Am I way off base?

[MNLIvin]

I am a somewhat experienced Carnival cruiser with a question for some of you others weather I am being unfair or is Carnival or some combination of the two.

Last March while on board the Miracle my wife and I went to the future cruise desk to book a TA on the Legend and Hawaiian on the Miracle. The guy at the desk told us to come back the next day as he was busy with the people signing up for credit cards. There was no long at all. We were taken aback a bit as it seemed a bit rude from what we expect from a Carnival employee. We went back the next day, again no line, as asked about booking the 4 15 day cruises. He was very curt and almost put out we were bothering him but did do the booking but unhappy we did not know the price or what room number we wanted. Since we have cruised Carnival a number of times before (we are platinum) we always just have it set up to draw from our credit card when last payment is due so asked for that on these two trips. When we got a printed confirmation for the Hawaii trip but nothing for the TA. We left it ride for 24 hours and still noting on the TA so went back. He said the printer was not working but is now and printed the TA paperwork. Apparently the printer went down between the two but whatever, got it and all is good.

Fast forward. We got a guest confirmation on 5/1/13 and 2 on 6/28/13 all stating balance due 6/27/13. I cannot find anything to indicate we are to remit, we assumed the was to be drawn per our request of the guy on board.

On 9/16/13 we got a "say hooray" email from Carnival what we were close to cruise day with our name and booking number on it.

Another exactly the same on 9/17/13.

One that said"Cruise Fun is Here" in 9/19/13.

I cannot find anything amiss but go to do our paperwork and get a message saying cannot access booking. Knowing the web site acts up once in a while I waited and tried the next day. Same thing. Tried again a third time and got the same message so called Carnival. Was told we missed our final payment and were cancelled. Explained we should have been paid by credit card and we were concerned as all tours, flights etc were paid.

The lady from Carnival was very nice and rebooked us, waived the rebooking fees but still had to pay $100 each. At this point we had to pay as we had so much invested but we were pretty unhappy.

While on board we went to guest services to tell the and they said we will hear something back before the cruise is over. Nothing. I sent a letter to carnival on our return and got a letter telling us basically too back but enjoy your upcoming three cruises already booked.

We enjoy Carnival. We are platinum, have introduced 19 friends and relative to Carnival and plan to continue Carnival but no longer feel the loyalty was apparently Carnival feels no loyalty.

My question after all this story is, am I way off base to expect Carnival to man up and offer something as we strongly feel they were the root cause of the problem or am I way off base and happy even though I paid $200 additional and almost keeled over then they said we were cancelled?

Looking for opinion and advice.

[golfadj]

We have learned the people at the future cruise desk are incompetent at best.

 

Go up the chain but not sure if they will do anything for you.

 

Sorry this happened to you.

[techstar]

And Carnival's website and IT systems are horrendous at best. Hear way too many stories like this for it to not be a big problem. Don't mention it to any of the cheerleaders though, they'll tell you it's your browser or your computer or something.

[miataman19]

My DW and I had a similar experience with NCL. We are Platinum with NCL and booked an anniversary cruise on the SS Norway (was our 10th sailing on her). Well, I had all our paperwork, however somehow NCL lost our booking. I was getting the typical runaround from the reps on the phone (this was back before everyone had computers, early 90's, so everything was over the phone). The chief engineer on the Norway at that time is a personal friend. I contacted him and he gave me the phone number of a VP at their corporate HQ. Needless to say after that one phone call I think we received at least 5 calls from various folks apologizing for the mix up. Also got a nice upgrade for the trouble :D. To answer you question (finally ;)) you as a Platinum member should be taken care of in a more professional and appreciative manner. You need to pursue this up the chain of command until you are satisfied with the outcome. Good luck..:)

[iuki]

I am a patient person, but you are the "mother of all patient people".

I think I would have canceled everything and started all over.

[RuthlessBoss]

Are you off base? I think a little. Even if you thought it was an automatic payment, you got reminders. To me that's a clue to get on the phone and do a follow up inquirey about paying.

[fuddrules]

We have learned the people at the future cruise desk are incompetent at best.

 

Go up the chain but not sure if they will do anything for you.

 

Sorry this happened to you.

 

This.

 

To me, it's not worth the small credit to book on a cruise. I went to the future cruise desk (once) asked a simple question and the rep looked at me like I had 3 eyes. I left and didn't book until I got home. I'm not going to put $1,000's of dollars in the hands of some schmuck.

 

I've done our bookings myself on the Carnival webpage and never had an issue. I then call Carnival with any changes, etc.. I want and usually get a very knowledgeable person. If you don't get a knowledgeable person on the phone (it happens), end the call and call back.

Edited November 11, 2013 by fuddrules

[MNLIvin]

Are you off base? I think a little. Even if you thought it was an automatic payment, you got reminders. To me that's a clue to get on the phone and do a follow up inquirey about paying.

 

I have saved pretty much everything and cannot find anything telling me to remit. There are 2 telling me the date for final payment but I assumed it would be drawn as it always has in the past. Lesson learned in this regard.

[firstcruiseever]

Are you off base? I think a little. Even if you thought it was an automatic payment, you got reminders. To me that's a clue to get on the phone and do a follow up inquirey about paying.

 

Why would you call if you are on auto pay. You would think they are sending reminders that the money is coming out of the auto pay method.

[cruizinisthebest]

I would have just picked up the phone and called. Good luck.

[MNLIvin]

I am a patient person, but you are the "mother of all patient people".

 

I think I would have canceled everything and started all over.

Patience has worn thin. We met another couple on the Panama Canal cruise with over 30 cruises and one on the TA that are diamond. We were all planing another bigger cruise together and they are aware of this deal. Namely the Australian 23 day cruise. One of them went outside carnival and all of us are now booked on another TA for next fall. Quite frankly we have been so happy with Carnival I never looked beyond. Carnival lack of loyalty has become a 2 way street with some pretty faithful Carnival crusiers.

[MNLIvin]

Why would you call if you are on auto pay. You would think they are sending reminders that the money is coming out of the auto pay method.

 

I called because I kept getting a message that there was a problem with the booking. I agree that would not be normal but cold not process the paperwork and needed the help. More than I thought as it turned out.

[Georgiagolfer]

Ultimately it is our responsibility to confirm that payments are indeed paid. However, in your defense, I do believe CCL dropped the ball on this as you were led to believe there would be automatic draws on your credit card.

 

Lesson to be learned, don't rely on anyone at CCL to actually know what is going on, and always confirm things yourself.

[Georgiagolfer]

Patience has worn thin. We met another couple on the Panama Canal cruise with over 30 cruises and one on the TA that are diamond. We were all planing another bigger cruise together and they are aware of this deal. Namely the Australian 23 day cruise. One of them went outside carnival and all of us are now booked on another TA for next fall. Quite frankly we have been so happy with Carnival I never looked beyond. Carnival lack of loyalty has become a 2 way street with some pretty faithful Carnival crusiers.

 

Despite the lower rates, many long time loyal CCL cruisers are "looking outside CCL" for their next cruise.

[winddawn]

I don't think you are off base. I tried booking while onboard twice. I decided it isn't worth the effort. I'm sorry this happened to you and hope you can get it worked out to your satisfaction.

 

I would write a letter to Carnival Guest Solutions and specifically ask for what it would take to satisfy you. Be sure and include all the details that Carnival would need to resolve it, such as booking numbers, sail dates, passenger names, etc. In my 21 Carnival cruises, I've only written a letter once, but I got resolution from that letter.

 

I agree with what others have replied though. I never take Carnival's word for anything. I always assume that I need to follow up and take ownership of every aspect of my booking.

 

I hope you get this worked out to your satisfaction. I think Carnival needs to do a better job of taking care of it's best customers.

Edited November 11, 2013 by winddawn

[CdrescherRBL152]

I am not going to say that you are way off base, as there is more then enough blame for everyone. The rep at the future cruise dask made a mess of things for sure. But given how bad he preformed his job on board, I would have let someone higher up know. Plus when I recived the first reminder of the final payment date would have made a call just to double check. Everything made have been fine, but I would rather, given what took place on board, spent a little time on the phone then risk a canllection.

[Georgiagolfer]

I've learned the Future Cruise Desk employees are more concerned with getting credit card applications processed than they are with booking cruises. I think your experience proves my point.

 

Evidently they must receive a $$ reward for the credit card applications.:confused:

[golfadj]

I've learned the Future Cruise Desk employees are more concerned with getting credit card applications processed than they are with booking cruises. I think your experience proves my point.

 

Someone on here recently said they are actually employees of the credit card companye. Would explain a lot.

[CrusingGolfers]

We booked our January cruise while on the Ecstasy last month. The guy that worked the future cruise desk was AWFUL I mean AWFUL. I am late 20's and extremely low maintenance but this guy was so unprofessional and knew nothing about the Breeze which we were booking on. I do my fair share of research about Carnival because honestly it is all I can afford and still cruise twice a year. I honestly feel like I knew more about the fleet than he did.

 

I asked him to check my past guest number because I had an exclusive VIFP offer that gives me a load of OBC. He acted like I was the biggest pain in his back because he had to look up the rates and I didn't have them ready. Oh sorry I've been too busy spending $27 per bucket of beer on the lido. I figured since this was your job you could do this for me while I am standing here with you.

 

We then booked everything and he told me he would send everything through my travel agency (which I get points for future vacation with that company) (I also double dip with my Carnival MC). He said I would have to do nothing after this point. Payment was auto and would come out we had to do nothing but check in for our cruise on website.

 

So after a few weeks I keep looking at my account on my travel website and I had not gotten the points for the deposit I had paid. So I call them and they have no record of my reservation. Which then turned into a two hour phone call of my travel agent trying to figure out what happened. Thank God they and Carnival worked everything out. They basically had to change everything. Wife didn't have past guest number, dining was wrong, OBC from offer wasn't on the reservation. It was crazy he took the reservation and our money then did nothing.

 

All is good now, but I just don't understand why Carnival puts people like that at the FC desk. I feel like those should be the best of the best because you want people to book while they are having fun. We had a great one on the Legend in January but this guy was brutal so beware. Maybe he was just having a bad couple days??

[golfadj]

This.

 

To me, it's not worth the small credit to book on a cruise. I went to the future cruise desk (once) asked a simple question and the rep looked at me like I had 3 eyes. I left and didn't book until I got home. I'm not going to put $1,000's of dollars in the hands of some schmuck.

 

I've done our bookings myself on the Carnival webpage and never had an issue. I then call Carnival with any changes, etc.. I want and usually get a very knowledgeable person. If you don't get a knowledgeable person on the phone (it happens), end the call and call back.

 

Very true.

[WiCruiseDreamer]

I have had just the opposite with the Future Cruise Desk. I, along with several others, attended the information talk and while there was a push to sign up for the credit card, there was still alot of information given concerning the different ships and upcoming itineraries. After the talk, she took our names and set up appointment times for us to come to the desk and book our cruise.

 

Went at the appointed time, set up the cruise and all has been good. Admittedly, I do check on my booking on a regular basis, sometimes as much as every day, since I am always so excited to be heading out on another cruise.

 

NOT every Future Cruise Desk employee is incompetent, and I believe that there are more who are very knowledgeable then what we hear about, simply because we tend to not speak aobut the great service given, but more about the poor.

 

While Carnival has made an error and should make good on that error, it is also the responsibility of the cruiser to be sure all is good. I would never wait more then a day or 2, if that, after a payment was due, to be sure it had been done.

[Sparky2]

I've learned the Future Cruise Desk employees are more concerned with getting credit card applications processed than they are with booking cruises. I think your experience proves my point.

 

I had very good results with booking our January 2014 B2B while on our January 2013 B2B on Freedom.

 

I was totally prepared with what 2 cruises we wanted and had the total cost with booking ES.

 

I waited till the 2nd cruise before booking as we wanted to make sure we were still satisfied with CCL after more cutbacks. We were.

 

On the 1st day that the Loyalty desk was open (1st Sea Day?), I was the 1st person there. Booking was Easy Peasy! The only issue we had was that the cabin I wanted wasn't available for both cruises so I had to move down a couple of cabins. That was certainly no big deal.

 

We plan on booking another B2B for January 2015 when we sail January 2014. Hope we do get a good loyalty rep to help us.

[Sparky2]

I am a somewhat experienced Carnival cruiser with a question for some of you others weather I am being unfair or is Carnival or some combination of the two.

Last March while on board the Miracle my wife and I went to the future cruise desk to book a TA on the Legend and Hawaiian on the Miracle. The guy at the desk told us to come back the next day as he was busy with the people signing up for credit cards. There was no long at all. We were taken aback a bit as it seemed a bit rude from what we expect from a Carnival employee. We went back the next day, again no line, as asked about booking the 4 15 day cruises. He was very curt and almost put out we were bothering him but did do the booking but unhappy we did not know the price or what room number we wanted. Since we have cruised Carnival a number of times before (we are platinum) we always just have it set up to draw from our credit card when last payment is due so asked for that on these two trips. When we got a printed confirmation for the Hawaii trip but nothing for the TA. We left it ride for 24 hours and still noting on the TA so went back. He said the printer was not working but is now and printed the TA paperwork. Apparently the printer went down between the two but whatever, got it and all is good.

Fast forward. We got a guest confirmation on 5/1/13 and 2 on 6/28/13 all stating balance due 6/27/13. I cannot find anything to indicate we are to remit, we assumed the was to be drawn per our request of the guy on board.

On 9/16/13 we got a "say hooray" email from Carnival what we were close to cruise day with our name and booking number on it.

Another exactly the same on 9/17/13.

One that said"Cruise Fun is Here" in 9/19/13.

I cannot find anything amiss but go to do our paperwork and get a message saying cannot access booking. Knowing the web site acts up once in a while I waited and tried the next day. Same thing. Tried again a third time and got the same message so called Carnival. Was told we missed our final payment and were cancelled. Explained we should have been paid by credit card and we were concerned as all tours, flights etc were paid.

The lady from Carnival was very nice and rebooked us, waived the rebooking fees but still had to pay $100 each. At this point we had to pay as we had so much invested but we were pretty unhappy.

While on board we went to guest services to tell the and they said we will hear something back before the cruise is over. Nothing. I sent a letter to carnival on our return and got a letter telling us basically too back but enjoy your upcoming three cruises already booked.

We enjoy Carnival. We are platinum, have introduced 19 friends and relative to Carnival and plan to continue Carnival but no longer feel the loyalty was apparently Carnival feels no loyalty.

My question after all this story is, am I way off base to expect Carnival to man up and offer something as we strongly feel they were the root cause of the problem or am I way off base and happy even though I paid $200 additional and almost keeled over then they said we were cancelled?

Looking for opinion and advice.

 

And to answer your question, no you are not way off base.

 

We usually have our cruise paid for before final payment date, but I think if I had autopay for final payment (which I didn't think they did any more), I would still probably check my cruise manager to make sure it had gone through.

[LindaJSteele]

I research what I want before I cruise so then I just have to tell the person at the desk what that is. When I return, I call my PVP and give her the booking number and she takes care of it from there. I've had no issues.

 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Forums mobile app

[rickechambers1@aol.com]

I feel you and Carnival are both at fault...hard to claim Platinum (a pretty expert cruiser) and also claim ignorance. You -assumed- auto payment. Ive read so many of these threads...what I also don't get is that people check rates everyday but don't check their booking? Now I just pay in full when booking. Done. Please make sure your future boomings are in good order. Best.