Like many mid-Atlantic cruisers, we booked the Grandeur out of Baltimore because it sailed from Baltimore! For a Thanksgiving holiday cruise, it was also relatively inexpensive, even for our junior suite. We also love the smaller ships. Parking was a bit high at $15/day, but oh so convenient. Embarkation at 12:30 pm was a breeze (because we had priority boarding) and debarkation was a bit slow with long lines going down the ramp from the ship. Let’s start with some good. Our cabin was quite good. We had plenty of storage, a nice balcony, a good sized bathroom with a full tub, and one of the best cabin stewards we’d had on any ship. Mark went above and beyond to ensure we were comfortable in our cabin and had everything we needed. We were on deck 8, and sometimes late at night or early morning we heard them arranging the deck chairs on the deck above ours. It never stopped us from falling asleep nor did the noise wake us up. The only negative of our cabin (which had nothing to do with the cabin itself) was the lack of room service! Room service was available for breakfast only, and the only FREE room service breakfast was simple continental fare. Anything else was extra. Speaking of breakfast, it was a challenge in both the Windjammer café and the Main Dining Room (MDR). If you bothered to go to the MDR (where the breakfast menu did not change once in 11 days), once you were seated and ordered your breakfast, the wait was usually around 30 minutes, more if you ordered eggs benedict. And it was lukewarm at best. In the Windjammer, by the time you waited at each station to get what you wanted, and then struggled to find a seat at a table, your hot food was cold. I saw wait staff carrying trays of drinks, but not once did anyone of them offer to get me juice or coffee. If you got up to get your own, you were at risk of your food disappearing and someone else taking your seat. Suite guests (not junior suite guests) were able to get breakfast in one of the specialty restaurants, but the menu was still the same. The advantage was that you were seated right away and your breakfast was cooked there and delivered to you hot. We opted not to try any of the specialty restaurants. We ate all our dinners in the main dining room. Service was good; we had an especially attentive head waiter. Our tablemates were a hoot and we enjoyed their company! I would say the food was average for cruise lines. I did have duck l’orange one night which was excellent. My husband said the prime rib was good, also. The night they served the petite lobster tails, I ate three! There were some nights, however, where I found none of the menu choices particularly appealing or tasty. I love ice cream for dessert, but the only options for 11 nights were vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. Even during the day, unless you wanted to pay extra at Ben & Jerry’s, your only ice cream option was self-serve, soft-serve vanilla, chocolate, or v-c twist cones. There were plusses and minuses to the on-board entertainment. The production and headliner shows in the main theatre were quite good. As long as they had two of those shows each night (for late and early seating diners), you were likely to get a seat. The cruise director opened each show and he was delightful. A unique highlight for us was watching the very animated sign language interpreter. I don’t know if she was a cruise employee or not, but she was a show unto herself! The nights where there was only one show for all guests, the 800 person capacity theatre could not handle 2000+ guests. Entertainment after 9:30 was sparse; not because there was none, but because most of it was held in the Centrum atrium where seating capacity around the dance floor maybe accommodated about 40 guests. There was a bit more seating further away, and while you could hear, you could not see. Or you could hear and see if you were standing on the decks above overlooking the atrium, but you could not participate. There were standard fair activities during the day: Trivia, bingo, pool games, art auctions, “free” seminars in the spa, casino jackpots, and shopping. I suppose this is no different than on any other cruise ship, but we were able to price their 75% off designer watch for considerably less on the internet. The same was true for some of the jewelry and watch stores in Nassau. On cooler days the solarium was great. On the downside, on those cool and windy days, kids were allowed. Seating in the solarium was at a premium. Despite signs stating that reserving chairs was not allowed, people still reserved chairs unchallenged. I’d advise anyone who wanted a lounge chair to get there early and put your towel down. Speaking of towels, this was the first ship I’d ever been on where you had to show your key pass to get towels. If you did not return a towel, you would be charged $25.00 each!! A word about the spa. On a port day, my husband and I both booked advertised specials -- a combo massage and facial. The treatment room I was given was so cold, that I cancelled my appointment. There was no way I could stay there unclothed for any length of time. Lastly a word about our ports of call. For us, they were ideal. We were able to visit old college friends in Charleston, a beautiful southern city; tour the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral (we took the ship’s shuttle and unguided tour which worked fine for us); and spend the day with our family who met us in Miami. We window-shopped in Nassau. (Okay, I did buy one or two trinkets for myself.) Unfortunately, windy conditions did not allow us to visit Coco Cay. It might have been nice even just to sail around in warmer waters for a day instead of sailing back north right away, but I’m sure there were reasons for those decisions. We love cruising, and booked two future cruises while onboard, but not on the Grandeur and not with Royal Caribbean. We booked on Celebrity, one of our more favored cruise lines. Read Less

We chose this cruise because Baltimore was within driving distance. It was our first cruise. People said that the food would be great but....it wasn't. We typically eat at fine restaurants and so we were prepared to see similar fare. Not even close. The Windjammer Buffet was a feeding frenzy with people acting like they never saw food before. It quickly looked like a feeding trough for barnyard animals. The Windjammer desserts looked amazing but they had no taste. The MDR service was great however the food and menu choices weren't very special. The menu got worse as the week progressed. I'm thinking of one of the last nights there was an appetizer: "Chilled Strawberry soup with Mint foam" The last few days seemed like they were trying to get rid of leftovers. I'm thinking of the Smoked Salmon cut up and scrambled in with eggs. Our cabin steward, Joseph, was the best part of our trip. He kept everything clean and orderly. Many other floors had a sewage smell but ours was kept odor free. There were some warm days however, the wind and rain kept us from enjoying the outside pool and the one day we could...some kid pooped in the pool and they closed it until the next day. (at sea, they dumped it and refilled it) The Adults Only Solarium permitted children during certain times because of the weather however, The Solarium resembled a nursing home by 10 am everyday. There were scooters, walkers, and canes. Older guests took up all the indoor poolside seating most laying there fully clothed, asleep, not even using the pool. The one man was so slack-jawed, I wondered if he might be deceased. The outer seating was filled with older guests playing cards, dominoes, scrabble and the like. The older guests never left. They would sit, sleep etc until it was time to eat again. Some people were cruising back-to-back-to-back. One lady said she'd be there for another 115 days! We only get one vacation a year. The full-time cruisers could not care less. This was their cruise ship and we were the interlopers. The Charleston Historical tour was great and very informative. The RCI provided tour guides in Miami were not the best. We felt man handled as we were quickly forced onto a double decked bus. I was concerned that we were being kidnapped. We didn't go to Cococay. We didn't even know this was a possibility. We had our most special excursions planned for that port. It didn't ruined our time together but I was devastated. This was a special day planned especially for my husband. Excursions were reimbursed but we took the whole cruise without ever getting to see a beach. We may try cruising again but not on this ship. Read Less

My wife and I are avid cruiser and usually plan our cruises in advance but in this case we decided to book this one at the last minute. We just couldn't pass up the great deal we got to be able to sail on a Thanksgiving cruise, and we had a wonderful time. Being 2 hours aways in Fredericksburg, Va., we decided to leave for Port Baltimore far enough in advance to make sure we arrived on time and fourtonately traffic was wonderful. Port Baltimore: We arrived at the port around 10:20am, entering the port was easy but manuvuring through the port parking lot was confusing because of the directions given by the Allied Security team. But after getting the correct directions, dropping of the luggage was simple then we were directed to pay for parking ($135) ($15 a day) in the long term parking lot! We were blessed to park very close! Embarkation: Now Im sure it was because we were ealy but this was the quickest we have ever went through the process to get on the ship. We enter the building around 10:30am, went through security, was directed to the desk, recieved our Sea cards, took our picture and was sitting in the Centrum by 11:15am! Cabin: We were located on Deck 3, mid-ship Oceanview # 3102, located close to the stairs and elevator. ( See review below ) Dining: When we arrived on board, we purchased a package giving us access to the specialty dining rooms on board: Izumi's, Giovanni's Table and Chops Grille. So 3 out of the 9 dinners we were at one of the speciality dining rooms and we were not disappointed. The service and the meals were wonderful, and we highly recommend all three of the specialty restaurants! The other nights we were in the MDR, we had two wonderful servers and the meals were excellent. Now for lunch and breakfast we went to the Windjammer on the 9 deck in the back of the ship. They had a larger variety of food and it was pretty good, the ONLY issue I had with it was the size of the buffet area is to small for the number of people trying to utilizes it at ant giving meal. You could also tell that the poor crew was overwhelmed trying to meet the needs of the impatient cruisers, it was very frustrating at times to see. Entertainment and activities: Evening Entertainment: I have to admit that we were truly impressed with the headliners that the cruise line provided for this cruise, they were truly amazing, from the comedian, to the "Man of a Thousand Voices' to the comical juggling of Mike Price. I will also say that the cruise line singers and dance team did a great job for this to be only their 2nd week on board. Centrum Entertainment: They had three groups that would rotate through out the cruise to provide music for dancing during the day and in the eveings. All three were wonderful from the Carribean band to the violinist! Acitivies: There were several actvities on board and I have to admit we did only a few of them but the ones we were invovled in were very impressive. The cruise director and his team do a wonderful job to make sure there is alot to do. Service: There is nothing negative I can say about the service on board the Grandeur of the Seas. Every member of the crew that we enteracted with was just wonderful, they went out of their way to make sure our cruise was enjoyable! Ports and Shore excursions: Charleston, South Carolina: When we arrived in Charleston that day the weather was a little unpleasent and the streets were partially flooded, and it was an adventure in itself to make around town without stepping into a 6 inches of water or more. We made are way to the City Market, which is full of some wonderful vendors. Afterwards we decided to have lunch at the Noisy Oyster, the food was fantastic! After lunch we made are way over to the park which is right next to the port and on the edge of the water allowing a great place to take pictures of the ship and of Ft. Sumter. We then proceeded back to the ship after a wonderful SUNNY day in Charleston! Port Canaveral: Being Disney fans and annual passholders, we took the ship excursion providing us transportation to the Transportation & Ticket Center. We left the ship on the charter bus around 10:40 and arrived at the TTC at 12:00pm. We decided to take the monorail over to Epcot then around 3:00pm made are way back to the Magic Kingdom so we would be near by to make our way back to the bus by 6:30pm, returning to the ship by 8:00pm. Some may say its not worth the time but we had a great time!! Miami: We arrived in Miami and decided to explore on our own. We were blessed to port at Terminal F giving us closer access to the free trolley from the port into the city. The trolley stop is located directly across the street from Terminal F under the blue tarp, it is the Coral Trolley. We explored on our own and enjoyed the sights, then made our way back dropping us off at the terminal. Nassau: We booked an excursion on board for the Pearl Island and lunch. When we disemabarked we were informed that it may be canceled due to the rainy weather were experiencing at the time. Fourtinately the weather did clear allowing us to go. We boarded our transportation boat around 11:00pm and made our way over to the the private island. It was beautiful! There had been another ship that was supposed to have a tour group there but due to the weather it did cancel allowing our group to be the only group there at the time, which was about 20 people! The beach was small but clean and beautiful, it had a wind board you could try along with a water trampolin. There were more then enought covered and uncovered chairs, beach beds and cavanas to rest in. We had not planned too but we decided to jojn the snorkeling group and it only cost us $15 per person more there on location which I believe the excusion with snorkeling was a little more. We had a great time and the guys leading the group were great in showing and explaining the best spots to explore. Afterwards we had a lunch of baked fish, barbecue chicken, brown rice and cole slaw, it was delicious! Since we had left late they extended our stay by 1/2 hour, so we departed the island at 3:00pm. On the way back the crew gave us a tour and brief review of the stars that homes along the shore on the way back. We got to see Elvis Presleys home which is now owned by his daughter Lisa along with a few other celebritie such as Nicolas Cage and the home of Charlie Chaplin. After we reutrned, we cleaned up and went back out for a few hours of shopping before dinner since the ship did not leave port until midnight. It was a great day! Coco Caye: Unfourtinately we did not get to experience their private island due to the rough waters around the island the captain felt it would be unsafe to tender us out so we ended up having 3 Sea days back instead of two, which i felt the cruise director and his team did a fine job making up missing the port in the actvities they provided in place. And as always, you cant please everyone on board so there were you whiners BUT we didnt let it bother us. Safety comes first! Disembarkation: We arrived in Baltimore early. We went to breakfast and awaited in the Centrum for our to turn to disembark, we were luggage tag #5, 8:15 to 8:45?. We actually got off the ship at 8:20 made our way down to customs to the luggage area and was in the car by 8:45 and on our way home by 8:51am! The only thing I was discouraged by was that one of the wheels on my luggae was broken and is irrepairable. I'm not sure if it occured on board after they took it from our stateroom or if happened after it was turned over to the port. Ship: This was our first time on the Grandeur of the Seas, it is the smallest ship that we have cruised on with RCL and any other cruise line. I have to admit at first I thought she was very small but as each day went by I started to enjoy her more and the fact it did not take forever to get where we wanted to get too. She also allows you the opportunity to get to meet more of your fellow cruisers, because there is no doubt that you will definitely see the same faces more then once. We were very pleased with our cruising experience and will definitely be cruising Lady G again in the future. Read Less

The Grandeur is a smaller older ship with none of the bells and whistles of the new bigger ships, but there is not a better crew on any ocean in the world, we cruise for ports and relaxing if we wanted to go to a theme park we would have, being on a floating city is not our idea of cruising it may be to some. We prefer interior cabins so we can cruise more often, most the dining room for dinner unless excursion or menu related we head to the windjammer, there is always something good and the theme nights are interesting. Headliner shows we check out, the production shows no big deal we have seen most being they don't change them very often. Service on the Grandeur is awesome smiling friendly faces everywhere you go.The port of Baltimore is so easy to come and go from and easy to navigate weather you drive or fly. Read Less

Fantastic ship, wonderful crew, and lots of fun on the ship. Overall, great experience! A few specifics: Ship: Very well cared for, always clean, and we always saw people dusting cleaning, and keeping up with the wear and tear of use. It's a very small ship that doesn't require a lot of walking to get places. That's one of the things that attracts the much older crowd. I think the median age of the clientele was about 75. Lots of scooters and walkers! It will never be updated to include all the newfangled things on the newer, larger ships. VERY loyal clientele coming out of Baltimore. Cabin: Had an inside cabin on 8 under the Serenity pool area (which was sometimes referred to as God's Waiting Room). Very quiet, didn't hear anything in the hall, above, below, or next to us. Hard to hear the announcements in the cabin, so you have to open the door when they start. The only thing I was annoyed about in the cabin was that the bed (as a king) and the dresser touched corners, which made a great place to keep laundry hidden and separate from the rest of our stuff, but annoying to get out of bed on the one side. Dining: Every time I told someone we were trying Royal for the first time, they told me just how amazing the food was. "So much better than the other cruise lines!" they'd say. It wasn't. It was about on par with every other line we've been on. Tried Giovani's Table, which was excellent, but they just kept bringing food after we told them we were full. A lot of wasted food. And whoever the pastry chef was should be fired for thinking that galaktoboureko was somehow a dry, semolina dough ball instead of a custard layered onto phylo dough. Overall the food was good. Very wide variety in the Windjamer for both lunch and dinner. Breakfast was standard fare, dining room breakfast was useless. Lunch in the dining room was also useless. Both had fixed menus that rarely changed. Dinners in the Dining Room was pretty good on most nights. Don't even try the coffee. Just go to Starbucks every morning. Sometimes they forget and brew 2 vats of coffee per 1 packet of coffee grounds. Entertainment & Activities: If you're into trivia, you'll be sorely disappointed. Why? Because people ruin everything. On our sailing was a group of about 12 people who had sailed so many times that they knew every answer. Maybe change up the questions, trade with another ship, whatever. Shows were adequate, as were the other things to do. But god help you if you don't get there early - you will NOT get a seat. Oh, and if you want to rock climb, don't even thing about doing it with slightly damp clothing! They'll send you away. Service: OUT-gorram-standing service! Every crew member we met was fantastic! This is the one thing that really saved this ship from being tedious. Ports & Excursions: 3 days out and back from Baltimore was long, but it's OK. Just have to make sure to plan more indoor activities for people other than gambling on the colder days. Read Less

This ship has one the highest return rates in the RC fleet. The A++ service is just one reason. The activities and entertainment are superior. Fellow passengers are friendly. My wife and I traveled alone, but we easily made friends. Our cabin had plenty of room. Food quality was not always perfect. The breakfast and lunch at either the main dining room or the buffet was almost always praiseworthy. The lunch salad bar at the main dining room is not to be missed. The ham at the breakfast buffet melts in your mouth. The quality of entrees at dinner missed my high expectations. All "Fish of the Day" were frozen. The pork tended to be tough; I had to pray for a steak knife to cut a chop. Chicken breasts needed more marinating. On the other hand, the beef dishes were outstanding. My wife gave pasta dishes a high mark. Drink prices are very high and then RC adds an automatic 18% gratuity tax on your bill. Sailing out of Baltimore gives mid-Atlantic cruisers a real cost saving, rather than flying to and from Florida. Read Less

Embarkment and disembarkment in Baltimore is smooth and awesome. They are truly a wonderful port to cruise out of. As for the dining experience, the wait staff go above and beyond. BUT.....the food choices need to change. It is the same mundane food every day. They need to have someone in charge of the menus who can change things up. Most of us decided to eat in the windjammer instead of the dining room. They really need to step it up with the food. We were not impressed. It has really gone downhill. The itinerary was perfect. St Croix, St Kitts, St Lucia, St Martel and St Johns Antigua. We met a lot of awesome people, did excursions at each port and visited some awesome beaches. In St Croix we did an outside excursion with Caribbean Adventure to Buck Island. They were the perfect tour guides, teaching you the right way to snorkel and going above and beyond and Turtle Beach was pristine and awesome. We were the only people on the island. Picture perfect. In St Johns Antigua we went to Ffryes Beach. This beach was beautiful, no rocks cushiony white sand and turquoise water. Calm waters, complete serenity. In St Lucia we went on a pirate ship to the Pistons. The trip on the ship was outstanding,along with the crew. As far as the mineral and mud baths it was a waste of time and I would not recommend that part. But the pirate ship trip was a blast and jumping off of the ship into the caribbean was a true experience. In St Kitts, we went to the Carambole Beach Club on South Friars. This place is awesome, no fee to get in only 10.00 for beach chairs and umbrellas. Beautiful clear water and the fish swim with you. In St Martin we took a Rhino Rider Adventure. It was fun driving these when you were in the coves but as you went out further and the water was a little wavy it beat the he'll out of your button. Then we went to Maho beach where the planes take off and land over the beach. It was an awesome experience and the beach and water are beautiful. Read Less

Background information: I booked this cruise with my recently widowed sister so that we could have some sister time together. It was her first regular cruise (she did one previously with Tauck) and her first time to Bermuda. It was my 27th cruise, and my 7th visit to Bermuda - my third on Grandeur of the Seas. I was 80 years old at the time of the cruise and I use a mobility scooter to get around. The scooter easily folds into a small light package, but my (younger) sister fell just before the cruise and sprained her wrist so while she could fold the scooter, I didn't want her to have to do so. Travel to embarkation port; Normally for embarkation in Baltimore, we drive up and stay at a hotel which offers free parking, but for this cruise, my sister came down to Baltimore on the train the day before and my husband Bob was dropping us off and picking us up. On embarkation day we drove straight up to the Cruise Maryland terminal and got there about 12:30. They gave Bob a big orange window sign that said Drop Off and we gave our two bags to the baggage men. Bob put together the scooter, put the red duffel with the scooter charger underneath the seat and my computer bag on the back and I put my pocketbook under the seat and he bungie corded my cane to the front of the scooter, and we got in line. (My sister just had a large pocketbook) Embarkation: My sister had to put the red duffel bag, my pocketbook and the computer bag, plus my camera and my cell phone through the scanner and then they were going to pat me down. She started to load stuff back on the scooter before they got to me to pat me down, and they reprimanded us for that and made the red bag go through again. Then we got to where we gave them our passports and our set-sail passes. The lady had a problem that my passport says my name is Rosalie Ann (with a space) and my registration says RosalieAnn without a space. She said she had to get that changed, and the confusion, she forgot to photograph us. We got on the ship at deck 1 with the wheelchair people instead of going up the ramp, but when we handed our cards to the lady at the entrance, there were no photos on them !!! So she took our photos there. God knows what they look like. I took off my hat and my hair is probably all on end. I guess it is fortunate that no one sees them except the ship company. The lifeboat drill was out on the deck and took a long time. They put all the people on scooters or with wheelchairs in one section so I could actually see what was going on, but on other ships, they do this drill for the handicapped people indoors so the people with them can sit down. Ship information: Grandeur is a smaller ship, which I appreciate. The only complaint I have about the ship is that it is very noisy. The music in the atrium is LOUD. If I were not already partly deaf, I would be after spending any time in the atrium. The internet connection was quite good in our cabin but I had signed up and then canceled and signed up for a different package, so I got two computer cards at embarkation. The man in the computer lab was excellent at straightening this out. The elevators were pretty quick and I didn't usually have a long wait, but I always had a hard time when I got off the elevator in figuring out which way to turn to get to our cabin. My sister quite liked the spa. We both swam in the spa pool which was nice and warm (it was salt water). I loved the spa pool, but for my sister the pool was 5'4" deep - too deep for her to stand, and it made it hard for her to keep the splint on her hand out of the water, so she mostly went up there to sit and read as it was warm and quiet up there. The library is pretty useless. We looked to see if they had a backgammon board, but they did not and the library is right off the atrium so it is very noisy. The band that played in the atrium was quite good and they played classical music in the afternoon which was nice and not as loud as at night. The climbing wall was sometimes closed because of the wind conditions, but we weren't going to be doing that anyway!! The ship made good time to Bermuda and probably could have docked at 2 pm - the five day cruises arrive on the second day at 1 pm. But they took the long way around the island instead of just going straight in and the reason for this was apparent when we got around to King's Wharf. Disney Magic was still at our spot on the pier. So we had to wait until the tugs pulled her off the pier before we could dock. We did not get docked until 5, and the Craft Market was closed by then. That was a waste of time we could have had in Bermuda Activities: I did not do any of the regular scheduled activities such as bingo or trivia because I was too busy talking to my sister. We haven't traveled together just the two of us (without husbands or parents) since 1964. There were two formal nights. One was the first sea day and the other was the day before Halloween. Since Halloween was the last night on the ship, the cruise director scheduled the Halloween costume parade on the second formal night so that we would not have to be packing and doing costumes on the last night. This worked REALLY well. My sister was Red Riding Hood and I was Grandma after the wolf ate her. There was a great parade of costumes with prizes. The only problem with this was the noise - the music was played so loud that you had to yell in someone's ear for them to hear you. Cruise Critics meeting was on the first sea day and they had munchies and drinks and a nice raffle for prizes. I think they should have people introduce themselves, but RCCI does not seem to do that. There was a meeting for Platinum and above at 10:00 and I had to leave breakfast (because service was slow) in order to get to it and I was 15 or 20 minutes late. The Captain and the Cruise Director spoke to us and told some jokes. All the heads of the departments were introduced and each said where they were from and thanked all of us for sailing with Royal. They had an award for the couple who were Pinnacle Plus (more than 700 days cruising) and also a Crystal award for another couple. Entertainment: I didn't go to any of the shows or lectures, but my sister did and she liked them. Some of the shows were broadcast on the TV later Dining: We went up to the WIndjammer for lunch on embarkation, and never used it again. I can't hold a plate and a glass and still run the scooter and there was no one to help at all. The labels and some of the dishes were over my head, so my sister had to get me something to eat and drink. It is perhaps unfair to judge the Windjammer on the basis of embarkation lunch, but we never went there again. For dinner, we had My Time Dining and we got a nice table for 10 at 5 pm which we had for the rest of the cruise thanks to the guy assigning the tables. Service there was great. The quality of the food was sometimes good and sometimes not so good. The cakes tended to be dry. There was one lobster night which also included strawberry soup (very good) and baked Alaska We used Izumi one time. Japanese food is not my "cup of tea", but my sister who often eats Japanese food and is a better judge than I am liked it very well, and thought that the prices were quite reasonable. My sister also like the Ben & Jerry's ice cream Since we were not using the Windjammer, we always had breakfast in the MDR. Service was quite slow. It did not matter if you ordered the Express Breakfast or the Special of the day - it was the same as far as speed went. They had a buffet set-up for fruit and cold cereal but my problem with this was the same as with the Windjammer. One morning was Chocolate morning, and the chocolate bread was delicious. If we wanted breakfast before the MDR opened, we had Room Service. A hot breakfast it is $7.95 extra plus a 15% tip, but if you don't get a hot breakfast (by which they apparently mean eggs), it is free. So we ordered oatmeal and tea and English muffins for 6:30 to 7 and a wake-up call for 6:30. At 6:20 I got a call that breakfast was coming. He needed two trips because the hot water for the tea would not fit on the tray. The tea was hot but the English muffins were barely warm and ditto the oatmeal. I ate mine, but my sister didn't want just barely warm oatmeal. The second day in port we just had yoghurt, fruit and tea from Room Service. Lunch in the MDR also has a buffet section for a chopped salad which I hesitated to use because I thought I would have a problem doing this on the scooter. On the last day at lunch I did try it and it was excellent, but I did have to carry my plate back to the table myself. On other ships when I have done this, one of the servers carried my plate back to the table for me. Shore excursions: I booked two excursions for Sunday which I thought I could reasonably do on a scooter and which would give my sister a good overview of Bermda. One was the Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo (BAMZ), and the other was a boat tour of the island both listed as Easy. I had booked a private guide for Monday. The excursion desk switched the BAMZ tour to Monday, so we canceled that one. When I got the tickets for the boat tour, it said that people must be able to walk and climb steps. That was NOT on the excursion write-up on the website or on the printed information about the excursion. I can walk a little and if I have to I can climb steps but I decided to cancel this excursion too. I talked to someone who took it and she said that the boarding ramp was a narrow shaky plank so it is probably good that I canceled it. Instead we booked little red train (The Scenic West End Trolley) and that was scheduled to meet at 9:15 for an hour tour. We thought maybe we could go to church afterward. They said that I could not take my scooter on the train (although I really could have done as there was space for it folded up), so I decided that I would leave the scooter on the ship on deck 1. They offered me a wheelchair so I took it to the end of the ship where there was a little tent with seats and we sat there. But 9:15 came and went and we did not see the little red train. The lady that said she would come and get us when the time came, did NOT come and get us and when I finally saw the train out about 400 yards from me she had already gone past. So with great difficulty, I walked, stopping at each bollard to rest, and finally got to the street where the train was and collapsed into a seat where the taxi drivers wait. It came around the corner to us so I could get on. By now it was 9:40. The actual tour was nice. The driver (Sidney who was 92 years old) explained a lot of Bermuda history including how they built their houses and how the roofs are configured to collect water. He said when modern houses are build, they dig a big hole as big as the largest room, and then line it to make it waterproof. That acts as a cistern and they build the house on top of it. He went out of the dockyard and all the way to Somerset Parish. We had thought that we could get to church after the train ride, but we did not get back to the dockyard area until about 11:30 and then instead of taking us back to the ship he let us off at the Clocktower Mall. This was not acceptable - I could not walk back to the ship and I couldn't stand and wait for the free train to get back there either as I would still have had to walk quite a distance from the free train to the ship. Independent Activities in Port: After the excursion driver dropped us at the Clocktower Mall I hired a taxi [Conrad Albouy (441-334-8796)] for $50/hour and we went to lunch at The Swizzle and to the BAMZ. Then on Monday I had a guide my husband and I had used before [Lewis Foggo email: lewis_foggo@hotmail.com]. He gave us an excellent tour. He showed us where the ship logos that had been painted on the walls in the dockyard were erased by the Americas Cup people. We saw a lot of beautiful beaches and overlooks. He showed us a property for sale They want $695,000.00 for 0.28 acres (a little over a quarter of an acre). There was nothing on it. He said no one had bought it because they were asking too much money. He took us up to a fort on a hill, and we went to St. David's Lighthouse. We even got to see the ducking in St. George which I had never been there in time to see before. Service: Our room steward was very good and gave us ice for my sister to put in the ice bag for her wrist. The service in the MDR at dinner was very good. Breakfast service was cheerful but slow. Disembarkation We got our disembarkation tickets and times in the stateroom on the 29th. On November 1st we are to get off between 9:15 and 9:30. (Green 21) - the next to last time. I went up to ask about it. The customer service desk estimated 45 minutes to get our bags and get out to be picked up, which would be about 10 am. She says that my husband Bob who is picking us up will only be able to wait for a couple of minutes. Since he will be driving 100 miles to pick us up, and we are not really sure when we will be off the ship, this might be a problem. I thought Bob would leave about 8 to get there at 10. But I was worried as I had not heard from him for the whole length of the cruise. So about 6:45 I tried to call and got the answering machine each time. Eventually I called our daughter in Texas because she said she would check on him to be sure he wasn't doing the back house roof (which he was) when he was home alone. She said he hadn't seemed to be getting my emails. (He said later that they had all gone to spam). We vacated the cabin and went to breakfast about 7:45 with the carry-on luggage (for me this was my computer bag and my pocketbook and cane as I had sent the red bag with the charger down with the suitcase and my sister just had a large purse). We both got the Express breakfast, which still wasn't very express.They had told me that they would announce disembarkation numbers in the restaurant, but they did not. So when we finished breakfast they were up to #17. We went and sat in the library with a couple people who were B2B. We were supposed to wait on deck 6 but then I would have had to get an elevator up and then an elevator down. I turned my phone on and we got in line a little after our group was called about 8:55. At 9:15 we were still in line in the atrium (there was some hold-up downstream) and Bob called that he was there. They would let wheelchair people get off on deck 1 (where we had gotten on), but I saw no reason to do that as I knew from previous experience that getting an elevator down there would be the hard part. We inched our way down and through the walkway to the terminal. There was a large man/boy ahead of us carrying two small bags and he kept trying to sit or lean on the HVAC systems which were posted NOT to sit or lean on and which had benches right next to them if you needed to sit. Went through immigration (there was no customs to go through), and then went to find our bags. Bob usually finds the bags and brings them to me, but my sister was not so organized. I put the red bag on the scooter and then we found my bag, but my sister had found her bag and then lost it again (It was black like all the other bags and she has not apparently learned Mother's trick of tying some colorful thing to the handle) Then we went outside and the cars picking people up were all by the fence out by the road. Bob was there. He was able to wait for more than a few minutes. He took my sister to the train station and then we drove home. Summary I enjoyed the cruise and I always enjoy Bermuda. But I don't think I have converted my sister to cruising. Read Less

We selected this cruise because of the date. Wanted a place to celebrate a milestone birthday for hubby that departure was close to home. So we sailed out of Baltimore - destination was not important - but none of our 3 had been to Bermuda so an added bonus. We did connecting rooms - and my 93 yo dad was with us so we selected cabins close to an elevator. We did outside cabins on deck 2. The door between the rooms made it simple to chat - but took away precious floor space. There is one arm chair and moving it from the door made maneuvering around a little interesting. We do open seating for dining and the first night we were near a couple families that do not know what inside voices are - and dress as if they are at a break from yardwork (shorts - hats ...) If I heard the one man say one more time that he was going to find a person that looked at him funny and punch him I was going to scream. The next evening we asked if we could be in a different section - but making sure that the waitstaff was excellent - so happily we moved over. They even came to check a few times to see it was better - nice touch. I am not sure why Royal Carib puts rules in the Cruise Compass that clearly says 'no hats in the dining room and no shorts for dinner' if they are not going to enforce it. I don't know how difficult it is for someone to leave their ballcaps in the cabin. Having been with many people that have lost hair to cancer I understand when some people want to cover their heads - this was not the case with these people. We also could not understand why the music needed to be so loud in the rooms when there was not an event. We did go to the Viking Crown Lounge to read and that music was a lower level - but otherwise it was difficult for my father to hear us. My father is a Navy veteran (WWII & Korea). There was a veterans gathering early in the cruise. They mentioned that later in the cruise there would be a veterans celebration. On the last night of the cruise they did this in the Centrum. They asked all the veterans to come on the staircase and celebrated them all. After a few words they also invited any first responders and a few more joined. Later asked for any Gold Star families. It was a lovely presentation - and my dad loved it - I believe it was his favorite part of the cruise. Read Less

This was our 4th time on the Grandeur and the 3rd time taking her to Bermuda. We sailed with another couple that we met on the 2016 cruise to Bermuda, We chose this date specifically for the 7 nights and cruising for Halloween. This was our 10th overall cruise with RCCL. We booked an OV guarantee and we given cabin 2054, deck 2, port. It was a noisy cabin, sounded like a blender going on and off and a metal door banging throughout the night, Our stateroom attendant, Stephen, was excellent. Cabin was always clean and well stocked, We mainly ate in the main dining room and found the food quality to be on par with previous cruises. The staff were very attentive, keeping our glasses topped off and our bellies full. We did lunch in Chops on embarkation day, meh. I ordered a medium rare filet, and it came out raw. The waiter argued with me that it was medium rare. I ate what I could. We did Giovanni;s for dinner one night, still not impressed by the food. Loved the crew, from Captain Thor to Mike S (the cruise director) everyone was very friendly and professional. Great Halloween party in the Centrum. Would definitely cruise again on the Grandeur, Read Less