On August 2 my wife and I cruised on the Grandeur of the Seas for 5 nights. I was a little apprehensive about cruising with RCL. I am not a big fan of brand names that are constantly running commercials or are too mainstream. However, RCL exceed our expectations. There was a total of 8 of us and we had a smashing time! For those of you who were on the cruise, we were the ones with the t shirts! We called ourselves project inebri(eight) and we definitely achieved our objective! This was our first time on Royal. I previously cruised with my wife on the Crown Princess for our honeymoon. My wife cruised with Celebrity in the past. Every aspect of the cruise was a good experience.
Embarkation- Norfolk, VA was an easy port to cruise from. We live on Long Island in NY and flew from LaGuardia to Newport News. We had almost no wait to board the ship. The employees of RCL even volunteered to film us with our video camera, while we were checking in.
Food- The food quality and variety was quite good and I think better then the food on the Crown Princess. There was a lot more variety on the menu. Even though I like anytime dining, I had a great experience with traditional on this cruise. The Lobster was exceptional and I honestly did not taste anything that wasn't good. The food in the windjammer cafe was very good considering it is buffet. We ordered room service for breakfast almost every morning. Try the smoked salmon and brie sandwich!!!
Cabin- Our cabin was a balcony stateroom. For a cruise cabin, it was of decent size and had a good amount of storage space. The bathroom was a little bit worn but was clean. the balcony was a decent size,however, they could have fit a bigger table on the balcony. I highly suggest going for a balcony stateroom.