Grandeur Announcement

[truffles2]

It was just announced by RCI that Grandeur will be deployed to Tampa to run 4 and 5 day cruises to the Western Caribbean--until April 2006.

[Andy]

Hi Everyone !

 

The official release says that Grandeur Will be sailing 4 & 5 night Caribbean sailings from Tampa, FL starting on Dec 3, 2005. The season will run until 4/22/06.

 

Here is a link to the Press Release :

 

http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=rcl&script=410&layout=9&item_id=761442

[stillfrantic]

I'm glad they finally made a decision.

[goodml]

Looks like a pretty good deal under the circumstances.

[osiebosie]

Not a good deal for me. We had a 7 day cruise planned.:(

 

 

Shay

[travellady]

I am happy to see they are price protecting fares for those who choose another Vision class 7 day sailing. When Carnival moved their ships to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort, impacted passengers weren't price protected. In fact, some of those who booked with a military discount were told the ships they wanted to sail on due to the change didn't have a military discount available. All they got was the credit - can't recall but I think it was 100.00 to 150.00 or so. Some ended up paying 500.00 or more to change. A pretty sucky deal I thought.

[Nellaj]

Thanks for the info.

[rcicruiser]

Travellady is right, Carnival did not protect the rates. You can also cancel and get a full refund plus an extra 100.00 dollars. There will be people who complain that that is not enough.

[cruiseman_tx]

Not a good deal for me. We had a 7 day ...cruise planned.:(

 

 

Shay

 

From RCI

* Any seven-night cruise on a Vision-class vessel (Vision of the Seas, Enchantment of the Seas, Rhapsody of the Seas, Splendour of the Seas or Legend of the Seas) at the rate paid (price protected) and a $100-per-stateroom onboard credit;

 

According to the press release you can still take a 7 day cruise with your price protected and get a $100 onboard credit. Just have to change embarkation port. Seems pretty decent to me.

[Kenna]

We booked a 7 night cruise on the Grandeur and now we are looking at the options given to us. We feel that RCI is being quite fair in what they are offering. There should not be any complaints from anyone.

[osiebosie]

I just spoke with my TA. We can either continue with the Grandeur and save a bit of money for a five day cruise out of Tampa, or there are a couple of other seven day cruises we can get, one for the same price which is the Rhapsody out of Galveston but one day later, or the Mariner of the Seas out of Port Canaveral, but that one's rates are a little higher.

 

 

Have to talk with family and see what we want to do.

 

But at least we finally have a definite answer from RCCI.

[cruisinkeri]

I just got off of the phone with my travel agent. We were on the Jan. 07 sailing of the Grandeur out of NO. We are switching to the Legend of the Seas out of Tampa. I think their offer is decent, given the circumstances, but there are not a lot of cabins left. Now I have to try and work on the airfare, we had already booked on our own. Good luck to everyone, hope to see some of you on the LOS!! Still excited!!

[Annieeee]

trying to keep this near the top so all concerned can see it

[Kokomos]

The prices look really good. New Orleans is in driving distance for us Tampa is not but I just talked to Travel Gaurd and they said to file a claim when we return and we should get a refund for our airline tickets. states room credit, free airfair and still going to Grand Cayman and Cozumel (5 day) Sounds like a great deal to me I think we will upgrade to a suite

[IMNiles]

We're on the Dec 3 Grandeur sailing and were offered a back-to-back (9 days total) on Grandeur, or any other 7 day vision sailing in comparable cabins for the same price, plus $100 per cabin credit. Sounds fair to me, the only challenge is finding space on the other vision-class ship since we are unable to change our dates.

[LuvMyBasset]

Way to go Royal Caribbean! I posted this in reply to another thread before I saw this one, but I just wanted to re-emphasize that my confidence in Royal Caribbean's customer service has definitely been restored.

 

I think they have stepped up to the plate their options they are offering, and I think that they have actually gone a good bit over the call of duty. Kudos to them. We swapped over to the Legend for the same week (12/3) and received a $100 PER PERSON credit, and kept our same price.

 

I am very grateful that we decided to wait it out and stick with Royal Caribbean... we were ohsoclose to cancelling and booking with another line and now I am glad we did not.

[cruisinkeri]

How did you get $100 per person cabin credit? We switched from the 7 day Jan. 07 on the Grandeur to the Legend of the Seas and were given $100 per cabin- and that is what it says on the announcement and that is what our TA offered?

[Annieeee]

CruisinKeri,

 

Did you switch before the announcement was made?

 

Annieeee

[cruisinkeri]

No, we just switched this am after our TA received the announcement. I got a full refund for our airline tickets from Midwest (which we had arranged on our own), have rebooked air with Southwest, still looking at hotels.

[cruisePLEASE!]

We were book on jan 7 gradeur and looking at legend on Jan 7th as well.

 

When you booked did they give you an idea on how many cabins were left?

 

Thanks,

[cruisinkeri]

I know that my travel agent said we got the last junior suites that were available. I am not sure what else is available, I am sure it is going to be slim pickings now that the word is out about the change in ports. Good luck, hope you find something that works.

[cruisePLEASE!]

Understood.

 

Thanks for the info.

[zydecocruiser]

The offer was fair, but wasn't interested in sailing out of Tampa so am dumping RCCL and going on Princess out of Galveston Dec 24.

 

RCCL cruises out of Galveston at that time are 9 and 10 days.

[CandD]

We, (12 of us) were booked on the Grandeur December 3 for 7 nights.

 

As we all know 5 nights boils down to 4 days of cruising. A 5 night (4 day) cruise is just not worth all the travel hassle from Seattle to Tampa during December.

 

Unfortunately, I seriously doubt we will be able to switch to another Vision class ship on this short notice and still maintain our current 4 cabin categories of Owners Suite, Royal Family Suite, Junior Suite and inside cabin on upper deck.

 

Sadly, it appears we will have to cancel. I am truly sick about it.

[LuvMyBasset]

How did you get $100 per person cabin credit? We switched from the 7 day Jan. 07 on the Grandeur to the Legend of the Seas and were given $100 per cabin- and that is what it says on the announcement and that is what our TA offered?

 

I'm not sure, exactly...

When I called to talk to my travel agent, they weren't aware yet of the announcement, so I told them about it, and when they put me on hold to call Royal Caribbean, I just said "Please be sure to ask them about the $100 per stateroom credit because I want to be sure we get it". When my TA came back on the phone, she said "They're going to give you a $100 per person credit". I asked her a couple of times if she was sure that they meant $100 per person or $100 per stateroom, and she said "No, they agreed to give you $100 PER PERSON since you requested it". I wasn't really trying to ask for that, but apparently the TA and Royal Caribbean thought that was what we were asking for and agreed to it. It remains to be seen if it will still apply when we actually get there, but I'm hoping...that's 5 more 8x10's in the photo gallery.

 

As an edit, I just remembered something...one of the times that I called Royal Caribbean during the last few weeks and I told someone that I had got a different story with each new person I talked to, one guy asked for my booking number and said he was notating the system that I had made a complaint. Maybe it had something to do with that? Who knows?