Grandeur of the Seas Cruise Review by mdaviswv

Embarkation was a breeze and probably the most efficient we’ve ever experienced. We arrived at the parking lot shortly after 11am and were on the ship between 12 and 12:30. However, I need to throw in there that something happened at the gangway that delayed us by probably a good 15 to 20 minutes. Couldn’t really tell what happened, but I did hear mumblings later that someone had fallen on the gangway. Which is entirely possible since the entire day Saturday, including the drive there, embarkation and clear through bed time it was like a monsoon outside! So that could explain it, and is of course no one’s fault, but regardless, Baltimore currently gets my vote for best terminal.

More on the weather, man, was it bad Saturday. It was probably low to mid 40s at best, windy, and pouring rain steadily all day. Snow on the ground through the mountains on the way there in the morning. You talk about a nasty day to set sail! Not that it mattered to me of course because any day I set foot on a cruise ship is a good day in my book, regardless of circumstances! Once we sailed, I wandered around the promenade on deck 5 for a while to admire the “scenery.” Brown water, dense fog, cold rain and wind. It was lovely. Meanwhile, up top on deck 9, the smokers were huddled starboard in the covered areas and beautiful pool just sat there empty with steam rising from its heated water. Very, very weird embarkation day atmosphere.

Colton actually joined us at dinner the first night because Adventure Ocean didn’t open til 8pm this night for some reason. All the cruise lines seem to be getting in line with NCL’s Freestyle dining concept. RCI has initiated their version in what they call “My Time Dining.” As much as Steph and I used to enjoy the late seating main dining room routine, Colton’s arrival meant that a flexible schedule was much more realistic. Dinner was good, but not great. To tell you the truth I forget what I had already. Service was excellent though. Our servers the whole two nights we did end up eating in the MDR, were Osben and Robert. I don’t know if that was luck of the draw or if the M’D purposely tried to put you with the same servers to maintain at least a little of that traditional dining time atmosphere. Either way, while dinner was nice, I think Steph and I are both growing tired of the “haul extra clothes, get dressed up, go eat and immediately return to the room to return to comfy clothes” routine. Although, on our last two NCL sailings Steph reminds me that we did eat in the dining room all but one night. It wasn’t too long until we discovered that many of the MDR menu items were available in the Windjammer as well.

Lets see...since not much outdoor exploring was done on Saturday, we mainly did the routine stuff like unpack, register Colton at Adventure Ocean and, of course eat. Well, Colton and I did explore the interior of the ship on our own as Steph was down and out with some of her dizziness problems for much of the afternoon. The weather meant that the seas would undoubtedly be rough that night and we both worried that her condition would only worsen upon sailing. But thankfully, the right combination of rest and meds and she was back up and running not long after sailing I believe. The ride was indeed rough that night and much if not all of the next day as I recall. Not that I mind, but I do always worry about the less stable among us who seem to have enough trouble getting around when the ship is standing still. Very rarely Steph will come up queasy during rough seas, but for the most part our little gang is very content regardless the ride.

Oh get this, we didn’t have to wear lifejackets to the muster drill!! Can you imagine? I’ve sometimes gotten away with not putting one on or even had the luxury of some lounge to hang out in as our Muster station, but to not even have to take one!?! Unheard of to me. We did however have to go outside on the deck 5 promenade though. So it was a might chilly.

The welcome aboard show was run of the mill. Cruise Director and a comedian. I did really like the comedian, but didn’t make it up for his late show which was midnight Sunday. Colton went with us and stayed through the band and Cruise Director. I took in the comedian solo.

One more thing to wrap up this first day. It was on this day that Colton (and us too of course) met Kenger. She was stationed throughout much of the cruise at an entrance to the Windjammer and was quite obviously taken with Colton upon first sight! She introduced herself and spoke to him, asking him all sorts of questions. Since he was wearing a Steelers shirt, she asked if he played for them. To which he said he did. From then, on she just ate that up and ran with it all week. At that moment she scrambled for a piece of paper and asked Colton for his autograph, which he politely gave her. It was great. He just printed his name down nice and neat like a little celeb. We ran into her many times throughout the week and she would always go out of her way to speak to us and to Colton especially. Poor little guy is still too much like his pop was though and doesn’t talk much. She could squeeze things out of him periodically, but for the most part he just smiled and let her do the talking. Anyway, my point is she was very nice and to have a crew member go that much out of her way to create a bond with the little guy was very special.

OK, on to Sunday. Really not a whole lot going on this day. Other than it was a Steelers gameday, and I like a complete idiot neglected to pack a jersey!!! From Skips reports, I know what the Baltimore faithful think of Steelers fans and I didn’t want my Sunday to be spent getting yakked at, so...yes...I chickened out. Pathetic. I deserve a harsh letter from the Rooney family, a possible revocation of my seats, and a stiff fine from the NFL for failing to live up to my own and others’ expectations of a true Steelers fan! So I spent the day kicking myself because you know how many Ravens jersey’s I saw...ONE. And Steelers jerseys were everywhere! I should have known our presence would be felt and not to worry. Oh well. Live and learn.

Weather was still on the cool side. Though not 40s and raining anymore for the most part. Very nice and leisurely day at sea for us. Colton and I rose early and took our morning trip to the decks to see the sea, check the weather and gather some food and chocolate milk. Colton enjoyed Adventure Ocean officially on this morning while Steph and I lounged in the Solarium. Adventure Ocean gets a huge thumbs up by the way. Decent, though not huge facilities, an awesome staff, and a grand total of 8 kids on the sailing in Colton’s age group all ensured that he would have a lovely time there throughout the week. He literally enjoyed going this trip. Before it would maybe take a little nudging or whatever, but I think the great staff and small number of kids made for a good time. The Solarium, on the other hand disappointed me tremendously. Plenty of good reviews on the CC boards about the Solarium, but I just found it to be too quiet. Also, I suppose I could have prejudged it a little considering that I have a 5yr old and I think a lot of the folks who seem to like it, like it because kids are supposedly not allowed. We thought this might turn out to be a big deal since the weather was definitely not pool weather yet and a covered/indoor pool area would have been perfect for the little guy. But, the occasion never really came about where we were forced to press the issue and take him in there to swim anyway. Steph did call to find out if the no children thing is enforced during inclement weather and they ensured us it would not be. Although that didn’t convince me that the high brows wouldn’t still be looking down their noses at us and that “child.”

OK, so Steph and I hung out there til noon when it was time to get Colton and eat. That afternoon we played family bingo at AO where Colton won a hat and a little stuffed octopus, “Inky”. Back at the room I was thrilled to find some football on tv even if it was the Giants and Saints. I basically drifted in and out of a nap while watching for the Pittsburgh, Cincy and Bmore scores scroll across the screen. Satisfied with a good football Sunday in which we were the only team in the Division to post a W, we continued with our day and headed back to pool to see what was going on. By then it was warm enough to at least hit the hot tubs and that we did. Not for an extended period of time, but enough to satisfy us. On the way back I think we looked at the MDR menu and decided that the MDR was definitely not in our plans for that evening. And so began our descent into the laziness of Windjammer dinners. And that was just fine with me.

Monday morning Colton and I walked outside to humidity so bad it screwed up my video camera for a few hours until it dried out. Steph reminded me though that this happens nearly every cruise when the camera goes from its nice cozy AC environment to the heat and humidity. So Colton and I walked around the ship outside on the promenade and watched the beautiful blue water and islands of Bermuda going by on our way to the pier. We took some pics and thanked God for the opportunity to visit this wonderful paradise twice in 6 months. At this point the weather was still nice and we returned quickly to the room so that we could pack up and head off to catch the next ferry to St. Georges. Having been to Hamilton twice before, St. Georges is the next logical place to go...however, it didn’t take us long after getting off the ship to decide that this particular visit was not to be. You talk about rain!! I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it rain so hard. We made it off the ship and into a tiny building, we were on the old side of the piers not the new one just constructed this year, so the building was very small and full of folks who just plain had no clue what to do. Would the rain last? Was it worth going out on a semi distant ferry ride just to go to another rainy place? Was it even worth getting going on out of this building to stroll the dockyards or was the comfort of the luxurious Grandeur of the Seas where the wise would head? For us it was the latter. All bundled in our ponchos, we ran back aboard the ship and hit the deck for a little snack time until the weather once again cleared. The weather was weird there. The forecast was for 50% chance of showers and it was almost as though it literally poured rain 50 or 60% of the time and was sunny the rest. But they alternated so fast that you could get nothing accomplished in either condition!

So anyway, back off the ship we went under beautiful blue skies the second time where we walked among the shops and bought Colton some sunglasses since I had managed to lose his on only the second day there. Very, very nice outing. Steph and I both love Bermuda. It has become our favorite port by far and we both would probably be more than content to make that our primary cruise destination from here on out. After about an hour of strolling around, the skies darkened and the ponchos came back out. And it poured. This time the entire time back to the ship. We were all pretty well soaked by the time we returned. But as usual a smile adorned my face as the alternative was sitting at my desk in Bridgeport...so a little rain wasn’t about to dampen my spirits in the least.

I can’t remember much of the rest of this day. I believe Colton went to AO and Steph and I once again hit the Solarium for some pseudo-deck time. I still won’t equate it to real pool deck time because its just too darn quiet in there and doggone it...there’s just not supposed to be a roof over the pool on a ship!! But considering the rain it was our only choice. Bermuda activities were limited for the day, but there’s always time for some good old CSL “Cruise Ship Life” on board. Throw in a nap, throw in several meals, and Monday was probably just about history. Oh...well, I think this was the other night we went to dinner. Again, ok, but not great. The RCI snobs aren’t going to like our position on the food, but we put either Carnival or NCL food above RCI. Not really even a close call. But food quality is a very subjective thing, so to each his own.

Tuesday...now Tuesday and Wednesday both were such superb days that no level of inconvenience caused by weather or anything else could cause this trip to be called any less than an absolute dream. Tuesday was beach day. Back in May we just took the public bus system over to Horseshoe Bay, but Steph was more in favor of a private taxi this time. I think thats at least in part due to her recent bouts with dizziness and head problems. The roads and left side driving will throw your balance off riding around Bermuda anyway and a bus only adds a stop and go every half mile for a bus stop. Sooooo, on this beautiful warm and sunny morning we grabbed a cab outside the ship and 20 minutes later we were at the most beautiful beach in the world. FYI, the meter was about $28 so including tip we paid about $35 for a cab ride that was quick. Compare that to back in May I think a 3 day bus and ferry pass was about $28pp. I know you can’t make much in the way of comparison there. Its still more cost effective to take the public transportation, but for just this one trip, we didn’t mind the splurge. We were surprised to find Horseshoe Beach quite crowded when we arrived. The Norwegian Majesty was in St. Georges at the same time so they had several folks at this beach as well. We spent a lovely couple of hours there...Colton playing in the sand, Steph resting, and I playing in the water. Thankfully all of the jellyfish were gone by now. Back in May, this very same beach was virtually unusable due to the number of jellyfish both washed up on shore and swimming even in the shallowest of water. I had read on Cruise Critic that they were only heavy during that time of year and usually completely gone by August. And I was so happy to find that to be true that I swam and swam all over the place until my big old head was just one big shiny red ball. And you know what...I didn’t mind it a bit. Colton and I spent some time building a small fort with the same sand toys we had bought in Secaucus back in May. Then Colton out of the blue asks for a snow cone! He never asks about or cares about snow cones, but here we are at the same beach a 1000 miles from home six months later and he remembers that this was where he had gotten a good snow cone. So he had his snow cone and we played a while in the shallow cove area that you’d swear was put there by God Himself as a little children’s “ocean” to accompany the adult ocean. The entire scene was simply breathtaking. The weather, our happy family, the ocean, the rocks, the vegetation...everything made for a perfect outing to get our day started.

The ride back to the Dockyards was made even cheaper as the first van we came to at the bottom of the hill where the cabs park offered $8 per person trips back. What luck. Somehow the guy managed to stuff 13 ppl in this van including himself so he still made a hefty sum for a 20 minute drive. So anyway, if you can find a deal like this, take it. This particular day, we noticed an enormous crowd gathered at the bus stop, so that would have been a pain to have waited for the bus anyway. I guess my advice would still be to get the bus and ferry pass if you’ve got a few days to fill, but if you are only making one road trip, splurge for the cab.

Back at the ship, it was time for lunch of course. So we ate at Windjammer and took Colton up to AO. From there Steph and I claimed ourselves some prime deck chairs up on deck 10 starboard from which to view a variety of pool games, an ice carving demonstration and the sailaway at 3pm. More hours passed as we enjoyed just being there and soaking it all in. Though sailing away was kind of sad, because it’ll probably be a while before we return. Two visits in 6 months was pretty special, and we know we’ll be back. Bermuda is an awesome place and our favorite cruise port at least for now. We’ve still got a lot of the world to explore! Once Colton was with us again I don’t remember the specifics but I imagine we just slid into our normal evening...room to rest a while, dinner for Colton, Colton to Adventure Ocean, dinner for us, back to get Colton and then a show and bed.

I guess we haven’t gone into the shows much yet have we? Entertainment was very actually very good this sailing. Either that or the new and improved me was way more appreciative and accepting of the shows. Whatever the case, I don’t believe there were any that I really didn’t enjoy. There was the welcome aboard show with the CD and a comedian, two shows that primarily featured the dancers and the orchestra, and a “variety” show that had some black light illusionists and the something or other Gauchos who were pretty entertaining. I know something is missing there, and if you really want to know that bad, I’ll look it up for you, but something tells me you really don’t care. All in all the shows were good. Better than NCL and from what I remember, better than Carnival. Really, food and beverage service and entertainment are the only places I would give definite nods to RCI over Carnival and NCL. In most other categories, all three of these lines are very equal.

Ok, lets try and wrap this thing up, I’m getting tired of writing and you’re no doubt tired of reading. Wednesday was our last day at sea and what a wonderful day it was. But believe it or not its very easy to describe because we didn’t do a whole lot of anything! Beautiful skies but somewhat cool temps greeted us this day, but I think we all knew it would end up being an all out pool deck day eventually. So after breakfast, and dropping Colton at his AO club, Steph and I claimed three prime seats right by the pool and just waited for it to warm up. Got some reading done in the morning and when noon came, Colton came down for lunch and joined us. From then on I think we stayed til like 3:30 in the afternoon just playing in the pool, reading, sitting in the hot tubs, resting, eating, etc. Just absolutely gorgeous weather, though like I said it was a little chilly. At one point Colton even laid back in his deck chair and said..”this is the life.” Completely unprovoked and out of nowhere....it was fantastic. I’m sure he’s heard that from us at one time or another, but to see this spoiled 5yr old on his 6th cruise, sprawled out on a deck chair saying this is the life, just cracked me up.

Once we left the pool deck we did some laps around the promenade to enjoy the sea for just a little while longer. Then it was off to the room for the dreaded part of any vacation...packing to go home. While I did better, there is still room for improvement in my packing habits. You’d think I’d have it down by now wouldn’t you, but I guess I’m a slow learner. Colton hit Adventure Ocean one last time and said goodbye to all the young women he’d had virtually all to his own all week. We did a show and it was about time to hit the bed for our final night of the sweetest sleep you’ll find...cruise sleep.

Oh wait, I guess, I did stay up later than the others for only the second time this trip, this time to try and see where we were because I figured by this time we’d be crossing the bay bridge around 11pm maybe. Well, wouldn’t you know as I walked outside around 11, the bright lights of Virginia Beach were off Port side and I knew I couldn’t go to bed any time soon. Up to Deck 10 and the front of the ship I went. As the lights from Virginia Beach disappeared behind us, the lights from the Bay Bridge appeared before us. It was quite interesting to watch us pass over the tunneled portion of the bridge. By this time it was approaching midnight and I couldn’t help but notice that the police were present at the tunnel entrances to stop traffic as we passed. Better safe than sorry I guess. Very interesting experience. You know me, I have to get all deep about things...think about the time that has passed between the first time we crossed that Chesapeake Bay Bridge back in 1999 on a one night cruise all full of free alcohol, friends and fun. And now 10yrs later, a non-drinker, with 5yr old in tow, and a whole new definition of fun. Ok thats enough of that. Sorry. Just had to throw in what I was thinking that night. So the last morning comes. At breakfast, Kenger seeks out Colton and he gives her a hug goodbye. We eat leisurely and return to the room to pack the final junk in our carryons. We head to a public area as we’re not to wait in the rooms and by 10:15 I’m in the car on I-95 heading home. Not bad at all. While disembarkation wasn’t quite as smooth as embarkation, it was still a piece of cake. Cruising from Baltimore more frequently is definitely in our future if they will only keep some good ships there. It is a fantastic home port. I know this is a less than standard “review” as I write these more for my family and friends than for Cruise Critic. So if you want details on anything I left out feel free to email me at spridlewv@gmail.com and I’ll try to give just the facts.