I tried RCI and I'm coming back to DCL

So I feel like I just cheated on DCL! :rolleyes: I gave Royal Caribbean a shot and I've come to the conclusion that yes, you absolutely do get what you pay for.

We (hubby, 9yr old son, 12yr old daughter, mother-in-law and I) went into it with an open mind knowing we weren't going to get the "Disney experience" we're used to on DCL. Hey, at least the itinerary included a stop at Port Canaveral and we got to go to Magic Kingdom for the day!:D

So what I did like about our cruise on the Grandeur of the Seas...

- Cost savings: We were able to save on airfare by driving to Baltimore to board the ship. Yes, it was an 8hr drive but it saved us a good chunk of money. On top of that, an 8-night cruise with gratuities cost us $3500.

- The kids club (Ocean Adventurers) didn't have any computers. I originally thought this would be a bad thing but it was so nice to see all of the kids interacting and playing games together. The space of course was much smaller than on DCL but because of that, they bonded much more quickly together and they had a lot of great games and activities. So as far as my 9yr old is concerned, he actually liked RCI's kids club better than DCL's... I was shocked! My daughter on the other hand is 12 and that means she was in the "teens" where they range from 12 to 17. For anyone who has a 12 yr old, I'm sure you can relate when I say that this is a tad concerning. There's a huge difference between a 12 yr old girl and a 17 yr old girl, or boy!... even a 15 yr old. I much preferred (as did she), having her in the tweens club on DCL. The teens' space was very small and anytime I went in to check on it, they had little groups of kids just sitting around talking looking bored.

- I liked how RCI has a lot of live music in the common spaces. I wish DCL had more of this but I know they have to reserve a lot of time for character meet and greets.

- I liked CocoCay (their private island). The beach wasn't as nice as Castaway Cay since there were a lot of weedy areas but all in all, it was very spacious with loads of lounge chairs and lots of shade if you wanted it. Also, the water was unusually warm for the Bahamas! I thought it would be freezing since it was March but it was much warmer than Castaway Cay was last May. I'm Canadian but I hate cold water!:)

Here's what I missed...

- Many staff members were just as pleasant, friendly and helpful as DCL staff but many were not. Some bartenders looked downright miserable or annoyed. It clearly wasn't the same standard we were used to with Disney.

- There were no adult only areas during the day. There's an adult only pool in the Solarium but the Solarium itself was kid friendly. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind kids but when my kids are in the kids club I do enjoy having some nice quiet time with my husband.

- The average age on our Royal cruise was MUCH older than on DCL. I don't know if it had to do with the port we left out of (Baltimore), but it just wasn't a very lively crowd... and we are not party people by any means.

- There were so many little things that we just kept saying to each other "you wouldn't see that on Disney"... things like toilets that didn't flush, desks and countertops not wiped down in the stateroom, a sometimes stinky smell in the bathrooms, annoyed looking staff and crew, etc. I know DCL isn't perfect and that we do from time to time run into issues there too. The difference is that with DCL, they take ownership of an issue right away and work their best to solve it. That's not the case with RCL. We had a big issue on one particular morning and I won't get into it now as I could go on and on about it but I know DCL would have handled it much better, and I told them that.

- Food availability - First, I have to say that we're not big eaters and we don't cruise for the food but there were times when they were out of simple things like ketchup packets or you had to wait for utensils at breakfast... I'm talking about 10-15 people waiting around each morning for staff to bring out clean utensils for us to use with breakfast at the buffet. In the evening after 9pm, you couldn't get a small bag of chips for the kids or a late night snack. At their private island, all that was left at 1:15 were a few broken burgers... but no ketchup or mustard because they ran out. The only mixed drink you could get on their island was a CocoLoco which tasted pretty good but was served out of a grubby looking orange cooler.

All in all, we had a great time as a family and that's what's most important but I won't be straying from DCL anymore! In my opinion, the extra cost of a DCL cruise is WELL worth it.

To be fair, I am sure you know Grandeur is one of the oldest and smallest ships in Royal Caribbean's fleet. In our cruise on the now-not-so-large Liberty of the Seas :rolleyes:, we didn't experience any of the issue you reported on staff, lack of adult area, average age, toilet.

Sorry to hear you had a less than stellar cruise on RCI, but welcome back to DCL and glad you still had a good vacation and time away on the seas!

I hope your next DCL cruise is just as good as you remember!

ex techie

To be fair, I am sure you know Grandeur is one of the oldest and smallest ships in Royal Caribbean's fleet. In our cruise on the now-not-so-large Liberty of the Seas :rolleyes:, we didn't experience any of the issue you reported on staff, lack of adult area, average age, toilet.

Since RCI have announced the Splendour was to be sold off to TUI cruises and the Grandeur was launched the same year as the Splendour in 1996 as a ship of the vision class, it's not surprising she is showing her age. Maybe she is getting ready to be sold off as well?

The Disney Magic is only 2 years younger than them!

ex techie

But getting ready to be sold or not, as long as she is cruising under their banner, the level of function and service should be maintained. Toilet troubles are NOT OK. Is it possible that they put their less than stellar staff on their older ships? That still doesn't make it right, but might explain the general staff attitude OP experienced.

I agree moki's mommy even!

ex techie

To be fair, I am sure you know Grandeur is one of the oldest and smallest ships in Royal Caribbean's fleet. In our cruise on the now-not-so-large Liberty of the Seas :rolleyes:, we didn't experience any of the issue you reported on staff, lack of adult area, average age, toilet.

Yes absolutely! Our expectations were set and we knew that we weren't going to have the bells and whistles that the DCL ships have which was fine because we don't really care about the bells and whistles. We did expect the same or close to the same level of customer service that we've experienced on our 4 DCL sailings (Dream, Fantasy and Wonder, before she was updated).

The Grandeur is one of the oldest ships with RCI but she was also recently updated and as my post indicated, there were no issues with the ship itself. I enjoyed the fact that it was easy to get around and find things. I really liked the Centrum area too. My concerns were with the many unpleasant staff and poor customer service response we received.

I didn't get into it in my original post but here's what happened...

On the day we were to dock in Key West, we booked a private charter to see dolphins and go snorkeling. The Compass planner from the night before indicated non-US residents should be in the main dining room at 8:45am to go through immigration. We were there on time for 8:45am with all of our stuff for the day along with many other non-US residents. The dining staff was perplexed about us being there and the officer told us that we would need to take a seat as they weren't ready for us yet. Fine... we went and sat down but at 9:10 we were still sitting with a crowd of about 50 other people. My husband and I went to ask if we'd be able to get off soon as we had plans for an 11am excursion for which we had to take a cab to. We were told that we wouldn't be able to get off until 10am... which was nowhere near the 8:45am time the Compass indicated. She said the person at Guest Services must have been wrong.

We went back to Guest Services who told us it was indeed 8:45am as they pointed out the time in the printout. So we went back down to explain this to the staff and officer there and she cut me off and said "no, it's never 8:45am". When she asked where I saw that, I told her it was in everyone's daily Compass and she just said "go and get it". All she needed to do was call Guest Services for God's sake.

We went back up, got the Compass and brought it back down to her. When she saw it, you could see she was surprised and she did look apologetic and said it was a misprint and apologized for the misprint. I explained to her though that mistakes happen and I wasn't upset about the misprint. It's the fact that we had spoken to 5 people including her and another officer and nobody offered to take ownership or accountability for the issue. Nobody came out to tell the 50 or so people what to do or what to expect. She herself just completely dismissed me and told me to go and get the Compass... basically taking me for a liar.

We are not the 'complaining type' and are really an easy going family but when you just dismiss us and have 50 or so people sit there without any information for an hour, that gets my back up. All any of them needed to do was talk to Guest Services, acknowledge there was a misprint and let us know what to expect. To just leave us all sitting there while being disrespectful to us was just unacceptable.

So you see, it's not the ship or the amenities we were missing... it's the lack of customer service and the 'general experience' we're used to getting with the Disney sailings we've been on.

Yes absolutely! Our expectations were set and we knew that we weren't going to have the bells and whistles that the DCL ships have which was fine because we don't really care about the bells and whistles. We did expect the same or close to the same level of customer service that we've experienced on our 4 DCL sailings (Dream, Fantasy and Wonder, before she was updated).

 

The Grandeur is one of the oldest ships with RCI but she was also recently updated and as my post indicated, there were no issues with the ship itself. I enjoyed the fact that it was easy to get around and find things. I really liked the Centrum area too. My concerns were with the many unpleasant staff and poor customer service response we received.

 

I didn't get into it in my original post but here's what happened...

On the day we were to dock in Key West, we booked a private charter to see dolphins and go snorkeling. The Compass planner from the night before indicated non-US residents should be in the main dining room at 8:45am to go through immigration. We were there on time for 8:45am with all of our stuff for the day along with many other non-US residents. The dining staff was perplexed about us being there and the officer told us that we would need to take a seat as they weren't ready for us yet. Fine... we went and sat down but at 9:10 we were still sitting with a crowd of about 50 other people. My husband and I went to ask if we'd be able to get off soon as we had plans for an 11am excursion for which we had to take a cab to. We were told that we wouldn't be able to get off until 10am... which was nowhere near the 8:45am time the Compass indicated. She said the person at Guest Services must have been wrong.

 

We went back to Guest Services who told us it was indeed 8:45am as they pointed out the time in the printout. So we went back down to explain this to the staff and officer there and she cut me off and said "no, it's never 8:45am". When she asked where I saw that, I told her it was in everyone's daily Compass and she just said "go and get it". All she needed to do was call Guest Services for God's sake.

 

We went back up, got the Compass and brought it back down to her. When she saw it, you could see she was surprised and she did look apologetic and said it was a misprint and apologized for the misprint. I explained to her though that mistakes happen and I wasn't upset about the misprint. It's the fact that we had spoken to 5 people including her and another officer and nobody offered to take ownership or accountability for the issue. Nobody came out to tell the 50 or so people what to do or what to expect. She herself just completely dismissed me and told me to go and get the Compass... basically taking me for a liar.

 

We are not the 'complaining type' and are really an easy going family but when you just dismiss us and have 50 or so people sit there without any information for an hour, that gets my back up. All any of them needed to do was talk to Guest Services, acknowledge there was a misprint and let us know what to expect. To just leave us all sitting there while being disrespectful to us was just unacceptable.

 

So you see, it's not the ship or the amenities we were missing... it's the lack of customer service and the 'general experience' we're used to getting with the Disney sailings we've been on.

To give you a Disney contrast...we were on the WBTA that ended up in San Juan. We had a 3 pm flight, so were in no real hurry to get off the ship, but....we ate late seating breakfast and thought we were going to get off the ship efficiently as normal. We carried our bags ourselves because in the past I've had a bag damaged when some idiot placed a bottle of wine in his bad--it broke and leaked into mine.

Um...we found a LONG line. We asked the ACD who happened to come by what was happening. She explained that there was a problem with Customs and Immigration which was out of DCL's control, and all we could do was wait. HOWEVER, they moved portions of the "line" to various lounges where they set up juices and pastries. They brought out coloring pages and crayons, and a couple characters came in. At one point, someone showed up asking for anyone who had a flight before noon. OK, we didn't clear the line till after 12:30 because one member of our group was not a US citizen and after the line split (US vs. non-US), the non-US was even worse. All I can say is that while we were on the ship, DCL took care of us. Once off the ship, it was most unpleasant.

We were ultimately told that DCL had requested 12 Immigration agents to process the ship and only 6 showed up. I can attest that they closed their stations for a lunch break--we saw that happen! But that's beyond Disney's control.

To give you a Disney contrast...we were on the WBTA that ended up in San Juan. We had a 3 pm flight' date=' so were in no real hurry to get off the ship, but....we ate late seating breakfast and thought we were going to get off the ship efficiently as normal. We carried our bags ourselves because in the past I've had a bag damaged when some idiot placed a bottle of wine in his bad--it broke and leaked into mine.

 

Um...we found a LONG line. We asked the ACD who happened to come by what was happening. She explained that there was a problem with Customs and Immigration which was out of DCL's control, and all we could do was wait. HOWEVER, they moved portions of the "line" to various lounges where they set up juices and pastries. They brought out coloring pages and crayons, and a couple characters came in. At one point, someone showed up asking for anyone who had a flight before noon. OK, we didn't clear the line till after 12:30 because one member of our group was not a US citizen and after the line split (US vs. non-US), the non-US was even worse. All I can say is that while we were on the ship, DCL took care of us. Once off the ship, it was most unpleasant.

 

We were ultimately told that DCL had requested 12 Immigration agents to process the ship and only 6 showed up. I can attest that they closed their stations for a lunch break--we saw that happen! But that's beyond Disney's control.[/quote']

 

And yes, that's exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about! Mistakes happen and things beyond the cruise line's control happen... when it comes down to it, it's your reaction and how you deal with those messes that sets some cruise lines above the others. I don't expect perfection but I do expect a certain degree of respect as a guest, just as I will respect and be courteous to staff. Jeez, I'm the guest who looks for a worker to hand my empty plate to rather than just leaving my garbage on the table, and always sincerely thanks people for their help or picking stuff up after me! :)

a sometimes stinky smell in the bathrooms....

 

The difference is that with DCL, they take ownership of an issue right away and work their best to solve it. That's not the case with RCL.

I would swear that after Wonder got renovated (or Magic if I picked the wrong ship) there was a bathroom smell issue that wasn't getting dealt with for a good while.

That might have been YOUR experience with DCL and RCI, but it hasn't been ours.

On our second Dream cruise DH wasn't feeling terrific on embarkation day and stayed in the room after we could get into it. The room was FREEZING. DH had nothing but time, and raised the temperature (by the way, he's almost never too cold in a room). Napped, woke, freezing. etc. He called something like three times and they just kept blowing him off.

Finally sent a tech who wasted everyone's time and patience by NOT looking at the innards of the air control, and just accusing DH of lying. He must not have changed the thermostat, he must have changed it but not waited, etc etc. I can't remember who DH finally called, but they finally got someone in who continued to tell him he had to wait at least 20 minutes after changing the temperature...meanwhile it had been hours and hours and it was after dinnertime by the time this guy finally got there.

THEN the tech guy went outside, opened some compartment in the hallway, tinkered around, banged around, and voila! The heat came on.

Hours of being ignored and accused of being impatient, when the heater was broken AND was easily fixed.

Meanwhile, on RCI, it's been the opposite. We had the Replenish beverage package, which, among other things, included 500ml bottles of spring water. (just Crystal Geyser on that sailing) On the last day they "ran out". Now, this isn't awesome, and we didn't check *every* bar, but the bars we checked, they were out. DH went to Guest Services, talked to someone, and within 5 minutes the Hotel division manager knocked on our door with his arms FULL of Liter Evian bottles for us.

For us, we've had the exact opposite experience as you did.

We have no DCL cruises booked at present. We have two RCI cruises booked. So I suppose we're going to take each others' spots on this ships.

I would swear that after Wonder got renovated (or Magic if I picked the wrong ship) there was a bathroom smell issue that wasn't getting dealt with for a good while.

 

 

Meanwhile, on RCI, it's been the opposite. We had the Replenish beverage package, which, among other things, included 500ml bottles of spring water. (just Crystal Geyser on that sailing) On the last day they "ran out". Now, this isn't awesome, and we didn't check *every* bar, but the bars we checked, they were out. DH went to Guest Services, talked to someone, and within 5 minutes the Hotel division manager knocked on our door with his arms FULL of Liter Evian bottles for us.

 

 

For us, we've had the exact opposite experience as you did.

 

We have no DCL cruises booked at present. We have two RCI cruises booked. So I suppose we're going to take each others' spots on this ships.

Yep, looks like we'll be swapping places for sure! :)

Regarding the running out of water on your RCI cruise, that's what I found odd while on the Grandeur... them often 'running out of things'. Really, shouldn't they have this down to a science by now with the amount of ships they have? If not, then clearly they should be adjusting their formula or something as it's not working. As mentioned in my post, they ran out of food at CocoCay, they ran out of condiments on a couple of different occasions, they also ran out of the pork tenderloin dish at the MDR on night 5 and they always seemed to be out of utensils at breakfast. I know I paid much less than I would have with Disney but come on... you shouldn't be running out of things this often.

You need to do a trans-Atlantic on DCL. THey've run out of something on each one we've done. It has been a different something each time, but sometimes creative and interesting.

Then there was the time that the chef saw that the bananas were going bad. For 2 days, we had banana everything...and then no bananas. But then, on a 14 night crossing with 5 or 6 sea days in a row, stuff just happens that way.

I have only sailed DCL. And only cruised twice. Both trips were excellent. We have talked about trying another line, but the more research I do and the more I think about it, the more I want to stick with DCL. I could see myself saying "that wouldn't happen with Disney" over and over and over.

The only concern I have with DCL is that it is kind of limited right now with only 4 ships. I wish they went out of NYC or Baltimore, anything closer to where I am in New England.

Plus, I want that Platinum status!! :D

I wish they went out of NYC or Baltimore, anything closer to where I am in New England.

Disney Magic sailed out of New York back in summer of 2012. I also wish they come back again to the NE coast later.

I have only sailed DCL. And only cruised twice. Both trips were excellent. We have talked about trying another line, but the more research I do and the more I think about it, the more I want to stick with DCL. I could see myself saying "that wouldn't happen with Disney" over and over and over.

 

The only concern I have with DCL is that it is kind of limited right now with only 4 ships. I wish they went out of NYC or Baltimore, anything closer to where I am in New England.

 

 

Plus, I want that Platinum status!! :D

Ha! After we went on our first Disney cruise, my husband loved it and we decided to take another cruise. So I checked out RCCL and went to book with them. When I told my husband what I was doing, he said "wait wait wait... what's wrong with doing a Disney cruise again?"

I don't see us going on a different cruise line unless it's a big family vacation or something.

At least you gave another cruise line a try! :)

LuLu

We've sailed on several lines (Norwegian, Celebrity, RCI, and DCL) in the last dozen years, and we've done multiple cruises on both RCI and DCL. We'd sail either again, although with young children, DCL is our favorite right now.

We've had lots of nice, and the occasional unpleasant and unhelpful, crew members on most of our sailings. It is certainly true that the occasional bad experience or interaction can really stick with you and sour you on a trip, or even a line. (I had an unpleasant interaction with a really unhelpful crew member on the first full day of our first cruise on DCL, and it took several days of absolutely amazing service from wonderful crew and cast members to erase the memory. Ok, clearly, I still remember, but overall, I was very impressed with the caliber of service, despite starting with a negative. I generally just talk about how impressed we were with the service overall, not about one inconsiderate jerk.) Crew members are people like us, and they have bad days, and sometimes I think it is amazing that most of them manage to be as cheerful, helpful, and pleasant as they are, considering the demands placed on them.

My mother has done two DCL cruises with us, and had done RCI several times before. She always said that she was never going to be particularly loyal to any cruise line, she was going to pick the one with the best itinerary for the area she was interested in. She and her husband went on an RCI Greek Islands tour last summer, and she came back complaining about the service and the food. She insisted that RCI's quality is down from where it was when we did it last, and from now on, DCL is her first choice. I have no idea if the quality really is down, if it was the particular voyage she sailed on, or if she was just in a more judgmental frame of mind at the time, but I'm happy to join her on DCL. ;)

Coming back to DCL after "trying" 1 other cruise lines ship may be restricting your choices of ever doing something other than the same old itineraries, and

spending more of your cruise $$$ than you need to.

No need to be "loyal" to a 4 ship cruise line . There are soooooo many other choices out there nowadays .

Coming back to DCL after "trying" 1 other cruise lines ship may be restricting your choices of ever doing something other than the same old itineraries, and

spending more of your cruise $$$ than you need to.

 

No need to be "loyal" to a 4 ship cruise line . There are soooooo many other choices out there nowadays .

I agree. However I do understand people from the other perspective that they cruised DCL initially, liked it but then was enticed by other lines because of price or itinerary or whatever reason. Tried it and hated it and felt like being cheated and that all other lines are like that and felt sorry not sticking with what worked before. I am not saying I agree with this mentality, but I understand. This kind of things happens in everyday lives. They may continue to stay with the same cruiseline until one day they felt like they can't do it anymore or they are comfortable to get out of the comfort zone again to try something else.

I don't recall any bad experiences on any of the RCI or Celebrity sailings I went on prior to trying Disney. However,my family has enjoyed two spectacular sailings on Disney and the girls ( wife included) dramatically balked at trying another line themselves! Lol..the bar is set pretty high in their minds!

We are a family that needs to save up for vacations,as we worked hard to climb out of debt and refuse to get ourselves back in a hole.We average 4 years between " big" trips as a family. Our Fantasy sailing was in October,which was a lot less expensive and a week of sailing on water as smooth as glass. We had to pull the girls out of school,something we didn't take lightly. Simply can't afford or justify Disney rates in the summer for our financial position. Not sure we want to pull them out as they get older. Harder to miss school like that.

I told the girls that our next family sailing will probably be on another line,but we will see when the time comes to save for that trip. They were excited by some of the offerings they saw on other lines. Made me feel better.

In the interim,wife and I are sailing NCL for the first time in June out of Seattle for our anniversary. I've always wanted to give them a try,so we shall see how it goes. I have a few friends that swear by NCL.

For me,a week away is a week away and hard to ruin. It will be interesting to see how NCL does and whether or not my wife enjoys them as much as Disney. We could very realistically drop down to 2-3 years in between " big" trips if she gives the experience a thumbs up!

We sail Disney solely for my daughter. It's a true, total FAMILY vacation. She loves the character dance parties and meeting the princesses. She loved the Aquaduck too. And of course, she loves Mickey bars. She loves the pools and dancing to live music in the atrium before dinner but....she can enjoy those last things on any cruise line.

We've had mixed service in the MDR on DCL and on the Fantasy last month, the food was not so good. Our stateroom host was also not as good as others we've had on other lines. We may have one more cruise left on Disney before my daughter outgrows the princesses/characters. I'm actually pretty happy about that. Daughter doesn't like the kid's clubs on Disney (I'm not so thrilled with the wide age group of 3-12) and we've now seen the Fantasy's shows twice (I have NO desire to see them for a third time). The itineraries are the same old, same old. The prices are INSANE for those of us who work around a school schedule. I would so much rather go to WDW and cruise on NCL, RCI, Celebrity, even Princess for the price of a Disney cruise.

And no one should be comparing the "old" ships from any line with the Fantasy/Dream. I personally like the big (new) ships - didn't like the DCL Magic at all (the bedding was old and there was actually mold in the bathroom). I would never sail on the Wonder because of that experience. To each his own....there are enough cruise lines and ships out there to please everyone.

I agree. We've taken three DCL cruises and now 3 RCI cruises. While we were on Oasis which is a beautiful ship, we just kept talking about what we were missing that DCL would have. We actually have a transatlantic booked with RCI later this year that we came home and tried to change to DCL,but they're sold out of cabins that will work for us. We may cancel altogether.

deleted, just realized there was a first page I missed :p

Sorry you didn't have the best time. The Grandeur was the first cruise I went on so it has a special place, but its also one of RCLs older ones and there are better kid friendly ships such as Freedom and Oasis class.

We did a 12 day Med cruise on the Serenity of the Seas last June. While we had a nice time we felt a little let down from our Disney cruises. The shows were not that good and we did not care for the normal dining. Some of the specialty restaurants were very good though. We also felt it was odd that the outside deck activities seemed to stop about 9 PM. All the top deck bars would close up. Some night there would a move shown outside but the deck would be almost empty.