Beware of Future Cruise Desk - Carnival Splendor

[Crystalbast]

2/21/10 Splendor sailing

 

Carnival Splendor offers a future OBC if you put a $100 deposit down for a future booking. What they don't tell you upfront before you commit to the $100 deposit is that if you are traveling solo, you only get $50. If you find out about that while on board they will refuse to reverse the transaction while you are on board.

 

They were also telling people that there are only 3 ships in the fleet offering the OBC with the $100 deposit. I said really. What are the ships. I was told Splendor and two others whose name escapes me now. I said really. That is funny, I got the OBC credit when I made my $100 deposit on the Valor recently. I think that they are trying to infer that this is a limited, exclusive offer on board the Splendor and I don't think that is pretty accurate.

 

Furthermore, they are suppose to be helpful to people trying to actually book a future cruise while on board. They were telling passengers to go down to the internet hub, use the free carnival website access, figure out what kind of cruise you wanted to book, go back to them and they would book it for you. In other words, they want you to do all of the work for them and they want to take the credit of getting that booking with Carnival. Do they get commissions by any chance? :rolleyes:

 

I am a solo traveler who already has a $100 deposit towards a future cruise. The staff at the future cruise desk obviously did not know the definition of customer service. I was not about to give them any credit for obtaining any business from me. If I had decided to book a future cruise while on board, I would have gone ahead and booked it by myself while I was in the internet hub. The future bookings staff was hardly necessity. :D:p

 

This was such a change from the lady who worked that desk on the Valor who was an absolute jewel and real asset for Carnival. If you looked up the words customer service in the dictionary you would have found her picture. She even helped me with a problem totally outside of her are of responsibility.

[palmtre2]

I'm confused, I didn't know you had to book a cruise at the time you purchased the certificate.

I think that Carnival really needs to take a closer look at what comes out of their employees mouths - they need to train every new hire much, much better than they do.

[jimbo5544]

I'm confused, I didn't know you had to book a cruise at the time you purchased the certificate.

I think that Carnival really needs to take a closer look at what comes out of their employees mouths - they need to train every new hire much, much better than they do.

You don't have to book a cruise to purchase the certificate. That's the point of the program.

[jimbo5544]

2/21/10 Splendor sailing

 

Carnival Splendor offers a future OBC if you put a $100 deposit down for a future booking. What they don't tell you upfront before you commit to the $100 deposit is that if you are traveling solo, you only get $50. If you find out about that while on board they will refuse to reverse the transaction while you are on board.

 

They were also telling people that there are only 3 ships in the fleet offering the OBC with the $100 deposit. I said really. What are the ships. I was told Splendor and two others whose name escapes me now. I said really. That is funny, I got the OBC credit when I made my $100 deposit on the Valor recently. I think that they are trying to infer that this is a limited, exclusive offer on board the Splendor and I don't think that is pretty accurate.

 

Furthermore, they are suppose to be helpful to people trying to actually book a future cruise while on board. They were telling passengers to go down to the internet hub, use the free carnival website access, figure out what kind of cruise you wanted to book, go back to them and they would book it for you. In other words, they want you to do all of the work for them and they want to take the credit of getting that booking with Carnival. Do they get commissions by any chance? :rolleyes:

 

I am a solo traveler who already has a $100 deposit towards a future cruise. The staff at the future cruise desk obviously did not know the definition of customer service. I was not about to give them any credit for obtaining any business from me. If I had decided to book a future cruise while on board, I would have gone ahead and booked it by myself while I was in the internet hub. The future bookings staff was hardly necessity. :D:p

 

This was such a change from the lady who worked that desk on the Valor who was an absolute jewel and real asset for Carnival. If you looked up the words customer service in the dictionary you would have found her picture. She even helped me with a problem totally outside of her are of responsibility.

Gotta tell you, I don't really understand your post. You bought a certificate on the Valor, so you knew the program and then you were surprised when you bought another one on the Splendor:confused: The wording to me of the on board credit is fairly straight forward. Lastly' they do NOT sell these fleet wide, only on several ships.:)

[SkyMaster]

I just bought one aboard "Liberty", and had no problem whatsoever. I DID, however, already know the "ins and outs" of the program. The only thing the lady who sold me the cert., gave me bad scoop on, was when I asked if I could apply the cert to a cruise I've already booked. At first she said I could, as long as I hadn't made the final payment, but she was corrected by another person working at the desk, who said the booking had to be made after the certificate was purchased. No problem,,,we cruise 5 or 6 times a year. Just applied the cert. to a September cruise.

 

"SKY"

[jimbo5544]

I just bought one aboard "Liberty", and had no problem whatsoever. I DID, however, already know the "ins and outs" of the program. The only thing the lady who sold me the cert., gave me bad scoop on, was when I asked if I could apply the cert to a cruise I've already booked. At first she said I could, as long as I hadn't made the final payment, but she was corrected by another person working at the desk, who said the booking had to be made after the certificate was purchased. No problem,,,we cruise 5 or 6 times a year. Just applied the cert. to a September cruise.

 

"SKY"

Just for the record, we have applied them to already booked cruises as well. Takes a little finagling but we got it done. Like you, we cruise a couple of times a year so even if that were not true, would not have been a big deal. I love the program.

[kelz66]

They should do what NCL does and apply the credit to the cruise you are on for instant reward.

 

:cool:

[airhead22]

The staff member on our Freedom cruise was outstanding as well. She helped us compare cruises and was not hesitant to spend as much time as we needed. She was previously a pvp, which probably helped.

[cruisetexas]

I believe there are two different programs in place here.

 

We were on the Freedom a couple of weeks ago. The future cruise desk offers two options. The first is the Future Cruise certificates, purchase for $100, apply to future cruise for a $100 OBC and $100 price credit (on the 7-10 day cruises.).

 

The other plan we took advantage of is booking your next cruise at the desk. We booked our 2011 Miracle cruise and were given a $100 OBC and two certificates for 'friends and family' that might be interested in booking the same cruise, within 60 days, so they could each get the $100 OBC also. So, you get the $100 OBC without purchasing the certificate.

 

We also purchased two certificates for future cruises as they're good for 5 years. Right now they are sold on a limited number of ships, but it seems will be sold fleetwide by the end of the year.

 

Hope this helps.

[jimbo5544]

I believe there are two different programs in place here.

 

We were on the Freedom a couple of weeks ago. The future cruise desk offers two options. The first is the Future Cruise certificates, purchase for $100, apply to future cruise for a $100 OBC and $100 price credit (on the 7-10 day cruises.).

 

The other plan we took advantage of is booking your next cruise at the desk. We booked our 2011 Miracle cruise and were given a $100 OBC and two certificates for 'friends and family' that might be interested in booking the same cruise, within 60 days, so they could each get the $100 OBC also. So, you get the $100 OBC without purchasing the certificate.

 

We also purchased two certificates for future cruises as they're good for 5 years. Right now they are sold on a limited number of ships, but it seems will be sold fleetwide by the end of the year.

 

Hope this helps.

Did not know about the 2nd one. What if you book thru a TA?

[G'ma]

I'd never do this. However, if I did, I'd make sure to read all the fine print carefully BEFORE I signed up.

 

I'd never rely on what I was told. Anytime there are restrictions, there is printed material that outlines and explains these restrictions completely.

 

That way, I'd never feel taken advantage of due to my own lack of research and reading.

[firefly333]

I agree with you. The rep on Conquest for instance during the one hour talk on Alaska told people that if the price falls they will get OBC. I didnt want to fuss during his talk, but asked him later if he knew only ES gets OBC. He said well thats what he always books for people anyway. To just assure people they get OBC if they book with him was misleading.

 

He also told folks you couldnt send in FCCs on already booked cruises, so I didnt on two last year. He was wrong on this too.

 

He made quite a few basic booking question mistakes that might lead to trouble later for those he booked....I wouldnt go thru all of them, but I thought he was not a good agent or well trained. He told me he would go and ask about getting OBC if prices dropped. He didnt believe me when I explained some of the rules.

[pe4all]

I just bought one aboard "Liberty", and had no problem whatsoever. I DID, however, already know the "ins and outs" of the program. The only thing the lady who sold me the cert., gave me bad scoop on, was when I asked if I could apply the cert to a cruise I've already booked. At first she said I could, as long as I hadn't made the final payment, but she was corrected by another person working at the desk, who said the booking had to be made after the certificate was purchased. No problem,,,we cruise 5 or 6 times a year. Just applied the cert. to a September cruise.

 

"SKY"

Same here. I found out the it was the woman's first cruise (week of 2/13-2/20)and she was brand new at the desk. The guy, however, wasn't very "nice", as when I questioned what she told me, he confirmed it (wrong info) "with attitude." I just mailed my certificate (certified) in on Monday for my Dec. Dream cruise, which was booked already before I bought the certificate. Will see what happens.

[LHP]

Since you can mail these certificate back for a full refund (within 5 years of purchasing them)...that is what I would do.

[Mrs. Squirrel]

I think that Carnival really needs to take a closer look at what comes out of their employees mouths - they need to train every new hire much, much better than they do.

 

Amen. While on the Valor, recently, the OP's lady was not working the Future Cruise desk, unfortunately. :( We went to one of the presentations. There were probably 30 other people in attendance. They explained the cruise certificates as this: You pay Carnival $100 and you get a certificate for $100 onboard credit to use towards a cruise, anytime within 5 years. Nobody could figure out why we should do this! The group even asked several clarifying questions to try and determine why anyone would be motivated to buy a cruise certificate at $1 for $1 exchange. I could stick $100 in the bank, get interest, then book my cruise and be better off.

 

It wasn't until we got back that I read on CC that the certificates actually work differently and in your favor. You pay $100 and get both $100 OBC and $100 off the fare. Duh. . .had they explained it this way, the room would have jumped at buying them! That is a $1 for $2 exchange! We weren't happy, because we knew we were booking a family cruise this fall and since we take at least one cruise per year, we would have bought them had they been explained properly!

[Mrs. Squirrel]

We booked our 2011 Miracle cruise and were given a $100 OBC and two certificates for 'friends and family' that might be interested in booking the same cruise, within 60 days, so they could each get the $100 OBC also. So, you get the $100 OBC without purchasing the certificate.

 

AHHHH! This was never mentioned either! Even when we told the man we were booking the Miracle in the fall for a family cruise-5 cabins!:mad: From our perspective, there was no reason to book while on the ship, so we didn't and waited until we got home.

[Sargent_Schultz]

My certificates, including a couple purchased on Splendor have all clearly stated "Single occupancy bookings receive half of the onboard credit amount."

[LynneL]

One other thing to consider with the certificates is we were told they cannot be used with Interline rates nor military discounts. Of course, there seems to be a lot of misinformation so that could be wrong, but check into it if you usually book with those discounts. I think that is accurate.

 

Also, my son ordered one on a cruise and a couple of months later was looking to book a cruise that was leaving within 60 days. He had to pay all $ at time of booking. He was told he couldn't use the certificate since the $100. was towards the deposit & he wasn't putting down a deposit, he was required to pay in full. It took a lot of calls and arguing - phone rep. actually told me my son should learn to make plans further ahead of time rather than waiting until the last minute - lol...though I wasn't laughing at that response then! My take on it was charge the $100. deposit, use the certificate for that & upon completion of that step immediately put thru the balance. In the end, we got it but not without a fight & needing to speak to many people. He did enjoy the $100. OBC though so in the end it was worth it if meeting the various criteria. Someone else got one, used it for a future cruise & had no issue at all.

[martinchem]

I like the program but would change one thing, I'd like to apply the certificate and not mail it in at all let alone certified, cause it's a lot of trouble and expense, that's how Norwegian works. Just call it in to your TA or PVP tell them you want to use it, give them the certificate number and be done with it.

[firefly333]

Amen. While on the Valor, recently, the OP's lady was not working the Future Cruise desk, unfortunately. :( We went to one of the presentations. There were probably 30 other people in attendance. They explained the cruise certificates as this: You pay Carnival $100 and you get a certificate for $100 onboard credit to use towards a cruise, anytime within 5 years. Nobody could figure out why we should do this! The group even asked several clarifying questions to try and determine why anyone would be motivated to buy a cruise certificate at $1 for $1 exchange. I could stick $100 in the bank, get interest, then book my cruise and be better off.

 

It wasn't until we got back that I read on CC that the certificates actually work differently and in your favor. You pay $100 and get both $100 OBC and $100 off the fare. Duh. . .had they explained it this way, the room would have jumped at buying them! That is a $1 for $2 exchange! We weren't happy, because we knew we were booking a family cruise this fall and since we take at least one cruise per year, we would have bought them had they been explained properly!

 

the way you are explaining ...you always get $100 OBC.

 

You only get $50 OBC on a 5 day ... and still have the expense of certified mail to mail it into Miami ...if you are booking after the cruise... you dont always get $100 OBC

[btorlv]

I have used them on 4 cruises with no problem what so ever. Two of my cruises were allready booked before i even bought the cert. If you book a 9 day you get $200obc I love this program.

[Batzo]

I'd never buy one of those certificates. They 'punish' solo travelers for traveling solo. If the certificate is for $100 OBC and the reduced deposit for booking a cabin, then it should be that way for the all bookings. Why should us solo travelers pay the same price for a certificate and get less than it's full value. Simply put, that's highway robbery! If I pay the same price for the certificate for a cabin that someone else does... I should get the same value towards the cabin that someone else does.

[firefly333]

I have used them on 4 cruises with no problem what so ever. Two of my cruises were allready booked before i even bought the cert. If you book a 9 day you get $200obc I love this program.

 

it doesnt say this on the certificates. In fact it doesnt list 9 day cruises at all, skips them ... says 12 days or longer you get $200 OBC

 

Where did you get the info on 9 day cruises??? any sources?? people have been wanting to fill in this ommission... so Id like to know if you have a official source.

[trock]

2/21/10 Splendor sailing

 

Carnival Splendor offers a future OBC if you put a $100 deposit down for a future booking. What they don't tell you upfront before you commit to the $100 deposit is that if you are traveling solo, you only get $50. If you find out about that while on board they will refuse to reverse the transaction while you are on board.

 

They were also telling people that there are only 3 ships in the fleet offering the OBC with the $100 deposit. I said really. What are the ships. I was told Splendor and two others whose name escapes me now. I said really. That is funny, I got the OBC credit when I made my $100 deposit on the Valor recently. I think that they are trying to infer that this is a limited, exclusive offer on board the Splendor and I don't think that is pretty accurate.

 

Furthermore, they are suppose to be helpful to people trying to actually book a future cruise while on board. They were telling passengers to go down to the internet hub, use the free carnival website access, figure out what kind of cruise you wanted to book, go back to them and they would book it for you. In other words, they want you to do all of the work for them and they want to take the credit of getting that booking with Carnival. Do they get commissions by any chance? :rolleyes:

 

I am a solo traveler who already has a $100 deposit towards a future cruise. The staff at the future cruise desk obviously did not know the definition of customer service. I was not about to give them any credit for obtaining any business from me. If I had decided to book a future cruise while on board, I would have gone ahead and booked it by myself while I was in the internet hub. The future bookings staff was hardly necessity. :D:p

 

This was such a change from the lady who worked that desk on the Valor who was an absolute jewel and real asset for Carnival. If you looked up the words customer service in the dictionary you would have found her picture. She even helped me with a problem totally outside of her are of responsibility.

 

Far be it from me to defend Carnivals (lack of) Customer Service, but the Future Cruise desk's sole purpose is to 'sell' the OBC certificates.. they are not PVPs... If/Once you decided on a cruise to book, they would help you out with that but from what I understand, that is not what they are there for.

I agree with Kelz.. they can make it much easier, like NCL.. :)

[firefly333]

I'd never buy one of those certificates. They 'punish' solo travelers for traveling solo. If the certificate is for $100 OBC and the reduced deposit for booking a cabin, then it should be that way for the all bookings. Why should us solo travelers pay the same price for a certificate and get less than it's full value. Simply put, that's highway robbery! If I pay the same price for the certificate for a cabin that someone else does... I should get the same value towards the cabin that someone else does.

 

So, if you book a 1A at 150%, you get as if there were two pax and you paid 200% for the cabin?? I can see it for most bookings, but not all. I see Carnival's problem here.