Canada/New England Grandeur of the Seas questions

[Sharelise]

This will be our first cruise and I have some questions to anyone who has taken this cruise:

1) When you do an excursion, is food included in the price? I'm assuming that an excursion may happen over the lunch hour (or all they all before, or after, lunch)?

 

2) It looks like there are only two excursions at the port of St. John (looks like they are both bus and boat, but no walking). Are they worth it, or is it possible to get around the area on your own?

 

3) If you took any excursions at any of the ports on this trip, do you have any regrets or raves?

 

4) How many formal attire days are there? Are they very strict? Would a sports jacket and collared shirt, for men, and dressy blouse and black slacks do, for women?

Thanks for any opinions and tips you'd like to provide.

Sharon

[RadioRob]

I can help with a couple of your questions...

 

1. Unless the excursion explicitly notes meals included, or you are stopping at one of RCL's private locations (CocoCay or Labadee) you should assume meals are NOT included.

 

4. It's not overly strict. The only thing enforced when I was on the ship a month ago was no shorts or tank tops in the MDR at dinner. For formal night, I saw some folks with dress pants and an untucked button down. I personally went with a sports coat, nice button down shirt, tie, and trousers. Dress up like you're meeting the significant other's parents for the first time or going out to a semi upscale resteraunt and you'll be more than fine.

 

Have a great time onboard! She's a great ship!

[reallyitsmema]

This will be our first cruise and I have some questions to anyone who has taken this cruise:

1) When you do an excursion, is food included in the price? I'm assuming that an excursion may happen over the lunch hour (or all they all before, or after, lunch)?

 

2) It looks like there are only two excursions at the port of St. John (looks like they are both bus and boat, but no walking). Are they worth it, or is it possible to get around the area on your own?

 

3) If you took any excursions at any of the ports on this trip, do you have any regrets or raves?

 

4) How many formal attire days are there? Are they very strict? Would a sports jacket and collared shirt, for men, and dressy blouse and black slacks do, for women?

Thanks for any opinions and tips you'd like to provide.

Sharon

 

The excursions will say how long they last and once you start actually booking the excursion, you will see the time it starts. If the excursion is over lunch and lunch is included, it will be stated in the details.

 

As far as the prior poster's comments about Labadee and Coco Cay, those are not New England ports, they are RCI private island locations that have lunch buffets that are available to all, not excursion related.

 

As far as St John, which excursions are you looking at? We have done that port twice and did not book an excursion. We just went to the downtown market and walked along the sea wall. I know there is an excursion to the sea caves that people enjoyed but that really depends on the timing of the tides.

 

Edit to add link:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20

 

Here is a link to the port of call forum for Canada/New England. If you change the setting on the bottom to show older threads, you can see lots of information about the ports. Reversing Falls is another popular option for St John. Just make sure you do as you did in your original post and look for information on St John, not St John's. St John is in New Brunswick, St John's is in Newfoundland. One person on one of my cruises booked all excursions privately, instead of through the cruise line, and booked the wrong province. :D

Edited June 28, 2015 by reallyitsmema

[Sharelise]

Thanks so much Reallyitsmema. This is really good to know. Yeah, with St. John, since we like to walk I was thinking that if we could at least walk by the bay that would be adequate. I printed out a historical walking tour that we could do on our own downtown. I assume you take a shuttle or a cab to get to downtown, or is it easy to walk there?

[Sharelise]

Thanks, RadioRob. I was hoping that was what you'd say regarding the clothing issue. We rarely do anything requiring us to dress up, that I hate to have to invest in something I may not wear again, unless a wedding or a funeral comes up in the next couple of years, before it goes out of style or I change sizes.

 

That's good to know that they give you the details once you start to register for an excursion. Btw, do you happen to know how disembarkation works with a tendered ship. Ours tenders in Bar Harbour, and I was wondering how they determine who gets off the boat first--such as if you have an early morning excursion reservation.

[negc]

Thanks so much Reallyitsmema. This is really good to know. Yeah, with St. John, since we like to walk I was thinking that if we could at least walk by the bay that would be adequate. I printed out a historical walking tour that we could do on our own downtown. I assume you take a shuttle or a cab to get to downtown, or is it easy to walk there?

 

It is a relatively easy walk from where the ship docks to the downtown area. Lots of good restaurants and shops in the Market and elsewhere in downtown Saint John.

[reallyitsmema]

Thanks so much Reallyitsmema. This is really good to know. Yeah, with St. John, since we like to walk I was thinking that if we could at least walk by the bay that would be adequate. I printed out a historical walking tour that we could do on our own downtown. I assume you take a shuttle or a cab to get to downtown, or is it easy to walk there?

 

We thought it was an easy walk to get there. We have been there on the Jewel and the Brilliance and we docked at two different piers, one all the way at the end of the channel, with no terminal, just a welcome tent in a parking lot. The most recent time was at the very first terminal as you come into port. Both times, it was only a ten minute walk at most.

 

Here is a link to the City Market I mentioned.

 

http://www.sjcitymarket.ca/main.html

 

It was up a decent hill so if you have mobility issues, a cab might be worth it. I know my Mom took the city tour a few years ago and she like it but didn't think it was worth it, she would have walked the route but she is a feisty 77 yr old.:eek::D

[Dreamer115]

check out tomsportguides dot com an excellent site with what can be done at different ports on your own.

[RadioRob]

Thanks, RadioRob. I was hoping that was what you'd say regarding the clothing issue. We rarely do anything requiring us to dress up, that I hate to have to invest in something I may not wear again, unless a wedding or a funeral comes up in the next couple of years, before it goes out of style or I change sizes.

 

That's good to know that they give you the details once you start to register for an excursion. Btw, do you happen to know how disembarkation works with a tendered ship. Ours tenders in Bar Harbour, and I was wondering how they determine who gets off the boat first--such as if you have an early morning excursion reservation.

 

I absolutely would not invest in new clothing. I saw one gentleman in a pair of black jean pants and a collared shirt, and he was just fine. The only rule for dinner that was enforced on Grandeur was no shorts and no tank tops.

 

Regarding tendering... Grandeur is a pretty small boat (less than half the size of the bigger ships). When we were in CocoCay, there was no tickets. Just a lineup... and it went very quickly. Each tender boat held like 150 people each, and they ran multiple boats so that when one pulled out, another was pulling back in. If you book a shore excursion that starts very soon after docking, you might want to be at the lineup like 30 minutes before arriving. Once the initial "rush" is over, there are no lines at all.

[reallyitsmema]

Grandeur will use their lifeboat tenders in Bar Harbor. People with ship sponsored excursions will get priority. We booked our own excursion and had no trouble getting off the ship on one of the first tenders.

 

Not sure what you are planning in Bar Harbor, but if you are looking to do Oli's Trolley, book it yourself through their website. We used them last fall and booking it ourselves saved almost $30 per person. We were also able to book the time we wanted, which was the first of the morning so we would be back in town to have lunch.

 

http://www.olistrolley.com/

 

Edit to add:

 

I booked in June for our October cruise because the early tours sell out. This is the tour we did, it was $60ish through the ship last year.

http://www.olistrolley.com/index.php/tours/acadia-national-park-tour

Edited June 28, 2015 by reallyitsmema