Great Vacation on the Grandeur

We just returned from our eight-night cruise on the Royal Caribbean Grandeur of the Seas. We had a great time!

Prior to the cruise I was concerned over several poor reviews of the ship. While the ship had some mainentance issues they didn't significantly detract from our very fun vacation.

First, I'll get the negatives out of the way. As many folks have remarked there are places in the ship where there's a sour smell. I noticed it in sections of the hallways ouside the passenger cabins on deck 3 (where my cabin was) and deck 4. I didn't notice these smells in my cabin or in any of the public areas. While I was glad to see the staff applying varnish to the wooden railings on the promenade deck, they worked on the sea-side railings only, not those on the ship-side, which needed it too. The railings in the pool deck (deck 9) also needed varnish. Finally, the right-side projector in the Palladium theater was defective as it put a yellow blotch on the screen. I don't think these are major problems and I wonder why Royal hasn't taken care of them.

Now, for the positives (which were many). Apart from the few issues I mentioned above, the ship is in excellent shape. Our stateroom was small but very comfortable and quiet. We spent most of our time in The Solarium, an adults-only indoor pool with lots of seating and a small restaurant, located on deck 9. The food on the Grandeur was excellent and plentiful, both in the Great Gatsby dining room and in the Windjammer buffet. The ship's staff was very attentive and friendly, especially our waiters, Garth and George, and our room steward. Jeff, the cruise director, did a teriffic job and is a very funny guy.

The entertainment was very good with many excellent singers and dancers (though we didn't care for the piano bar performer). The main band was first-class with a terrific electric guitarist. One of the performers, the Rosario Strings, featured a very talented violinist and guitarist. We bought one of their CD's. And, as in all Royal ships, they had an awesome aerial show - just thrilling. On Halloween the ship threw a party highlighted by Micheal Jackson's "Thriller", with about 20 of the ship's performers doing the zombie dance - great fun.

We enjoyed the ports and had very good weather - mid 80's with only one brief shower. Port Canaveral, Florida, was our first stop and we went on an interesting tour of the Kennedy Space Center. Our second stop was Nassau - not great but we enjoyed the Pirate Museum and bought some souveniers. Our third stop was CocoCay, where we had a very good lunch provided by the ship while we listened to Caribbean music. I loved it. Our last stop was Key West, Florida. We took a tour of the island, want to Hemingway's home and Truman's Little White House. We had a very tasty lunch including the best key lime pie I ever had.

To sum up, if you're the type of person who focuses on negatives, you'll find some. But if you look at the big picture you'll really enjoy the Grandeur, as we did.