Irritated by the Valor/Liberty swap

[trippingpara]

I understand that our cruise contract states that Carnival has the right to change ships. As a business owner. I get the need to occasionally make changes that some of your customers may not like and you can't compensate people just because they don't like your changes. However, a lot people on both ships including myself paid for a certain category of cabins and have been changed to a lower category and all Carnival has to say is "sorry, we don't compensate for a change in ship." Ok, so what about the change in cabins?

[amandajean06]

Rather than being switched, our 3/22/15 on the Liberty was just plain cancelled. We are restricted on dates to rebook, as we we're cruising with a wedding party after a wedding on 3/21, and the following week is my Spring Break (teacher.) Sooooooo bummed. The closest alternative we found is a 6 day on the Breeze out of Miami on 3/22, but that means driving an additional 3+ hours to the port, and then more money for the cruise itself. All Carnival offered us is $25 OBC because they "cancelled plenty of time in advance" to change our plans. Well, that's not really true when you're planning around a wedding! Not sure what we will do...:(

 

 

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[Retired_to_Cruise]

It does make you wonder the mechanics involved in the decision process and why they cannot be more proactive instead of reactive (planning further out). I would love to hear the"behinds the scenes" of decisions like these. We have had it happen once to us and can totally understand the frustrations involved.

 

How in the world is this a "reactive(planning further out)" versus a "proactive" situation? Your comment makes no sense at all.

Edited September 4, 2014 by Retired_to_Cruise

[near the beach]

The Valor was to go into dry dock this year however the gap has been filled with booking dates.

[dainew]

When they switch ships I got the same rooms ....but I had book for the guy burgers which my hubby loves and I wanted to try the alchemy bar.....so I switch ships and went with Carnival Sunshine it did cost me 400 p/p more and I did get one more day on the ship so im happy.....I roll with the punches

[EZ1]

While I had not booked yet, we were planning on a Liberty cruise next October. We have sailed on the Fascination & Conquest. I was already doing research on the ports and had done lots of research on the Liberty and we were looking forward to it. Now, we will have to re-think everything.

 

We like driving to port as we are from Atlanta. We prefer to do a 7 or 8 day and want the 2.0 upgrades. Any suggestions for which ship to choose now? Frustrated! Even though we had not booked, we were getting excited about the Liberty as we enjoyed the Conquest a lot and were looking forward to having everything on the Conquest plus the Mongolian wok.

 

So our choices now are Conquest (again), Sunshine, Valor, Dream or Glory. Any suggestions? With Valor not having any 2.0 upgrades I just cannot get excited about changing to that ship. Not really sure we want to do the Dream as we cruised out of NOLA last year. We would like to try other ports.

 

 

We were on Glory in Jan'14, and they took away the delish WOK to make room for new 2.0 eats.

Most others still kept the WOK with the 2.0.

On Liberty from Miami in April-always great.

 

But just came off BREEZE-try that one-so new & nice, if you are willing to drive extra 3 hrs-so many choices for lunch has WOK, and also barbecue station, and free pasta place at lunch only.

[EZ1]

Most cruisers would rather not have to pay to fly to/from San Juan to cruise.

That is why I think they switched the 2 ships, as they probably have less bookings with the Valor. Liberty may do better there, as a more popular & upgraded ship.

[Disconnections]

Most cruisers would rather not have to pay to fly to/from San Juan to cruise.

That is why I think they switched the 2 ships, as they probably have less bookings with the Valor. Liberty may do better there, as a more popular & upgraded ship.

 

Or to eliminate two 2.0 ships out of Port Canaveral and increase bookings on the Sunshine...

[PSRCPA]

I too have been disappointed since getting the email and call regarding the switch. I can handle change and their business decisions but doesn't mean I have to like it. We had 15 cabins booked, with a potential of 10 more for Nov 2015......our wedding cruise! We sailed 3 ships in April/May to choose the ship and itinerary, Liberty! I'm a seasoned cruiser, 30 completed with Carnival, and agree the swap is not comparable with a 2.0 Liberty and dated Valor. We wanted those in our party, who have never cruised, to enjoy the Liberty for their first cruise, not the Sunshine. Yep, we are making decisions as seasoned cruisers, for new cruisers, that have nothing to compare to and some on here will not agree. We live 40 miles from PC and the logistics work out better for those flying in and driving. I looked at flights to Miami, shuttles, hotels, parking and not willing to have our guests pay any more out of pocket. I'm really just venting.........didn't sleep last night knowing we we are making a decision today....Valor, Sunshine, another port, or cancelling. Wish me luck!

 

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[katiel53]

Or to eliminate two 2.0 ships out of Port Canaveral and increase bookings on the Sunshine...

 

I totally believe that is the sole reason that the Liberty and Valor were switched. Carnival spent so much money re-vamping Destiny to become Sunshine and almost all the reviews I have read are poor. Poor service, poor food, crowding etc. The price for Sunshine is also higher than that of Liberty that has for the most part excellent reviews.

 

Carnival wants to recoup their money and they know many people like sailing from Pt Canaveral, so instead of continuing with the weak(er) sales, they move the "good" ship out and replace it with a non 2.0 ship which will then force cruisers to use Sunshine if still wanting to sail from PC on a 2.0 ship.

 

I believe that also explains why some people are not getting the same cabin they had booked on Liberty when changed to Valor. I realize that some cabin types are not available on Valor and those cabins would have to be changed, but it appears, to me, that those aren't the only ones changed.

 

It is a business decision by Carnival and from what I am reading, it is working. I know people are unhappy, but very few are changing to another cruise line because of it, they are just spending more to sail on Sunshine. Carnival is also expecting more bookings on Liberty from Puerto Rico because of the 2.0 upgrades.

 

The obvious winner in this game is Carnival and the big loser is the Port Canaveral customer.

[Buffettfan 225]

I too have been disappointed since getting the email and call regarding the switch. I can handle change and their business decisions but doesn't mean I have to like it. We had 15 cabins booked, with a potential of 10 more for Nov 2015......our wedding cruise! We sailed 3 ships in April/May to choose the ship and itinerary, Liberty! I'm a seasoned cruiser, 30 completed with Carnival, and agree the swap is not comparable with a 2.0 Liberty and dated Valor. We wanted those in our party, who have never cruised, to enjoy the Liberty for their first cruise, not the Sunshine. Yep, we are making decisions as seasoned cruisers, for new cruisers, that have nothing to compare to and some on here will not agree. We live 40 miles from PC and the logistics work out better for those flying in and driving. I looked at flights to Miami, shuttles, hotels, parking and not willing to have our guests pay any more out of pocket. I'm really just venting.........didn't sleep last night knowing we we are making a decision today....Valor, Sunshine, another port, or cancelling. Wish me luck!

 

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I hope you can come to a decision, as planning a wedding is stress enough. We have sailed Destiny/ now Sunshine and feel with 2.0 addition you will be happy. the Sunshine should have updated décor -may feel fresh thus + 2.0 amenities.

Although the Valor does not have 2.0, still offers a grill station & traditional shows vs. the Playlist productions.

I agree Liberty is my favorite décor of ships we've sailed.

poster Fedic did a wonderful job creating a spreadsheet comparing ships-

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1980726&highlight=spreadsheet

[Smiling Cruiser]

If you change to the Sunshine will it change your ports? As a wedding guest, once the wedding festivities are over, I might be more disappointed with the change of ports than the change of ships. First time cruisers won't miss the 2.0 upgrades they never experienced . I've been on numerous Carnival sailings and never experienced 2.0 and I'm still sailing Carnival and enjoying every cruise.

 

 

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[Fun 2 Crz]

Just got off the phone with Carnival I must have been given a really good supervisor she was able to change me to the Breeze at the same price and type of cabin which if I booked myself would have been $300 additional charge. I wasn't looking forward to driving to Miami but it is a really nice port so all is good.

[trippingpara]

I just got off the phone with my PVP. She was finally able to get me the price reduction on my cruise on the Liberty to match the actual costs for my downgraded cabin. That took way too much energy and time for something that Carnival should have done automatically. I was really excited about having the extended-aft cabin on the Valor but my daughter (who this cruise is for) is so excited to now be on the Liberty so she can have Guy's Burgers so I'm quite confident that I'll survive just as well in my regular balcony room!

[t1adams]

DON'T SALE ON THE SUNSHINE! THAT'S GIVING THE BEARDS EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT!!!!

 

 

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[Cruisin 4 Ever]

I've sailed on both ships and they are about the same. Liberty seems in slightly better condition but they are both great IMO

[pghsteelerfan]

I know this topic has been beaten to death and here I am adding more. :o I'm only posting for some of our experience since we were just on Liberty in April 2014 and Valor (southern itinerary out of San Juan) in May 2013. These are just my thoughts.

 

Both ships are "Conquest Class", so pretty identical in layout. Granted, Valor does not have the 2.0 upgrades yet but we really enjoyed her, beautiful ship and wonderful staff. When we went on our cruise last year, we went in knowing that the over all service on Carnival had gone downhill but our experience was totally opposite.

 

Our first experience on a ship with the 2.0 upgrades was this past April on Liberty for a western Caribbean out of Miami (I think two weeks before she was moved to Port Canaveral). These are just my honest thoughts about the 2.0 upgrades. We loved Guy's Burgers, so we were very happy about that, but the burgers and other items on Valor's grill were good too. We never did get to try the Blue Iguana Cantina (burritos) since they were only open during certain times, and when they were, the lines were LONG, so we didn't bother. Guy Burgers is open most of the day and at times there were lines, but they moved. With the 2.0 upgrades Liberty has the Red Frog Rum Bar and the Blue Iguana Tequila Bar. What we didn't really like were the locations of the two. They are located right along Lido Deck 9 by the main pool that is mid-ship. They are smack in the middle, one on each side, so many of the tables and chairs under the covered area along the windows were eliminated to make room for the bars. Some of the loungers were also eliminated to make room for the other row of bar stools (there are stools right at the bar itself then about 10 feet behind those is another set of stools at a table). On sea days, there was just so much overcrowding on the Lido Deck by the main pool. Granted, it's the main pool on a Sea Day, but it was more crowded than we'd experienced before and a lot of that was from the two bars. It was so crowded that at times we couldn't get through if we wanted to get to the other end so we'd have to find another way.

 

Valor still has two bars by the main pool on the Lido Deck 9, and they are back behind the stairs and we really didn't notice a difference in size. Again, they were always well staffed so wait times were not long. Because of their locations, it was more free flowing on Valor to get from one end to the other. We noticed that Valor seemed to have more staff. At the pool bars on Lido Deck, there were always at least three bartenders and on sea days, there were four or five and again late in the afternoon after leaving a port, there was enough staff at the bars. On Liberty, I think there may have been three at the Red Frog Rum bar, but we never saw any more than that. During times where it wasn't as busy, there were only one or two bartenders, which created long lines that backed up to the pool deck and also crowded the stairs going up to Panorama Deck 10. The Blue Iguana Tequila bar wasn't always open, so that would also add to the crowd at Red Frog, but no additional staff was added to help at Red Frog after Blue Iguana closed. We also noticed on Liberty that there were not many bar staff making the rounds with trays of drinks or taking bar orders. On Valor, they had bar staff constantly making the rounds.

 

I will note that while many do say Liberty is one of their favorite ships and Liberty IS a nice ship (we loved the décor) and I can't deny that. We loved Liberty. Valor is currently on the southern itinerary out of San Juan, which is one of the most spectacular itineraries scenery wise and very port heavy (5 ports of call), so poor Valor isn't the "star" of that itinerary - the scenery is. But we loved the Valor (also nice décor and certainly didn't look run down to us) and would not hesitate to sail on her again, even without the upgrades. She is probably my favorite ship as it stands right now. I hope this helps.

Edited September 5, 2014 by pghsteelerfan

[AtoZgirl]

What sailing dates are they changing? We're on the 3/15/15 liberty cruise and haven't heard or seen anything?

[Disconnections]

What sailing dates are they changing? We're on the 3/15/15 liberty cruise and haven't heard or seen anything?

 

You're on the last Liberty cruise, prior to her repositioning on March 22.

[HectorAchilleus]

Or to eliminate two 2.0 ships out of Port Canaveral and increase bookings on the Sunshine...

 

I would never book the Destiny (Sunshine) over the Valor. The Valor is a vey nice ship, while (from what I have been told) the Sunshine is overly crowded due to Carnival removing public space to create more cabins. Sure, the Destiny has Guy's Burgers, but I also like the chicken tenders and Fish & Chips on the Valor. If I really want a good burger, I will stop at red Robin or some such place and get one on the way to the port.

[jkjmt]

As long as you're on a ship, who cares?? I've been on both ships and each has its own positive features. Do you really want to cancel your vacation because of the hamburgers??

[AmberTeka]

For people to not be sailing on the Sunshine, the prices are sky high. I was looking at a Liberty cruise for March 15.2015 and my eyes about popped out when I saw the change. I will sail out of what sails out of P.C. but.... SO MY Question...........Why do ships sail half empty with cut rates from Miami...........or Ft. Lauderdale.......but those ships stay there. While the Port Canaveral ships never sail empty and rates are not cut like they are IN S.Florida. If MORE customers sail from PC why can a NEWER ship, like the Splender not sail from PC. I notice since they moved the Dream to Texas Rates are way lower there than they were in PC. I loved the Dream. I am still not over them moving that ship. And For what? Fewer bookings? If I drive to Ft. Lauderdale or Miami I am sailing NCL, Princess or HAL. I am irked. East Central Florida deserves a GOOD NEWER ship. Rather than two ships..including the Sunshine which is too high ,and gets reviews that are really bad.....Why not ONE GOOD ship out of Port Canaveral. ? Like we had with the Dream.

Edited September 6, 2014 by AmberTeka

[cruizinisthebest]

Obviously plenty of people are sailing on the Sunshine. It seems to be Carnival's highest priced ship!

[rksmom]

I heard she goes in to dry dock for the 2.0 upgrades sometime this year. Anyone else know about this schedule?

 

 

When I spoke to my PVP, he said the same thing.

[PSRCPA]

My PVP said 1st Qtr 2016 for 2.0 upgrade on the Valor!

 

It sure would be nice if it is 2014 :D