Like many mid-Atlantic cruisers, we booked the Grandeur out of Baltimore because it sailed from Baltimore! For a Thanksgiving holiday cruise, it was also relatively inexpensive, even for our junior suite. We also love the smaller ships. Parking was a bit high at $15/day, but oh so convenient. Embarkation at 12:30 pm was a breeze (because we had priority boarding) and debarkation was a bit slow with long lines going down the ramp from the ship.

Let’s start with some good. Our cabin was quite good. We had plenty of storage, a nice balcony, a good sized bathroom with a full tub, and one of the best cabin stewards we’d had on any ship. Mark went above and beyond to ensure we were comfortable in our cabin and had everything we needed. We were on deck 8, and sometimes late at night or early morning we heard them arranging the deck chairs on the deck above ours. It never stopped us from falling asleep nor did the noise wake us up.

The only negative of our cabin (which had nothing to do with the cabin itself) was the lack of room service! Room service was available for breakfast only, and the only FREE room service breakfast was simple continental fare. Anything else was extra. Read more