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Grandeur of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 51

Overall rating:

2 out of 5
Verified Review
Grandeur of the Seas

10 Night Eastern Caribbean (Baltimore Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 18, 2014

Ship: Grandeur of the Seas

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 4501

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 10 years ago

Review summary

The ship is relatively small compared with today's megaships so it doesn't have all the bells and whistles that you might expect but that was OK with me. The thing that really got me was the age of the passengers. Now, I'm no spring chicken at 48, but I'll bet you there were fewer than 100 passengers (out of 2,100) that were younger than me on that ship. So if you're considering a Baltimore-based 10-day cruise, think hard and long on whether you want to walk around a ship that smells like a nursing home because of that "old-person smell" and dodge mobility carts on the way to dinner. There was also an annoying tendency for the elderly folks to come up to the pool deck at 7 a.m., put their towels and a beach bag on a lounge chair and then go eat breakfast, lunch, and maybe return to the chair around 2 p.m. for an hour or so and then give up that chair after that. 

 

The food was fine and I highly recommend the 4-hour, 5-course Chef's Table experience. 

 

The ports of call were OK but nothing to really write home about. Labadee is just a Royal Caribbean created theme park for the ocean with a lot of annoying vendors that stick crafts in your face and try to drag you into their little shops to buy a trinket. That gauntlet is exhausting. The Sandbar Beach (adults only) excursion was fun though. San Juan on your own walking around town is nice. St. Thomas is just another annoying diamond store after diamond store but if you get a cab to the Marriott about 10 minutes away, there is a lovely beach and bar you can hang out at for the day. St. Martin was blessedly low-pressure sales on the French side and we actually enjoyed shopping over there. The Dutch side was more aggressive but the main beach is nice and you can get beers for a buck. 

 

The entertainment was pretty mediocre. This was my eighth cruise so I've seen a little of everything. 

 

Overall, I'd recommend a different ship. 

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5
Way too elderly-centric activities. One of the more modern things was learning the electric slide by the pool (really?!!!)

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

1 out of 5
Smaller than typical staterooms.

Ship tip

The poolside movie screen was nice and they played some recently run movies.

Ports of call

Baltimore, Maryland

5 out of 5
Good onboarding. Offload was pretty slow though.

Labadee (Cruise Line Private Island)

3 out of 5
Pushy vendors.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 out of 5
Old city is fun to walk around in. Get a Pina Colada at Barrachina.

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

3 out of 5
Get out of the rat race and go to the Marriott where they have a great secluded beach.

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

3 out of 5
Cheap beers and a nice beach.
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