Grandeur of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The beds were very uncomfortable and it didn't occur to my husband or me to question this.  It wasn't until Day 9 that, by accident, we were in the right place at the right time.  A guest services person, Alma, asked us about the cruise.  I told her the beds were terrible.  That night we had pads on the beds that enabled us to get some decent sleep.  Unfortunately, we were with run down and caught colds.  The food was fine,  The staff was very attentive.  I did get  a little tired of the comedians complaining that the audience wasn't laughing enough.  Not all the jokes were rolling on the floor funny.  I think the comedian the last night got the most laughs and never complained about our reactions.  Personally, 10 days was too long for me.  I found the short times in each port too short to really do anything.  The Bermuda cruise, for me, was better.  It was shorter and we had time to explore one place.  The driving tour of San Juan was terrible.  Part of it was the parade that closed streets but perhaps the ship should have known about it.  We stopped only at San Cristobel.  I would have liked to stop at other sites.  We didn't even drive past the cathedral, perhaps it was a Los Posados parade and the cathedral was part of it?  It was never explained.

The ship was great The music for ballroom dancing wonderful EXCEPT parents with small 2-3 year old children allowed them to play on the main dance floor during evening dancing in the main centrum.

This was irritating to people watching as well of those dancing. Small children should not be allowed

to dance on a formal dance floor on any ship.

Looking at the cruise line the ship, crew, the overall experience was fantastic. If it had not been fir the locals at Haiti I would have given five stars. The sellers are out of control with NO supervision from RC. You are swarmed by the locals like a pack of wolves. With we were promised a $25 per person credit. This never happened. Book with the cruise line directly and avoid being lied to by the travel agent.

This was the poorest cruise we have been on to this point.  The menu in the dining room left a lot to be desired and after 10 days we had many repeats and they weren't even well prepared the first time.  The wait staff at night was great, but the rest of the time, they could use a lot of training.  The cleanliness of the ship was not up to par.  The movies were repeated and not everyone likes science fiction.  The entertainment was not what we expected for Royal Caribbean and the technical crew was less than professional quality.  Activities we participated in were okay at best and some that we were expected to pay additional for, we did not join.  Roberta and her jewelry classes were great.  We attended each one and had many mementos to bring home.  All in all, this cruise was not what we expected and we will not be cruising out of the Port of Baltimore in the near future.  On a good note, one of our pieces of luggage was lost and we were notified of its location prior to our arrival home.  FedEx delivered within 48 hours, so that was a good thing.

Ports of call were very good-not overcrowded. We have cruised about 15 times and like the Grandeur because of it's small size and it sails from Baltimore.

Crew members did a good job-especially Ultra, our room attendant deck 8 and our waiter, Algin, and his assistant, Carlos, in the Great Gatsby. Laura at the guest services desk on deck 4 was great in helping me find a dentist in PR. The bartenders were not up to expectation. We ordered two dirty martinis in the Viking Crown one night and they came with limes on the rim of the glass. The waiter told us they didn't have any olives. He later returned with a shot glass of olive juice and olives. Same type of experience with a Gin Collins in Schooner. It was terrible. Drinks of the day around the pools are usually OK but in general the bar staff is not as knowledgeable or friendly as they could be. We were also disappointed that RC is not enforcing their dress codes in the dining rooms on "formal" nights. Gentleman should at least  be required to wear a coat & tie or eat at the Windjammer.

The Grandeur is now 18 years old, was refitted two years ago but is falling apart. Canvas on deck 10 is missing/torn, supports on the umbrellas are missing or broken, railings are falling apart, the jogging track needs resurfacing, the solarium pool is loosing tiles and lights in the ceiling are out. 

Relaxing!!   Great dance bands. Arial show terrific.  Productions not the best though.  Food--just OK.  Giovanni's--outstanding.  Service great!!  Very good trip

The industry must be seeing tough times, or perhaps it's just Royal Caribbean that's having to tighten it's belt.  I'm not certain, but I will say that our cruise was not done in "grand" style.  Our cruise was good and we enjoyed, but we missed some of the pampering that we've come to expect when cruising. 

Our first disappointment was to find that our toiletries consisted of a generic shampoo in a dispenser and 2 bars of soap, one for bath and one for hands.  That was it.  No conditioner, no shower cap, no body lotion, and no chocolates on our pillows at night.  If I had known there would be no conditioner or body lotion I would have brought some with me.

Our next rude awakening was the quality of the mattresses.  Mine had a valley to rival the Grand Canyon.  My husband's was not much better.  After two nights of trying to sleep in the gulch, I asked for a back board.  The staff had no idea of what a back board is.  (Really?  They must've missed this  in Hotel & Hospitality school). They added a topper to my mattress.  This gave a little support  and the illusion that my mattress was almost flat for one night.  Unfortunately my back ache (which I didn't have prior to the cruise) returned.  The carpentry shop and the floor manager worked together to produce a piece of plywood to fit my mattress.  The cabin steward put the board on top of the mattress and then topped it with the topper.  Once the back board was correctly placed below the mattress, my back no longer ached. 

I also noticed that there weren't as many staff to keep the Windjammer and pool areas clean and free of dirty dishes.  In corners and other places, it was clear that they hadn't received a cleaning in a while.

Lastly, the activities are old news.  When are they going to come up with some new things for experienced cruisers to do?  How many art auctions are we expected to sit through? 

On a positive note, we did enjoy our dining experience.  Our waiter and his assistant were pleasant and extremely attentive.  Another cut back to mention- the number of courses offered- you had a choice of either an appetizer, soup, or salad.  On other cruises and cruise lines, we've been given all three and many times declined one or two items.  While we weren't denied, our attention was drawn to the word "OR" in our menus.

We did enjoy the ports, the warm weather, and the entertainment.  We ate at Chops one evening and I would highly recommend it to anyone.  The food was outstanding, especially the cream of mushroom soup. 

In conclusion, our cruise did not live up to previous experiences on Royal Caribbean and does not compare with Celebrity or Princess, but it was convenient and we probably will sail with them again.  We will just have lower expectations and remember to bring our own toiletries and chocolates to feel pampered.

The staff on the Grandeur of the Sea was excellent Head waiter Justin and Aglen

Our stateroom person: George, the staff taking all of the wonderful pictures.  the director Mitch and Gizzie.

For the most part everything was just good but not great. The staff were all very nice but they

seemed to just do their job and nothing more. My wife and I have cruised 3 times before and

this staff just seemed like they didn't enjoy their job as much as any of the others. The food

was again, good just not great. Not a lot of options and they didn't seem to change it up that

much. The activities seemed very limited for a 10 night cruise unless you wanted to shop or 

spend money. (Bingo, spa, casino, etc.) The ship boasted about it's outdoor movie screen that

they repeated the same couple of movies on throughout the entire cruise. 

If you're looking to just get away and have a nice relaxing good but not great time, this is the

cruise for you.

We had a wonderful time on this cruise and would do it again on this ship. The convenience of departing from Baltimore is one of the reasons we would choose this ship again. They do offer different itinerary's but we would love to see another port in Baltimore (before the Key Bridge so maybe a Voyager series or larger ship could become available for even more venues). The size of the Grandeur makes it easy to get around to all events in a timely manner. The crew was engaging and helpful. There are a few draw backs as in the size of this ship the Centrum is not a large enough space to hold certain venues but they tried to do so anyway which made it very difficult to see or enjoy them. They would have been better off doing them in the Palladium Theater which was made for larger capacity crowds to entertain. We also noticed a shortage of staff and some events that were in the daily compass never got under way as activities staff were stretched to thin to make and run different events. But all in all we had an enjoyable cruise aboard the Grandeur of the Seas and would cruise this ship again.

We were a group of 10, five couples and we all had a wonderful time.  We liked all the ports that we stopped at, and enjoyed our stay in all of them.  Food was delicious and plentiful everyday.  Crew were all very likeable and kept the cabins immaculate and waiters were excellent.  We did run into a storm with 10-20 foot waves and I believe the Captain said upto 30 mile an hour winds.  The Captain kept us updated about the storm and what we should expect, noises huge waves, and everything else that comes with storms, but we all survived and the Captain and the crew did everything possible to keep us comfortable.  All in all this was a really good cruise.

We were in a bad storm 30 foot swells. The entertament was in poor tast. We herd lould banging noises all nite.The shrimp we had at dinner was bad . The shore excursion, Dolphin encounter in Caymon Island with the seven mile beach . was a ripoff . when I complained about it. all I got was there was nothing they could do about it. We were supposed  to get Beer and Sandwiches at the beach. we seen none. They said it was there I would like to know were,  In Cozumel we were harrased so much by the venders we couldnt enjoy ourselfs. This was the worst cruse I have ever been on.

Had a great time. Service and food was very good. All the staff on Grandeur of Seas are very friendly and helpful. The public areas of ship are attractive.   Shows were good, but not as nice as years ago. The only negative thing about  that ship is it sometimes  has a smell of sewage. This is our second time on that ship and they still have not taken care of the problem.  The ship is getting older, they need to keep up better with their plumbing and behind the scenes repairs.

Grandeur was a great ship with great food and service but the experience was ruined by the smoke in the casino which drifted out to other parts of the ship.  I could not even go in the casino the smoke was so bad.  Had never experienced this on any other ship. Ventilation was terrible.  Would even walk down one deck to get past the casino, then back up on the other side to get to the Palladium Theatre.

  Unless you are a smoker, I would not recommend this ship.

First I want to start this review by stating, our two servers (John & Sha Ron) was excellent. If it had not been for them the experience would have been all bad, but those two was the greatest.

On the second day of our cruise we advised the service desk that our floor coming out of the bathroom was wet and it left the room with a bad smell. Someone brought in a big fan to dry the floor, well by bed time the fall was still wet but do to the loud noise from the fan we had to put it out side our room. We went back to guest services again the next day to advise the problem had not been resolved. The manager which was a female she asked why did we take the fan out of the room. We had to explain we were unable to sleep with the fan running. Plus the problem still existed so at that time we asked if we could be moved to another room. Not a upgrade but just to be moved. We were advised there was no more room available. In the mean time there was word that a pipe had busted and there was a few rooms that was having problems with water on the floor. By the fourth day or should I say night and many complaints, magically there was a room available. We were now moved to the front of the ship..... which came with experiencing  a lot of movement and noise from something hitting the side of the ship. Oh, plus we had to pack everything back up at 9:30 pm and then unpack again once moved. Then to top it off, one of the reasons I choose this cruise was because it include Keys West. Due to high winds the stop was canceled.  I know this decision was made for the safety of the passengers, but it was a big disappointment. I have cruised with Royal Caribbean previously and the ship & cruise was fantastic but this time it was not good. I think if they would have moved us to another room on the first day of our complaint, we would have felt like our concern was priority. But instead I was left feeling like, we have your money and now you are stuck with what ever we give you.

Thank you for your time in this matter.

Had a great cruise with good friends.  The staff was the best.  Everyone was so friendly and took good care of me.  The ship was always clean and the food was always good.  Was disappointed they closed the port in the Keys, but they added more activities on the ship for us to do and lowered the price on the drinks for day. 

Our family has cruised on other ships prior to this one. We heard that Royal Caribbean was one of the best. Wrong. I won't say that it was the worst experience of my life. If I would have nothing to compare it to, I would probably have a different review. The food was not the best and the selection was very slim. I ate the same meal for 8 days straight. Our room attendant was, by no means, out to win a gold star that is for sure. He left his cleaning rag and the door stop laying on our table. We had sand on the floor on Tuesday from the beach, it was still there when we left Saturday. The cups in the bathroom, used to rinse our mouths were never replaced so we were using dirty cups every day. He told us that he couldn't make us towel animals every day because of the towel shortage. He made the animal, filled our bathroom with towels and left a stack of almost 10 towels laying beside the animal along with the cardboard that he cut the eyes out of laying on our bed. He left our dirty towels lay on the floor. Our hair was on the counter where we had combed it, it had never been wiped up. The floor was gross. I have pictures of the floor. The shows were less than spectacular. We watched the same one twice. These are just things that we were not used to. I think we will go back to cruise lines that we know that we are happy with. Thank you for the experience.

I was a little surprised to see that Royal Caribbean was not like it use to be.  It was visibly noticeable that the Grandeur of the Seas was an old ship.  There were torn and missing ceiling tarps, interior water leaks, rusted areas, no hot water and not as clean.  The only thing that they still excelled in was their food, no complaints there. 

Excellent customer service, friendly crew, minimum children on board (which I wanted), other passengers were experienced cruisers.  Who could ask for more? 

The dining room food was terrible.  The meals stretched out to nearly 2 hours and it was a miserable experience.  Steaks were nearly uneatable and the shrimp (4) were so small I would have been embarrassed to serve a friend at my home, the same thing