DandA

Just had our Global Entry interview, last Thursday.  Made two appointments for DW and I and they took us at the same time, the questions were very benign.  Casual questions we weren't put under bright lights .  Just answer honestly as was said before they already know the answers.  We were told to expect an email in 2 weeks and the cards should be received in 4 weeks.  In addition to fingerprints they will snap a picture.  We were not asked why we wanted it but my honest answer would have been "so I don't have to take my shoes and belt off".

Very well said, our dining times have been between an hour to two hours, with the average time around 90 minutes.  It's more about a relaxing dinner and good conversations learning about your tablemates.  We've always found something to chose from the menu and have been satisfied with our choices if not entirely pleased.

Hard to pick a favorite so here's a few of Oasis and Grandeur
 

Hard to pick a favorite so here's a few of Oasis and Grandeur
 

Hard to pick a favorite so here's a few of Oasis and Grandeur
 

Hard to pick a favorite so here's a few of Oasis and Grandeur
 

Thanks, I'm a serious overplanner, will be ubering to the port from our hotel.  Now if I can remember the website that lists docking location at various ports I'll be all set.

FloBro Ty
Thanks for the review we sail on her in April.  What pier/terminal does Majesty sail from in Port Everglades?

Was at Coco Cay on December 18, 2018 on the Grandeur of the Seas and wanted to snap some pictures of the construction.  Work was being done on the pier that day, although based on previous pictures it's moving at a snails pace. Here are pictures of the pier.







 

Well time to wrap this one up.
Summary
Grandeur of the Seas was our second cruise, with the first one being the Oasis of the Seas.  Everyone told us we did it backwards, as we were supposed to start small then go big.  I booked this cruise for the cost and also everyone I talked to spoke highly of the ship and its crew.  She had very few detractors so I booked her even before we set sail on our first cruise.  I’m going to touch on various aspects of the ship and give you my/our perspective of it.  If I don’t touch on a subject/aspect you have questions on ask away.
The ship:  Launched in 1996, she has quite a few nautical miles on her; she shows her age in a few places.  I observed a few areas on deck 5, where corrosion has eaten away a few doors/panels; but everything was freshly painted.  Now that the bad part is out of the way; I found the ship to be tastefully decorated, clean and well maintained.  It was very easy to get around to the various portions of the ship.  The ocean was visible from many venues on the ship from the Centrum, all the bars, and restaurants, something that was missing from the Oasis.
The room:  We had and ocean view room on deck 3 directly across from the forward elevator lobby.  The room was clean and everything worked.  I experienced the clingy shower curtain, first shower it reached out and caressed by backside when I wasn’t looking.   Thanks to hints I received on the forums, a few binder clips at the bottom put a stop to our affair.  The bed was firm and we found it comfortable.  We asked our room steward for ice on the first day and she dutifully provided fresh ice twice a day.  I did hear noise from kids running in the hall several times and one night I could hear sounds from the storing of gangway equipment above us for about 20 minutes when we left Port Canaveral.   
Dining:  Most of our meals were taken in the MDR.  Seating at breakfast we had a short wait on a few occasions, but most of the time we were escorted right to the table.  We had early traditional seating at a six top table; our waiter was Salmen and the assistant waiter was Jely.  Salmen was charming and engaging constantly checking to make sure our meals were good.  Jely was very sweet and her primary job was keeping our glasses full and clearing the table.  Dining took anywhere from 1-1.5 hours from start to finish, although the 1.5 hour could have been partially due to the pleasant conversations we had with our tablemates.  We did find out that the dining room opens 15 minutes before the assigned time.  One couple liked to make the early show so they would take our orders first and usually got us out by 6:30. Were pretty easy to please and always found one or two things we’d like to eat.
We had a few meals in the Windjammer; I found the organization in this one much better than the one on the Oasis.  The food was typical buffet food, never had too much trouble finding a seat.  I had a few lunches at Park Café, both times I tried the soup and carved meat sandwich.  Both of those meals were light and the hot soup hit the spot on the couple of cool days that we ate there.  Café Latitudes was a good place to get our morning coffees; we also had a muffin there one morning that was pretty good.
Entertainment:  We watched several shows in the Paladium Theater, and enjoyed all of them it was never hard to find a seat.  In fact there were always plenty of open seats at each show.  Mike was an excellent CD and CC was also very good as the AD.  The Schooner bar was our favorite go to spot whether it was playing trivia or listening to the piano player or string duet.  Two waiters were standouts in the Schooner bar and they were Kadek and Leslie.  Whenever they saw us they greeted us by name and remembered our favorite drinks.  The Centrum had a few good shows; however it was difficult finding seats at times and twice we found seats just off the stage area on deck 4 and when the show started our view was blocked by people standing in front of us or once everyone started dragging the chairs into the walkways to sit where they could see.
Pool deck:  Mostly due to the cold weather there were always plenty of chairs available.  Finding chairs in the Solarium was a challenge a couple of times; all but one time we were able to find a lounger for a couple of hours, that one time we had to take a table and chair off to the side.  The Solarium was open to all on the first and last sea day.
The crew:  Outstanding, excellent and superb are words that describe every crew member we engaged on the ship.  We have already mentioned several of them here by name but there were many more who we met that were just as pleasant and great to engage.  I don’t think we ran into a single crew member who wasn’t friendly and upbeat.
Okay that’s about all I can think of to comment on if anyone has any questions I’ll do my best to answer them.  Thanks for following along and oh yeah we booked the Majesty this April while on board the Grandeur.  Next cruise incentives were reduced deposits ($100 pp) and they were offering onboard credit up to $600.  FYI we got $50 for and ocean view on the Majesty, not much but $50 bucks is $50 bucks that wasn’t offered before we cruised.
 

Well time to wrap this one up.
Summary
Grandeur of the Seas was our second cruise, with the first one being the Oasis of the Seas.  Everyone told us we did it backwards, as we were supposed to start small then go big.  I booked this cruise for the cost and also everyone I talked to spoke highly of the ship and its crew.  She had very few detractors so I booked her even before we set sail on our first cruise.  I’m going to touch on various aspects of the ship and give you my/our perspective of it.  If I don’t touch on a subject/aspect you have questions on ask away.
The ship:  Launched in 1996, she has quite a few nautical miles on her; she shows her age in a few places.  I observed a few areas on deck 5, where corrosion has eaten away a few doors/panels; but everything was freshly painted.  Now that the bad part is out of the way; I found the ship to be tastefully decorated, clean and well maintained.  It was very easy to get around to the various portions of the ship.  The ocean was visible from many venues on the ship from the Centrum, all the bars, and restaurants, something that was missing from the Oasis.
The room:  We had and ocean view room on deck 3 directly across from the forward elevator lobby.  The room was clean and everything worked.  I experienced the clingy shower curtain, first shower it reached out and caressed by backside when I wasn’t looking.   Thanks to hints I received on the forums, a few binder clips at the bottom put a stop to our affair.  The bed was firm and we found it comfortable.  We asked our room steward for ice on the first day and she dutifully provided fresh ice twice a day.  I did hear noise from kids running in the hall several times and one night I could hear sounds from the storing of gangway equipment above us for about 20 minutes when we left Port Canaveral.   
Dining:  Most of our meals were taken in the MDR.  Seating at breakfast we had a short wait on a few occasions, but most of the time we were escorted right to the table.  We had early traditional seating at a six top table; our waiter was Salmen and the assistant waiter was Jely.  Salmen was charming and engaging constantly checking to make sure our meals were good.  Jely was very sweet and her primary job was keeping our glasses full and clearing the table.  Dining took anywhere from 1-1.5 hours from start to finish, although the 1.5 hour could have been partially due to the pleasant conversations we had with our tablemates.  We did find out that the dining room opens 15 minutes before the assigned time.  One couple liked to make the early show so they would take our orders first and usually got us out by 6:30. Were pretty easy to please and always found one or two things we’d like to eat.
We had a few meals in the Windjammer; I found the organization in this one much better than the one on the Oasis.  The food was typical buffet food, never had too much trouble finding a seat.  I had a few lunches at Park Café, both times I tried the soup and carved meat sandwich.  Both of those meals were light and the hot soup hit the spot on the couple of cool days that we ate there.  Café Latitudes was a good place to get our morning coffees; we also had a muffin there one morning that was pretty good.
Entertainment:  We watched several shows in the Paladium Theater, and enjoyed all of them it was never hard to find a seat.  In fact there were always plenty of open seats at each show.  Mike was an excellent CD and CC was also very good as the AD.  The Schooner bar was our favorite go to spot whether it was playing trivia or listening to the piano player or string duet.  Two waiters were standouts in the Schooner bar and they were Kadek and Leslie.  Whenever they saw us they greeted us by name and remembered our favorite drinks.  The Centrum had a few good shows; however it was difficult finding seats at times and twice we found seats just off the stage area on deck 4 and when the show started our view was blocked by people standing in front of us or once everyone started dragging the chairs into the walkways to sit where they could see.
Pool deck:  Mostly due to the cold weather there were always plenty of chairs available.  Finding chairs in the Solarium was a challenge a couple of times; all but one time we were able to find a lounger for a couple of hours, that one time we had to take a table and chair off to the side.  The Solarium was open to all on the first and last sea day.
The crew:  Outstanding, excellent and superb are words that describe every crew member we engaged on the ship.  We have already mentioned several of them here by name but there were many more who we met that were just as pleasant and great to engage.  I don’t think we ran into a single crew member who wasn’t friendly and upbeat.
Okay that’s about all I can think of to comment on if anyone has any questions I’ll do my best to answer them.  Thanks for following along and oh yeah we booked the Majesty this April while on board the Grandeur.  Next cruise incentives were reduced deposits ($100 pp) and they were offering onboard credit up to $600.  FYI we got $50 for and ocean view on the Majesty, not much but $50 bucks is $50 bucks that wasn’t offered before we cruised.
 

Well time to wrap this one up.
Summary
Grandeur of the Seas was our second cruise, with the first one being the Oasis of the Seas.  Everyone told us we did it backwards, as we were supposed to start small then go big.  I booked this cruise for the cost and also everyone I talked to spoke highly of the ship and its crew.  She had very few detractors so I booked her even before we set sail on our first cruise.  I’m going to touch on various aspects of the ship and give you my/our perspective of it.  If I don’t touch on a subject/aspect you have questions on ask away.
The ship:  Launched in 1996, she has quite a few nautical miles on her; she shows her age in a few places.  I observed a few areas on deck 5, where corrosion has eaten away a few doors/panels; but everything was freshly painted.  Now that the bad part is out of the way; I found the ship to be tastefully decorated, clean and well maintained.  It was very easy to get around to the various portions of the ship.  The ocean was visible from many venues on the ship from the Centrum, all the bars, and restaurants, something that was missing from the Oasis.
The room:  We had and ocean view room on deck 3 directly across from the forward elevator lobby.  The room was clean and everything worked.  I experienced the clingy shower curtain, first shower it reached out and caressed by backside when I wasn’t looking.   Thanks to hints I received on the forums, a few binder clips at the bottom put a stop to our affair.  The bed was firm and we found it comfortable.  We asked our room steward for ice on the first day and she dutifully provided fresh ice twice a day.  I did hear noise from kids running in the hall several times and one night I could hear sounds from the storing of gangway equipment above us for about 20 minutes when we left Port Canaveral.   
Dining:  Most of our meals were taken in the MDR.  Seating at breakfast we had a short wait on a few occasions, but most of the time we were escorted right to the table.  We had early traditional seating at a six top table; our waiter was Salmen and the assistant waiter was Jely.  Salmen was charming and engaging constantly checking to make sure our meals were good.  Jely was very sweet and her primary job was keeping our glasses full and clearing the table.  Dining took anywhere from 1-1.5 hours from start to finish, although the 1.5 hour could have been partially due to the pleasant conversations we had with our tablemates.  We did find out that the dining room opens 15 minutes before the assigned time.  One couple liked to make the early show so they would take our orders first and usually got us out by 6:30. Were pretty easy to please and always found one or two things we’d like to eat.
We had a few meals in the Windjammer; I found the organization in this one much better than the one on the Oasis.  The food was typical buffet food, never had too much trouble finding a seat.  I had a few lunches at Park Café, both times I tried the soup and carved meat sandwich.  Both of those meals were light and the hot soup hit the spot on the couple of cool days that we ate there.  Café Latitudes was a good place to get our morning coffees; we also had a muffin there one morning that was pretty good.
Entertainment:  We watched several shows in the Paladium Theater, and enjoyed all of them it was never hard to find a seat.  In fact there were always plenty of open seats at each show.  Mike was an excellent CD and CC was also very good as the AD.  The Schooner bar was our favorite go to spot whether it was playing trivia or listening to the piano player or string duet.  Two waiters were standouts in the Schooner bar and they were Kadek and Leslie.  Whenever they saw us they greeted us by name and remembered our favorite drinks.  The Centrum had a few good shows; however it was difficult finding seats at times and twice we found seats just off the stage area on deck 4 and when the show started our view was blocked by people standing in front of us or once everyone started dragging the chairs into the walkways to sit where they could see.
Pool deck:  Mostly due to the cold weather there were always plenty of chairs available.  Finding chairs in the Solarium was a challenge a couple of times; all but one time we were able to find a lounger for a couple of hours, that one time we had to take a table and chair off to the side.  The Solarium was open to all on the first and last sea day.
The crew:  Outstanding, excellent and superb are words that describe every crew member we engaged on the ship.  We have already mentioned several of them here by name but there were many more who we met that were just as pleasant and great to engage.  I don’t think we ran into a single crew member who wasn’t friendly and upbeat.
Okay that’s about all I can think of to comment on if anyone has any questions I’ll do my best to answer them.  Thanks for following along and oh yeah we booked the Majesty this April while on board the Grandeur.  Next cruise incentives were reduced deposits ($100 pp) and they were offering onboard credit up to $600.  FYI we got $50 for and ocean view on the Majesty, not much but $50 bucks is $50 bucks that wasn’t offered before we cruised.
 

Day 10 – Debarkation Day
After our last breakfast in the MDR, it was back to our room to pick up our carryon bag.  One final check of the room for forgotten items and it was up to the South Pacific Lounge to wait for our departure number to be called.  We were scheduled for an 8:45-9:15 departure, at 8:45 they called our number and it was down to deck 4. Embarkation was painless, once we hit the gangway it was a brisk walk to customs, a quick glance at our passports and we walked into baggage claim.  We walked toward the pickup area and waited for our son to pick us up. Soon we were heading up the ramp to I95 South and the cruise was over.
I’m going to do a summary of the ship and cruise to finish up the review, thanks to everyone who followed along.

So after telling me a few weeks ago, "No more cruises!" my DL now says she wants to go back to Alaska in 2020. BUT, she doesn't want to Radiance again AND wants to see more ports, i.e. some other ports besides or in addition to Skagway and Ketchican. She does want to go back to Juneau and Icy Strait Pointe. 
I know many of you are like me and create spreadsheets for everything! I'm wondering if anyone has created one comparing Alaska cruises with ports and costs, including other lines besides RCCL? If not, I'll start working on one and share if people are interested. We would deviate from RCCL based solely on itinerary.....  

Day 8 &9 - Sea Days
I really love sea days, as they are so relaxing.  Up early to grab a cup of coffee and up to the pool/track deck to catch the sunrise, then off to a leisurely breakfast in the MDR.  Day 8 started with the Captain advising us that the seas would become increasingly rougher throughout the day.  True to his word by the time the second formal night the ship was rolling side to side.  It became a challenge walking trying to anticipate the ships movement before you stepped off.  After dinner it was off to the Headliners Show featuring Marcus Terell; songs and dancing to Motown, Soul and Pop Hits.  He and two ladies that accompanied him put on a pretty good show.  To end the evening we were back in the Schooner bar for music, talk and drinks.
 


Day 9 the ship was still rolling but not as much as the day before and it gradually ended with calmer seas and us reaching the mouth of the bay at around 3:00 pm.  One final dinner in the MDR to say so long to our table mates, waiter and asst. waiter.  After dinner we went to the Parade of Flags in the Centrum; several of the countries represented put on a show as their country was called.  We missed the Farewell show as we were just finishing up our dinner.  They evening was capped off with a few drinks in the Schooner bar and saying goodbye to two of the wonderful waiters we had there.
Managed to catch us sailing over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.
 

Well time to wrap this one up.
Summary
Grandeur of the Seas was our second cruise, with the first one being the Oasis of the Seas.  Everyone told us we did it backwards, as we were supposed to start small then go big.  I booked this cruise for the cost and also everyone I talked to spoke highly of the ship and its crew.  She had very few detractors so I booked her even before we set sail on our first cruise.  I’m going to touch on various aspects of the ship and give you my/our perspective of it.  If I don’t touch on a subject/aspect you have questions on ask away.
The ship:  Launched in 1996, she has quite a few nautical miles on her; she shows her age in a few places.  I observed a few areas on deck 5, where corrosion has eaten away a few doors/panels; but everything was freshly painted.  Now that the bad part is out of the way; I found the ship to be tastefully decorated, clean and well maintained.  It was very easy to get around to the various portions of the ship.  The ocean was visible from many venues on the ship from the Centrum, all the bars, and restaurants, something that was missing from the Oasis.
The room:  We had and ocean view room on deck 3 directly across from the forward elevator lobby.  The room was clean and everything worked.  I experienced the clingy shower curtain, first shower it reached out and caressed by backside when I wasn’t looking.   Thanks to hints I received on the forums, a few binder clips at the bottom put a stop to our affair.  The bed was firm and we found it comfortable.  We asked our room steward for ice on the first day and she dutifully provided fresh ice twice a day.  I did hear noise from kids running in the hall several times and one night I could hear sounds from the storing of gangway equipment above us for about 20 minutes when we left Port Canaveral.   
Dining:  Most of our meals were taken in the MDR.  Seating at breakfast we had a short wait on a few occasions, but most of the time we were escorted right to the table.  We had early traditional seating at a six top table; our waiter was Salmen and the assistant waiter was Jely.  Salmen was charming and engaging constantly checking to make sure our meals were good.  Jely was very sweet and her primary job was keeping our glasses full and clearing the table.  Dining took anywhere from 1-1.5 hours from start to finish, although the 1.5 hour could have been partially due to the pleasant conversations we had with our tablemates.  We did find out that the dining room opens 15 minutes before the assigned time.  One couple liked to make the early show so they would take our orders first and usually got us out by 6:30. Were pretty easy to please and always found one or two things we’d like to eat.
We had a few meals in the Windjammer; I found the organization in this one much better than the one on the Oasis.  The food was typical buffet food, never had too much trouble finding a seat.  I had a few lunches at Park Café, both times I tried the soup and carved meat sandwich.  Both of those meals were light and the hot soup hit the spot on the couple of cool days that we ate there.  Café Latitudes was a good place to get our morning coffees; we also had a muffin there one morning that was pretty good.
Entertainment:  We watched several shows in the Paladium Theater, and enjoyed all of them it was never hard to find a seat.  In fact there were always plenty of open seats at each show.  Mike was an excellent CD and CC was also very good as the AD.  The Schooner bar was our favorite go to spot whether it was playing trivia or listening to the piano player or string duet.  Two waiters were standouts in the Schooner bar and they were Kadek and Leslie.  Whenever they saw us they greeted us by name and remembered our favorite drinks.  The Centrum had a few good shows; however it was difficult finding seats at times and twice we found seats just off the stage area on deck 4 and when the show started our view was blocked by people standing in front of us or once everyone started dragging the chairs into the walkways to sit where they could see.
Pool deck:  Mostly due to the cold weather there were always plenty of chairs available.  Finding chairs in the Solarium was a challenge a couple of times; all but one time we were able to find a lounger for a couple of hours, that one time we had to take a table and chair off to the side.  The Solarium was open to all on the first and last sea day.
The crew:  Outstanding, excellent and superb are words that describe every crew member we engaged on the ship.  We have already mentioned several of them here by name but there were many more who we met that were just as pleasant and great to engage.  I don’t think we ran into a single crew member who wasn’t friendly and upbeat.
Okay that’s about all I can think of to comment on if anyone has any questions I’ll do my best to answer them.  Thanks for following along and oh yeah we booked the Majesty this April while on board the Grandeur.  Next cruise incentives were reduced deposits ($100 pp) and they were offering onboard credit up to $600.  FYI we got $50 for and ocean view on the Majesty, not much but $50 bucks is $50 bucks that wasn’t offered before we cruised.
 

Well time to wrap this one up.
Summary
Grandeur of the Seas was our second cruise, with the first one being the Oasis of the Seas.  Everyone told us we did it backwards, as we were supposed to start small then go big.  I booked this cruise for the cost and also everyone I talked to spoke highly of the ship and its crew.  She had very few detractors so I booked her even before we set sail on our first cruise.  I’m going to touch on various aspects of the ship and give you my/our perspective of it.  If I don’t touch on a subject/aspect you have questions on ask away.
The ship:  Launched in 1996, she has quite a few nautical miles on her; she shows her age in a few places.  I observed a few areas on deck 5, where corrosion has eaten away a few doors/panels; but everything was freshly painted.  Now that the bad part is out of the way; I found the ship to be tastefully decorated, clean and well maintained.  It was very easy to get around to the various portions of the ship.  The ocean was visible from many venues on the ship from the Centrum, all the bars, and restaurants, something that was missing from the Oasis.
The room:  We had and ocean view room on deck 3 directly across from the forward elevator lobby.  The room was clean and everything worked.  I experienced the clingy shower curtain, first shower it reached out and caressed by backside when I wasn’t looking.   Thanks to hints I received on the forums, a few binder clips at the bottom put a stop to our affair.  The bed was firm and we found it comfortable.  We asked our room steward for ice on the first day and she dutifully provided fresh ice twice a day.  I did hear noise from kids running in the hall several times and one night I could hear sounds from the storing of gangway equipment above us for about 20 minutes when we left Port Canaveral.   
Dining:  Most of our meals were taken in the MDR.  Seating at breakfast we had a short wait on a few occasions, but most of the time we were escorted right to the table.  We had early traditional seating at a six top table; our waiter was Salmen and the assistant waiter was Jely.  Salmen was charming and engaging constantly checking to make sure our meals were good.  Jely was very sweet and her primary job was keeping our glasses full and clearing the table.  Dining took anywhere from 1-1.5 hours from start to finish, although the 1.5 hour could have been partially due to the pleasant conversations we had with our tablemates.  We did find out that the dining room opens 15 minutes before the assigned time.  One couple liked to make the early show so they would take our orders first and usually got us out by 6:30. Were pretty easy to please and always found one or two things we’d like to eat.
We had a few meals in the Windjammer; I found the organization in this one much better than the one on the Oasis.  The food was typical buffet food, never had too much trouble finding a seat.  I had a few lunches at Park Café, both times I tried the soup and carved meat sandwich.  Both of those meals were light and the hot soup hit the spot on the couple of cool days that we ate there.  Café Latitudes was a good place to get our morning coffees; we also had a muffin there one morning that was pretty good.
Entertainment:  We watched several shows in the Paladium Theater, and enjoyed all of them it was never hard to find a seat.  In fact there were always plenty of open seats at each show.  Mike was an excellent CD and CC was also very good as the AD.  The Schooner bar was our favorite go to spot whether it was playing trivia or listening to the piano player or string duet.  Two waiters were standouts in the Schooner bar and they were Kadek and Leslie.  Whenever they saw us they greeted us by name and remembered our favorite drinks.  The Centrum had a few good shows; however it was difficult finding seats at times and twice we found seats just off the stage area on deck 4 and when the show started our view was blocked by people standing in front of us or once everyone started dragging the chairs into the walkways to sit where they could see.
Pool deck:  Mostly due to the cold weather there were always plenty of chairs available.  Finding chairs in the Solarium was a challenge a couple of times; all but one time we were able to find a lounger for a couple of hours, that one time we had to take a table and chair off to the side.  The Solarium was open to all on the first and last sea day.
The crew:  Outstanding, excellent and superb are words that describe every crew member we engaged on the ship.  We have already mentioned several of them here by name but there were many more who we met that were just as pleasant and great to engage.  I don’t think we ran into a single crew member who wasn’t friendly and upbeat.
Okay that’s about all I can think of to comment on if anyone has any questions I’ll do my best to answer them.  Thanks for following along and oh yeah we booked the Majesty this April while on board the Grandeur.  Next cruise incentives were reduced deposits ($100 pp) and they were offering onboard credit up to $600.  FYI we got $50 for and ocean view on the Majesty, not much but $50 bucks is $50 bucks that wasn’t offered before we cruised.
 

Well time to wrap this one up.
Summary
Grandeur of the Seas was our second cruise, with the first one being the Oasis of the Seas.  Everyone told us we did it backwards, as we were supposed to start small then go big.  I booked this cruise for the cost and also everyone I talked to spoke highly of the ship and its crew.  She had very few detractors so I booked her even before we set sail on our first cruise.  I’m going to touch on various aspects of the ship and give you my/our perspective of it.  If I don’t touch on a subject/aspect you have questions on ask away.
The ship:  Launched in 1996, she has quite a few nautical miles on her; she shows her age in a few places.  I observed a few areas on deck 5, where corrosion has eaten away a few doors/panels; but everything was freshly painted.  Now that the bad part is out of the way; I found the ship to be tastefully decorated, clean and well maintained.  It was very easy to get around to the various portions of the ship.  The ocean was visible from many venues on the ship from the Centrum, all the bars, and restaurants, something that was missing from the Oasis.
The room:  We had and ocean view room on deck 3 directly across from the forward elevator lobby.  The room was clean and everything worked.  I experienced the clingy shower curtain, first shower it reached out and caressed by backside when I wasn’t looking.   Thanks to hints I received on the forums, a few binder clips at the bottom put a stop to our affair.  The bed was firm and we found it comfortable.  We asked our room steward for ice on the first day and she dutifully provided fresh ice twice a day.  I did hear noise from kids running in the hall several times and one night I could hear sounds from the storing of gangway equipment above us for about 20 minutes when we left Port Canaveral.   
Dining:  Most of our meals were taken in the MDR.  Seating at breakfast we had a short wait on a few occasions, but most of the time we were escorted right to the table.  We had early traditional seating at a six top table; our waiter was Salmen and the assistant waiter was Jely.  Salmen was charming and engaging constantly checking to make sure our meals were good.  Jely was very sweet and her primary job was keeping our glasses full and clearing the table.  Dining took anywhere from 1-1.5 hours from start to finish, although the 1.5 hour could have been partially due to the pleasant conversations we had with our tablemates.  We did find out that the dining room opens 15 minutes before the assigned time.  One couple liked to make the early show so they would take our orders first and usually got us out by 6:30. Were pretty easy to please and always found one or two things we’d like to eat.
We had a few meals in the Windjammer; I found the organization in this one much better than the one on the Oasis.  The food was typical buffet food, never had too much trouble finding a seat.  I had a few lunches at Park Café, both times I tried the soup and carved meat sandwich.  Both of those meals were light and the hot soup hit the spot on the couple of cool days that we ate there.  Café Latitudes was a good place to get our morning coffees; we also had a muffin there one morning that was pretty good.
Entertainment:  We watched several shows in the Paladium Theater, and enjoyed all of them it was never hard to find a seat.  In fact there were always plenty of open seats at each show.  Mike was an excellent CD and CC was also very good as the AD.  The Schooner bar was our favorite go to spot whether it was playing trivia or listening to the piano player or string duet.  Two waiters were standouts in the Schooner bar and they were Kadek and Leslie.  Whenever they saw us they greeted us by name and remembered our favorite drinks.  The Centrum had a few good shows; however it was difficult finding seats at times and twice we found seats just off the stage area on deck 4 and when the show started our view was blocked by people standing in front of us or once everyone started dragging the chairs into the walkways to sit where they could see.
Pool deck:  Mostly due to the cold weather there were always plenty of chairs available.  Finding chairs in the Solarium was a challenge a couple of times; all but one time we were able to find a lounger for a couple of hours, that one time we had to take a table and chair off to the side.  The Solarium was open to all on the first and last sea day.
The crew:  Outstanding, excellent and superb are words that describe every crew member we engaged on the ship.  We have already mentioned several of them here by name but there were many more who we met that were just as pleasant and great to engage.  I don’t think we ran into a single crew member who wasn’t friendly and upbeat.
Okay that’s about all I can think of to comment on if anyone has any questions I’ll do my best to answer them.  Thanks for following along and oh yeah we booked the Majesty this April while on board the Grandeur.  Next cruise incentives were reduced deposits ($100 pp) and they were offering onboard credit up to $600.  FYI we got $50 for and ocean view on the Majesty, not much but $50 bucks is $50 bucks that wasn’t offered before we cruised.
 

Day 8 &9 - Sea Days
I really love sea days, as they are so relaxing.  Up early to grab a cup of coffee and up to the pool/track deck to catch the sunrise, then off to a leisurely breakfast in the MDR.  Day 8 started with the Captain advising us that the seas would become increasingly rougher throughout the day.  True to his word by the time the second formal night the ship was rolling side to side.  It became a challenge walking trying to anticipate the ships movement before you stepped off.  After dinner it was off to the Headliners Show featuring Marcus Terell; songs and dancing to Motown, Soul and Pop Hits.  He and two ladies that accompanied him put on a pretty good show.  To end the evening we were back in the Schooner bar for music, talk and drinks.
 


Day 9 the ship was still rolling but not as much as the day before and it gradually ended with calmer seas and us reaching the mouth of the bay at around 3:00 pm.  One final dinner in the MDR to say so long to our table mates, waiter and asst. waiter.  After dinner we went to the Parade of Flags in the Centrum; several of the countries represented put on a show as their country was called.  We missed the Farewell show as we were just finishing up our dinner.  They evening was capped off with a few drinks in the Schooner bar and saying goodbye to two of the wonderful waiters we had there.
Managed to catch us sailing over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.
 

Well time to wrap this one up.
Summary
Grandeur of the Seas was our second cruise, with the first one being the Oasis of the Seas.  Everyone told us we did it backwards, as we were supposed to start small then go big.  I booked this cruise for the cost and also everyone I talked to spoke highly of the ship and its crew.  She had very few detractors so I booked her even before we set sail on our first cruise.  I’m going to touch on various aspects of the ship and give you my/our perspective of it.  If I don’t touch on a subject/aspect you have questions on ask away.
The ship:  Launched in 1996, she has quite a few nautical miles on her; she shows her age in a few places.  I observed a few areas on deck 5, where corrosion has eaten away a few doors/panels; but everything was freshly painted.  Now that the bad part is out of the way; I found the ship to be tastefully decorated, clean and well maintained.  It was very easy to get around to the various portions of the ship.  The ocean was visible from many venues on the ship from the Centrum, all the bars, and restaurants, something that was missing from the Oasis.
The room:  We had and ocean view room on deck 3 directly across from the forward elevator lobby.  The room was clean and everything worked.  I experienced the clingy shower curtain, first shower it reached out and caressed by backside when I wasn’t looking.   Thanks to hints I received on the forums, a few binder clips at the bottom put a stop to our affair.  The bed was firm and we found it comfortable.  We asked our room steward for ice on the first day and she dutifully provided fresh ice twice a day.  I did hear noise from kids running in the hall several times and one night I could hear sounds from the storing of gangway equipment above us for about 20 minutes when we left Port Canaveral.   
Dining:  Most of our meals were taken in the MDR.  Seating at breakfast we had a short wait on a few occasions, but most of the time we were escorted right to the table.  We had early traditional seating at a six top table; our waiter was Salmen and the assistant waiter was Jely.  Salmen was charming and engaging constantly checking to make sure our meals were good.  Jely was very sweet and her primary job was keeping our glasses full and clearing the table.  Dining took anywhere from 1-1.5 hours from start to finish, although the 1.5 hour could have been partially due to the pleasant conversations we had with our tablemates.  We did find out that the dining room opens 15 minutes before the assigned time.  One couple liked to make the early show so they would take our orders first and usually got us out by 6:30. Were pretty easy to please and always found one or two things we’d like to eat.
We had a few meals in the Windjammer; I found the organization in this one much better than the one on the Oasis.  The food was typical buffet food, never had too much trouble finding a seat.  I had a few lunches at Park Café, both times I tried the soup and carved meat sandwich.  Both of those meals were light and the hot soup hit the spot on the couple of cool days that we ate there.  Café Latitudes was a good place to get our morning coffees; we also had a muffin there one morning that was pretty good.
Entertainment:  We watched several shows in the Paladium Theater, and enjoyed all of them it was never hard to find a seat.  In fact there were always plenty of open seats at each show.  Mike was an excellent CD and CC was also very good as the AD.  The Schooner bar was our favorite go to spot whether it was playing trivia or listening to the piano player or string duet.  Two waiters were standouts in the Schooner bar and they were Kadek and Leslie.  Whenever they saw us they greeted us by name and remembered our favorite drinks.  The Centrum had a few good shows; however it was difficult finding seats at times and twice we found seats just off the stage area on deck 4 and when the show started our view was blocked by people standing in front of us or once everyone started dragging the chairs into the walkways to sit where they could see.
Pool deck:  Mostly due to the cold weather there were always plenty of chairs available.  Finding chairs in the Solarium was a challenge a couple of times; all but one time we were able to find a lounger for a couple of hours, that one time we had to take a table and chair off to the side.  The Solarium was open to all on the first and last sea day.
The crew:  Outstanding, excellent and superb are words that describe every crew member we engaged on the ship.  We have already mentioned several of them here by name but there were many more who we met that were just as pleasant and great to engage.  I don’t think we ran into a single crew member who wasn’t friendly and upbeat.
Okay that’s about all I can think of to comment on if anyone has any questions I’ll do my best to answer them.  Thanks for following along and oh yeah we booked the Majesty this April while on board the Grandeur.  Next cruise incentives were reduced deposits ($100 pp) and they were offering onboard credit up to $600.  FYI we got $50 for and ocean view on the Majesty, not much but $50 bucks is $50 bucks that wasn’t offered before we cruised.
 

twangster thanks, your reviews are the standard for all.  Have really enjoyed reading all of your reviews.

Day 10 – Debarkation Day
After our last breakfast in the MDR, it was back to our room to pick up our carryon bag.  One final check of the room for forgotten items and it was up to the South Pacific Lounge to wait for our departure number to be called.  We were scheduled for an 8:45-9:15 departure, at 8:45 they called our number and it was down to deck 4. Embarkation was painless, once we hit the gangway it was a brisk walk to customs, a quick glance at our passports and we walked into baggage claim.  We walked toward the pickup area and waited for our son to pick us up. Soon we were heading up the ramp to I95 South and the cruise was over.
I’m going to do a summary of the ship and cruise to finish up the review, thanks to everyone who followed along.

I had seen the reviews for a restaurant called “El Cristo Restaurant” so we wanted to eat there.  Remember I said we weren’t foodies, well we split a chicken empanada appetizer that was like tasting heaven.  I had the Cubano “El Christo” sandwich and the wife had the Cuban sandwich.  The sandwiches were large and we couldn’t finish them no matter how good they were.  If I had it to do over again I would have a made a meal of the empanadas, it’s a restaurant I would highly recommend.
 

Back at Bayside we hopped on the next City Loop bus, this bus took us thru Coconut Grove, Little Havana and downtown Miami.  We got off in Little Havana to walk around, the bus stop was right in front of Domino Park the park was full of domino players.  We walked to the Bay of Pigs memorial taking pictures along the way, by now we were pretty hungry. 

Day 3-Port Canaveral/Orlando
By morning the seas had calmed and it was warming up, due to the storm the previous day our arrival into port was delayed by two hours.  We had purchased the Chops “Lobster Brunch” on day 1 so we weren’t in a hurry to get up for breakfast so we had a leisurely morning.  I wasn’t overly impressed with the brunch.  It included fruit, cheeses, a mound of shrimp, bacon, pre-cooked eggs and, omelets.  After the help yourself buffet, they brought out lobster for everyone.  It was the same lobster that they serve on the second formal night.  All in all we were not impressed could have just had a nice breakfast in the MDR.
 We weren’t going ashore in Port Canaveral so the afternoon was spent exploring the ship and lying around in the Solarium.  We had learned from our two D+ dining companions that if we arrived at 5:15 pm they would start serving us.  They always wanted to go to the early show so that helped all of us, as we were done with dinner around 6:45 pm.  Tonight’s headliner show was Albert Lucas a comedic juggler.  He put on a pretty amazing show and has a pretty extensive performing career starting on the Ed Sullivan show and touring with Liberace.   We ended the night in the Schooner Bar listening to the Blue Ocean Duo.  Two ladies from the Ukraine played easy listening music on the guitar and viola. 
We had a late departure due to getting into port two hours late.  We were scheduled to leave at 11:00 pm but didn’t end up leaving to just before midnight.  I later heard that they were waiting for an excursion to get back.  This was the night that we heard all the noise above us when they were putting away the gangway barricades and equipment.
The Grandeur has some great art adorning her , here are a few pics :