nuclearheli
New Member
My wife and I have only ever cruised on one cruise line. Ok we are not the crazy cruiser's but we are only one cruise and two days away from platinum sailors on Carnival. We always sail in suites, always upgraded to the best on every cruise, frequent all the extra venues and have always recommended Carnival to our friends, many of which we sailed with. We have three upcoming cruises, two in 2023 and one in 2024. Our last cruise was the Mardi Gras, stayed in an aft Excel suite, loved the private hot tub and the room was sensational.
Our next cruise is booked out of NY which when I booked it was the Carnival Magic. I get a letter telling me they are changing ships on me and since I booked a Spa suite on deck 11, and the Venezia doesn't have spa suites, we were going to be moved. But, and I quote, "No need to call us, we will provide a comparable suite and a $200 cruise credit." Ok, I waited and was promptly switched to an ocean suite, mid ship, deck 7. There were suites on deck 11, but I was put on deck 7. I called my "Carnival agent" who is "always there to help me", yes that was a dig. I asked him get me back into a suite on deck 11. He told me "NOT TO WORRY" as soon as they finish with the re-assignment, HE can take care of moving my cabin. Well that time came and went and all of a sudden it's another department that I need to speak to. So, he finally connected me with a "special customer service agent" who, with the most rude of tone, told me there were no suites available on deck 11 and the comparable suite I was booked in was now booked by somebody else. WTF, I had the cabin first. So I told her to move that person to deck 7 and put me back in my cabin, I booked it first. She actually said to me "HOW DO YOU KNOW that the other person didn't book it before you". After shaking my head in disbelief that anyone can be that stupid, I asked her to explain to me how I have a cabin assignment for six months, booked the room because it was available, and now she thinks somebody else may have been there first? Realizing that I was never going to get anywhere with this individual, I asked for a supervisor in customer relations. She actually told me that there was nobody I could speak to, she was it. I congratulated her on becoming the CEO and owner of Carnival upon which she hung up on me. I reported all of this to my so called "guy" at carnival, to which he never responded.
I will tell you what is happening here, I booked this SPA suite when Carnival was giving away the store to get people to book early in the year when things were just resuming and yes, I got a crazy discount on the room. Of course the CR dummy kept telling me I could cancel at any time for a full refund. Of course that's what they want me to do. The two of us are sailing for about half the cost of what that suite is worth. I think we are dealing with regret on the part of Carnival for the deals they offered us a year ago to get sailing going again. To add insult to injury, we are sailing with another couple, their first cruise, which I guess I mistakenly convinced them to take with us on Carnival. They were originally booked in a regular ocean cabin right next to us on deck 11. They paid full fare for their trip. When they finally got a new cabin assignment, over a month later from the letter, it was in the same room on deck 11 adjacent to the suite we were booked in. We were looking forward to them being next door, sharing a balcony. They were also listed on my profile as travel companions, which I guess doesn't make any difference.
Ok, fast forward to this week, in a moment of weakness we were searching for a cruise to take in the fall of 2023 and found two that interested us. I put a hold on the first one, again out of NY and took the corner suite on deck 14 forward. My wife and I decided to take another cruise out of NY, a longer one and booked it on-line like I normally do. Again, I was able to snag one of the two corner suites forward on deck 14. I paid the deposit and off we go.
Not so fast. I went back on-line to cancel the hold on the first cruise I booked. After navigating through their web site and finding the button to cancel the booking I realized immediately that I had canceled the booking that I just paid the deposit for. Ok, my fault, so I went on-line and immediately re-booked the cruise, paid the deposit again, and luckily got the same suite. Now the Emails come and the first one is the cancellation for the reservation I had on-hold. No problem. The second one came which was the cancellation I mistakenly made and immediately re-booked. In that Email they told me they would refund my deposit less $99 for the cancellation fee. Ok I get it, it's a computer doing the math, isn't able to figure out I made a mistake and immediately rebooked the exact same cruise and paid again. So I wrote to my so called Carnival Agent. He told me there was nothing he could do because I didn't book it through him, I did it myself. Lesson #1, Carnival agents are only there for you if you book through them, I guess there must be a commission involved. So I called the number, three times. The first two times I gave up being on-hold after an hour, the second time I decided to stay on hold for 70 minutes. Got a very sweet lady on the phone who politely told me "too bad" there was nothing they could do their cancellation policy is strictly adhered to. I tried every way I know how to get through to her that we are going on the cruise and I paid the deposit but to no end, nothing worked. Again I asked to speak to her supervisor and was this time politely told, there was nobody I could talk to. Not only am I out the $99, the other $100 that I paid will be "applied to a future cruise as a cruise credit". So basically they just got me for $200.
I have too much invested in the next three cruises so we will go, but as much as it pains me to throw away my loyalty credits, I will be looking for another line to sail on. And so will all the friends who I would have and did recommend to Carnival.
Carnival, this is no way to treat your loyal customers that stuck with you through all the bad times in the past couple of years. I had cruises booked for every year during the BS pandemic, only to have them canceled. The worst part is you cannot get to talk to anyone that actually cares.
Our next cruise is booked out of NY which when I booked it was the Carnival Magic. I get a letter telling me they are changing ships on me and since I booked a Spa suite on deck 11, and the Venezia doesn't have spa suites, we were going to be moved. But, and I quote, "No need to call us, we will provide a comparable suite and a $200 cruise credit." Ok, I waited and was promptly switched to an ocean suite, mid ship, deck 7. There were suites on deck 11, but I was put on deck 7. I called my "Carnival agent" who is "always there to help me", yes that was a dig. I asked him get me back into a suite on deck 11. He told me "NOT TO WORRY" as soon as they finish with the re-assignment, HE can take care of moving my cabin. Well that time came and went and all of a sudden it's another department that I need to speak to. So, he finally connected me with a "special customer service agent" who, with the most rude of tone, told me there were no suites available on deck 11 and the comparable suite I was booked in was now booked by somebody else. WTF, I had the cabin first. So I told her to move that person to deck 7 and put me back in my cabin, I booked it first. She actually said to me "HOW DO YOU KNOW that the other person didn't book it before you". After shaking my head in disbelief that anyone can be that stupid, I asked her to explain to me how I have a cabin assignment for six months, booked the room because it was available, and now she thinks somebody else may have been there first? Realizing that I was never going to get anywhere with this individual, I asked for a supervisor in customer relations. She actually told me that there was nobody I could speak to, she was it. I congratulated her on becoming the CEO and owner of Carnival upon which she hung up on me. I reported all of this to my so called "guy" at carnival, to which he never responded.
I will tell you what is happening here, I booked this SPA suite when Carnival was giving away the store to get people to book early in the year when things were just resuming and yes, I got a crazy discount on the room. Of course the CR dummy kept telling me I could cancel at any time for a full refund. Of course that's what they want me to do. The two of us are sailing for about half the cost of what that suite is worth. I think we are dealing with regret on the part of Carnival for the deals they offered us a year ago to get sailing going again. To add insult to injury, we are sailing with another couple, their first cruise, which I guess I mistakenly convinced them to take with us on Carnival. They were originally booked in a regular ocean cabin right next to us on deck 11. They paid full fare for their trip. When they finally got a new cabin assignment, over a month later from the letter, it was in the same room on deck 11 adjacent to the suite we were booked in. We were looking forward to them being next door, sharing a balcony. They were also listed on my profile as travel companions, which I guess doesn't make any difference.
Ok, fast forward to this week, in a moment of weakness we were searching for a cruise to take in the fall of 2023 and found two that interested us. I put a hold on the first one, again out of NY and took the corner suite on deck 14 forward. My wife and I decided to take another cruise out of NY, a longer one and booked it on-line like I normally do. Again, I was able to snag one of the two corner suites forward on deck 14. I paid the deposit and off we go.
Not so fast. I went back on-line to cancel the hold on the first cruise I booked. After navigating through their web site and finding the button to cancel the booking I realized immediately that I had canceled the booking that I just paid the deposit for. Ok, my fault, so I went on-line and immediately re-booked the cruise, paid the deposit again, and luckily got the same suite. Now the Emails come and the first one is the cancellation for the reservation I had on-hold. No problem. The second one came which was the cancellation I mistakenly made and immediately re-booked. In that Email they told me they would refund my deposit less $99 for the cancellation fee. Ok I get it, it's a computer doing the math, isn't able to figure out I made a mistake and immediately rebooked the exact same cruise and paid again. So I wrote to my so called Carnival Agent. He told me there was nothing he could do because I didn't book it through him, I did it myself. Lesson #1, Carnival agents are only there for you if you book through them, I guess there must be a commission involved. So I called the number, three times. The first two times I gave up being on-hold after an hour, the second time I decided to stay on hold for 70 minutes. Got a very sweet lady on the phone who politely told me "too bad" there was nothing they could do their cancellation policy is strictly adhered to. I tried every way I know how to get through to her that we are going on the cruise and I paid the deposit but to no end, nothing worked. Again I asked to speak to her supervisor and was this time politely told, there was nobody I could talk to. Not only am I out the $99, the other $100 that I paid will be "applied to a future cruise as a cruise credit". So basically they just got me for $200.
I have too much invested in the next three cruises so we will go, but as much as it pains me to throw away my loyalty credits, I will be looking for another line to sail on. And so will all the friends who I would have and did recommend to Carnival.
Carnival, this is no way to treat your loyal customers that stuck with you through all the bad times in the past couple of years. I had cruises booked for every year during the BS pandemic, only to have them canceled. The worst part is you cannot get to talk to anyone that actually cares.
