Grandeur of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

First cruise and overall great experience.  Traveled with 13, adults and early teens.  Activities were great, but we learned as we went along.  The ship is overall clean and we'll organized.  We never felt like we were traveling with 1,600+.  We will definitely cruise again.  But a few precautionary items for newbies...

- if you or someone in your party have food allergies, beware the buffets.  Poor labeling and cross contamination are rampant.  And staff will not help in determining what's in a dish.  The dining rooms are more accommodating.  I found cross contamination in items/areas I've never seen in other places and spent some time sick from foods I never expected.

- the drink packages with liquor aren't worth it unless you are a very heavy drinker.  See other blogs for a detailed breakdown.  There were a few light weights that were staggering, fall down drunk the entire trip trying to get their money's worth.  This is not what I wanted my kids to see.  But now they know that drinking isn't sexy or glamorous...

-There are way more excursions available once you are on the boat than what is offered ahead of time on the RC website.  If you do Disney or Universal, the RC shuttle is worth the price.

-If you have teens, get walkie talkies with a 20mile range.  The staff are not responsible for their whereabouts and they kids can go where they please.  Keep your volume down so you don't alienate others, but it's a great way to keep track of autonomous teens.  And keep them off the storeroom decks for their own safety and so they won't disturb others.

As I mentioned, the trip was great.  We just will cruise a bit wiser next time.

We had a very nice trip. The only problem we encountered was a very loud noise in our cabin on the

first and second nights. We went to the guest services desk and was met by a very rude woman. She

didn't seam to care about our problem. The next day we went back and got a different woman, who

was able to get us moved to another room. On a positive note, the cruise director was probably the

best we have encountered on our many Royal Carribean cruises. Over all we would recommend this

cruise to anyone

This cruise was magnificent in almost every way.  The service was superior.  The food was excellent, but we thought that the dinner menu has slipped a bit in quality.We have been on five cruises and Royal Caribbean is absolutely the best.  The one minor criticism is that the Wi-Fi services were way too expensive and I carried my laptop to no avail.  A big "Thank You" to all the fine crew who served us.  We are hoping to cruise again in the near future.

Overall the trip was nice. I felt 10 days was too long. I preferred 7 days. The staff was excellent and very helpful especially when we hit the storm. Several things I missed from previous cruises was missing - 1. too many paying restrauants. 2. Missed the individual small nightclubs that are on other ships. 3. Missed the bed mints that were put on the pillows, this is small but was a nice touch. 4. Would like to have the ice cream and coffee 24 hours. It closed before the evening movies were over. 5. More variety at the park lane cafe after hours.6. I called 2 times before sailing if we could bring our own bottle water since my husband was diabetic. I was told no, but saw several people bringing it onboard. I was told we could have water 24 hours but on the ship - We had to buy it or bring it down by a glass instead of having it available to us. On a high note the dining staff at our table was excellent and very friendly, calling us by name each night. Our room  steward was also very friendly and helpful.

They claim to cater to first time cruisers....that's a bunch of bull. The only people who were catered to were the "club members" and long time cruisers. And I don't care but don't lie about it. They lied about how much time it would take to get things.Everything was 10 minutes and usually took no less than 45 minutes. TELL THE TRUTH

This was the second time I have taken this particular cruise. As I live not too far from the port

it is an easy escape from winter weather. This crusie omitted 2 stops and arrived in Puerto Rico mid-afternoon, instead of i the morning.

The ship is older and has ben partially refurbished, but still needs some up-grades. The solarium area is quite small and very crowded on at sea days. 

Small amenities are being scaled back and it feels more like an economy hotel than a cruise.

The staff was excellent and the itinerary was also awesome.  Enjoyed the extended days at sea and the adult area of the ship!  There was one area that could be improved and that was the organization of the passengers who were going on an early tour at Grand Cayman.  All the passengers who needed to be off the ship and tendered to shore early in the morning were grouped in the theater but not grouped by the numbers that were assigned and which correlated to the specific tour.  Therefore, some passengers who were on the first tour did not get on the first tender to shore, leaving the tour group to have to wait for an additional 20-30 minutes.  I suggest that since each passenger was assigned a number that was specific to the tour taken, those passengers should also be seated together in the theater, then each number is called and those passengers aboard the tender together making the muster for the tour on shore much easier.  This would also be helpful since many of the passengers with special needs needed assistance to stay with their specific group.  When passengers were herding to the exits to board the tenders, the slower passengers were always pushed to the back of the crowd since they did not walk as fast.

The ease of driving to the Port of Baltimore was the main reason we booked this cruise.  Royal Caribbean provided excellent dining options, food and entertainment to top off our great 8 night vacation!

It was a wonderful cruise from the ease of boarding the service and food everything was great.The crew was ready and able to answer any questions we had and to bring anything we needed to our room.  VERYVERY CLEAN .READY TO BOOK AGAIN

This was our 9th cruise overall and our third with Royal Caribbean. The good stuff - clean, well maintained vessel with an attentive crew; ship layout is sensible and interactive displays on each deck are very helpful; entertainment was very good to excellent; activities are numerous and well planned; ports visited were very nice and pleasant with no street beggars (Labadee is the best cruise line private area we've seen); we were on deck 2 aft so some engine noise was apparent but not objectionable; cabin otherwise was comfortable and the temperature controls worked; basically a nice cruise we'd recommend so long as you don't mind 5 days of sailing only. The not so good stuff - this cruise was sort of crowded and obtaining a deck chair around the pool or in the solarium was often difficult (I think people 'save' the chairs even though the ship's policy is otherwise); the main dining room had excellent service and food presentation was above average but the food quality was not what we expected, some food was overdone (steaks and other meat dishes) and some veggies were a bit crunchy-we've seen better; the Windjammer breakfast buffet was better than the lunch or dinner offerings, here again the food quality was not quite what we expected and the variety was a little shy of expectations.

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. 

The assistant waiter, waiter, head waiter, maitre d were 5 STARS in professionalism and overall kindness!

They were always smiling as they performed their jobs.

The common areas of the ship were not always clean (bathrooms).  In addition, dirty glasses and plates were not always removed as quickly as they should have been from the centrum, pool area and open areas of the ship.

The library area was pathetic...one cabinet with shelves contained a few books and some games.  Traditionally, free decks of playing cards were provided upon request, but not on this ship.

The guest services providers were inconsistent in the performance of their jobs.  Service depended on who was assisting at the moment.

The computer availability was pathetic.  I felt that the charges to use this amenity was ridiculous!

Shampoo, conditioner and lotion containers are normally provided everywhere,  not on this ship.  One roll of toilet paper was left daily in addition to the small amount left on the roll.  On the last evening, we were not given the extra roll and ran out of toilet paper.  I went out in the hall and requested a roll of toilet paper which another cabin steward gave me.

The Windjammer servers and food were good as well.

I have cruised on Carnival, NCL, Holland America, Princess, Celebrity, and a French cruise line.  My cruises on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity were overall the most disappointing in all areas except the dining room experiences.  The dining staffs, especially the waiters and assistant waiters, were exceptional!

Food has improved and is quite good.  Dancing in the early evening is a plus.  The solarium pool was freezing cold one day on the way back to Baltimore.  Should be heated on cold days.

when I booked this cruise in late july i wanted an early seating for dinner,or at least my time dining.All that was available to me was at 8:00p.m.,first strike!when i got on the ship the first thing i did was see the maitre'd in the dining room and was told that the ship was full and i could not only not have early dining,but my time dining was also "sold out" whatever that means.then i go to my cabin at 1:00 p.m. and hear cabin stewards banging around in the room attached to my cabin,this continued throughout the entire cruise at just about any time of the day,along with stewards yelling to each other in the corridors,strike 2.I did not complain to anyone as these days you never know what could come of it!!!then i see a guest group that had to average 60-65 years old and the cruise happenings on the ship were more geared to that crowd.I ave nothing against an older crowd, except that when i read reviews before booking,that the age range for this cruise was supposed to be 30's to 50's.strike 3.also came in to play was the deal where cruises only made a payment withdrawal from my checking account that was unauthorized even though when I called to see why this was done they tried to tell me that I authorized it.NO WAY!! this made my car insurance payment to bounce and cost me 33.00 for overdrawn account!     di return my 24.95 booking fee which helped replace part of their mistake,but i still had the embarassment of an overdrawn account!!!!

The food and service was very good.  We felt were ripped-off on a RC recommended excursion.  There was very little value for the cost.  This was an excursion to Atlantis in the Bahamas and we could have done it for less than one tenth the cost by ourselves. 

Found a hair in my food and guest services didn't care about it.  Otherwise a pretty amazing time.  The boat was small, and next time I plan on going on a larger boat

WE HAD A WONDERFUL VACATION OF ROYAL CARRIBEAN GRANDEUR..OUR SECOND TIME ON THIS SHIP...THE SHIP WAS IMMACULATELY CLEAN AND THE STAFF WAS WONDERFUL AS OUR PAST CRUISES OF R.C.

Great entertainment and the crew was fantastic.  Even though we encountered rough seas and were required to remain inside the ship the crew kept everyone entertained.

We had a great time.  The ship was rocky for most of the time, but that didn't take away from our first cruise experience.  We had a bad day on the 2nd day, due to weather and winds ... most cruisers were sick to include me, but I was back and ready that evening for the formal event with the captain.

The islands were beautiful, the best was BVI, Tortola and then Lebadee, Haiti was my next best.  I want a separate trip to BVI, Tortola to spend more time there.

The activities were great, the shows were excellent, the cruise director, activity director and the wait and stateroom staff were outstanding.  It was a memorable time to remember.  We will cruise again, soon. 

We had a wonderful time on our trip on the Granduer of the Seas.  All the staff were great.  Even our My Time Dinning servers, (pictured above) were outstanding.  The only issue we had was at the Ice cream and Coffee shop.  Our server was very rude and we felt that we did not receive the service we expected.  This incident was brought to the attention of senior staff, however we did not receive any feed back.  Overall we had a very pleasing and enjoyable stay.