Brief overviewThis review is on the Grandeur of the Seas, which left New Orleans on December 23rd for Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, and Cozumel. Our party consisted of me and my parents. We are all experienced cruisers, though most of our experience has been with Carnival. This was my first seven day cruise on Royal Caribbean. My parents had been on the Grandeur in June for a 9-day cruise out of Baltimore.
The day beforeKnowing that we were booking a cruise out of a less-accessible airport city (from Indy) in the winter had prompted us to plan to arrive in New Orleans a day early. We booked flights through American Airlines from Indy that routed us through Chicago.
Arriving at the Indy Airport around 5 AM (for a 6:15 flight), we found that our outgoing flight to Chicago had been cancelled. We waited in line for a bit, then were transferred to a Delta flight that would take us to New Orleans through Atlanta. Of course, instead of arriving in New Orleans at 11:45 AM, we were scheduled to arrive at 5:30 PM. We made it to Atlanta early, but our outgoing flight to New Orleans was delayed, and we arrived at around 6 PM. Needless to say, it was a tiring day of sitting around and waiting.
We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites on Magazine Street, which ended up being within fairly easy walking distance to Riverwalk, Harrah’s and Bourbon Street. This hotel was chosen because of its location, price ($82 after tax booked via the hotel’s website), and its good ratings on Trip Advisor. We were placed in a corner room that had 20 foot ceilings and similarly-sized windows facing two streets. This room placement was probably not ideals (trash men woke us up at 7 AM), but the room itself seemed well-kept. A taxi to the hotel was a set price of $36 ($28 for two) from the airport to downtown. That is also the same price it would cost to go from the airport to the pier.
Embarkation dayWe awoke early (before the garbage men, actually), took in the free breakfast from the hotel (waffles, sausage, standard continental fare), then headed out to do a little sight-seeing and shopping. Once we had finished that, my mom went to Harrah’s to gamble while my dad and I went over to Riverwalk to look at the Grandeur. We were watching people still coming off of the ship at 10 AM, but they must have been the last, as there was no one exiting the ship by the time we left at 10:30. We then collected mom, headed back to the hotel, and checked out. The bellman hailed us a cab, and it was a fixed $7/person to the port.
A few minutes later, we arrived at the port and a porter immediately collected our bags. We then proceeded into the terminal, where they had the check-in desk separated by floor. We walked right up to the section for the eighth floor, and a few minutes later had our SeaPass in hand. Next we stepped through security, had our pictures taken, and before we knew it, we were walking up the large ramp to board the Grandeur at 11:45. We immediately went to the Purser’s desk to get spare keys, as my dad and I planned to swap places as we had booked separately to get two rooms with a senior promotion. This was done very quickly.
The hallways to the cabins were closed off until 1, so we went up to the Windjammer with our carry-ons to grab some lunch. At around 1:10, we headed to our cabins, which seemed ready but were still propped open. We went ahead and set our bags down, shut the door, then went to explore the ship. I decided to go for a swim in the solarium, which was decidedly chilly but fairly invigorating (and most importantly, empty). This was followed by unpacking and waiting for the muster drill at 4:30.
The muster drill was my first indication that this cruise had a lot of first-time cruisers. I’ve been on enough cruises to know that if I rush to the drill, I will end up in the back of a large mass of people. This time, once the alert sounded, I casually put my vest on, and strolled down to my assigned muster station. Even though I arrived probably only about three minutes after the alarm had sounded, I was in the front row of passengers (with about 4 behind me). The oddest thing about the drill was that the person next to me had fastened his vest incorrectly. A supervising officer, seeing this, brought over the crew member in charge of our particular area and chewed the crew member out, stating that this was unacceptable. Later, on another pass, the officer himself started adjusting the life vest of the person next to me until he was satisfied. The ironic thing was that the man immediately behind the person being paid so much attention had no life vest at all. We joked with him about it a bit, and he said that even though he had three people in his cabin, he only had two vests. He said that he told every crew member he passed that he was short a vest and they assured him it was OK. Interesting. One complaint about the drill was that many of the speakers in the muster area didn’t work, meaning that a lot of the announcements and directions could not be heard. I could barely hear and told those around me what was being said if they asked. My parents, on the other side of the ship, told me that they couldn’t understand a single thing said.
The boat drill was followed by sail away, which was fairly uneventful. We had early seating dinner and had request a large table. The three of us were placed on the upper floor of the Great Gatsby dining room with a family of 5 (two grandparents, a mother, and two kids) with whom we got along with very well. Our waiter, Raschmann, was great. Out assistant waiter was Mirko and he did an OK job, though it was only his second cruise, so he was still learning and was a little shy.
We skipped the Welcome Aboard show in favor of rest and relaxation on deck.
Days 2-3: At SeaOur schedule gave us two sea days after leaving New Orleans, and these were spent getting acclimated to the ship and celebrating Christmas. The first day at sea was also the first formal night and the captain’s cocktail party.
Activities were fairly plentiful throughout the days. I decided I wanted to ShipShape activities, so turned out for a lot of the game and exercise activities. I found that the least attended events were those held in the Viking Crown Lounge, while the most attended ones were, of course, the one held on the pool deck.
The ship made an emergency stop in Cozumel on Christmas day because of a medical emergency, but after dropping a passenger off on a boat, we sped off to Cayman.
Day 4: Grand CaymanCayman was expecting some rough seas later in the day, so the captain made an initial announcement that everyone were due back on tenders by 2:00 instead of 4:00. This caused a bit of a stir, as some of the later excursions in the day were thus cancelled. My dad and I had booked a stingray tour with Captain Marvin’s for Grand Cayman, but it was an early tour, so not affected. We inquired about needing a tender ticket to get off of the ship early, and we were told that as long as we had confirmation information about our tour, we could report early without a tender ticket. When we actually went for a tender, we stepped right on without having to present our information to anyone.
Once we made it ashore, we followed directions and found Captain Marvin’s without a problem. We paid cash (5% surcharge for credit), then went to wonder around Cayman a bit because our tour wouldn’t leave for 45 minutes. When we headed back, everyone waiting was called into the Captain Marvin’s store and told that because of the rough seas, the port authority was restricting boats going out and that the cruise ships were calling everyone back. We were refunded our money, then we headed back to the dock. The Royal Caribbean staff on the pier confirmed that everyone was being called back, and through some eves-dropping, I heard that there were still about 60 people ashore. By the time our tender left (with the Explorations staff that had gone ashore), there were probably only about 10 people on the tender. The waves were noticeably bigger on the return, and stepping back onto the ship was definitely a more cautious experience.
The Grandeur ended up staying in Cayman for a while because there were a few people who did not return to the ship and the port authority said they would allow tenders to run to return people to the ship. Outgoing people were banned from going ashore, however, so within an hour or two of returning to the ship, and updated Cruise Compass was handed out with a new schedule of activities for the unexpected sea day.
Wednesday was also the general past guest part from 7:45-8:30. It included the usual introductions, as well as a short Q&A with Captain Rob.
Day 5: Costa MayaBecause of our early departure from Cayman, Captain Rob decided to make it to Costa Maya early, and we ended up docked at 9 AM instead of the scheduled 11. This made a lot of people happy, as most had been on the ship for 3 days straight and were ready to see some land.
We stayed on the ship for lunch and left a little after noon. We headed to Majahual ($3/pp there ad $2/pp back) and the Cat’s Meow because in September, my mom and I had promised to bring one of the waiters a ball cap. We had a bucket of beers (6 bottles for $10) and some quesadillas and enjoyed the scenery for a bit. We then walked around town for a bit, and headed back to the ship.
Day 6: CozumelThe Grandeur docked in down, which definitely made shopping and walking around a bit easier. They are working on the shopping center directly across from the pier, though the stores in it right now seem very expensive. The liquor store there has horrid pricing, with my local Kroger having better prices than about every bottle I looked at (and sometimes by as much as $20).
We walked down to Cinco Soles and had some food and drinks at Pancho’s Backyard, then made our way back to the ship. The sidewalks were incredibly crowded with eight ships in port and the vendors were their usual fairly pushy selves.
Day 7: At SeaThe final day at sea was very similar to the other three we had already had. There were the usual activities: ShipShape stuff, Bingo, art auctions, etc. There was not a disembarkation meeting, but instead a pre-made video that was looped on the TV. The captain also had his Nautical Notes meeting in the afternoon. Bags were to be placed out in the hallway between 7 and 11 PM. There was to be no self-assist debarkation. The reasons given were that the Grandeur was new in New Orleans and that since they only had a large, portable ramp structure to board the ship instead of a skywalk, they didn’t want people to be trying to navigate luggage down it.
Day 8: DisembarkationWe had a flight at 11:35, so we had told the purser’s desk that we needed tags for early debarkation. We were given blue tags, which were about the fourth ones called. Everyone was to be out of their rooms by 8:00, and the first people were allowed off around 7:30. We were off around 8:00, and were at the airport around 9. Customs was, in my opinion, surprisingly lax. We handed the form to a customs woman chatting with coworkers, collected our bags off of the large floor space, then headed off to a taxi. At no point were we asked to show our passports or any other sort of identification.
General Comments FoodIn general, I thought that the food in the dining room was good. Steaks sometimes arrived undercooked, but that could be easily remedied by telling the waiter to bring a new cut that wasn’t quite mooing. The menu lists items available on a daily basis, so it was always good to have a fallback. We were also informed that if we had any special requests for food items, to talk to the head waiter and that he would see what he could do. Lunch in the dining room had large selection with daily specials, and it also had a pasta station where you could go up and get pasta made for you with your selection of toppings. Breakfast was a little underwhelming and slightly disappointing, though the quality was still better than what I found in the Windjammer.
Speaking of the Windjammer, I found the food there to be just OK, though to be honest, I tried to eat there as little as possible. Breakfast items (biscuits and gravy, waffles, etc) seemed to chill instantly on the way to the table (assuming they weren’t already cold). The taco bar for snack time was nice, but nothing too special. The desserts were usually pretty decent, with cookies and chocolate crème being the standouts.
Food at the Solarium Grill ranged in quality. The fries were surprisingly good, but the burgers and hot dogs were merely OK. The pizza ranks along with cheap frozen pizza at best.
All food areas had mandatory hand sanitizer stations to be used before entry, and there was usually a crew member there monitoring use.
ShowsI’ve been to enough cruise ship shows that not too many of the offerings excited me and I only attended one show. On the first formal night (Christmas Eve), I went to the Celebrity showtime presentation of Micky Dolenz from the Monkees. This show was OK, but nothing outstanding. Micky’s voice was OK, but he also acted incredibly arrogant and included several things that I did not think appropriate for a family show, including crotch grabbing. His sister did OK singing some Joan Baez songs, but she murdered “My Heart Will Go On” … just painful because she couldn’t carry the song and had to speak half of the words instead of sing them. I caught the final show on in-cabin TV and it was no too impressive either.
Fellow PassengersLike I mentioned earlier, there seemed to be quite a few first time cruisers on this sailing. There were also quite a few children on board, but I only noticed that fact on a few occasions (such as the girls sitting on the floor and riding one elevator up and down because they were bored). There were also a few incidents, and evidently one passenger was put off the ship for violent conduct (against a few kids was the rumor).
Christmas ActivitiesThere were quite a few holiday activities on board. On Christmas Eve, there was caroling in the Centrum and a midnight mass with communion was offered. On Christmas, there was more caroling and also an appearance by Santa in the Centrum. There was also a special Christmas menu in the dining room. Decorations were everywhere, such as trees, garland, and lights.
CabinMy parents and I both had inside cabins (8525 and 8027). They were not huge, but they did have plenty of storage place. I found the shower curtain annoying as it I had trouble keeping water in the shower, especially with ship rock. The beds were not that great, though I know they will be replaced in April. My parents had trouble with their phone, and no matter what we did with the dial, neither of us could hear public announcements in our room.
ShipThe Grandeur is now a small ship, I guess, though she seemed plenty big enough for me. We had to run at full speed more than usual due to medical issues, so the ship had quite a bit of rock. The ship is scheduled for dry dock soon, and I think that she could definitely use some sprucing up. For the most part she is very nice, but due to her age, there is expected wear and tear on the carpets and public areas.
Final ThoughtsThis was a nice cruise that we were able to get at a great price, made even greater with it being a holiday cruise. I find little to fault with the ship, and even less with her crew, which were almost all incredibly friendly. I would not hesitate to sail on the Grandeur again, but I probably would not seek her out, either.
