Interesting Article about Carnival

[Shipbound]

Carnival has a lot of work to do. I think it's odd that they just kind of swept the problem with Triumph under the rug per say. I don't think as highly as I did of them a year ago, that's for sure. It just makes you wonder what took so long to make all of these safety changes. Why weren't they doing this BEFORE it all hit the fan? Safety isn't cheap by any means, but it would have saved them this major headache. I bet they wished they would have done more now:cool:

 

You must remember that Gerry Cahill was ,I believe, an account before he was made CEO. All accounts care about is the bottom line $$$$$$ and this can be seen in the reduction in the entertainment area( IMO was a mistake) on the ships. Under Cahill safety could have bee effected.

 

Gary

[swedish weave]

You must remember that Gerry Cahill was ,I believe, an account before he was made CEO. All accounts care about is the bottom line $$$$$$ and this can be seen in the reduction in the entertainment area( IMO was a mistake) on the ships. Under Cahill safety could have bee effected.

 

Gary

 

How do you suppose Cahill could get around the USCG safety rules and inspections ? He has about as much pull with them as I do....:eek:

[Shipbound]

How do you suppose Cahill could get around the USCG safety rules and inspections ? He has about as much pull with them as I do....:eek:

 

All cruise lines have to follow USCG rules and SOLA, however I think CCL has spent just the amount needed on safety to satisfy the rules and pass inspections. I understand that CCL wants to add another generator that will just power the air conditioning, toilets, refrigeration, etc., that would be used if the main generators went down so if a ship lost propulsion, there would still would be working toilets, etc.

 

Gary

[swedish weave]

All cruise lines have to follow USCG rules and SOLA, however I think CCL has spent just the amount needed on safety to satisfy the rules and pass inspections. I understand that CCL wants to add another generator that will just power the air conditioning, toilets, refrigeration, etc., that would be used if the main generators went down so if a ship lost propulsion, there would still would be working toilets, etc.

 

Gary

 

It is a fact that Carnival ships have passed safety inspections, AND THAT NONE OF THE RECENT INCIDENTS HAVE BEEN CAUSED BY LACK OF MAINTENANCE.

 

That said, Carnival has spent the correct amount of money to maintain their ships in accordance with the rules and regulations that are imposed on them.

 

Now -- Carnival's decision to spend an additional 700 million dollars to upgrade 24 ships was a business decision that stemmed from the recent failures. Note that this was a business decision and was not imposed on them by any regulatory body.

 

I believe they will continue to pass inspections, and will in time overcome the attack by the biased media.

[ianturner]

The media on the whole overhypes everything, I tend to take most of this garbage with a pinch of salt, that being said my wife & I are booked on 5 cruises on Triumph, & looking forward to as good a time as we had on our last three.

[misstopgun]

I disagree with "Sunshine"-ing the Triumph.

 

Dang, there are posts here will all kinds of negative comments about renaming an existing ship. Don't think the same media won't refer to the ship as the "SHIP NAME, formerly the excrement covered Triumph".

 

I think it's commendable that CCL is refurb'ing the Triumph and will bring her back to service accordingly. No need to hide history!

 

Speaking of Triumph, I disagree with the author when he discussed the treatment of the passengers. IMHO, I think they fared just fine and once again, the media hype turned a molehill into a mountain.

 

Other than that... Great article! :D

I am not confident that the passengers all fared just fine. I wasn't on the cruise but had to deal with a canceled cruise after that.

 

Carnival made all their promises to the media but it took a lot of effort on my part to get them to honor them behind the scenes. If I hadn't been so persistant and verbal on CC and FB I feel I would never have gotten the compensation promised.

 

In all fairness, the promises were finally honored, but the vibe I have for Carnival is no longer the same as I feel I shouldn't have had to scratch, fight, and get flamed just to collect what was promised in public and what I was rightfully due.

 

I won't sail on Carnival again because I love the company and how it does business. I will sail on Carnival again because I love how well the crew treats it's guests, but you could really say that on almost any cruise line.

 

Carnival corporate should practice what they preach (and teach their crew members) when it comes to customer service, but they don't. Everything I love about Carnival is at the ground level. Other than that I am just another number to the "bean counter" no matter how many times I have sailed or how much money I have spent over the years. Until I became a b---h, corporate was ready to lose my business over $275 dollars. How smart is that for a "bean counter"?

 

I don't care how big you are, or how long you have been filling ships, this type of customer service, or lack of, will eventually take you down.

 

Not only have they had to deal with a PR nightmare with what is happening in the news, those that have known Carnival and have been loyal over the years are grumbling as well about how easy it is to book a cruise, but how difficult it is to get service for resolutions resulting from their many cancellations be it refunds or rescheduling their cruise (at a discount of course so those paying full fare take priority)

 

I truely wonder how well all of those on that unfortunate cruise really fared. Not all are as vocal as me. It was only $275 after all, less than I would spend in one sitting at the poker tabels a night, but it was important to me to fight for the principle. In doing so I hoped to give others the courage to do the same. Right is right.

 

And what happens to those that decided they would never cruise again due to the experience they had? Sure they got their fare back, but they would never use the benifit of 1/2 off another cruise.

 

I know I am not the only one that has had to fight for promised compensation. We all heard about the non refundable airline ticket thread that finally reached a resolution after a fight. Why would Carnival do that knowing the effect it would have to further the PR nightmare if the news media chooses that angle to report. They are playing with fire in my opinion. If anyone is turning a moehill into a mountain it is Carnival in the way they are handling customers at corporate level.

 

And just for the record, It didn't seem like a moehill to me. I was on the Legend on the Feb. 10th cruise and our ship went to assist the Triumph. I had a wonderful time but kept thinking about those passenger on the dead ship. Just watching the crewmembers transport supplies to the ship in high seas was scary. Had I been a passenger on that ship, watching how dangerous that was would have given me concern. If it was that difficult for them to deliver the supplies, how confident would I have been that they could evacuate the ship with actual people on the lifeboats instead of supplies.

 

I don't neccesarily agree with the doomsday mentality in this report. Carnival is still filling their ships and I am not seeing extreme price differences to accomplish that. I have actually seen lower prices on Royal and Norweigian for the same dates I am looking at for my fall cruise.

 

I wouldn't want to see them fail as I have many, many cruises and very fond memories on Carnival. I do know that eventually, something has to give as far as their customer relations goes. You just can't continue to treat people with a lack of respect and retain them as customers. It is going to take more than a few resolution experts to retain a comfortable relationship with it's customers. After the the milk has soured, you only have buttermilk, maybe still okay, but not the product you were looking for.

 

Maybe not in the foreseeable future, but eventually, it will take them down. They will eventually run out of loyal cruisers and then newer cruisers will be looking to upgrade their experience on other lines when they slash prices because at even lower rates, demographics will change even more. Most cruise lovers would rather not cruise than take a cheap cruise that isn't up to par. Even if budgets were resticted, it would be worth it to them to take one less cruise a year to enjoy a better experience on a competing line.

 

Even if they slash prices to attract customers, you can only slash so much and still remain profitable. As far as cutting costs go, I think they have hit the lowest they can and still be competive and attract new cruisers or loyal cruisers so that really isn't an option to sustain their profitability.

 

Its going to take paying customers. Cheap pricing doesn't attract people that spend a lot of money on the ships, the lower you go, the less onboard spending. As we all know after one cruise, the average Joe knows were the money pits are and how to avoid them if we choose to. You will eventually run out of first time cruisers that get hooked and reeled in and learn their lesson.

 

The bean counter needs to be just that, and behind the scenes. They need a customer friendly, service savy face to represent the company. The few resolution experts they do have are taking the brunt of all the bad decisions, be it John Heald, Mischelle, or Mary, (and bless them all and I mean it with the utmost sincerity) and though they are doing their job well, they are putting a bandaid on the wound that Carnival dealt, and those wounds leave scars.

[RWolver672]

Whenever we talk about cruising with Carnival we are always asked, aren't you glad you weren't on the Triumph. We always reply that it wouldn't have bothered us one bit. We are use to camping. That includes eating cold sandwiches, using less than desireable bathroom facilities and just plain roughing it. The majority of the people that we tell that to stop and think about it for a few seconds then say that they never thought of it that way.

 

Do you expect to go on a cruise and have to endure those things...no, but it's not the end of the world if it happens.

 

Am I happy with the way Carnival has been downgrading the cruise experience, no. Yet I am paying almost the same amount for a Panorama Balcony that I paid for a Riviera Ocean View back in 1999.

 

You will find people that will badmouth Carnival no matter what and also find people that will stand behind Carnival no matter what. I do agree that since Cahill has come onboard, things have changed and not for the better.

[gjsmth]

Good article.

But wait did I just read that Cahill said his focus is on the line's consumers, really Mr. Cahill. Your focus is on the bottom line by cutting costs were ever you can at the expense of on board experience. I like Carnival but I must say our last cruise on RCCL the on board entertainment was way better.

[swedish weave]

Good article.

But wait did I just read that Cahill said his focus is on the line's consumers, really Mr. Cahill. Your focus is on the bottom line by cutting costs were ever you can at the expense of on board experience. I like Carnival but I must say our last cruise on RCCL the on board entertainment was way better.

 

Sounds like you have made your decision, but you can't blame Cahill for your choice.

 

Cahill is sticking with Carnivals business model that made them the largest in the world. That is to provide a fun cruise at the lowest possible price, and in order to do that, costs must be controlled.

 

If you want something Carnival doesn't offer you, by all means, you should go find that in another line. You will probably pay more, but that is a choice you will make.

 

I have seen references to WalMart as compared with Carnival, and their business model is the same. They want to provide what people want at the lowest possible price, and they are also the biggest in the world in their chosen field.

 

Want more---- Pay more ---- The choice is yours.

[Keel Haul]

Whenever we talk about cruising with Carnival we are always asked, aren't you glad you weren't on the Triumph. We always reply that it wouldn't have bothered us one bit. We are use to camping. That includes eating cold sandwiches, using less than desireable bathroom facilities and just plain roughing it. The majority of the people that we tell that to stop and think about it for a few seconds then say that they never thought of it that way.

RW, all the delights you ascribe to camping are the very reasons my wife and I prefer not to camp.We would be very displeased if we had to take a dump in a red plastic bag and leave it outside our cat 11, so unless Carnival advertises only for those pax who are used to the privations of "Camping" your analogy is spurious.

[Eriksgarden]

We don't want to spend that kind of money to camp! The analogy is ridiculous. We spend the money we do on cruises because we expect first-rate service and experience.

[BigDoug]

The author of this article is right on. I remember when Uncle Bob (Dickinson) was running Carnival their goal was to "exceed your expectations". Now, with Cahill running things, their goal seems to be to barely meet your diminished expectations.:(

[MrPete]

The author of this article is right on. I remember when Uncle Bob (Dickinson) was running Carnival their goal was to "exceed your expectations". Now, with Cahill running things, their goal seems to be to barely meet your diminished expectations.:(

 

Better yet, when people now say you should have done your research to now cruise Carnival. That's what the Norweenies used to tell people till they turned that boat around.

[swedish weave]

We don't want to spend that kind of money to camp! The analogy is ridiculous. We spend the money we do on cruises because we expect first-rate service and experience.

 

 

Your analogy is also ridiculous. You expect first rate service and experience but want the lowest price. Carnival is known as a low priced cruise line.

 

If you cannot accept the type of service and accomodations that a low priced business offers, you are setting yourself up to be disappointed.

 

Never mind !!! I see in your list of cruises that you have not experienced Carnival cruises.

[murcielago]

I too took special note of the author's action item for Carnival to reengage with TA's. We have always used a TA and she has always been supportive of our choice of Carnival until a couple of years ago. She didn't disparage CCL in any way, just become more vigorous in encouraging us to try other lines. After reading this article, I think I probably know why.

 

 

While our TA has not encouraged us to go to a competing line, I have noticed they no longer advertise CCL in their promotional emails. We just booked on the Breeze and he was able to get us a small, but appreciated discount from what CCL PVP offered us. He's discounts used to be way better in the past.

I feel the same way you do.

 

Danny

[skyeman27]

While our TA has not encouraged us to go to a competing line, I have noticed they no longer advertise CCL in their promotional emails. We just booked on the Breeze and he was able to get us a small, but appreciated discount from what CCL PVP offered us. He's discounts used to be way better in the past.

I feel the same way you do.

 

Danny

 

Exactly, the same for my TA and her agency, my TA is absolutely great, I would never use a Carnival PVP even IF I could find a decent one. If I book a cruise on ship I transfer it to my TA as soon as I return home, get free insurance and bottle of wine. Have never found a very knowledgeable future cruise agent on a ship yet, although there must be some, just not on the ships I have been on...