930 & we are ready for bed. We realize that our duty free purchase has not been delivered. We call guest services & go through the whole "we don't have it, your state room attendant does" that we did earlier. No she doesn't have it, but she tried to give us someone elses unlabelled liquor! While I wait for our luggage to be picked up (they were supposed to come by 10, but did not b.c so many were sick) my DH goes back to guest services for another 20 min wait. The luggage people finally come at 1030/1045 (sick people had to leave luggage in their room & not in the halls) & DH comes back at 11. They can't find our liquor. They don't know what happened, but they promise to take care of it. Come back in the morning they say & pick it up.

 

7 am comes. Our 4th trip to guest services in less than 12 hours & another long wait & guess what. They have no idea what I am talking about & don't have my liquor. They send me up to the Shops where I have to wait 10 minutes for someone to come and open the store & repackage all our liquor. Even though we purchased it, our purchase was not on the list of to be delivered for some reason. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Another 40 minutes wasted!

 

Up to the Viking crown lounge for 845 where there are 40 sick people & their families. Of course they chose a location with NO WASHROOMs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are supposed to disembark at 9, but that of course is pushed back until after 930. Around 9 I suggested the provide water to all these sick dehydrated passengers. That's a good idea she says!! She had to call the bar manager at least 5 times & the water finally arrived 5 minutes before we were leaving.

 

Day 7 & 8 were not the best days!!! In addition DH & I were sick from Friday night until Sunday night. Thankfully we didn't vomit, but our stomach was in knots & we couldn't eat anything. We had a 7 hour drive home to Canada & warned our son that if one of us got sick we'd be pulling off to get a hotel. Thankfully we made it!!!

 

I would hope that if noro hadn't struck the prior cruise and our cruise, that the staff would not have been exhausted & we wouldn't have any of these negative experiences to report. For that reason, I would give Royal 1 more try, but I would have to get a pretty great deal. We have been on both Carnival & NCL & have had no complaints on either. There were many great staff on the Grandeur that deserve a special shout out since they went above and beyond during all this (Ricky, Andrew, John, Vincent). Despite some short comings days 2 through 6 were pretty good. We like to have fun & the 3 of us always have a great time together.

 

Thanks for sticking around & if anyone has any questions, let me know!!!!!!

[aprylstar]

Day 7 compasses, kids stuff, teen stuff

 

 

 

 

 

 

[aprylstar]

 

 

 

I will scan & add page 4 later today..........

[aprylstar]

 

 

 

[Bonnie Voyager]

I hope the ship will be clear as well! I think it is a good sign that it is Thursday and nothing is on the CDC website yet :) Fingers crossed for everyone sailing now & going forward!

 

I am boarding Grandeur in 2 days (4/19) and so far we have NOT gotten the "dreaded" e-mail delaying our embarkation for extra sanitation. It still could come tomorrow, but I am optimistic due to the fact that no reports of "Noro" have popped up on Cruise Critic yet from the current passengers, and no reports are listed on the CDC website!

 

I am a school nurse and I can tell you that the general population overall has seen an increased amount of stomach bugs this Winter/Spring! Our percentages at my school have been MUCH higher than the numbers on Grandeur were those 2 weeks that reported the Noro outbreak in < 5% of the population.

 

On the bright side....at least at MY school...those numbers have been steadily decreasing and are pretty much back to our normal instances of absences. I am hoping what I am seeing in my school, reflects what is going on in society in general and that we are nearing the end of this "sick season"! ;)

[spedrson]

I am boarding Grandeur in 2 days (4/19) and so far we have NOT gotten the "dreaded" e-mail delaying our embarkation for extra sanitation. It still could come tomorrow, but I am optimistic due to the fact that no reports of "Noro" have popped up on Cruise Critic yet from the current passengers, and no reports are listed on the CDC website!

 

We got our email/phone call Friday around noon.

[FLsunshinegal]

This was great to read and I appreciated finding it. A friend of mine is sailing on Grandeur with her husband and 2 children, ages 4 and 6. We sail on Celebrity and have only been on 3 RCCL ships, but not on this one.

 

What is there for kids to do? Do they have a basketball court? Mini golf? I think there is a rock climbing wall and ping pong and of course the pool. Anything special for the kids?

 

Also, they are in an ocean view room. Any idea what they are like?

 

Thanks for any help you can give me.

[cruiserking]

Thanks for your detailed travelogue on the Grandeur Aprylstar. Looking forward to the rest and enjoying the pictures. Sailing the Grandeur next February and very excited.

 

Jonathan

[jakenashleysmom]

Thanks for this great review! The ship looks great, just my size!

 

Its a shame your sailing got noro, you never really know what goes on behind the scenes when something like this happens on a ship. Glad you were understanding and enjoyed most of the trip. These people work so hard, and to have to deep clean must be awful....they probably wish the were sick too to be honest so they could go to bed!

 

Hopefully our New Years cruise is "pre-noro season" and we don't have to go through this. Looking forward to some bloody marys and bingo on those chilly first and last sea days!!

[aprylstar]

This was great to read and I appreciated finding it. A friend of mine is sailing on Grandeur with her husband and 2 children, ages 4 and 6. We sail on Celebrity and have only been on 3 RCCL ships, but not on this one.

 

What is there for kids to do? Do they have a basketball court? Mini golf? I think there is a rock climbing wall and ping pong and of course the pool. Anything special for the kids?

 

Also, they are in an ocean view room. Any idea what they are like?

 

Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

No basketball court or mini putting. There is shuffleboard, ping pong & rock climbing. The pool is great for little ones b.c half of it is very shallow (like 1 foot maybe), so it was always packed with little ones splashing around. They also have the outdoor movie screen & played quite a few kids flicks (free bird, frozen etc). If you check the compasses there were also "family" activities. From what I could tell, the kids LOVED adventure ocean. My 12 year old loved the ship. I know a huge part of that is because we were on a sailing with lots of kids & he made a lot of new friends. I am sure any 4 & 6 year old would have fun. The nice thing about smaller ships is they make friends & see them all the time. Also, you can get everywhere quicker. 4 & 6 are much too big for strollers, but get tired easily. I think they'll have a blast :)

[aprylstar]

Thanks for your detailed travelogue on the Grandeur Aprylstar. Looking forward to the rest and enjoying the pictures. Sailing the Grandeur next February and very excited.

 

Jonathan

 

:) Thanks!