Grandeur of the Seas Review
Grandeur of the Seas, launched in early 1996, is one of Royal Caribbean's older vessels, but you'd never know it from the ship's sleek public spaces: a grand Art Deco-inspired dining room, the glitzy Palladium Theater and a sweeping six-story atrium.
Some of the cabins, however, are showing signs of wear and tear. Our dresser, for example, was nicked in spots. The stopper in the bathroom sink had corroded, and the mirror was beginning to lose its finish. There was an abandoned towel rack attached to the wall that, oddly enough, had never been dismantled. And the TV screen, about a foot wide, was smaller than a lot of laptops you see today.
None of this is a deal breaker, of course. But I guess I was also struck by what Grandeur of the Seas does not have. As an example, our oceanview stateroom did not have a fridge. And unless you book a suite, there are no toiletries. That's right: toiletries. I asked for a shower cap and lotion and was told those "amenities" did not come with our cabin class. For today's traveler, that's just not good enough. (For the record, there was a shampoo/conditioner dispenser in the shower but a piece of it came apart the one time I used it. In addition, the in-room intercom did not work, meaning you had to go into the hall to hear shipboard announcements.)
There's also no enrichment program (unless you count napkin folding and dollar origami), though that is fairly customary for Royal Caribbean in general. More unusually there are no alternative restaurants, as are found on today's newer ships. Fortunately, the meals in the dining room were wonderful overall and the buffet is as good as it gets.
As for service, our experience was a mixed bag. Our dining room waiters were exemplary. The two times we dropped in at the Schooner Bar, the bartenders were slow, slow, slow. And while our cabin steward was attentive, our stateroom failed to pass my white glove inspection when we first boarded. There was a hairclip on the rug, a Neutrogena makeup lid in the trash bin, a wadded up piece of paper in the closet and toothpaste smudges on the glass shelves in the bathroom cabinet.
During our five-night Baltimore-to-Bermuda cruise, Grandeur of the Seas was approaching capacity with nearly 2,000 passengers. The ship is one of the smallest in the fleet -- hence the inability to accommodate alternative restaurants. And that's fine -- no quarrel there. But with a little more attention to the fundamentals, Grandeur of the Seas might live up to her name.
 Read Complete Grandeur of the Seas Review
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