Grand Celebration Review

4.0 / 5.0
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BEWARE THIS WAS THE WORST VACATION EVER!

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Grand Celebration
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Xomaree
2-5 Cruises • Age 20s

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Sail Date: Nov 2015

I booked a package of what I thought was a deal with the grand celebration ship that sailed from Florida to the Bahamas. This was supposed to be an all inclusive deal meaning flying to either Orlando or Fort Lauderdale first then boarding the grand celebration ship from one of the two cities. After boarding the ship we sailed one day to the Bahamas and we were left in the Bahamas for three days two nights (the only good part of this whole ordeal). We then boarded the ship from the Bahamas to come back to Florida where we would then drive almost three hours from the port of palm beach to Orlando and them stay two nights at a hotel there in Orlando. This was supposed to be an all inclusive package one flat price for 10 days. Little did we know that getting to the Fort Lauderdale area where we're picking up our rental car (that was already assigned to us by the package deal) was from Alamo rental cars. About two months prior to this trip I was told by a telephone operator who helped set up my package that since my boyfriend and I were under 25 we would be charged a fee of approximately 25 dollars a day for our entire trip and then we would be refunded once we returned the car back on our final day. After getting to the rental car place (which again was lot of our choosing) we were told that "whoever told us that we would get the 25 dollars a day back was very much wrong and it was non refundable. As if that was not enough, the car we were booked with (again by the scammers) was an economy car. After Alamo saw our two luggage bags (which easily fit in a very tiny Acura RSX on our way to the airport with three people in the car also) they insisted that our bags would not fit in THE CAR THEY BOOKED US IN and that we must upgrade to a higher car. We asked the employee that helped us if we could just squeeze it in and she would not take no for an answer. She would not let us take our rental vehicle unless we upgraded which was an additional 20 dollars a day for the entire 10 day period. This had our total for our rental car alone at over 500 dollars !!!! After being forced into paying for an upgraded car for our two medium size bags we proceeded to pick our rental car from the parking garage. When getting to the parking garage we asked an entirely different employee to just SEE how big the economy car was to see if it was manageable for our two medium bags, just like the prior employee inside he refused to show us the economy cars and told us we had to go with the upgraded car because our bags would not fit completely shutting us down without even letting us just see the car. We finally gave up with the employees and just took the upgraded car since we were already charged for it. When getting to the first hotel I'm Fort Lauderdale there were additional charges that we were unaware of and had to pay for our two night stay there.

Although the hotel was very beautiful and the staff was friendly it still was an inconvience for the additional charges. After checking out and processing to the cruise part of this package deal before even entering the grand celebration ship we were forced to sign up for a shuttle bus that was $18 a person extra for our transportation from the port to the private Bahamas resort (which again was a hidden charge we were unaware of). After boarding the boat we had to wait almost two hours to get to our rooms. When we got to our first room the air conditioner which was attached to the ceiling would not turn off and we literally froze while sleeping because we could not turn the ac off. the hair dryer in the first room was also cracked and was blowing out cold air. The good was absolutely disgusting and the buffet had no variety. There were no non beef options at the grill on the deck. The staff had no personality, they were not friendly at all. During the safety demonstration, the employees completed a two minute demonstration of how to put on a life vest, which was the worst safety demonstration ever seen. After getting off of the ship we were left at the Bahamas resort after the shuttle dropped us off. The resort was the only good part of this vacation and the only thing not disappointing. After leaving the Bahamas resort we got just barely out of the gate when the bus broke down in nearly 100 degree weather. The bus did not inform us of anything that was going on the driver simply got off and walked down the road where we were left in almost 100 degree weather until the next bus came. We finally got back to the ship and we're all assigned different rooms. After getting to our second room we got inside only to find out that the ac which was attached to the ceiling did not turn on, it was broken. We proceeded to call the front desk and let them know that we needed a technician to check our ac to get it to work. We were told on two separate occasions who call it that "she would contact her supervisor immediately" regardless to say nobody ever called nor showed. An employee from the trip came to drop off a paper to each cabin and asked if everything was okay. I then proceeded to inform him that our ac was broken and we already called the front desk two times, he said he would personally let someone know but we should use the fan that was in the closet. Again not one technician or employee came to check on us or our ac. We slept in an extremely hot room with a barely working fan which made it even more disappointing and I comfortable. To also add in there was a $9 fuel charge added per person as well as a $12 housekeeping charge per person added to each person aboard the ship. There was a charge of $17 per day for a valet parking pass that we wrte forced to leave our car at the port with which came to $68 extra which also was not told to us prior to this trip. We then had to drive almost three hours to our hotel in Orlando where we would stay an additional two nights. After getting there it was told to us that there was an additional 21 dollar per day charge each night we stayed. Although the hotel was very nice and the staff was friendly we were again disappointed in the vouchers given to us. We were given vouchers for breakfast, lunch and dinner for each day at the hotel which were supposed to be good for two complimentary meals for each. At the Fort Lauderdale hotel we were informed that the vouchers were only $7 each and we would be responsible for the difference on the bill along with an already included 15% on each voucher bull used which again was never informed to us until our stay. At the hotel in Orlando our vouchers that were given to us were only good for buffet meals. It was never communicated to us that we were unable to use these vouchers at the hotel restaurant like the hotel in Fort Lauderdale until we were seconds away from ordering from the menu. Overall this trip was very disappointing and had a ton of hidden charges. If we were aware of all of these charges prior to traveling thousands of miles we would've booked a completely different trip for a lower price with no hidden charges. This is a scam !!!!

Cabin Review

Cabin Ocean view

Cabins were terrible. The ac would not turn off in the first cabin so we froze all night. The air in the second room was broken and did not turn on at all. We called guest services three times and even spoke with a ship employee face to face who all said they would "contact their supervisor" and nobody ever came. We were told to use the fan in our closet temporarily

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