My partner Janet and I went on the promotional cruise we got from GRG, and we can't thank GRG enough! At the presentation they were very personable and totally up front with us, and Tim especially, the presenter, helped us make our decision later, which was that we don't travel enough to merit joining up at this time. After the presentation I wrote them a great review here just for that! They will take care of you.
But we did get the promos offered - one 4 day cruise, one 7 day cruise (but in Florida and we live in CA so we didn't use that one) and we could not wait to try out the more local Mexico one, since neither of us had ever been on a cruise before. 4 day Carnival cruise, to Ensenada and Catalina Island!
GRG was totally great to work with at all times. There was only really 1 wrinkle, and it was not with them. It was with Spirit Incentives, the entity the promo cruises came from. Turned out the promo cruise only offered rooms with bunk beds, and you had to upgrade to get a big bed we could both sleep in. The $50 for that upgrade was no big deal. An additional $119.95 one time only trip date change fee was bundled in inextricably with the $50, and we had a problem with that. We knew our travel dates and did not request nor want that additional fee.
But Spirit Incentives would not back down. They said it was automatically bundled in. So we called GRG and complained. They said this guy from Spirit would call us, and after 3 days of continuing to call GRG and tell them this guy had not called, Roberto at Gold Rush saw that he would need to watch our backs on this one, and he went to bat for us. Within 24 hours a woman much different from the original one (who for lack of more accurate wording I must say was "not customer service oriented" the first time around) finally did call me and made everything right. Unlike the initial Spirit rep who said there was nothing she - or we - could do about the extra $120, this woman who finally did call was wonderful. She made that extra charge go away and it went back to just the $50 to exit the bunk beds for a nice big bed we could both sleep in, which was all we wanted. There are always inherent costs even on a promo cruise, but they were eminently affordable, once this snag had been taken care of.
The cruise itself was incredible! It was on the Carnival ship Imagination, and the food alone was worth the price of admission.
The food was nonstop and 24/7, which was good for me, as I am trim and eat often. And delicious! The dining room food was top grade 5 star and would have cost a bundle at any fine restaurant, for every meal. And fine restaurant food was how it was prepared as well, every course, every meal. Top notch, succulent, tender and flavorful, every time. I know the waiters were not wearing white gloves, but they may as well have been. The 24/7 room service was fantastic too.
I have a video I took while going down the water slide, we were served foofy drinks while sunbathing on deck, and the music up on the main deck had everybody hopping at just the right times, with a dance deck for co-ordinated crowd dancing, a la Saturday Night Fever.
The comedy club was also fantastic. It turned Adult comedy after 11pm, no kids allowed, and they had open mike and invited guests up on stage to tell their favorite joke, with a bottle of champagne to the winner. I tied with one other guy as winner on the crowd's applause meter later, of the half dozen of us who were brave enough to go up there and tell our jokes, so they broke out a second bottle of champagne to cover both of us! The MC said we could trade that warm one in for an ice cold one any time we wanted, at any of the places on ship where they served alcohol.
It was a very memorable vacation, and I can't wait to do another one. My compliments and gratitude to Gold Rush Getaways for their professionalism, experience and above all tenacity. read more