Grandeur of the Seas Be Wary 12/17-12/27

[Cruising89143]

The photos show me that this is a ship that either needs to be refurbished or retired from the fleet.  I recall a number of years ago Richard Fain stating on an earnings call the Vision class of ships days in the fleet was numbered. Of course Pullmantur’s demise and Covid happened and RCI needs to pay off loans so they stay in the fleet. It’s a shame that this ship is in this condition. 

[Missusdubbya]

Those sheets 🤮

[Morecruisesplz]

3 hours ago, kruzerci said:

Agreed. But to be fair, they always do this on pre-inaugural and inaugural sailings due to the presence of media and travel partners. 

To be fair? Bribe those on free cruise nights with unreasonable expectations of the dining experiences so they media, etc say great things about them? How is that fair to anyone... especially the customer who are paying 🙄. 

[JeffT237]

23 hours ago, BigPapi21 said:

The letter with names was sent in December to RC, there has been no reply. Last week we contact RC and they offered us 15% of our next cruise. We refused and felt it was better to share our experience here.

I will agree with a previous poster, a shorter complaint letter can be more effective.  I will also add that we had a similar experience on another cruise line and after several back and forth with the companies customer service I turned to the Better Business Bureau to finally get the issue resolved.  Royal like many companies are not an accredited BBB business (the other cruise line was not either) but they do respond to the complaint process. Visit the BBB web site and you can read past complaints and even the businesses response.  Hope you get the resolution you are looking for. 

[mugtech]

        Guess I should be glad that the Grandeur Tampa to Boston cruise this August/September was cancelled.  Although it sounds like the ship will be all fixed by then.  We were gonna do  consecutive cruises, Western Caribbean, then change ships to sail to Boston.  We are not gonna fly to Tampa to do 7 days Western Caribbean on another old ship then return to PA in August, so gonna cancel soon.

[Scottdalfonso]

14 hours ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

We did 9 nights on Radiance during NYE and while I think the ship was in very good shape - actually better than our cruise last February on Serenade, we’re finding the food is getting worse and worse, and that cruise was way more than I usually would spend (I guess because of the holiday) so I was very disappointed.

We did 27 nIghts on Odyssey in October-November and even the WJ food was very good! Lots of choices, no red or brown gravy with mystery meat…real meat!

I just saw a post in FB posted today showing the spread in WJ on Icon. It’s disgraceful that Royal has gone so much downhill with their food on older smaller ships, and then has an elaborate, enormous display of foods including mounds of king crab legs that we’ve never seen on any a Royal ship, ever!

So what’s the message Royal? I guess out with the old, and in with the new….and that goes for food and loyal customers.

That spread in Windjammer is not going to be a normal thing- it's a week long party\promotional series of cruises to show off the ship to media, travel agents and big wigs- that stuff will not be in WJ after next week. 

[sgmn]

15 hours ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

I just saw a post in FB posted today showing the spread in WJ on Icon. It’s disgraceful that Royal has gone so much downhill with their food on older smaller ships, and then has an elaborate, enormous display of foods including mounds of king crab legs that we’ve never seen on any a Royal ship, ever!

So what’s the message Royal? I guess out with the old, and in with the new….and that goes for food and loyal customers.

I think a lot of new cruisers see the social media and adverts about the new(ish) ships and assume the RC product is the same for all ships.  Pretty certain they don't feature the old ships in their adverts or advertising material. 

Having said this we enjoyed our 12 night on Serenade last Sept. Though did notice the couch in the room was threadbare. Food was OK. 

The positives with the smaller ships are usually more interesting ports 

Edited January 22 by sgmn

[shipgeeks]

15 hours ago, blueslily said:

 

Which other older ships look like what was shown in the posted pictures? Thanks so much!

We have sailed on Enchantment and Vision several times in the past two years, and have had none of the issues mentioned here.  No complaints at all, and three more booked.

[kruzerci]

9 hours ago, Morecruisesplz said:

To be fair? Bribe those on free cruise nights with unreasonable expectations of the dining experiences so they media, etc say great things about them? How is that fair to anyone... especially the customer who are paying 🙄. 

I didn’t mean fair in that respect, I think it is BS also. I meant to be fair, it isn’t like they are doing that on every sailing. They’ll have the same slop stew as the rest of the ships once normal service begins. 

[kruzerci]

6 hours ago, mugtech said:

        Guess I should be glad that the Grandeur Tampa to Boston cruise this August/September was cancelled.  Although it sounds like the ship will be all fixed by then.  We were gonna do  consecutive cruises, Western Caribbean, then change ships to sail to Boston.  We are not gonna fly to Tampa to do 7 days Western Caribbean on another old ship then return to PA in August, so gonna cancel soon.

Frankly it likely will not be fixed by then. With these old ships, the dry docks have been primarily technical, not passenger area enhancing. 

Edited January 22 by kruzerci

[twangster]

On a Radiance cruise a few months ago the HD was talking at top tier.  He mentioned some of the challenges with getting things fixed in dry docks.  He specifically mentioned the broken or water filled windows in the Solarium.  They had requested funding to have them fixed during a dry dock but he seemed to suggest that corporate was denying some of these types of requests around the ship.  

 

I don't think it's safe to assume even basic guest area maintenance is a sure thing any more.

[RocCruisers]

Back in December, 2021, we sailed on the first Grandeur cruise after the stoppage.  I was surprised nothing was done to do even little items around the ship. My biggest amazement was the king size bed pillows with twin size pillowcases.  No attempt was made to fix it, and then I found out some cabins took three days to even get pillows!

[NeepierRoad]

Just off Enchantment this past Saturday, while she is an older ship I think she is aging gracefully.  That being said, I did not notice anything in grave disrepair nor did I look for it.  I agree with the OP that the ship's crew is the backbone of Royal Caribbean. Most of those I met and spent time with were salt of the earth, good people.  All that being said, having just had our first Diamond cruise I think it's time to see what else is out there.  NCL, MSC, and Princess all have a variety of perks that seem to be paving the way for a new generation of cruising while Royal continues down the path of nickel and diming for every last thing.  As an aside, one night in the Crown Lounge I was speaking with the Hotel Director and I said I was a big fan of the cruise boards.  He rather resignedly or agrievedly said, Cruisecritic?"  I had to laugh but them implored him on behalf of all Royal cruisers that we'd like to see morning and evening room service back.  To be fair, he took our cabin numbers and seemed truly interested in our thoughts.  Royal is aware so it doesn't hurt to express your experiences.

[blueslily]

12 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

We have sailed on Enchantment and Vision several times in the past two years, and have had none of the issues mentioned here.  No complaints at all, and three more booked.

 

Thank you

[blueslily]

9 hours ago, twangster said:

On a Radiance cruise a few months ago the HD was talking at top tier.  He mentioned some of the challenges with getting things fixed in dry docks.  He specifically mentioned the broken or water filled windows in the Solarium.  They had requested funding to have them fixed during a dry dock but he seemed to suggest that corporate was denying some of these types of requests around the ship.  

 

I don't think it's safe to assume even basic guest area maintenance is a sure thing any more.

 

Wow! Why would they deny that? Goodness.

 

[toad455]

Royal has ample new ships entering their fleet. Time to retire the Grandeur(28 years old). Shortly to follow would be the Rhapsody, Enchantment & Vision. What's sad to think is that the Voyager-class is shortly to follow. All four probably don't get scrapped, but sold elsewhere.

[HicksRA]

It’s hard for the Royal cheerleaders to poo poo this complaint when the pics back it up.

I spent 16 nights on Radiance in October and was saddened to see the demise of what I believe is one of the most beautiful and ornate ships ever in Royal’s fleet. 

The efficiency experts are killing the brand. 

[Morecruisesplz]

28 minutes ago, blueslily said:

 

Wow! Why would they deny that? Goodness.

 

$$s

[gallagher123123]

20 hours ago, mugtech said:

        Guess I should be glad that the Grandeur Tampa to Boston cruise this August/September was cancelled.  Although it sounds like the ship will be all fixed by then.  We were gonna do  consecutive cruises, Western Caribbean, then change ships to sail to Boston.  We are not gonna fly to Tampa to do 7 days Western Caribbean on another old ship then return to PA in August, so gonna cancel soon.

Not going to lie, still wish Grandeur was coming here in the fall. I wouldn't normally go out of my way to sail on her, but her sailing so close to home would be tempting, an easy way to experience Royal's oldest ship. Also, Boston itineraries went way up when they switched over to Jewel.

[bren61]

This has me very concerned & upset to see how bad the condition of the ship is, as we are leaving tomorrow on our 12 day cruise on the Grandeur. I realized that this was an older ship when I booked our cruise but felt that RCCL has always maintained their ships pretty well, (obviously not this one), but some of these issues don't require a dry dock to make the ship presentable, such as the dust, sheets, towels, thermostats hanging out of the wall and the painting and varnishing. This almost makes me not want to go, but I guess I will try to overlook it and be grateful we are able to get away. Lesson learned today, no more booking on older ships. I will try to remember to comment on our thoughts when we return.

[goldfish65]

9 hours ago, bren61 said:

This has me very concerned & upset to see how bad the condition of the ship is, as we are leaving tomorrow on our 12 day cruise on the Grandeur. I realized that this was an older ship when I booked our cruise but felt that RCCL has always maintained their ships pretty well, (obviously not this one), but some of these issues don't require a dry dock to make the ship presentable, such as the dust, sheets, towels, thermostats hanging out of the wall and the painting and varnishing. This almost makes me not want to go, but I guess I will try to overlook it and be grateful we are able to get away. Lesson learned today, no more booking on older ships. I will try to remember to comment on our thoughts when we return.

There is so much to like. The live music, the food, the promenade deck, the crew, the comfortable layout, rock climbing, etc.  I skip the elevators but that's my preference. Tried doing that on Freedom and it was too much of a workout! When Vision class came out, it was state of the art design. You can see the ocean from almost everywhere on the ship.  Thursday is the Full Moon! Pretty soon, our only choice will be big ships. If you look for cosmetic deficiencies, you'll find them. If something bothers you, ask a crew member if they can fix it. You have a great attitude, if people took a moment now and then to be grateful, they would be happier. Have fun!

[Engineroom Snipe]

Enchantment, April, 2023:

 

Overall, ship seemed to be reasonably maintained (nothing out-of-the-ordinary of minor repairs or upkeep).  Staff service was very good. Solarium and pool deck seemed in good shape compared to your pictures. Cabin bathroom was worn but everything was safe and functional.

 

Windjammer was clean but food was mostly stews at lunch and dinner in Windjammer. Very little stand alone meat, fish, or poultry. We tried MDR a few nights and were not impressed.

 

I got the cruise for a great price-point so maybe I was more forgiving. I would cruise her again for the right price.

 

Jewel, November 2023:

 

Overall, in good repair. Showing some wear but nothing close to the OP pictures. Very good service, Windjammer food much better than recent Enchantment in April.

 

MDR was the best I have had since reopening. I would cruise her again for the right price.

[JeffT237]

1 hour ago, goldfish65 said:

You have a great attitude, if people took a moment now and then to be grateful, they would be happier. Have fun!

I don't think it is a matter of being ungrateful, more a matter of reasonable expectations.  We primarily cruise the newer ships when selecting a cruise, we've found the older ships not to be what we like anymore. When we did we could look past the public areas that needed some attention, but I would not appreciate a dirty cabin, linens or broken items.  Of course a visit to GS or bringing it to the attention of a crew member to address it is reasonable and will more than likely it will get resolved. I don't think that is being ungrateful.  The OP was quick to point out the professionalism of the crew, had a bad experience, shared it and tried to address it with Royal to get it resolved.

[LobsterStalker]

12 minutes ago, JeffT237 said:

I don't think it is a matter of being ungrateful, more a matter of reasonable expectations.  We primarily cruise the newer ships when selecting a cruise, we've found the older ships not to be what we like anymore. When we did we could look past the public areas that needed some attention, but I would not appreciate a dirty cabin, linens or broken items.  Of course a visit to GS or bringing it to the attention of a crew member to address it is reasonable and will more than likely it will get resolved. I don't think that is being ungrateful.  The OP was quick to point out the professionalism of the crew, had a bad experience, shared it and tried to address it with Royal to get it resolved.

And just to piggy back on your thought ... In the case of this ship , as evidenced by OP's photos , It is definitely more than a trip to GS to get these issues resolved . The ship is clearly in disrepair and it is a shame to see Royal allow their standards to slip this low . There is nothing 'ungrateful' about expecting more than this ship provides .

  That all being said ,would it ruin my time ? Absolutely not . No matter what issues or problems arise on any of our sailings , we make sure to see the best of the situation and have a memorable time !

 

Cheers 

[goldfish65]

Never said "ungrateful." I meant that in general, if people are grateful for things, they would be happier. That's all. 😎