January 31, 2010

• The Grandeur of the Seas

  We sailed on one of Royal Caribbean’s smaller ships, The Grandeur of the Seas. It seems funny calling a ship which holds 2,500 passengers and 750 crew a “smaller ship,” but their newest has room for 5,400 passengers and 2,000 crew! Anyhow, it seemed HUGE! Here it is with a ferry boat parked in front of it. The ferry held over 100. Can you see the roundish/square windows near the bottom? Those were where our room was. And if that window was about 4 feet across (as I think it was), then you can estimate some of the size of the ship. (Or you can just go to http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/ship/home.do?shipCode=GR and read all about it! It says it is 916 feet long. Wow.)

  

  The ship had 11 decks, or more, perhaps, or less. There was a Deck 0, and the 10th and 11th floors were not a whole deck, so make your own assessment. We were on Deck 2.  When we first got there, I said that we should always take the stairs. (There were two staircases, one at 1/3 of the ship, the other at 2/3 of the ship if you cut the ship in half long-ways.)  I almost always took the stairs, just riding the elevator a few times. Peep did not. Cheater pants. She used the excuse of having just got out of the infirmary and having an IV (more later), but I know better! (tee hee)  But, we did enjoy riding for fun in the glass elevator.

  

  The place I went most was on Deck 9. 123 stair steps. One hundred and twenty three stair steps. Many times a day. Over and over. 

  

  One lovely thing about the stairs was that on each landing, there was artwork: murals, statues, framed thingies. So, when I would get out of breath (which was pretty easy to do), I would just pretend I was examining the pictures. Ha ha. Unfortunately, the art work on Deck 7 (where I usually wanted a break) was not the best. My favorite was on Deck 5.

  

  I think it reminded me a lot of Cinderella, and anything Cinderella makes me happy!

  Here’s a closer-up picture.

  

  When I first saw how elegant the ship was, I thought of all the old movies where going on an ocean liner was incredibly posh. “Oh, my! I feel like I’m on the Titanic!” I thought. “This is so elegant!” And then I thought, “Um, I hope I’m not on the Titanic. I’m on some other elegant ship that does not sink.”

  Here’s another painting I liked. They were not all of ball gown women. There were many other subjects, like an odd one that must have been based on the Musicians of Bremen, as it was three animal heads.

  

  And there were other types of art on the ship. This fellow and two of his buddies guarded the Viking Lounge. He looks more Anglo-Saxon to me, but, hey.

  

  And this guy watched out over some other room.

  

  But, I said this entry was going to be about the ship, not about artwork. I feel like this entry is how we found our way around the ship, with little twists and turns and bits of “Oh, look at that!” Thankfully, there was a map. And there were always helpful people to ask where to go when you were stumbling about looking for things.   

  

  I mentioned Deck 9. Here are two photos from the pool, which was smack-dab in the middle of the deck.

  The front of the ship (a.k.a “the pointy end” as they liked to call it)

  

  The back of the ship

   

  It was pretty chilly on the pool deck with the wind blowing. But, it was perversely interesting to watch the water slosh out of the pool and have them drain the hot tubs because the waves were so nasty. Take a plastic box and fill half full with water. Slosh it around like mad. You will have the image.

  And in the middle of the ship inside (which is where the glass elevator was), you’d see this view. That is not a giant ceiling fan. It was a hanging sculpture.

  

  I think that another entry will be needed to tell you about specific places on the ship like the card room, the casino, and my favorite, the solarium!

    

  • 3:22 am
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