I survived 96 hours on Royal Caribbean's worst rated cruise ship

how much does a new cruise ship matter and is it a big deal if you go on an old ship you know we often hear from our readers and they're always wondering is it a mistake to go on Royal Caribbean's older ships especially Grandeur of the Seas which is the oldest ship in Royal Caribbean's Fleet and while age isn't everything especially with cruise ships it is a factor when you consider wship to go on and for a lot of people they want to know how bad is it or how good is it for that matter and we got so many requests from our viewers here on YouTube that I sent one of our writers out there to go check out exactly what is it like to sell on real kian's oldest cruise ship so Ali got a chance to try it out herself and here's what she had to think about Grandeur of the [Music] Seas hey guys welcome back to Road Caribbean blog this is Ally and today I'm going to be sharing about my recent experience on Grandeur of the Seas I sailed on Royal Caribbean's worst rated cruise ship and I'm here to tell you what it was really like on board the saying goes that age is just a number but is that really true when it comes to cruise ships last weekend I set sail on Royal Caribbean's worst rated cruise ship Grandeur of the Seas my itinerary was a quick fornite sailing to KML but this was more than enough time to experience everything that this old and small cruise ship had to offer I've heard many Cruisers state that Grandeur of the Seas is the worst ship in worldy Caribbean Fleet this perception is likely due to the ship's old age and lack of modern amenities and in fact I even avoided sailing on the ship for many years because of these rumors so needless to say Grandeur of the se's reputation precedes her and clearly not in the best way worst cruise of my 23 cruises shared One reviewer on Cruise Critic another said that the ship was a nightmare and that the AC and their cabin didn't work leaving them to sleep in the heat another reviewer said the ship is an old rusty rundown bucket and the cabins desperately need refurbishing and it's not just rumors that grander of the Seas is the worst ship in Royal Caribbean Fleet according to US News and World reports grander of the Seas was ranked the worst Royal Caribbean ship of the entire fleet the review States while the ship boasts a rock climbing wall and six wh pools it lacks some of the modern amenities found on other Royal Caribbean ships like a surf simulator and water slides some people sailing on Grandeur of the Seas might feel catfished by Royal Caribbean after all the cruise lines advertisements showcase their new ships with tons of things to do on board and yet boarding Grandeur of the Seas is a stark contrast from this and I can see how this could lead to some disappointment for Cruisers while the cruise ship is far from Tiny measuring 73,000 gross tons the onboard experience is vastly different than Royal Caribbean's newest ships so during my short cruise I had plenty of time on board to see if the rumors were true here's what it was like to really sail on Royal Caribbean's worst rated ship Grandeur of the Seas represents an entirely different era of cruising one of intimacy and Simplicity back in the 1990s cruise ships were considered modestly sized and the onboard experience centered around relaxing on the pool deck with a drink in hand the ship went through a major refurbishment in 2012 costing $48 million to add new restaurants onboard internet the Diamond Lounge a Concierge Lounge and more entertainment venues back in 2019 it was actually announced that Grandeur of the Seas would be sold to Sister brand Panter cruises which would retire Grandeur from the Royal Caribbean Fleet but those plans were eventually reversed during the pandemic in mid 2020 which was presumably a financial decision so now Grandeur of the Seas will be sailing for Royal Caribbean for the foreseeable future I've been cruising with Royal Caribbean for almost 20 years and I have sailed multiple times on Vision class ships in fact my very first Royal caribbian Cruise was on board Enchantment of the Seas back in 2005 although I was just a kid the cruising experience still wowed me I later sailed on vision of the season 2012 for my first European cruise with my family the tiny ship whisked us away from Norway to fr France England Ireland and Scotland scene Paris was a lifelong dream of mine at 16 years old and vision of the Seas made it happen later my husband and I sailed in 2018 on rap city of the Seas for our honeymoon and it was a magical Port intensive itinerary visiting ports in Italy Greece and Croatia so needless to say I've had really positive and very memorable experiences on Vision class ships these small ships often sail to more interesting itineraries and they are usually affordably priced for those who don't need the glitz and glamour that you find bigger cruise ships these Vis class ships can be a great choice however I had never sailed on Grandeur of the Seas before and it had been a while since my last Vision class cruise and my recent sailing on Jewel of the Seas which is a slightly newer and bigger ship left me slightly disappointed in the ship's overall condition I didn't want to be disappointed this time around on Grandeur of the sea so I anticipated that the ship would show her age my sister and I figured that we would be seeing a lot of rust around the ship including probably a very poorly designed in day Stater room that we would stay in but I think managing expectations is important when you book a cheap cruise so I didn't expect much out of grandeur of the Seas so after boarding the ship in Tampa my sister and I were pleasantly surprised by the ship's condition once we boarded the ship I started to look around for signs of wear and tear and given Granger's reputation I kept a Keen Eye to look for signs of deterioration and rust but to my surprise Grandeur of the Seas appeared to be in very good condition of course the ship felt older and her overall design was pretty d but it wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated clearly there were signs of rust as we wandered around the ship but it was nothing outrageous and not to mention last summer I sailed on Carnival's oldest ship Carnival Ecstasy and that cruise ship was covered in Rust while we had a lot of fun the ship was 1 month from retirement in the scrapyard and it was not surprising that the ship's condition was subar along with most of the decor looking a little Gody and very outdated we even saw duct tape on a port hole window but on Grande of the Seas the elevators and carpet were all in better than expected condition it seemed as though the ship had been wellmaintained and it really didn't feel like an old cruise ship nothing looked extremely outdated or very worn down which was a pleasant surprise and based on all the negative reviews I had seen I truly expected the ship to be in rough condition almost immediately I noticed how many spaces Grandeur of the Seas had to soak in the ocean views when we entered the ship on Deck 5 into the center atrium of the ship I noticed immediately how much natural light there was here the six-story atrium which is called the Centrum is surrounded by glass walls and even a glass ceiling it's beautifully designed and I love how much natural light it lets in throughout the cruise this became one of my favorite aspects of grandeur of the Seas there were so many spaces on board where you could just see the ocean and enjoy the views the first morning my sister and I sipped in our coffee while we overlooked the glass panels and the Sea rolling by on Deck five you could quickly access the prominade deck if you wanted to get outside to look at the SE views and I I saw more people taking pictures with the sunset than ever before in the ap of the ship we also found a stunning view of the ship's Wake On the last night without all the commotion of a big ship I felt more relaxed at Sea on this Cruise there was no pressure to do everything and see everything so instead I simply just enjoyed taking in the beautiful sea views and relaxing my sister and I also anticipated that we would have a very outdated Cruise cabin especially considering that we had booked the cheapest stateroom on board my sister and I didn't want to blow to too much money on this weekend Cruise per usual we were surprised by the cheap prices that we found on Grandeur of the Seas though for an inside cabin guarantee we paid about $466 each and this included gratuities port fees and taxes some of the reviews mentioned online that Grandeur cabins were too outdated but my sister and I didn't find this to be a point of contention we were assigned to cabin 355 which was located on Deck 3 as with most guarantee cabins our stateroom was located right at the very front of the ship which wouldn't be my first choice but location's not as important to me on a short itinerary our cabin was small but it had enough space for everything we needed the square footage was right around 142 ft everything in the cabin also felt wellmaintained the cabin was outdated but it felt similar in design in age to Radiance and Voyager Class ships but the bathroom really did surprise us I fully anticipated that this bathroom would be very outdated but this appeared to be refurbished from the original design there was light woodwork that nicely accented the white flooring and there was also colorful backsplash but the biggest disappointment in our cabin was a shower it was oddly shaped and required the use of a clingy shower curtain if you don't want the curtain to hug you throughout your shower then you also had to deal with the wet floors in the bathroom we also only had one Outlet each to share which was a pain and I forgot to pack my USB extender which made it more difficult to charge all of our devices effectively but this was not surprising most older cruise ships in cabins they only have you know one or two outlets and they don't have those monored amenities so instead maintenance is a priority when ships go through refurbishment overall the cabin was clean and comfortable it wasn't modern by any means but it certainly didn't feel as outdated as we expected we slept well each evening and found ourselves spending more time in our cabin than usual because the ship just didn't have as much to do it was a quiet cozy space to return to each evening so moving on from the cabin many of the negative reviews mention that the food on Grandeur of the seeds was lackluster and I know talking about Cruise food is a Hot Topic especially on a Royal Caribbean cruise what one person loves another might hate the recently changed main dining room menus have only added fuel to this fire and as such food is generally just subjective and I take negative reviews with a grain of salt grander of the Seas has four complimentary dining venues the Wind Jammer the main dining room Park Cafe and Cafe latitudes and there are also specialty dining options on board including chops grill giovan's table isumi Sushi and Chef's Table the first evening my sister and I decided we would dine at giovan's table to take advantage of our BOGO Diamond Plus benefit we had an amazing meal which consisted of carbonara Noki birata Capri salad and filet manong the service was really wonderful and we enjoyed the quiet Ambiance as well however we heard from many fellow guests that the dinner in the main dining room on the first night was not good since we didn't dine there the first night we didn't experience this and we don't really have an opinion on it but we did dine in the main dining room the other three nights and we had really great meals and service so perhaps we just missed the oneoff meal and in fact on the final evening we witnessed quite the sendoff party in the dining room with the waiters dancing on the tables Greek style this was unlike anything you guys that I've seen before on a cruise and it kind of felt like a Carnival Cruise some of the waiters were jumping on the tables and the chairs to dance it was just an absolute riot with everyone in the dining room joining on the fun but I love to see the waiters letting loose and having fun with the guests as well it was just a really fun at atmosphere on the other hand the Wind Jammer buffet was a little less impressive it was strange to me that the Wind Jammer Buffet first was located at the front of the ship the venue was covered in glass even on the ceiling and while this gave really nice views of the sea the buffet area always felt stuffy and hot my sister and I couldn't sit in there too long without being uncomfortably hot my sister said that most of the things that she tried in the Wind Jammer tasted a little Bland while I had a little bit better luck with my selections breakfast seemed to be better than lunch at least in our experience there were plenty of options to choose from though and we never had an issue finding a table but in general the Wind Jammer on Grandeur of the Seas was hit orm Miss normally I don't have issues with the Wind Jammer on a board of Roa Caribbean cruise but it did feel more inconsistent on this sailing my sister also agreed that her food just seemed more bland in comparison to her other cruises the salarium on board also featured another complimentary dining option the Park Cafe I was surprised to see a Park Cafe on board Grande year of the season this was located in the corner of the adults only salarium this is where you could grab a snack during the off hours when the Wind Jammer was closed for example between 3:00 p.m. and 600 p.m. this was the only place you could grab food on board Park Cafe was bigger than a typical salarium Cafe there were options for Soups sandwiches pizza and dessert and there was also a dedicated salad bar since Grandeur of the Seas does not have Royal Caribbean signatures sentos Pizzeria this was the only place that you could come to get complimentary Pizza we grabbed snacks here a few times during our cruise and everything tasted great to us pizza was nothing to get too excited about but it tasted good when it comes to entertainment Grandeur of the Seas had simple Production shows and activities some of Royal Caribbean bigger ships have those big Broadway style Productions high diving shows and ice skating spectacles however you won't find anything of the like on Grandeur of the Seas instead everything is relatively simple on board for entertainment each evening you can find one production in the Palladium Theater during our sailing this consisted of a comedy show an impersonator and a show called Broadway Rhythm and rhyme some shows only had one on time so there was one night we weren't able to attend because of our dinner time activities during the day were also limited to just trivia adult coloring belly flop contest volleyball and the sexiest man competition in the evening you could attend events like karaoke and game shows there's also live music around the ship along with big themed parties in the evenings like the hush disco party and the 7s disco party we found that the activities were busy but it might not be everyone's cup of tea since the cruise ship had little to do for kids and teens we also noticed that there were many kids joining in on the adult competitions I think this could be avoided if they had activities that were specifically designed for Families versus adults but perhaps in a smaller ship they just don't have the resources for that considering Grandeur of the Seas only has one main pool available for kids in a rock climbing wall this ship in my opinion would not be best suited for children this is likely why we didn't see a lot of kids on board as I would guess many would probably be bored on this ship I'd suggest a Voyager Class ship or newer if you want to bring your kids on a cruise and then you can be confident that there would be plenty to do to keep them busy regardless my sister and I had a good time each evening with the entertainment nothing wowed us but we never felt bored also during our sailing it was packed with bachelorette parties family reunions and large groups traveling together and the bars struggled to keep up everyone always worries about spring break partyers but I don't see a lot of people mention the bachelorette and Bachelor parties on cruises during the sailing we had tons of people celebrating bride a groom on board this is likely because our sailing was cheap and it was over the weekend and the fact that many people get married in the fall because of this our ship was one big party the Bars were constantly packed so much so that I often didn't want to wait in line to get a drink grander of the Seas only has a few bars to start including the pool bar salarian bar and Schooner bar and at any given hour of the day these were packed we also noticed tables of empty drink Cubs during our cruise it was as if one person sat down their empty drink glass on a table in the corner and then everyone followed but this was not an area where people should be placing their empty glasses so I just think the staff had a hard time keeping up with all of the drinking on this cruise and probably because Grandeur of the Seas I think normally does longer itineraries which is not usually a party cruise so maybe this was just a oneoff experience but I've never seen the bars be so consistently busy I think with so many groups traveling together many people purchased the drink package the bartenders were doing their best to keep up and my liver probably thanks me for not having too much to drink overall Grandeur of the Seas exceeded my expectations and I truly wouldn't hesitate to sail on board again because my expectations were pretty low for this cruise I was anticipating the ship to be rusty and worn down but I'm pleased to say that the ship exceeded my expectations we found the ship to be in relatively good condition for being 26 years old the service on board was also fantastic and we also liked the food and the entertainment it almost felt like we were looking for things to be wrong so that we could see where all of the negative reviews were coming from I also found that the internet was pretty reliable and better than I expected Grandeur of the Seas is even outfitted with starlink service so we were able to stream and FaceTime without issue Even in our cabin seeing these more modern amenities really made the ship and onboard experience feel more modern so I wouldn't even be concerned about trying to get some work done if I cruised again on this ship after this experience I truly wouldn't hesitate to book another sailing on Grandeur of the Seas or any other Vision class ship for that matter sailing on a smaller ship had its perks such as fewer crowds and easy access to everything on board we were never too far away from our cabin or the destination that we were heading we spent most of our downtime the salarium relaxing on the loungers we never had an issue finding an empty chair and that's vastly different than worldy Caribbean bigger ships where you are fighting tooth and nail for a chair in general Grandeur of the Seas never felt too crowded and most places on board felt pretty spacious was a nice change to not feel cramped which is often a complaint of those bigger Mega ships however I wouldn't want to sail on Grandeur of the Seas with too many days there's not much to do on board and I would probably get a little bored after too much time on the ship because there's only so much you can relax if there was a port intensive itinerary on a vision class ship where the destination was the focus of the cruise I would absolutely be comfortable sailing again on Grandeur of the Seas there you have a look at Grandeur of the Seas how it sacks up and what you should know let me know in the comments below what would you tell somebody who's considering selling on roll's oldest cruise ship and if you've been on grander the Seas what are your thoughts about the cruise ship let us know down below while you're below our video hit the like button subscribe to our YouTube channel and of course turn on notifications that's that little bell icon that way YouTube Let to know a brand new video to share this has been Matt and Ally from Roan blog.com and we'll talk again real soon

Channel: Royal Caribbean Blog

Views: 293,738

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Length: 17min 47sec (1067 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 10 2023