Can't Wait to Go Again but WILL NOT Book thru

Our cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas exceeded our expectations.  The ship is well-appointed, well-maintained, and very clean.  The staff are exceptional, always pleasant and helpful.

While we were not very impressed with Nassau {not realizing it was a very congested city}, we were thrilled with Cococay!  Cococay is quiet, very natural, and restful.  There are some activities on Cococay, but we personally enjoyed the quiet surroundings.  The Jamaican band and buffet lunch brought to the island by the ship was a nice treat, although unexpected.  {We do wish we had known ahead of time complimentary food would be provided.}

The only complaints we had were issues with Crusies.com.  We will never again book a cruise through .  We will instead book directly with the cruise line.  The day we boarded the ship was spent on the cell phone trying to resolve the issues created by our booking agent.  Sadly, our very first cruise began with aggravation & very high stress!  Thankfully, the crew on the ship assisted us with resolving this issues that were resolvable but was not very helpful.  Each time we called, we got a different representative who told us a different story.  

The biggest issue was the BEVERAGE PACKAGE we had purchased through when we booked the cruise.  The rep at had told us that if we did not purchase a Beverage Package, we would not be entitled to anything to drink other than water.  For whatever reason, the booking agent arbitrarily eliminated the Beverage Package from our booking before charging it to our credit card and we didn't know that until we were on board and underway!  However, as it turned out, several beverages ARE included in the price of the cruise even without purchasing a Beverage Package {coffee, hot & iced tea, hot chocolate, milk, orange juice, lemonade, and flavored lemonades are included in the base price, but no sodas or alcohol}.  What we thought we had already paid $80 for would have cost us $107 on the ship since it wasn't purchased in advance.  We did NOT purchase a Beverage Package on the ship, but instead relied on the free beverages.

The other issue was that the rep had PROMISED us a special COMPLIMENTARY CAKE to be presented to us at dinner one night during the cruise in recognition of our 30th wedding anniversary.  He apparently never included those instructions to Royal Caribbean.  The ship would normally have charged us $16 for the cake, but due to the fact that it was our first cruise, our 30th anniversary, and not Royal Caribbean's fault, the ship's staff made good on the broken promise and provided the cake for us free-of-charge.

The third issue dropped the ball on was a $50 GIFT CERTIFICATE that was supposed to be included in our package and could be used like cash to spend on the ship.  That never made it onto our cruise package either because the ship had no record of it.   later claimed it would be an after-the-cruise rebate...which we have yet to see.

The cruise itself was fabulous but, again, we will NEVER book a cruise through .