Booked 1st Cruise... Grandeur... October '06

[Ossie]

Hi Guys...

 

New to this cruising lark... :confused:

 

Just booked our first cruise today going on the Grandeur on 13 Oct '06 on the Western Caribbean cruise... a wee treat to myself as I'm celebrating the big 4-0 this year!!! :eek:

 

Never cruised before and will be going with my beloved other half............. obviously I couldn't leave her behind......... daughter 11, and son 7...

 

I just found this forum two days ago and you guys certainly seem to know what you're talking about so after a couple of days of lurking and looking you convinced me to go ahead and book it.... :)

 

So I've got 3 months to find out what I need to know before my maiden voyage!!! Any pointers would be most welcome.....:)

 

Cheers...............

[Sheffie]

Welcome to CruiseCritic! I wish I had found this forum before our first cruise. Grandeur was our first RCI ship and we had such a great time on her! You will be in awe when you pull up next to her, and when you walk into the forum you won't believe your eyes!

 

The Western is a great route. I suggest that you check out the Ports of Call boards for ideas on excursions. I heartily suggest that you do an excursion to Stingray City when in GC. Your whole family will be thrilled with interacting with the rays.

 

Enjoy planning your cruise!

 

Oh, and if you have a kilt, wear it on formal night!

[rpmljm]

I just returned from Grandeur cruise on 7/2. What would you like to know? The crew was super friendly and service was great. Baltimore port was very easy to get in and out of and check in was a breeze. :)

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

Oh, and if you have a kilt, wear it on formal night!

I second the motion -- nothing quite as elegantly sexy as a man in a kilt (that must be my 1/8 Scottish blood talking)! :D

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic and to our shared obsession. Just prepare to get hooked! :cool:

[The Moyers]

Welcome.... we're on that cruise too. Come to the roll calls and sign in. Sign up for the meet and mingle too. We need 25 and only have 21 so you could put us over the top I think. We're really looking forward to this cruise. Never went out of Baltimore before:p

[The Moyers]

Welcome.... we're on that cruise too. Come to the roll calls and sign in. Sign up for the meet and mingle too. We need 25 and only have 21 so you could put us over the top I think. We're really looking forward to this cruise. Never went out of Baltimore before:p

[SUZCRUZ]

We have been on many RCCL ships, and have to say you have happened on a wonderful cruise line. And to sail on the Grandeur for your first sailing is a perfect choice. It's not too big and it's just beautiful!

Any specific questions, just fire away. So many people here to share their knowledge with you. One big happy family,,,,,,,,,,,,,, most of the time.

My motto, "I work to cruise!"

[Ossie]

Thanks for the welcome folks...

 

rpmljm - yours was one of the threads I'd been looking at that helped to convince me... so thanks... :)

 

I'll no doubt have a few questions over the next few weeks.... especially from my kids who are dying to know what there is on board for them!

 

Oh and yes............ I'll take my kilt!!! ;)

[AKELL]

I too will be on the Oct. 13th cruise. This is my 3rd cruise, but my first on RCCL. I have been on two with NCL, which is freestyle dining. I'm not sure how I'm going to like the formal dining nights. My girlfriend and parents will be with me, as we celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary.

[btndfan]

Welcome! My wife and I are on this cruise also. It will be our first too. I know that I got a great amount of help from this board and hope that you will too. Please consider joining the Bead Brigade Meet & Mingle. :)

[Annieeee]

Thanks for the welcome folks...

 

rpmljm - yours was one of the threads I'd been looking at that helped to convince me... so thanks... :)

 

I'll no doubt have a few questions over the next few weeks.... especially from my kids who are dying to know what there is on board for them!

 

Oh and yes............ I'll take my kilt!!! ;)

 

Ohhhh yes do take your kilt, But be careful if you go to the casino, I believe the entrance has a mirror floor tsk tsk !:D

 

Annieeee

[DELTABLUE]

Hi Ossie!

 

Happy to learn you'll be on the 10-13 Grandeur sailing. There are a bunch of us gathered for that cruise over on the roll call page and would be happy to have you and yours join the Bead Brigade with us.

 

Check outhttp://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=257277&page=7

 

There is nothing quite like your very first cruise. :) Everything is new and wonderful. Wait until you get near the ship, catch your very first glimpse of her and then make your way up the gangway! The only thing better is getting to do it again and again. :D I do warn you that cruising can be very addictive.

 

If you have any questions, do feel free to ask. No bad questions, only sometimes bad answers. :p

 

Hope to see you over on the Bead Brigade thread soon!

 

DELTA

[lledman]

I'll no doubt have a few questions over the next few weeks.... especially from my kids who are dying to know what there is on board for them!

My son is 7 as well and was never bored during our trip 2 weeks ago. He begged us every day to go to the kids activities. Every day there were 3 sessions (I could be wrong on these times but maybe 9-12, 2-5 & 7-10 but we did let him stay later b/c he wanted too) and each session had a different theme. There were lots of crafts projects that the kids did and they even put on a play on pirate night (got to go on the stage for main dinner seating parents and in the dining room for late seating parents). I think he only ate dinner with us 3 nights in the dining room b/c he wanted to spend more time in Adventure Ocean.

Everyone from the crew was wonderful. And we loved the ship. We only had an inside cabin on deck 3 (to save money) but it was sufficent. We had plenty of room and no real complaints.

Our excursions were a little limited since we had our son with us. Freeport I believe has been replaced for your trip but we did the dolphin encounter. Key West - on our own - pirate museum, shopping, trolley tour. Cozumel - ship sponsored Dune Buggy, Snorkel & Beach combo - this was a great excursion - my husband & son's favorite part of the trip. Costa Maya - David & Ivan Ruin tour (my favorite). Canaveral - Coco Beach on our own - for the 3 of us the bus outside the pier was only $20 round trip and it dropped you off near the same location as the ship sponsored excursion.

[lledman]

I too will be on the Oct. 13th cruise. This is my 3rd cruise, but my first on RCCL. I have been on two with NCL, which is freestyle dining. I'm not sure how I'm going to like the formal dining nights. My girlfriend and parents will be with me, as we celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary.

 

I hope you have a great trip, but remember you don't have to eat every night in the main dining room. We had dinner twice in the Windjammer b/c we got back to the ship too late of our seating. The food was still great and we had a more relaxed atomsphere. There is also food available through room service, although we never used it.

[Ossie]

Thanks for that info lledman! ;)

 

The fact that we're taking the kids and the planned ports of call made me think that excursions may be a bit limited too... the Dune Buggy, Snorkel & Beach combo at Cozumel sounds like it could be fun... :)

 

Having never cruised before what are the approx costs for RCI excursions like this one? And as a rule are you better going on the official excursions as opposed to waiting until you get off the ship to see what's available?

 

The nights that your son never ate with you... can the kids eat at Adventure Ocean? I take it this is the kids playzone?

 

So many questions... :confused: I can see me spending a lot of time on these boards..........................:)

 

Thanks everyone...........

[Sheffie]

Ossie, have you checked out the "Ports of Call" for your different islands in the "Forum Jump" at the bottom of this page? CCers have lots of ideas for independent excursions, or excursions by the ship's operators. I suggest you check there for more ideas.

 

Lots of us use independent operators that have been recommended here on CC and have been highly satisfied. Those companies usually are cheaper and have fewer people on the excursions. Some people use the ship's excursions.

 

Have fun planning!

[lledman]

Thanks for that info lledman! ;)

 

The fact that we're taking the kids and the planned ports of call made me think that excursions may be a bit limited too... the Dune Buggy, Snorkel & Beach combo at Cozumel sounds like it could be fun... :)

 

Having never cruised before what are the approx costs for RCI excursions like this one? And as a rule are you better going on the official excursions as opposed to waiting until you get off the ship to see what's available?

 

The nights that your son never ate with you... can the kids eat at Adventure Ocean? I take it this is the kids playzone?

 

So many questions... :confused: I can see me spending a lot of time on these boards..........................:)

 

Thanks everyone...........

 

You are welcome. I would advise to book in advance. Our cruise was sold pretty close to maximum capacity (maybe it was) and by the time the excursions desk opened on the first day all of the popular excursions were sold out. There were a lot of disappointed people who had waited to book and then had to change their plans. If you are flexible I would say wait, if you have your heart set on doing something then book as soon as you can. This was our first cruise so we booked excursions through RCI for all ports outside the US (I did cancel the one in CM and go private but only b/c there were over 20 others from this board who had the same booked) so we did pay a little more than had we researched private operators. You can also cancel any excursions booked through RCI up to 72 (24 in some cases) hours before the actual excursion, so if you change your mind there is flexibility that some private operators do not offer. Depending on the activity/excursion you want to do the price will change. Some excursions offer discounts for kids and some do not. We budgeted $100 per person per port. I don't think we actually spent that much but it was just a round number to plan for; I remember off the top of my head the dune buggy one was about $85 which was comparable to other similar excursions. You can look through the excursions section of the RC website and they will give you all the information you will need, even telling you which excursions your 7 year old can not participate in. The minimum age to snorkel on our excursion was 8 but no one ever questioned my son (I know it’s wrong to break the rules but he is a very strong swimmer and would be 8 less than 3 weeks after we cruised).

Adventure Ocean is like a daycare type thing that is included with your cruise fare. They have planned activities and play areas. There were 2 nights where the kids could eat with the AO staff in the Windjammer, I don’t think we took advantage of those b/c they were port nights and we never left our son on the ship, he always went with us. We had late seating (8:30) so we would take him to either the Solarium for pizza or the Windjammer to let him eat, drop him off at AO, then go and get ready ourselves for dinner. I believe the evening hours were something like 7 – 10 so if you had early seating this may not be an option (or maybe I’m wrong on the hours). My son would beg to stay later than 10, so most nights we would go check on him after dinner and then just leave him there at his request (they charge $5 an hour that is payable in ½ hour increments so if we picked him up at 10:30 we only paid $2.50).

These boards were very helpful for us in our planning and also giving us a glimpse as to what to expect.

[cb at sea]

Part of the fun of cruising is making discoveries for yourself! When you approach the ship, you will be in awe! Don't overplan--it is a vacation, after all! Just relax and go with the flow--you are in for a great time!

[uksimonusa]

we were on the Grandeur for Christmas last year, dw dd (10) and I. Had a blast, a very nice ship, dd spent a lot of time in adventure ocean, because she wanted to be there, not because we wanted to get rid of her:) , she made a lot of friends and had a wonderful cruise.

 

I'm sure your kids will have a great time in AO

[wraithe]

Hey Ossie,

Hope you got the information that you were looking for. I know you've been invited to our Roll Call on at least three occasions, but haven't seen you over there. We've got quite a lively bunch for this cruise, it looks like it's going to be great fun. Hope to meet you onboard.

 

Hi Guys...

 

New to this cruising lark... :confused:

 

Just booked our first cruise today going on the Grandeur on 13 Oct '06 on the Western Caribbean cruise... a wee treat to myself as I'm celebrating the big 4-0 this year!!! :eek:

 

Never cruised before and will be going with my beloved other half............. obviously I couldn't leave her behind......... daughter 11, and son 7...

 

I just found this forum two days ago and you guys certainly seem to know what you're talking about so after a couple of days of lurking and looking you convinced me to go ahead and book it.... :)

 

So I've got 3 months to find out what I need to know before my maiden voyage!!! Any pointers would be most welcome.....:)

 

Cheers...............

[Ossie]

wraithe , just checked in to the Roll Call for the Grandeur on 13 Oct..... thanks for the reminder...... :)