Pride 11/7 and 11/14 cruises cancelled - ship going to dry dock

[nats311]

Just got an email that the 11/7 and 11/14 sailings of the Pride out of Baltimore have been cancelled b/c the ship will be going into dry dock.

 

Our family was really looking forward to this vacation and had coordinated a few things to make this timing work. Now the cruise is cancelled and all we are being offered is $50 OBC per person? That seems really cheap. Is this the norm? We've never cruised before...can't say that this gives me a good first impression.

[golfadj]

I am surprised they did not give you a reason but suspect the ship will be going into drydock for some sort of repair.

[nats311]

I am surprised they did not give you a reason but suspect the ship will be going into drydock for some sort of repair.

 

yeah, i was reading it on a tiny screen and missed the part about the drydock - you are exactly right....i fixed the title and the OP

[delongedoug]

Yep, we got the email too. We had booked the 11/7 cruise already. This is pretty damn bogus to have to reschedule everything. So much for our first cruise...

[snydermann]

That sucks! So sorry for your disappointment, especially on your first cruise. :(

 

We're on the Pride just a few weeks before the drydock, I wonder if the problems are affecting current cruises? :confused:

 

50 dollars a person OBC? That doesn't seem like enough at all. :mad:

[delongedoug]

I assume OBC does not mean $50 off a booking, just $50 off spending on the boat?

[Shelli]

We're booked on 11/14, and I've heard nothing (other than this thread). I'm so bummed! :(

 

It's still listed on "My Cruise Details" on the Carnival site. What the heck?!

[nats311]

For me, the $50 OBC would barely reimburse me for the trip insurance I had purchased...and if I rebooked, I'd have to buy new trip insurance.

[LHP]

Usually drydocks are scheduled far in advance so that no bookings are taken during that time....

 

something serious must have broken.....

 

things break....just ask my hubby who flies every week. At least once a month, a flight gets canceled due to maintenance.

 

Happened yesterday ....when he landed in Atlanta, his connection flight was canceled for maintenance....so he and 46 others had to fly standby.

 

5 hours later...and 3 tries...he finally got a flight to his destination.

 

Which was better than last month, when he was stuck in Atlanta for the day and finally got home after midnight (and that was only because there was one seat left and he is a Platinum "thingy").

 

If that seat had not been available...it would have been 4PM the next day....

[mgg42]

It's still four months out. Plenty of time to make other plans. Why is it that it's okay for us to cancel 90 days out with no penalty, but when the cruise line makes a change even farther in advance people feel like they are owed something?:confused:

[snydermann]

For me, the $50 OBC would barely reimburse me for the trip insurance I had purchased...and if I rebooked, I'd have to buy new trip insurance.

 

We buy trip insurance for the trip insurance. LOL

[nats311]

It's still four months out. Plenty of time to make other plans. Why is it that it's okay for us to cancel 90 days out with no penalty, but when the cruise line makes a change even farther in advance people feel like they are owed something?:confused:

 

First, I did not have the option of cancelling up to 90 days out b/c I booked early saver. Any cancellation by me would have resulted in at least a $50 per person penalty. I am owed something because I have given them 50% of my total fee and also convinced other people to take this cruise as well and also buy trip insurance. Now, I'm out my trip insurance money (I would be okay with that if I was actually taking the trip, but not when the rug is pulled out from under me) and so are the other people I convinced to take the trip. Not to mention I feel horrible for touting this vacation and convincing others to join us only to have the rug pulled out from under them as well.

 

Second, families make vacation plans and there is ALOT that goes into that...it is a lot easier for Carnival to recover from losing 2 passengers on a 2000 person cruise than it is for 2000 passengers to find a new vacation. Carnival is in the business of finding passengers for its ships and it can easily find a handful of new passengers on each ship. I am not in the business of finding new vacations all the time (and coordinating babysitting, household stuff, vacation time at work, etc.).

[mgg42]

.it is a lot easier for Carnival to recover from losing 2 passengers on a 2000 person cruise than it is for 2000 passengers to find a new vacation. Carnival is in the business of finding passengers for its ships and it can easily find a handful of new passengers on each ship. I am not in the business of finding new vacations all the time (and coordinating babysitting, household stuff, vacation time at work, etc.).

 

 

Sorry you were inconvenienced, but I think the above statement is the exact OPPOSITE of how I see it. Do you think Carnival WANTS to see two weeks of revenue go down the drain?

 

The average passenger who is rescheduled is going to lose a paucity of money. The cruise is refunded, so the only loses are the insurance, and possibly a change fee for airfare.

 

Your argument is backwards.

[nats311]

Sorry you were inconvenienced, but I think the above statement is the exact OPPOSITE of how I see it. Do you think Carnival WANTS to see two weeks of revenue go down the drain?

 

The average passenger who is rescheduled is going to lose a paucity of money. The cruise is refunded, so the only loses are the insurance, and possibly a change fee for airfare.

 

Your argument is backwards.

 

Carnival CHOSE to do this. I did NOT. Therefore, I have zero sympathy for CCL losing revenues - IT WAS THEIR CHOICE. I, however, did NOT choose to have my vacation cancelled on me.

 

If I cancelled my vacation and lost money on it, I would have 0 complaints, because it would have been my choice.

 

CCL reported revenues of $13.2 billion last year. Based on their passenger load carried, they will lose approximately $3 million in revenue for each week that they have the Pride down, assuming full occupancy (they weren't there yet). That is .025% of their total annual revenues.

 

The money I'm losing out on this represents well over .025% of my annual earnings.

 

And there are a total of 2,000 passengers on the ship total - so relative to earnings potential, this hurts the passengers FAR more than this hurts CCL.

 

And whether you agree with me or not, the fact is that this has a negative effect on the way I look at CCL. And that will probably impact my decision should I try cruising again.

[bythehex]

Just got an email that the 11/7 and 11/14 sailings of the Pride out of Baltimore have been cancelled b/c the ship will be going into dry dock.

 

Our family was really looking forward to this vacation and had coordinated a few things to make this timing work. Now the cruise is cancelled and all we are being offered is $50 OBC per person? That seems really cheap. Is this the norm? We've never cruised before...can't say that this gives me a good first impression.

 

I'm sorry that you've been inconvenienced, but they DID give you four months notice. It's not like they pulled the rug out from under you at the last minute. $50 OBC is very reasonable considering they didn't have to give you anything.

 

It's my understanding that ships go into dry dock once a year. Maybe this was the only open slot for them to go to dry dock, who knows? You should definitely check with the travel insurance company that you have to see if they can just transfer your policy to a different sailing or different ship. I'm sure they have experience with similar situations.

 

Good luck, hope you find a cruise you can substitute for the same week.

[Shelli]

And whether you agree with me or not, the fact is that this has a negative effect on the way I look at CCL. And that will probably impact my decision should I try cruising again.

 

Oh, I totally agree with you!

 

My self-employed husband blocked off that week (no work = no pay). If we decide to cruise a different week, he'll lose additional money as he'll have to cancel jobs. Plus we lose our travel insurance $ and the non-refundable hotel deposit. It totally sucks.

 

But I do need to say that this is a real rarity in cruising-- don't give up trying it because of this glitch!

[delongedoug]

Luckily for me I didn't book any flights yet, take the time off work or do anything except book the cruise. My girlfriend also has 5 weeks off at a time during her doctorate rotations so we'll have time to rebook whenever it's convenient for us. Obviously not happy about this, but it's not a disaster.

[nats311]

I'm sorry that you've been inconvenienced, but they DID give you four months notice. It's not like they pulled the rug out from under you at the last minute. $50 OBC is very reasonable considering they didn't have to give you anything.

 

I don't disagree with you at all and I'm sure you can appreciate that right now I'm just bummed so I apologize for my anger in these posts...I'll calm down and all will be okay. I do appreciate the 4 months notice and that I hadn't laid down money for passports for the kids yet nor had we done too much more in preparing. More than anything, I'm just really bummed because we were really looking forward to this trip. The OBC is only valid if we rebook and depart by april 2012 - we will most likely not be able to do that as I have no interest in sailing out of Baltimore in the winter months (11/7 was as close to the winter as we were willing to go). So in reality, they did give me nothing.

 

It's my understanding that ships go into dry dock once a year. Maybe this was the only open slot for them to go to dry dock, who knows? You should definitely check with the travel insurance company that you have to see if they can just transfer your policy to a different sailing or different ship. I'm sure they have experience with similar situations.

 

Actually, this ship was scheduled for drydock in January 2011 based on some things I read before I booked (ironic right - I actually considered the drydock issue when scheduling...that didn't work out for me!!!).

 

Good luck, hope you find a cruise you can substitute for the same week.

 

Unfortunately, this is the only ship out of baltimore and we were trying cruising based on the understanding that we wouldn't have to fly to go on our cruise. Our vacations for next year are already kindof laid out, so unless we have a complete change of mind in the next couple days, it will be back to the drawing board...maybe we'll make another go of it in 2012.

 

The good news is that all of my investments have lost money since I paid the deposit - so I will actually be better off having loaned the money to CCL for the past few months than if I had kept it in my savings!

[ava_girl_123]

Usually drydocks are scheduled far in advance so that no bookings are taken during that time....

 

something serious must have broken.....

 

things break....just ask my hubby who flies every week. At least once a month, a flight gets canceled due to maintenance.

 

Happened yesterday ....when he landed in Atlanta, his connection flight was canceled for maintenance....so he and 46 others had to fly standby.

 

5 hours later...and 3 tries...he finally got a flight to his destination.

 

Which was better than last month, when he was stuck in Atlanta for the day and finally got home after midnight (and that was only because there was one seat left and he is a Platinum "thingy").

 

If that seat had not been available...it would have been 4PM the next day....

 

 

Hope not..:( We are going on the Pride in August..

[cbpanda]

The OBC is only valid if we rebook and depart by april 2012 - we will most likely not be able to do that as I have no interest in sailing out of Baltimore in the winter months (11/7 was as close to the winter as we were willing to go). So in reality, they did give me nothing.

 

Well, if the OBC is good until April 2012, why not try to book something spring, summer or fall of 2011. That way you don't have to go in the winter months.

 

ETA: Sorry, I didn't see later in your post that you have vacations planned for next year.

 

Unfortunately, this is the only ship out of baltimore and we were trying cruising based on the understanding that we wouldn't have to fly to go on our cruise. Our vacations for next year are already kindof laid out, so unless we have a complete change of mind in the next couple days, it will be back to the drawing board...maybe we'll make another go of it in 2012.

 

Pride is the only CARNIVAL ship out of Baltimore. You could try Royal Caribbean-- the Enchantment of the Seas also leaves from Baltimore.

[CrzGrl62569]

It's still four months out. Plenty of time to make other plans. Why is it that it's okay for us to cancel 90 days out with no penalty, but when the cruise line makes a change even farther in advance people feel like they are owed something?:confused:

 

It's easy for you to make such a comment when you are unaffected by what happened. My bet is that if it happened to you, you would not be happy either.

[chachi]

It's still four months out. Plenty of time to make other plans. Why is it that it's okay for us to cancel 90 days out with no penalty, but when the cruise line makes a change even farther in advance people feel like they are owed something?:confused:

 

I bet a lot of people have already purchased their airfare. That is a huge expense for the the passenger. I spent over $1100 on airfare for my cruise to San Juan next week. I would be very upset if I found out I wasn't going on a cruise. And yes that is what travel insurance is for, but a lot of people don't buy it. You don't expect your vacation to be cancelled.

[aggieastrosfan]

For those who say it's no big deal, it's still 4 months out, I ask you this....

 

If someone booked this cruise a year ago, chances are slim they'd be able to get the price they got a year ago. So to rebook anything at this point is going to probably cost more than the $50/pp they're getting in an OBC.

 

Not to mention the fact that some people book way in advance to get their choice cabin. Think they're going to get it 4 months out? Not likely.

 

We all know how airfares are. Even if someone could find a comparable trip the same week, it's possible airfare went up. So change fees PLUS the change in the cost of airfare.

 

$50/pp for these cruisers is an insult.

[delongedoug]

If someone booked this cruise a year ago, chances are slim they'd be able to get the price they got a year ago. So to rebook anything at this point is going to probably cost more than the $50/pp they're getting in an OBC.

 

Not to mention the fact that some people book way in advance to get their choice cabin. Think they're going to get it 4 months out? Not likely.

 

These are HUGE points. We paid $389 for the interior room. Think Carnival is going to give us a room for that price if we rebook a different date? I don't think so.

 

While we went with a super budget room, I could imagine someone who spent a lot to get a nice room and now finds none available would be quite unhappy. $50 on board credit is a joke. What's that, a few cocktails? Get real. $50 off booking would be more reasonable.

[mgg42]

People are making perfectly valid points, but it really doesn't matter in the big picture.

 

When you book a vacation, there are always possible contingencies. There are TONS of reasons, albeit unlikely, that things might not go off as planned.

 

And yes, you might lose money, and yes, you might lose out on cabin selection. But these are the risks you take.

 

Countless people have their vacations nixed at the last minute by weather, health problems, acts of god/nature whatever. Finding out FOUR MONTHS IN ADVANCE is not a catastrophe.

 

Look, I feel bad for the OP, but I think the sour taste in most people's mouths is the whole "I deserve a lot more than a $50 OBC!" attitude.

 

Simply put, no. no you don't. Suck it up and move on. It's called life, and we all live it.