The
Granduer of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean International cruise liner, is a Finnish-built in 1996 and refurbished in 1998. She is a Liberian-registered 74,140-ton vessel 916 ft in length and 106 ft wide. Officers are Scandinavian, and the crew of 760 is international. The ship carries 1,950 passengers at double occupancy on 11 decks. She cruises at 22 knots.
This is a ship that appeals mostly to a lively, noisy crowd of twenty- and thirty-somethings on Caribbean sailings, and to an older and more sophisticated group in the New England sailings.
From November through March, she makes her home in Tampa, Florida and departs for 4- and 5-night trips to the Caribbean. After a month of repositioning sailings in April, the ship docks in Baltimore for sailings to Bermuda and the Caribbean, and nearby Norfolk for eight-night New England and Canada cruises.
Onboard, the attractive atrium soars, and its walls of glass ensure spectacular marine sweeps. The theater offers good sight lines for its Vegas-style entertainment, and the casino and many lounges stay busy. The cantilevered Viking Crown Loungeseats 250 guests, offering great views from one of the top decks. It doubles as a disco and piano bar. The nautical Schooner Baris a smaller lounge popular for sing-alongs and more piano music. The Champagne Bar and Terraceprovide touches of class, while the library offers a quiet escape. Children and teens have club rooms and a host of activities each day.
The dining room seats 1,171 at two sittings. Although the menu is varied and plentiful, the food ranges from mediocre to downright poor. Lunch and dinner buffets are indoors and out.
The small cabins include 376 insides and 576 outsides, all with twin beds convertible to queens. Phones and TVs are standard, but only a few staterooms provide refrigerators. More than 400 cabins add third and fourth berths, which encourage younger folks to double up. These help to draw budgeting families as well. The result is frequently noisy crowds on the ship.
For all North America reservations, a fuel supplement of $5.00 per person, per day for the first two occupants in a stateroom (subject to a maximum of $140 per stateroom) will apply to all sailings departing on or after February 1, 2008.
