refund? or credit voucher? or switching ships? We don't want this cruise

[styxfire]

I made a mistake in reserving a room on Sunshine. Have learned it doesn't have the amenities we anticipated when we reserved it.

 

It's a Christmas cruise so we're inside the 90-day window, and have already paid in full. Are there any options for getting out of the cabin?

 

We would take a lower cost room if the difference could be refunded or OBC.

 

The travel agent is difficult to contact, and somewhat difficult to work with. I will keep calling him, but in the meantime, does anyone know if it's possible to get out of a cabin 6 wks in advance? We had already inquired about an upgrade, but the agent delayed his response, and after that I discovered the room is lesser quality.

 

I'm just so devastated...

On this special holiday, I learned that my reservation is simply a smaller-than-average interior cabin to cram multiple adults into. I feel like such a sucker. Ideally we can jump ship (i.e. we'd like a (any) different cruise altogether). Next choice would be a different room...

[cruizinisthebest]

You said it's an interior. What do you want to do? Move up to an oceanview or balcony? Get two rooms?

[SadieN]

Go online and see what's available. To upgrade you'll be paying the difference between the fare you paid and the current fare.

If you jump ship you'll incur some sort of penalty.

[styxfire]

Spa interior. On a ship whose spa has no thalassotherapy pool (the only spa feature we booked for). The downside is those rooms have smaller square footage than regular interior rooms.

 

Downgrade to oceanview would be a lower price, larger sq.footage, and daylight coming in.

 

I know it sounds petty to be disappointed, but we paid the money thinking we were getting a thalo pool. Without, we just get a smaller than avg cabin, without windows, on an old ship that doesn't have a Xmas ceremony.

 

I have read that you get no refund at all for a late cancellation. True or false?

[joeyancho]

The Carnival website can tell you what the penalty is. Look under your booking. Why would you book with some one who is difficult and doesn't answer your calls?

Edited November 7, 2015 by joeyancho

[skrufy]

What ever you pplan on doing, you will have to make contact with your travel agent to make any changes.

[n6uqqq]

You aren't missing much. It's not the fountain of youth pool. Don't mean to be negative but if that was the main attraction of you booking the room you should have researched it.

Edited November 7, 2015 by n6uqqq

[momof3cruisers]

Have you looked at a price comparison of what you paid vs an outside room? You can do a mock booking and compare prices to see what your options are.

 

Seems like Sunshine has a lot of nice options and fun new touches. Since you're basically stuck on that ship, might as well focus on the positive, right?

[Cruisin 4 Ever]

At this point you would lose your deposit or 50% of the fare whichever is greater if you outright cancel.

If you change rooms it's just the difference in the fare now and what you paid.I would move to at least an oceanview if not a balcony.

The Sunshine is a great ship. The rooms are very nicely redone and I would definitely say, don't cancel. Go on the cruise and have a great time. I know it's not what you thought it was going to be but once you move out of that smaller room into a better cabin I think you will feel better about the cruise and i think you'll have a great time.

[berrieh]

I understand wanting to switch rooms if the spa doesn't provide the benefits you want, but you no longer want the cruise AT ALL because of a thalassotherapy pool? The Sunshine has lots of amenities and great features, a cruise is always great, and you can change rooms with the price differential still if you find an OV available or something. Even if you can't switch rooms and have a slightly smaller room, it could still be a great cruise with just this one disappointment (that certainly isn't even Carnival's fault - it sounds like part of this is you have a terrible travel agent).

Edited November 7, 2015 by berrieh

[jh2360]

With the internet and all the readily available information, there is no reason for something like this to happen. You live and learn, so chalk it up as a learning experience and do your research next time.

[kelkel2]

I would be calling whoever you booked with. I have never done this so close to booking, but we did do this much earlier into the booking and Carnival worked with us. But again, it wasn't after final payment. I can't guarantee that they will help you, but a phone call to ask your options won't hurt.

[singbluesilver1]

This is why you book directly with carnival and not a travel agent , sorry you are having issues

[Sweet Dutch Girl]

There is so much wrong with the OPs question in that they have given absolutely no information to those eager to assist in answering their query.

[Drazil65]

Reason OP is not getting a whole lot of answers is because they are coming across like a victim and clueless. There is no reason in the world that this information should not have been know to the OP ahead of time, research and reading would have prevented all of this.

 

It is what it is now and they are past final payment, so if OP goes and READS the penalty phase information on Carnival website they will know exactly where they stand. What else is there to say?

[LMaxwell]

This is why you book directly with carnival and not a travel agent , sorry you are having issues

 

Sounds like a lazy travel agent, but generally speaking an agent is your main advocate and has resources available to them at Carnival that you may not be able to reach if you book direct.

 

It's a pretty broad generalization to say this would not have happened if they booked direct. Even the phone agents are known to give wrong information.

 

As far as OP, you are at the mercy of Carnival here. You aren't really owed anything for not knowing the amenities on a ship.

[Donh44]

I understand wanting to switch rooms if the spa doesn't provide the benefits you want, but you no longer want the cruise AT ALL because of a thalassotherapy pool? The Sunshine has lots of amenities and great features, a cruise is always great, and you can change rooms with the price differential still if you find an OV available or something. Even if you can't switch rooms and have a slightly smaller room, it could still be a great cruise with just this one disappointment (that certainly isn't even Carnival's fault - it sounds like part of this is you have a terrible travel agent).

 

 

 

I always work with a Carnival PVP. I have a great one and is ALWAYS there when I have a question. I even called him once with a minor question. He wasn't working that day but the call was forwarded to his cell phone and he called me back right away (and he was at church). How is that for service?

[jh2360]

This is why you book directly with carnival and not a travel agent , sorry you are having issues

 

No. Just do research. It takes all of 30 seconds to find anything you want to know about a ship.

[cruizinisthebest]

There is so much wrong with the OPs question in that they have given absolutely no information to those eager to assist in answering their query.

 

Exactly. The first response from me was asking for more information.

 

Switch rooms if you like. No big deal. If the lack of a thasso pool in the spa is enough to make you cancel the cruise, then it seems logical to me that the OP would have made sure the Sunshine had one before they booked. Go online, do a mock booking, see what's available, call your TA back and get it done. If they truly won't help, you can call Carnival and explain that he/she is unreachable.

 

And as for using a TA, everytime using one is mentioned some people jump on the chance to bash them. Perhaps this particular TA isn't very helpful though it sounds like the OP isn't clear in her wishes to begin with. But it's ridiculous to condemn TAs in general over a supposed bad one. Just like all PVPs are not the same.

[nwo4life]

What is the square footage of a Spa interior vs. a regular interior? I have assumed all interiors are 185 sf.

[Flatbush Flyer]

OP: assuming this isn't your screw-up (e.g., lack of research), call the TA and tell them that, if s/he doesn't fix this, you'll complain on Yelp and to BBB, as well as to any local Television station that has a consumer ombudsman segment.

Edited November 7, 2015 by Flatbush Flyer

[Tapi]

I made a mistake in reserving a room on Sunshine. Have learned it doesn't have the amenities we anticipated when we reserved it.

 

I'm just so devastated...

 

 

I would be upset if I booked a stateroom and the amenities didn't match what was advertised. But there's a difference between advertised and anticipated. If you can find documentation showing that Carnival falsely advertised that the Sunshine has a thalassotherapy pool, then you may have a chance at making some changes without penalty or additional charges. However, if your disappointment is simply because you assumed that the ship would have these facilities, you're out of luck. I know it may be a bit infuriating to hear it, but you need to take responsibility for anticipating something and booking a stateroom accordingly without first researching it. Carnival would hysterically laugh at me if I booked a room on a Fantasy class ship anticipating a Steakhouse and then wanted to cancel when I learned that there's none. Same applies here.

 

What can you do at this point? Have your travel agent contact Carnival and see what your options are. In many cases, you can upgrade to a higher category and just pay the difference in the fare. In the future, don't even bother with "spa staterooms". You can book a better stateroom anywhere on the ship and pay for a spa pass for the week separately and most likely you'll still be spending less money than if you booked a spa stateroom.

 

I understand your frustration. I'm a big thalassotherapy pool fan and I've gladly paid extra to have access to this feature. It makes my cruise THAT much better. But, respectfully I tell you to put things into perspective. It's absence shouldn't be "devastating". This oversight on your part shouldn't affect what will otherwise will be an absolutely wonderful vacation. If you can't make any changes to your current stateroom, just forget about it. Really. 🙂 [emoji319]

Edited November 7, 2015 by Tapi

[Tapi]

...you'll complain on Yelp and to BBB, as well as to any local Television station that has a consumer ombudsman segment.

 

 

No offense, but really? It will be an extremely slow day at a television station that picks this story up. "Passenger books spa cabin expecting thalassotherapy pool, wants refund". Come on.

[jh2360]

OP: assuming this isn't your screw-up (e.g., lack of research), call the TA and tell them that, if s/he doesn't fix this, you'll complain on Yelp and to BBB, as well as to any local Television station that has a consumer ombudsman segment.

 

This isn't the TA's fault, it is OP's. They didn't do the research.

[cruizinisthebest]

No offense, but really? It will be an extremely slow day at a television station that picks this story up. "Passenger books spa cabin expecting thalassotherapy pool, wants refund". Come on.

I'm serious! Besides the cruise is next month. Who has time for using social media to complain.

 

There is nowhere that the Sunshine advertises having a T-Pool. I understand assuming since it does have a cloud 9 spa but we know what they say about assuming.

 

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk