Proving You Were a a Past Guest

[ctinct]

I'm booked on a cruise in December. Although I had one prior cruise with Carnival, it was a long time ago, possibly 1988 or 1989. I dont remember the date, but I do know it was the Tropicale out of San Juan. When I booked my upcoming cruise, I didn't even bother with the past guest rate, because I had no proof of sailing.

 

However, oddly enough, this evening I noticed a past guest rate on my December cruise that would save me a few hundred dollars if I could qualify as I am booked Early Saver, AND, miracle of miracles, I actually came across my old sail and sign card from the Tropicale. I called customer service, but she was unable to help me and told me to call the past guest department tomorrow. My card has the voyage number and my cabin number, and it's under my old name. Has anyone had any success attaining past guest status with just a voyage number? Sure would be nice to save another couple of hundred dollars.

[mzloolue]

You were lucky to find that card.

 

DH and I sailed RC in 1982.

A move and a flood since then.

And all our photos were lost.

 

I have been wondering how I could become a past guest on RC.

DH recently found a hat he bought with the ship name, but I am guessing that will not be enough.

[pacer1]

I'm booked on a cruise in December. Although I had one prior cruise with Carnival, it was a long time ago, possibly 1988 or 1989. I dont remember the date, but I do know it was the Tropicale out of San Juan. When I booked my upcoming cruise, I didn't even bother with the past guest rate, because I had no proof of sailing.

 

However, oddly enough, this evening I noticed a past guest rate on my December cruise that would save me a few hundred dollars if I could qualify as I am booked Early Saver, AND, miracle of miracles, I actually came across my old sail and sign card from the Tropicale. I called customer service, but she was unable to help me and told me to call the past guest department tomorrow. My card has the voyage number and my cabin number, and it's under my old name. Has anyone had any success attaining past guest status with just a voyage number? Sure would be nice to save another couple of hundred dollars.

I filled out the form on your profile page on Carnival 's website where it lists past cruises. I just gave the info off of my S&S. Within a few days I had the credit. I just put in comments that I was using info from my card.

Good luck

susann

[pbsteve]

First thing, create a VIFP account (past guest account) on carnival's site. once you have it, you can claim a past cruise In the comments, add any info from the SS card you have. they may request more info.

 

My sister did lose her status as a past guest when changing her name though, she was able to talk to the past guest dept, and get it fixed after a quick call, and sending in her marriage certificate, so be prepared for that.

[L454S]

We called Carnival to get the info from our past (2002) cruise. It took a little searching, but she found it and gave us our past member numbers and credit for the cruise. She did indicate there was a cut off date for this, sorry, don't remember what it was.

[pghsteelerfan]

I had the same issue because our first cruise was our honeymoon on Carnival Festivale, also out of San Juan, but it had been booked in our maiden name. I didn’t think much about it until our second Carnival cruise, which was 14 years later on Carnival Miracle, when we checked in and DH got the “past guest perks” and I didn’t (our honeymoon cruise was his first cruise as well). I realized that it probably had something to do with being booked in my maiden name. I got it straightened out through Carnival, first through a letter and also through Carnival's website in the VIPF. I let Carnival know the situation, both in the letter and again on the website on how the cruise was booked in my maiden name and let them know what my maiden name was. I also let them know which ship we were on, the dates of the sailing, port we got on and off the ship at, and the itinerary. I didn’t know if that would be enough because I’ve seen in the past where they may need proof of an embarkation photo or Sail & Sign card. In your case, you’ve got the Sail & Sign card and since it has the voyage number on it, that should help. When you talk to them, I'd ask if they can look up that voyage number for you and see if they can provide you with the sailing dates, which were a big help in my case since I don't seem to have the Sail & Sign card anymore. Through the original letter (in 2010, after our third Carnival cruise), Carnival made the changes for me. When we went on Valor in 2013 (4th Carnival cruise), my information was up-to-date in Carnival’s system since we both reached “Gold Status” again on the Valor cruise, just like DH (Carnival changed the VIFP Loyalty Program and based it on number of days over the number of cruises). When we booked our Liberty cruise for this past April, we went into Carnival’s website and mine and my status was “Blue – first sailing” and this would be our 5th. I added the others through their system but didn’t update right away. Carnival will verify the information you add (ship name, sail date, then an area where you can type in more information) and once verified, the past sailings showed up and that was about a week later. The problem came up again with our Festival (honeymoon cruise), the one booked in my maiden name. I went in where you can select a past cruise that isn’t showing and when I went to select “ship”, I couldn’t add Festivale since only the current ships are shown. I was able to put in the date for “Sail Date”. Below that is a box in which you can type information in, so I added the name of the ship; sail dates; embarkation/debarkation port; and itinerary. I also mentioned it was my honeymoon, booked in my maiden name, which I provided. Less than a week later I received a message from Carnival letting me know that I had two VIFP numbers, one under my maiden name and one under my married (current) name. They went in and deleted the old VIFP number (maiden name) and added the Festivale sailing to my current VIFP, so I am now up-to-date on everything. I know this is kind of long and “wordy” but I’m adding all the information in hopes that it will help and I'm sure it's a common issue.

[cruiser_family]

I think it depends on who you talk to at Carnival. I had a similar problem and I talked to my PVP. I told him who I traveled with and a guestimate of when the cruise took place. I also knew the name of the ship. In a few minutes, he had gathered what was needed and got the past guest account created.

[sharona211]

I think it depends on who you talk to at Carnival. I had a similar problem and I talked to my PVP. I told him who I traveled with and a guestimate of when the cruise took place. I also knew the name of the ship. In a few minutes, he had gathered what was needed and got the past guest account created.

 

I had a similar experience. The last cruise I booked (2008)was the first using my married name. I gave the PVP the very approximate dates and what few details I remembered of my 3 previous cruises (96? 98? 2000?) and next time I looked they were showing on my profile. The ship name and booking number are missing on the oldest 2 so I think the PVP just took my word for it when he couldn't find the info??? Under ship name it says "1 cruises". Most importantly - I did get the 14 VIFP points that the oldest 2 cruises earned should I ever have the pleasure of going for platinum status.

[KLD1019]

I think it depends on who you talk to at Carnival. I had a similar problem and I talked to my PVP. I told him who I traveled with and a guestimate of when the cruise took place. I also knew the name of the ship. In a few minutes, he had gathered what was needed and got the past guest account created.

 

bolded, YES! it took me 3 different calls to carnival, and 3 different people to claim my first cruise from 11 years ago! the first lady was more than happy to help and transferred me to who i needed to speak with. the call got dropped, so i called again. the 2nd person i talked to did not know a dang thing and quite honestly needed to be fired because he was very rude. i regret not remembering his name to report him. He tried to tell me that there was no possible way i was even on the ship i was claiming (Jubilee) on the dates i sailed (jan 16-20 2003) because that ship had been "retired years before". being the smart ass that i am, i sat and argued with him telling him i was looking at pictures of the cruise with big blue lettering JUBILEE on the ship and that he needed to educate himself. he told me there was nothing he can do to help and there was no way i could get past cruise credit and that i had to have both the ship and dates wrong. did not matter me telling him i had IN HAND all the pictures, my S&S card, and luggage tags. well 3RD TIME IS A CHARM!! i hung up from that idiot and called right back. new person who knew their stuff. i complained to this one about the previous rep and she apologized profusely. she gave me all the information i needed and the email address to send in proof of said cruise. i did so, and within a week, i had it on my profile!

 

i will say that ive since married and did not have to show proof of my marriage license

Edited September 10, 2014 by KLD1019

[crusinpsychRN]

If you fax the past guest folks a copy of the card you should get credit.

 

I sent a photocopy of a picture by ship photogs done on the Mardi Gras and another of me standing in the embarkation area with the Jubilee banner on the wall and received credit for both cruises.

[ctinct]

Op here. Well, I've been semi-successful. I wasn't able to use the form on my profile page for several reasons. I wasn't certain of the dates;, the ship, the Tropicale, is no longer listed, and I've had a name change. This particular cruise was a long time ago, 25 years or so.

 

I called past guest services, and the woman I spoke to was extremely helpful. I gave her the voyage number and the cabin number from my card, and she searched several data bases, under both my old name and my ex 's. Although we were married, I still used my maiden name at the time. Finally, the rep asked if she could put me on hold while she checked the voyage number. When she came back on, she said she had a past guest number for me. I was thrilled and said, "wow, you were able to find it? ", and she sounded like she was going to say no, but instead just repeated that she was able to give me a past guest number. My hunch is that she just asked a supervisor to okay it while I was on hold. Yay! I'm going to dash off a thank you note to carnival mentioning her helpfulness.

 

But---- the reason I was eager to get credit for my cruise was that I'm booked early saver for my upcoming cruise, and there is a past guest rate that is lower. I submitted the form, and in less than an hour, got a rejection. I made sure to note my past guest number in the comments. The thing is, when carnival sends the generic reply that one or more requirements were not met, it's not really very helpful to us to understand why we were rejected. If they said the actual reason such as the sale is not for your date, or you're not a past guest, it would prevent a lot of follow up phone calls. I'm pretty sure everyone who submits the form is under the impression they qualify, or they wouldn't be submitting it. I have a sneaking feeling they didn't see the past guest number in my case, so I'm off to make another phone call now.

[Shaded Lady]

CTinCT- I've heard that everyone who submits the form these days are getting rejected. But most report that when they call the number on the rejection email they usually get approved... I'd give them a call...

[katiel53]

I wish I could find the pics of my cruises with Carnival from the 80's and early 90's. Our first cruise was on the Mardi Gras and even though I could describe the cabin and ship,without a picture or some proof we are out of luck. We also sailed several others on Carnival such as the Tropicale and the Jubilee, but with moving and cleaning out "junk" we never thought we would need them, so out they went.

 

I now save the Sail & Sign cards so I have proof, but we would be a lot closer to Milestone if we would have kept the old "stuff."

[PlanoTim]

I'm booked on a cruise in December. Although I had one prior cruise with Carnival, it was a long time ago, possibly 1988 or 1989. I dont remember the date, but I do know it was the Tropicale out of San Juan. When I booked my upcoming cruise, I didn't even bother with the past guest rate, because I had no proof of sailing.

 

However, oddly enough, this evening I noticed a past guest rate on my December cruise that would save me a few hundred dollars if I could qualify as I am booked Early Saver, AND, miracle of miracles, I actually came across my old sail and sign card from the Tropicale. I called customer service, but she was unable to help me and told me to call the past guest department tomorrow. My card has the voyage number and my cabin number, and it's under my old name. Has anyone had any success attaining past guest status with just a voyage number? Sure would be nice to save another couple of hundred dollars.

 

My wife and I got a cruise from the late 80's applied to our cruise history. We had our "reservation number" and knew the date but had no other paperwork. Here is what Carnival told us:

 

Carnival only started keeping track of past sailings and issuing past guest numbers in 1995; guests who sailed with us prior to that date would not show up in our database. We will be happy to enter these older sailings into the system manually and update your cruise history but we will need to verify your past sailings with Carnival Cruise Lines.

 

Please provide one of the following:

 

- Payment receipt (credit card statement; invoice; confirmation)

- Boarding pass

- Cruise documents

- Sail and Sign card with your name

- Sail and Sign statement

- Embarkation Photo with ship and sailing date and current photo ID.

 

Mail to:

Carnival Cruise Lines

3655 NW 87th Avenue

Miami, Florida 33178-2428

Attention: Past Guest Verification

Mailstop: MSPX- 460-S

Or

Fax to: 305-406-6156

 

*If faxing or mailing information please be sure to include your past guest number or name, address, phone number, date of birth and email address along with your proof of sailing. This will ensure that we update the correct profile.

 

Thank you again for choosing Carnival.

 

All we had were a couple of photos (not of embarkation though) taken by the Cranival photographers. Luckily these photos had the ship's name embossed on the corner. I just faxed Carnival the photos along with our current ID photos and our past-guest numbers. Our cruise history was updated a few days later.

 

Hope that helps some.

[mohawk1129]

"VIFPProfileupdates@carnival.com I used this email to send them 2 photos taken by the ship (each had the ship name in the corner) One was of me shaking the captain's hand the other was at the table at dinner. I also sent them a current photo of myself. This was enough to get past guest from sailing the Mardi Gras in October of 1981. I also was sailing under my maiden name at the time.