Grandeur Review - 4 day from Tampa - Spring Break wasn't so bad!

[capnlars]

Just back from the Grandeur out of Tampa for a 4 night Cozumel cruise. We had a great time, and good experiences on the ship and on tours, except for dealing with the Customer Service people, and especially the Suite Coordinator.

 

Background - We are a late 40's couple, on our 19th RCI cruise. This was our third time on the Grandeur, having done 1/2 of the Tampa - Baltimore relocation last year and a 9 day on her in August. We are Diamond Plus members. All three trips have been in either 8000 or 8002, which are both Owner's Suites. We traveled with our friends who are a bit older, and they were in 8006 which is a Grand Suite.

 

Pre-Cruise - We stayed at the Courtyard in downtown Tampa. It was less than 10 minutes to the port, and the accomodations were great. There's plenty of restaurants within walking distance, including a Five Guys for a something a little lighter.

 

Day 1 - Embarkation

We arrived at the pier about 11am. Tampa has valet parking available, which we thought was well worth the extra fourteen dollars over self-park. I guess we got there early enough that there were virtually no waits. Dropped our luggage with the porter and the valet parker took our car from there. We carried aboard a rolling cooler with bottled water, cheese/crackers, etc. They asked us if we had any beverages in the cooler, and we told them it was all water/soda. They went through the bag by hand before scanning and let it through. They did not notice the box of pre-mixed Cosmos that we were using as a block of ice to keep everything cool. They pulled a lot of alcohol from people - especially the spring-breaker kids, and they were told it would NOT be returned. I think this was just for the spring break season. There was no one in line for checkin, and we were on the ship within a couple of minutes. Went up to the Windjammer for lunch and some drinks. After lunch we walked around until our rooms were ready and immediately saw a familiar face - Vijay - who was previously a bartender on Monarch is now on Grandeur. We knew Vijay from when the Monarch was based in Los Angeles, and cruised with him through the canal when it was repositioned to Florida. At 1, the cabins were ready and we headed that way. As we got near our cabin, our room steward comes out a door and screams when he sees us. Turns out we again had Anderson (Speedy) Hamilton. We had him as our steward on our first Grandeur trip, and he remembered us since we had gotten a gift for his son while we were in port and had written a letter to corporate as he has been one of our favorite 2 room stewards we've ever had. Luggage was already in the rooms (except for 1 bag of our friends'), which was nice. I really don't feel I'm "there" until I'm all unpacked. The husband of the couple we traveled with is a bit "tight", and Anderson was good enough to play along when I asked him to tell them there was a charge for everything in their room. After warning them not to use too much electricity, as there would be a charge, and that if they had to use the life jackets there is a $25 rental fee - they finally caught on when he told them there was a charge for flushing the toilet more than 3 times per day. Muster drill was quick and painless. They were really stressing that mis-behavior would not be tolerated during spring break, and we were very very surprised how well behaved and polite the college students were that we met. I heard later that there was some trouble the first night, but after some examples were made of being confined to cabins and seapass cards revoked, it was very calm. Weather was not very nice, so the sailaway festivities were all moved indoors. We had early seating in the MDR, with great service staff. Conversing with our waiter, we discovered we had a common friend that both of us were very close with, and we were treated like family from that point on. Went down for alcohol tasting, but was told that they will not be doing that during spring break. After that we hit the casino for an overall loss the first night. It was not pretty at the Blackjack table for anyone I saw playing. We stopped by the desk to inquire if our friends bag was in the "naughty room", but were told it wasn't and they were - and I quote - "going to initiate a ship-wide search" for the bag. More about this later. We also spoke to Jan, the Suite Coordinator. We had requested both by email a few weeks earlier, and in person that our friends be invited for a bridge tour. We knew we were "qualified", but we've been there twice on this ship and thought it would be fun for our friends. Jan told us we would hear from here within the next 2 days, but that Captain Rob hates doing them and not to be surprised if we were turned down. More about that later too.

 

Day 2 - At Sea

Had breakfast in the dining room, and took advantage of the Diamond/Diamond Plus seating area. They were also inviting Platinum members, as I think there weren't many at higher levels on this cruise. At the Plat/Diam/Diam+ reception, the person with the most cruises was something like 45. Most we go on they are over 100. The weather was still not great so the outside pool was not crowded - but the solarium was PACKED. We spent a lot of time on the balcony and just relaxing. Dinner again in the MDR. Our friends again went to the front desk to ask about their luggage, and were informed that their claim form was now missing!! They were given two tee-shirts, a bag with some toiletries, and offered a $150 onboard credit. There really wasn't much in their bag, the most important item being a curling-iron (legal under 1200 watts). Our friend was not happy with her "flat hair" the rest of the trip. The "customer service" people seemed very put out that anyone was complaining, and really had the attitude that they just didn't care and that we were bothering them.

 

Day 3 - Cozumel

We arrived at Cozumel, and the weather was wonderful. We thought the water would be a little cold this time of year to go snorkling, so we opted for the Horseback Ride through the Jungle excursion. Wow - what a great time we had. We are going to be in Cozumel the end of next month and will go on this again. The Buean Vista ranch was beautiful, the horses well cared for and well matched for our limited experience levels. The tour guide was excellent. After just under 2 hours on horseback, they take you back to the "cantina" for free beer and sodas. Tequila shots are available, and we found that was not a great idea after 2 hours in the sun and on an empty stomach. We were both asleep by 9:30pm and didn't wake up until 10a the next morning.

 

Day 4 - At Sea

The weather was just perfect for our last full day. We spent most of the day on the balcony and in the Solarium - with a little time spent at the casino. I had better luck with the Video Blackjack, and that always had people playing. Hit for about $200 on a slot machine, and called it day. We still hadn't heard back from Jan, and on our way back to the cabin, we were surprised to see a group of people waiting for a bridge tour. Called down to speak to Jan, and was told she wouldn't be there until after 7. Our waiter told us he now considered us "family", and that he would like to bring us gifts from his next trip home. When we gave him the envelope with the pre-paid voucher I also handed him $20 extra. He literally put this back in my hand and told us that the pre-paid was was enough. We gave it back saying that it was for his wife and kids then. He seemed surprised - I have to assume most people don't tip extra. After dinner, Nancy went to speak with Jan. It would have been OK if we were told it wasn't going to happen - but not even calling us back was not cool. At first she denied that there even was a tour, until Nancy told her we saw the people there. Then there was "your friends don't have enough cruises to be qualified", etc. Again, she seemed really put out that we had a beef. A quick call to tell us would have alleviated this whole situation and the bad feelings we had about their "customer service".

 

Day 5 - Debarkation

This has never been really smooth any time we've been on Grandeur. For the third time there was confusion about what color tags we would get. One flyer said we would get white, one flyer said we would get Purple, and we ended up getting Light Blue. We went to the Diamond/D+ waiting area. There was never any announcements, and all of a sudden we see people leaving. So we just followed everyone and were off with our luggage very quickly. Something we hadn't experienced before - that customs/immigration was different. Instead of going to the booth where they enter your passport number into a computer and ask questions to determine citizenship, we went past the closed booths, directly to pick up luggage and then a customs/immigration person looked at our declaration and passports quickly and waved us through. Saved about 20 minutes leaving. We only had to wait about 2 minutes for the car to be pulled around, and we were back on the road home.

 

General Observations and comments

 

The "worker bees" crew were just fantastic. The customer service people left a lot to be desired.

 

Food quality was the best we've had on any RCI cruise. Even though it's the standard RCI fare, there was just something better about it on this trip. I did notice a new person in charge in the kitchen in info they have in the cabins, maybe that's the difference.

 

Kudos to the Spring Break college students - most of them from Tampa. They were well behaved and polite. On formal night it seemed like they were all dressed up - lots of ties and nice dresses.

 

We were told that there's a new emphasis on the comment cards by management. For example, room stewards are docked if someone doesn't fill it out and turn it in. If they have a less than "good" on anything, they have to defend their actions in "court" held weekly.

 

[LBumb]

thanks for sharing your views.

[angiegail]

I am leaving on the Grandeur next week with my daughter. Can you tell me the total cost for parking including the valet charge? Thanks

AngieB

[capnlars]

I am leaving on the Grandeur next week with my daughter. Can you tell me the total cost for parking including the valet charge? Thanks

AngieB

 

It was $70 for the valet parking. Without valet, I think it was $56. They will kindly remind you that it's customary to tip at both dropoff and pickup. A couple bucks is fine. This was for 4 days, I would guess it's more for the 5 day trips.

[lilfish7]

Thanks for your review! We sail on her in October and I can't wait!

 

I would love to see some photos of the ship etc! I sailed on her in 03, right before the dry dock so I'm curious to the changes etc!

 

Thanks again for the thorough review!

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

We'll be on Grandeur in April. It is leaving from Fort Lauderdale instead of Tampa. Having never sailed on Grandeur and being a huge fan of the mega-ships such as Freedom Class and Oasis, I am wondering what to expect. It was good to read the review.

[LBcruzman]

To the OP...did your friend ever get her suitcase back? Thanks for sharing your experience on the Grandeur.

[capnlars]

To the OP...did your friend ever get her suitcase back? Thanks for sharing your experience on the Grandeur.

 

 

Oh yes - when we got back to the car, there it was in the trunk!! They called to return the money they were given.