Review Grandeur, Bahamas, Feb 13-21

[Mak7464]

Before someone complains....these are just my opinions. if you do not agree, write your own review.

 

Being from north of Pittsburgh, My wife and I drove to Frederick, MD and stayed over night at the Fairfield Inn, the night before, this left us about 55 minutes to get in to the cruise port in the morning. It could not get any easier to drive to the port on a Saturday Morning.

 

We arrived at about 9:30 am and were about the 8th car in line, they began letting us in to drop our bags off at about 9:55, i was surprised because this was a few minutes earlier than I expected. Baggage drop and parking went smooth and quick. we walked into the terminal went through security with out even a blink toward the two bottles of wine the wife and I had in our carry on bags.

 

Terminal: went fast, we were there early and there were no lines. I was steered toward the Suite line because we took a late upgrade to a JR. Suite. Check in was fast and the next thing you know I was sitting there and listening to the announcement to start boarding. We were about the 40th people on board.

 

Right away, we went toward the windjammer but it was still closed and was not going to open till 11:15 (i think that time is right). so we took a quick tour of the ship with the couple we had with us. it was their first cruise.

The Ship: This was my first time on grandeur. I have been on enchantment and I found it very similar. The ship is 20 years old and shows it in some places. Overall, for its age and its size, the Grandeur did not disappoint me. she does creek and move about a little more than others but that does not bother me.

 

My Stateroom: Two weeks before the cruise I took an upgrade to a Jr. Suite. I am so happy I did. We had room 8535, just off of the centrum. my only regret is that I may have spoiled my wife for going back to a standard room. I found the suite to be roomy, (wider with a larger balcony) with a lot more storage and room to move. Only thing was that there was a support pole at the end of our bed that was not an issue unless the wife was sitting at the vanity doing her makeup. when that was the case it made it hard to get by the pole. Only other issue I found weird was that the suite had a full tub with a shower, the shower curtain was well undersized and a a lot of water hit the floor every time you showered. About the only extra benefit we got for having a Jr suite was boarding first, you do not get many of the "Suite" benefits with the Jr.s.

 

Stateroom Attendant: She was great, she was like a ninja, hardly seen her but you always knew she was there. she would make sure we seen her daily to be be sure that we had everything we needed other that that she was a ghost.

 

Dining Room Service: We ate Dinner at the MDR every evening. Stanislav was our Server and Qui Qui (Carrie) was the assistant. I believe that Carrie was in training. Stanislav was great and met all of our expectations that we have for our server. I will be sure to mention him my name in our survey.

 

Food: MDR, was exceptional as expected. Windjammer: (breakfast/lunch) was great and really seemed better than my previous RCCL cruise on the Explorer. As usual, your drink glasses are only filled half way up and it seemed that they had an issue some mornings keeping a stock of coffee cups. Park Cafe was a nice place for "fourth meal" or that evening snack.

 

Entertainment: Some good/Some Bad. did not see all the shows. Levant the comic magician was good, comedians were ok. The on board performers were average. The aerial show in the centrum was different and artsy (i liked it) Craig Dahn was on board for two shows (Piano Player)It was ok. A juggler was there toward the end but missed him. Grahame was the schooner piano bar singer and he does a nice job. The other bands on the deck and in the centum were average and kept the crowd interested.

 

Activities: Quest/Belly Flop/Love and Marriage show.....same old, same old, same one liners, same quests, same jokes, same questions....bla bla...bla...

 

Ports of call: (once again my takes)

 

1. Port Canaveral: We rented a car and went to NASA it was OK 7 out of 10. Wife's highlight was she saw an alligator.

 

2. Coco Cay....I would not know. I was tender #15. we only got to around

12 or 13. Day started off great and they had about 500 people ashore when a storm kicked up and tendering operations were halted. I heard that some people were stuck bobbing up and down on tenders in the swells for two hours. it was quite an issue as they tried to get everyone back off the island in the building seas. Glad I sat in the hot tub!!! there is no place to hide from the wind or rain on the island. many were not happy.

 

3. Nassau: Not a fan, wife and I like to shop and stop at bars. just getting into town you feel like you were thrown to the wolves. you have to run through the wolves trying to sell you a tour/taxi/etc.

 

4. Key West: Liked it a lot. it was weird that we had to trolley to town because we docked at the navy base. we did our own impromptu "Pub Crawl/Shopping tour from Mallory Square to the Southern most point marker. Sloppy Joes, margaritaville. just two of the stops along the way. then we had the bicycle guys pedal us back form the point to the square.

 

Other things:

 

Tons of Kids (500 kids) Did not have many issues with them. But they were present everywhere. (remember this if your ever booking baltimore on presidents day week, it is winter break for alot of schools)

 

Got a Premium drink package. I made it a point to get my monies worth and toward the end found myself drinking a little more than I would have otherwise. It was nice to not worry about it most days.

 

Complaints: (and this is where I play grumpy old man as my wife calls me, i'm 43 by the way)

 

If you have rules.....Enforce them. Kids in the solarium all hours of the day. I know its a winter cruise from Baltimore but you advertise that you have an adults only area with hot tubs and a pool and you really you do not. many evenings there were still kids in the hot tubs and pool in the solarium at 11 pm. they also labeled to of the 4 hot tubs on the pool deck for "kids only" and the other two "adults only"

 

Dress in the MDR: I know this is always an issue. But I have to mention it. On formal night I saw....Baseball Hats on adults, Tee shirts on Adults, Shorts and sandals on kids. I know it is grumpy old man of me but c'mon, at least make an effort. Not to mention what I saw on casual nights. I understand that RCCL will not step up an address this because its a major customer service issue and will upset a few but why do they bother with the suggestions then.

 

Disembarking....we did the self carry. the line started moving at 7:12 and at 7:25 the wife and I were sitting in the car and I started it....enough said!

 

 

Overall. It was a great cruise with great friends. We had fun every day. Any of the opinions above that are negative are all really minor in the grand scope of things. I Cruise with RCCL because I expect a certain level of service. Once again, RCCL delivered. My Wife, My Friends, and I all had a great cruise and hated to get off the ship.

 

If you have any questions, let me know, ill do my best or I am sure someone else can chime in too.....

 

Matt

 

PS, I finished up in the CASINO as well....Craps was good to me this week!!

[Clarea]

Thanks for the report Matt, reminds me that we've got to cruise on Grandeur some time.

[retiredgram]

Thanks for the review.

 

We were getting off from a B2B as you got on. I would say you are spot on with your comments. I have often said I want to be on the ship for our anniversary, 2/16, but our TA has told us that there is normally a lot of kids for that week.

 

Glad you had a good time even with a couple of issues.

[breezy_carol]

Thanks for the review.

[ljmandelbaum]

Did you have early or my time dining? We were on the same cruise, and I most people that I saw were dressed up every night. I was impressed.

 

I was impressed one afternoon that they let the kids in the solarium pool, that by 4:01 they had all the kids out of the pool.

 

I felt that key west was a big mess. We did an excursion so had to wait in South Pacific lounge from 9 till about 10:30. Would have been quicker to get off with out muster station. All staff had different answered to what would happen with excursions. Really bad way to start the day.

[Mak7464]

Did you have early or my time dining? We were on the same cruise, and I most people that I saw were dressed up every night. I was impressed.

 

I was impressed one afternoon that they let the kids in the solarium pool, that by 4:01 they had all the kids out of the pool.

 

I felt that key west was a big mess. We did an excursion so had to wait in South Pacific lounge from 9 till about 10:30. Would have been quicker to get off with out muster station. All staff had different answered to what would happen with excursions. Really bad way to start the day.

 

Early dining. 5:30. Majority dressed, got worse as the week went on.

 

We did key west on our own, no issues. I do know they had an issue. They took two people away by ambulance in key west.

 

Second hand I was told a guy went down on the pool deck the night before, non responsive. Chest compressions and hit with the AED twice. Guy I spoke with says he was breathing on his own when he left the deck. Not sure if it ended well or not. That slowed things down in key west during the morning.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Keith1010]

Excellent review.

 

Keith

[GUT2407]

Thanks for an interesting review.

[Philly Steve]

Concise and easy to read. How about those "ninja" stewards? :D

 

Thanks for the review, Matt.

[LegalE2010]

Early dining. 5:30. Majority dressed, got worse as the week went on.

 

We did key west on our own, no issues. I do know they had an issue. They took two people away by ambulance in key west.

 

Second hand I was told a guy went down on the pool deck the night before, non responsive. Chest compressions and hit with the AED twice. Guy I spoke with says he was breathing on his own when he left the deck. Not sure if it ended well or not. That slowed things down in key west during the morning.

 

We went to bed early every night (traveling with a baby will do that!), but the night before Key West, sometime after I was sound asleep, I woke up to the Captain's "alpha alpha alpha Windjammer" announcement, so that seems to corroborate that medical emergency.

 

That being said, Key West was a cluster&@$! simply because they had no organization for lines to get onto the trolleys. We had a shore excursion for the conch train, and instead of allowing us off before people without excursions, they started calling muster stations, and people flooded off and cut into the line we had been waiting in. I'm sure everyone in charge had dealt with arrivals at the navy dock before, so there's no reason they shouldn't have known how to handle the flow of passengers better.

[sailawayjack]

:cool:for many years now, I have been one of Royals greatest fans. This cruise was my worse, and last cruise with Royal. :cool:It started out with Muster Drill. 20 degrees outside, and we waited 25 minutes while some clown told us not to throw marshmellows down the commode. Celebrity in Rome in October (75 degrees) held muster inside. Next problem--Port Canaveral. Took Canaveral Highlights, which my daughter gave us for Christmas. Never left port area. Saw small NASA Tyupe museum, saw Enterprise Car Rentals, saw locks on a river, and stopped at a fish market, where five of us left tour and took cab back to ship. What a joke and waste of money. Then comes Coco Cay. Usually my favorite stop. A tender broke down delying departure. One hour ashore then came the rain. Hopped on tender to return. Saw first tender spend over two hours trying to tie up to ship. It was cold, rocky, people getting sick, and we were sprayed with cold water. Spent over two hours on that tender. NEVER SHOULD HAVE GONE SHORE. Another Anthem decision gone wrong. I blame the captain. Kids--many, but usually they do not bother me. They need to have fun. BUT--as above, they had kid hours in Adult Solarium, but were in there all the time. Security got cussed out by one mother, and they backed down. Kids were in adult hot tub even though they had one dedicated to them. food was generally good except one meal. Ordered Thailand Prawns. Received 6 of the smallest shrimp I ever saw. Temtations Tribute band was best show. Sorry to say this, but Ernest Hemmingway wrote Farewell to Arms---Sailawayjack just wrote Goodbye Royal Caribbean:cool:

Edited February 22, 2016 by sailawayjack

[Biker19]

:cool:for many years now, I have been one of Royals greatest fans. This cruise was my worse, and last cruise with Royal. :cool:It started out with Muster Drill. 20 degrees outside, and we waited 25 minutes while some clown told us not to throw marshmellows down the commode.

 

Sorry to say this, but Ernest Hemmingway wrote Farewell to Arms---Sailawayjack just wrote Goodbye Royal Caribbean:cool:

 

Surely you knew that the muster is always outside on this ship. The same folks that swear off RCI due to that tendering issue, would have complained about missing the port. Like on Anthem, if the captain knew the storm was going to be that strong, he would not have let people go ashore and would have skipped the port.

 

As with the Anthem customers on that harrowing sailing, take some time and re asses in a few months.:cool:

Edited February 22, 2016 by Biker19

[EASTPORTSTAR]

My wife and I (both early 50's) were on this cruise. Had a great time. Matt's review is spot on !! would do it again in a minute. had breakfast with an older couple the last morning, first time I heard any complaints. The guy complained about everything ! said he had gotten 2 bottles of wine and 1 champagne because he had complained everyday that his room service breakfast was wrong! Some people are never happy! Thanks for the review Matt.

[kellyx3]

Found your review to be spot on except for one issue. The solarium. This was a hot issue for me as my kids were confronted with me about 10 feet behind by older cruisers stating that they were not allowed in the solarium area I asked for clarification and was told the solarium area was not an adult only zone the solarium pool and hot tub's were adult only but due to the location of the spa and the gym which my teenagers used and the park café children were allowed in the solarium many older cruisers seemed very disgruntled to see kids in there. This was not intended to be the equivalent of Carnivals Serenity deck. Also, kids were permitted in the solarium pool 9-11 and 2-4 based on signs posted in the area due to inclement weather and inability to use the outdoor pools. I was also frustrated that adventure ocean was typically not able to accommodate my younger kids since they were capped off at 50. Overall, I am not loyal to any particular cruise line as you can see in my signature. I love to cruise and cruise as often as I can. I was excited to try RCCL again but overall found the service, food, entertainment and value much better on Carnival. I think carnival has greatly improved in recent years and RCCL has not kept up. Overall, had a fabulous time even in CocoCay where we got rained on while on the top of the tender and while on the beach. Ended up a gorgeous day but was a little nerve wracking when the ship pulled up anchor and changed position to better protect the tenders while we were sitting on the beach watching worrying it was leaving us behind.

[Mak7464]

As far as the solarium, to be clear, I understand that when the weather is bad they set a few hours aside for kids to use the pool and hot tubs in there. I also know that's the Park Café and spa entrance.

 

I just find it funny when its past the posted hours and someone has their children in a hot tub or pool and they are asked to leave and the adult throws a temper tantrum that would make a 5 year old proud and the staff backs off and wont insist they leave. when at the same time they put signs on 2 out of the 4 hot tubs on the pool deck that said "Kids only" Overall, kids don't bother me, I raised my two. They have both cruised with us from the time they were 12. I would expect them to follow the posted rules, and if they were asked to leave because they were not, I would tell them to leave. I think there might be a life lesson in there somewhere about, "Rules are Rules" and they apply even if your pout and carry on. I know your little boy or little girl is a special prince or princess but your not doing them any favors by showing them how throwing a fit to get your way works for adults too. (that statement above is meant for the very few, overall parents tended to the kids quite well, there was some running in the hall, and some pressing of all the elevators buttons, but that's vacation, their kids)

 

I also wonder why they would nightly close down one of the hot tubs in the solarium. It wasn't being cleaned, it was just sitting there closed. I understand periodic maintenance but that was not the case. The one hot tub would "fill up" pretty quick.

 

Reading the comments above, I did forget the Muster drill...it was cold, it was windy. I felt bad for the people that had children with them and they were made to stand outside. But, I know the drill. It is the people that take their time getting to station that make it drag out. if everyone got there it would be over quickly. yes, I have seen it done inside, but I do Safety work for a career and fully understand the importance of an actual drill in the actual location. With that said, I did watch the life boat drills they did while in port in Nassau, I was impressed, they did an awesome job launching and retrieving the life boats and tenders.

[Mak7464]

We went to bed early every night (traveling with a baby will do that!), but the night before Key West, sometime after I was sound asleep, I woke up to the Captain's "alpha alpha alpha Windjammer" announcement, so that seems to corroborate that medical emergency.

 

That being said, Key West was a cluster&@$! simply because they had no organization for lines to get onto the trolleys. We had a shore excursion for the conch train, and instead of allowing us off before people without excursions, they started calling muster stations, and people flooded off and cut into the line we had been waiting in. I'm sure everyone in charge had dealt with arrivals at the navy dock before, so there's no reason they shouldn't have known how to handle the flow of passengers better.

 

I gotta be honest with you, I walked off the boat and right onto a trolley. I was wondering what all those people on my left were in line for. I figured they were waiting for a special transport for a excursion. Soooo....I was most likely one of the people that flooded off the boat got in front of you. for that I apologize....very unorganized if that was the case. there were no queuing lines set up just a bunch of people standing there.

[Thetrail]

Before someone complains....these are just my opinions. if you do not agree, write your own review.

 

Being from north of Pittsburgh, My wife and I drove to Frederick, MD and stayed over night at the Fairfield Inn, the night before, this left us about 55 minutes to get in to the cruise port in the morning. It could not get any easier to drive to the port on a Saturday Morning.

 

We arrived at about 9:30 am and were about the 8th car in line, they began letting us in to drop our bags off at about 9:55, i was surprised because this was a few minutes earlier than I expected. Baggage drop and parking went smooth and quick. we walked into the terminal went through security with out even a blink toward the two bottles of wine the wife and I had in our carry on bags.

 

Terminal: went fast, we were there early and there were no lines. I was steered toward the Suite line because we took a late upgrade to a JR. Suite. Check in was fast and the next thing you know I was sitting there and listening to the announcement to start boarding. We were about the 40th people on board.

 

Right away, we went toward the windjammer but it was still closed and was not going to open till 11:15 (i think that time is right). so we took a quick tour of the ship with the couple we had with us. it was their first cruise.

The Ship: This was my first time on grandeur. I have been on enchantment and I found it very similar. The ship is 20 years old and shows it in some places. Overall, for its age and its size, the Grandeur did not disappoint me. she does creek and move about a little more than others but that does not bother me.

 

My Stateroom: Two weeks before the cruise I took an upgrade to a Jr. Suite. I am so happy I did. We had room 8535, just off of the centrum. my only regret is that I may have spoiled my wife for going back to a standard room. I found the suite to be roomy, (wider with a larger balcony) with a lot more storage and room to move. Only thing was that there was a support pole at the end of our bed that was not an issue unless the wife was sitting at the vanity doing her makeup. when that was the case it made it hard to get by the pole. Only other issue I found weird was that the suite had a full tub with a shower, the shower curtain was well undersized and a a lot of water hit the floor every time you showered. About the only extra benefit we got for having a Jr suite was boarding first, you do not get many of the "Suite" benefits with the Jr.s.

 

Stateroom Attendant: She was great, she was like a ninja, hardly seen her but you always knew she was there. she would make sure we seen her daily to be be sure that we had everything we needed other that that she was a ghost.

 

Dining Room Service: We ate Dinner at the MDR every evening. Stanislav was our Server and Qui Qui (Carrie) was the assistant. I believe that Carrie was in training. Stanislav was great and met all of our expectations that we have for our server. I will be sure to mention him my name in our survey.

 

Food: MDR, was exceptional as expected. Windjammer: (breakfast/lunch) was great and really seemed better than my previous RCCL cruise on the Explorer. As usual, your drink glasses are only filled half way up and it seemed that they had an issue some mornings keeping a stock of coffee cups. Park Cafe was a nice place for "fourth meal" or that evening snack.

 

Entertainment: Some good/Some Bad. did not see all the shows. Levant the comic magician was good, comedians were ok. The on board performers were average. The aerial show in the centrum was different and artsy (i liked it) Craig Dahn was on board for two shows (Piano Player)It was ok. A juggler was there toward the end but missed him. Grahame was the schooner piano bar singer and he does a nice job. The other bands on the deck and in the centum were average and kept the crowd interested.

 

Activities: Quest/Belly Flop/Love and Marriage show.....same old, same old, same one liners, same quests, same jokes, same questions....bla bla...bla...

 

Ports of call: (once again my takes)

 

1. Port Canaveral: We rented a car and went to NASA it was OK 7 out of 10. Wife's highlight was she saw an alligator.

 

2. Coco Cay....I would not know. I was tender #15. we only got to around

12 or 13. Day started off great and they had about 500 people ashore when a storm kicked up and tendering operations were halted. I heard that some people were stuck bobbing up and down on tenders in the swells for two hours. it was quite an issue as they tried to get everyone back off the island in the building seas. Glad I sat in the hot tub!!! there is no place to hide from the wind or rain on the island. many were not happy.

 

3. Nassau: Not a fan, wife and I like to shop and stop at bars. just getting into town you feel like you were thrown to the wolves. you have to run through the wolves trying to sell you a tour/taxi/etc.

 

4. Key West: Liked it a lot. it was weird that we had to trolley to town because we docked at the navy base. we did our own impromptu "Pub Crawl/Shopping tour from Mallory Square to the Southern most point marker. Sloppy Joes, margaritaville. just two of the stops along the way. then we had the bicycle guys pedal us back form the point to the square.

 

Other things:

 

Tons of Kids (500 kids) Did not have many issues with them. But they were present everywhere. (remember this if your ever booking baltimore on presidents day week, it is winter break for alot of schools)

 

Got a Premium drink package. I made it a point to get my monies worth and toward the end found myself drinking a little more than I would have otherwise. It was nice to not worry about it most days.

 

Complaints: (and this is where I play grumpy old man as my wife calls me, i'm 43 by the way)

 

If you have rules.....Enforce them. Kids in the solarium all hours of the day. I know its a winter cruise from Baltimore but you advertise that you have an adults only area with hot tubs and a pool and you really you do not. many evenings there were still kids in the hot tubs and pool in the solarium at 11 pm. they also labeled to of the 4 hot tubs on the pool deck for "kids only" and the other two "adults only"

 

Dress in the MDR: I know this is always an issue. But I have to mention it. On formal night I saw....Baseball Hats on adults, Tee shirts on Adults, Shorts and sandals on kids. I know it is grumpy old man of me but c'mon, at least make an effort. Not to mention what I saw on casual nights. I understand that RCCL will not step up an address this because its a major customer service issue and will upset a few but why do they bother with the suggestions then.

 

Disembarking....we did the self carry. the line started moving at 7:12 and at 7:25 the wife and I were sitting in the car and I started it....enough said!

 

 

Overall. It was a great cruise with great friends. We had fun every day. Any of the opinions above that are negative are all really minor in the grand scope of things. I Cruise with RCCL because I expect a certain level of service. Once again, RCCL delivered. My Wife, My Friends, and I all had a great cruise and hated to get off the ship.

 

If you have any questions, let me know, ill do my best or I am sure someone else can chime in too.....

 

Matt

 

PS, I finished up in the CASINO as well....Craps was good to me this week!!

Will be sailing on Grandeur this August, love the crew and the CL.....Am with you regarding formal night, at least make an effort or eat in the WJ........K.O....:)

[RadioRob]

When I was aboard Grandeur last May, they were ACTIVELY enforcing dress code every night of the week. No shorts, strapless shirts during dinner, etc.

 

Sounds like a success overall! Glad you had fun! I would not hesitate to sail on the Grandeur again.

[ljmandelbaum]

I was also frustrated that adventure ocean was typically not able to accommodate my younger kids since they were capped off at 50. .

Kids club was a joke. I could not believe they had the 6-8 with the 9-12, and only took 50 6-12 year olds total. My girls went the first afternoon and I think they spend more time getting them to let them leave since we said they could check themselves out.

[tputorti]

 

Second hand I was told a guy went down on the pool deck the night before, non responsive. Chest compressions and hit with the AED twice. Guy I spoke with says he was breathing on his own when he left the deck. Not sure if it ended well or not. That slowed things down in key west during the morning.

 

I can confirm this did happen. I was there and it occurred at the beginning of the deck party. They stopped the music and cleared the right side of the deck while they worked on him. He was alert and breathing when they took him off deck. They worked on him for about 15 minutes before taking him down the elevator. The crew did an amazing job with this situation and saved his life while controlling the crowd.

 

However, I will say the biggest complaint I have was the sear lack of communication from the ship staff regarding Coco Cay and getting off in Key West. I was stuck with my family for over an hour in a stairwell waiting to board a tender to go ashore. It was later announced that there was a mechanical issue with a tender boat, but that was well after we had been standing for a long time. Stuck in a stairwell with no bathroom or drinks and small kids is not fun. It got hot and no one knew what was going on. On the way back to the ship from Coco Cay, we waited in line for over an hour to get on a tender. No one informed anyone that the seas got rough or that there were delays with the tenders. When we finally boarded a tender, we were put on a fully loaded tender and then sat on the top deck of the tender in the heat for over 30 minutes before finally pushing off shore. Again no bathrooms or beverages, so this became an issue, especially with small kids. There was no notice when we got on that we would be sitting for awhile and while we sat there was no explanation why we were sitting there. Once we got out in the water we realized it was very rough seas and that this was probably why we were sitting there, but never confirmed. From the time we got in line to tender back (which it should be said was under beautiful sunny skies, so no reason to think there was an issue) until the time we set foot back on the boat was over 2 hours! Between the line in the morning and the trip back in the morning we wasted over 3 hours of our day standing around not knowing what was going and with no where to go. Worse cruise day in my life.

 

Key West was a mess getting off the boat and onto a trolley. It was like they had never done this operation before. The line was a mess and again there was no communication to go with their disorganization.

 

I will also echo the one commenter's point that the Adventure Ocean program was not prepared for the number of kids on board that week. The activities on board do not seem like they were adjusted to handle the demographic for that week. The staff was out of their comfort zone and were overwhelmed in that regard.

 

Short of these messes, the cruise was great and we had a fun time.

Edited February 22, 2016 by tputorti

[ljmandelbaum]

g off the boat and onto a trolley. It was like they had never done this operation before. The line was a mess and again there was no communication to go with their disorganization.

 

Short of these messes, the cruise was great and we had a fun time.

 

Communication in key west was funny. Each staff member would tell you something different. In fact Jason from the shore excursion desk said one thing, took the non US citizens and the people need help from the lounge. Said we would all be office soon/ first. Paul started the announcements by muster station. Then finally Jason came back. He only explained to everyone what was happening after a few of us asked. blamed it all on immigration. Took about 100 people to get in line for immigration. Then was supposed to come back and take us by tour, but when he finally came back, he just did the people sitting by the bar not the stage. it was kind of crazy.

[Bookish Angel]

Surely you knew that the muster is always outside on this ship.

 

 

I was on the 01/25/16 Grandeur cruise and the muster was in the dining room.

[peekinglemer]

My family was also on this cruise and I agree with a lot of what people are saying.

 

As for Coco Key, we were assigned Tender no. 13 and sat in the Schooner bar waiting for them to call our number. Then they got to no. 11 we decided to head down to the tender area. Once we got down there, someone in line told us that there may be an issue with the weather and they were going to hold off on loading the next tender. We made the decision at that point to just scrap Coco Key. We headed up to the lido deck and grabbed some drinks and hit the hot tub just as the rain started to come down. It ended up being a good decision. We spoke to a family that spent 2 hours with their kids in a tender trying to get back to the ship. We really felt for them. But....you can't control the weather.

 

As for Key West; we had an appointment to meet an artist at one of the galleries in Key West at 11:00 to purchase artwork that he was going to sign. We scheduled the appointment based on the port times when we booked the cruise.

 

Based on our Muster Station we were not even scheduled to go through customs until 11:00. I went to guest services that morning and explained our situation and she told us to show up for the first round of customs at 10:00 and they would let us go through. I was ready to explain why we were there earlier then out assigned time but no one even looked at our seapass card. Customs was very quick, and we were heading down to exit the ship by 10:20. There were very very few people exiting the ship at this time and we got right off and right on the trolley. We commented on how easy the whole process was. It sounds like we may have been lucky.

 

We have had some bad experiences in the past with being stuck on the ship waiting for shore excursions. I'm sorry that other people had that problem in Key West. I know how frustrating it can be.

 

As to the kids club. My ten year old got turned away twice because they had reached capacity. He was ok with that. The club is very small and there are not a lot of "free play" things like video games for him to do. He made a friend with another 10 year old (Hi William) and they hung out together playing shuffleboard and watching movies.

 

Did anyone else notice that there were a LARGE number of very small kids kind of fending for themselves this cruise? They were not disruptive but I would never think of letting my 6 year old wander the ship unsupervised. And the night they played the Goosebumps movie there were a ton of kids in the pool and not a parent in sight. It made me a nervous wreck. Kids die every year in cruise pools. Just because there are a lot of other kids in the pool, that is NOT a substitute for proper adult supervision. Maybe I'm just over-protective but I would rather be too careful. My son is 10 and a great swimmer but I would never leave him unattended in the pool or hot tub.

 

Overall, this was a great cruise. The staff was top-notch, we enjoyed the food and embarkation and debarkation was the easiest yet. 2 thumbs up.

 

Sorry OP for piggybacking on your review. I just meant to post one comment and ended up with a book. :)

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.