Just Back from Grandeur-Wrong Choice For Us

[teacherman]

I do not enjoy reading negative reviews, and do not believe I have ever written one, but we just returned from a 10 night cruise on the Grandeur. We enjoy quiet sea days, good entertainment, enjoyable dining experiences, meeting people from various parts of the country (or other countries), etc. No cruise is perfect, but I believe this cruise was very lacking in what we look for. Our fault because we booked it. PROS-Baltimore is an easy flight from our home; there are many hotels downtown that are a short taxi ride to the port and many great restaurants; most passengers are friendly; cruise prices are decent; a 10 day itinerary is offered; service on the ship was pretty good; the service in the Diamond Lounge was very enjoyable; (there are probably more but the negatives stick out for me) CONS-almost everyone on board lives within driving distance of the port, so you do not get a lot of "variety", and most people we met wondered why we flew there instead of cruising out of Florida; the dining room has very little "ambiance" as it is brightly lit, and when we asked why they do not turn the lights down we were told then it is too dark and that this problem "had been reported"; most service people seemed to wish they were on some other ship, and some actually stated this fact to us; we only had 2 enjoyable dinners (Chops and Giovannis table) and even in Giovannis Table the lighting was very bright and they said that they could not dim it because then other people could not see; the big screen was "useless" as they showed no recent movies, NO NCAA BASKETBALL, and usually showed some concert videos in the evening which very few people, if any, were watching; the dining room staff seemed "stressed" and 2 of them specifically asked us to give them high ratings on the survey; when we were served lobster, no one offered to remove the shell as has always been done on other cruises, until my wife asked the waiter, who then removed it but walked away without helping the young man at the next table who had a deformed hand and was struggling with his; when we ordered the "special" souffle desert, the waiter delivered it and the sauce to us and asked if we "knew what to do with the sauce" rather than just serving it; the entertainment was lacking, with no aerial acts, and some music groups playing the same songs several evenings. We sailed out of Baltimore 2 years ago on another ship (same week of the year) and had a completely different experience. I just don't understand it. I have read several negative comments on the boards about these same "quality" experiences and tended to disregard them as disgruntled customers. Maybe I now see what they were referring to. We have 2 more RCCL cruises scheduled this year. When I mentioned this to a couple of crew members, their response was that "those are really nice ships", and I now have a dentist appointment to repair a gold crown that broke when I bit into a piece of beef. Okay, I have vented (probably more than I should have) but when you anticipate a wonderful cruise, and experience these things, it kind of takes the edge off. People who are on their first or second cruise, would probably see things differently. I am told the ship is quite heavily booked for the next year. Let the flaming begin.

[Janet524]

Sorry your experience was not up to your expectations. We've sailed Grandeur out of Baltimore a number of times (most recently several months ago) and will be on board again in several weeks. We have always found the staff to be very friendly and accommodating. We like the feel of the smaller ship and we weren't struck by a lack of "variety(?)" in the passengers. Hopefully your next cruise is on a larger vessel that will give you the experience you're looking for.

[bouhunter]

I think you still have five minutes available to edit that and break into paragraphs so it will readable.:)

[Sharon Sails]

Not every cruise is what we hope it will be - just like not every vacation is perfect. However, I agree that when things don't go well, and you've paid a good chunk of money for your vacation, it's better when you enjoy yourself to the max. I've been on some cruises that I hated and wished I was home instead of on the ship-- Couldn't wait to get off...but here I am, on the Freedom back-to-back. I think this may be the last cruise for me for awhile though. I'm tiring of the "same old, same old" things. I need some land trips! You'll get flamed, no doubt, as it seems a lot of folks on CC are here just to be snarky and cause problems. But I think venting is GOOD. Better to vent and get it out. Hope your next vacation is better.

[Big_G]

I've been on some cruises that I hated and wished I was home instead of on the ship-- Couldn't wait to get off...but here I am, on the Freedom back-to-back.

 

Fortunately that's never happened to me but I guess anything is possible.

 

You'll get flamed, no doubt, as it seems a lot of folks on CC are here just to be snarky and cause problems.

 

Sometimes it's all in the delivery and I think the OP laid it out without piling on the hyperbole. We'll see.

[teacherman]

"...so it will readable". (?) I did not teach grammar. (and probably did not study enough of it)

[bwaz]

I guess that is the pont of the expansion into smaller regional home ports. The cruises attract people who can drive so you are naturally going to have a more local feel than a big international port like MIA or FFL.

 

We're from the west coast and have cruised out of Baltimore and Charleston because we wanted to tour those cities. WE turned out to be the exotic guests on board. We took it in stride and enjoyed ourselves. It seemed to me that the regional cruisers treated the homeport ships like we treat Las Vegas...an affordable familiar getaway.

 

We were on Enchantment and CC Fantasy and had good food, good service both times, so I can't say we experienced similar drawbacks. Wishing you good luck on your next journey.

 

Sent from my LG-D801 using Forums mobile app

[spookwife]

"...so it will readable". (?) I did not teach grammar. (and probably did not study enough of it)

 

 

one huge wall of text makes it harder to read, and comprehend what is being written. thus no one will talke the complaint(s) seriously.

 

we loved GR and everything about her. but anyone who expects the exact same experience every single time is deluding themselves.

[BND]

Grandeur has the reputation as having one of the friendliest crews and that's been our experience. As for the fact most people live within driving distance, are you saying that like you don't think people from VA, MD, DC, PA, NJ,DE,OH, WV have anything to add to your experience? We've met some great people cruising out of Baltimore and not all within driving distance. Several from Europe and other parts of the US. We have had fabulous service all over the ship. I know people who have broken crowns eating ice cream. As for the aerial act, we saw them the last two times we were on GR, but I have read recently that due to some issues with the equipment, they have discontinued them. I personally think the aerialists safety trumps anyone's entertainment. We love GR and we do cruise other ships out of other ports, but cruising out of Baltimore has given us some enjoyable sea days with the distance required to travel to get to ports. Some of the things you posted are personal, subjective issues. And, yes, the ship is always booked and well in advance because it is so loved.

Edited April 11, 2015 by BND

[dplusd]

I think you still have five minutes available to edit that and break into paragraphs so it will readable.:)

 

Thank you! I gave up trying to read it!

[PSCruiser]

I seldom comment on a review, but it happens we were on the same ship and itinerary just 2 weeks ago, and our perception was completely the opposite.

Relative to some specifics -

MDR - we thought the lighting the same as on any other RC MDR, and although not the quietest DR ever, was pleasant and we enjoyed the live background music on many evenings.

 

MDR staff - our particular waiter and asst., were among our best ever. Our headwaiter removed both lobster and shrimp shells immediately, and our waiter knew how to serve a soufflé. Our waiter reminded us of the importance of the guest survey, but we've had this happen on every cruise.

 

Big screen - showed a movie almost every night. In particular I remember Hunger Games Mockingjay.

 

Aerial Acts - correct, the Grandeur is not doing these right now because of safety issues with the rigging.

 

Bands - for a small ship, I was pleased that the Grandeur had a rotation of three bands in the evening - Evergreen trio, Casablanca, and the pool band. I thought this made for plenty of variety.

As I said, I seldom comment in this manner, but I also know how cruisers with an upcoming on Grandeur can become unsettled by negative reviewing so wanted to give my counterpoint - just didn't see the problems and would cruise her again in a minute.

[NemoCrownie]

Venting is a good thing. I think you nailed it when you said Grandeur is not a good choice for you.

 

We had a lousy cruise on the Legend last year. Everyone else raved about the trip (and the cruises before and after) but all of the little things added up to be too much for me - worst wait staff ever, horrible stateroom attendant, stateroom furnishings and bed in disrepair including cabinets that wouldn't close, changing our dining time to 5:30 (6:00 is already early for us and we were told that MTD and 8:00 dining times were full) decreased TV stations, lack of food variety and quality, etc., etc., etc. We loved the other passengers and had a nice enough vacation but I was done with RCI after our next, already booked, cruise. Well, the already booked cruise was a B2B on the Jewel this past Jan/Feb and we had a fabulous vacation not withstanding the cutbacks we are all aware of.

 

We are still working and have to use precious vacation days to cruise and it is not a cheap vacation when we factor in air, hotels, excursions, tipping, taxis, restaurants, etc. I understand how you feel and hopefully you also have a wonderful next cruise.

[Flatbush Flyer]

I do not enjoy reading negative reviews, and do not believe I have ever written one, but we just returned from a 10 night cruise on the Grandeur. We enjoy quiet sea days, good entertainment, enjoyable dining experiences, meeting people from various parts of the country (or other countries), etc. No cruise is perfect, but I believe this cruise was very lacking in what we look for. Our fault because we booked it. PROS-Baltimore is an easy flight from our home; there are many hotels downtown that are a short taxi ride to the port and many great restaurants; most passengers are friendly; cruise prices are decent; a 10 day itinerary is offered; service on the ship was pretty good; the service in the Diamond Lounge was very enjoyable; (there are probably more but the negatives stick out for me) CONS-almost everyone on board lives within driving distance of the port, so you do not get a lot of "variety", and most people we met wondered why we flew there instead of cruising out of Florida; the dining room has very little "ambiance" as it is brightly lit, and when we asked why they do not turn the lights down we were told then it is too dark and that this problem "had been reported"; most service people seemed to wish they were on some other ship, and some actually stated this fact to us; we only had 2 enjoyable dinners (Chops and Giovannis table) and even in Giovannis Table the lighting was very bright and they said that they could not dim it because then other people could not see; the big screen was "useless" as they showed no recent movies, NO NCAA BASKETBALL, and usually showed some concert videos in the evening which very few people, if any, were watching; the dining room staff seemed "stressed" and 2 of them specifically asked us to give them high ratings on the survey; when we were served lobster, no one offered to remove the shell as has always been done on other cruises, until my wife asked the waiter, who then removed it but walked away without helping the young man at the next table who had a deformed hand and was struggling with his; when we ordered the "special" souffle desert, the waiter delivered it and the sauce to us and asked if we "knew what to do with the sauce" rather than just serving it; the entertainment was lacking, with no aerial acts, and some music groups playing the same songs several evenings. We sailed out of Baltimore 2 years ago on another ship (same week of the year) and had a completely different experience. I just don't understand it. I have read several negative comments on the boards about these same "quality" experiences and tended to disregard them as disgruntled customers. Maybe I now see what they were referring to. We have 2 more RCCL cruises scheduled this year. When I mentioned this to a couple of crew members, their response was that "those are really nice ships", and I now have a dentist appointment to repair a gold crown that broke when I bit into a piece of beef. Okay, I have vented (probably more than I should have) but when you anticipate a wonderful cruise, and experience these things, it kind of takes the edge off. People who are on their first or second cruise, would probably see things differently. I am told the ship is quite heavily booked for the next year. Let the flaming begin.

 

 

Time to move to a premium line like Oceania (not as expensive as you may think when you do a true bottom line "daily rate" comparison to lines like Celebrity or Disney.

[Paulette3028]

Venting is a good thing. I think you nailed it when you said Grandeur is not a good choice for you.

 

We had a lousy cruise on the Legend last year. Everyone else raved about the trip (and the cruises before and after) but all of the little things added up to be too much for me - worst wait staff ever, horrible stateroom attendant, stateroom furnishings and bed in disrepair including cabinets that wouldn't close, changing our dining time to 5:30 (6:00 is already early for us and we were told that MTD and 8:00 dining times were full) decreased TV stations, lack of food variety and quality, etc., etc., etc. We loved the other passengers and had a nice enough vacation but I was done with RCI after our next, already booked, cruise. Well, the already booked cruise was a B2B on the Jewel this past Jan/Feb and we had a fabulous vacation not withstanding the cutbacks we are all aware of.

 

We are still working and have to use precious vacation days to cruise and it is not a cheap vacation when we factor in air, hotels, excursions, tipping, taxis, restaurants, etc. I understand how you feel and hopefully you also have a wonderful next cruise.

 

So did the 'fabulous vacation' that you seem to have had on the B2B on Jewel, soften your perspective on Royal -- so that you would cruise with them again.....or are you going to be more annoyed that when you booked Grandeur with early seating at 5:30pm (and you knew the times when you booked) will keep you being disappointed in them. I know for us a 5:30pm dining time, would be too early and we eat early when at home....but on a cruise we don't like dinner before 6pm; it cuts into our time in the DL before dinner.

 

BTW, there is no excuse for furniture of any kind being in disrepair and the staff should have found a way to repair or replace while you were onboard -- IMO.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Paulette3028

[KPfromCT]

WOW!!!! People......OP had a BAD cruise.

It's bound to happen.

Didn't live up to his expectations.

Why all of the flaming??????:mad::mad:

 

He has a right to come here and let people know....

Geez. Rough crowd.

[iheartbda]

"...so it will readable". (?) I did not teach grammar. (and probably did not study enough of it)

 

Has nothing to do with grammar. Like someone else said, a big wall of text is difficult to read. I stuck with it since I've sailed the Grandeur and wanted to see what you felt was bad.

 

In the future, if you can't figure out where to start a paragraph, just pick anywhere every so often, skip a line and continue on.

 

At the risk of someone saying you are being flamed, sorry that those of us from the East are not diversified enough for you.:D

BTW, that's just a silly assumption that almost everyone on board lives within driving distance. How would you even know that? The same could be said for Florida, New York or any other port.

Edited April 11, 2015 by iheartbda

[NemoCrownie]

So did the 'fabulous vacation' that you seem to have had on the B2B on Jewel, soften your perspective on Royal -- so that you would cruise with them again.....or are you going to be more annoyed that when you booked Grandeur with early seating at 5:30pm (and you knew the times when you booked) will keep you being disappointed in them. I know for us a 5:30pm dining time, would be too early and we eat early when at home....but on a cruise we don't like dinner before 6pm; it cuts into our time in the DL before dinner.

 

BTW, there is no excuse for furniture of any kind being in disrepair and the staff should have found a way to repair or replace while you were onboard -- IMO.

We have never sailed on Grandeur, that experience was on the Legend in 2014. We had signed up for 6:00 dinner time were not notified of the change (nor were others). We are of no consequence so DL isn't an option for us. Staff could not fix the furniture and it had been reported before refurbishment so just the way it was. Mattresses also were not replaced during refurb.[emoji34]

 

To answer your question, yes the Jewel restored my faith in RCI. We booked another B2B for 2016 [emoji3] and have booked an 11 night on Celebrity for 2017.

Edited April 12, 2015 by NemoCrownie

[Ladysilver]

I think you still have five minutes available to edit that and break into paragraphs so it will readable.:)

 

Please.:rolleyes::cool:

[awhcruiser]

Paragraphs are your friend. Couldn't read past the first sentence.

[Paulette3028]

We have never sailed on Grandeur, that experience was on the Legend in 2014. To answer your question, yes the Jewel restored my faith in RCI. We booked another B2B for 2016 and have booked an 11 night on Celebrity for 2017.

 

OK...thanks, sorry if I confused the sailing previously. The OP was going to have a problem from the get go, if the Grandeur first seating in MDR was 5:30pm and it just did not fit their likes. When dinnertime isn't friendly, it can make for unhappiness.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Paulette3028

[cunarderdiamond7]

How dare the OP criticize RCL here!

 

Not when the RCL pom pom wavers are online to attack him for his review including a few who never went to school long enough to be able to read long paragraphs

[splash_in_the_water]

^without paragraphs it's just harder to tell where one thought ends and another begins.

 

I do not enjoy reading negative reviews, and do not believe I have ever written one, but we just returned from a 10 night cruise on the Grandeur. We enjoy quiet sea days, good entertainment, enjoyable dining experiences, meeting people from various parts of the country (or other countries), etc.

 

No cruise is perfect, but I believe this cruise was very lacking in what we look for. Our fault because we booked it.

 

PROS-Baltimore is an easy flight from our home; there are many hotels downtown that are a short taxi ride to the port and many great restaurants; most passengers are friendly; cruise prices are decent; a 10 day itinerary is offered; service on the ship was pretty good; the service in the Diamond Lounge was very enjoyable; (there are probably more but the negatives stick out for me)

 

 

CONS-almost everyone on board lives within driving distance of the port, so you do not get a lot of "variety", and most people we met wondered why we flew there instead of cruising out of Florida; the dining room has very little "ambiance" as it is brightly lit, and when we asked why they do not turn the lights down we were told then it is too dark and that this problem "had been reported"; most service people seemed to wish they were on some other ship, and some actually stated this fact to us; we only had 2 enjoyable dinners (Chops and Giovannis table) and even in Giovannis Table the lighting was very bright and they said that they could not dim it because then other people could not see; the big screen was "useless" as they showed no recent movies, NO NCAA BASKETBALL, and usually showed some concert videos in the evening which very few people, if any, were watching; the dining room staff seemed "stressed" and 2 of them specifically asked us to give them high ratings on the survey; when we were served lobster, no one offered to remove the shell as has always been done on other cruises, until my wife asked the waiter, who then removed it but walked away without helping the young man at the next table who had a deformed hand and was struggling with his; when we ordered the "special" souffle desert, the waiter delivered it and the sauce to us and asked if we "knew what to do with the sauce" rather than just serving it.

 

The entertainment was lacking, with no aerial acts, and some music groups playing the same songs several evenings. We sailed out of Baltimore 2 years ago on another ship (same week of the year) and had a completely different experience. I just don't understand it.

 

I have read several negative comments on the boards about these same "quality" experiences and tended to disregard them as disgruntled customers. Maybe I now see what they were referring to. We have 2 more RCCL cruises scheduled this year. When I mentioned this to a couple of crew members, their response was that "those are really nice ships", and I now have a dentist appointment to repair a gold crown that broke when I bit into a piece of beef. Okay, I have vented (probably more than I should have) but when you anticipate a wonderful cruise, and experience these things, it kind of takes the edge off. People who are on their first or second cruise, would probably see things differently. I am told the ship is quite heavily booked for the next year. Let the flaming begin.

 

tried to fix that a little...

 

sorry you had a bad time, it's never as fun when things aren't up to snuff, especially when you're trying to not even be picky....Just go on the next couple, and try to have fun, eh?:D

Edited April 12, 2015 by splash_in_the_water

[ColoradoGurl]

"...so it will readable". (?) I did not teach grammar. (and probably did not study enough of it)

 

Don't bother listening to that poster, if you take a look at his posts in his profile, he (or she?) specifically seeks out posts that he can make snarky and insulting comments on. Everyone on the boards seems to know about him and warns everyone to just ignore them, you'll see him pop up and learn to do the same. He's a waste of time. Sure, it's easier to read when things are broken into paragraphs, but take a minute to imagine the kind of person who feels the need to chastise someone for not doing that. Your post was fine and any literate person will find it completely readable ;)

Edited April 12, 2015 by ColoradoGurl

[teacherman]

If anyone wants to take the time, and I do not know why you would, you can do a search and find ALL of the reviews I have written for all of my cruises. This is probably the only negative one. We really enjoy cruising. We are basically "loyal to Royal". The title said it was a bad choice for US, not for everyone. We are scheduled on the Jewell to Alaska and the Serenade out of FLL. We are looking forward to them.

 

By the way (new paragraph), we missed the Meet and Mingle, which we were looking forward to, because the notice was placed in our stateroom the afternoon following the morning meeting. We had chatted on the Roll Call with many fellow cruisers and are sorry we missed meeting them in person.

 

Also, we had 2 charges made against our cruise account that were not ours. They were on 2 separate days in the Viking Crown Lounge. When I reported it to guest services, they were quickly removed with no "argument".

 

We had My Time Dining, not a set time. It was someone else who spoke of having their time changed, not us. We had several different tables and some waiters were much better than others. The staff tried hard, but I think they were a bit overwhelmed as it was a full ship with MANY children.

 

Overall, we had an AVERAGE cruise, not a WOW cruise. I think that each cruise kind of has a "personality", and this one's did not match what we were looking for. I only tried to give my observations and opinions. I hope all of your cruises are WOW!

[Rysyonok]

the big screen was "useless" as they showed no recent movies, NO NCAA BASKETBALL, and usually showed some concert videos in the evening which very few people, if any, were watching

 

The weather was simply perfect. Seas were calm except for one night. The movies (Mockingjay, Enchanted) were quite recent. And crew service was very good aside from a usual small share of bad apples.

 

I'm going to make an educated guess that you were not on that cruise as you had claimed to be... So here is a question. Which ex-Celebrity, ex-Royal ship have we come across during that trip?