Any reviews for Grandeur of the Seas?

[DawnMarie75]

I am booked on the Grandeur for April 29th, a one way sailing from Tampa to San Juan. Does anyone have feedback on the ship? I usually prefer to cruise on the newer and larger ships, so I'm wondering if I am going to find see a big differrence.

[Yellowlily]

I would love to know too. I'm going in May from San Juan to Baltimore. My first cruise was on Adventure - MOST gorgeous ship I have ever been on EVER! But, I have to tell you, I was in the love with Enchantment. It's just that - enchanting. This was before her stretch, however and we had a wonderful, WONDERFUL time! I know that Grandeur is a sister ship to Enchantment. Would love to hear some feedback also.

[Drink-in-Hand/Toes-in-Sand]

Grandeur of the Seas is a wonderful ship. She's the official ship of Louisiana and usually sails out of New Orleans. The deck layout is great and my favorite spot on the ship is definitely the solarium. The dining room is elegant and the cabins are typical Royal Caribbean.

 

If you're taking advantage of the ice skating rink on board then you'll be disappointed. Aside from that she has everything you'd want on board with a more intimate atmosphere to boot. You'll probably get to know more of your fellow passengers then you would on a mega-liner.

 

We loved her and would definitely sail on her again. :D

[sweetiepie9339]

I was wondering about the food- not how good it is- as that is all opinion... but where to go to get it? I have only been on the Voyager class ships w/ RCI, and enjoyed having all the extra places to go get food... like Jonny Rockets, Portifios, the pizza and cookies in the little cafe... So what are your choices on the Grandeur? Just the Gatsby dining room and the wind jammer- or are there other things like buffets by the pool, pizza, grill, ect?

[Murphy]

I would love to know too. I'm going in May from San Juan to Baltimore. My first cruise was on Adventure - MOST gorgeous ship I have ever been on EVER! But, I have to tell you, I was in the love with Enchantment. It's just that - enchanting. This was before her stretch, however and we had a wonderful, WONDERFUL time! I know that Grandeur is a sister ship to Enchantment. Would love to hear some feedback also.

 

Yellowlily, why not join us over at the roll call board? We've got quite a few cruisers doing either the Tampa to San Juan or San Juan to Baltimore leg and a few of us are doing both! Welcome!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=5660369#post5660369

[Drink-in-Hand/Toes-in-Sand]

I was wondering about the food- not how good it is- as that is all opinion... but where to go to get it? I have only been on the Voyager class ships w/ RCI, and enjoyed having all the extra places to go get food... like Jonny Rockets, Portifios, the pizza and cookies in the little cafe... So what are your choices on the Grandeur? Just the Gatsby dining room and the wind jammer- or are there other things like buffets by the pool, pizza, grill, ect?

 

There are all the usual temptations: Windjammer, the main dining room, and the poolside buffet/grille. The quality of food in the Windjammer is better on ships that don't offer the extra restaurants IMHO. And the theme buffets are delicious! If memory serves I believe they even have sushi in the Windjammer during dinner hours.

[teajak]

We just returned from Grandeur yesterday. We usually cruise Celebrity so did not know what to expect. The cruise was a short one, 5 days, added to Tampa. We are seasoned cruisers along with our friends and we had a great time, the ship is beautiful, well maintained, the crew excellant, friendly and helpful. Now for the best part, our entire table agreed it was the best cruise food we have ever had. The buffet is well planned, easy to get around, the food in the main dining room was exceptional, many choices, well presented. Our companions even sent a note to the chef telling him how much we enjoyed it. The only bad part of the cruise was the PA system, anyone using a mike seemed to be screaming, very loud and annoying, we also did not care for the CD, Jill. We liked it so much we booked the April 29 sailing to SJ.

[caribbound]

It's the same layout as Enchantment, which we went on two yrs ago (before stretch), but not as pretty. Not that it's tacky like many Carnival ships are, and the centrum is still beautiful with great evening music and we had a great ballroom dancing older couple there every night who really knew their stuff. I don't notice little stuff like some might complain about, so overall shape of the ship was fine with me.

 

The food left much to be desired. It was a 50/50 maybe on each meal. appetizers might be great, but main course was blah or mediocre desserts. Their mashed potatoes are the best I've ever had, but the only dinner that seemed exceptionally tasty was the last night w/ New York Strip and Key Lime Pie (yummy!). I don't eat fish but those who ordered shrimp were very pleased. I remember on Enchantment thinking the desserts were wonderful, but only a few this time (cookies are always good). Breakfast buffet was same every day, and I never had warm French toast or pancakes there even though it was the last thing I'd put on my plate before sitting down, which was disappointing.

 

Food choices besides Great Gatsby and Windjammer include a burger/pizza station in the solarium (I never went there b/c my experience on Enchantment was that it was bland and overcooked, but all depends on the cook I suppose) and they have a Ben and Jerry's and Starbucks that you can pay extra for. Usually the Starbucks guy would give away free goodies w/ your purchase.

 

This was a five night vs my 7 night Enchantment cruise, but I don't think that should have anything to do w/ service. We were lucky to grab a drink of the day at sail off since there was few waitstaff and their trays were usually empty or filled w/ empty glasses. Same for the rest of the cruise and especially at the captain's reception unless you stood at the entrance where the waiter stood for those just coming into the room. Only one glass of champagne there and noone ever came to offer more, though occasionally I'd see a waitress bring a tray over to a few of the larger groups. Never even glanced towards our section or came to clean up empty glasses.

 

Waitstaff and cabin attendants are luck of the draw, and only our main waiter was really good out of those 4 being tipped. The cabin attendant did her job, but there was no personality and only two towel creatures (trivial, I know). The cruise director staff was enthusiastic and the childrens staff, while I didn't use them, seemed great during poolside activities.

 

Your experience is likely going to be completely different and I'd love to go to San Juan so hopefully you'll get to spend more than a day there at the end of your trip.

Have fun.

[DFritz]

We just returned from Grandeur yesterday. We usually cruise Celebrity so did not know what to expect. The cruise was a short one, 5 days, added to Tampa. We are seasoned cruisers along with our friends and we had a great time, the ship is beautiful, well maintained, the crew excellant, friendly and helpful. Now for the best part, our entire table agreed it was the best cruise food we have ever had. The buffet is well planned, easy to get around, the food in the main dining room was exceptional, many choices, well presented. Our companions even sent a note to the chef telling him how much we enjoyed it. The only bad part of the cruise was the PA system, anyone using a mike seemed to be screaming, very loud and annoying, we also did not care for the CD, Jill. We liked it so much we booked the April 29 sailing to SJ.

 

So glad to hear that you had a wonderful trip. We have a couple in our party who love partaking of the soft serve ice cream stations. Did you notice this availability on the Grandeur, and if so, when and where? Did you by chance do the Cozumel and Costa Maya itinerary? How long was the tender trip to Coz and what pier area did they tender you in to? Do you happen to have any compasses that you could scan and email or copy and snail mail as we sail on March 6th? Thank you!

[Murphy]

We just returned from Grandeur yesterday. We usually cruise Celebrity so did not know what to expect. The cruise was a short one, 5 days, added to Tampa. We are seasoned cruisers along with our friends and we had a great time, the ship is beautiful, well maintained, the crew excellant, friendly and helpful. Now for the best part, our entire table agreed it was the best cruise food we have ever had. The buffet is well planned, easy to get around, the food in the main dining room was exceptional, many choices, well presented. Our companions even sent a note to the chef telling him how much we enjoyed it. The only bad part of the cruise was the PA system, anyone using a mike seemed to be screaming, very loud and annoying, we also did not care for the CD, Jill. We liked it so much we booked the April 29 sailing to SJ.

 

I hope you stop over at our M & M roll call! There's a bunch of us doing either the April 29, May 6 or B2B!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=188532

[teajak]

DFRTIZ:The soft ice cream was available in the Windjammer, hard to find, in a little closed like at the back. We were in Cozumel and Grand Cayman, Cozumel they did not use tender tickets so getting off was a mess, Caymans the used the tickets and it was much smoother.We asked early about where they took us in Cozumel and the answer was they never know until that morning which area they will be told to go to.Any thing else I can help with just ask.