Grandeur of the Seas Review

Grandeur of the Seas

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Grandeur of the Seas
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hal lover
First Time Cruiser • Age 60s

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Sail Date: May 2009
Cabin: Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony

Some cruising history:  HAL 11 cruises, RCCL 5 cruises - 4 on the Grandeur of the Seas.  This was my first solo.  I booked this cruise in March 2009 mostly due to the convience of the departure port of Norfok.  It's only 3 hours from my home and no air travel involved.  DH could not make this trip due to work, so I decided to go solo.  This was my third time on this ship with the same itinerary.I arrived a bit early in Norfolk, about 10:30 am and proceeded to the Cedar Grove parking lot.  To my delight they were letting some early birds in for parking and by 11:00 am I was at the terminal checking in.  The terminal check in process was painless.  The agent's and rep's were all very nice.  Was only in holding mode for about 10 minutes.  That was great!By 11:15 am I had a bloody mary in hand and as I looked around the ship I knew that something was very different from my last trip on GOS in August 2008.  The ship was gleaming and the crew was all so happy!  Last August that was not the case.  Off to the Windjammer for lunch and at exactly 1:00 pm the stateroom's were ready.  I hurried to see my balcony stateroom and I was delighted, to say the least.  I was on deck 7, my stateroom was about the fourth from the front of the ship.  I must tell you that this location had me a bit worried, but the sea days were fine.  No major "rocking".  We did have calm seas throughout the ship.  I went to the champagne bar and ordered a bottle of wine and took it back to the stateroom and enjoyed sail away sipping on it.  I must also mention that I met another solo traveler, Kate, and we did have the first lunch together and it was wonderful conversation.  My stateroom attendent, Angela was great!  She had an assistant named Margaret that was great also.  This was Margaret's last run before returning home to Costa Rica and her son.  She was very excited to get back to her native country and family.  I hope that she made it home safely.The first evening I put out the order form for coffee at 5:30 am (I'm an early riser!) and it was there on time with a quick call to the stateroom before delivery every morning.  The room service attendent was Claudia and after the first morning I never had to place the order form on the door again.  She was there every morning with my order and a very happy morning greeting.  She would bring little extra's like juice and pastries also.  She was a delight!  Her home is in Brazil.The first 2 days were sea days.  I attended the Meet & Mingle and met a few of the online poster's.  Natalie from RCCL hosted the get together.  Was a nice layout of cheese's, fruit and coffee and other light beverage's.  Was nice to put some of the face's with the name's.  I only wish that we had a stand up and introduce yourself type of thing.  The lazy, sun filled day's were great!  No schedule - just vegged out!  The solorium was really nice,  Spent time there in the hot tubs and reading.  I must note here that I did not go to the diningroom on this trip.  I went to the Windjammer for all meals or had room service.  Both were great.Ran into Captain Rob many times.  He is a very visable Captain and I find him to be a true delight.  The last sea day he held an informative gathering in the theater.  A must for all to attend!The production show's were okay.  Just okay,IMHO.  I truly enjoyed the comedy show's.  Chas Elstner is so funny!  Antonio Salci was wonderful.  A great sing along show.  Horizon, Motown and More was delightful!  Do not miss this!  Earl was a hoot with water!  Thanks to Smoke and Earl for the dance's!  Watch where you sit when these guy's are doing their show because for some reason I got zero'd in on twice with them.  I wish that I purchased their CD's.The port's were:San Juan - same as same.  We docked in there at about 2:30 pm on Sunday.  I walked and walked.  Went to the Coach and Dooney & Bourke stores, to find them closed.  It was Mother's Day and a Sunday, so perhaps that was why they were not open.  Still the walking around Old San Juan was nice.  The evening brought a lot of congestion on the streets.  Carnival Victory was also in port beside of us, apparently loading passenger's, and now I understand why they call Carnival the fun ship's!  She was quite a sight to see!St. Thomas - my favorite!  Went to the downtown shopping area and made a few deposit's at my favorite store's.  It was slow downtown.  The economy has been hit hard there as with other area's.  The Coach store is now located at Yacht Haven and by the time I got back to there, well, I was spent out!Samana, DR - been there, done that.  Not one of my favorite places, so I stayed on board and enjoyed the hot tub and a spa treatment.  Oh, so nice!Labadee - BEAUTIFUL!  They are proceeding with the new pier and it looks good.  A relaxing day at the beach!The last 2 day's were again sea day's and I made sure that I spent my OBC.  That was not hard to do!All in all, the trip was great!  I enjoyed running into a few of the ladies from M&M and meeting new people.  Would you believe that I actually ran into a couple that I had met my August 2008 trip?  I was shocked!  They too, love to cruise and said that they are doing a lot of it these days. 

The food, the drink's and the crew were all wonderful on this sailing!  I highly recommend it! 

Cabin Review

Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony

Cabin D1
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