Grandeur of the Seas - 2 Bedroom Grand Suite Cabin Tour

Here we are on another cruise in a cabin that could sleep 8 people with just the two of us. I loved having our own bedroom spaces on Oasis because we could each close the door and it wouldn't matter if one of us liked to watch TV or read before bed and the other had to sleep in a tomb of darkness and silence. After sailing in this cabin and all the little issues, I vote for going back to the regular grand suite which has a single open bedroom/living space and a bed that could split into two twins. This will be a super long post so hopefully your eyes won't glaze over by the end of it.

First couple minor issues we noticed - no longer were pool towels provided in the suites. Moses told us that every cruiser now has to go to the towel stand on the pool deck and have our card scanned to show we have checked towels out. We usually like having the bigger pool towels on hand to use when showering as well as on excursions. As it is, we checked out two towels the first full day to be used on our tour in St. Lucia. Upon returning to the ship, we dropped off our towels and the guy manning the table told me my card didn't need to be scanned and he'd take care of it. A couple days later Dad went to check out a towel for using the pool and it was the same guy who remembered Dad and told him not to bother scanning his card. We did double check our onboard account statement a couple times during the cruise and were never charged for any towels.

Second issue was the water that came out of our cabin bathroom sinks. It came out of the faucet fine but once in the clear glasses, you could see a cloudiness to the water. It looked like I had made up soapy water and poured it into the glass. The first time this happened, I brought the glass over to show Dad and those 30 seconds of walk time made the water clear up. I even refilled another glass and got the same result, this time lasting long enough for Dad to witness. He noted that it was a result of air in the pipes but acknowledged that there should be no reason for it. I filled a glass a couple times over to get the cloudiness in a picture. The water itself tasted fine though I never did try to drink it until it cleared. As the cruise went on, there was no more cloudiness. I also noticed after my first shower in the bathtub shower that it no longer pooled water in the tub so maybe whatever was causing a slow drain in the bathtub was also causing air in the pipes?

 These first two pictures are right after collecting the water from the bathroom sink

This is the same glass of water after I walked it out into the adjacent bedroom

Back to the cabin tour:

That door to the left is the walk in closet. Directly to the right is the door to the 2nd bathroom which has a shower stall. There is a light switch right by the door handle that controls the living room lights. The light switch for the walk in closet and the smaller bedroom are on the wall between the walk in closet door and the bedroom door. We spent a lot of time playing light switch roulette trying to figure out which was which. 

Anyone know what this box is for? Too shallow to hold anything and it isn't a door stopper because the door opens the other way.

Inside the walk in closet: Life jackets and the bunk bed ladders tucked away in the corner. Plenty of drawer space with shelving and more hangers than we could ever need between this and the wardrobe cabinets in the main bedroom. Dad's suitcase is tucked away under his hanging clothes. It went so far back I could have laid down and still fit inside. 

Turning my back to the entry door, you can see how narrow the hallway is between the bathroom door, desk, and bedroom door. You couldn't pass by if someone had one of those doors open.

Here's the same view when the bedroom door is open:

Same goes for trying to get by the other direction when the bathroom door was open:

12 days of playing Marco Polo as you maneuvered the hallway so no one got a swinging door to the face.

Smaller bathroom - No dispensers in the shower but we had small bottles of the "high end" toiletries. There is a step up to get into the bathroom and a small lip to step over to get into the shower. Each bathroom door had hooks on the back for hanging things.

Smaller bedroom - Dad kept the beds split into twins because it was easier to use his CPAP. The bunk beds come out from the ceiling, an improvement from the ones that stuck out from the wall even when closed on Oasis. Dad found that his feet would often kick open the bedroom door as he laid in bed and took to propping the door open with the desk chair. Otherwise it would swing back and forth with the rocking of the ship.

 What was the point of this glass panel and curtain for looking from the 2nd bedroom to the living room? I thought maybe it was for checking in on sleeping kids but that curtain got pulled shut every evening. Would have made more sense to put the door there. The only full length mirror is on the other side of the wall in the hallway and I kept stopping at the glass window first. It's tough to see fully but where the tape on the carpet stops is where the orange extension cord meets up with a black extension cord that runs along the other bed until reaching the plug behind it. Note no TV in this bedroom.

That wooden shelf running along the wall next to Dad's bed (bottom left) seemed to have some narrow cubby openings that would have been accessible if you put the two twins together. (Bottom right) I'm standing in the doorway to take this picture so you can see how close the end of the bed is to the door. You had to turn sideways to walk between the bed and the little mantel below the mirror. 

Proceeding down the hallway you encounter our desk which held our main outlets, coffee maker, and ice bucket. This is also where we found the treat plate of the day deliveries. There's two US and two European outlets. 

What the glass window looks like from the hallway:

Living room space had floor to ceiling storage  unit with cabinets, drawers, and shelves. The fridge is in the bottom center cabinet. We had the hookup for the provided video game system we could borrow controllers and games for from the concierge but no actual system. The safe is a key pad safe and is in one of the top cabinets. One top corner of the label on the safe was worn out from people using it to pull open the safe door. It'll say "open" once you put the correct code in but doesn't spring open on its own. 

Who knew I'd feel spoiled for having multi line business style cabin phones on every other cruise? According to a sign posted by the phone, the phone would beep repeatedly if you got a voice mail. Carlington said he'd tried calling our cabin a few times during the cruise and we never heard any beeps. The sign also said to listen to your voicemails by dialing your four digit cabin number. I tried it a couple times to see if we were missing anything important and all I got was a recorded error message.

This couch folds out into a bed to sleep two more people. There is also two matching chairs that faced the TV. According to RCL's floor plan, those two chairs were meant to be facing the couch but for the most part we liked it this way better. We kept that large window behind those chairs covered by the curtain because it left such a blinding glare while sitting in the living room.

Here's what that window looked like from outside the ship - The rest of our balcony is to the right of the window:

I found it funny that aside from bathroom and matching ice bucket glasses, this was the only piece of dishware/glassware in our suite. At one point, Moses did take one of my used bathroom glasses and didn't put a new one back for a couple days. No big deal since each bathroom had two and the ice bucket had two. Would have cared more if I was one of 8 people using this cabin. Pro-tip: Swipe a couple extra packs of napkin rolled silverware from the buffet and bring them back to be stowed in your cabin. Comes in handy when you grab a quick snack or come back to find a plate of treats in your cabin. I made the mistake once of grabbing a napkin roll while getting breakfast only to realize that they don't include a spoon for my yogurt, just knife and fork. Spoons will be in a cup or bin somewhere so make an extra effort to grab one if you are taking back something that requires it. Anything you order from room service directly will include a couple napkin rolls of silverware.

Random thought - I also noticed in the buffet how the cereal was in dispensers and not as individual sealed boxes that some cruisers will stockpile or use as snacks on excursions. If you expect to need a little pick me up while on tours, you might want to bring your own sealed cracker packs or granola bars etc. 

If you turn your back to the couch, this is the view of the main bedroom which I used. I was impressed that it was a firm mattress. On Oasis you could feel the one sided indent as you climbed in each night. This is supposed to be a sliding glass door to close off the space but there was a door wedge jammed under the sliding part and a rut in the carpet were you could tell someone tried to force it closed. I was afraid something would break if I tried to move that wedge so I simply pulled the curtain closed by itself when I wanted privacy. 

There is a set of light switches controlling the living room space and this bedroom's overhead lights to my right leading into the bedroom and a switch just for the bedroom over that nightstand on the right. There is also wall mounted sconces by each pillow that can be controlled individually by a toggle switch underneath them. These are also over the couch. There is a thermostat for each space within the cabin and we definitely each tweaked ours as the cruise went on. We'd also find that various public spaces around the ship were either very warm or very cold randomly only to be fine later. A time or two I'd come back to the cabin to relax only to find it so hot it was making me feel ill. Headed back out to find something else to do and soon felt much better. Returned to the cabin a couple hours later and it wasn't so bad. Not sure if they had intermittent A/C issues or somebody flipped the wrong switch somewhere.

Nice vanity area with the same set of plugs as the desk. I mostly used it as a catch all for my phone, purse, and hairbrush. The TV was pretty decent, unfortunately the Grandeur still doesn't have the interactive system where you can use your cabin TV to view your account, watch on demand movies, or order room service. We had several news channels, a couple kids channels, one channel that showed some old TV shows (the same episode of each a day - I'd catch a couple minutes of the same 7th Heaven episode throughout the day), one that I always seemed to catch showing the end credits of some movie, and the usual cruise fare of a bridge cam channel, filmed events onboard channel, and the channel that simply ran the schedule of activities over and over. On the right is the two large wardrobes full of hangers. I only needed one of them to fit my clothes so I stowed my suitcase inside the other one and used its hangers to organize my t-shirts that I'd already worn and intended to wear again. On the bathroom door side of the vanity, there is a cupboard with shelves and then drawers leading down to the floor where I stowed shoes and non hanging unmentionables. 

Each window to the outside had this sheer curtain and a blackout curtain behind it so it will be dark if you want to sleep. I like being able to peek outside when I wake up in the middle of the night so I'd pop open the middle of the curtain slightly before going to bed. The sheer curtain helped curtail some of the strong glare while keeping natural light. The center of this large glass is a sliding door to access the balcony but I never actually stepped through it since the dining table bumps up against it. I did open it one morning so I could stand in the bedroom and take pics while still in my pajamas. 

Above left is how I organized the wardrobe closest to the bed. Plenty of hangers and no bar in the middle so you can hang anything from long dresses to jeans. I also hung up shorts/pants and bathing suits because we had more hanger space than drawer space. The one white item hanging in that left picture is our provided bathrobe. I never bothered to try it on for the fluffy factor. Above right is the closet closest to the bathroom. That's a full size suitcase that's half as tall as I am. I did notice some extra bedding stuffed under my bed so you could probably fit a suitcase that size under the bed too if you have multiple suitcases. I used the bottom of this closet to toss in my dirty clothes so they were out of sight. If the suitcase wasn't in there, you could easily have fit one of those popup hampers I've heard some people like to bring. Personally, it's already dirty so why not just throw them on the floor of the closet itself?

The only drawback of the storage on the side of the vanity is the trade off of doors. If you had the cabinet or a drawer open, you couldn't open the bathroom door and vice versa. The drawers didn't pull out very far and stuck a little but were good enough for small items like my socks. There was some storage behind the mirrored doors of the vanity and a drawer in the countertop. That light switch by the door is for the bathroom.

There is a little step up into the main bathroom which has a tub shower. 

Not much counter space as the sink takes up most of it. That shelf underneath holds the trash can, extra toilet paper, and sanitary disposal bags. Just enough space to stow my personal ladies necessities. 

Normally I don't like to take out my individual toiletries but this time there was no space to leave my travel bag out on the counter. Everything stayed put nicely despite lots of ship rocking. I did keep my toothbrush in its own travel case on the shelf so it all remained sanitary. Below these shelves is a small drawer that looked a little worse for wear so I left it empty. Under that was this cupboard (above right) that was just big enough to fit my travel bag sideways and still close. This way anything extra I needed was still within arms reach but not in the way.

Good to see that the bathroom bottle opener has joined us again - doesn't everyone dream of cutting out the middle man and just popping open your beer while using the bathroom?

Oasis had L'Occitane products (which I may or may not have brought home with me, I plead the fifth) but Grandeur gave us Gilchrist & Soames. My bathroom had two bar soaps, an accessories kit (qtips/cotton balls), lotion, shampoo, conditioner, and bath gel (body wash). Always replaced as used and if you need more, feel free to ask your steward. I'm not usually picky and will use any product provided but found that the shampoo left my hair feeling like it needed conditioner. In comparison, I never use conditioner at home no matter the random brand of shampoo. There is a hair dryer in the top drawer out in the living room space. This was the first time I'd found a cabin hair dryer that wasn't somehow mounted in place. This one you could take out of the drawer and go use it wherever there was an available plug. I usually pull my hair up and let it air dry but Dad used the hair dryer and said it worked fine.

This shower also had a moveable showerhead so you could adjust it for a child's height or for using as a handheld. Plenty of grab bars for safety and that square that looks like a stain by the drain is a rough patch for stability under your wet feet. I did bring a throw away bathmat but never used it. I did however, take extra care in using the grab bars whenever I turned around in the shower. 

Thankfully there wasn't that much of a step into the tub and the towel rack on the other side of the shower provided great stability as I stepped out afterwards. They do leave a little towel for putting on the floor as you step out of the shower. 

The bathtub and shower stall has a retractable clothesline for hanging wet clothes. This came in handy when Dad climbed in the pool onboard without remembering to take his shirt off first. 

And finally, our crowded balcony. I missed having a lounger but we did use the larger table and chairs to have lunch al fresco a couple times. I think it would have been more practical to have just the large table and a couple chairs out there. We often had to push aside a chair or the small table just to move around on the balcony. We'd also always step out onto the balcony before spraying on sunscreen or bug spray. There is a small step up in and out and note how the glass doesn't extend all the way up to the railing. While sitting in the chairs I could easily slip my whole arm in between so definitely be mindful of any children who could easily toss your prized possessions through that opening right at their height. Thankfully no bird fly by this time stealing my snack off the balcony table. 

Grandeur of the Seas - Embarkation Day (Part 4)

Our dinner ended just after 7PM so by the time we got to the theater for the Welcome Aboard show, it was packed! We stood in the back of the theater (I later saw the audience interaction portion on our cabin TV and you can see us in the far back) and watched our cruise director John Blair do the same exact comedic bits as he did on our first Grandeur cruise with John and his wife Katrina. I won't say what he does so as not to spoil it for new J&K cruisers. We'd mostly come to hear the first comedian perform but left when it was clear no seats were available. I did catch the act on our cabin TV while trying to fall asleep late one evening and it wasn't something I'd have been heartbroken to have missed totally. 

Since we couldn't stay for the show, we ended up walking outside on the open deck admiring the sunset.

The door we chose to come back inside through ended up being right next to a table set up with all the specialty restaurant menus and some little postcards about the various dining packages as well as celebration packages and brunch offerings. One card included an offer of 15% off all dining packages purchased on embarkation day. The package choices if booked onboard are:

• "Chops Grille +1" $59/person which gives you a meal at Chops Grille plus either one other specialty dining venue or a culinary experience which I think refers to the cupcake decorating class and sushi making class that are an extra cost, usually around $30 on their own. 
• "3 Dining Experiences" $79/person which says the same as above except that you can pick whichever 3 you want. No requirement to visit Chops if you don't want to.
• "Ultimate Dining Package" $24/person/day. Note the difference - the first two are a single per person charge. This one is like your drink packages, per person and per day. That can trip up a lot of new cruisers who think hey $24/person great deal. Hmm, why was I charged $288? This package is the only one that also includes lunches in these specialty restaurants on sea days. Plus a 20% discount on Chef's Table and any of the culinary experiences.

All of the packages have a footnote about including wine discounts of 40% off bottles under $100 and 20% off bottles over $100. We're not wine drinkers so I never noticed until now how it's more off for the cheaper bottles. I'd think it would be more sensible to entice the customer to buy the more expensive bottle by offering the bigger discount? Also the back of this postcard lists that if you dine in any specialty restaurant this first night, you get a complimentary bottle of wine. Pretty good deals if you like wine with dinner. Always look out for these little promotions. 

Another postcard offers a "Festive Celebration Package" where for $99 for 2 people, you get Chops Grille dinner for two, Giovanni's lunch for two, bottle of sparkling wine, a romantic breakfast in your room, and a celebration cake. Encourages one to "elevate your anniversary, birthday, or any other special occasion with this package." Not sure I'd want a romantic breakfast in my room if it was just a birthday celebrating and we're not traveling as a couple but still a great deal for the restaurant meals.

The last postcard advertised a Chops Grille Brunch described as a "Decadent Brunch with a side of contemporary flare with Broiled Lobster Tail and unlimited Sparkling Wine." This was to be held at 10:30AM on a sea day with a $40 per person fee. We were able to use our dining package on the Giovanni's brunch we only noticed advertised via a sign outside the restaurant so I'd guess you could also apply it to this Chops Grille brunch. 

While we sat plotting our 12 day gastronomy drooling over the menus, Carlington wandered by and assured us that he'd made our next 2 dinner reservations. We asked about which restaurants would be open for lunch during these first three sea days and he was sure that none of the restaurants opened for lunch. We explained about our dining package specifically mentioning sea day lunches and he was unaware lunches were even available. Once back in the cabin, we found the next day's Compass and in it listed Chops & Izumi being open for lunch tomorrow. We would point this out to Carlington the next day and he called the restaurants to confirm that they were truly open. Another day we happened to be chatting with Carlington and he told us that Giovanni's manager had chosen to cancel all their lunch reservations because not enough people signed up. Some days the restaurants listed as open for lunch would vary but for the most part, they were barely in use so if you go to one and find it closed, walk across the ship to the other one and you'll be able to get a table. The only time we made a lunch reservation ahead of time was for Giovanni's brunch since that was a one time event.

One tip I always use is to ask your steward for two copies of the Compass to be left in your room each night. This time Moses finished my sentence for me so I guess that's become a popular request. This way you have a clean copy to bring home as a souvenir (or to scan for the blog in my case) and one that we would spend a few minutes before bed circling our chosen activities to determine when to get up in the morning. Then Dad would cart around the folded up marked up version throughout that next day so we could refer to it as needed. Unfortunately, the Grandeur is not one of the ships supported by the RCL app yet. They do however have the interactive touch screens by the elevator banks where you can use the map to find how to get from your current location to any other place or at least check the schedule. I referred to these a couple times when we'd split up to do separate activities and he kept the paper with him.

After checking out the Finish the Lyric game show, we popped up to the Park Café just in time for some fresh pizza to be brought out. Stopped back on deck 6 to use the Freestyle machine nestled between the photo gallery and Café Latitudes and found that it was one of the worst functioning machines on board. You'd push a little bit on the lever for ice and a ton of ice would come flying out. Dad overfilled his cup because he didn't give the carbonation time to settle and it spilled out. Thankfully an officer was nearby and handed us napkins before sending a crew member off to get a mop. That machine routinely had wet floor signs and flattened cardboard in front of it because of spillage. We debated all cruise long with other soda drinkers about whether these machines required a light touch, a beat the devil out of you touch, or a prolonged hold down your choice touch as one method would work at first only to stop working the next time.

Not having received any invitation in our cabin to the Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle, we stopped at Guest Services on the way back to our cabin. The person we talked to told us that it was scheduled for 10AM the next morning. The way he answered told me that he'd probably been asked this same question several times already. Unfortunately, it was the same time as the first Progressive Trivia was scheduled and I'm one of the rare people who make the commitment of attending and sticking with all of the Progressive Trivia sessions since that's a cumulative effort. If it had been any other trivia, I would have been fine with skipping it to attend the Meet & Mingle. 

One change I did enjoy about the cabins is the addition of a magnet for your door that said it was okay to make up our room on one side and do not disturb on the other side. Carnival still has full size doorknob hangers and Princess uses a piece of cardstock that you slip into the horizontal slot you otherwise slip your cruise card in to unlock your cabin. Newer ships on Princess have taken to using what they call the Medallion similar to RCL's Wow bands that let you open your cabin by running your personal sensor over the electronic door lock as do most hotels these days with electronic key cards. I thought it was funny how our anniversary celebrating neighbors would always stick their do not disturb magnet over their peephole on the outside of the door.

With an alarm set on my phone for enough time to have breakfast in the morning before our first chosen activity, we headed into our separate bedrooms and finally called it a night.

Grandeur of the Seas - Embarkation Day (Part 3)

I don't normally get steak at home so I was looking forward to eating my way through the Chops Grille menu on this sailing. I also don't normally have the appetite to eat a full large steak which is silly when you think about how a plate of pasta in front of me could be here today gone 15 minutes later. When we arrived at Chops tonight, we were seated at a table for 2 by the window. I always got a kick out of whenever someone walked by outside on the open deck below us because it almost looks like from your vantage point that they are walking on the outside of the ship itself. I also playfully fantasized about popping open a window and dropping something on them. Yes I hope you have noticed by now that I have a weird sense of humor. Our peaceful table for two was soon disrupted however by a table of 4 who was seated behind Dad and then proceeded to yell across to each other like they were 5 decks away in a windstorm. I'm pretty sure the medical center on deck 1 was wondering what that weird noise was. We asked the waiter to be moved and he put us instead at the end table in the back where one person sits on the bench that lines the back wall. I actually somewhat prefer these tables because it's more comfortable. Minor drawback as while quieter, it put us out of sight and our waiter kept having to remember we were back there.

Click here to view the menu for Chops Grille. A big thank you to RCL's PR department for sending me the specialty restaurant menus and another thank you to the Hotel Director on the Grandeur, Zoe, for sending me a pack of our sailing's main dining room menus. I will be scanning them in and making a separate post at the end. 

Our waiter this first night was Dmytro and we would end up seeing him quite often during the cruise since he also worked the suite/Pinnacle breakfast and sea day lunch in Chops.

Love me a Caesar salad and even got Dad to try some and get out of his blue cheese rut.

The 12 oz Prime New York Strip Steak cooked medium well

We each ordered different steaks and also ordered fries, mashed potatoes, and a baked potato under the "shareable sides" section of the menu. These sides come in little pots of their own so anyone can partake but I find it funny how some of the items are certainly not enough for sharing unless you take super tiny portions. Regardless of us having the dining package, we still had to follow the same rules when ordering. You can order as many appetizers as you want, as many sides as you want, and as many desserts as you want, but only one entrée. If both you and your tablemate wants mashed potatoes, I'd suggest both of you ordering it. While some may consider it food waste, I'm all for ordering something you just want to try and see if you like it. The wait staff in any of the restaurants will happily bring you more of or an entirely different dish of anything if it's something you didn't like. This ultimate dining package gave us a great chance to eat our way around every restaurant's menu without having to do it all in one evening.

Dmytro brought our steaks and they were perfectly cooked to order - a rarity we've found. However, he next brought us the baked potato and mushrooms as our sides. We told him that we'd ordered mashed potatoes and fries but not mushrooms and he quickly swapped out the mushrooms for the fries. We didn't get the mashed potatoes until Dad asked for it again when Dmytro came back to check on us.

Notice I didn't say he brought us the baked potato and toppings - it wasn't until I was almost through with my entrée and had put the baked potato (served to us as a cut in half already potato that was supposed to be shareable) onto my plate for cutting up that he asked if I wanted toppings. I said yes and he dumped a huge spoonful of butter that was almost as big as the potato half and then dumped a small spoonful of sour cream next to the butter. I shoved the butter aside after lightly coating the potato and tried a couple bites.

I'm guessing the other end of this potato became the buffet's potato salad

Possibly because of our back corner exile, it also took a while to get drink refills which is a huge aggravation for us since we drink a lot of water at meals. At one point, poor Dmytro was so stressed, he started pouring water into Dad's glass of Sprite until we corrected him.

The restaurant staff everywhere on board is great about asking for allergies or dietary restrictions. Make sure it is also noted on your reservation and by contacting the same special needs department where Dad requested his distilled water. That way the ship can plan ahead of time if needed as far as food prep or supplies as well as making sure you are given the opportunity to plan your choices from the next day's menu in the main dining room. You can also make special requests for other restaurant's food as we overheard another table being offered pasta from Giovanni's tonight when one of their tablemates didn't eat meat. I also was able to do a little mix and match of sorts getting to try a select few items from the dining room menu while I was in a specialty restaurant. Never hurts to ask and more often than not, the crew will happily honor any reasonable request.

I'm not normally into sweet treats unlike Dad who was sad to learn that the Ben and Jerry's counter on board never had Rocky Road. It didn't change much at all except Dad says one day they swapped out regular chocolate and vanilla for other flavors. His version of trying new foods on this cruise was to eat his way through the cake choices on the dessert menu. The one dessert I do love though is cheesecake and starting tonight I ended up having a lot of cheesecake throughout this cruise. It was nice to see that the fruit topping was simply a raspberry on top and not the compote saturating the entire dish.

As we sat in the back, we noticed the restaurant staff making a big fuss over the bench table at the opposite end from us until finally two senior crew blue blazer wearing crew members came in to dine there. The head chef even came out from the kitchen to sit and chat with them for a bit. With so many Pinnacles on this cruise, we noticed several tables in specialty restaurants filled by one or two cruisers dining with a blue blazered crew officer as one of their perks. Great thing to offer your most loyal of passengers, no argument there. I just wish everyone else's tables didn't experience a decrease in service while that table was tended to. It would make more sense to allocate one waiter solely to that table for prompt service until those diners left so that no other tables were left waiting. 

One of the things we learned about having a dining package of any kind is that even though you don't get charged anything to your onboard account like you would if you decided to just book this one meal once onboard, they still want to scan the cruise card of one person in your party so that it gives them the credit and shows a tally of your using the package. From what I understood of the explanation our waiter gave, it helps add to the restaurant's usage numbers plus it gives RCL a good idea of who is spending the extra money to get dining packages. Not to mention by getting a receipt in the first place, there's the opportunity to write in an extra tip for your waiter if so deserving. By the end of the cruise, we had so many $0 total dining receipts I could have made my own hand fan.

If you've read my blog posts before, you'll know of my ability to end up getting an injury or bruise on every trip. Tonight I made the mistake of sliding out of the bench seat toward the window and neglected to stand up when I ran out of bench. Once I realized I was now sitting on air, my legs buckled and I slammed my thigh into the edge of the bench seat. Lesson learned and from then on, I exited every bench seat in the opposite direction. I also turned at the wrong time later this evening while walking through the open part of deck 8 and bumped my arm and forehead into one of the large art frames they have hanging along the walls. I can't count how many times I've knocked off those stupid little cards they had nestled in the painting frames. 

Grandeur of the Seas - Embarkation Day (Part 2)

If you've spent any time on board with us, you'll learn that we love participating in trivia and other games on board. We returned to our old familiar spot of the Schooner Bar for our first session of afternoon trivia. Came in 3rd place. Minor rant - there's always going to be back to back cruisers on board and yes, cruise staff will often re-use trivia questions but please, if you start hearing the same questions as used on your last cruise, play along but don't keep score. Yes, the prizes are Royal Caribbean themed trinkets (we could repaint the ship yellow with all the highlighters we've won) and not worth much but it ruins the fun for everyone else when your team always comes in first because you had already heard the questions. At one trivia a few days in, the group stopped bothering to hide it and told one of the cruise staff that the answer being debated was right "because that's what you said the answer was last week!" I think the cruise staff caught on as time went by because they started offering prizes to the winning team and 2nd place. To their credit, the group in question did start refusing the prizes after the first few days either telling the host to give them to 2nd place or offering the prizes to other cruisers themselves. I did find it rude though one day when their group member tried to give us the keychain prize and they copped an attitude when we said no thanks and to pass it on to someone else. It wasn't a sore loser issue, we simply already had more keychains than keys from previous cruises at this point. I kept trying to pass along what we did win later to the few kids on board but even they started saying no more!

One of the perks for suites (and pinnacles unfortunately) is use of the Concierge Lounge on deck 11. It's funny how many cruises we discover passengers who don't even realize this ship has a deck 11 because they don't have use of the lounge. The deck also houses the Viking Crown Lounge which is a great indoor space for quiet time during the day and the dance club space in the evenings. This is also where you find Izumi, the Asian themed specialty restaurant. A little tip is that if you want to take an elevator all the way up to deck 11, you have to use the midship glass elevators. The others only go up to deck 9 or deck 10. There's talk of making all Concierge Lounges fleet wide be made into solely suite lounges but the Grandeur has yet to make that change despite being one of the smallest lounges in the fleet. This lounge is a nice perk because from 4PM to 8PM each evening, they put out a small spread of snacks and you can drink for free (as long as your drink is something on their approved list so no blended drinks for me). I was told on this trip that the rule bar waiters follow is that it can only be a drink they stock at the adjacent Viking Crown Lounge bar. They're supposedly not allowed to go find your preferred drink elsewhere. On Celebrity, the bar tender ran all the way up to the pool bar which supposedly was the only place on the ship to make Dad's requested Brandy Alexander. There is also a spread put out in the mornings if you're in the mood for a light continental style breakfast but no free drinks then. The door to the lounge itself is controlled by inserting your cruise card and then you have to give it a few moments to start swinging the door open for you.

One delight that awaited us in the Concierge Lounge tonight was the new to us concierge, Carlington. We had previously sailed with Francis whom is beloved by many Grandeur fans but he'd left when the ship went into a quick drydock shortly before our sailing. We'd learned since sailing with Francis that while he did a fair job as far as the limited use of perks we chose to take advantage of, he told us certain things like ship tours were only for the higher loyalty levels when we knew that suite guests also got this privilege as long as the crew elected to allow it at all. So before this trip, I emailed with Carlington to make sure we were included in any opportunities and were assured that yes it was allowed. When we first arrived today I didn't get the chance to introduce myself but Carlington made a point of walking the lounge chatting with everyone and greeted me by name before I even could say it. He remembered my emails and we had many great chats this trip. When you're a suite guest, definitely make use of the concierge for everything from making reservations to reporting problems encountered onboard that otherwise fall on deaf ears. We took this time to have him make our first three dinner reservations starting the pattern of Chops, followed by Izumi, and then Giovanni's. We only made 3 days worth of reservations at a time electing to see how the cruise went as far as whether we wanted to visit one restaurant more or one less often. We also made reservations with the manager Deckster at Giovanni's as needed since we were already there to eat. Any of the specialty restaurants on board have access to the same reservation system so you can visit any one of them to make reservations for them or any other restaurant.

Any veteran cruiser will tell you, the longer the cruise the less kids and the more higher level loyalty cruisers you'll encounter. I'm not here to shout that all Pinnacles are rude and snotty by any means but it does leave a sour taste in one's mouth when you arrive to enjoy the only lounge you've paid for the right to be in (there is also a diamond lounge which overflows into the South Pacific Lounge during their evening free drink hours. We popped into the South Pacific Lounge one evening just to sit and wait for the Schooner Bar to clear and got the same unwelcome reaction) and you can't get a seat or partake in simple conversation because the Pinnacles have taken over the space and are treating it like they are holding a rally in their personal clubhouse. We did get to meet and chat with a few very nice Pinnacle cruisers during some less chaotic moments but what bothered me the most was the reactions we got when arriving at the lounge. The crowd of Pinnacles would not only stop talking to look at us in disgust but I even noticed a few that would lean in to their nearest cruiser and whisper about us. As if us low brow common folk had snuck into their clubhouse. At first we thought it was due to our not changing for dinner before coming to the lounge when most of them were dressed up but even when we made a point of changing out of shorts, we still had the same reaction. When there is overflow, they open the connecting door and block off the lower Viking Crown Lounge seating for the cocktail hour crowd. More often than not unfortunately, even when we weren't pushed out to sitting in the overflow area, we'd get ignored by the bar staff. A couple times we noticed them walking past us to take a Pinnacle cruiser's order who'd come in after us or leaving us waiting while they brought just the Pinnacle's orders regardless of when they took ours. Carlington was great about looking out for his suite guests and often commiserated with us about being pushed out by the Pinnacle crowd.

Headed back up to deck 8 and spotted my suitcase on a rack currently being wheeled through the elevator bank as we passed by. Figured it must soon arrive at our cabin and headed there to wait for it so I could change for dinner. And wait for it, and wait for it. Finally my suitcase was delivered at 5PM. All was fine with its contents, our luggage tag that said suite priority was still attached, and no note from the naughty room explaining the delay. If only suitcases could talk I bet it would have quite the story of where it's been all this time. We spent sail away unpacking which went a little smoother once Dad realized that the first door on the right you encounter when walking into our cabin was a walk in closet and not the door to a connecting cabin. That second bedroom is so minimal that the only storage in there is a nightstand and a small ledge under the mirror. Dad elected to keep the beds separate so it would be easier to use his CPAP on the same side as he uses it at home but it did look like there was some cubby shelving along the walls if the beds were pushed together in the center of the room.

Baltimore is a great port to sail out of not only for the smaller quicker terminal but for the two grand bridges you sail under within the first couple hours of sailing. Being on your balcony or the open decks watching your ship look like it's going to be too tall to fit under only to clear at the last minute gives you a perspective one doesn't get to see when driving across. I highly recommend taking the time to watch these moments if it's your first, second, or tenth time sailing out of Baltimore. If I wasn't needing to get unpacked so I could change for dinner, I would have been up there taking in the moment as well.

Grandeur of the Seas - Day 1 Embarkation Day (Part 1)

Since this cruise leaves from Baltimore, it takes 3 sea days in addition to the embarkation day before and after visiting the ports all in a row to get back and forth. It's a good mix for those cruisers who love sea days and those who would rather have tons of port days. The port of Baltimore only hosts RCL's Grandeur and the Carnival Pride so RCL departs on Thursdays or Saturdays while the Pride runs Sunday to Sunday. The two ships will never be docked in Baltimore at the same time but if you're lucky, you can catch the two ships literally passing in the night as one heads out of the bay and the other is returning. We weren't that lucky this trip but woke up one morning to learn the Anthem of the Seas had passed by us during the night.

Living 20 minutes from the port makes for an easy drive down and we always have someone drop us off even though you can pay for parking at the port. This time we relied on our great neighbor who thankfully knew of a detour when construction backed up 695 all the way past the on ramp. Left our house around noon (our plan anyway even though they'd told passengers to delay early morning arrival due to a Coast Guard inspection) and once we got through the detour, our only hangup was the crawling pace of porters unloading cars full of people being dropped off. It's never that slow but it always feels like an eternity when you're steps away from getting on your cruise and the line of cars isn't moving. Once unloaded and porters tipped, we watched our bags get laid next to each other in the same compartment before heading into the terminal. Here you must first go through security (carry on bags scanned and you walk through a metal detector) in the same line as everyone else regardless of cabin or loyalty level priority. This time I had no issue but Dad was made to take off his belt and pass through the metal detector again. No clue what made the difference because I was wearing a belt as well.

We showed our set sail passes to the first port employee directing people into lines based on priority. She saw our Platinum status and sent us into one line until we realized it and pointed out that we were also suite passengers. She redirected us into the top priority line which was silly after all since both lines were essentially the same length. We only waited a couple minutes before getting called up to an available check in agent and was done with them in minutes. Boarding had already commenced so we were able to just walk right on. Cabins weren't scheduled to be ready until 2PM so we smartly avoided the Windjammer buffet and headed to the Park Café within the Solarium. The Solarium loungers and pool are only for cruisers 16+ but passing through, using the dining tables and chairs, and visiting the Park Café itself are for all ages. This confuses some people who've given families a hard time for being at the Park Café since it's physically inside the Solarium. The Park Café had a limited set of options for our first lunch onboard (more available later in the cruise) so Dad went with the prepackaged sandwiches and I tried the sliced to order turkey sandwich. This is where you get the famous Kummelweck or roast pork sandwich most RCL cruisers rave about. I tried it on my first Grandeur cruise and wasn't impressed. This time the roll on my turkey sandwich was tough so I just ate the carved turkey on its own.

We had pre-purchased the soda package for $9.99/day plus gratuity before the cruise as it goes up to $12.99 once on board. As a result, our cruise cards had the Coca-Cola logo printed on the bottom and no bartender or waiter ever needed to take or scan our cards once they spotted the logo. We also never got a paper receipt for our sodas so no chance to keep track or add an extra tip without handing someone cash directly. Unfortunately unlike last time, we had hit or miss bar service so there was no one we felt deserved extra tipping. Sitting down to lunch and our first sodas by 1PM and just as we get tired of sitting around 1:40PM, the announcement comes about the cabins being opened.

The nice thing about our cabin location is the quick paths to get to our main haunts. Turn right towards the open centrum space to reach stairs and elevators to take us to the concierge lounge, the specialty restaurants, and the Schooner bar/South Pacific lounge for trivia games. We reunited with our old statue friend (whom I later learned was named Phil dubbed so by a young man with down syndrome traveling with his family. According to his mom, he'd named the sleeping man statue Phil and has to pass by it each evening to say goodnight.) and he served as a great landmark for us to always know which side of the ship to head down once we got off the midship elevators. Turn left and then right (after passing the one passenger corridor also on your right) and you reached the front elevators and stairs that carried us up one floor to the Windjammer. Great for a quick breakfast run to bring back to the cabin and a few times even rushing up to fill our cups at the Freestyle machines after ordering room service. At the start of the cruise, we agreed on following the personal mantra of "If our destination is within one floor up or two floors down, then we take the stairs." We both have our physical limitations and going downstairs for me is easier than having to walk back up. This was helped by our cabin location and how often the stairs were simpler given how many older and disabled passengers we had on this cruise who needed the elevators. We kept to this effort I'd say about 90% of the time give or take a few moments where we'd had no time to rest in between tour walking and getting to something on board. I'm proud to say that despite eating whatever we pleased and having 85% of our meals in specialty restaurants, I broke even on pre and post cruise weights thanks to the walking and taking more stairs.

One immediate downside we found upon arrival at our cabin (which had the door wide open at first making us call out wondering if our steward was still working inside) is the limited US outlet choices for a cabin that is meant to sleep several people. Dad likes darkness and quiet when he sleeps so he already planned to take the smaller second bedroom but found only one European outlet in that room. We had pre-arranged through RCL's special needs form online to have distilled water and an extension cord for Dad's CPAP machine in our cabin.

Both were there as promised but there was no place to plug it in within the room. There is a set of both kinds of outlets along the desk area in the hallway, a European outlet in the living room space, and a set of both kinds of outlets along the vanity inside the bigger bedroom. Those outlets are across the room so even if I switched and let him have the bigger bedroom, we'd still have to leave the extension cord dragged across the floor. Once we met our steward, Dominic Moses (who introduced himself as Moses), we asked about finding another plug. Moses told us later that he looked but there was no other plug. He ended up having to get a secondary extension cord so that it stretched from Dad's CPAP machine, around the perimeter of his bedroom, under the door, across our little hallway/entryway and up onto the outlets along the desk space. He taped the cord down to the carpet but it was only one of several issues we had with this hallway space.

One of the new additions we noticed that was different since our last suite stay on the Grandeur is that instead of having a filled mini bar and a sign about the extra charges, the cabin fridge was empty and we had a form we could fill out at any point to request in cabin beverages at an extra cost. Dad considered taking them up on the offer but I never felt the need.

We also had a good chuckle at discovering that our breakfast room service door hanger form was one that had been previously filled out - apparently by an angry lactose intolerant constipated cruiser who crossed out the milk option and chose oatmeal with their blueberry pancakes. If we were going to get a used menu, at least have it be from someone with better taste. :) The room service fee of $7.95 per order is waived for anyone staying in a grand suite or above on RCL. I believe ordering from the "Continental Breakfast" side of the menu is still free for all but if you want the hot items on the other side, it will cost extra. 

We also had a dining room breakfast menu we could order from for in cabin dining as a suite perk but only during the hours the dining room is serving breakfast. We never took advantage of this as we either went to the specialty restaurant of Chops for full sit down service  or I grabbed breakfast to go from the buffet and brought it back to our cabin. We also had a daily placement of the dining room's lunch (on sea days) and dinner menus left in our cabin. You can also view the menus posted outside the dining room during the day to see if that menu is appealing enough to eat in the dining room that night. One of the perks we appreciated on Oasis was a separate suite phone number to call for room service so we weren't left waiting for someone to answer or waiting hours for it to arrive. Our paperwork on Grandeur listing our suite perks showed calling "53" on your cabin phone to reach suite room service. A couple days later I noticed under the dining options for the day in the Compass, it lists "dial 53" for room service. Our concierge Carlington was surprised to learn that the number had been published for everyone to use but I'm not sure how else someone was supposed to reach room service.

While we sat checking out the slew of paperwork left in our cabin (which is where we also found our cups for the Freestyle machines that got tons of use. If you buy the package on board, you get handed the cup right then), our fruit plate was delivered by room service. This would start a daily tradition of random snacks on plates being delivered as a suite perk. Only once did we come back to something perishable so that's definitely an improvement in my book! Kudos to the fruit still being fresh when I finally bothered to eat some several days later.

Shortly before we needed to head down for the muster drill, Dad's suitcase arrived. We were surprised to find that my suitcase did not come at the same time or soon after since it was loaded in the same cart at the same time. The necessary evil of muster drill was held outside and I noticed how the crew had to move down the tight lines they put us in because they'd neglected to scan anyone's card upon arrival as proof of attendance. Point for Princess who not only does muster drills indoors where you can sit but they scan you at the entrance before you become one of the crowd. Yes, every cruise line does have a space designated for anyone with physical limitations who can't stand outside for as long as necessary but my legs were definitely aching by the end of it. I'm thankful my arthritis hasn't progressed to requiring a cane, walker, or scooter but if I try to stand or walk for too long at a time, my body starts looking and feeling like I'm dancing the robot unintentionally. Returned to the room to rest for a moment and still no 2nd suitcase.

While there, we noticed that there was no card in the cabin telling us what of the three specialty restaurants we'd been assigned to dine in this first night as part of pre-purchasing the Ultimate Dining Package for $239 per person. It averages out to $20 a person per night for our 12 night cruise and you can dine in any specialty restaurant for dinner every night and any sea day lunches as long as that restaurant is open. There's also the perk of getting a discount on the cupcake decorating and/or sushi making classes that are an extra fee. We'd had bad experiences using the main dining room (MDR) on our last Grandeur cruise so we found this to be a great opportunity. Normally, booking a single night could run you around $40 per person. We called the dining reservation line to ask where we would be assigned and while they had record of us buying the package, they had not assigned anyone to a specific restaurant yet. We were able to reserve Chops Grille (the steakhouse) for this first night at 6PM and it became a standard time for us throughout the cruise. If you'd rather not spend that much or devote all meals to such heavy fare, there are smaller dining packages and individually booking the actual restaurants as options pre-cruise. Some people choose to wait until they are onboard because there is often someone offering a deal or discount the first day.

Stay tuned to see if I ever got my suitcase and tons more food pics to come!

Going way down south to Dixie? Nope, Southern Caribbean this time!

A huge thank you to the folks who checked out my blog post on how I pack for cruises! I really appreciate that you guys came back to check out my ramblings in between trip sagas. What other cruise or travel topics would you like to see a post about?

So where have I been for the last 12 days give or take a few days of getting out from under the piles of laundry and backlogged work? If anybody feels like hiring me just to go cruising and share with you all so I don't have to get my work done before blogging, I will gladly grant that wish for you. :)

Without further ado, we have just returned from yet another Daddy/Daughter cruise, this time back on Royal Caribbean (RCL)'s Grandeur of the Seas for a 12 night Southern Caribbean route that I jokingly called the Holy Land. Our ports were St. Croix, St. John's Antigua, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and St. Maarten. The first three we'd never visited before, the latter two we have (St. Maarten as recently as last year if you recall my Oasis blog posts) but found something different to do this go around.

Ran into some cousins of our old friends in Key West while in St. Croix.

And yes, we once again booked a suite cabin. This time we put ourselves on a waiting list for any cabin from a two bedroom grand suite on up since at the time this itinerary showed completely sold out of any suites. That means we were limiting our chances to only the two bedroom grand suites (coded as GT on the deck plans), owner's suites which basically are like grand suites except they have a door separating the living room space and the bedrooms, and the one Royal Suite on board this ship that doesn't have beds that separate at all but has a piano in your cabin. Sure you have to sleep on the couch bed if you're not a couple but you can tell all your friends you sailed with a piano. Fast forward a few months of checking the website for availability, a week before final payment was due, an opportunity to book a two bedroom grand suite guarantee cabin showed up in the search results. For those who aren't cruise lingo savvy - booking a guarantee is usually slightly cheaper because you are giving the cruise line the choice of where to place you within that category or above. Some people don't like taking that chance because there are less than ideal cabin locations and you have little control over changing cabins if your assignment isn't to your liking. Plus you could be waiting right up until boarding day to find out where they've placed you at the most extreme cases and that uncertainty isn't pleasant for a planner like me. On the upside, it is a little cheaper and you have the small chance of getting a cabin category higher than you initially paid.

After some discussion, we agreed that it was worth the risk in our case because there are only four two bedroom grand suite cabins on the Grandeur. Two midship (one port, one starboard), and two that wrap around the aft corners all on deck 8. I believe every full suite on this ship is on deck 8 so you'll always have that minor drawback of being under the pool deck or the buffet. If you go in expecting to hear the routine creak or scraping sound as tables and chairs are moved above, it isn't as jarring or invasive.

A minor hassle ensued trying to book this guarantee because we once again had to convince the phone rep that it was okay for us to book a cabin that could sleep several for just the two of us. Then when the rep tried to find the guarantee on her computer that I was seeing, it wasn't showing as an option. Finally, she realized that my looking at it on my computer at the same time meant that I had it held from anyone else being able to see and potentially book it, including her. She told me to go ahead and book it online to see if it would let me and then confirmed that it showed as booked for us while we were still on the phone together.

Fast forward a month or two of neurotic checking to see if we'd been assigned a cabin yet and what suites were still available. Just after I convince myself to take a break from checking so often, Dad randomly decides to check and discovers that we'd been assigned cabin #8018, the midship GT cabin on the port side. Secretly I'd been hoping for one of the aft cabins because I'm a sucker for the aft wake view and love lounging on the balcony watching the water go by. Dad liked the idea being assigned the midship cabin because it was a great middle of the road so to speak position from our frequent destinations. As many cruisers say - who cares as long as I'm on the ship!