Grandeur of the Seas Reviews

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Cabin: This was one of the smaller inside cabins we have been in. Only about 136 sq feet and room for a chair and not a sofa. Having said that, there was plenty of storage, the bed was very comfortable, and the air conditioning was whisper quiet and very effective. This was the last cruise before the dry dock, so the TV was an old-school 15inch set which was a little disappointing. The stateroom attendant, Rolando, kept the cabin very clean and was friendly. The bathroom was tiny, but good enough for dealing with brushing teeth and putting in lenses. The shower area was very restricted so we always headed up to the spa area and showered in the spacious sauna and steam areas in the locker rooms. Food: Before the refurb, there was no speciality restaurant on the ship, so the choice was buffet or dining room. As on previous cruises, the service in the dining room was very slow, so we ate most of our meals in the Windjammer cafe. On the whole the food was good quality with a nice selection. We soon became jelly addicts, and despite my resolve to avoid all cakes, I quickly started adding a slice of anything chocolate onto my fruit salad! The staff were efficient and friendly, and there was good coffee (Seattles Best) always on hand. Pool area: Flimsy, uncomfortable loungers by the outside pool, and not much better cushions on the solarium chairs either. As there were many germans on the ship, all good deck chairs had been reserved by 9am, despite signs prohibiting this. The two swimming pools were always cold, and I picked up a chest cold and cough from this after about 5 days, then only went into the jacuzzis. Getting pool towels from the attendant and giving your cabin number is a complete nonsense,as you can go to the spa and walk out with 5 towels if you want to pad out your chair and no one will stop you. Gym: Basic and good enough, but very small by other ship standards and limited equipment, work out area. Also, the gym was always too hot with pockets of air-conditioning reaching only some parts of the room. The god send was the free saunas and steamrooms in the locker rooms which were excellent and very well utilised in the men's room. Great showers and lots of huge towels. Entertainment: The trivias were poorly attended and the questions very repeated. Also, the staff seemed always embarrassed to explain how poor the prizes were if you won. They tried hard to make them fun, god bless them. The evening entertainment was very poor, and probably the cheapest acts I have seen at sea. The show room, the Palladium was a beautiful room and the RCCL shows were well choreographed with some excellent singing. Deckside activities were something out of a bad 1970's sitcom, and poorly attended and repetitive. Ambience: This was a friendly and intimate ship and the Captain was always around to make you feel welcome. He was funny and charming and the best asset of the ship. Overall experience: Despite the niggles above, the cruise was fun and I put on weight, so the food can't of been that bad! Yes, everything could have been better, pools heated, chairs more comfortable and more dining choice, but it did the job at an amazing price. We may be put off the smaller ships, however, because of the size of the cabins and the limited entertainment.

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The Grandeur of the Seas Vision Class is a nice attractive ship but tired. From Malaga May 1st the ship goes into Cadiz for a complete refit. They are to add more cabins. Where more people will sit I don't know. Every inch of deck space is covered with plastic sunbeds. The fitness centre is well equipped but far too small, its always full. The restaurant --only one, is massive. Table service is good at 7/10. Food is mid market and very good. The Self service buffet also has a good selection of food daily. Food and service is not an issue. Formal nights are a waste of time, for it's the same routine, nothing special. It's largely ignored with only about 5% dressed in Tuxedos/cocktail dress, Another 10% in jackets. Last night which was formal -- we dressed in dinner dress as usual for such occasions, and were sat next to a poorly dressed woman with her husband who dressed in a donkey jacket, jeans and t shirt, one of the worst granted, but smart dress is not how we would describe the pax complement. Well what do we think of Royal Carib big ship cruising? Overall aimed at the lower middle class market. We took an owners cabin to cushion. Thank God, it's the best thing we did, we can dance in it. However in a major way it's the worst choice, for we didn't sleep the first 5 nights ! All passengers & cruise agents should be aware that the 5 most expensive suites are located directly below the cafeteria, which in part has tiled flooring --right above the suites, upon which they trundle heavily laden metal/hard plastic wheeled kitchen carts between dining areas and kitchen- ALL NIGHT LONG. Imagine living under a metal railway bridge where you can experience the thunderous rumble and trembling. You've seen it in films from New York. Well you've got the picture. This ship with all RCCL Vision class suffer the identical problem. Ships management report they've fended complaints from pax for 17 years without rectifying it! The simple expedient of fitting soft rubber wheels to the carts would remedy it in minutes. Sleep was impossible, and as I pointed out sleep deprivation is an effective form of human torture. 5 days of staggering around in a semi comatose daze was enough. Letters of complaints were ignored. My eventual meeting with Mr Tony Curtis the hotel manager, during which it was unfortunately painfully necessary to overtly threaten him and management with personal exposure on the internet to get a result, eventually persuaded them that acceptance and acquiescence was the better part of valor. I had tried to arrange a meeting with him all us affected suite passengers who had complained. He said that wouldnt be allowed and he's have to call security as that would be considered incitement to riot. I cautioned him that at sea that was called Mutiny. Instantly embarrassed he apologised retracting his threat. On night 7 peace finally reigned, and we slept throughout for the first time. Note they have no plans to insulate the floor nor address the noise issue. Careful assessment of deck plans are essential to avoid noisy cabins. Ashore we bought many bunches of flowers needing large vases. It must be a unique event judging by the fuss the staff made. It took 2 days of asking, pleading and eventually a stand up argument with the hotel manager to get them. The result ? 4 small jam jars! Eventually we got the vases. From which you should judge the standard. Ask for a map of an island, and the answer is indicative of the style. No frills airlines EasyJet and Ryanair & Southwestern come easily to mind. A map of 'recommended ' shops and tours they sell is the only one available. Island information -- same map. Haiti -- we'd decided not to get off for the place is disease riddled. But ha. This company transports its pax to the special paradise of Labadee. In effect an enclave cleverly commercially owned and exploited by Royal Caribbean, designed to give its special pax that special island experience. Visit the traditional authentic tourist market where you can buy junk from Haiti, and no doubt even Chinese made' Haitian' junk specially selected for their pax. Of course passengers can buy drinks, buy food. Buy a boat trip, buy another boat trip. Buy a ride to a beach (wonderful beaches). Buy a drink. Buy a paraglide ride. Buy a snorkel experience. Buy a jetski ride. We laid on deck and enjoyed the empty ship. Perfect. Internet at almost $0.85 a minute! And so conveniently sloooooooow. The crew are OK but a mixed bag where the Indians & some south Americans are the best. The advertised 'suite personal butler' .. a misnomer, they don't exist. Our cabin cleaner turned up staggering drunk one night, and in common with the standard of the ship, cleans superficially. We asked "Why are the windows and tables salt stained"? "Oh" was the response. Guest services tell us they should be cleaned twice a week, but that doesn't happen. We're used to having them cleaned daily or as necessary when we cruise. Yep this is a different and much lower standard. And speaking of standards, our narrative should be moderated by the fact we have the top class of suite. And afforded VIP status through the recommendation of another captain of the fleet; who kindly sent us a special gift, delivered with a note from this ships hotel manager, so they were aware, but makes no difference. Their advertising promises exclusive seating areas and bar areas reserved for suite guests, they don't exist and asking for them is met with blank looks. No special menus. Room service never get the order correct. They promise gold, but have nothing but copper to offer. The entertainment is very good, presented in an attractive theatre. Theres good live music in many areas most of the time. The cruise director is inconsequential. Overall the only similarity to our usual level and standard of cruising on small ships with Seabourne , Silver Seas or SeaDream, is they float, feed one and arrive safely and on time. Finally les pieces de resistance my new wife on honeymoon, was bitten and found a bed bug. That was positively reacted to with the attention it merits. The bites were treated swiftly by the Dr. whilst they dismantled the cabin and treated it, they parceled us off on a free limo private tour for the day. Returning 6 hours later it hadn't been done! Bad management again, obliged us to stay out of the cabin for hours whilst it was completed. The suite needed to be treated twice more, and as they refused to move us to another cabin to sleep, (the ship isn't half full) we were obliged to breathe in the insecticide, which we are assured is safe and non toxic. Whatever the insecticide prospectus states, breathing any insecticide within a small compressed airspace for 12 hour periods must be unhealthy. It's to be hoped we don't suffer any long term consequences. Despite their disinfectant attempts, Louise has been bitten 4 times more. They said they'd deep cleaned the suite. In fact they didn't even vacuum the carpet. It took numerous meetings to make them clean properly. Bugs love dirt, which is probably why theyre infesting the place. Worried that the bugs or at least eggs may be carried home, we asked for our clothing to be laundered. Expressing their deep concern, their response was immediate in removing and laundering and dry cleaning everything in hours, whilst re treating the suite. The toilet overflowed, it took 4 hours with 2 reminders to appear and repair it, and another 5 hours with constant reminders to clear its contents from the bathroom floor. It overflowed its contents on the floor twice more. Similar delays to clean it. They repaired it, but it continually noisily flushed in the middle of the night . Another day whilst they fixed that problem, common on this ship. It's occurred almost daily since now. The guest service managers profuse apologies for all our troubles, were bolstered by sending us, as he described "A lovely bottle of excellent champagne" to help you sleep through any noise remaining. Expecting Dom Perignon or Crystal, you won't be surprised to know we have a bottle of Californian sparkling wine instead -- unopened! After many days of wrangling, the management have accepted and apologized profusely for the noise problems and by replanning, have for this cruise at least, mostly resolved the noise issue. We are only woken twice a night! They are really trying their best to make the rest of the cruise acceptable. A new cabin attendant with supervision has resolved the cleanliness issue. Its clearly a management issue which may be better on another ship. The noise however will be the same. The staff are helpful but the management is overall poor, but theyre humble enough to eventually admit it, and have thanked us for indulging them in what they now a consider a re training process. They admit and openly discuss their failings which have now been addressed. Habitually they leave the heavy cleaning carts in the passageways 24/7 . this is a serious safety hazard for in the event of the ship lurching, a cart could roll into a person causing bodily injury. worse in the event of an evacuation, a cart would effectively block the passageway preventing free passage. The US Coastguard and ships insurers should be appraised of this. The Guest services manager said he hadnt noticed them . Eventually they moved the one in our passageway, but not others. Do we really need to feel like unpaid ships management consultants --badly needed-- whilst actually paying for our trip? This year we will be travelling transatlantic east west again, and notwithstanding this bad experience will consider a large ship again, but taking great care to select the right cabin and cruiseline. Disembarking in Malaga we felt tired, disgruntled and extremely dissatisfied. Finally I discussed compensation with Mr Sam Murdoch, team leader customer services UK. He explained they were fully aware of the unacceptable experiences we'd suffered, which they were appraised of through the many communications between the ship and UK management. Apologising for the ruined cruise, he offered a maximum discount of 25% off a future cruise. Our honeymoon was ruined, for which a 100% refund would be the least expected, plus consideration for damages. He outrightly refused to consider anything more. I wonder what would provoke a refund. A ship sinking maybe? Sadly we can only recall this trip as poor, sleepless, and a disturbed transatlantic ferry crossing. Never to be repeated with any Royal Caribbean Cruise, unless of course the CEO was in the next cabin. hope this helps you choose a decent cruise.

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We had a great experience on this cruise, even though the ship was older and 90% or more of the passengers spoke Spanish! The ports were all excellent, and the service was top notch throughout the week. We made some good English speaking friends (many seemed to be clustered in the aft junior suites) and also enjoyed the company of our Costa Rican dinner-mates (who fortunately also spoke English and humored us as we attempted our grammatically-challenged Spanish). The ship, though showing its age in many places, was still overall very clean. We enjoyed the larger wind-free balcony this aft junior suite provided, especially as we overlooked Curacao and the floating bridge. The size of the ship overall was cozy but never really felt overwhelmingly busy. The Windjammer (we only eat there when it's the only thing open, which was lunch on port days) always seemed like a zoo, even at 3pm. There's something about buffets that can turn people into savages, and here it was no different. We were told it was crazy at breakfast (others on the ship mentioned shoving and line cutting and no place to sit). Breakfast every morning in the main dining room was relaxing however and definitely underused; it was half buffet, half menu, so we typically got fruits on our own and smoked salmon/pancakes from the servers. The main dining room was also open for lunch on sea days, and we always opt for the make-your-own salads. Dinner times were 7pm and 9:30pm (an hour later than the times we'd seen on other RCCL cruises), but most people show up late (15-30 minutes) anyway. Our server mentioned that it was routine for people in the second seating to show up close to 11pm and expect to be served. The entertainment was almost all in Spanish, but there were also the standard tacky production shows which are sung in English. There was a comedian the first night, but he spoke too fast so I only got half of the jokes. The fluent crowd seemed to really enjoy him, however. There was a Beatles tribute and a plate spinning acrobat, and these were both good. We really enjoyed the music in the Centrum and by the pool (especially Zafiro, the trio from Panama that are apparently part of a larger group) even though they played only Latin music. It was nice to have a chance to listen to something different. Overall, we really enjoyed our trip, and the immersion part played a big part in how fun the trip was for us (the ports were also all very good). Remember that all the crew will be able to converse with you in English, even if the fellow passengers cannot, so I'd encourage anybody considering this cruise to do it! I think it will only get better next season after the planned renovations in April!

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This is a review of our cruise on the Grandeur of the Seas, March 18 - 25, 2012, out of Colon, Panama and the travel to and from the cruise. A bit about myself. This was my 16th cruise in the last 12 years. The lowest level cabin I have ever stayed in was a balcony but most have been suites. I am Diamond on RCCL and we stayed in the Royal Suite on this cruise. I am in my late 50s, live in the South, and go on a cruise to relax and do a few excursions. I do not generally go to any shows or participate in activities like bingo or games. But hopefully I can give you a good overview of this ship and general information on the ports we visited. I was traveling with 2 friends of a same age and background. This cruise is what they call in Immersion Cruise. As I wanted to see part of the Panama Canal without the huge cost and time to do a transit on a cruise ship, this seemed the best for me at this time. There were 3 ladies total on this trip. Two of us flew from Atlanta to Ft. Lauderdale on Thursday afternoon. We stayed at the Marriott Spring Hills Suites. I have stayed here in the past and would do so again. The hotel is nice and clean other than some of the carpets in the hallways, which is fairly typical, provides a shuttle to and from the FLL airport as well as a shuttle to the ships sailing out of that port. They have a full bus with a trailer behind that allows them to pick up or deliver a large group of people as they put the luggage in the trailer. We used this service both coming and going to the airport. On the night we arrived we had dinner with my TA of 12 years at a great Greek place not to far away. Friday morning we were picked up by the 3rd person in our group who lives in the Florida Keys. We went to the Miami airport to fly to Panama City. We arrived in PTY mid afternoon and got a taxi to our hotel, the Country Inn & Suites in Amador. It sits right at the mouth of the canal entrance on the Pacific side and you see all vessels entering or exiting the canal. Of course at night, you really only see the lights on the ships. This hotel was clean, tile floors which is typical of the tropics, and the people were extremely nice, especially at the front desk. When we arrived we had 2 separate rooms booked, one for 2 of us and one for the other lady. When asked if these rooms could be near each other, the manager on the desk said if we would be willing to wait about 30 minutes for them to clean a suite with 2 bedrooms we could have that for the same price. That suited us very well so we waited in the lobby for a tad under 30 minutes in a nice sitting area then were given keys to this suite. It had a large kitchen, bigger than many apartment kitchens I have seen, a nice living area with a sofa, love seat, and arm chair in a U shape configuration. The first bedroom to the side had 2 queen beds with a bath that had a door to the bedroom and to the living area. The second bedroom was smaller but had a king bed and a private bath. The balcony is small with no chairs but decent enough to step out for a short while. All of the balconies in this hotel were the same as far as we could see. The pool was on the ocean side and a very nice size. It has an hourglass shape with a small arched bridge going over the middle. There were many tables with chairs and umbrellas and many lounge chairs too. There is a TGI Fridays attached to one end that is accessible to the hotel directly. We ate both of our dinners there as we were just not up to traveling out again to dine. The only bad glitch on the whole trip came the Saturday before the cruise. After reading the boards here on Cruise Critic and seeing the tour group called My Friend Mario recommended, we booked a partial canal transit with him and were to be picked up that morning at 8:45. He called about 20 minutes prior to arrival and that was when we found our phone was not working. The desk put a note under our door with a time stamp of 8:26 and I was in the lobby to call him back at 8:30 as we saw the note come under the door. Bottom line, he said that the boat sailed early and there was nothing he could do but he could take us on Sunday. Since that was the day we left on the cruise we just said no and I hung up. Before I leave this topic, the couple that I had been chatting with on these boards also had him booked for that day and he called them and said that the boat had a broken propeller. When we met on the ship and discussed this we both realized (after seeing the boat in the locks later that day) that he probably just overbooked and since we were at hotels that had no others to be picked up we were the ones that he dumped. I have posted warnings on the Panama board and will monitor to pass this information on again. After getting my temper under control, I asked the desk manager about a trip to the Miraflores Locks as I had seen other postings about that being a good trip for the day. He strongly advised it and a taxi was not very much so we went there. We all agreed after going to the visitor's center at the Miraflores locks that we probably were much better off. I had seen one of 2 ships enter the canal before we left that had to be one of the boats we would have been on for the partial transit (obviously with no prop issues) and they were packed with no sitting room. But the Visitor's center has a great viewing deck, a short film on the building of the canal, a museum, a restaurant, two snack areas, and someone explaining live about the ships in the locks at that time, in both English and Spanish, explaining how traffic moves in the morning versus the afternoons and evenings, and is walking around to answer questions if you wish. We had a great lunch in the upscale restaurant with an outside porch right by the locks and just had a wonderful day. There were plenty of taxis available so getting back to the hotel the next day was not a problem. Sunday we used Panama Travel Corporation as recommended by my TA. They responded quickly when I emailed them a couple of months prior to the cruise, the driver called us about an hour before he was to pick us up (11:30) to see how much luggage we had to ensure his car was big enough, he arrived a tad early, was extremely nice, gave us a great history of Panama other than just the canal on the drive to Colon, which took just a bit over an hour, and was great overall. You do have to pay ahead of time for this service but I had no problems with that as I felt we would then be assured of being picked up and all emails were extremely professional including the driver's name when I confirmed the pickup a week before I left. We arrived at the Grandeur of the Seas right at 1:00 as I had requested. It was an easy process to get our bags to the porters, of course with the expected tip, then we went inside. Since this is not a port with a lot of RCCL traffic, it was not as nice as their setups in FLL or MIA but it was laid out as you expect with several lines for people to check in and a separate line for Diamond and Suite guests. There was one group of women ahead of us who had not filled out the "illness" form you were handed as you entered and they did not move out of the way to let others up to check in. This was the only time I felt that RCCL did not do right as they just ignored us and grabbed people from the general line to put at the agents waiting for them. We were the only others in the Suite line at that time so it irked me some, but we still only waited about 5 minutes then were taken up. While checking in to our cabin, a woman appeared in full uniform and was there to escort us to the Royal Suite. Carolina went with us through security and walked us all the way to the suite, even though most rooms were not open to the general masses yet. That happened about 15 minutes after we arrived. A few notes on this Royal Suite. I was in it in 2003 for a Transatlantic cruise. I also know that this ship goes into dry dock the end of April so would not have been surprised at some slightly shabby areas. Not so in the suite. The lighting was all new since I last used it and had much better controls. The sofas in the living room appeared to be very new. The Jacuzzi tub was working better, the lavatories that are rose glass and have been carved on the underside had been replaced as one of them had some chips when I last used this suite, the bedding was new or not very old, and everything was spotless. The only thing that was not perfect was the baby grand piano, which uses discs to play music, did not seem to be hitting all of the notes when you used it that way. However if you just sat down and played it worked fine. We had a good steward but I was saddened to hear that Mary Joy, the steward that I had in 2003 was still working on this ship and still had this suite but was on her last week of vacation. She was due back next week. I would have enjoyed seeing her again as she was wonderful. That being said, we were well taken care of on this cruise. When we arrived we had the normal bottle of bubbly, a fruit basket and a 2nd one as well sent by our TA, and a dozen red roses on the dining table. During the week we were given two bottles of wine, a white as we embarked and a red a couple of days later, a bottle of non alcoholic bubbly after they found out one of us did not partake, and every night after there were some type of goodies from the chocolate dipped strawberries to other hors d'oeuvres. Just nice to have. Now I would like to talk about the Immersion part for a short while. If you go on this cruise and expect to be in a majority of English speaking people, think again. There were only 100 USA citizens on board and 50 from Canada. We found that out at the first reception. But if you go with the attitude that we went with that we wanted to enjoy the ship, the ports, and hopefully the people, you will NOT be disappointed. All of the crew speaks English and several times when they found that we did they would be relieved. For most English is their 2nd language and Spanish is a 3rd, 4th or distant 5th. They all speak Spanish but find English much easier. We were at a table for 12 with 13 seats as we were 3 to make if off slightly and all 5 of the other couples were from Panama. The waiter, Ercan and his assistant both spoke in both languages and you were given menus in the appropriate language. Four of the couples had someone who could speak English and we could speak a tad of Spanish. Over the week we thoroughly enjoyed our dinners, conversing and translating to each other. No one was inhibited and we all tried which made it a delight. And the impression I got for most of this cruise was that all of the people that boarded in Panama or Columbia were this way. If I met someone in the hall generally they would greet me in Spanish, I responded in English and we would all smile. I have to say having sailed out of San Juan I was expecting a raucous crowd and shame on me. These people across the ship were enjoying themselves but were just doing that, not super loud or in your face, the ones that had children made them behave, not something you see in the USA today, they dressed up for formal night, and were very friendly. At the end of the cruise I realized that I had not heard a lot of complaints and whining and even in a different language you can pick up on that. The lines at the Pursers desk were small, no one tried to break in, and all were patient. People from the USA could definitely take lessons in behavior from this ship's passengers. Of course I encountered one USA family who give us all a bad rep and acted snooty. Boo to them. Back to the cruise. On Monday we were in Cartagena, Columbia. This is the 2nd embarkation disembarkation port for this cruise. Most that boarded the day before got off to do excursions and others left as it was the end of the cruise. Since the new people joining the cruise could not get on until after noon the ship was quite and peaceful. We all took advantage of a rest day after so much traveling and I even indulged in a massage. The spa is the same as on most ship, way overpriced and they try to push the expensive products they carry. I just thanked the girl after a very good massage and said No Thank You and left. Dinner that night was again sharing at our table and getting better at understanding each other. One more thing, the food on this cruise was the best I have ever had on a RCCL ship, bar none. All of the meats were done to perfection and not dried out, the appetizers were wonderful, and the desserts had the most flavor of any I have eaten on a cruise ship in quite a while. I am not a "foodie" but I do enjoy good food and this was what I had at every meal. The buffet was good too and had Latin dishes at every meal. It was interesting to try some different things. Tuesday was our first sea day and the first formal night. Mid morning we got a call asking if we would like to eat at the Captain's table that night. Of course we said yes. The formal invitation arrived about an hour later. We relaxed and ate a very late lunch as we had early seating for our regular dinner which was at 7:00 and late seating with the Captain was at 9:30. We had a blast. The Captain, Epsen Been, is one of the most personable Captains or people for that matter that I have ever met. He made a point to talk to each of us, either in Spanish for the 3 guesst who had that as their native tongue or in English. All at the table spoke English so that was a touch of class to me on his part. The Security Officer, Guy Cohen, and his companion, Cherry Santos (works for RCCL but on vacation) were also at the table. Guy and Cherry were wonderful to talk to and as I sat next to Guy, we had a great discussion about security as I am involved with my company's security in a very big way. One of the women with me had celebrated her birthday just before we began this cruise and at dessert time they surprised all of us with a cake and singing. We were all served a wonderful dessert of fruits in a pastry shell with ice cream and a slice of cake. A wonderful evening. Wednesday was Bonaire. All 3 of us did the snorkel with Woodwind tours. Dee and crew lived up to all of the rave reviews on the Bonaire boards. This was the only excursion we did not do though the ship and it was very well organized. I got a new camera for underwater pictures prior to leaving and had a ball with that. We all returned to the cabin to clean up and generally rest before dinner. Sail away was to be about 5:30. About 5:00 the phone rang and I answered and it was Captain Been asking if we would like to come to the bridge. So we hustled to look presentable and across the hall we went as this suite sits directly behind the bridge. We were escorted to the bridge and out onto one of the "wings" on each side used to move in and out of port. This was one of the best highlights of a truly great cruise. Bonaire does not want them to use the engines at all if possible as the whole area is a Marine park so what they do is just let the ropes go and the ship is large enough on the side that the wind just pushes it back out to sea. While leaving port it is like the cockpit of an airplane on take off or landing with no extraneous talking allowed. So we were up on the outside of the bridge, in complete silence, the sun was setting, a couple of sailboats were on the horizon and we just floated out. Fabulous. Dinner with our new friends at our table was great as we talked about the night before and our days activities. Thursday was Curacao. I did my own snorkel that day through the ship. Not the best nor the worst that I have ever had but I felt safer going as a single person with the ship's outing. The other two walked all around Curacao and especially enjoyed the Maritime Museum and were talking about it to a lot of people saying if they every came back to do this. The town is painted pretty colors, or at least the part by the port is and is quite easily accessible. The tours leave right at the side of the ship which is also very nice. That afternoon we got to witness something that few get to see. As I boarded the ship I noticed a 3 masted schooner just to the back of our ship and having done a sunset sail out of Key West many years ago, thought it was probably something like that. After we had all returned to the suite and were relaxing, we became aware of something going on off the starboard side, which is luckily our side of the ship. The Captain later told us that the Columbian Navy trains all of their sailors on this type of ship to get a good handle on navigation before putting them on modern sailing vessels. As they trawled out of the harbor, the sailors were all decked out in Red, Yellow, or Blue t shirts, the colors of their flag, and were standing up on the masts, on the bow, down the sides, on the back, and all of the officers were in white uniforms standing at attention on the deck facing our ship. They were playing music over the speakers, probably their national anthem, and all were singing and waving. Captain Been told us later that he had only seen this once before in all of his time in the Caribbean. He came on the wing and blew our horn 3 times as a salute to them. Incredible. Friday was Aruba. We all three chose to do De Palm Island in this port through the ship. My independent research had indicated that doing it on your own was not much cheaper and I wanted the extra security of transportation through the ship. I never found anyone who was so so on the reviews on this outing. All either loved or hated it. Well we loved it. It is a small island barely off of Aruba and had a ferry going and coming. There is an area with water slides that most families end up staying around. All food and drink are included as well as snorkeling equipment, banana boat rides, and other things. It is clean and the water slide area is away from the back of the island where the general food area is located and the nice beaches with lounge chairs. What I really liked was that there were boarded walks in great condition to all parts of the island and a huge covered area with chairs just behind the snorkel area that was not on the sand. As we all wanted no more sun, that was ideal for us. We settled in and went off and on at various times to eat, swim, snorkel, or just stayed to read and relax. It was fun to watch the lizards that came about looking for food and seeing one climb into an unattended glass for a nip. But they would run off and not bother you and were just not a big issue. The food was just typical fast food but that was fine with us as it was just lunch. They offered many drinks like Pina Coladas and Margaritas but also a large variety of many other hard drinks. The excursion was about 5 ? 1/2 hours from the time we left the ship until we got back on board. Some of that was travel time but we felt we had plenty of time on the island. Dinner that night was the last formal night. All were dressed up and the atmosphere was fantastic. There was dancing every night in the atrium and always some participating. Again not rowdy but people young and old just enjoying themselves. Saturday was the last sea day and of course the last day of the cruise. We had the official bridge tour, lunch with Guy and Cherry again, and just a generally nice day. We had a lot of visitors off and on over the week, people we had meet and enjoyed being with, and having the nice living area was wonderful for this. The bagtags were delivered late afternoon and we had a great last dinner with our table then came back up for the final packing. Bags were out by 10:00 for pick up and we settled in to enjoy our last night of luxury in this suite. On Sunday we had transfers with RCCL back to Panama City for our afternoon flight back to MIA. They called our numbers early as we get one of the first bagtag numbers by being in the suite or Diamond or both. We went to the part of the dining room set aside for us but most had left the ship. We were told we did not need to go down before 8 as the busses did not leave until 8:30 or later. But we decided about 7:45 to head on down. Lucky for us. They put about 15 people, all speaking English, on one bus and sent us on our way. We were waiting to check in with AA in the airport when all of the other busses arrived as AA would not check us in until noon for a 3:30 flight and were so glad that we were not in the masses getting off. We had found seats just across from the AA counter and just watched the confusion. The one last thing that marred the trip was that upon arrival to MIA they had closed customs and we had to stand in what I call the "Cattle Herding" area for 30 minutes before being allowed to go down the escalator to the customs area. And it was packed out. All 40 gates were open, only 10 for US citizens, and all had long lines. Boarder patrol was everywhere. Never did find out what happened. It was after 9 before we got back to the Marriott Spring Hill Suites in FLL and we needed to get the shuttle to FLL from there at 6:00 the next morning. Our flight back to Atlanta was fine on Monday and all got home safe and sound. I know this is long but I hope it gives a good description for those going on or considering this cruise.

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My Views of An Immersion Cruise Here is my review of the Grandeur Of The Seas cruise, beginning March 11, 2012. Since Grandeur did not pass through the Panama Canal on this cruise, my wife and I flew from Los Angeles to Panama 2 days prior to sailing. On March 10th, we used My Friend Mario for a full transit of the canal. What we did not realize, is that Mario was merely the conveyance. The driver picked us up at our hotel, the Wyndham Garden in the Obarrio section of Panama City. His name was Mario, but he was not THE Mario. He drove us to Fuerte Amador, where the transit was to begin. We paid him $350 ($175 each), and he bought our tickets from that money. He handed us blue wristbands to wear. The ferry was called Pacific Queen. The transit took about 8 hours to complete. We were served 3 meals aboard the ferry, and had free soda and coffee. They did serve alcohol, which was extra. We spoke to several other passengers aboard the ferry, and told some of them that we were taking the cruise on the Grandeur to celebrate my wife's birthday. A poignant moment occurred when one of the other passengers offered my wife a beer for her birthday and tried to hand it to her. But my wife is a recovering alcoholic, and refused the drink (hubby was proud!) 2 or 3 groups of passengers disembarked at the town of Gamboa. Space on the Pacific Queen then opened up. Whereas most of my photographs had been from the back or sides of the ferry, I was able to get to the front for some good photo opportunities. There was a photographer on board the Pacific Queen, who snapped this shot and framed it, although it should read "full" transit, not "partial": Once the ferry docked in Col??n, we boarded a bus. The passengers were sorted by the colors on our wristbands, so that we boarded the correct bus, and were driven back to Fuerte Amador. At this point, I have to mention that My Friend Mario's driver, also named Mario, did not show up. We were stranded at Fuerte Amador for 30 minutes, trying to contact Mario's service. None of the 4 phone numbers we tried connected us with a live human being, and the voice mail messages were in Spanish. After half an hour, we hailed a taxi, who drove us back to the hotel. I have to admit, I was pretty upset for awhile. But my wife likes to gamble (I don't, I gamble enough just driving on the freeway), and she had spotted a casino 2 blocks from our hotel. We went over there, and she quickly won $100 on dollar slots. She put $5 into a penny slot machine. 5 minutes later, she hit her second progressive. The credits were counting up, until they reached $1,273.44! I didn't know you could win that much on penny slots! Security came over and told us they would have to cash her out manually, for she had maxed out the machine. After collecting her winnings (less 7% Panamanian tax), the head of security, Jaime, walked us back to our hotel. My wife won another $100 her first night on the Grandeur, so in about 24 hours she pocketed $1,400! We still needed to get from Panama City to the port, and had booked My Friend Mario for Sunday morning's transfer. The driver apologized to us for missing the Saturday night pick up, and she told us she would give us $10 off the transfer. She also stopped at a store, where my wife bought another suitcase. Copa Airlines allowed us to bring 2 checked bags each, but we had brought 1 each, to travel light. My wife has a big family- 5 sisters and 4 brothers- and she used her winnings to buy gifts, so she needed that extra suitcase! We boarded the Grandeur by 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon, without incident. My wife was relieved to find that all the crew spoke English. Over the course of the week, it seemed to me that about 85% of the passengers were from Spanish-speaking countries. Of course, Panama and Colombia were well represented; but so were Costa Rica and Peru. About 5% of the passengers seemed to be Brazilians who spoke Portuguese. There were some Germans aboard as well. The English speakers seemed evenly split between Americans, and the large group of Canadians organized by Nancy- aka explorer8 on Cruise Critic. Several crew members were Filipino, and we always spoke to them, since my wife is half-Filipina. Our cabin steward, Alvaro, was from Costa Rica. Our waiter, Ravinder, was from India; while our assistant waiter, Jorge, was from the Dominican Republic. All 3 were very attentive to us all week. The only problem I had aboard the ship all week, however, occurred near the beginning. When I picked up my Sea Pass card, they told me to keep it away from cameras and cell phones; because the strip on the back would de-magnitize, rendering the card useless for room entry. I placed the card on my money clip with my driver license and credit cards. I forgot the clip had a magnet on it; and before that dawned on me, I had had to go to the purser's desk twice to get my card re-keyed. They didn't it that way, and just printed a new card on the spot. Around Thursday, it happened to me once again when I placed my Sea Pass too near my cell phone. If that's the worst thing that happened to me, I had a great cruise! Aboard the ship, the best thing was the food in the Great Gatsby dining room. One night we tried escargot for the first time; another good starter was the lobster bisque. Main courses on different nights included swordfish, steak, duck, lamb, jumbo shrimp, mahi mahi, and roast turkey. We tried to order different things so we could taste each other's entrees; but neither of us could pass up the duck, lamb or jumbo shrimp. We agreed that the lamb was the best meal of the week; it was so tender, we didn't need a knife to cut it! The desserts were nice as well. I had the drink of the day twice, once at dinner and once on my wife's birthday. The Palladium was behind the casino on deck 5, at the aft of the ship. While she was playing the slots, I walked back to the theatre. The shows were in Spanish. If there were any shows in English, I didn't see or hear of them. I wouldn't have minded going to a show, as I speak a little Spanish (enough to get my face slapped, as I told Lynette). But my wife, even though her mother is Mexican, doesn't speak any Spanish, so she didn't want to attend any of the shows. However, we did attend some game shows. She likes bingo, so we did that twice. The announcer explained the rules in both English and Spanish. He also called the bingo numbers in both languages. He had people stand up if they needed only 1 number to win. Although I got to stand twice, and my wife once, neither of us won. Also, the crowd would boo those who stood up. A boo in Spanish sounds a bit different than in English! We attended another game show called Majority Rules. The host explained the rules, and the questions and answers, in both English and Spanish. Another game show we went to was called Where In The World Am I? The host gave the clues in Spanish and English. On question 2, he opened in Spanish. I heard the words "ciudad" and "Nuevo Amsterdam". I didn't wait for the English. I wrote "New York" on my answer sheet, and walked up ti the host and turned it into him. I got 10 points for answering correctly on the first clue. In The end, I actually won that game. But my prize was only a couple of highlighters. The bingo and the game shows were on deck 6, in the Pacific Lounge, at the aft of the ship. It would also be where our RCI ship-to-hotel transfer excursion would begin on disembarkation day. Now, to the ports. On Monday, we docked in Cartagena, Colombia. It was my wife's birthday, and I had chosen this exact port to put her in South America for her birthday. We had booked a city tour with Dora De Explorer. Our guide, Mercedes, was holding a sign with my name just off the ship's gangway. Our group included 7 Canadians: explorer8's group from Toronto. Because we had 9 people, the cost was $60 per person. The van headed straight for the hill overlooking Cartagena, where La Popa Monastery was situated. Mercedes narrated along the way. She mentioned that Cartagena had 70 traffic lights- and at the other intersections, the drivers just played chicken! And that was true! Our van never yielded to a smaller vehicle. The driver parked the van in the parking lot. Before we could even get out, there were vendors tapping on the windows, holding up things to sell. We exited the van, and were quickly surrounded by vendors. There were water bottles, hats, maracas, and other touristy items. My wife and I both wanted hats (she bought 6 over the course of the cruise- remember she has a big family!), so the haggling began at $20. We were separated, and my guy quickly dropped the price to $15. I told him that was too much, and began to walk away. He dropped the price to $13. I said that was still too much, and turned to walk away again. He dropped the price to $10. At that price, I snatched it up. Moments later, my wife appeared with almost the same hat (mine was tan, hers was white). She had paid $15 for hers! Guess I'm the better haggler. So, hats-on-head, we set off for the monastery. Our first stop was outside, for the wonderful view overlooking the city. You could even see our cruise ship miles away at the port. Later I would take a photo of La Popa from the dock. The monastery was beautiful. Mercedes narrated along the way. My wife wandered off twice- once to buy some postcards, and once to use the bao. But the inside of the monastery is not so big that one can get lost. Next we rode back down the hill, into the old city. The fortress was the next stop. Mercedes asked if we wanted to go into the fortress. The consensus was no. She then asked if anyone wanted to get out and take photos. I was the only one to do so. I would have liked more time there, but whatever. We stopped at a row of shops for about 20 minutes. My wife and I only had time to go into 4 shops. There were more street vendors outside, with many similar items to the guys at La Popa. I did want an authentic Colombian f??tbol (soccer) jersey, so I haggled with a vendor til I got the price I wanted. I love the international soccer game, such as the World Cup, more than at the club level. I'm tired of Brazil and Argentina always coming from South America, so I've rooted for Colombia for about 10 years now. Next we stopped in a parking area, and walked into the center of the old city. We found the square in front of the Church of San Pedro Claver, and went inside the church. It is at least 390 years old, because the skylight overhead had glass windows with the year 1622. Mercedes informed us that until the 1960s, it was actually illegal in Colombia to display any art that was not religious, and that Colombia has no separation of church and state. There were many statues and paintings of Jesus, Mary, apostles, saints, popes, and martyrs. As a working church, there were a few nuns walking around. Mercedes told us that, again, up until about the 1960s, women had only 2 choices once they became of age: either get married, or become a nun. That has changed now, and Cartagena seemed like a fairly modern city- just with a wonderful 400-year old core. After touring the church, Mercedes took us one block, to a strip of emerald stores. Being her birthday, I wanted to buy my wife something with emeralds, even though she doesn't like to wear much jewelry. I thought she'd like some earrings, but she finally settled on a ring. I paid $500 for it. They sized the ring for her, and after about 20 minutes it was ready to be picked up. In the meantime, there was a lady dressed in local garb with a basket of fruit on her head. She posed for photos with tourists, asking for $1. There were 2 other occasions when we did this. Dora's tour ended with a drive through the new city, and its skyscrapers along the shoreline. We returned to the ship, to drop off the several items we had bought. To get Back to the port, we first had to use the free shuttle to the port building. From there, we walked outside. We took a taxi back into the old city. We made it back to the area we had been with the excursion, and did some more shopping. My wife must have bought 4 or 5 bags of Colombia coffee. Now, I had never had a cup of coffee in my life- and I'm 51. But I once told someone that I wouldn't try coffee unless I went to Colombia. So we found a cafe and relaxed. The service was pretty slow, but we were in no hurry. I am now a coffee drinker. We both agreed to skip lunch, as we'd had a big breakfast at the Windjammer buffet aboard the ship. I would have probably bought a snack of some sort from a street vendor, but I didn't see any that sold food. In Colombia, as I had learned in Panama, the problem with speaking a little Spanish, is that the locals assume you can understand it. I had problems with the locals speaking so fast. Sometimes I caught only a few words. One taxi driver didn't understand a word of English, but my Spanish was good enough for him to get us to our hotel in Panama City. It wasn't only English speakers that had trouble though. The host of the "Where In The World Am I?" game show on the ship was Mexican. When he explained one clue in Mexican Spanish, a group of Peruvians sitting behind me complained that they couldn't understand the clue. He had to re-word it for them so they could grasp its meaning. While we were making our pit stop between visits into Cartagena, my wife walked into our stateroom, which was decorated for her birthday. It was a nice little surprise. Of course, I pre-paid for that on the RCI website. Later that evening, I had the steak for dinner, while she had swordfish. Before we could order dessert, our waiters, Jorge and Ravinder, brought over a birthday cake. A few other waiters joined in singing happy birthday to her. It was another special moment, and she cried tears of joy. I wanted to make that day special, because one of her older sisters had a 50th birthday party a few years ago, filled with black balloons. I didn't want to do that to my wife. Life is about living, celebrating, enjoying. Not everyone makes it to age 50- Whitney Houston didn't. That's just my own personal philosophy there. Also, her mother and one of her brothers told her to save the $1400 she had won on the slot machines. She said no, she was going to spend it by buying gifts for her family and a couple of close friends. Tuesday was a sea day. Sea days are my least favorite. We slept in, and ordered the breakfast delivered to our stateroom. You do that the night before, checking off which items you want, and how many; and then checking off a half-hour time slot when you want it delivered. They called our stateroom to let us know our breakfast would arrive soon, and it did so 2 minutes later. My wife didn't want another breakfast delivered the rest of the cruise, because she said the selection in the Windjammer was so much bigger. On our first sea day, we spent time writing out our postcards; playing bingo and the slots; playing a game show; eating too much; and just generally relaxing. Also, that morning was the Meet & Mingle in the Viking Crown Lounge on deck 11. We got to meet explorer8 (Nancy) and some of her party from Canada; as well as psbcap (Preston) and his new fiancee, Lynette. RCI gave us a few small items, and the host explained a few things. He told us that RCI does monitor posts on Cruise Critic, mostly to improve customer service. We were all English speakers at the Meet & Mingle, though Lynette is from Panama. On Wednesday, we docked at Bonaire. We quickly found the Woodwind tour guide, but waited for others in our party. We walked down to the pier, and boarded the Woodwind, which appeared to be a catamaran. Dee (Deirdre) was our main guide, and narrated the trip as we headed out to the channel between Bonaire and Klein Bonaire. There were 2 other guides, plus a photographer. We put on snorkels and fins, and got into the water. We split into 3 groups based on experience. It was my first time snorkeling, so they gave me a flotation device to wrap around my waist, and another to hold onto. I can swim fine, I just can't see what I'm doing underwater because I wear contact lenses. My mask fit perfectly, and I had no problems seeing. My wife had some problems with seawater leaking into her mask. After 20 minutes, she got out of the water, and stayed on the Woodwind the rest of the time. I stayed in the water for the whole hour. I have 2 regrets about this excursion: I took my short off (and got a mild sunburn on my back), and I didn't bring a camera. We bought the photo CD of the excursion for $25 from the boat's underwater photographer. She captured 4 nice shots of us underwater (except that I looked like a hairy whale) and a couple more of us on the catamaran. I didn't really need a camera because of that, but it would have been nice to take a video off Klein Bonaire. Bonaire has very little shopping, but my wife found a shop that sold dresses, so she picked up a couple there. I collect pins to put on my baseball caps, and they sold the combo flag pin set for all 3 of the ABC Islands (Aruba-Bonaire-Curacao) so I nabbed that. Thursday morning, we had breakfast as usual at the Windjammer buffet. We had to sit with another couple, as the tables were fairly full. The Hispanic man watched with amusement as I poured syrup all over my French toast. He asked me something, and I picked up the word 'condimentia". Knowing that he wasn't telling me that I was "with dementia", I told him the condiment was syrup. Guess he'd never seen that. That wasn't the first time I'd had a miscommunication over that word. Years ago, a lady told me she kept condom mints in her fridge, which I thought was freaky! On Thursday, we docked at Curacao, at the Megapier in the Otrabanda (other side) section, west of the river. I had left the last 2 islands open without booking any excursions, as I knew my wife wanted to relax on her vacation. We walked into Otrabanda, and quickly found ourselves at the Rif Fort. We did a bit of shopping there, though we avoided Memory Lane, the shop with the bad reviews on Cruise Critic. We made our way further into Otrabanda, and found a street chock full of shops on both sides. We made our way back to the river, where there were good photo opportunities with nice backgrounds. By the time we walked across the Queen Emma pontoon bridge, we both had bags full of items. In the main section of Willemstad, we did more shopping. It was convenient, just on the other side of the bridge, and in a pedestrian area. We made our way north and found the floating market, and post office. We had a light lunch at a little cafe nearby. I had the kebab, and she had a falafel wrap. By now, we knew to save room for dinner! We headed south and found Fort Amsterdam. Outside the fort was a casino located in a hotel, so we stopped there. My wife could not repeat her winnings from earlier in the week, so we made our way back to the riverside. I shot a short video of her telling about her day. The pontoon bridge had opened for a large container ship to pass inland, and was not available. We walked a couple of blocks north along the riverside, and found the free ferry. It was crowded, what with the pontoon bridge being open (out/unavailable). Back in Otrabanda, we headed for the Rif Fort, but not before the wife spotted another casino. Once we exited the Rif Fort, loud music was playing. It was the Black Eyed Peas song, I Gotta Feeling. My wife started dancing, and I filmed a video of her. I believe we bought more in Curacao than anywhere else. I bought both a t-shirt and polo shirt there, and have worn both already. Willemstad rivaled Cartagena as the most colorful, picturesque place we visited all week. On Friday, we docked in Aruba. We wanted at least 1 relaxing beach day, and it was today. Off the ship, we crossed the main street, and quickly found the bus station. We paid our $1.30 and headed up to Eagle Beach. We didn't need to rent any chairs or umbrellas, for the beach had several thatched semi-huts to sit under. I spent a lot of time in the shade, being a white honky cracker who didn't want to burn. My wife, a fairly dark Filipina-Mexican mix, spent most of her time in the sun. I went into the 82??F water, mostly to take photos and videos. It was very relaxing. My wife proclaimed this was the best vacation she'd ever had; the best birthday she'd ever had; and the best beach she'd ever been on (and she's been to Hawaii). She says she never burns; but, I'd been telling her all week, she was in the tropics not far from the equator, and then even she could burn. Sure enough, her shoulders turned a bit red. She peeled just a bit there, and also on her nose. By some miracle, plus my hat from Colombia, I didn't burn in Aruba at all. We decided not to go back to the ship to change out of our swimming gear. We took the bus back into town (the bus marked "hotel area"). We found a strip of shops along the main road, and hit those. Across the street was the big round pink building we had seen from the ship. It was the Royal Plaza, converted into shops and cafes. My wife bought more clothing from 2 different shops; and even went back into the first to get a pair of sandals. I suggested we have lunch at the Iguana Cafe, but she wanted to skip lunch again and save room for the ship's dinner. So, our trip to the Dutch Antilles was mostly a shopping trip, with a bit of snorkeling and beach time thrown in. That's alright; I booked this cruise to please my wife, and that's what she wanted to do. Left alone, I'd have probably snorkeled a 2nd time. Saturday was our 2nd sea day. We slept in just long enough to get to the Windjammer before they stopped serving breakfast. At noon, they had the international parade of flags on pool deck 9. That's how I could tell some of how many passengers were from certain countries- by the amount of whooping and hollering they did when their nation was announced. They played Born In The USA when Estados Unidos was announced. Peru and Costa Rica surprised me with how many passengers there were from each country. The rest of the day, we spent relaxing, people watching, being in the casino, playing bingo- and of course, eating. I gained 7 pounds during the cruise, but I had offset that by losing 12 pounds before the cruise. Sunday we disembarked, saying goodbye to Grandeur Of The Seas at Col??n, Panama. But our vacation wasn't over just yet. We had booked 1 excursion through RCI- an airport transfer. We gathered at the South Pacific Lounge on deck 6, and disembarked in group 3 (the highest number I saw was 17), so we were among the first to get off the ship. We cleared Panamanian customs, which was no hassle at all, and then boarded a bus headed for the airport. But first, the excursion stopped at Miraflores Locks on the Panama Canal. We had seen the visitor center while transiting the canal, and now we were in the center. It was fairly crowded, and it was hard to get good photos. I did get some good video of a ship being pulled out of the lock by the locomotive mules, but I had to stand on top of a concrete bench next to a table to get the shot. The bus then took us through Panama City, but didn't stop anywhere. We did stop at the Metro Mall, which was close to Tocumen Airport. Our tour guide, Elena, said we had 3 hours there. My wife wanted pizza, and we stopped off at alittle cafe on the ground floor. They did not speak a word of English. My wife wanted mushrooms along with pepperoni, but I didn't know how to say mushrooms. Our choices were pia or jam??n, so she went with pia. At least we got a pizza, rather than a shoe with cheese on it. We arrived at Tocumen with more than 2 hours til our flight. There was only 1 shop outside the secure area; after hitting that, we went through security. There was a food court, and many shops inside along the way to our gate. We didn't arrive back to Los Angeles until midnight, which is a decent time to clear customs there, as the lines weren't that long.

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