#cruisereview

I went on the Grandeur of the Seas a loooong time ago. I was still in high school it was at least ten years ago.  I remember the experience being amazing, so much so that I was depressed when it was time to disembark.  Seriously, I was ready to chain myself to a railing or something so I wouldn’t have to leave. Unfortunately I did not have the same experience this time.  Bermuda was amazing, I’ve been there before and it’s one of my favorite places on planet Earth. I have no complaints about the Bermuda experience and would gladly go there a thousand more times. Or a million. Or I could move there.  The actual cruise ship experience itself proved to be a bit disappointing. This is crazy to me and not what I expected at all. I’ve never felt “disappointed” with any cruise, which is why I decided to write this. It wasn’t entirely negative, not at all.  It just did not live up to the cruises I’ve taken in the past. When you take into consideration how much money you spend, they should all be incredible.

One of the things that bothered me the most was how most of the activities seemed to be a ploy to get you to spend more money. I’ve already spent a ton of money to get on here, I don’t want to pay for a bunch of stuff that should have been included. When you think of a cruise, you think all inclusive for the most part, right? Me too. And that has pretty much been my experience in the past. Now let’s clarify, I’m not talking about shore excursions and soda and things like that. This isn’t my first rodeo. I knew those would be extra. I’m talking about activities like jewelry making. You would think that could be included, right? You’d be wrong. Cost extra. Making your own sushi? Cost extra. It goes on and on. Though the group that went to the make your own sushi class did say it was tons of fun and the staff teaching it were fab.

The stuff that was free was often geared towards getting you to buy something, like spa treatments or fitness consultations. I just wanted to do something without being accosted for more money. Oh, and if you book a spa treatment you better be sure you actually want it. My sister found out the hard way that if you make an appointment and cancel less than 24 hours ahead of time then you still have to pay half of the cost. This was not communicated to her at any point when she booked. She also booked the appointment on the first day for that same night, so how she was supposed to cancel 24 hours ahead of time I don’t know.  She went to the salon (connected to the spa) to get her hair done later in the trip for formal night and said she saw a small, out of the way sign posted about this policy. Seems a little fishy to me.

Four of us actually ended up getting our hair done at the salon for fancy night and let me tell you, it was really nice. The people working in the salon were super sweet and personable and we were all pleased with the finished product.  My sister and I both have mega thick hair that can be hard to work with but they were total pros.

There were some fun, legitimately free things to do. The movies they played on the top deck were awesome.  It was a cool atmosphere to kick back, have a fancy drink, and watch relatively new movies. They even played the second Guardians of the Galaxy! The rock wall was super cool but it was only open for about two hours a day, if at all.  They had shows every night but I never made it to any of them, for one reason or another. Most of the time the reason was that the shows were at 7:00pm so if you wanted to go you would have to eat crazy early or crazy late because dinner in the dining room took quite a while (but was totally worth it). They had a really fun dance party with a DJ at the club on board. It may have been all the alcohol in my system but I thought the fella played a great mix of music and everyone seemed pretty hyped.  My sister participated in a cute “Finish the Lyric” game put on by the Cruise Director which had the whole audience into it (see my upcoming vlog for this).  We missed the Newlywed Game when they did it but it was recorded and played on the TVs in our rooms. Watching cruise guests play this classic made for fun viewing!

You could also turn to the pools for some free fun. The issue was that they were very often filled to the brim with kids and the adults only pool was rarely open.  They did all this advertising for this adults only oasis, that was legitimately beautiful, but it was a real crap shoot to catch the pool open. Kids weren’t supposed to be allowed in the hot tubs anywhere on the ship either, but the lifeguards didn’t enforce this. My aunt had to ask lifeguards twice to say something because the hot tubs were full of kiddos.  On one of these occasions, the lifeguard’s first response was to ask what she wanted him to do about it. Um…your job, perhaps?

The bar situation proved to be a challenge at times, as well. Listen, I like to drink sometimes and I feel like it’s not unreasonable to want a buzz from time to time on vacation. I think many people are of that mindset. But jeez, the bars frequently closed at like 10:00pm or 11:00pm. When you want to let loose on your vacay and are at the mercy of the bar staff on the ship, this presents a problem. Then there were the drink packages. My Aunt and Mom usually get some kind of wine package for the trip so they can save a bit. They planned to do the same on this trip until they found out that the wine package only provided like three options for wine. It also felt like the only advertised packages were the ones they wanted you to get.  I found out about a package on like the second to last day of the trip, ten drinks for $80, that I would have totally purchased if I had known about it earlier on. Yet they were still advertising drinks out of pineapples when they were out of pineapples at all the bars. That’s right folks, all the bars. It’s okay though, the dining room staff saved the day by giving us a pineapple to physically walk to a bar to get that drink.

The night we docked overnight in Bermuda, my group boarded the ship after spending some time on the island and we were looking for something to do. It wasn’t that late but the bars on the ship were closed, of course. There were staff cleaning in a lot of places, which I totally get needs to happen, but some of them acted as if we were in the way as we tried to navigate around the ship.  That’s a bit problematic when we effectively live on the boat, are on vacation, and it’s like 11:00pm.

Let’s talk about something positive. That food! So amazing! The dining room service was on point.  I definitely recommend doing the formal dining room and not the stuff on the top deck. I feel like this is where most of us were able to get our money’s worth.   We ate like kings and queens every night. The menu included a wide selection of dishes from beef, to chicken, to fish, to vegetarian. The dining room staff worked so hard and tried to give us everything we wanted. Want two entrees? No problem. Three appetizers? They didn’t even bat an eyelash. Here I found that incredible customer service I had grown to expect from cruise vacations. Lunch in the dining room was fantastic as well. That salad bar they had, I dream about it.  We also ordered room service for breakfast one morning and the person who brought us the food was so sweet that it added some positivity to an early morning.

There were a few things here and there that were a bit questionable. For instance, there was a crab dish one night that had some imitation crab meat in it. It didn’t bother me so much, I had two, but for the money we all spent I can see where that would be a problem. There was also no bar staff allowed in the dining room for some reason, so if we wanted a drink at dinner we had to bother our already busy wait staff with it. No fellas carrying around drinks of the day or shooters for us. I would have also loved to go a day without being hounded about making a reservation at a special restaurant that, of course, cost extra. I’ll stick with the mountains of free food, thanks.

I felt like the dress code wasn’t enforced enough in the dining room.  Now I realize this makes me sound like a snob, but they have a classy vibe going on in there. I don’t particularly like to dress up myself but I do it because it’s what’s appropriate and it’s kind of nice for vacation. If most of us can follow the rules and look presentable, why can’t you? I get the first night when everyone’s luggage might not have been delivered on time or maybe you’re new to cruising and didn’t know. After that, I feel like it’s disrespectful to come into the dining room in your cutoff shorts and tank tops.

Our second day docked on the island, the dining room was closed for lunch. Everyone had to be back aboard about midday as we were pulling out. This meant we all went to the top deck to eat at the same time and it was miserable. We had to awkwardly hover and monitor tables so we could pounce when someone got up.  The lines for the buffet style food were insane and slow moving. I just feel like this was something they should have anticipated and prepared for. I don’t understand why the dining room was closed when reason would say there would be a flood of people looking to get their grub on all at the same time.

Our room attendant was great, especially having to deal with how messy our room was. I have no complaints about the room situation. I knew it was going to be small and cramped. Like I said, I’ve done this before. I actually felt like there was a good amount of storage space for how small it was. The other folks in our group also told me they had good experiences with the room attendant and that he was very attentive.

We had a very helpful and informative shopping expert who did seminars and information sessions on the shopping on Bermuda. She had lots of good info on where to go and lots of deals for money off or free stuff when you got there. She was frequently in the stores on the island and was very present around the ship.  The stores on board the ship also had a great selection of stuff. They did free alcohol tastings and there ain’t nothing wrong with some duty free shopping.

We all enjoyed our shore excursions, mostly because we were in Bermuda (duh).  There was a good range of excursions to choose from by activity and by price.  I always feel safer when I’m doing something that’s affiliated with the cruise line and I don’t have to worry about getting lost or being late to the ship.  I felt especially good about this when we went to book our excursion the first day and they told us the one we had chosen had been removed as it no longer met their standards. Whether it was a safety thing or an issue with it not being worth the money being charged, I appreciated that the activities were scrutinized in this way.

A lot of the problems we had came from little things that kind of added up. I just feel like every time I’ve been on a cruise the level of customer service has been impeccable. On this trip I often felt like I was a bother or that things were just falling through the cracks. For instance, we paid $80 for birthday decorations and cake for my cousin in our room.  Though I had chosen chocolate cake for her, they brought vanilla. I know that’s not a huge deal but dang, that setup was expensive so to get it wrong is a bit frustrating. There was also stuff like cups, plates, trash, etc. being left all over the ship without being picked up.  Now keep in mind that there aren’t trash cans anywhere that guests can get to so we can’t throw stuff away ourselves. It seemed to just sit around and accumulate. One night a gentleman was cleaning the top deck by hosing it down, sending the cups and garbage flying all over the place. Super swank.

I certainly don’t want to give the impression that I had no fun at all. That’s simply not true. We all definitely enjoyed ourselves. I’ve just never been on a cruise before where I felt the customer service was so lacking in certain areas and that they were after my wallet so hard. I wonder if maybe the Grandeur is a training ship now or if Royal Caribbean is putting more money and effort into their newer, megaships. Maybe they were short staffed or something. My previous trip on the Grandeur went so differently that I have to wonder what changed. I personally feel that the experience shouldn’t suffer because I can’t afford to cruise on one of their floating cities.

At the end of the day, I believe a lot of the experience will be what you make it. My family, friends, and I had tons of fun despite these issues and it hasn’t changed my outlook on cruising. What is has done is taught me to do research and read recent reviews before booking.

Keep your eyes out for my cruise vlog and pics, they’re coming soon! Also, check out my previous blog post where I talk about 10 things you absolutely need to pack for a cruise vacation (“Essentials to Pack on a Cruise”).

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Getting ready to board

Docked in Bermuda!

That waterrr!