Doggielover68

At this rate, I just hope I'll be able to sail in January, but with a second wave on the way combined with flu season, I'm not so sure.

I know it's (only?) June, but Carnival still has a few more weeks before they finish repatriation of the crew. I find it hard to believe that after spending nearly 2 months trying to get crew members home that they will turn right back around and start bringing them back in August. I'm upset about my vacations being postponed indefinitely, but think of those poor crew members that are stuck without jobs and have just been trying to get home all of this time. Meanwhile we are just worried about our vacation plans. 

That being said, Carnival probably has no idea what the plan is. Does anybody? 

15 hours ago, skridge said:

You don't see that as fraudulent?  I sure do.

Sounds like a business trying not to go under. All of the travel companies (cruises, airlines, travel agency sites, etc) are doing the same thing. It's also why they entice people with "flexible" cancellation but then people can't get a hold of customer service to request cancellation...then if they are eligible for a refund, it takes 3 months to get it. 

Covid19 has ruined all industries. I know it is frustrating when it's your money tied up in the madness, but it's a risk you take when paying in advance for luxurious vacations. 

23 minutes ago, MsTabbyKats said:

I reported the same thing on the forum when the list was posted.  Just like you, I misread it.  Some are only canceled thru July.  I was uber-flamed and told I was illiterate....although I admitted that I made an error.

It's ambiguous unless you read each line about each ship.

 

Yeah, it's not very clear and people are excessively mean here these days. I think we're all deprived of cocktails and beach time. 

Keep in mind you don't have to talk to your PVP about refunds. You can speak with anyone that answers the phone at the general number. You are definitely entitled to your deposit back. A while back they had a form on the website to fill out instead of calling to request a refund. 

10 hours ago, regoodwinjr said:

There are plenty of posts that you could have gone to and posted that since it's not related to the topic of upgrades. Plus, the ships that are sailing in August are mentioned in the section you left off.

Nothing was cut off...do I smell denial?

Sorry, cruises are cancelled through the end of August 

22 minutes ago, Oldpeoplecruising said:

This kind of fits in two different categories.  I am hearing impaired and the cruise specialist told me that carnival has "packages" of provisions for hearing impaired people.   Does anyone know what equipment that entails?    Is there a way to make reservations for shows with a good position near a speaker or something so that I can hear?    I am considered legally deaf, but I can hear some tones. I have hearing aids that help, but there is still a lot that I miss.   So when I go to a movie they usually have headphones I can use.  Or a caption box.    The cruise specialist could not tell me what they do to help hearing impaired guests but he said there is "something available".   I am going on the Carnival Vista.  I can sign, but I prefer not to if I can avoid it.   Hard to watch a play and see what is being said at the same time if I have to watch a caption box or a person signing.   But it does concern me that I may not hear an announcement or miss a drill.   Especially at night when I take my hearing aids out.  My husband is not hearing impaired, but he may not be with me the entire time.   I will probably post this in the Disabled Cruisers line too, but figured I would post here since I am looking for specifically what Carnival offers.    While I will probably cruise some of the other lines eventually.... I just wanted info on what Carnival has since that is what I have booked.   🙂

From the Carnival website:

Carnival makes available to all guests who require them a visual-tactile, cabin alert system that notifies room occupants of a door knock, a telephone call, the alarm clock, or a smoke-detection event. A TTY (teletypewriter) is also available to communicate with Guest Services, 24 hours a day.

A safety briefing video with open captions is televised in all staterooms throughout the cruise. Carnival-created TV content has closed captions. Additionally, when available through our service provider, closed captions are offered for certain in-stateroom TV programs and movies. Should you require closed captioning for our outdoor movies, please contact our Guest Services team once on board. Other important information can be found in the Fun Times (our daily newsletter).

Assistive listening headsets are available to amplify the sounds of live, onboard performances in our main show room. You may request them at Guest Services once on board.

Sign language interpreters are available, upon request, for deaf and hard of hearing guests on all cruises departing from and returning to a U.S. port for guests who use sign language as their primary means of communication. Sign language interpreters are provided on a shared basis for interpreting of our main production shows, port and shopping presentations, and other major organized activities.

To request a shared sign language interpreter, please inform the Guest Access Department at the time of booking, or at your earliest possible convenience. We will always make reasonable efforts to obtain a sign language interpreter at the time of the request. Since interpreters are subject to availability, a 60-day notice is strongly encouraged whenever possible. We are unable to take requests for a specific interpreter.

1 hour ago, scpirate said:

There will always be food waste.people will not eat something they don't like.if it looks good but tastes bad people won't eat it.i was raised not to waste food and I didn't no matter but now that I'm old I'm not punishing myself like that if it's garbage it's garbage.in my opinion carnival food is garbage for the most part.last carnival Cruise 5 years ago I tossed a lot of food.it was just bad I was glad it was only a 5 day.we ate from the deli everyday and it wasn't that good either.

There is still less waste...there is always some waste. That's why when served, they serve smaller portions. You can always ask for more later.

I would be totally okay with a served buffet. It cuts down on both waste and germs. 

A paid hot breakfast option (not those weird breakfast sandwiches) via room service would be nice and may cut down on the lido crowds in the morning. 

I tend to eat very little of the self serve food items anyway.

2 hours ago, roguebandit said:

Love how compliant Canadians are, that's why you are still under English ruel and not independent, no offense have famly thier.

But why would people who have recovered from the virus have to wear a mask, just saying the numbers are growing. 

My opinion is if you are fearful of catching the virus stay off the ship and let those of us who don't want to live in fear enjoy life.

Oh okay. I'll just stay in my house forever and starve to death because people like you want to live your life like there is no pandemic. And to think if people would have taken this seriously from day 1, life would be back to normal by now. 

I was in Japan during Chinese New Year when all of this started. I got sick (with something, probably not Covid) and I wore a mask because that's the accepted practice is in many societies. My travel companion that shared a tiny room with me did not get sick because I was careful not to spread MY germs. It is not fair to expect people to stay home because you don't want to protect others from YOUR germs. So selfish.

By the way, recovering doesn't make you immune from reinfection from a mutated strain. 

2 hours ago, dallasdan said:

Because I don't want to wear a mask on a cruise does not mean I am selfish or entitled.  The issue is would you wear a mask on the cruise if required.  I would not.  I would wear the mask on embarkation, but once on the ship, I would not.  

You are correct. You not wanting to wear a mask doesn't make you selfish, but if masks are required (or are still recommended by the CDC) and you still choose to cruise/not follow the guidelines, it is then that you become selfish. 

No one wants to wear a mask. 

15 hours ago, chipmaster said:

 

I would say all the hot spots when they became hotspots weren't very big users of masks, but now they are, let's see what happens.   

 

To insure people on the ship are healthy versus disease free are two things.  Healthy, I'd laugh and say you'd lose more than 1/2 of the customers, disease free maybe only 1% of them or less.  

 

Now even with testing if anyone gets on that has something that is as highly contagious as SARS-CoV-2 then masks are become interesting.  There were some subtle changes in the recent CDC recommendations.   The evidence that human-human is become larger and in this light masks become more interesting.

 

You could argue that the US now as they are starting to open is also a mask wearing company now, forget the selfish demonstrators who are symbolic about their right to go maskless.  Why don't they also show up with no shoes and clothes as well if their freedom is so important to them?

 

 

This 100%

I have family in Taiwan, where mask wearing is common all of the time, even more so now. Life is mostly normal there right now with no local lockdowns. Cases have been under control for a long time. 

When more people wear masks, there is less airborne transmission. For people that can't understand this, think about blowing your nose into a thin tissue. When you stack the tissues, fewer particles get through. 

People seem to think that being American means that you have the right to infect the general public with your germs. The amount of selfish people on this thread is unreal.

Itineraries are a little repetitive, but I think the majority of cruisers either A) don't cruise all that frequently or B) don't care about the ports.

Try changing your port of departure to find what you're looking for or try one of the other Carnival brands, or another cruiseline all together. 

I doubt that there will be cruises this year. Our state governor has locked down our state until June 10th. Whenever we start "phase one" of reopening, we will still have limited businesses open and teleworking will continue. Phase one is expected to last for TWO YEARS or until there is widespread testing, treatment, and/or vaccine available. Sadly, international travel isn't going to resume anytime soon and even if it does, the other nations will likely not want us there. The US has around 1/3 of cases worldwide. Just like nations banned travel from China, I don't think we are far behind that.

Disclaimer, this is just my opinion based on my state's expected road to recovery and various articles I've been reading. I am not an expert by any means. 

9 hours ago, parrothead74 said:

I'm booked on a Halloween Cruise on the Magic.  I don't get the vacation protection because I'm generally healthy and travel in the day prior.  I have until August to add it, prior to final payment, but my question is if the ship sails, but there are still travel restrictions and being a NY resident, will I get FCC if it is unsafe or unwise to travel?    

Please get travel insurance anyway. Accidents happen. 

Cancel for any reason insurance is expensive and it still doesn't cover everything. 

Example: suppose you decide to cancel the trip and you have flights. You have to cancel the flight (and pay any applicable cancellation fee) and the insurance will cover 75% of the remainder (but won't reimburse the cancellation fee). 

Of course, policies differ...but medical coverage is my main reason for getting insurance. 

20 hours ago, resistk said:

Here's the rub, usually you only have 60 days from the date of the credit card statement to file a dispute.  The cruise lines are now saying 90 days or more for refunds.  If you wait past that 60 days you lose your only recourse to get your money if the cruise line run out of money or delays even further.  The problem is entirely self inflicted by Carnival and other lines by stalling on the refunds.

My guess is that they simply don't have the funds to give. After taking out a massive loan, refunds are starting to be processed. You have to remember that they still have bills to pay and they are losing a ton on lost on board revenue. 

I still think all of the money will be returned, just not as soon as people want it. 

I used to work for an investment company that handled 401k accounts. When people wanted money, there was a process to getting distributed. Large corporations don't just keep all of their money in the bank. It's tied up in investments, overhead, assets, etc. 

We won a free snorkeling excursion in Cozumel. We had never snorkeled before and never would have gone if it weren't for the free tour. Despite being nervous, we got in the water anyway. Long story short, it opened our minds and wallets to many other fabulous snorkeling trips!

I took the FFC and immediately rebooked the to the exact same cruise except in January instead of April. I paid with Carnival gift cards partially and used AMEX rewards, so I didn't want to lose my discounts. I also now have $600 of OBC to spend. 

Our travel insurance easily changed to the new date. Looking forward to our trip as long as things improve by then. 

6 minutes ago, mano2020 said:

That's really not a legit excuse. Yes, we should expect it to take some time...maybe a week or 2 extra, NOT 90 days.

 

NCL has had time to calculate my FCC and keep emailing me with different incentives in an attempt NOT to pay me....and the majority of their agents worked from home BEFORE Covid 19, so nooooo!

 

Most industries, e.g. real estate, have rules and laws pertaining to deposits and how they are handled and returned. The treatment we are receiving from some cruise lines should be a real eye opener for the public! 

 

People seem to still think this pandemic is going to be over in a few weeks! What if this drags on for 3 months....Do you still think you'll get your refund?   

 

 

 

Carnival wouldn't have a huge corporate office in Miami if "most people already worked from home."

Nothing like this has ever happened in my lifetime. Everything in the world is upside down! The government has shut everything down. To think that it's business as usual for the cruiselinesand their employees is absolutely ridiculous. 

Refunds will come eventually, especially now that Carnival has taken out a gigantic loan.

36 minutes ago, GameHog said:

Carnival.  They applied all the money I had spent on this cruise to the new booking.  I’m still waiting on the refund for excursions, but am sure it will come.  Carnival has repaid every penny I spent and gave me a $600 OBC.  More than fair.

Same here, except I had to pay $4 (yes 4) and change because the new booking was slightly higher in price. Our excursions were refunded back to new gift cards and mailed within 3 days, but that was before the wave of cancellations. It did take around 2 hours on the phone.

People seem to forget that the folks in Miami are going through the same shut down as the rest of us. When you have to relocate hundreds/thousands of employees from an office to a work from home situation, there are going to be some hiccups. The phone system is different, reps don't have a support system or supervisors nearby, etc. Refunds take longer than payments because they don't just go through automatically. Humans have to go through a series of steps to process the refund. Multiply that by the thousands and thousands of refunds that they are processing. It's going to take some time. 

The money will come. 

On 4/1/2020 at 9:07 AM, Saint Greg said:

Absolutely no way they change this unless they start ripping them out of every public restroom in the United States. 
 

When I think of how quickly the trash can in my work bathroom fills up with paper towels with only 30-50 people using it for 8 hours 5 days a week, I can’t imagine what it would be for 4,000 people. 
 

And really everyone has their own bathroom not far away where they can dry their hands with whatever they want.

Agreed. I dislike the public bathrooms on the ship so I just go back to the cabin. The extra steps won't kill me

2 hours ago, Bookbug53 said:

Having worked in a casino for years I can only tell you that marketing will target 'little' players to keep them coming back so they become bigger players. 'Big' players are already spending so they consider that a 'made market'.  Frustrating? Absolutely. Fair? No.

I can only speak from personal experience and not say that this is exactly what Carnival does. The same with someone I know getting bombarded with offers and they cruise maybe once every three years. I cruise every year (occasionally twice) and can't remember the last time Carnival gave me anything. I am already a made market for them.

This is absolutely correct.

I don't use the casino at all, but my husband and I went on 15+ cruises in 5 years. How many special offers did we get? You guessed it! Zip. 

Maybe after we take some time off from cruising we will get something. It's just the way business works

On 3/27/2020 at 3:13 PM, NavyCruiser said:

Define:  "rampant"

 

I would think that a scrubbed down cruise ship is probably safer & the virus is less rampant onboard than it is in NYC right now...

Until you bring together thousands of guests from all over the US, who are exposed to other people in transit to the ship. The ship is only clean until 1 sick/exposed person gets on it. 

Be patient. They are issuing an extreme amount of refunds and it is not an automatic process. In addition, they are likely short staffed in Miami due to all of the lockdowns. Absolutely everything has come to a stand still and when they said 90 days, they meant it.