How does Carnival inform you if cruise is cancelled?

[elruth]

Scheduled to fly into F Lauderdale on Sept 12 and cruise begins Sept 13. In the event of a hurricane, how do they inform passengers that the cruise is cancelled? We can't text but will bring a cell phone. Should I call them the day we fly down to FL ?( regular Carnival booking number? ) I don't care about itinerary changes. We have Carnival insurance and I wonder if this covers a cancelled cruise?

[KatPem]

Check your emails....two days before our cruise 2 1/2 years ago, they emailed us to let us know that grand Turk was cancelled due to a virus outbreak. You can also make sure you have a number for cruise alerts set up on carnival.com...either under your account or the booking itself somewhere

[mzloolue]

They email and they call.

 

I think they send out the emails first and then start going down the list calling.

 

Different members of our party got the phone calls at different times.

 

Our cancelled cruise was due to mechanical problems and was very last minute. Some of us were already packed.

 

I had read on CC that Celebration was having problems, but it completed the cruise before ours.

The heads up that I got on here had allowed me time to check out other cruises and we were able to book the last cabins on a cruise from Galveston.

 

It would have to be really bad for a cruise to be cancelled due to weather.

We were on the last cruise to make it back into New Orleans before Katrina hit.

We got off the ship on evacuation day.

They loaded up the next cruise and sailed two hours earlier than usual.

[Chigirlcruzin]

It is very unlikely that your cruise will be cancelled. If there is a hurricane, they will reroute the ship unless there is a hurricane bearing down on South Florida on the day of the cruise.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SadieN]

Also make sure you've signed up for text alerts.

[carib1]

We had a cruise booked leaving Mobile, AL on the day Katrina hit. We were never notified of the cancellation. My parents had to keep us updated on the status of the cruise by checking Carnivals website. Since we were driving down from Illinois we needed plenty of time to pick up our son, who was flying in from Reno to NOLA the day before the cruise. His flight was cancelled (of course) so at that time we called Carnival ourselves and they were not helpful at all, they could not tell us any information. So we stopped in Jackson, MS and hunkered down into a hotel and rode out the storm.

 

At first, we found out on cruise day that they were changing it to a 3 day to nowhere from a 5 day leaving on Wednesday instead of Monday, then just a couple hours after that it was cancelled altogether. We were refunded by Carnival.

 

We never got one call or one email from Carnival thru the whole experience.:eek:

 

Luckily for us, we decided to try Carnival again and have been with them since.

[Cruise life]

Someone wrote on here that they were on the ship unpacking and then they announced the cruise was cancelled.... You may not find out til the last minute! Cruise insurance would have been great in that case, which I am sure is the extreme.

[nodogkisses]

Someone wrote on here that they were on the ship unpacking and then they announced the cruise was cancelled.... You may not find out til the last minute! Cruise insurance would have been great in that case, which I am sure is the extreme.

 

 

Hey cruise life, that would be me. We were scheduled to cruise on the Pride when Hurricane Sandy was headed right towards us. Carnival didn't cancel or make any itinerary changes to our cruise, even though some other ships in Sandy's path were changed. Pride was still going to sail as scheduled. It was very stressful. We drove 3 hrs to Baltimore and boarded the ship once onboard we heard from some crew members, that the captain had planned to cruise down the Chesapeake bay and anchor somewhere down there to ride out the storm. So we unpacked and had lunch and then around 2:00- 3:00pm there were announcements made that all pax needed to evacuate the ship immediately. Apparently, the Coast Guard made the call to shut down the Bay and wouldn't let them sail with pax. It wasn't Carnival that made that decision. It was the Coast Guard. So, we packed back up and left the ship and drove back home. Carnival did go anchor down in the Bay as planned with just the crew onboard. Then, after the storm passed, they came back to Baltimore and did a last minute CTN.

 

I remember the few days prior to that Sunday when we were scheduled to sail. Checking the website, checking my email and phone. Checking and waiting and repeating but nothing.

 

Carnival will not cancel. Unless they absolutely have to. They're sailing as planned. I know several pax on our cruise flew in and others took public transportation or had a long drive home. A big mess that could have been prevented.

[tncruisergurl]

We had a cancelled cruise. Was planning on leaving work a little early and drive down to Florida and we received an email saying it was cancelled two days before sail date. I had already booked a hotel and was packed and r day to go. Tried to find another one, but everything was full. It was horrible.

[cb at sea]

OF COURSE they'll inform you! Whether you pay attention is up to you!

[Igerster]

I was on the Pride a couple years ago. My wife and I were standing on the balcony waiting for sail away and we heard the tones go off for an announcement. The cruise director read a statement that due to the impending hurricane (Sandy) the cruise would be canceled and everyone had to get off the ship. They were nice enough to give us 25% off our next cruise. We were able to book the Destiny leaving the next day. We just had to get from Baltimore to Miami which was an adventure in itself.

[joepeka]

OF COURSE they'll inform you! Whether you pay attention is up to you!

 

Seems like nodogkisses experience would contradict this.

[Keith1010]

Safe travels and have a wonderful cruise.

 

Keith

[bakersdozen12]

They were nice enough to give us 25% off our next cruise.

 

 

Did they also refund your money for the cancelled cruise? I mean, I hope that they wouldn't just give you 25% off your next cruise but both the future discount and your money back.

[bar1068]

Hey cruise life, that would be me. We were scheduled to cruise on the Pride when Hurricane Sandy was headed right towards us. Carnival didn't cancel or make any itinerary changes to our cruise, even though some other ships in Sandy's path were changed. Pride was still going to sail as scheduled. It was very stressful. We drove 3 hrs to Baltimore and boarded the ship once onboard we heard from some crew members, that the captain had planned to cruise down the Chesapeake bay and anchor somewhere down there to ride out the storm. So we unpacked and had lunch and then around 2:00- 3:00pm there were announcements made that all pax needed to evacuate the ship immediately. Apparently, the Coast Guard made the call to shut down the Bay and wouldn't let them sail with pax. It wasn't Carnival that made that decision. It was the Coast Guard. So, we packed back up and left the ship and drove back home. Carnival did go anchor down in the Bay as planned with just the crew onboard. Then, after the storm passed, they came back to Baltimore and did a last minute CTN.

 

I remember the few days prior to that Sunday when we were scheduled to sail. Checking the website, checking my email and phone. Checking and waiting and repeating but nothing.

 

Carnival will not cancel. Unless they absolutely have to. They're sailing as planned. I know several pax on our cruise flew in and others took public transportation or had a long drive home. A big mess that could have been prevented.

 

Living close to Baltimore, we closely watched for the impact from Sandy as the storm moved up the coast as we had less stressful concerns for a cruise we had booked later that same week, but that cruise left from Barcelona Spain, we wondered the impact the storm could have had on local airports, and recall watching the impact Sandy had on the Pride.

 

But I'm curious, how could Carnival have prevented that big mess? As you mentioned, and as as has been posted here many times, cruise lines won't cancel planned cruises due to weather unless they are confident sailing would put the pax, crew and ship at a higher or greater risk. Cruising the Pride is a somewhat unique experience sailing down the Chesapeake Bay, but I recall the conditions on the bay those days would have but the cruise and other parts of the bay, particularly the 2 bridges that cross the bay, at risk, and the Coast Guard as you mentioned made the correct call to stop ship traffic on the bay until the storm moved past. Are you suggesting Carnival should have canceled the cruise a day or more prior? Again, just curious.

[Earthworm Jim]

It is very unlikely that your cruise will be cancelled. If there is a hurricane, they will reroute the ship unless there is a hurricane bearing down on South Florida on the day of the cruise.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Even if it is bearing down on South Florida the day of departure, they may just sail from a different port. Our cruise was scheduled to end in Tampa when Katrina was in the Gulf of Mexico. The rerouted us to Miami, bused us up to Tampa, and bused the pax for the next cruise from Tampa down to Miami.

 

That sounds like a nightmare, and we were concerned, but Carnival actually handled it very well and the buses got us to Tampa by late morning (IIRC) and we made our flight home.

Edited August 27, 2015 by Earthworm Jim

[nursemommy7578]

A couple years ago when they changed stuff with the Pride, I only found out via my credit card bill (refund). No call, no email and not even the full deposit back:mad:

Mind you that cancellation was not weather related. Im still annoyed that it was a carnival cancellation and they ripped me off. They disnt even call to ask if we wanted the new itinerary. Ugh. When I called them to ask i was told that the information had been "in the news" and how could I have not known. Well, I dont live online and I had no clue. I am much more "in tune" now!!

[Sparky2]

Also make sure you've signed up for text alerts.

 

OP stated they can't text.