Did you see the very end (right after where the end card starts?) I wasn’t wrong. 😂 - Gary

Thank you! We hope y’all have awesome cruise!

That sounds like a perfectly good way to enjoy the cruise as well. I wish I (Gary) was able to do that as well, but I have trouble sitting still for very long, so I like to go, go, go. It drives Jenn nuts because she is very laid back and could sit the entire cruise just reading a book.

We see the good side and bad side of the smaller ships. Had our cruise been a 4 or 5 night it probably would have been much better. The staff on Grandeur of the Seas was phenomenal!

We hope you have a great trip on any ship you choose!

Glad it was helpful!

It was amazing! Probably the best embarkation process we have ever had!

Good tip! We always make sure we’re back on the boat at least an hour and a half to two hours before it is suppose to set sail. Our last cruise had to leave an hour earlier than originally planned due to a storm that was rolling in.

You definitely don't have to worry about water slides because there aren't any on the ship. The closest big thing is the rock climbing wall. During sea days they show movies in the theater, and in the evening they show one on the "jumbotron" by the pool. They also have a decent sized casino and they have some very good production shows. The do bingo one day, which was very popular, and multiple bars around the ship. In general your time on the ship is more relaxing than you would find on the much larger ships.

Thanks for the kind words! One of the biggest reason for not trying one of the specialty restaurants on Grandeur was that most of the restaurants served dishes that we could go to a restaurant at home and get similar food. For paying extra, we kind of want it to be a unique experience that we can’t easily find. We’ve talked about, when going on one of the bigger ships, trying the specialty restaurant Wonderland. That would be something unique for us.

@@garyandjenn That is a very fair point and makes complete sense. I can find a nice steakhouse or Italian restaurant at home. Wonderland and even the new Train Car on Utopia are different unique experiences. Thanks for the additional perspective and looking forward to more videos!

Our stateroom was clean, so we’re thankful for that. We’ll be going on Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady in February. Really looking forward to that!

While compared to Margaritaville at See that we went on in January, Grandeur of the Seas is still an upgrade; however we do agree that it probably won’t be around many more years. We took it because we had never cruised on Royal Caribbean before, and our cruise hit the locations Jenn was wanting to visit.

We hope you have an incredible time!

Really me too🎉

Sorry for the delay in responding... we didn't get a notification from KZfaq that you had posted, so we just saw it. To answer your questions, we think 5 nights is probably the perfect amount of time on Grandeur of the Seas. Our cruise was 7 nights and we started getting a little bored towards the end because a lot of the activities were repetitious, and other than a rock climbing wall, they didn't have other "exciting" activities, like the water slides and such, that the newer, larger ships have. We see Grandeur as a great option if your main goal is relaxation. The main pool area gets pretty crowded, so you would have to get there early. There is an issue with people going really early and holding chairs. The staff does try to keep an eye out for it, but we did see it happening quite a bit. They do have the solarium area which is for people 16 and over, which does have another pool, hot tubs, and chairs, but since it is glass enclosed it gets pretty warm in there during the day time. I don't recall seeing the towel game played, but it's entirely possible. They did a lot of deck games, but we both burn pretty easy, so we didn't spend lots of time out there when those were going on. As far as the drink package, they are pricey, so you really need to do the math and see if it is worthwhile for you, especially since, if one person in the cabin gets it, the other(s) have to as well. For use, it was worth it because it not only covers alcoholic beverages, but sodas as well. It's nice to be able to just go up and get drinks, or order a glass of wine for dinner, and not have to worry about what your tab is going to be at the end of the cruise. For us it worked out to about 7 drinks per day, which seems like a lot, but when you think about the amount of time you are on the ship, especially on sea days, it is not really as bad as it seems. We did not do WiFi package when we went. For one it is pretty expensive, and if the performance we were getting on the app was any indicator of how the WiFi was, then it is horrible! Plus, we sort of enjoyed the disconnect from real life while we were on the ship, and limited our checking of email and Facebook to when we were in a port. Probably the biggest issue you might experience going in July is with the air conditioning. It was really hot and humid when we went in June, to the point that the A/C on the ship was having trouble keeping up, especially on the sea days. The public areas were miserably hot since people were constantly going in and out of doors, so the A/C just went out the doors with the people. Gary thought he was going to pass out from heat exhaustion during formal night in the Main Dining Room. It was really warm in there, the sun beating through the window, and then him wearing a suit and tie. We spent a lot of time in our cabin because it was a lot cooler than the rest of the ship. We highly recommend keeping the blinds to your cabin closed as much as possible and getting a portable fan to help keep the air circulating. We brought one (that can run off of a rechargeable battery or plug directly in), and ran it the entire cruise. It helped keep the cabin a lot cooler, and when we started getting warm, we just pointed it at us and it helped cool us down. Probably one of the best things we brought, and now it goes on every cruise with us.

No worries at all. Wow, thank you for the very thorough response. I haven’t been on a cruise in over 20 years, so this is all new’ish to me. We ended up this booking cruise for July 6th. We always go to Caribbean all-inclusive resorts to relax, but the kids have been getting bored of them, so we decided on the cruise. I am an early riser so will most definitely be holding chairs at the main pool. Same thing that goes on at Caribbean all-inclusive resorts. I like to lay out and tan, and participate in most of the deck activities. I can see the Solarium being useful for getting out of the sun and quiet time away from the main pool. We are not doing the drink package at this time. We are bringing bottles of wine onboard and will buy a drinks here and there. We are okay with the basic free drinks…water, brewed coffee, iced tea, lemonade, juices, milk, etc. We purchased the Key VIP pass, which includes internet. Grand Cayman is a tender port, so we would benefit from priority ship-to-shore departure at tender port. Priority access boarding with lunch and departure with breakfast seem like great benefits as well. Oh boy, the AC could be an issue for me. I tend to run hot. I was cheap and selected the inside cabin guaranteed option, so no blinds. I don’t plan on bringing a suit. Short sleeve polo or button down and lululemon khaki pants is the most I’ll be getting dressed up.

😮 We saw some photo of the Junior Suite rooms that had the support pole right at the foot of the bed. That was one of the reasons we didn’t try to Royal Up. The bathrooms are definitely the worst part of the room on Grandeur!

We enjoyed Grandeur, and would probably sail on her again, but on a shorter sailing the next time.

Wow! We are sailing with Virgin Voyages in February. Really looking forward to trying out their concept, where pretty much everything is included in the price (except alcohol, and some fancy coffees and fresh squeezed juices). No additional gratuities, and no extra fee specialty restaurant. Plus it’s no one under 18 on board, so that will be a totally different experience!

We’re talking about going on one of the larger ones… maybe Icon of the Seas sometime next year. We’re looking forward to the neighborhoods concept, but is kind of intimidating that the ship will have almost as many people on it as the town we live closest to.