Cruise from Hell on Carnival Conquest

[T. Advisor King]

The way I read it, Carnival DID have a solution, to change cabins.

 

I think the OP's problem is that Carnival waited SIX days to give them the solution that was available all along.

 

I can't believe some of these responses. Everyone here started with their fist post.....what does one post have anything to do with anything.

 

Part of good customer service is that each guest is happy with their vacation. Dealing with guest services is quite difficult at times they give you the run around for days and then if you keep at them they have you switch rooms. This has happened to me with the a/c not working in cabins or a toilet issue. This poster could not sleep EVERY nite, that's not a fun vacation. I have demanded to speak with the Hotel Director and they got the job done. The front desk people don't have any authority to do anything so you have to go higher to get results. Not being able to sleep at night is unacceptable and it is the cruise lines responsibility to fix the problem because they are CUSTOMERS.

 

These are the two best posts on this thread, in my opinion.

 

Many posters don't appear to appreciate the issue. The issue isn't "children cry on other cruise lines too, you know". It is entirely a matter of customer service.

 

The ship obviously did have cabins available and could have moved them. While someone pointed out that they might reserve a few vacant cabins for passengers who have cabins with even more serious problems, it seems to me that if one of those issues came up, then they could have moved those passengers into the "screaming kid next door" cabin. If that wouldn't be an acceptable solution, then why is it acceptable to leave the original passengers in that cabin?

 

The problem isn't that the kid was screaming all night every night. And the problem wasn't that Carnival didn't do anything to stop the kid from screaming. The problem was that Carnival didn't do anything (until the 6th night) to try to improve their customers' experience.

[bell777]

I think everyone is picking on this guy because of the manner in which he expressed himself and I think everyone is entitled to their opinion.

 

It can be annoying to say the least that you go on vacation to get rest and are up all night because of someones child crying all night long. I think that Carnival could have given him another room within at least the second night of complaint without a resolution. He is entitled to a vacation of rest.

 

With that being said my daughter had terrible colic and cried all night and the only thing that helped was a car ride around the block for hours until she fell asleep and it was torture but then again we did not go on vacation since we did not want to deal with this issue. She did however outgrow it and off we went on cruises after age 2 and it was great but if at any time she would get cranky we would go and walk around until she was tired enough to sleep as parents it is our responsibility to make our children manageable during any trip away from home and be respectful of others.

 

On the other hand my friend had a child with ADHD and movement was terrible and he would whine throughout the trip and they were miserable and i told her why even take him and she could not give me an answer but after a while they stopped traveling altogether and i think it was because of her son. They did not know it was ADHD that caused him to not do well away from home and movement only made it worse so you cant always blame the parents and should be more sympathetic and be glad you are not in their shoes.

 

I know it can be really annoying to be ignored when you complain and it goes on deaf ears. We had a problem one time where the cabin steward kept coming in without knocking and i was not dressed. I kept asking him to knock and pick up the dirty glasses but he didnt and then i started feeling uncomfortable about going to the room by myself so by the third time i went and yes threw a fit and they replaced him with the best steward of all time. Sometimes a fit is necessary. And yes I go on Carnival all the time and it did not ruin my vacation.

[seafoy]

I have 3 young kids. I'm quite accustomed to the behavior of the young ones and generally grant leeway to other parents when I see them having a hard time. A been there, done that smile and nod usually lets them know you understand their parenting woes and don't feel bad about it.

 

HOWEVER...this is a vacation. I would be livid if I couldn't sleep each night because of a screaming child next door. Carnival should've offered up the room sooner than they did. It would definitely ruin my vacation if I was tired everyday because of the lack of sleep I was getting.

 

In addition, I wouldn't have kept my screaming kid in that room disturbing all of those around us. I would've taken him/her up to the Lido deck (*or higher) and pushed him/her in the stroller or just carried him/her around or let him/her wander. But I surely wouldn't expect everyone trying to sleep next to me to just deal with the screaming. That's so rude and inconsiderate. Like the parents on land who don't take their screaming kids out of restaurants. Or let their kid run around a store. Control your kids...and if you can't, remove them from the situation so everyone else doesn't have to deal with them.

 

The only sane response I've read so far!

[Ready 2 Go]

Who knows the extent of the child's crying ? Some people think children should be seen and not heard and any little noise or sign of life is forbidden. Also not sure of the point of cursing people. If kids trouble you then choose vacations that are void of kids. If you are going to blame carnival blame them for thin walls not crying babies. What if they had no additional rooms for you? Be thankful they found something.

[Ready 2 Go]

SMSACE6 I agree and what if security had already checked on the family and ascertained no foul play just a crying child????

[guxu]

But here's another thought: If this happened every night, that means it happened the first night, which means the OP could have taken advantage of Carnival's guarantee. If it was such a living hell, I sure as hell wouldn't hesitate to make avail of it.

Unless OP could see the future, there was no way OP could know the baby would cry every night. No reasonable person would use Carnival's guarantee just because this issue in first night. When OP knew it was not just one night thing, it was too late.

[guxu]

Yes, by moving the OPs room. But what was guest services going to do to a crying toddler?

 

Imagine you're the child's parents and someone comes up to you from carnival about shutting your kid up. I'd be highly offended and definitely going to seek out someone higher up to hear my complaint.

 

It's a crappy situation either way you look at it.

I did not see OP or any of her supporters even asked Carnival to stop the baby. They just wanted a quiet room, which was available. That's it.

[silvercrikhix]

Hey, OP, you have a sympathetic ear here!

A passenger does expect to be able to sleep at night!

YES, this is a customer service issue!

Yes, of course you can't stop the crying baby, but this should have been fixed.

 

We ended up with a cruddy cabin above the piano bar...casino deal....

When I saw where we were put I tried to change rooms and they would not do it, although other rooms were available.

So we go & figure, okay....the latest it will go is probably 2am.

Hahaha...wrong, they leave the music with LOUD bass on all night long

 

Night 1 we call at 3am & they say we have to send someone up to hear it, fine we say, 30 minutes later some lucky staff member shows up, hears it and says, uh, I'll go investigate and have it turned down. No relief.

Night 2, ditto night 1.

We call GS in the am & complain again.

 

We go look...NO ONE is even in there!!!

Thumpidy, thumpidy, thump....all night long....turned off at 7 am.

We go to guest services and say this must stop, we are not getting any sleep and YES this is ruining our cruise. We need sleep!

 

Night 3....same thumping all night...3 am call & say if this doesn't stop we are going to have some serious issues. We are calm & all business too.

 

We are called to guest services via phone that morning.

We go down there and are ushered back to an office and meet the head honcho of GS.

She's understanding, calm and goes well above and beyond to make this right: Pays our cruise fare, pays our 2 Carnival booked excursions, pays our infirmary bill (DH got a horrible toothache 1 day), sends us to Steakhouse for a free dinner WITH drinks & grats paid. Sends us to Cucino Capitano for another free meal. Thanks us for our past business and wants to foster future business.

 

Etc....she repeatedly asked if we wanted or needed anything else.

Umm, no, it was getting embarrassing...we just wanted to be able to sleep!

She also offered to have staff move us to the "only" available cabin...an inside on Deck 2.

Did we take it? Heck, no, we need the balcony to breathe, etc...

The noise was gone on night 4, but yes...reappeared every night after.

When we saw her or the GS Mgr & they inquired, we told them yes....still loud!

We did rebook & "make-up" this cruise on our own later, too.

 

The HH lady did enlighten us with this little fact:

They keep stats on complaints and unless the percentage is so & so, they do nothing.

She looked up this cabin & said yes, there were other complaints, but so few it was not addressed.

So guess what...it won't get fixed if you don't complain about it.

[AmberTeka]

My nephew told me his 2 year old screamed the whole time on a plane flight home in spite of everything they tried. When the plane landed everyone applauded. I doubt if people said it was the plane ride from hell. Most people showed them compassion - been there done that. I also thought ships sail full and didn't know you could request a different cabin! Guess I was wrong. Hope it wasn't next to a senior who farted loudly every night - hah! :D

 

Fluid in children;s ears can cause pain when flying. Happens to grown up too but very common among kids.

[asalligo]

What do you do as the parents of that child? I would be apologetic, but the cabin is where you take your crying child. Cruising is a family vacation, so I reject, do not take them.

 

In this persons shoes, I would have pulled out the earplugs I always travel with and not given it a second thought.

[guxu]

She's understanding, calm and goes well above and beyond to make this right: Pays our cruise fare, pays our 2 Carnival booked excursions, pays our infirmary bill (DH got a horrible toothache 1 day), sends us to Steakhouse for a free dinner WITH drinks & grats paid. Sends us to Cucino Capitano for another free meal.

Wow. We had a similar situation but we were only offered a new cabin (same category) after 3 nights (8-day cruise) after multiple complains to GS. We jumped on it since we were so exhausted due to lack of sleep. Guess we should've asked more.

 

And, late we found out that another family was in our "new" cabin. (They went back looking for a phone charger they thought they left in our new cabin.) Carnival upgraded them to next level for free. That cabin was absolutely fine. No sure how they got the upgrade.

[originalgolfer]

Personally I would have used the crying baby as an excuse to get a good buzz on and pass out. Problem solved.

 

Babys cry and people make noise. Sleep on the balcony and listen to the ocean. A ship with 3000+ bodies on it is bound to have some noise.

[Linerguy]

Unless OP could see the future, there was no way OP could know the baby would cry every night. No reasonable person would use Carnival's guarantee just because this issue in first night. When OP knew it was not just one night thing, it was too late.

 

Not everyone is reasonable....especially someone who engages in a screaming match on a cruise ship. People have used the guarantee for far more ridiculous reasons.

[Waterloomarc]

We took my DD on 3 cruises before she was 15 mos and I have to say I was always petrified of others reactions if she had a meltdown. Overall we had good luck and only on her last cruise did I have to remove her from the dining room a couple times. She's turning 2 tomorrow and we took a year off to avoid ruining somebody else's vacation while she was in her loud/mobile/easily bored yet still not old enough to understand consequences phase.

IMO you can't blame the kid. Speaking as a parent who tries to be extremely conscientious of others, you probably can't blame the parents either. I know with ours there's no warning for when you need to stay out of public. She can be an angel today and sit for an hour happily eating and coloring at a steakhouse while tomorrow (parents enboldened by today's success) she wouldn't sit still for 5 minutes to get an ice cream cone and you just want to crawl under a rock! No hints whatsoever. So that screaming toddler may have been perfectly fine at home and maybe even perfectly fine on other cruises. Kids are fickle creatures.

 

Anyway you gotta just take the good with the bad. Life ain't fair and maybe you next go round will be better. N