Grand Celebration Grand Bahama Cruise Lines, Royal Bahama Cruise Lines, VSC Staffing, Ultimate Vacation Group Scam free cruise for 118 dollars port taxes and then you miraculously are chosen for a 1,470 extended stay VIP package LAKE MARY - Orlando Internet and Florida

A attended the time share presentation ...but got through it  NO BIG DEAL !

Went on the Cruise and actually Liked it ...

Older boat but clean and well staffed ... courtious employees and food was good ...

I thought the fees were NOT excessive ...

It's the marketing company that needs to just be honest ...

I would go again :-)

All complaints from previous consumers are absolutely true and accurate regarding this scam.  My BF and I were scammed by unscruplous people with whom we had no relationship with (professional or otherwise). The Ramada Plaza located in Fort Lauderdale was a rat trap- filthy!! The "free food" which was included with the hotel stay at the Ramada was basically inedible; there was mold inside the fruit- No joke!!! Plus the dirty plates at the buffet was enough to make us run.  We were NEVER told that there was going to be a mandatory timeshare presentation- and we were basically "held hostage" for over 2 hours before we were released with vouchers for the cruise and Bahamas. We made it perfectly clear we had no intention of buying a timeshare, which in turn led to very rude and angry sales people. Any comment made in a negative light on this forum regarding the Grand Celebration (or whatever name they change it to) Is 100% true.  Every person we spoke with on the cruise theat were involved with the "package" realized how they were scammed and will tell everyone they know.  Terrible that there are snakes out there that will take advantage of people.

To me this author sounds like a Grand Bahamas Cruise Line affiliated employee. The reason I say that is because  when I was called about this porgram, the telemarketer, a female used exactly the same presentation points as are mentioned in Author mngopher's post.

Also, I did not find the time share presentation "a good value" but a waste of time. Why do these people make you pay to be sold? This would be like car dealers charging you to enter their stores and a per hour consulting fee. 

The cruise ship ---The Grand Celebation is old. On their website it looks great. If you accept the cruse, be prepared for a culture shock when you actually board. The picture is for marketing. Ditto for the upgraded cabins on the ocean view. The marketers probably use a wide angle lens  to make this cabin look like the Ritz Carleton or something. When you see it, it is quite different. You put your key in the door and it practilly hits the wall on the other   side of the very small room.

There not many activities on the ship. I was told that we would get a lot of food. It was ok, not as much or as good as the telemarketer promised.  And not nearly as good as other cruises that I have been on before.  This ship also appeared to be very disorganized. Totally lacked professionalism.

The Grand Lycayan Beach resort was the only nice part of the deal, but I could have gone there for much less money and less aggravation on my own and without having to sit through a sleazy time share presentation.

My advice on this special "promotion" is to pass on it.  And as sophisticated buyers say,

Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware)

The two people whp posted the 1st and 3rd reviews above mine are correct with their negative but accurate comments about The Grand Bahama Cruise Lines and their "Queen Mary" ship ----the Grand Celebration in every respect.  They give you some cockamnie story that you won a free cruise by taking a survey. When you rebut that and say you never took a survey, they give you some other wild and wierd explanation on why they got our name and number somewhere.

When they call us, they don't even know who we are. They ask us what our name is. That was the first red flag for me. If we won a cruise, they should know our names right? I think so.  

Then they go through some dreadfully long script which is obviously being read very poorly. It is very painful.  

It is almost too funny when they kids try to pass themselves of as adults claiming they are married and took their spouses to the island. They claim they took the cruise. These people who call hardly sound old enough to be eligible to go on a cruise. One guy even claimed he has grandkids. By the sound of his voice, he sounded like he was somebodies grandkid.

The other red flag to me is that they demand that you pay today. Every cruise I have ever gone on, when port fees and taxes were required allowed us to pay upon departure.  These are the only guys I know who require that you pay upfront. To me this indicates it is a scam. They claim they make nothing on these taxes. If they don't, why do they push so hard for the departure taxes??

If you don't pay, they will ask to put you on hold and say, "Let me see if I can do something special for you" When the phone opens up again, another person is pon the line. This is the "Big Dog" "The Closer" Sort of like when you are buying a car, you object, the saleman leaves and comes back with one, two or three other people to "Close You" Same happens here. Only difference is they can't take your keys because you are on the phone. The big dogs then hit you with every "used car" sale tactic in the book to "close" you abd nake you relaize what a greta offer this is (not really) 

If you are naive, you will fall for the scheme, give up your credit card and get sucked in. 

And once you pay that, as explained above, you will be put on hold. They will tell you that they are getting you a confirmation number. In reality, they are checking your credit card to see if it is good and how much cash you have on it. And fom that they "custimize" a vacation package to fit your credit card limits. 

When they come back, they will sound insanely excited and tell you how wonderful it is that they got a hold of you and this is your lucky day (Yeah Right) Then they will describe in nauseating detail all of the  wonderful things you will get on this special vacation like 3 days and two nights on the Grand Bahamas Island, 3 days and 2 nights in Ft. Laudeerdale, 3 days and 2  nights in Orlando and a rental car with unlimited mileage for a whole week, Sounds good exc ept they conveniently forget to mention or deliberately lie that you are required to attend a time share presentation in Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando. And if you ask "Is there a Time Share presentation involved?" They will say. "No" Total lie and misrepresentation.

By their own admission, this cruise line just opened in February of 2015. It was supposedly marketing under another name previously. Beware of new companies. Gow ith the more established ones.

The reall  problem is that these shysters are making you pay for something you could get yourself for free (plus port taxes) on your own if you just search the internet and as already mentioned the upsale is overpriced by at least 500% especially considering you are required to attend a time share presenation. In short you are paying for a informercial and to  be sold more goods. 

And let's not forget that in addition to paying to attend a sales pitch, you are also paying airfare and taking time off from work to attend a glorified sale pitch. If you want to buy into time share, there is a na easier and less expensiove way to do it than by giving these shysters you money.

And as to the rebuttals to the people who wrote those complaints, there is no doubt that those rebuttals were from current employees/management trying to alter the reputation of this company and make what they do sound ethical and moral. It should be illegal. 

Best strategy to use  when these shysters call you, just hang up or if you want a laugh listen to them and tell them you don't have any money and don't have a credit card. That will get rid of them. 

If you want a cruise, go with Carnival, Disney or one of the reputable cruise lines out there. 

 You are comical. You register under a new user name so that it looks like it's actually someone else rebutting. You're pretty pathetic. It's too bad that you don't have a life. Also, what you said made absolutely no sense whatsoever so I don't even know how to logically rebut what you said. Or tried to say.

This is to rebutt the rebuttal. The original poster is correct. GBCL is a scam. To the one who attempted an ill-contrived rebuttal of the primary claimant:

Obviously, you are the disgruntled scam artist. Great that your IP has been captured. Obviously this is a scam, since the bank has even declined processing of the amount you asked for. Strange. No such top level interference has ever been necessary for my dealings with other travel organizations. Must be because they are genuine - and you are not. Good luck with your next monika, GBCL or whatever else you will call yourself. 

 You sound more like a disgruntled ex employee than someone who s actually bought one of their packages. I just recently returned after buying one of their 9 day 8 night vacation packages. A vast majority of what you are saying is not true. And it's pretty apparent that you did not take one of their packages being that you do not cite any specific examples of your experience. This company was not Royal Bahama cruise line. This cruise line took over at the Port of Palm Beach after the Bahamas Celebration stopped sailing. I

will relate my experience. The nine day 8 night package that I bought included two nights on the ship, two nights in Fort Lauderdale, two nights in Orlando and two nights at the Grand Lucayan. The cruise on the Grand Celebration was great, we had a blast. The Grand Lucayan was awesome, we loved it there and we are going back in the future. For Fort Lauderdale and Orlando they put us up at the Ramada for both locations. The Ramadas were not bad, they were just decent. But we had complimentary buffet dining at both places which made it pretty cool. The only thing that was a pain was the amenities to her that we had to take in Fort Lauderdale.

It was off site and a pain in the butt. instead of driving there with the rental car they gave us we let the timeshare people talk us into taking a shuttle over there. We got stuck there for a while because we had to wait for the shuttle to leave. if you buy the package that they sold us use the rental car they give you to take the amenities tour instead of getting on that shuttle so you can leave on your own. Having said that, I have to admit that taking the amenities tour was worth it because of the discount that they gave me. They so good packages, however, they do try to upsell you a lot before the vacation but the deals they offer you are pretty good. They give you a lot of bang for your buck, I can't complain. The stuff that you are saying is definitely untrue in my experience. It seems that you are kind of making stuff up as opposed to relating a specific experience. it seems to me you have a specific agenda.