OceanZena

3 minutes ago, pamesacruisin said:

It seems what I'm hearing is Carnival is waiting to cancel cruises until after the final deposits are due.  That way they get more $$ to hang on to for a while longer.  Then they hope folks will take the FCC so they don't have to give a refund.  Our final deposit isn't due until early April for a July cruise.  I certainly don't want to tie up any more $$ for them to just cancel.  Not sure what to do if April 1st comes along and our cruise hasn't been cancelled (yet).  Would I hang on to that wee bit of hope and pay Carnival a couple more thousand dollars in case it's a go?  They've already got over $3000 from me because I took the FCC from last years cancelled cruise.  This new cruise is more expensive and they did not roll over my deposit.  Smart game they are playing because if they cancel and I accept the FCC again in order to keep the $600 OBC per cabin, they now have over $5000 of my money.  

Stories like this make me feel terrible for complaining about my piddly $198 deposit. I couldn't imagine having thousands tied up in all this and feel for all of you who have such high amounts in booked sailings. I know Carnival is hurting for cash, but it's things like this that they really should take into consideration. It may not be a smart game they are playing if it erodes trust in their brand. 

1 hour ago, red lobster said:

I'm in the same boat as you, no pun intended. My final payment is due February 14th and I'm booked on an 8 day out of Miami. I'm certain this isn't going to happen, but they haven't cancelled it. I haven't even made plane reservations, because I don't want to worry about that being a loss also.

If you decide to call requesting an extension of the final payment date, please come back and share what they said. I'm going to wait until the day before (2/16) and if May isn't cancelled i'm going to call and first ask them if they would refund my $198 (I know, I know)....and when they evilly decline, I will then ask for the payment extension and play the waiting game. 

Even IF by some miracle they start sailing in May, there's no way i'm going on a guinea pig sailing.🐹 Six months of sailings without issue after operations begin is my absolute minimum before jumping back in the water. 

From reading many posts here, it's pretty much ensured that May sailings will be cancelled and my final payment is just 13 days away now. Last time they cancelled, I rebooked, but this time I just want to get my deposit back and wait until sailings have been up and running for at least 6 months before booking anything further. I just want out.

If they wait until after my final payment due date to cancel for May and I don't pay in full, do I have no other choice but to kiss that $198 deposit away? I really don't want to rebook for a later date and think Carnival really should be making exceptions during these unprecedented times and just give back deposits to those who want off this merry go round.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think cruises wouldn't be running a full year after all this began, and I tried rebooking in hopes for sailings to restart, but i'm just exhausted playing this game and just want my deposit back and be out of it. Please hold back from scolding me with things like "well those are the rules" or "Carnival has every right to keep your deposit". I know all the rules and that's besides the point. I feel in times like this, Carnival should be much more lenient in regard to people's deposits and it makes me angry that they seem to purposely wait until people's final dates have passed to announce the new cancellations so they don't have to return deposits. 

It makes me never want to do business with them again after things start up. I have read that people have been successful with having their final payment dates extended, but what is the longest extension they can grant? 2 weeks? 3 weeks? Ideally, i'd like to call them and ask for my deposit back, but I guess all I can do is call to request the extension and hope it falls before they cancel the May sailings. I shouldn't have to jump through these hoops like a circus dog though, and I resent Carnival for making me. 

I guess this was more of a rant than a question. Sorry, i'm just at the end of my rope with this whole thing. 😞 

I changed banks recently and used the debit card from the old bank for my deposit. I know Carnival gives refunds back to the original form of payment. But what if that debit card and account is closed when I request the refund? Will Carnival be able to send me a check instead? 

2 hours ago, Mud_Shark said:

hmm - I called this week to try and move our January Cruise - and was told, yes I could move my deposit and not lose it - but there was a $50 admin fee per person.  Hmm.  Our deposit under early saver fare was only $50 per person - so how exactly is that helping me not lose my deposit?  Still costs us the small amount of money we have in to move it.  So I decided to let it roll.  Maybe they will cancel our cruise before final payment, and if not, we will let it die as it still costs us the same as moving it.

 

Don

I would call again and speak to a different rep. When I moved my Nov sailing last month there was no $50 admin fee involved and I believe that all fees are currently being waived if you decide to move your booked sailing to a later date due to Covid concerns. I think you probably got an unknowledgeable  rep. 

PVP is a Personal Vacation Planner through Carnival. You will have your own Carnival representative who will handle your booking and if you need any help or to make changed with your booking, you go through that person. Many people are very happy with theirs and I want one too for my future bookings. 

I didn't know travel agents still existed these days. What i'll do for next time is before I make the booking i'll be sure to call Carnival first to request the PVP and then book it through them. As for calling, I think weekend are easier to get through to them. I would've thought it would be the opposite of that. 

I just want to update to say I managed to get through on the phone today and the Carnival rep was wonderful! He granted me the $300 OBC for this latest offer to move November bookings even though I recently moved my Nov. booking up to May. I was so happy to get it because I waited and waited for Carnival to make their November announcement for weeks until finally giving up and moving it....and then they made their announcement of the offer. 😭

I was afraid they would say "Sorry, you're out of luck!", but they were so great about it and gave the $300 without question. I feel so relieved now. 😌

I tried calling again after posting this message and shockingly got through after a few minutes! I must have called at the worst time the other day. 

I asked the rep about a PVP and he said because I had a casino rate I can just call the casino line direct. So I wrote that down and I guess that's good enough for now. 

The rep on Carnival's FB page told me since I booked my sailing online, I couldn't have a PVP for it and would have to wait until making a new booking to get one. I found that odd. 

I'm curious if anyone here has been able to get through over the phone with a representative lately? I don't have a PVP and they said they can't give me one since I booked my reservation online. I tried a calling couple of days ago and literally stayed on hold over 2 hours hoping someone would eventually answer. But no one did and I hung up. I want to try again, but don't want a repeat of that time wasting experience. Has anyone got through lately fairly quickly? Does time of day or day of week make any difference? If so, i'll call then. 

And I see that there's a few different numbers to call...is any one "better" than others that gets through easier or are all those different numbers routed to the same place? 

35 minutes ago, angelsfort said:

 

perhaps when you call, just say "I have cancelled my cruise and I'm calling for the OBC that the email said I was eligible for"  

 

don't mention WHEN you cancelled it and if it does come up - mention that the email didn't say that you had to have cancelled it recently...

I called and literally stayed on hold for over 2 hours staying hopelessly optimistic that someone would eventually pick up...but they didn't and at just over the 2 hour mark, I finally gave up and sent an e mail to their customer support address. It wasn't a cancellation I made but a move from November to May and I did make mention that I did it 2 weeks ago. I doubt i'll be granted the $300, but will be pleasantly surprised if they do. 

I was waiting and waiting for them to send out these emails for that $300 or option to refund, and of course they do it not long after I already moved it. Such is my luck. But whatever happens i'm fine with it. I got $200 OBC and that's nothing to snub my nose at. 

Oh this has me steamed! I knew after I had already moved my Nov. 30 sailing a couple of weeks ago they were gonna pull this. I could've gotten $300 OBC instead of the $200 for the sailing I moved it to. I'm going to call and see if Carnival will apply that $300 in good faith to my May sailing. I doubt it, but it's worth a shot. 

On 9/26/2020 at 1:41 PM, JerseyGirlJen said:

You're in a tough spot there.  Could she have possibly pre-paid for things onboard that they converted to an OBC?  

She showed me her booking and said she hasn't prepaid for anything yet. It's a mystery why she got that much, but I don't want to jeopardize her losing it if I bring it up so I haven't said anything to Carnival. I just accepted my $200 and will be happy for her $500. 

I'd feel terrible if I brought it up to Carnival and they say "Oops! Looks like we made a mistake with her booking", and they lower her back to $200. So i'll just keep quiet....but man, how i'd love to have $500 OBC for a 4 day cruise!!

My friend showed me her booking today and I was shocked to see she was given $500 OBC!! She said she has no idea why they gave her so much but of course she's beyond thrilled with it lol. 

We had the same Nov. booking that we both changed to the same May booking with the $200 OBC offer. I got $200 and for some reason she got the $500. We're both solo with our own cabins and it's a 4 day sailing. 

We're also both Gold status too so I doubt it's because of that. The only thing I can think of is maybe because of her age (80) they gave her more? I'm very happy for her, but just wondering why I didn't get the same offer since we're both booked with the same offer and price. Our cabins are right next door to each other too. 

Should I call and ask about it? I don't want them to discover it was a mistake by pointing it out to them and then they take it away from her....i'd feel terrible! But $500 OBC for 4 days is such a great deal , i'm wondering if maybe I missed something when I made the change with my booking, or the rep I used overlooked something. 

Part of me says leave it alone and don't say anything if it was a mistake on Carnival's part. I want her to have that $500...but I also want it too . 😩

Should I just be happy with my $200? 

2 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I hope cruising resumes from US ports by next May, although I am not overly optimistic. However, I think it is safe to say the chances of things being back to normal by then are close to zero percent. 

I think saying zero percent for things being normal by next May is being a little too pessimistic. It's still a long ways away and I think sailing will have definitely have resumed by then. 

Thanks. I was so afraid Carnival would've told my friend "Sorry" when she called 2 days past her final payment date and was very impressed how Carnival treated her. The same person she spoke with on the phone even sent me an e mail to let me know everything was all set for her which I thought was really nice.

Hopefully you can spend the next year convincing your Mom to go with you on that 2022 cruise. I'm sure she'll enjoy herself and get hooked on cruising afterwards. I always remember the excitement of my first cruise and hope you can sway her to change her mind before you go. 🙂 

Since my neighbor is 80 and sailing with me, I felt waiting till Dec of 2022 is just too far out, and she agreed, so I moved my booking up to 5/3/21 and keeping optimistic that things will be "normal" by then. I have to say Carnival was so wonderful with my changing a second time and didn't charge me any fees. (I changed on Monday from this November to Dec of 2022 and changed it again today to this May) My neighbor also missed her 9/16 final payment (she totally forgot!) and when I found out yesterday I told her to call them immediately and try to get that deposit from being lost! I was so worried for her. 

She called and they extended her until 9/25 and this was 2 days after her final payment date passed. I was so relieved they did that for her and thankful to Carnival for doing so. So now we're both booked for May with the same itinerary we had for Nov. and still have $200 each in OBC and the drinks on us in the casino. The price is a bit more than the original November sailing, but it's no matter. It's just nice to know we only have to wait 7 months than 2 years now!! I'm staying cautiously optimistic that all goes well. 🙂 

59 minutes ago, xDisconnections said:

Pandemic or not, they aren’t the ones to have canceled this booking. In a world where the cruise operator needs to rob Peter in order to pay Paul and is offering excessive gestures of goodwill in an effort to hold any captured deposits in lieu of a refund, it’s simply not sustainable for them to be lenient. If they refunded everyone voluntarily who didn’t “feel comfortable,” they would have to file for bankruptcy sooner or suffer worse challenges.

 

You have to remember that Carnival is a business. More importantly, it is a business trying to survive within an industry that is in severe danger. Many hotel franchises had to close permanently after their brand enacted cancellation waivers.

While I appreciate your explanation and views, my opinion is still the same. We'll just have to disagree. In any case, I have '22 to look forward to so i'm not all that upset about it. 

4 minutes ago, xDisconnections said:

Why should they be lenient with cancellations? You had the option to select a refundable deposit but declined. They’re just following the terms of the contract you agreed to. You canceled... not them.

We're still in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, that's why I feel refunds should be lenient during this time but I understand if you don't agree with that. It's how I feel. 

5 hours ago, skridge said:

This is what they do right before they cancel.  They are trying to bleed as much money out of people on those cruises they can before  they cancel.  It is a pattern that has been going on since the  start of the pandemic.

Well they got me today. I waited and waited for them to cancel but with final payment due in 2 days for my Nov. sailing, I called today and move my booking to 2022. I would've preferred the refund and i'll be a little miffed if they go and cancel now that I moved the sailing. 

I think they should be much more lenient with refunds during this uncertain time, but it is what it is and at least I can look forward to '22 now. I'd be shocked if this whole mess is still going on by then! Sometimes it seems that there's no end in sight to it. 😞 

My 11/30 sailing is for Freeport and Nassau in the Bahamas and I think they still have a 14 day quarantine for visitors in effect. I don't know if that applies to cruises. Maybe they'll change the itinerary and go somewhere else? 

2 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

That's precisely what we did last weekend - moved our Dec 2020 cruise to Dec 2022.  No admin fees, etc, and a cheaper cabin too (we did select a different type on purpose), saving $400 or so.  I guess we lost $200 in OBC (because the original booking was for the then-newly-announced Radiance), but that's a price I was willing to pay.

I'm losing the $200 OBC + the 2022 sailing is $200 more, (back to regular pricing over the deeply discounted Nov sale I got) but I don't mind and it's the price i'm willing to pay too. At 50, i'm right on the cusp of the high risk for Covid and it's not something I want to take the chance of getting. 

If I were in my 20's, it would be a different story. I probably would've thrown caution to the wind and gone on the Nov sailing, but my age makes me too chicken lol. So I don't mind pushing it back for the peace of mind. I'd be too nervous the whole time on board wondering if I was catching the virus on that Nov sailing. 

2 hours ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

But as of late-yesterday (I haven't checked today yet), none of those other ports actually have available cruises.

 

So just another glitch.

 

EDIT: just checked.  Back to only being able to select Port Canaveral and Miami for Nov 2020.

I noticed this too. So it's looking like my Nov 30 Liberty sailing is a go, and I have till Wednesday to make final payment which I have no intention of doing. So i'll wait until Tuesday and if no cancellation is announced i'll move it to a Dec. 2022 sailing because there's no way on earth i'm sailing while wearing a mask.

I know the masks are for safety, but being muzzled is not my idea of a relaxing vacation. Hopefully by 12/2022 this will all be a distant bad memory and cruising will be back to normal again. 

1 hour ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

Carnival has a website with overall guidance and some details, which I assume is all they can officially publish at this time:

 

https://www.carnival.com/health-and-sailing-updates.aspx

Thanks for that link. Hopefully they'll release info on masks soon. I may have overlooked it, but didn't see anything pertaining to guests wearing them in that update. 

1 hour ago, phoneman69 said:

Well Carnival just released Sept 3rd a new Canceled Cruise Update. Most sailings are still only Canceled threw Oct 31,2020 maybe this means their sailing in November.

Has Carnival released to passengers that are booked for these November cruises their safety protocols for Covid? If not, then I don't see how on earth they can ask for final payments without having passengers informed of this first. It's asking passengers to go in blind without having the information that's needed before deciding to sail. 

I understand that Carnival still may not know themselves what they may be, but I don't feel it's ethical to ask passengers to sign up for these sailings by making final payments before being given this important information first. I feel people should know these things first before making the commitment to sail.