Jared M.

Does anyone have pictures of the dinner menu in the Main Dining Room on Grandeur of the Seas for a 9 night cruise? This site doesn't have it available (I checked using the "Menus" tab) and the videos on YouTube or pictures on other sites are a little hard to read. Thanks in advance.

When I sailed on Allure of the Seas not too long ago, I ate at Giovanni's Table (Specialty Italian Restaurant), Windjammer Marketplace (Buffet), and Silk (Main Dining Room). I will just say that paying for a specialty restaurant is very worth it because of the luxurious experience. I still loved the Windjammer Marketplace and the Main Dining Room but I definitely preferred one over the other. On Allure of the Seas, the Windjammer Marketplace had a wide variety of options, which I deeply appreciated because I like to try new things. I definitely tried small portions of new foods in the Windjammer Marketplace--some I liked and some I didn't. Also, since I was on an Oasis Class ship, the Windjammer Marketplace was absolutely massive. There was an abundance of seating--and even during peak hours, I was always able to find a table. However, I do know that Serenade of the Seas is a smaller ship, so I don't know if the Windjammer Marketplace is as spacious. The one thing I wasn't so crazy about the Windjammer Marketplace was the food itself. It was good overall, but the quality of the food wasn't as good as in the Main Dining Room. I appreciated that the Windjammer Marketplace was casual, fast, and easy. I ate here for breakfast and lunch throughout the cruise and thought it was fine. However, I definitely enjoyed the Main Dining Room way more because of the experience. I understand why people don't like how slow the Main Dining Room is (yes it is extremely slow sometimes), but it feels a lot more luxurious and the service is top-notch. Silk, the third-level of the Main Dining Room on Allure of the Seas was absolutely gorgeous--it was extremely elegant and it even felt like a 5-star restaurant on land solely based on the ambience. The Main Dining Room on Serenade of the Seas looks gorgeous too. I also found that the quality of the food was much better in the Main Dining Room and it looked way more appetizing. Everything I ate tasted absolutely delicious especially the escargot. My servers on the Allure of the Seas were fantastic, too. My only complaint about the Main Dining Room in general is the tightness and lack of variety for both breakfast and dinner. The breakfast menu offered the same 12 items and the mini-buffet everyday and the although the dinner menu did change every night, a good portion of the menu was offered every night. But needless to say the food was definitely very good. I found that I liked the Main Dining Room better overall.

Although the bigger ships seem "more exciting" and have more to do (Voyager Class, Freedom Class, Oasis Class, Quantum Class), the smaller ships often offer more exciting ports of call during their voyages and depart from more accessible/less expensive ports to get to. Although cruises to Cuba are no longer exist, Majesty of the Seas and Empress of the Seas were offering top dollar for their cabins for cruises to Cuba because RCI's larger vessels never cruised to Cuba, which is why RCI kept those 2 ships. The future of these 2 ships are unknown. With RCI's Vision Class and Radiance Class ships, they still because they still make a lot of revenue for RCI, and all their ships in current operation are to remain in operation because it brings in money. Also, Ports of Tampa and Baltimore can only accommodate this size of ship or smaller. Ironically, a lot of people find it easy to drive to Baltimore or fly to Tampa because it is rather inexpensive (usually)--flying to Miami, Orlando, or Fort Lauderdale during the summer months (which is really almost year-round) is not cheap by any means. In the future, I think we can see Majesty of the Seas and Empress of the Seas leave RCI (because of the ban to Cuba), but I don't see any reason for RCI to remove any of their ships in the near future. A cruise is a cruise.

Is Empress of the Seas and Majesty of the Seas leaving Royal Caribbean? These ships only have sailings until the end of 2019 available to be booked, yet for the rest of the ships are offering sailings through 2021. Why is this? I understand that these are RCI's oldest ships, but they were both refurbished not too long ago. If RCI were to no longer use these vessels, this would make the "Vision Class" the oldest class in the RCI fleet, allowing for the Grandeur of the Seas (b. 1996) to be RCI's oldest ship. Thoughts?

I hear that there is a dry dock for Grandeur of the Seas over the next 2-3 weeks. Does anyone have an idea what is going to happen in this dry dock--like any minor or major renovations or will this just be for maintenance? I am going onboard this ship in the near future and I am just curious of what is happening during this dry dock.