Looking for an alternative to the long and boring drive to Florida and some different ports I took my "relatively" new hubby on a 9-night cruise to Canada and New England from Baltimore aboard the Grandeur of the Seas. We like "smaller" ships and prefer cruises with a good mix of sea days and this ship and itinerary fit that bill almost to a tee. I was on Grandeur and Vision in the late '90s and these remain my favorite "class" ships in the RCI fleet so had rather high expectations.

We generally cruise Princess but since I'm also "platinum" on Royal Caribbean so we took advantage of the priority embarkation, tender passes and disembarkation, the last of which seemed quite chaotic on this particular cruise in part perhaps to a later arrival due to Hurr. Kyle. Once we were called, however, we were off the ship, had our luggage and on the road in 15 minutes! Embarkation ran very smoothly although the streets leading to the port area for those not familiar with the area are not well marked and we had to backtrack twice. Parking is $13 in a secured lot.

We were upgraded to a D1 balcony on Deck 7 - lots and lots of storage space for just the two of us, nice size stateroom with a frig, hair dryer, safe etc. but no complimentary toiletries (a sign of the times?), bathroom with a medicine cabinet. A request to the room attendant, however, brought forth the forgotten shower cap and she said other toiletries were available "on request" as well. The bed had only a sheet and a very heavy comforter so most nights we opted to open the door and turn down the air conditioning - no blankets to be found. The balcony albeit small was fine for the two of us and this is one itinerary I wouldn't book a balcony for... both times weather has been unpredictable (once again a hurricane - I'm 7 for 7 in September no matter which way I sail), cooler especially at night and we prefer to cruise more for less money than spend a lot on accommodations. Read more