Victory out of Dominica

[Interrogation Room]

It seem to me that Carnival is in the driver seat and there's nothing we can do about it.:mad::mad::mad:

[wesheltonj]

Well, I am still on Victory. I received my notice at 4:00AM, they however claim they sent it a 2:00AM. 24 hours from 2:00AM. Great Customer service. Ok so I am stuck, just wait I see how much I spend onboard. Thats right, ZERO. Ar you reading this Carniva?. Do you think I will be recommending your cruises?

 

For those of you that think Carnival is the greatest thing, think again.

[Want to Sail Away]

It seem to me that Carnival is in the driver seat and there's nothing we can do about it.:mad::mad::mad:

They may be in the drivers seat for now but, unhappy customers tend to share their anger with anyone who will listen!! Carnival is making a big mistake, I agree with other peoples opinions about the day at sea, boycott the casino and minimize the alcoholic beverages!! Come on Carnival, we know you read the boards, do the right thing and give us an obc!!!:mad::mad:

[Hienergy]

My wife and I have spent many enjoyable vacations with Carnival.

 

This is the second time we have booked this same cruise on Victory from Puerto Rico as we really enjoyed the exciting port-a-day itinerary.

 

Dominica was one of our favorite ports as it is not as highly developed at the other ports. We found the people very friendly and enjoyed snorkeling at Champagne Reef, and the beautiful waterfalls and rain forests.

 

In our opinion, a ' Fun-day-at-sea', crowding around the swimming pools is no replacement for exploring an unspoiled tropical paradise.

 

For our future cruises, we will continue do our best to find cruises that spend the most time various ports.

 

I sincerely hope that if enough people make express their opinion to Carnival, they will reconsider their decision.

[DALSAL]

I was thinking the same thing, wondering about the tours I already booked and how we'll be treated, lets face it, if they have already lost future business, why show any goodwill to us.

 

 

You dont know the people of Dominica. You will be treated wonderful. Cruise ships are a huge part of their main living, and they would never mistreat you. There will be some cruise ships that still call, so they would not want word to get around that they not anything but gracious host. Besides, they would work very hard for the money that you will be paying them. It might not be much to you, but its a LOT to them.

[Gary72]

as Victory (December 19) lowers the price a tad, I will switch. If I must take this(Victory) cruise, I know it will be the last one on Carnival...

[Gary72]

those of us voicing our displeasure, let me be succinct. If I had known Carnival would do this within 30 days of my final payment, I probably would NOT HAVE PAID FOR THE HIGHER PRICED FLIGHTS TO SAN JUAN(which as you hopefully know are non-refundable)...I can see similar ports with "sea days" from Florida...

[hollaatya35]

SHIP: CARNIVAL VICTORY

ITINERARY

SHIP FEATURES

PORTS OF CALL

SHORE EXCURSIONS

Day

Port

Arrive

Depart

Sunday, Apr 03 San Juan, Puerto Rico 10:00pm

Monday, Apr 04 St. Thomas, Usvi 7:00am 5:00pm

Tuesday, Apr 05 Fun Day At Sea

Wednesday, Apr 06 Barbados 8:00am 5:00pm

Thursday, Apr 07 St. Lucia, WI 8:00am 5:00pm

Friday, Apr 08 St Kitts, WI 8:00am 6:00pm

Saturday, Apr 09 St. Maarten, NA 7:00am 5:00pm

Sunday, Apr 10 San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:00am

[jpg1747]

I don't think control of shore excursions is the reason. There are many private tours to be booked on every island. People here have shown time after time that you can book excursions at every port without using the ship's tours.

 

None of the reasons I've seen make sense to me. I have no idea why they've done it. I don't mind the sea day, but personally I wish they'd chosen an island I'd already been to, and one later in the week.

[Quampapetet]

I guess my point is...you have a choice! "It Is What It Is". If you really want Dominica then cancel your cruise and go on a different one. Maybe that will open up some nice discounts for the rest of us who really just want a nice Caribbean vacation in the middle of the winter!!!

 

Not everybody can cancel. I've already purchased my flights as has at least one of my friends, the only other cruise leaving the same day from San Juan is more expensive and goes to some different ports, three of our cabins are booked ES, and if we don't go at all (which isn't really a choice since it is a group thing) then I've just wasted about $520 preparing for the cruise (service dog vet and potty stuff - and changing to the other more expensive cruise would waste about $130, too, BTW).

 

The only way I would cancel is if Carnival changed the cruise to the four-day-from-Trinidad one.

[Quampapetet]

I don't think control of shore excursions is the reason. There are many private tours to be booked on every island. People here have shown time after time that you can book excursions at every port without using the ship's tours.

 

I think on this particular island hardly anybody buys ship excursions, whereas with other ports, a lot of ship excursions are sold.

[salty dingo]

Not everybody can cancel.

Take a look at what a week would cost to rent a condo at a resort, including meals and all other expenses. You may actually be able to beat the cruise cost.

 

You need to consider what you want from a vacation. If you are looking for beaches, Puerto Rico has great ones.

 

If it were me in your situation, I would be supremely disappointed, and I would add another black mark for Carnival - to be considered when I book my next cruise - but I would still go. The airfare has a lock-in.

 

In my book, there is no excuse to ditch a port like Dominica to enhance the profitability of the cruise.

 

I hope cruisers respond by rejecting this new itinerary. Tell Carnival this action is unacceptable by canceling if you can, and by not booking if you are considering this cruise.

[gtalum]

None of the reasons I've seen make sense to me. I have no idea why they've done it. I don't mind the sea day, but personally I wish they'd chosen an island I'd already been to, and one later in the week.

 

It's all about the bottom line. By cutting out a port, they can sail more slowly and save money on fuel. It's also an additional day with all the passengers spending money aboard instead of spending the day on an island.

[gone_cruisin]

My wife and I have spent many enjoyable vacations with Carnival.

 

This is the second time we have booked this same cruise on Victory from Puerto Rico as we really enjoyed the exciting port-a-day itinerary.

 

Dominica was one of our favorite ports as it is not as highly developed at the other ports. We found the people very friendly and enjoyed snorkeling at Champagne Reef, and the beautiful waterfalls and rain forests.

 

In our opinion, a ' Fun-day-at-sea', crowding around the swimming pools is no replacement for exploring an unspoiled tropical paradise.

 

For our future cruises, we will continue do our best to find cruises that spend the most time various ports.

 

I sincerely hope that if enough people make express their opinion to Carnival, they will reconsider their decision.

 

I sent an email to Carnival stating my objection to the sea day. Got a bunch of fluff back. I'm going to send another chewing them out for the 2am notice and claiming 24 hours from 2am is suitable amount of time to consider their new itineray.

[gone_cruisin]

Thanksgiving cruise on the Victory (the lucky first cruise to get the new itinerary) has just had a BUNCH of cancellations. Before the announcement all the 4A-4F and 6A-6B were sold out - now suddenly there are an abundance of rooms.

 

We are also still before final payment on the 7th. I hope more cancels come!!!!

 

Should Carnival choose to drop the rate on this cruise because of the cancels, it will be much more difficult to sell these cabins with all of the flights over Thanksgiving pretty much at 80% capacity and fares in the $800 range.

 

Good luck Carnival!

[cruisingcouple2008]

Big mistake on Carnivals part. Dominica was our absolute favorite port. Thats right we booked privately with Levi Baron and not Carnival. Such a shame. They cancelled St Maarten on our trip and I was disappointed because we love it there, but the only $$ they got from me that day was my standard one DOD. Nothing extra

[gtalum]

Thanksgiving cruise on the Victory (the lucky first cruise to get the new itinerary) has just had a BUNCH of cancellations. Before the announcement all the 4A-4F and 6A-6B were sold out - now suddenly there are an abundance of rooms.

 

So close to final payment, that's likely just from TA's releasing group space.

[tiggerman101]

Count me in the group that thinks this is a bad turn of events. My Victory cruise was absolutely one of my best. Dominica is my all time favorite Caribbean port. We have often talked of doing this cruise again sometime soon in the future. I told my partner about this change and he was very disappointed as well. We will not book the Victory again with this new itinerary.

[1stcruiser1]

Very dissapointed also, I was really looking forward to a port a day cruise. Carnival had something special with that itinerary, I hope another cruise line will pick up that schedule. Thats the reason we picked the Victory, otherwise we would have gone with RC.

[gjsmth]

Again I have to agree with everyone, this is a terrible decision on Carnivals part. Were were on Victory in late July and Dominica was one of our favorite stops. I feel for all the local busineses and tour operators especially Levi Bumping who was by far the most accomodating operator out of all the islands. To me I'd rather see St. Lucia go for the ships excursion tour was was poor (land&sea) and the Island has gotten worse since the last time we visited, lots of garbage floating in the murky waters and disinterested ship excursion tour operator.

[VictoryLover2]

gone crusin.... I received my notice from my PVP with NO MENTION of the 24 hour time window that CCL has.... not to mention the word getting out on a holiday weekend when most people are away from e-mail....

Also for those interested in DOMINICA.... NCL Dawn out of MIAMI ports in Dominica.... yes... sea days but out of MIAMI... less $$$$$ than to SJU.

Brookie & Ed

[Deckhandoug]

I haven't gotten the email about the changes yet, but I have sent Carnival a preemptive one voicing my displeasure.

 

Like many, we have already booked flights, hotel rooms and excursions so we are going but this change has cast a dark cloud over our cruise already because we are so disappointed, I mean, no sea days is the whole reason for flying to San Juan!

 

I'm not saying I'll exclusively take my business elsewhere and not cruise Carnival again but I'm not happy about the way they handled it and don't believe some of the reasons I've heard they've given about crime or fuel economy.

 

I don't see why they couldn't announce the change now for future cruises a year or so away and honor the existing bookings.

 

I will definitely remember this incident of poor planning and deceit as we book future cruises, because I think it's been handled wrong.

 

I want the cruise I thought I was buying!!

[salty dingo]

I want the cruise I thought I was buying!!

I hear you! I'm sure they will refund your cruise payments in full, but there is the airfare. Almost every vacation traveler books a non-refundable ticket. So once you book, you are locked in or subject to change fees.

 

When making a change to save money (as opposed to mechanical or weather reasons) they should try and see to it that if the passenger no longer wants the cruise, that they are not out anything.

 

I'm not saying they should pay the change fees, but maybe they should offer to refund your money and throw in a $100 per person voucher for a future cruise. That would be the responsible thing to do.

[Quampapetet]

Take a look at what a week would cost to rent a condo at a resort, including meals and all other expenses. You may actually be able to beat the cruise cost.

 

We're staying three days before the cruise and one day after the cruise in PR already. We're using hotel points, so it is free. :D

 

You need to consider what you want from a vacation. If you are looking for beaches, Puerto Rico has great ones.

 

We're not into doing all beaches. We do excursions of different types. We were planning on hiring a tour guide to go to different places around Dominica. We're hoping for St. Thomas to do the same thing we did last time there (on the Glory cruise): taking a helicoper to/from a deserted island. In San Juan on the Glory cruise we toured the rainforest.

 

If it were me in your situation, I would be supremely disappointed, and I would add another black mark for Carnival - to be considered when I book my next cruise - but I would still go. The airfare has a lock-in.

 

Yeah, I'm still going. Just wouldn't if they changed it to the four-day-Trinidad one, then even if I lost the ES $50 and had to pay something to the airline to change the tickets to somewhere else at a different date or something, it'd be okay. If the tickets couldn't be changed at all, I guess I'd still go to San Juan and stay in the hotel the whole time 'cause the tickets weren't cheap ($460 I think?). Of course, the airline keeps changing the flights on me! :rolleyes:

 

In my book, there is no excuse to ditch a port like Dominica to enhance the profitability of the cruise.

 

Yeah, I'm sad I'm not getting to go there. I had been getting so excited about it, especially since I'd started looking up the places to tell the tour guide to take us to!

[salty dingo]

Yeah, I'm still going. Just wouldn't if they changed it to the four-day-Trinidad one, then even if I lost the ES $50 and had to pay something to the airline to change the tickets to somewhere else at a different date or something, it'd be okay.

If Carnival took three port days and replaced them with three sea days, and it was for profitability and not something out of their control, I am 100% certain I would cancel just on principle alone.

 

You reach a point where the fun and excitement of a cruise is just not worth being treated like a bag of dirt.

 

But they have only canceled one port for profitability so I would just feel like a cupful of dirt. Like you I would still go but would resent them from now on.

 

I have been sailing NCL more and more and stuff like that will keep me from booking with Carnival in the future (much as I like talking about it here :))