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Royal Caribbean International

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Venice

Las Palmas (Gran Canaria)

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Europe - All

Europe - Western Mediterranean

Mediterranean

Excellent

Brilliance of the Seas

Freedom of the Seas

Harmony of the Seas

Vision of the Seas

Voyager of the Seas

Allure of the Seas

Liberty of the Seas

Serenade of the Seas

Rhapsody of the Seas

Oasis of the Seas

Navigator of the Seas

Explorer of the Seas

Adventure of the Seas

Jewel of the Seas

Grandeur of the Seas

Mariner of the Seas

Ketchikan

Before the Cruise we stayed in a nice hotel in Barcelona, we searched Trip Advisor for the best locations/price. Any hotel on La's Rambles will be great  and offered my son (13) and I (47), a great place to walk,people watch and eat. We purchased a double Decker bus ticket(On and off type for the entire day), from a vendor on La's Rambles. We had the best meal of our entire trip at a small restaurant on this strip (I wish I could remember the name, sorry). 

Embarkation was very smooth, at most 15 minutes. I was fearful handing over our passports for the cruise line to hold but it truly was necessary due to the number of ports being visited (to my son's dismay France and Greece are not stamped on our passports).

We had an inside stateroom which was extremely clean,the cleanest I have ever had on a ship....I am a clean freak and have cruised several lines before.We had ordered water and juice as well as a surprise cake for my son-all of which were waiting for us.The room was mid ship and very quiet/little rocking or ship type movements were noted Our Attendant was very kind and courteous, provided anything we needed.

The food in the main dining room was good/not excellent.We only attended dinner once-opting for Chops or Giovanni's the other evenings (both were very good)< the best cruise dinner food we had was Azumi. The place I did not pre- reserve prior to our trip because I was not much of a sushi fan...It was wonderful...I had a filet/lobster sushi with champaign sauce that I absolutely loved. My son enjoyed the filet he cooked himself on a lava rock brought to the table...I can't say enough for the staff there and in all of the dining rooms. 

The shows were better than any of the cruise lines I had been on- but we were so tired from the port intensive tours we didn't see all of them. They had an acrobatic team perform high above the main ship deck a couple of evenings which was exciting to watch. 

The ports.Because this was a trip of a lifetime for my son and I, I purchased every intensive excursion from Royal Carribean pre cruise. As I investigated (Trip Advisor), via a few of the posts on Cruisecritic, I realized there were some options which would not only save us money, but keep our group small.In Italy only, we used Share a Tour (Trip advisor). It was fantatstic, much cheaper than the cruise line, only 6-8 people with a tourguide or "driver". One example was Pompei- our driver had set up a tour guide at the Pompei site which bypassed every line (even the royal carribean ship tours). Having done both the ship tours and the seperate tours I would definately use the "Share a Tour" again. They were fantastic and much less expensive. 

Disembarkation was very smooth-it took us some time to get our bearings as there is no one to help you figure out where to go once off the ship- luckily there were signs to help in Venice and we were staying in St. Mark's square- which was easily accessed via water bus.

Perfect Trip to see this part of the world

We had the pleasure to sail on the Grandeur of the Seas in its very first sailing after its month-long dry-dock.  This was our first cruise on Royal Caribbean and also our first time to Europe and the Mediterranean.   This was also our first booking in a suite -- and it likely won't be the last now that we know what we've been missing!

CHECK-IN -- Our check-in was swift, but part of that is that we were in the priority line for suite guests.  We boarded quickly after bypassing the annoying photo op on the gangway and headed straight to our room.  We met our cabin steward, Robert, right away and were blown away by our suite.  The bathroom was huge with double sinks and a full shower/bath.  What a welcome sight after cramming into TINY showers on past cruises where we could hardly turn around.  We had our two kids with us to there were two queen beds ready to go with a curtain between if we wanted to close it.  We had a bar area inside the door and lots of closet space and drawers for clothes, etc.

FOOD -- We had the 6PM seating in the main dining room.  Overall the food in the dining room was very good.  I was happy with the selection every night and always found something enjoyable to eat.  We ate in the buffet several times and the food was decent, but I was a little disappointed in the buffet quality overall.  We did get the opportunity to sample two of the new specialty restaurants, Izume and Giovanni's Table, and loved them.  I especially enjoyed the sushi in Izume.  We ordered room service 3 times for breakfast in order to enjoy dining on our balcony and were pleased with the quality there as well.

SERVICE -- Overall I was very impressed with all of the people I came in contact with -- wait staff, bartenders, front desk, room stewards, and everyone else.  I have to specifically single out the concierge club staff -- Raj and Patricia -- for AWESOME service, way beyond any expectations we had.  Also our Maitre D' greatly exceeded expectations.  He stopped by our table every single night and also interacted with our children every night too, which is more than I've seen on past cruises.

COMMON AREAS -- I can't compare to how the ship looked pre-dry dock, but all of the common areas looked wonderful, especially the new centrum space.  I did see a few pictures in the photo gallery comparing some of the spaces before and after and the change is breathtaking.  You'd think it was a totally different ship.  The pool areas were nice and the rock wall was definitely fun!

ACTIVITIES -- We booked all of our excursions on our own so I can't comment on those, but we did participate in a few trivia and games and they were generally fun.

ENTERTAINMENT -- We're not huge on shows, but we did see several and they were good.  Most impressive is the aerial show in the centrum, which we got to see on the last night of the cruise.  The dancers were actually practicing throughout the week in the centrum since it was their first time on the ship, so we got to see them rehearsing various times as well.  I imagine the centrum act will get even better as time goes on.

KIDS ACTIVITIES -- Our kids are 16 and 12 and they were in the teen club most evenings from after dinner to bedtime.  We used radios to communicate and I felt comfortable leaving them alone with their friends.  Both kids loved all the activities and they also had plenty of "hanging out" time too.

MY FEW MINOR QUIBBLES -- Just so you don't think this is a fluff piece...
- The Wii in the teen club didn't work.  The story my son told me was they couldn't figure out how to get it hooked up?  He was able to play Wii in the Schooner Bar on our sea day though.
- The hot tubs didn't have jets.  I've never heard of such a thing.

OVERALL -- I've been on 8 cruises now with 7 different lines and I have to say that this was my favorite experience of all of them.  I know part of that can be contributed to being in a suite for the first time and the perks that come with it.  Still, for a family cruise, Royal Caribbean and Grandeur of the Seas GREATLY exceeded expectations and we're already planning another Royal Caribbean cruise.  I wouldn't hesitate for a second to book the Grandeur again if we find an itinerary we like.

First cruise post-drydock

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