Grandeur of the Seas, Voyage of the Saints, November 10-22, 2018

[Wildcatfish]

Thanks for the info on St Croix. Much appreciated. We really are enjoying your review!

[breezy_carol]

Thanks for the very informative, interesting, and enjoyable posts.

 

[Funsinger75]

Thanks for sharing menus and compasses. It’s a snow day and schools are delayed or closed here in the DMV. Enjoy the warm weather!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great report and wonderful pictures.

 

We were in St Croix in 2012 before Maria hit them -- and the island was in bad shape then.  It poured most of the day we were there.

 

Love red devils food cake.

[laumicmah]

Our cabin, on the Jan 3rd Grandeur cruise, will be deck 3 and right under the Centrum stage. Do you think that will be a noise issue in our cabin (if we go to bed around 10-11pm)?

[rafinmd]

17 hours ago, laumicmah said:

Our cabin, on the Jan 3rd Grandeur cruise, will be deck 3 and right under the Centrum stage. Do you think that will be a noise issue in our cabin (if we go to bed around 10-11pm)?

Thanks everyone for the comments. laumicmah, I took a little stroll about 10:15 and the band was pretty loud.  Sound from the Centrum carries up very well but not so much down.  I think the noise level dropped to about half by the time I got to the 3rd floor landing, and then by half again once I entered the corridor by the cabins.  Once you're behind a cabin door I think you'll be fine unless you are very noise sensitive.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Day 5, Thursday, November 15, 2018, Saint Johns, Antigua, another 192 miles

Antigua and Barbuda is a former British Colony that gained it’s independence in 1981 and celebrated it’s 37th birthday on November 1.  

This is my second visit to Saint Johns; the first was on the Celebrity Summit on the cruise celebrating my nephew’s wedding.  That time I explored a bit independently, but today had booked a walking tour in the city.

We seem to be in a very windy weather pattern, and the morning sun struggled to find an opening in the clouds.  We pulled into Saint Johns just before 8 with the Caribbean Princess (seemed huge) across the dock from us.

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My tour was at 8:30 and I left shortly the ship was cleared (8:15) to find the guide and be fitted with a wrist band and listening device.  The area just outside the dock was jammed with the usual assortment of Caribbean stores.

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There are 2 cruise piers, probably 500 feet apart.  Our first stop was Redcliff, at the end of the other pier.  The area had been a key landing point during the slave trade and our guide (Carolyn) pointed out a house that had originally been a place for problem slaves and was fitted with leg and neck chains.

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We continued walking to the market area and paused at “Heroes Square” where there is a huge bust of the leader of the action leading to independence.  While deceased VC Bird is considered the father of the nation.

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We walked past the fishing fleet and two of the markets, one for crafts and the other for fruits and vegetables.

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Our next destination was the area around the Cathedral.  On the way we passed an Antigua flag painted on a building and Carolyn explained the symbols.  We also passed the large Methodist Church.

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The Centotaph is Saint Johns memorial War Memorial and was still adorned with flowers  from Veterans Day.

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We made a stop and had a chance to go inside the (Anglican) Cathedral.  It has apparently been used pretty much continuously since an 1843 earthquake with restoration a very long process.

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Our final stop, around 11AM, was at the Museum of Antigua.  I did not go inside but there was a locomotive from the island’s sugar cane days parked in front.

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After lunch I did a bit of shopping/exploring.  I had not found a charging cable for my cell phone but just a couple of blocks up the street there was a name from my shopping past.  Radio Shack had exactly the cable I needed.

We leave most ports at 6 but this is one of 2 where all aboard was 4:30.  We had some stragglers but our last passenger boarded about 4:35.  Once the gangway was pulled in I went to deck 5 aft for the actual departure with nice views of the Cathedral as well as a last look at Saint Johns.  

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We started to move about 4:45.  Caribbean Princess was also due to leave at 5 but as our stern passed her bow their Captain announced that they finally had everybody onboard.  The sun dipped into the clouds on the horizon about 5:25.

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It looks like my table for 4 has de-facto become a table of one.  For this evening I went with the fruit plate, strip loin, and apple pie a la mode.

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The featured entertainment was the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers with All Access.  Shows were at 6:30 and 8:30 but I wanted to be part of the new cast premier performance so I caught the last few minutes of the early show after dinner and then returned for the full second show.

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I’ll take a parting shot from a tee shirt I saw on a teenaged boy in my shopping/walk.  It seems to be pretty much a universal commentary on life in all cultures today.  It said “Outside today–wifi is down”.  Sadly, I even somewhat resemble that remark.

Roy

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Wonderful walking tour you had -- we did a similar one several years ago.

 

Love your pictures.

 

Sorry that you are eating all alone.

[blueyfish]

Enjoying your review and pictures. We were on the Lady G last week and sat at table 314 also. Just curious, who are your waiter and asst. waiter?

[rafinmd]

11 hours ago, blueyfish said:

Enjoying your review and pictures. We were on the Lady G last week and sat at table 314 also. Just curious, who are your waiter and asst. waiter?

Thank you Krazy Kruizers and blueyfish.

 

My waiters are Jingfang and Siddharth.

 

I pretty well ran out of gas last night and my post is far from finished.

 

Roy

[blueyfish]

Thanks for your response.  We had different waiters.  Hope your service is better than ours.  Enjoy the balance of your cruise.

[rafinmd]

blueyfish, one thing I've found strange about the Grandeur was that the Assistant Waiters always seem better than the waiters.

 

Day 6, Friday, November 16, 2018, Castries, St. Lucia, 214 more miles

St. Lucia was our southernmost port at 14 degrees north, and our warmest to date with a high temperature of 85F (29C).  It’s one of my more commonly visited ports on this itinerary (along with St. Maarten), my 4th visit to the town.

It was sunny most of the day but there was a shower about 7:30 and a nice rainbow when I went up to breakfast about 8AM.

We arrived at the port about 8:40.  On my previous visits we had always docked at the Port Seraphine cruise terminal, on the opposite side of the harbor with just shops in the area, but Mein Schiff 6 was there and we docked close in to town.  The down side of this location is that the exit is through a complex of small shops and I had to almost claw my way through it when I went out for a morning walk.  I left for the first time about 9:20 when preparations were starting for the weekly crew and I was about 2 blocks when the emergency signal was sounded.  When I returned about 8:45 the drill had just progressed to the “abandon ship” stage and there was a simulated lifeboat loading outside the deck r dining room.  Later, about 11AM I saw the stern of lifeboat 2 rising above my window.

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My longer walk came about lunch time.  I had taken a couple of (sealed) snacks along and walked directly away from the ship.  My map showed a small river but it was pretty dingy.  Having seen the Castries fire station on the map of course I had to walk past it.

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Castries has two Nobel Laureates among it’s honored persons and there are busts of them in the main square.  The earlier one was for physics and the second was Derek Walton for literature.  The square is named in his honor and I stopped there for one of my snacks.  

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The city cathedral is directly across from the Walton Square.

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I continued walking through the markets towards the other cruise terminal where a nice small square called Serenity Park is next to the Port Seraphine entry.  I stopped there for my second snack and then returned along the harbor front to the Grandeur.

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The schedule had us leaving at 6 and Mein Schiff at 7.  I planned to be on deck for sailaway and decided to choose the dining room or WJ depending on how quickly we got away.  As all aboard passed at 5:30 we were just sitting and I watched the last colors of the sunset from deck 5.  Captain Thor announced at 5:45 we were waiting for a shore excursion that was delayed and should be back within 30-45 minutes.  He also had what to me was a very pleasant forecast for our return to Baltimore, sunny and 47F, very manageable with a jacket.  

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I headed up to the lido for dinner, and found that their selections were completely different from the main dining room.  One thing I used to enjoy was the chilled soups, now missing from the MDR menus.  I was delighted to find a pineapple-mango soup along with a few other dishes and finished off with a good bowl of ice cream.

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I had no expectation of seeing Castries at night but it was quite pretty.  I had also not expected to see Mein Schiff depart but it left with German precision precisely at 7PM.

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Our tour finally got back about 7:15 and the crew started to fold up the gangway almost as the last passengers were stepping inside the ship and we turned away and sailed out about 7:30.

The featured entertainment was hypnotist John Moyer.  He was interesting but I think one of his shows was enough.  

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There was also a movie on the pool deck at 9:30.  Despite the heat of the day I found the evening a bit chilly and windy and did not stay.

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When I got back to my room I took a short rest on my bed and quickly fell asleep, finally waking up in time to go to bed after 11.

It’s rare to have a change in officers on a ship mid cruise but it has happened here.  As a parting shot welcome aboard to new Hotel Director John Denton and best wishes to Adriana as she moves to the Independence.  You’ll be missed on the Grandeur.

Roy

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great report and wonderful pictures but I think there is an "oops" on your times in the first paragraph.

 

We much prefer to dock at Point Seraphine than where the shops are -- La Place Carenage.  The last couple of times we were there many of the shops were closed -- building pretty much empty and the elevator wasn't working to get to the second floor -- I use a Rollator and can't do steps.

[shipgeeks]

Raf, I can sympathize with your empty table situation.  It has happened to us a number of times, on many ships. I believe the availability of buffet, specialty restaurants, and room service is to blame.  We sometimes ask our head waiter if a couple of tables can be combined without upsetting the waitstaff ratio.  Many times there are adjacent tables with fewer people as well. We've ended up with some excellent dinner company this way!

[rafinmd]

Thanks shipgeeks and Krazy Kruizers.  I think another factor is that some people move to anytime dining once on board.

 

 

The tour started near the airport and made a huge “U” arc, ending near an Eco Park.  When the train stopped our original buses and drivers were ready for us.  Just before we reached our destination the guide pointed out the residence of the premier on one hilltop.

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On the way back to the ship our driver pointed out the oldest Anglican church in the Caribbean. It is still in regular use.

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We returned to the port about 4 with a little bit of drama.  All Aboard for the Explorer was 3:30 with departure at 4.  I went through security about 4:05 when 2 guys came running through and dashing towards their ship.  As I got to my gangway they were standing there with the gangway gone but the hatch still open.  As I walked up my gangway they were pulling their gangway back out to the dock.  In the 10 minutes it took me to drop my bag in my cabin and get up to deck 4 the Explorer was already well past the end of the dock.

Our all aboard was 5:30.  At the appointed hour there were a couple of people walking down the dock but we pulled in the gangway about 5:35 and were on our way about 5:55, slowly backing out and turning around.  Captain Tron announced that while it is under 50 miles to St. Maarten the Grandeur cannot cruise effectively at under 6 knots so we will actually be traveling about 80 miles.  

Since I had not expected sailaway to conclude in time to be prompt for dinner I had again made reservations at Chops.  I repeated my salad from last time but the other choices were tater tots (disappointing), petite fillet, and key lime pie.

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The featured entertainment was violin showman Gary Lovini.  He was full of live and his music was totally joyful with a touch of the feel of the Celtic fiddle.  I’ve seen some great ones perform and he now I’ve seen one more great one.

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My parting shot for today–May I never show up for my ship 35 minutes late.

Roy

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

I like the sound of Chops -- think we would eat there a lot.  Tater tots -- nope.

 

Great report and pictures.  The Anglican church looks so quaint.

[rafinmd]

Thanks Krazy Kruizers.  I do enjoy Chops but still mostly prefer the dining room.

 

I'm running behind again but will mention that we've had more nice weather this morning than on the entire journey down.

 

Day 8, Sunday, November 18, 2018, Phillipsburg, St. Maarten

This is the port on this cruise I have visited most, initially on the Crystal Symphony in 2002, then on the Celebrity Summit in 2012 and on the Anthem 2 years ago.  My primary plan for this visit was to find a church service since it’s a Sunday.  A priest passenger was celebrating Mass on the ship but I did not see anything for Protestants, even the usual Joel Osteen video.

There were 4 ships visiting the island.  I was hoping to see the Crystal Esprit (yacht, to be docked in Marigot).  I looked on Marine Traffic as soon as I was out of bed and it was behind us but when I went on deck it was so far back that I could only see lights.  We were the first ship to arrive, backing into the southernmost berth just after 6:30.  The Carnival Ecstasy joined us across the dock perhaps 20 minutes later while the Star Pride (former Seabourn Pride) came later and berthed at the second pier.  My investigation suggested that there were Methodist and Anglican churches in Philipsburg but the information was pretty sketchy and no addresses were given.

I left the ship about 7:45 and stopped at the information booth at the port.  They did not have any maps so I was winging it.  The only addresses were Back Street for Anglican and Front Street for Methodist.  Walking along Front Street I suddenly heard singing and found a church.  It was Roman Catholic but the lady told me the Methodist was a little further down the street.  I found it about 8:45.

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There was a pretty good turnout for the 9:00AM service which appeared to have some kind of a youth recognition theme and lasted until about 11:45.  I was surprised at how much of the language and liturgy seemed unfamiliar to me.

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After the service I walked around town a bit.  Most of the commercial area is on Front Street.

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Just a block from the shopping is a boardwalk with a very nice beach.

 

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Since my last visit here the town was hit very hard by Hurricane Maria.  I saw lots of lingering damage including a few stores boarded up, a hotel missing part of a roof, and a sandy vacant lot with pieces of air conditioner hanging down, but probably 90% of the town is back and what’s there’s enough active that what’s missing is not really a problem for tourists.  The island was only really down briefly, there’s a plaque on the wall on deck 5 recognizing the Grandeur as one of the first ships restoring tourism to St. Maarten, 11 months ago.

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The courthouse is still a very pretty site at the center of town.

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In addition to the walking I did I stopped to buy a watch and boarded the Grandeur for the last time as C&A Diamond a little after 1.

All 3 ships at St. Maarten were listed for a 5PM departure.  4:30 came and went with the gangway still out.   Guest services called 7 names; I think 4 were actually on board and the last of the others arrived about 4:50.  The Star Pride got away a little ahead of us although I just got a brief glimpse of our departure as the Ecstasy was between us.  We finally started to move about 5:12.  I was a bit surprised to see us moving as Captain Thor’s sailaway message didn’t come until 5:30.  We have 1487 Nautical miles to go back to Baltimore and will need a speed of 18 knots.  The weather looks good for our return and he alerted us to a beautiful sunset which I had already anticipated.

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Dinner at table 314 went relatively quickly and I was finished in time for the early show.  The Rack of Lamb that was posted on the menu boards was replaced by lamb shank but I enjoyed it anyway along with Cherries Jubilee.

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The featured entertainment was the crew talent show at 7 and 9.  I did not think it was very good but perhaps the best performance was by the orchestra’s piano player who switched roles a bit and performed as a singer.  While not the best of entertainment the show came with the love of the crew which I think counts for a lot.

My parting shot today will be congratulations to the Baltimore Ravens on breaking from their doldrums.  I’m not really a football fan but when on the Grandeur/Enchantment on game days I tend to wear the only purple I have which is a Cape Breton tee shirt.  I had it on Enchantment for the 2013 Super Bowl and again this weekend.  Perhaps it can be a lucky tee shirt.

Roy

 

[Happily@Sea]

Roy,

 

I'm still here reading every day. I have been to all the saints, St Maarten followed by St Kitts, the most.

 

Have you been getting a lot of announcements on Grandeur, that was my one of my big problems with Brilliance out of Tampa, Or maybe I picked the wrong week - mid-November.

 

Carole

[rafinmd]

1 hour ago, Happily@Sea said:

Roy,

 

I'm still here reading every day. I have been to all the saints, St Maarten followed by St Kitts, the most.

 

Have you been getting a lot of announcements on Grandeur, that was my one of my big problems with Brilliance out of Tampa, Or maybe I picked the wrong week - mid-November.

 

Carole

Carole, I wonder if it varies some by Cruise Director.  In addition to the Captain's daily update there are probably about 3 per day, usually by the Port Shopping person, Bingo, Art Auctions, and the like, usually 1 event for each announcement.  I don't think this Cruise Director has been on the PA more than a couple of times since the Muster Drill.

 

I can pretty much tune them out and I barely hear them if I'm in my cabin, not even the announcements that the ship is cleared in ports.  One thing they do not do is have a channel where you can hear the announcements on the TV.  I've only found one TV channel that has location, data, a map, and periodically a bridge cam view, always with canned music.

 

What I would really like to see somewhere but haven't on any cruise line is a TV channel that carries the announcements against a background of silence.  I would love to see  that somewhere.

 

Roy

[Happily@Sea]

3 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

Carole, I wonder if it varies some by Cruise Director.  In addition to the Captain's daily update there are probably about 3 per day, usually by the Port Shopping person, Bingo, Art Auctions, and the like, usually 1 event for each announcement.  I don't think this Cruise Director has been on the PA more than a couple of times since the Muster Drill.

 

I can pretty much tune them out and I barely hear them if I'm in my cabin, not even the announcements that the ship is cleared in ports.  One thing they do not do is have a channel where you can hear the announcements on the TV.  I've only found one TV channel that has location, data, a map, and periodically a bridge cam view, always with canned music.

 

What I would really like to see somewhere but haven't on any cruise line is a TV channel that carries the announcements against a background of silence.  I would love to see  that somewhere.

 

Roy

 

Roy,

 

That would be great. Between the trouble I had on K'dam - announcements only in public areas including hallways [I was near an intersection and it seems the minute the announcements came on there would be a group standing there talking - and would only talk louder when they did] - and the need to tune them out when I want a nap or something, or come in from the balcony - because the sound reverberates too much outside. 

A dedicated channel would be great, the music background ones are usually mind-numbing. 😄

 

On the CD - ours was only a 5-day cruise with 3 ports - maybe they thought they needed to get all  the info out in that amount of short time.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Carole

[shipgeeks]

Rafinmd, thank you for posting this.  Enjoyable, and giving me good anticipation for our Grandeur cruise coming up in January.

[piescruises]

On 11/12/2018 at 4:22 PM, rafinmd said:

The differences are a bit of a mixed bag.  I think seating in the WJ is about the same as the Enchantment has a little covered extension on the port side running aft from the stairs that probably makes the ratio of WJ seats to beds about equal between the 2 ships.  I think the serving areas on the Grandeur are somewhat less crowded but not by a whole lot.  It looks like they are also trying a few things to speed up service.  I noticed in the morning that the omelet station they had a waiter taking orders and passing them to the cooks to make the process a bit more efficient.  I haven't had an omelet yet but will tomorrow.

 

I think the biggest difference was in the Theater.  It isn't super roomy but my impression is significantly less crowded than it was on Enchantment.

 

Roy 

I 2005 enchantment was cut up and extension was put including the areas you’re talking about.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Sorry I have fallen behind.

 

Wonderful report and pictures.

 

We haven't been to St Maarten in a few years -- it certainly has changed.

[Pumbaamd]

{"As a parting shot welcome aboard to new Hotel Director John Denton and best wishes to Adriana as she moves to the Independence.  You’ll be missed on the Grandeur. Roy"}

 

We will be sailing on Indy in January. Will be nice to sea Adriana again. Have sailed with John Denton many times. He loves to take care of his guests and enjoys helping them have a great cruise. He is much more than an HD. 

Roy, Thanksgiving here in MD is looking at a high in the low 30's. Welcome back to winter.

Rick and Deirdra

 

[rafinmd]

Day 9, Monday, November 19, 2018, At Sea

Well, the weather on our first return sea day surpassed anything we faced on the trip down.  I basically crashed Sunday evening and had to catch up on some late night business on rising but still got up and walked 15 laps on deck 10 before taking a break. It was pretty cloudy in the morning but the rising sun did manage to announced it was coming through the clouds.

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I had never noticed there was a special section in the dining room at breakfast for Diamonds.  I stopped there for an omelet this morning and it was nice but still took longer than I wanted to spend at breakfast.  I walked a couple of laps on deck 5 before breakfast and then another 3 on deck 10 at noon for a total of 5 miles for the day.

This day the morning was quite busy; the afternoon not so much.  Dr. Kumar had his talk at 9; this time on languages.  He was followed at 10 by a game of “Family Feud” in the Palladium Theater.  I stopped by for a round or 2 before going back to organizing photos from yesterday.

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In his noon update Captain Thor indicated that the temperature was 75F, a little cooler than he predicted yesterday, but he indicated we should still have good weather the rest of the way to Baltimore and that temperatures should reach 81 on Tuesday.  In any case the pool deck was packed with people enjoying the great weather.

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A new pool game was introduced today.  It was called “Number Crunch” and people formed 3 teams.  The sports director flashed a riddle up on the big screen.  The answer to each riddle was a single digit number:

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Several dozen golf balls were placed in the pool, each with a number painted on it.  When a team gave the correct answer a representative was allowed to go into the pool and find a golf ball with the appropriate number.  The first team to give it to the Sports Director scored a point in the competition.  The teams seemed to be enjoying it.

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My afternoon was pretty quiet and sunset was a little too late to catch it before dinner.  Today’s choices were the fruit plate, lasagne, and apple pie.  Service was one of the quickest I’ve seen and I was out about 6:40.

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The featured entertainment was comedian Don Barnhart.  I was not particularly impressed.

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This is the night we moved our clocks back an hour and returned to Eastern time.  I would not normally have done it but with the extra hour I dropped by the South Pacific Lounge for a peek.

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I didn’t stay long as the room was jamb packed with quite a few people watching.

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I did linger for a while in the Schooner Bar.  Pianist Ross Leadbeater was quite good and I’ll give him an A+ for courage in singing “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”.  I’ll admit to being something of a cheapskate while cruising.  I don’t drink but will often stop at the piano bars for a diet coke on Crystal (free) or HAL (cheap soda card) but don’t normally stop there on other cruise lines.
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Today’s parting shot will be a word of thanks to the crews battling California wildfires.  A poster on the Crystal forum reports she was unable to evacuate due to heavy traffic but that the worst danger has now passed and her home was spared.  Many were not so fortunate but the damage would have been much worse without their efforts, and the civilian toll would likely have been much worse.  Thankfully, this time it appears none of the firefighters have been called on for the ultimate sacrifice.

Roy