Grandeur of the Seas Review
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Additional details
This is my third cruise on Royal. I don't remember much about my first (Monarch of the Seas), but last year's cruise to Alaska on the Jewel set the bar too high for the Grandeur to meet. I'm not dinging them in my review because the cruise was good and, other than some truly sub-par food in the main dining room, I was generally satisfied. It just wasn't up to the experience I had on the Jewel. Lesson learned, do not sail a lower class of ship. Our cabin was tiny (expected), but clean and comfy except for the one bed that squeaked. I think we only saw our cabin steward twice the entire trip. The dining room staff and the bar staff were great! I didn't do any of the ship's shore excursions. The entertainment that I caught was good. The main dining room struggled with food temperature most nights. Also, for a U.S. chef, to get what they called "beef stroganoff" was NOWHERE NEAR what anyone at our table expected. Ditto for the "Tempura" - it was more like beer battered. The lasagna noodles were too thick and very chewy. Breakfast was an utter disappointment. The food was lukewarm, the menu was limited and the server did not want to vary from the menu selections. I am fairly sure the hash was out of a can. Yuck. The Windjammer food was more consistent, but getting my morning mimosa in there was like pulling teeth.
Cabin Review
Interior Stateroom
Small, but clean. It was what we expected. One of the twin beds squeaked. A LOT.
Port Reviews
Boston
I took a hop on-hop off tour independent of the ship excursions because I had a specific thing I wanted to do in Boston. The weather was a damper, but overall it was a good day. I got to do what I wanted and had plenty of time left. I could have done more, but with the rain, I was happy to head back to the ship for dinner and drinks!
Portland (Maine)
I had a local friend come down and meet me and she took me to several lighthouses and we had a fabulous lobster lunch and hit a local brewery. There was lots to do and the ship had some good excursions available. If my friend had not been available, I would probably have taken one of the ship's excursions.
Bar Harbor
Bar Harbor was my favorite port on this trip. I could have easily spent another day there, maybe two. I wish we had been in port longer - this day was FAR too short! I decided to take the free (with park admission) bus to Acadia NP and used their in park system to hit most of the places I wanted to see. Again, this day in port was FAR too short! There were at least two other places in the park I would have liked to explore and I had very limited time for shopping when I got back into town. This being a tender port made it even shorter.
Saint John (New Brunswick)
St. John was OK. Unless you wanted to take one of the tours that went out of the port area, there really didn't seem to be much to do other than shop. I would have been happy to skip this one for more time in Bar Harbor.
Halifax
I did my own walking tour of Halifax including walking up to the Citadel, the City Garden, a local brewery and the Maritime Museum.