sixstringgti

My wife and I just got back from our honeymoon which was the Grandeur from 11/16 to 11/23. I'm sure some have heard the stories that the Anthem and our ship had to endure at the start of their trips. While we are prepared for changes whenever we travel, we both felt that we were very let down by RCI. Unlike those on the Anthem that were offered a full future cruise credit if they decided to cancel and were still able to get off the ship after the first day, we were not so lucky. The itinerary was changed between the time we left our house and when we arrived at the port (8am to 10am), and there was no option to postpone. After we were on the ship, we were told that we would set sail at our scheduled time and anchor in the bay until the Coast Guard opened it. Now I have seen some people claim "a day on the ship is better than a day at home". While this is somewhat true, it is definitely not ideal when most of the ship is closed due to it being forty degrees outside. Even having the deluxe drink package did not help as bar service was horrible the entire cruise. We were routinely ignored by bartenders despite tipping with every drink and even standard recipes were mixed differently every time. The service was horrible all over the ship including not meeting our stateroom attendant until the last night, as well as the receptionist in the spa being incredibly rude when my wife was asking about scheduling a salon appointment. If it was not for our dinner waiters, Joe and Kevin were outstanding, we would have been totally let down by the staff of this ship. We only saw the Cruise Director the first night, though we heard rumors that he was sick for the majority of the week. We chose this ship based on the service recognition/awards it has received, but it did not come close to our expectations. We were hoping the staff would be as helpful and friendly as at Disney World, but they were not much better than a local amusement park. After we were cleared to head out to sea (11/17 at 10:30pm), we thought we would start to finally have our honeymoon. We would not be going to Port Canaveral, but we weren't expecting much there anyway. Nassau was altered to be 11/19 at noon; however, that changed as well. It kept getting pushed back until we finally arrived in port and disembarked around 10:30pm. My wife and I walked around for 45 minutes, found the only place open (Imperial Cafe), and used their free wifi. So now we have missed two of our three ports. But luckily for RCI we would be going to Coco Cay the next day. Conveniently for their wallet, it had been moved to 11/20 from the 19th before we had even left Baltimore. Coco Cay was amazing and helped to make up for the miserable three days leading up to it. However, it still felt like RCI sacrificed our entire itinerary to ensure that we had a full day on their island. I'm glad we went there and I'm happy we had a full day, but it still felt greedy to us. After we arrived back home, we had received FCC's for missing Port Canaveral. It wasn't much but it was something when we weren't expecting anything. It was very aggravating to know that we would not get anything for "missing" Nassau though. The only reason our ship stopped there was to re-supply and pickup the next night's entertainment (who was very good btw). This felt like we were getting ripped off, but again we weren't expecting anything as we know the risks of traveling. A little consideration and understanding goes a long way. Overall we were very disappointed in our experience. We loved our table mates, our waiters, and all of the other people that we met; but we feel that we would rather spend our money elsewhere than with RCI. We had a list of cruises that we were planning to book while on board, but realized we would not do that after about the third day. Not even a $600 credit would make it worth it to us right now. We've talked about itineraries with more stops and trying another time of year but we doubt it will be with RCI again.

My fiance (will be wife by the cruise) and I will be stopping in Port Canaveral for ten hours on day 3 of our cruise. The next two stops after will be Coco Cay and then Nassau. We are having trouble deciding what to do that day. The Space Center would be cool but it's a lot more than we'd like to spend for the day, and I've heard the guided tour can be rushed. I haven't heard the best reviews for Cocoa Beach, so we aren't sure about that either. We would both love to walk around Disney Springs for the day, but we are worried about transportation. RCI has a shuttle to and from the Transportation Center for $39 per person, which helps alleviate the concern we have about missing the departure. We have been to Disney Springs before and know it is mostly shops and restaurants, but we are huge Disney fans and did not get to see it all previously. Is going to Disney Springs for the day a good idea and/or has anyone done this themselves? If so, can we use the buses to get from the TTC to Disney Springs and back? Any other ideas that are closer to port that won't break the bank either?