We sailed on Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas, a 5 night cruise from Baltimore to Bermuda. I have to admit I was worried because of the bad reviews, but I was so pleasantly surprised! Yes, it's an older ship, and it feels like you're stepping back into the 1990s. But the service was excellent, and everyone I met on the ship was so friendly! Even the people cleaning the various rooms were so willing to help and strike up a conversation. I also had read that the food was bad, but I didn't have that experience at all. The dining experience in the main dining room was delightful, with plenty of delicious options. The buffet had even more delicious options, and catered to different types of ethnicities which I appreciated (e.g., Indian bread, bok choy, etc.). I would definitely cruise on this ship again! read more

5.25.23 Cons -Check-in process: Upon arrival on the ship, the staff were friendly, but unknowledgeable answering questions for safety check-in. We were supposed to go to our assigned muster, but was given bad instructions and went back and forth between different lines. Had the staff been properly trained they should have been able to provide clear instructions. -Wifi sucked!! - My friend and I paid for the internet package ($17.99 per day for 2 devices) and my service was constantly interrupted. I might as well have not paid for it. -Limited tv channels - Literally only two or three channels, one of which was the cruise line info. Wish there had been more channels especially since it rained most of the time I was on vacay and the one day I was hungover and cooped up in my room. -Dining: Redundant options for lunch and the quality was equivalent to hospital or cafeteria food. I was bored of our offerings. Dinner was better, but those in my travel group who are hearty eaters said the portions were small. Also my friend who is vegetarian said they had limited options to accommodate her dietary restrictions. Most people gain weight on cruises because of the buffets, but I lost weight and I'm sure my friend did too. -Stateroom: Very small and the bathrooms were even smaller. My friend and I are petite and our bodies touches the curtains. Ewww. Also the shower stall had bad drainage and the water rose where it covered my feet. Gross!! The only pro of the toilet was that it had a powerful flush. -Stateroom's Door: Always hard to open and took several attempts each time. One time it slipped and my finger got caught and bruised. -Activities: Offerings were limited as was the frequency of the offerings. It would have been nice to offer several activities more than once a day especially when the weather is bad. I didn't like that a handful cost an addl fee. My friend who frequently goes on cruises said that a game of Bingo has increased considerably from $20 to $50 for 3 cards. -Electrical Outlets: Would have been convenient to have them accessible by the beds. -Gym: Limited equipment and quantity. Got very busy. -Shops: Limited to jewelry, accessory, souvenir/convenient store. I was expecting more. -Photography: Shocking that they only offer printed copies of the professional photographs. Digital is the way to go. A bit pricy too. $25 for one photo, $80 for 5 and there were a few other packages. -Medical Facility: On my last full day on the cruise, I suffered badly from a hangover as I normally don't drink much. I was shocked that they didn't have Pepto Bismol to offer. I went to the medical facility and was shocked that consultations cost $150. I couldn't justify paying that when I was sure Pepto would cure my nausea. So I slept it off all day and that helped me feel like a human again by dinnertime. -Ship: 1) Smelled moldy and like sewer at times unless someone had an accident. 2) Interior is outdated and could definitely use a facelift. 3) Since it was a smaller ship on days when the weather was bad, I definitely felt the motion more. 4) Being on the lower level I heard the engine and a lot of creaking noises, which was unpleasant when trying to sleep. Pros -Assigned attendants: Noel, our stateman and our waiters, Pande and Armando were wonderful!! So friendly and helpful. -General staff: Friendly and tried to be helpful, but found that not all were knowledgeable. -Food: Chocolate desserts from the buffet in Windjammer and the dining room and the Chef's Table were amazing! Highly recommend the latter, which has limited slots so sign up early. Note that it is three hours long, but worth it if you are a foodie, like wine and fine dining. -Drinks: Those in my travel groups that had the premium beverage package said they offer a variety of drinks, but that they were weak. The pina colada and daiquiri I had during my trip were great. Final thoughts: Glad to say I can cross off going on a cruise from my bucket list, but I am a bit traumatized and don't plan to go on another cruise in my lifetime and if I do it will be on a newer and larger cruise line. read more

Royal Caribbean Baltimore - 5.20.23 - Transportation Near Me - Baltimore, Maryland

My family left for Royal Caribbean cruise from the port. The ports workers grabbed our bags from our vehicle and directed us to the building so we can make our way to the cruise ship once in the building with the CBP agents, the lines were a little long, but we moved smoothly and transition to our ship with ease. read more

Currently on this cruise with my husband, his sister and her husband. We set sail sept. 3-8 and been enjoying it to the max!! The service on this ship is amazing. The wait staff as well as the stateroom staff all know who you are and what you like. They make you feel like your on vacation with friends. Our cruise will end tomorrow and I'm tearing as I write this review. Will definitely take last photos with our friends from RC so not to ever forget them!! Everyone is amazingly friendly and thoughtful! We came on to celebrate my husband's birthday. This is the reason I didn't give the complete five stars and I hope they will improve in this area. So 3 days befor setting sail I called to order a specialty cake, gluten-free and sugar free vanilla. I was told that this would have to be ordered once I was on board. On sept 2 we board and I went to guest services to place order which someone (don't recall his and her names) wrote on a piece of paper and assured me it would be taken care of for sept 5th after our dinner. Two days later, since I hadn't gotten confirmation I decide to go back to check and so glad I did!! Jennifer checked the system and found no order for my cake! :/ she was so quick to put it in and apologized. I asked her if I needed to check back she said no that the order went directly to chef. At dinner I mentioned to our main waiter because he took our dessert order and seemed clueless. Well, he was! I don't know what their protocol is like, if they check the clients account for the evening but, yeah, no clue. Long story short, my husband ended up getting wind of the cake so it wasn't a surprise. But we did get a beautiful cake and about 5 waiters sang him happy birthday! They made up for the mishap with extra plates of food for my husband. He was happy that's all I wanted. The food was ok not the top quality I expected. It definitely won't be missed or craved. I guess it's better that way, otherwise; I'd HAVE to go on another cruise just to have the food, lol. Yeah, so no dishes stood out and I tried just a bit of everything. This ship does need a facelift and staterooms could've been cleaner. I'm OCD WITH THINGS BEING SPOTLESS LOL! But really who wants to see hair from previous inhabitants or their fingerprints on ceiling, cabinets, and door frames! Yuck my pillows smelled really sweaty! I asked for fresh ones and they were immediately replaced with fresher ones! The decore is very 90s but I was happy it wasn't all brown, burgundy and hunter green. The decore is green, tan and we'll see photos. The public restrooms all smelled of urine and one restroom had only one stall working and all out of toilet paper. Overall, it was a good cruise but next time will go back to a more updated ship. Six stars to crew who did a spectacular broadway show all while the ship rocked!! AMAZING!!!!!! Can't say enough how great all the crew were! Parking at terminal was very well executed. My only regret is not having done this in my mid twenties!!! You need so much stamina to keep up with all the activities, and excursions that we barely got to see Bermuda beaches :( I hope to be able to do another 3-4 cruises in the next decade of our lives! read more

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This is how we start, booked a nine day cruise with Royal Caribbean, how they get you they get you check your luggage, check your board and then change itinerary started September 19 for a Canadian cruise, which turned out to be a Bahama cruise. They canceled our cruise at the last minute. The weather was bad, the ship we sailed was vision of the seas from Royal Caribbean, which is an older ship, if you decide to take the cruise do not, not on this ship . customer service stinks when they tell you you have to leave an area because you're a game of dice that starts the problem they tell you where to go, but when you get there, they say you're not allowed to pay any games. There is only place you can play any sort of game game is down by the pool and there is not big enough for a group of 10,this was scheduled a year inadvance, family members took time off of work to go on the cruise and it turned out to be a disaster. The itinerary is first stop Charleston, South Carolina, which is four hours from home not a place to go to a day at Sea , then Freeport Bahamas, where there is no beaches inside to go unless you want to pay the extra money, then they sending you to Nassau which again has no beaches around unless you want to pay for excursion the third stop is Coco OK which is their private island? Do not spend your money if you wanna go on a ship that appreciates your business is carnival ,carnival , carnival, there's a reason they call it the friendships because you actually get to have fun ,sadly they would've told the people on vacation this before they left the ship would be empty. Nobody came prepared for the heat. Everybody came prepared for cold. weather will keep you guys updated just how bad this cruise gets. read more

We enjoyed our cruise! The pros: drink and dinner packages; the food, the quick on boarding and exiting the ship; Darryl and Ricky were great and brought a lot of energy and excitement; the wait staff at The Gatsby (victor and Manuel) and Anthony at Starbucks! Good trip for families. They had awesome food especially Giovanni's! The cons: no ongoing music at pool; the shows were not that great (singers couldn't sing), the band at the pool couldn't understand what they were saying, couldn't hear and/or understand the captains announcements, too many teens preteens running amuck with no parents to see the shenanigans, people started saving chairs by the pool (sometimes unoccupied for hours) at 0700! Adult pool had no music and no air circulating, Overall it was a good trip, but we will go to another line next time...one with more activities outside of ring toss and beanbag throw. ;) Would recommend this for families with kids. read more

Royal Caribbean Baltimore - Transportation Near Me - Baltimore, Maryland

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I would normally give them 5 stars since were taken many cruises from Baltimore and loved them. BUT we are do to sail to the Northeast and Canada Sept 14! Of course hurricane Lee shows up. Today is the 12th and no word about our cruise!! Nothing. Canceled? Change in itinerary? Something! We have called. Checked everything we can think of. No updates. Very very disappointed! They need to realize people need to cancel transportation, hotels and other arrangements. Very disappointed this time!!!!!! read more

Went on an 8 night Bahamas cruise with the whole family over Christmas and definitely had more fun than I even expected. Here are the good points: 1. Leaves from bmore where we live so saves a lot of $ on airfare--overall ended up being about the same price as going somewhere else as a family. 2. Has lots of fun activities on the boat--especially ones I enjoy like dancing, singing, movies, an indoor adult pool that all my kids were old enough so we could sit and read even when it was very cold outside. 3. Food is pretty good--College kids didn't love Windjammer because they're so sick of eating in cafeterias, but the food in the main dining room was quite good. 4. Service is great 5. Because they nickel and dime you for just about everything, I bought internet for only my husband (who has to be connected at all times for work) and didn't tell the kids that it could be passed around. Therefore NO PHONES!!! This freed them to read books, and for our family to watch movies, play poker, dance, work out--it felt like a real family vacation where we were attentive to one another! 6. Coco Cay was extremely fun even though we arrived during a monsoon where the rain came down so hard it felt like needles on skin. Kids decided we would embrace the 70 degree day, and we swam, danced in the rain, just went for it. Here are some things we did right: 1. Bought the 3 special meal package and tried all the specialty restaurants. Could have gone without this, but it was Christmas. We also bought the wine paired 5 course tasting meal. Again, not necessary, but nice. 2. Did not buy any packages for on-shore excursions. On Nassau we did end up going with a local driver and getting a tour (which I really liked because I like learning), then going to the beach next to the cruise terminal. It was an extremely windy 71 degree day so not the best for beaching. Charleston we walked around, ate low country food, and walked to Fort Sumter. Again, really interesting. 3. Planned out each day what we (really I) wanted to do. So I went from workouts to dancing classes, to movies, to meals, to shows every night. The workout/dance preference meant I rarely ate breakfast, but that's OK because that's my normal life. This also meant I didn't hit the "I can't stand eating more restaurant food" mode that my body can go into. 4. Spent Christmas/Cape Canaveral day on the ship (after our forced disembarkment to go through customs, where the family insisted we do a family run through town). Turned out to be the only 78 degree day, so perfect for hanging by the pool and watching movies in the hot tub. I heard from others that Disney was so crowded you couldn't move that day and that they only went on 1 ride!!! 5. Wore the accupressure wristlets--no seasickness. 6. Brought 4 bottles of really good wine (max for 2 staterooms), and enjoyed with Chops Grille and Giovanni's Italian. 7. Bought the internet, special meals and photo package ahead of time. They're constantly running new specials so I had to cancel and change a couple of times, but I ultimately got some really good prices. Kids got a little sick of taking photos all the time, but I got a huge stack of really great family pictures. Here are some things that I'm still not sure if we made the right decision: 1. Bought the drink package for hubby and me (had to buy for every one in the stateroom). We probably left some $ on the table there, but it did free me to try pretty much anything I wanted and if I didn't like it, leave it. The wine selections there weren't amazing. 2. Bought the workout package--got a free body composition analysis (along with sales pitch for supplements) that meant we didn't lose $, but if we hadn't, we wouldn't have made up with classes, just because of schedule. 3. Bought the photo package for 2 staterooms because that's what the guy said I had to do. I think I could have bought it for only one stateroom and still have received most of the photos, although maybe not the ones of my kids alone. Overall, I had much more fun than I thought I would, and it was a great family vacation! read more

Grandparents of the Seas Good: Port convenience, some friendly professional staff, Bermuda Bad: Cruise smells bad from the minute you enter it. All common areas smells cigarette. No matter you go to decks or inside building. People smokes inside public toilets and even in pools. Food was hit/miss and didn't meet the expectations. Indian/Mexican/oriental night buffet were good and omelets, deserts were nice. Rest items were pretty much Olive Garden standard. Room were worn out and needs repair. Don't know who designed the shower but that person should be banned from designing anything anymore. I would have let $1000 deposit go away if I knew how bad this ship smells. Avoid this ship if you have plan to go with kids to avoid second hand smoking and piss smell. We are glad that we are not sick from this cruise. read more

Grandeur of the Seas - Baltimore MD Review: Sailed March 24 - April 5, 2018 - 12 day Southern Caribbean... Beautiful mid sized older classic ship, was properly maintained and kept clean, with a fantastic cruise director and his energetic staff, also had great ship entertainers, singers and dancers, with up to date lighting and sound system throughout the ship, and to top it off everything seemed evenly spaced and spread out so it never seemed overcrowded in any one area. Rouston Rodriguez, my stateroom attendant did an outstanding job of caring for the cabin and bathroom. Always clean and never a shortage of supplies. I feel he should be commended by RCI for his customer service. Great ports of call. Easy on-off access to the ship. Short piers to shopping and tours. Breakfast selection for room service is one of the best I've seen on cruise ships I've been on. Lots of choices and time options. Need more chairs set around the rail on decks 5 & 6 Centrum. About 15 or 20 on each deck would do the job nicely. In my opinion guest should not have to move furniture around the deck in order to sit where they can see the presentation going on in the middle. This could be extremely dangerous for older guest, especially if the weather is even just a little rough. Park Café in the Solarium on deck 9, left a lot to be desired. Never sailed on any cruise ship where you could not get a burger, hot dog, fries, pizza or nacho chips pool side for lunch. Had to go into the Windjammer Market, fight the crowds and bring the food poolside. Ice Cream maker on deck 9 port side outside the Windjammer Market was always in need something, just never seemed to work right. Not sure if this was due to not having a dedicated crew member supervising or if the machine just needed to be replaced. Anyway never seem to be enough ice cream available when needed mostly before and or after mealtime. The one on the starboard side was hardly ever used for some reason. It always worked great when it was in operation. The bed in stateroom 8546 could have been about 2" higher, so a larger standard size suit case could fit underneath. This would save a lot of closet space required to store them. This might be a good re-hab project to consider during one of your yard overhaul periods. One last thing: Non Dairy Coffee Creamer is not Half & Half, yet this is all you serve when ordering from room service. read more

Royal Caribbean Baltimore - Beautiful, well maintained, classic older ship... - Transportation Near Me - Baltimore, Maryland

I took the same cruise as Colin M. I agree with his comments on the food for the most part. I found the food in the Windjammer buffet to be the epitome of institutional fare. One the positive side if you are a picky Americanized eater, you will find hot dogs and hamburgers at almost every lunch and dinner. The hot dogs are passable, somewhere in quality between Ball Park and Sabrett, the hamburgers are without exaggeration, the worst I have ever had. They taste as if they have some odd filler in the meat. I attempted them on two days and finished neither of them. The selections in this buffet change frequently so you won't be forced to have the same thing over and over it's just not the greatest quality. In the main dining room, the food is of a slightly better quality, but portions are small. I had the shrimp salad on night and was served in a small bowl with three miniature shrimp. There was a steak and Lobster night, on the last Thursday at sea, but the Prime rib was cut small (6 OZ portions maybe) and the lobster tails looked like they cam from juveniles. The wait staff does an admirable job in being attentive and providing good service. Our Team Ping and Tushar, bent over backwards to make sure we had all that we needed. On Friday we did do the Chops Grill, which was a better experience , but going back to my past cruise experience. I expected the main dining room to be of Chops quality and chops to be NY Steakhouse quality. So overall, for me each venue was at least on notch below where it needed to be. The three star rating is more for the entertainment. "Big" Bob, "Tornado" Tanya, Gema and Orlando, were some of the people that made everything entertaining and fun. Even things that are usually relatively boring, (e.g. Bingo,) were made fun by Gema and Orlando. It sees that if you hear laughing or cheering, you'll find one of these people at the heart of it. Keep up the good work team! read more

This was our first cruise so a completely new experience for us. We cruised with Royal Caribbean, 5 night Bermuda. I was worried that check-in at the cruise terminal would take a while but it was pretty seamless. The employees at the terminal were okay but could have been a little friendlier. Once we got on the ship (Grandeur of the Seas) we were blown away by how lovely it was and immediately fell in love with cruising! This ship is really a well oiled machine. You can tell the crew has been there a while and know a lot of the passengers by name. They make sure your experience is a great one, especially the restaurant and housekeeping staff. Our kids also enjoyed their stay at the kids club, Adventure Ocean. The staff was awesome with them, so much so that they didn't even want to get out at Bermuda and wanted to stay on the ship! Overall a great experience and we'll be doing it again next year. read more

Just stepped off the Royal caribbean grandeur of the seas today. Overall, I would give the experience a 3.5 out of 5. It was very fun. However, there were quite a few negatives that left a sour taste in my mouth. Have realistic expectations prior to boarding. The ship has not aged well in comparison with newer ships. Pros: * Very friendly staff. Especially the schooner bar! Although, some were quite rude and unfriendly. But the majority were great! * The food in the Windjammer (the buffet) was fantastic. We found ourselves eating there several times over the week for dinner! * speciality restaurants! We said to ourselves before leaving that we didn't want to spend extra on the speciality restaurants since everything is already included. We are so happy we changed our minds! We ate at Chops and then Giovannis table. Absolutely worth it. It was some of the best food I've had in my life. It also had an amazing ambiance and views of the water. * Delicious cocktails at the bars! Cons: * main dining room felt stressful and uncomfortable. If you're a table of two, they won't let you sit at just a table for two. We asked. But they won't accommodate you. So if you just want a little privacy at dinner, don't do the main dining room. * bad smells. It's true. The whole ship does smell like cigarettes. I also noticed a sewage type smell through the hallways. * SEATING!!!! Oh my goodness! It was so frustrating. Since there's not much to do on this ship, most people spend the day playing cards. But there is never anywhere to sit because of this. And you spend most of the time wandering the ship searching for just somewHere to sit. * lack of activities. There was usual just one show a night, a couple of trivia games, and a couple of movies, hey if that's your thing, cool. But this is not a ship for younger cruise goers who want fun activities. We like to keep busy. But sadly, we found the activities were targeting the ships older crowd. 60's and 70's night. In our 20's, it's kind of hard to relate to these activities. * music??? We noticed many of the venues didn't play any music. Besides, a couple of times a day, there would be some live music in the lobby. Like a piano or the violin but those just put us to sleep.... But there was never really any fun party music. Which is a big deal for us. We were very bored with the music All in all, it's a ship that has aged poorly. But they have a nice staff, and hey you Can't complain too much when you go to the bahamas in January. Would I do a cruise again? Yes. Grandeur of the seas? No. read more

At first, I wasn't going to write anything but then I thought how about this happens to someone else so I decided to warn as many people as possible. I booked a 7-night cruise with Royal Caribbean, had it on a payment plan, faithfully paid monthly. I work for attorneys so I am very much use to reading the fine print. It read if you cancel your trip 90 days before your cruise you get a 100% refund. LISTEN EVERYONE, THAT IS A LIE. I called, told them my husband got injured at work, he was forced to retire and until I get used to living on a reduced income, I have to put cruising on hold. The agent was super professional, then she told me I would receive a refund of $2,000. Well, I had paid $2,500 toward the trip so, no, I would like the entire $2,500 please. She further informed me that there was a nonrefundable fee of $500. I told her, no, I read everything that came up on the pages and it clearly stated 100% refund if cancelled 90 days before the cruise. No one in their right mind would book a cruise and then allow a cruise line to keep $500 if something unexpected happens in their life. She puts me on hold and comes back and speaks to me as if she is doing me a favor -- she says they will put $300 on a cruise credit and the nonrefundable would be $200. No, I would like all of my money please. No matter what I said I couldn't get my money back. Then I emailed the company -- you will love this, I tell them my husband was hurt (explained everything) -- their response to that, a vacation planner emails me telling me that he wants to assist me in booking another cruise. Then a week later I receive an email with a page showing a nonrefundable fee, the problem, that page never came up while I was booking my cruise. So not only does Royal Caribbean steal people's money but they are deceptive liars too. How do I fight a large conglomerate like Royal Caribbean? Do I just sit down and allow them to steal from me? What is my recourse? My husband has been hospitalized twice, basically on house rest, taking all these meds and I have this person telling me that he wants to assist me in booking another cruise. NO, GIVE ME BACK MY $500. ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISE LINE YOU ARE A THIEF. cc: Every cruise line publication, vacation planning website I can find and I will continue so until you give me back my money. read more

Pay all that money to board a cruise with a bunch of rude staff at the port! This is my second time cruising with royal caribbean and I honestly don't think ill ever cruise with them ever again. The staff here is so rude and ignorant it's ridiculous, I'm trying to board the cruise on a positive note but the staff here is just so negative it irks me. Incident one. A group of elderly women were exiting their vehicle, they were parked nearby the crosswalk and a staff member came out and yelled at them like they were dogs! Telling them to hurry up or else they'll get fined, then rolled his eyes at them when they were taking their time. They're old! Have some respect! Help them get out or something if you want to speed things up. Incident two. A security guard called me over to try to lure me into buying a specialty dining package, I said no thanks and she called me "a broke ass." Really though? Royal caribbean needs to teach their staff about respect and courtesy. Will never cruise with them again. read more

My final decision NOT to board the Grandeur of the Sea this afternoon comes as an afterthought and I thank Mr. Bill M. of Atlanta, GA for his review that influences & helps me to make such a decision. I am hyper-sensitive to so many kinds of allergen & pollution, especially the cigarette smoke. It's a pity that we will now have to forgo a few thousand dollars of the amount paid in full for two passengers by NOT traveling on it --off the Baltimore Cruise Port --this Thanksgiving afternoon. I regret NOT checking that this Grandeur of the Sea IS the THIRD OLDEST cruise ships of the Royal Caribbean --in the sense that smoke and odor ---most likely for the past TWENTY TWO YEARS since 1996-- have been long absorbed into the wall and all kinds of panels and rooms. Yes, even a big ship will AND can absorb and retain odor exactly like a long time and slowly smoked meat! And 22 years of being smoked??? --- Case in point, try walk into a smoking room at either a hotel or a pub or a bar -- that had been around for a long long time, for instance. That's why Mr. Bill M. can detect and smell cigarette everywhere. [ It may be heaven for smokers --that people can bypass the rules and smoke everywhere on this ship for over two decades; but for anyone, so allergic to cigarette smoke and whatnot, it will be just a pure nightmare for nine solid days.] Thank you Mr. Bill M., I think I will stay peace and quiet in our smoke-free home today. Had your review been posted much earlier than this past mid-October 2018, we would have made our earlier decision to be on this cruise very differently. --From "Supposedly to be in cabin 7156 about seven and a half hours from now" Additional information discovered by chance -- as of November 25th. 2018:- In "CREW NEWS",-- posted and written by Mr. Jim Walker on January 16th, 2017 --he indicated that he boarded the Grandeur of the Seas with a maritime expert, who was to inspect the case where a crew member was seriously injured by the lifeboats' incident of that ship, One observation derived from this inspection had been that The Grandeur of the Seas was a "victim of deferred maintenance" as one could see "very heavy rust in the metal throughout the ship ", -- particularly around the windows --- near the stern on the upper starboard side --were then with temporary covers. read more

Enjoyed a really fast 7 day cruise from Baltimore to the Bahamas 2 weeks ago. Never sailed on Royal before, but since it was right here 20 min from my house, seemed like a good idea, And it was! Smallish ship, but lots to do and did not feel crowded. And it was spotless. Doing Bermuda on same ship next month. Great price, excellent home port and lovely service. I might just leave my bags packed and start counting the days! read more

I recently sailed to Bermuda on a 6 night cruise from Baltimore. The ship was very clean, and all the service staff were exceptionally pleasant and helpful. The one big negative I have is the food, which would have to improve to be called mediocre. They have a bunch of "premium dining options" on the cruise where you can pay extra for better food. I kinda got the idea that the regular food was made intentionally bad to induce people to pay for the premium food. All in all, I'd say paying just over $700 for an all inclusive 6 night vacation is a pretty good deal. read more

We were on the 9/16- 9/22 cruise. I am writing to tell everyone how dissatisfied we are as a group of 12. THIS CRUISE SHOULD HAVE BEEN CANCELED. RC decided it would be a great idea to continue the cruise right into the Hurriane Jose? The pool was closed 90% of the time. Pretty much the entire ship was sick. There was puke all over, my family friends and myself were green. People were hitting walls while walking, old people too. Waves were crashing into the boat so hard on the way home that it woke us up with a crashing boom, my lights flickered and I was gathering my kids because it sounded like a disaster. All drawers and doors were slamming in and out all night. Our very own WAITER was out ill for our dinner seating...we paid ALOT of money for this cruise and Royal Caribbean didn't care enough about our safety to cancel or rescheduled. We are disgusted, this was 6 out of 12 peoples first cruise... what a shame. The medic was handing out meclizine like tic tacs. How will make this right to all the people who suffered during this nightmare. read more

I Cruised on the Grandeur of the Seas from September 1st to September 10th, 2016. The Cruise was to Maine and Nova Scotia. The food was delicious and the shows were fun! I learned so many new exercises to do at home from the Personal Trainer, Kyle. I would recommend Kyle's seminar on Increasing the metabolism. It changed my outlook on what I should be eating that is healthy. Also, his early morning workout classes helped me to maintain and not gain weight on this cruise. Jason is an outstanding singer. His voice and welcoming smile really added to the song and dance shows. Kelly would organize fun games while on the cruise. She remembered my name and always greeted me. I highly recommend this cruise. read more

Royal Caribbean unfortunately has no control over those who run the terminal security. Once through that debacle Royal Caribbean did a very good getting people registered and off to their rooms. Our luggage arrived about an hour after we were on board. read more

Grandeur of the seas. Second cruise on this ship. 10 days. Superior service. Well organized entry and exit ship. Very poor selections of Beers in today's expansion of Craft and micro. Major domestics are just mundane. There are so many. Even having bottles or cans would be huge improvement. If you like quality beer, don't bother with the package. They only had Newcastle Brown, and constantly ran out. Perhaps a clue that Bud is not quality. Domestic Heineken is also not close. Groelch is good. Leffe excellent and great for international guests. read more

My cruise on "Grandeur" was in October, 2016 and it was about what I had expected. We left Baltimore and visited Boston, Portland, ME, Bar Harbor, Maine, St. John NB, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Dining room service was exceptional, altho the food was pretty much average for a cruise ship. The deck 9 Casual restaurant was not as good, but some dishes, of course, were better than others. I was glad to see my beloved lox and bagels available every breakfast. There as a lot of Indian food, but the Asian dishes were pedestrian. Nothing was spiced very robustly, but the passenghers were primarily senior citizens who would not respond to much spice. We had a little talk with the chef over the purported "chicken picata" the first day. He didn't seem impressed and blamed the people who place the food out on the buffet. The ship was a little "shop worn" and its age was obvious. It is one of RCCL's smallest and oldest ships. A few things that irked me- The pool deck band was VERY lackluster- Five very glum guys with predominately canned "reggae-ish" music- No singer- just instrumentals. Can't imagine what has happened with the deck musicians- they seem too canned in Carnival's cruises too. Musical performances each night in the "atrium" were pleasant. Smoking as another item- it is allowed in a very small part of the casino and one side of the pool deck- nowhere else. On a Fall cruise to New England and Canada, where it is often windy and pretty cool, you have to dress like an Eskimo to have a smoke topside. My room steward was apparently a beginner and screwed up a number of matters. By the end of the cruise, he was doing OK. The ports were nice, but the shore excursions we took were dull and for the most part extremely expensive. Embarkation and debarkation were smooth and quick. read more

We cruised on the Grandeur of the Seas out of Baltimore, Maryland from November 1-11, 2015. We have found that Royal Caribbean has become very cheap in many ways (they will be addressed here). We enjoyed the cruise but a lot of improvements can be made to make the experience even better and provide the "WOW " factor that they try to promote. I will explain in the next few paragraphs. First of all is the service of the employees. Service on board was very good; I have no issues with the actual work being done. That being said, there were very few smiles. I find smiling makes the service experience a whole lot better even if the actual work output remains the same. Happy employees make the experience on board better. Our stateroom attendant (Asmadi Fnu) and our dining room server (Ann Jelie) were two employees who worked very hard and were very friendly and always smiled; they provided the "WOW factor to me and deserve to be personally recognized in this review. Secondly, the entertainment. The entertainment on the ship was very good. The cruise director was super funny. I would have one suggestion for the cruise director. It would be nice to have a couple of announcements through the PA system with various activities to attend (this is in addition to the Morning Show shown daily on Channel 14 on TV and the Cruise Compass). A perfect time for the afternoon announcements would be right after the captain's message at 12:00 each at sea day. I have seen this on various competitor's cruise ships. Thirdly, the process of going ashore on port days (no tender). Although a minor point, I found it disappointing that there were no announcements made stating that we are ready to go ashore. They stated it was early on one day and that is why they did not make an announcement. However, they never made any announcements for any of the ports we went to with the exception of Grand Cayman as we tendered and they needed to let people know when a certain tender ticket could proceed to shore. Finally and most importantly, the food. I did not have any particular problem with the food tasting horrible. I did however, find many ways that Royal Caribbean has become very cheap with the meals. The main thing I noticed is the menus at The Great Gatsby. They have only a section for starters and entrees and a separate dessert menu. I know from most (if not all) of my previous cruises there were three sections on the main menu. Most people only get one appetizer and one entrée. Of course you can order more if you would like in which case I did but the menu should have a third area. Another thing I did not like was during the first night or so while waiting in line; we were approached by an employee trying to get us to spend money at Chop's Grill while we were waiting in line. We do not like spending more money on food when we go on cruises and we just use the included restaurants on board the ship. While I can see them advertising their restaurants for the people who do want to try them, there should not be an employee at the line for the main dining room. They should keep their advertisements on television, at the beginning of the cruise and perhaps a posting or two around the ship. Also worth mentioning is the fact that there are items for purchase from Chops Grill available to be ordered from the main dining room menu. While I am sure the food from Chops Grill would most likely be great, when I go to the dining room I do not want to see items for purchase on the menu (this does not include alcohol of course; as that is fully expected). The chocolates on the bed have disappeared too which, in my opinion, proves even more that Royal Caribbean is getting very cheap. I wanted to also say that the process of embarkation and disembarkation was stellar at the Baltimore Cruise Port; a definite 10 out of 10! Everything went very smooth and it took very little time to process during both of these activities. I think it probably took about 30 minutes to get on the ship and about 30 minutes to get off the ship. All in all, we enjoyed our cruise but we definitely got the feeling that Royal Caribbean is penny-pinching really bad. While nothing on this cruise will prevent us from considering Royal Caribbean for a future cruise, there are many improvements that can be made to improve the guest experience. read more

One and done! Cruised on the Grandeur in mid-Feb to two Florida ports, Nassau and Coco Cay. Compared to three other cruise lines we have been on in the last few years, RCCL is on the bottom for the following: food quality and selection, size of stateroom, handling of de -barking of guests at ports in a timely manner, and annoying passengers with attempts to get you to spend more $$ in the other restaurants. In the middle of dinner and breakfast on two separate days, we were bugged by someone to get us to buy meals in two different restaurants. The fitness center (gym) is tiny. Overall, not worth the $$. Cruising out of Baltimore is easy, just go with the other cruise line, not RCCL. read more

My wife and I went on the cruise to Bermuda from 6/30 to 7/5 2018. We had water issues in our cabin that took me 3 days to figure out because they couldn't. The food at to restaurant was sub par and the entertainment was okay. I certainly feel like that's 5 days of my life I can't get back. It really was a miserable 5 days. read more

We signed up for a cruise out of Baltimore to New England in July 2019. We signed up for cruise in September for 5 people. We picked all our excursions. In the span of 24 hours, two excursions have been cancelled. No good reason given. Of course, at this point, most excursions are full. Customer service is non existent. We are a party of 5, they asked if we wanted a table for 4 for dinner. This sign up process had been horrible read more

This ship is strictly for the elderly and people wanting to EAT and SLEEP. VERY BORING OLD SHIP! Save your money.

Put a deposit on a 12 day cruise for a Christmas Cruise in December. I read the payment dates wrong. I thought I had until the 5 Oct to pay the other half. the cruise line called me today and said we cancelled your cruise and I can reinstate it if you pay the whole 3200 now.... I asked if I could pay 2,000 today and the guy was rude and said NO the balance, and then I asked if what I did pay could transfer to another cruise date, NO was my answer. Just lost money that I did pay, thanks Christian for all your help...This used to be my favorite cruse line, NO MORE! read more

I just got off the phone with Royal Caribbean attempting to give them my money. The call took one hour. Yesterday, I booked a cruise for my sister as a retirement present. I paid the deposit on line. I had not received any confirmation of payment or communication of any kind today, so I called. They could give me no additional information nor take additional payment, nor even seem to find the details of the reservation at all. No way to make additional payment was available short of going on line and opening a new account, since my last name was not the same as my sister. I asked for a supervisor since Royal had already taken my deposit, and I couldn't understand why the principal customer could not make additional payments on line. When my supervisor Marvin was connected, he was able to shed no further light on why the payer of the fee could not pay the rest of his fee online. I explained to Marvin that it seemed odd that they had a customer who was attempting to give them money and no easy method was available to him. I mentioned that it could have been the case that I was a husband buying a cruise for his wife who had maintained her maiden name and I would still be locked out of the loop. Marvin issued his apologies, but that's just the way the system worked. Well, Royal, that's not a very good system. I finally got Marvin to agree to take the balance of the fee over the phone so I would not have to spend an additional hour on the phone with someone else trying to figure out how to take the money and to whom to send confirmation. I might add that despite this hour long ordeal, no compensation of any kind was forthcoming. Unfortunate. Very unfortunate. read more

Cruise was so bad I paid $300 to deboard the ship after 40 hours when we hit our first port. Food was disgusting but my room was a human milkshake machine. Staff was not at all helpful--in fact very rude. Afterward,when I called customer relations , the boat personnel lied about "reaching out to me" and offering to change my accommodations. Complete lies made up to cover themselves. Any body that uses this group deserves what they get. read more

We booked a cruise with Royal Caribbean about a year in advance. It cost $1,400 plus airfare to Fort Lauderdale. The deadline to pay was August 14th. So we paid by credit card. The very next day on August 15th they changed the itinerary of our cruise. They must have known about the change before we paid. Then they changed the itinerary again. We ended up in ports we did not want to visit and paid full price. Our travel insurance was useless. What Royal Caribbean did was not illegal but it was unethical. I think they knew changes would be made and they took our money anyway. No apology. No refund. The Allure of the Seas is not a great ship, in my opinion. I feel we were cheated and it was an awful trip. We will never, never use Royal Caribbean again. read more

We Cruised the Grandeur of the Seas from December 21st to January 2nd. In spite of the treatment we received from Royal Caribbean, we still had a decent vacation. The positives were the Baltimore terminal was easy to get into and out of, as you pull up they unload your luggage right from your car, lines in the terminal moved nicely, our waiter and his assistant in the Great Gatsby Dining room were great, our cabin boy was good, most people we met were great, and the ports of call were all great. The negatives, you better sit down. Started a week before we were set to sail, when we get a call from Royal Caribbean. Seems they way overbooked this cruise, so the 2 "guaranteed" state rooms we had booked, and they eagerly took our money for, were not really "guaranteed." If we still wanted to go, we had to cram 4 adults into a room about 5 sq ft larger than each of the "guaranteed" rooms we had booked. Oh, they called it a large room, but that was a joke, and technically there were 2 beds that swung down from the walls, so it could actually sleep 4, but it was clearly not designed for 4 adults. They also gave us a few hundred off the cost, money I would have gladly paid for the convenience of 2 rooms for 4 adults. The best part was they were calling it an upgrade. Not!! We should have just taken our money back, but we had planned this vacation, and as our kids are grown, it may be the last family vacation we can have, so we let them bend us over and screw us. But this was just the start. The medical staff was horrible. When members of our group got sick, they made jokes, like getting sick on vacation is a fun, funny experience. We have been on several cruises, but this was the first, and probably last time with Royal Caribbean. Every other cruise we were on, the medical staff treated sick people with respect, like they actually cared about their well being. There were people getting sick all over the boat; elevators, dining facilities, even in the pool (they had to close it, drain it, clean it, and refill it). Seas were not rough, so I doubt it was motion sickness, more likely that dreaded norovirus. Again, have been on several cruises, even one on Norwegian were supposedly they had a large outbreak of that norovirus, but never recall seeing people getting sick all over like this. Apparently other cruise lines have better policies for handling such things. Entertainment on the ship was sub-par compared to other cruise lines we have been on. Activities were even sub-par. This was an older ship, and apparently not well maintained as elevators kept breaking, and other things did not always work as they should. My kids begged me to just leave the ship at the last port of call, and take a plane home, that is how bad it was, and my kids love cruising. If you want my opinion, if you like the idea of cruising out of Baltimore, it was super convenient, see if another cruise line sails out of Baltimore, you will be glad you did. read more

We Cruised Grandeur of the Seas Oct 13 for 9 Days. When The Bus Pulled up to the Dock we were told our Luggage would be Unloaded and Sent to our Room. Jackie Fell Outside the Building Hitting her Face and Damaging her Glasses, The port People came to help, Royal Did Nothing, We Waited in line to get on the Ship. When we got to our Room It SMELLED like the Bathroom Backed Up. We Were told the Ship is Full Their Are no other Rooms. The Stateroom attendant Stated Afterword he Cleaned the Room Twice. We Asked if we could get a Glade Air Fresher at least. That 1st Evening We Had no Luggage At 11:00 pm After the 3rd Visit to the Pursers Desk we were told they Cannot find our Luggage. and That 1st Night their was White Powder Sprinkled on the Rug in our Room [We Think it was Baking Soda].The Next Morning we were told Our Luggage was Never Taken off the Bus, And we should get it in Boston . [All we had were the Clothes and Underwear we had on.] When we Got to Boston we went off on a Tour Upon returning to the Ship The Rug in our Room was Picked Up and a Fan was Running, Creating a Cross Breeze. The Room Now had a Glade Air Fresher and Smelled a Bit Better. At the Shows the Cruse Director Paul Stated how Great Royal Cruise line is And how Bad Carnival Cruise is. This was our 5 th Cruise on Royal, We Also Sailed on Princess. Our Travel Agent has Tried Many Times To Get in touch with Royal Cruise Lines They Have not Returned her calls or Email. We Will Never Sail on Royal Curise Lines Again! read more

We traveled on Grandeur on October 8, 2016-destination Bermuda- and it was a mess from start to finish. we left port early because the Chesapeake Bay was being closed due to Hurricane Matthew. so they took us out into very unstable weather and once we got out of the Bay they declared the ship was changing course due to the weather. meanwhile many people were sick from the movement of the ship. also, on the first night, one side of the ship had water in all the cabins with balconies. Royal Caribbean knew that we weren't going to Bermuda before we sailed. they should have canceled the trip from the start. They did NOT put passenger wellbeing first. We left (escaped) while in NJ (in a one hour window they gave us- to pack and be out or we had to stay on the boat for the rest of the trip) I felt hijacked. We rented a car and drove back to MD-as did many people. RC did say people who stayed would get 100% of the cost put toward next cruse. really...next cruse? i'm glad this wasn't my first cruise-I would never get on another boat. Communication was poor, the food was way below par and service was average. If I do cruise for a 6th time-i'll go through another line or maybe stick with Oasis/Allure. read more

my cruise experience i recently sailed on grandeur of the seas, out of baltimore for a 10 day cruise, with my family and a friend of one of my daughter's. the guest in question was 13 years of age. in order to get the guest on the ship we needed a notorized letter from her parents giving us permission to take her on the cruise, as well as making decisions for her. when you check in, all documents are scanned into a computer before boarding the ship (travel documents, passports and the notorized form for our guest). a minor traveling with another family, can't get on the ship without this said notorized docment. on our second day of sailing, i took my youngest daughter and her friend to the rock climbing wall, which was located on the 10th floor back of the boat. when arriving to the sign up line, i witnessed a lady signing up her daughter, this lady held a drink in her hand and was refused to let her daughter sign up because she had a drink. the lady stated this was her first drink and was not intoxicated, and made it clear she was not the one climbing the wall, but her child was. they still refused her daughter to climb. i was next in line, and i said to the employee that it was crazy to not let this child rock climb, and that her mother was not drunk. once it bacame my turn to sign up my daughter and her friend (the guest which we obtained the notorized form for), i was informed that i could not sign up a child that was not mine. i informed him that she was a guest of mine on the cruise and we had a notorized form which was scanned at boarding, so the ship should have all of that information, obviously she is with us because our room numbers are the same, which was all explained to the employee. he informed me that i had to go get the notorized form in order to sign her up, i said i am not going back to the room to get it, because you all should have the information in the computer or call the front desk, understand i weigh 350 pounds, have had double hip replacements within the last year and have had 4 knee surgeries, and will be 52 years old in a few months. my room was on the third floor, front of the ship. for me to walk this route again is a struggle. all he had to do was call guest services to check on the information. i refused to go back to the room, so we exchanged words and the situation escalated to some choice words said to him. my other daughter who is staying in my room showed up to sign up for rock climbing, we have different last names. when i went to sign her up, he told me that i could not sign her up because our names are different and that she was not my daughter (i married her mother when she was 3, she is my child) the employee told me to go get a form, i explained there is no form because she is my child. i then became annoyed and offended, and told them to call security. at this point my daughter and my guest were both denied rock climbing. the captain was working out and witnessed the commotion and came and asked what was going on, he heard me say choice words to the staff and he informed me i could not use those words because they were in small print on the sailing documents, that if you use profanity, you could be removed from the ship. i informed the captain, i told his staff the truth and if they would have put the information together or called guest services this could have all been resolved and avoided. i feel with proper training and good customer service this would have never been an issue. i feel the captain exuded an air of arrogance and did not listen to anything i had to say. on day four (mind you 2 days have passed without any issues) we arrived at the next port in st. thomas, where i was informed that i was thrown off the ship. when they threw me off the ship, there was no help offered with regard to how to get from port to the airport to home etc. i left with only my personal belongings and without my family. to say the least, this was the worst experience and i will never travel with royal caribbean or its affiliates again. as a business owner, i pride myself on providing excellent customer service, and expect the same from my staff. i always back up my employees unless they are clearly in the wrong, but i always take the time to listen to my guests. i was disappointed in the crew and captain for the lack of customer service, and their unwillingness to accomadate a paying guest. i feel that their handling of the above situation was entirely inappropriate and unproffessional especially on the part of the captain and crew. overall it was an extremely disappointing, embarrasing and frustrating experience. if anyone would like to contact me they are more than welcome to at bbaynejr@aol.com read more