Grandeur of the Seas Review
Grandeur of the Seas 2/18-14 .....great cruise
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Additional details
We cruised from Baltimore on Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014. Boarding the boat was fast and effortless with the quick and efficient staff of the port of Baltimore. I love the way they load up your luggage as you pull up to the port. Once on board we checked out the ship while waiting for the cabins to be ready. As we toured we noticed the very large number of seniors on board. We are no spring chickens but this was a surprise to see the number of over 70's on board. A great number of walkers, scooters made for long waits on elevators. We decided to use the steps the entire cruise and avoided the back up on the elevators. Seas were rough on the way out of Baltimore after day one. Winds were high enough to close deck 10 several times on the way out.
By Thursday we were in warm enough weather for sun bathing on deck 10.
The ship staff and Royal Caribbean tv immediately alerted to the strong possibility of Noro virus being on board. Efforts to reduce exposure were visible. Staff stood outside of the Windjammer and reminded passengers to use the Purell stations before entering. Same for Great Gatsby dining room. We were prepared and had traveled with Clorox wipes and antibacterial soap etc. We washed our hands immediately upon re entering the cabin and tried to avoid the public restrooms and opted for traveling back to our cabin instead. We wiped down our cabin everyday with the Clorox wipes in addition to it being cleaned by our attendant.
Cabin Review
Our cabin was fantastic. As was our stateroom attendant, Hank. He provided fresh ice twice a day with new glasses. Towels were plentiful and the stateroom was always clean and fresh. We were happily surprised by several towel animal creations left awaiting our return to cabin. Our cabin location was very close to the steps and elevators. This made it nice for back and forth. We chose to not use the public rest rooms if at all possible. With the heavy emphasis on best practices to avoid the Noro Virus which was on the ship the previous cruise we felt this made more sense. We also traveled with Clorox wipes, alcohol preps and antibacterial liquid soap. Upon returning to the cabin we immediately washed our hands prior to touching anything in the cabin. Better safe than sorry. Our balcony was small but enough room to view the beautiful ports upon arrival and while docked in port.My only criticism was the loud rattling of the balcony separators during high winds which basically occurred every night.The cabin size was adequate. The large screen tv was nice and the vanity/mirror area was large enough for two. Plenty of little cubbies for storage. Same with the closet. It was a little tight for larger suitcases but it was sufficient to get around. Much larger than my previous two cruises. We were directly over the South Pacific Lounge which featured karoke but we never heard it at all until the last two nights and even then it wasn't loud enough to cause disruption to sleep.The bathroom was much nicer than expected. A pretty turquoise and green backsplash and a round bowl sink. The shower was larger than usual and the water was HOT. This was a big plus. No problems with the toilet and no smells as you can sometimes get on a cruise ship. Noise from other cabins was non existent. Overall I would definitely select this cabin location again.