Grandeur of the Seas Review

Continuing cost cutting is obvious

Review for the Southern Caribbean Cruise on Grandeur of the Seas
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AChausmer
10+ Cruises • Age 80s

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Sail Date: Feb 2017
Cabin: Large Ocean View Stateroom

This was our 8th year doing winter cruises out of Baltimore, the last several years on the Grandeur of the Sea, now no longer so grand. it is an older ship, 26 years, and Royal Caribbean does not seem to want to put much effort into it. Every year the evidence of cost cutting becomes more and more obvious. On the positive side, the staff has always been top notch, friendly and helpful across the board. Our wait staff, Simona in particular, was outstanding. The menus haven't changed much over the years, the highlights being the pastas, soups and breads. Given that the food had to have a mass appeal, it was generally very good, but not particularly outstanding. This cruise the roast beef was "strip loin," a cut with which I am not familiar, and in the Izumi oriental restaurant for a special luncheon, the crab sashimi was imitation crab, not labeled as such. We had to ask the waiter, not appropriate for a special high end extra cost lunch.

Entertainment was uniformly good, we particularly enjoyed Lora in the Schooner lounge, she was what a "lounge singer" should be. The headline entertainment and the cast shows were always enjoyable and the Tango Buenos Aires, which we have seen many times, never fails to please. The cabins were as always, adequate. We had an ocean view and for our purposes it was more than adequate since we spend so little time in it. We can't say much for the ports of call since we have been so many times, we stay on the ship and have, essentially, a 1000 foot yacht pretty much to ourselves. They are typical tourist ports.

The major positive for us is the convenience of leaving out of the Baltimore Cruise terminal. It makes things very easy. The downside is that it is inside the Key Bridge which makes it impossible for any of the larger cruise ships to come to it. We have no desire to be on one of the Mega Liners, but a better choice of ships, particularly Royal Caribbean Radiance class would be nice. The cruises are uniformly completely booked very early (we reserve a year in advance). We will do it again next year but really wish Royal Caribbean would put more effort into the Grandeur (yes, we know it will be drydocked) and reverse some of the cost cutting, not obvious to a new cruiser, but very much so to those of us who have done many sailings on the Grandeur. Also note, this was not our experience on the Brilliance of the Sea on a recent repositioning cruise, but that is another story.

Cabin Review

Large Ocean View Stateroom

Cabin F

an average cabin, not large, but adequate. Lots of hot water and fresh towels, a comfortable bed, what else is there

Port Reviews

St. Thomas

We have been there before and like it. The line is not using Haven, but a different, less convenient docking site.

Barbados

an average tourist experience. Friends did the Mt. Gay distillery tour and liked it. we took one of the vans that are present at every port. We drove around the island, but our driver said little and this was one of the worst of this type of tour that we have ever had.

Baltimore

Baltimore is the embarkation point and the experience, other than the security screen that picks up minimal metal (should only care about large metal, set too sensitive) is fast and efficient. This level of "security" needlessly delays the process and does not add to security, and, yes, I know something about security. This is more image than substance. They take away a 1 inch pen knife and give a steak knife at dinner.

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