26 November Carnival Liberty review, the good, the bad and the very ugly Carnival de

[mikem1977]

I will have to say without a doubt after this cruise with Carnival I am done with them for quite a while, even switching my upcoming Fascination cruise to Royal Caribbean.

 

As most everyone on this forum has heard, the liberty has had a lot of problems recently which led to our 5 day itinerary changed from a progreso/cozumel cruise to a "overnight" in cozumel and a late arrival time in Galveston of 2 pm instead of the normal 8ish am arrival time.

 

So because of these changes in the arrival time I had to completely change the flight times of all 5 people coming down from NY to another flight at a much later time in the day and then pay the change fees of over 1000 dollars that will supposedly be reimbursed by carnival, which was submitted 10 days ago but still no word yet.

 

But anyways, I went into the cruise with a very open mind and tried to stay positive, and it was a great time till we got back from dinner on day 3 and there was a note in the door from the captain saying that all of a sudden they can miraculously make it back to Galveston by 9 am instead of 2 pm and that they are opening up the phone lines for us to make changes to our flights.

 

I almost yelled in the room "are you #$$/# kidding me". We spent over 1000 dollars changing all these flights and shuffling 5 people's return itineraries to NY because carnival said there was no way they could make the am arrival time in Galveston because of the propulsion issue but now all of a sudden they can. Not only that, there was no return flights available on Delta so we would have had to buy totally new tickets to change.

 

To top it all off instead of a nice calm relaxing ride home, they were barreling the ship towards Galveston so fast that the ship was shaking pretty much the entire ride back, laying in my room it felt like I was inside one of those cheap motel vibrating mattresses.

 

I asked guest services why the sudden change again and they said corporate called them and said to make the new arrival time.

 

So heres my question, how is it that they made all these people change their flights and travel plans and remove a port of call because of a "propulsion issue" but all of a sudden it is not an issue for the captain to go full bore back to galveston to arrive very shortly after the time carnival said we could never arrive by?

 

Makes me wonder the following:

 

A. Did carnival change the arrival time because they were trying to get out of paying peoples change fees because now all of a sudden they arrived on time

 

Or

B. Did they not have enough supplies for that last meal?

 

Regardless of the reasons, the whole way this was handled was unacceptable. There was no reason for the ship to barrel back to make an earlier arrival time when people had already changed their itineraries according to the 2pm arrival, besides, the ship was going straight to drydock its not like they had more people waiting to board the next cruise.

[bury me at sea]

Whew. What a bummer. I hope at the very least your airline change fees come through. And I'm glad you're home and safe.

[Frank12]

That's pretty crappy!

[Clarea]

Wow, what a hassle.

[easyboy]

A regrettable experience.

[DebJ14]

There has been a team of technicians working on the propulsion system non-stop. They had a breakthrough while the ship was docked in Cozumel and the ship was able to generate more power and return to Galveston at speeds just below normal. The ship still needs a new alternator, but that is not an off the shelf part. It has to be manufactured for their specific generator and then shipped over from Europe, so it will be a few months until it is completely fixed.

 

The Captain did not make the announcement just to screw around with you. He explained to me last evening that they got some power back and made the decision to get back to Galveston as fast as possible so that they could get all that equipment on the pier loaded and get on their way to dry dock as soon as possible. It is going to take them several days to get to Freeport and there is a heck of a lot of to get done during the dry dock.

 

He certainly did not expect to be able to sail at those speeds, but took advantage of it while he could. You should still get your change fees refunded.

 

They gave free internet and free phone calls for everyone to let their families know that we were getting back early and to make changes to reservations as needed.

 

You can go ahead and change cruise lines, but you will find it happens on all of them. We were on a RCCL cruise that didn't leave the dock in Galveston for a couple of days due to fog. We were on a Princess cruise when they announced that we would get back to Houston on Friday night to beat a storm. Then, when the port was closed were told we wouldn't dock until Sunday. We were out at the anchorage expecting to be there for 2 days. Everyone made new flight arrangements and got hotel rooms. Suddenly, the port reopened and the Captain made a beeline for the pier. We ended up getting back around 2pm Saturday. We have been jerked around for weather or mechanical reasons on HAL, Princess, Carnival and RCCL. Better that than to be on a plane with engine trouble.

 

We had a great cruise on the Liberty and look forward to several CCL cruises in 2017.

Edited December 2, 2016 by DebJ14

[Drazil65]

Our travel insurance insures against (the type we purchased) any non-refunded item connected to the cruise, including any trip changes made by the cruise lines during the trip that causes us additional money for the change. So if we were in your shoes, although surely a hassle (and disappointment) to make the changes for so many people, in the end whether carnival reimbursed or the travel insurance we purchased, we would not lose most of our output.

 

Good example of how other issues can arise unexpectedly beside health issues and why spending the $187 (we get our own and do not use cruise line) for the 3 of us would work out very well if you have it. Much less stress added to an already stressful situation. Takes the worry out of the "if" you get reimbursed.

 

Stuff happens and they make the rules, like any business, being proactive and controlling what we can when we are not the decision makers up to a point can reduce the stress of changes and unforeseen issues. So no matter what cruise line you use, you can again be in the same "boat" (or ship :rolleyes:) again.

 

Good luck and hopefully you will get your reimbursement soon!

[BoDidly]

Sorry Carnival pulled the rug out from under your feet. Carnival fails miserably in this department. Costumer relations is not necessarily their first options.

[joeyancho]

Come on, it's Carnival.

[A&Jfamily]

I will have to say without a doubt after this cruise with Carnival I am done with them for quite a while, even switching my upcoming Fascination cruise to Royal Caribbean.

 

As most everyone on this forum has heard, the liberty has had a lot of problems recently which led to our 5 day itinerary changed from a progreso/cozumel cruise to a "overnight" in cozumel and a late arrival time in Galveston of 2 pm instead of the normal 8ish am arrival time.

 

So because of these changes in the arrival time I had to completely change the flight times of all 5 people coming down from NY to another flight at a much later time in the day and then pay the change fees of over 1000 dollars that will supposedly be reimbursed by carnival, which was submitted 10 days ago but still no word yet.

 

But anyways, I went into the cruise with a very open mind and tried to stay positive, and it was a great time till we got back from dinner on day 3 and there was a note in the door from the captain saying that all of a sudden they can miraculously make it back to Galveston by 9 am instead of 2 pm and that they are opening up the phone lines for us to make changes to our flights.

 

I almost yelled in the room "are you #$$/# kidding me". We spent over 1000 dollars changing all these flights and shuffling 5 people's return itineraries to NY because carnival said there was no way they could make the am arrival time in Galveston because of the propulsion issue but now all of a sudden they can. Not only that, there was no return flights available on Delta so we would have had to buy totally new tickets to change.

 

To top it all off instead of a nice calm relaxing ride home, they were barreling the ship towards Galveston so fast that the ship was shaking pretty much the entire ride back, laying in my room it felt like I was inside one of those cheap motel vibrating mattresses.

 

I asked guest services why the sudden change again and they said corporate called them and said to make the new arrival time.

 

So heres my question, how is it that they made all these people change their flights and travel plans and remove a port of call because of a "propulsion issue" but all of a sudden it is not an issue for the captain to go full bore back to galveston to arrive very shortly after the time carnival said we could never arrive by?

 

Makes me wonder the following:

 

A. Did carnival change the arrival time because they were trying to get out of paying peoples change fees because now all of a sudden they arrived on time

 

Or

B. Did they not have enough supplies for that last meal?

 

Regardless of the reasons, the whole way this was handled was unacceptable. There was no reason for the ship to barrel back to make an earlier arrival time when people had already changed their itineraries according to the 2pm arrival, besides, the ship was going straight to drydock its not like they had more people waiting to board the next cruise.

 

You are kidding me, right? It seems to me that you are getting back in port at 9 am as originally scheduled instead of 2 pm? So you are in port 5 hours earlier - you find something to do for a few hours in Houston or you relax in the airport. You will not likely have to get off the ship until 10 am, so you could stay and enjoy. This is NOT an earth shattering event. We are on the Magic in a few weeks and the earliest flight time back we could get is 4:15 pm. It is part of travel, and we will enjoy the day at the mall.

 

And, yes, I understand that you changed your flights, but Carnival has not given any indication that they will not reimburse that. Also, travel insurance would have covered that; if you didn't purchase that, that is on you and not Carnival.

 

As for the ride, the Gulf can be rough. Plain and simple. Did you bother to pull up the TV channel that shows travel speed? Do you know how fast the ship was going - best guess about 17 knots would be standard. Unless you can report back that the ship was plowing ahead at 22 knots, there is no basis to your claim about "going full bore."

 

As for your question about the meal, again, are you serious? Have you ever bothered to take a tour of the ship? Watched what is loaded on before setting sail? The ships carry more than a week of extra food - at all times. Anything could prevent a timely return to port and they have plenty of stores on board.

 

It seems to me that perhaps cruising is not for you. If you expect such a tight to the dot time schedule, cruising just doesn't always comply with that. If you do chose to cruise in the future, it would be worth your while to learn about the ships and how they function so your expectations won't be out of line.

[JaniceB]

Sorry about having to having to make changes to your flight for no reason. How was the entertainment and the food? It sounds like they tried to keep your informed and I hope you get your money back.

[cruizinisthebest]

You ran into some misfortune, granted. But I don't get the big deal about changing flights if Carnival is supposed to be reimbursing you. I also can't believe you're serious about the ship not having enough provisions. The ship was supposed to be behind 5 hours. Not 5 days. And even at that, there would have been enough to eat.

 

You didn't mention any good? Was there anything positive you took away from your trip? I saw a recap of this same cruise elsewhere and the person had a totally more positive take than you. It's all perspective. I do hope you get your change fees back.

[mikem1977]

Ok, so maybe i was a little negative yesterday and no i "don't know all about the working of the ships or how much food provision they have, frankly i dont care how much they have, as long as its enough", i was just speculating the reason for the change because there was no information on why the change was made for the arrival and guest care just told me that corporate called them and told them to make 9 am arrival, no other information. Plus it struck me as odd that my PVP told me to expect my refund within 5 business days after submission of documents, its now been 12 business days since I submitted and not a peep.

 

And yes, i did have an excellent time, not once in my review did i say the cruise sucked, i was pissed because I jumped through hoops (and money)to get five people's flights changed from upstate ny down to texas a week and a half before the cruise because the arrival time got changed to 2 pm and then for them to turn around right before the cruise ends and say "everything is fixed now" and for us to make more calls to change flights which would have been more money out of pocket.

 

This was a christmas present for members of my immediate and extended family so i was fronting all of the money for 9 people, so it gets very expensive when changes are made and i had to make plans to entertain all 9 people in Houston for the day because of Carnival's changes. If it was because of something mechanical, weather related I would totally understand, but this was a conscious decision to change the arrival time.

 

And no, i did not file a travel insurance claim because carnival said they would pay for it in the email they sent out which I expect them to uphold because it is in black and white.

[ILCruzr]

Ok, so maybe i was a little negative yesterday and no i "don't know all about the working of the ships or how much food provision they have, frankly i dont care how much they have, as long as its enough", i was just speculating the reason for the change because there was no information on why the change was made for the arrival and guest care just told me that corporate called them and told them to make 9 am arrival, no other information. Plus it struck me as odd that my PVP told me to expect my refund within 5 business days after submission of documents, its now been 12 business days since I submitted and not a peep.

 

And yes, i did have an excellent time, not once in my review did i say the cruise sucked, i was pissed because I jumped through hoops (and money)to get five people's flights changed from upstate ny down to texas a week and a half before the cruise because the arrival time got changed to 2 pm and then for them to turn around right before the cruise ends and say "everything is fixed now" and for us to make more calls to change flights which would have been more money out of pocket.

 

This was a christmas present for members of my immediate and extended family so i was fronting all of the money for 9 people, so it gets very expensive when changes are made and i had to make plans to entertain all 9 people in Houston for the day because of Carnival's changes. If it was because of something mechanical, weather related I would totally understand, but this was a conscious decision to change the arrival time.

 

And no, i did not file a travel insurance claim because carnival said they would pay for it in the email they sent out which I expect them to uphold because it is in black and white.

 

We were supposed to be on the same cruise as you, but we canceled and used the money to book a new cruise leaving next weekend. I am so glad we canceled because a friend of mine was on the ship and she said it was going very fast and it was also very cold. It wouldn't have not been an experience I have wanted for a cruise. I had never cruised out of Galveston either, so now that I know a little more about Galveston, don't think I will be booking anymore Galveston cruises.

 

We too are also waiting for our airefare reimbursements too. We used miles for our tickets, but of course since we booked our tickets back in May for this cruise, the miles went up for FL and we had to basically buy brand new tickets to get to Florida next weekend. And on top of that, the fees to get our miles back. I called carnival on Monday about this and they said it could take up to 6 weeks for the refund. Which is ironic bc the day we canceled the Liberty, we immediately got the refund back for the cruise.

 

I am sorry you had such a bad last few days of your cruise :( The San Juan itinerary is awesome. We did it on the Valor last year and that was SO Fun. Carnival needs to put a better ship in SJ than a junky fantasy class ship. lol..if you change your mind about SJ, my parents loved Jewel of the Seas out of SJ. They also did the adventure of the seas and I know that has been refurbished too.

 

Edited December 2, 2016 by ILCruzr

[Raxter54]

I had never cruised out of Galveston either, so now that I know a little more about Galveston, don't think I will be booking anymore Galveston cruises.

 

Just curious. How does anything that happened here reflect on sailing out of Galveston? There were problems with the ship, not the port...

 

Sent from my Galaxy 4

[PSkinner]

You will get your refund from Carnival. It may take a while. I was on the Halloween cruise that was cancelled and our cruise, port fees, and taxes were refunded to credit card within a few days. Our check for the OBC and meals took about a week and a half. I am still waiting for reimbursement for the items that i had to submit receipts for. We were told 3 weeks. There are a lot of people that are waiting on refunds and Carnival is working through them so please be patient.

[asalligo]

I understand why Carnival did this, but I have to agree with the OP, even if Carnival refunds airfare, I would be ticked if we embark late and then debark early.

[klfrodo]

I will have to say without a doubt after this cruise with Carnival I am done with them for quite a while, even switching my upcoming Fascination cruise to Royal Caribbean.

 

As most everyone on this forum has heard, the liberty has had a lot of problems recently which led to our 5 day itinerary changed from a progreso/cozumel cruise to a "overnight" in cozumel and a late arrival time in Galveston of 2 pm instead of the normal 8ish am arrival time.

 

So because of these changes in the arrival time I had to completely change the flight times of all 5 people coming down from NY to another flight at a much later time in the day and then pay the change fees of over 1000 dollars that will supposedly be reimbursed by carnival, which was submitted 10 days ago but still no word yet.

 

But anyways, I went into the cruise with a very open mind and tried to stay positive, and it was a great time till we got back from dinner on day 3 and there was a note in the door from the captain saying that all of a sudden they can miraculously make it back to Galveston by 9 am instead of 2 pm and that they are opening up the phone lines for us to make changes to our flights.

 

I almost yelled in the room "are you #$$/# kidding me". We spent over 1000 dollars changing all these flights and shuffling 5 people's return itineraries to NY because carnival said there was no way they could make the am arrival time in Galveston because of the propulsion issue but now all of a sudden they can. Not only that, there was no return flights available on Delta so we would have had to buy totally new tickets to change.

 

To top it all off instead of a nice calm relaxing ride home, they were barreling the ship towards Galveston so fast that the ship was shaking pretty much the entire ride back, laying in my room it felt like I was inside one of those cheap motel vibrating mattresses.

 

I asked guest services why the sudden change again and they said corporate called them and said to make the new arrival time.

 

So heres my question, how is it that they made all these people change their flights and travel plans and remove a port of call because of a "propulsion issue" but all of a sudden it is not an issue for the captain to go full bore back to galveston to arrive very shortly after the time carnival said we could never arrive by?

 

Makes me wonder the following:

 

A. Did carnival change the arrival time because they were trying to get out of paying peoples change fees because now all of a sudden they arrived on time

 

Or

B. Did they not have enough supplies for that last meal?

 

Regardless of the reasons, the whole way this was handled was unacceptable. There was no reason for the ship to barrel back to make an earlier arrival time when people had already changed their itineraries according to the 2pm arrival, besides, the ship was going straight to drydock its not like they had more people waiting to board the next cruise.

 

 

Just wondering if this was one of your kids?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2428241

[mikem1977]

Just wondering if this was one of your kids?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2428241

 

:D Thankfully not, although when i saw the post i was praying please let it not be one of ours ;)

[Rosethorn40]

Just curious. How does anything that happened here reflect on sailing out of Galveston? There were problems with the ship, not the port...

 

Sent from my Galaxy 4

 

Galveston is notorious for having issues with fog, which in turn can cause delays in returning to port on time, or leaving. Also the traffic from Galveston to the major airports in Houston can be very bad. Immigration tends to move more slowly than my experience in Florida (Probably due to the number of people that use birth certificates as opposed to passports)

 

I sailed R/T from Galveston twice. The first time our ship didn't dock until almost 11 AM because we were delayed by fog. There was quite the scene of people having meltdowns because of missed flights, etc. The second time we got stuck in traffic (Also major issues with our car service), and missed our noon flight home. Both times immigration moved at a snails pace.

[khewston]

You are kidding me, right? It seems to me that you are getting back in port at 9 am as originally scheduled instead of 2 pm? So you are in port 5 hours earlier - you find something to do for a few hours in Houston or you relax in the airport. You will not likely have to get off the ship until 10 am, so you could stay and enjoy. This is NOT an earth shattering event. We are on the Magic in a few weeks and the earliest flight time back we could get is 4:15 pm. It is part of travel, and we will enjoy the day at the mall.

 

And, yes, I understand that you changed your flights, but Carnival has not given any indication that they will not reimburse that. Also, travel insurance would have covered that; if you didn't purchase that, that is on you and not Carnival.

 

As for the ride, the Gulf can be rough. Plain and simple. Did you bother to pull up the TV channel that shows travel speed? Do you know how fast the ship was going - best guess about 17 knots would be standard. Unless you can report back that the ship was plowing ahead at 22 knots, there is no basis to your claim about "going full bore."

 

As for your question about the meal, again, are you serious? Have you ever bothered to take a tour of the ship? Watched what is loaded on before setting sail? The ships carry more than a week of extra food - at all times. Anything could prevent a timely return to port and they have plenty of stores on board.

 

It seems to me that perhaps cruising is not for you. If you expect such a tight to the dot time schedule, cruising just doesn't always comply with that. If you do chose to cruise in the future, it would be worth your while to learn about the ships and how they function so your expectations won't be out of line.

 

Are you kidding me???? I'm pretty sure that when the OP mentioned the meal...it was a joke. Also not all people 'bother' to tour the ship checking to see how much food is available. :rolleyes:

 

I would also be mad if I had changed my flights for no reason at all. The OP had to to put the money out for those changes immediately and I'm sure Carnival is not paying for the difference if the airfare is a higher rate.

 

I found your post go be extremely rude. Everyone has their own opinions and I don't think it's fair to come on here and act like some 'better than everyone else' know it all. Remember not everyone enjoys a day at the mall, checks to see how many knots the shipping is going or wants to learn about how the ship functions :rolleyes:

[Raxter54]

Galveston is notorious for having issues with fog, which in turn can cause delays in returning to port on time, or leaving. Also the traffic from Galveston to the major airports in Houston can be very bad. Immigration tends to move more slowly than my experience in Florida (Probably due to the number of people that use birth certificates as opposed to passports)

 

I sailed R/T from Galveston twice. The first time our ship didn't dock until almost 11 AM because we were delayed by fog. There was quite the scene of people having meltdowns because of missed flights, etc. The second time we got stuck in traffic (Also major issues with our car service), and missed our noon flight home. Both times immigration moved at a snails pace.

 

None of which happened on this cruise.....

[sprint180]

So did I understand correctly, you changed your flights back to a earlier time? Why didn't you just leave it at a later time?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[ILCruzr]

Just curious. How does anything that happened here reflect on sailing out of Galveston? There were problems with the ship, not the port...

 

Sent from my Galaxy 4

 

It seems to be colder from there, than from FL....didn't really know that. Thought it was more tropical.

[utopiagal]

I for one thought it was a great cruise. We did sail at about 18 knots on the way back from Galveston. The weather was the reason for the bumpy ride the last night....not the speed. So happy we got back to port earlier than expected.....we got to watch the Cowboys!