Carnival's policy when a ticketed/paid passenger dies before sailing - DISGUSTING

[DaveNetMan]

After being a long-time Carnival customer for over 30 years, I want to say how absolutely DISGUSTED my family is at how Carnival is treating my sister after her husband passed away last week.

 

Last spring, my sister and her husband booked a Carnival cruise for this November. About 6 weeks ago, her husband was suddenly diagnosed with cancer, and he passed away last week. We just had his furneral this week. My sister decided she would still like to take the cruise, to both honor him and to get away from reality for a short while. She has a close family friend that would be able to go to keep her company. She called Carnival to see how this can be arranged. To everyones shock, she was bluntly told that not only is there absolutely no refund for her husband who just died, but THEY REQUIRE HER TO PAY AN ADDITIONAL $250 'CANCELLATION FEE' ON TOP OF THAT! When she told me that, I told her there's no way that can be true, maybe she can contact them again and speak to another person. She waited and called them again, spoke with a different person, and was told the exact same thing. This is unbelievable. They kept saying it's because he "cancelled"... apparently they equate DYING as 'cancelling'. She felt she had no choice but to pay it. So as it stands now, they have kept her dead husbands entire fare, plus an additional $250 'cancellation' fee, and if a family friend can go with her, Carnival will gladly charge a 3rd full fare.

 

Does this sound right to anyone? Do other cruise lines do this? Is there anything more she can do? I would love to hear from others who had a similar situation happen to them, and what they were told.

 

Oh, she was also told that once she pays that additional $250, she would probably get some of it back, since Carnival may refund the port charges. How generous. But she will need to submit an appeal, including a death certificate. I'm just disgusted by the whole thing. Carnival is not the people-friendly company they want you to believe.

[rolaur]

This doesn't make any sense. Why would they charge a cancellation fee if they have already been paid in full for the fare? And you could just be a "no show" and they wouldn't get that $. Something is not right. We cruised a few years ago and my son in laws dad was to join us but pass away a month before the cruise. Carnival was very helpful and for a $50 change fee, we replaced another family member in his place. You need to keep calling until you find someone that knows what they are talking about. Good luck and sorry for your loss.

[Homosassa]

Absolutely typical of the cruise lines. My sister died on September 7 and was scheduled to go on an Oct 18 sailing on another ship.

 

Her husband cancelled the cruise and,as expected for a cancellation after final payment, no refund except port fees and taxes are being returned.

 

A cancellation is a cancellation no matter what the reason is. The refund policy is clearly spelled out by the cruise lines. There are also clear rules for adding or substituting a passenger (and yes, the new passenger usually pays the fare rate at the time of their booking).

 

As sad as the reason is for the cancellation (and as I said we just had a death in the family also that resulted in the cancellation of the cruise), your outrage is misplaced.

 

Hopefully, your sister has cruise insurance that will cover the fare loss.

[BNBR]

Just charge it back and start sailing a different cruise line.

[Gypsywych]

This doesn't make any sense. Why would they charge a cancellation fee if they have already been paid in full for the fare? And you could just be a "no show" and they wouldn't get that $. Something is not right. We cruised a few years ago and my son in laws dad was to join us but pass away a month before the cruise. Carnival was very helpful and for a $50 change fee, we replaced another family member in his place. You need to keep calling until you find someone that knows what they are talking about. Good luck and sorry for your loss.

 

 

This.

Obviously your sister spoke to someone not trained in Carnival policies.

If she does not want to speak to another person at the main phone number, I would suggest the Carnival Cruise Facebook page. She can message Mischelle or Mary privately with booking numbers and details and they will help her.

[peajay84]

It's not just typical of the cruise industry. After my mother passed away I immediately started cancelling all her utilities, letting them know that she had passed. When it came to her internet service I was just informed that service wouldn't be officially cancelled until the modem/router had been returned. I returned it to them the next day since it was the end of the month and didn't want to be charged another month. I was shocked when I received a bill for $250. When I called about it I was told it was a cancellation fee. I explained once again that she had died. Didn't matter, contract was such that early termination for any reason resulted in the cancellation fee. I was livid but paid the fee so we could get the estate settled in a timely manner.

Shortly after this a salesperson for this internet/communications company came into my workplace to pitch their services. It just so happened that the salesperson was a former co-worker and friend of mine. I lit into her about the whole disgusting situation and how it was handled by their customer service rep (she was very cold and curt - no sympathy whatsoever about losing my mother just days before). Needless to say, after I gave her an earful she was probably sorry she'd walked through the door! To her credit, and her boss's, they quickly cut me a refund check and offered a very sincere apology. I doubt I would have gotten the refund if it hadn't been for my previous aquaintance of the salesperson and I appreciated her going to bad for me. While I was very appreciative of the refund, I told both her and her boss that I'd really rather have them change their policy and that if a death certificate was produced, the cancellation fee would be waived. Don't know if that happened or not but they said they'd consider it.

[MastersLevelMama]

Horrible. I am so sorry.

[jakesnana]

To the OP, sorry for your loss. You should immediately call Carnival Guest Services, NOT the main reservation line. They are not properly trained to deal with issues such as this.

 

You didn't state if this was an Early Saver booking, which may have some bearing on the matter, however you should NEVER have to pay more than the cruise fare (which has already been paid). IF it was an Early Saver rate than you would probably lose the cruise fare that you paid for your Dad (unless you have travel insurance) AND have to pay to have a different person in the cabin. The terms of the Early Saver fare are very explicit that name changes are not possible.

 

Again, sorry for your loss, but I hope this helps clear up some things for you.

[bakersdozen12]

Normally I am in the camp of “rules are rules and if they break them they have to break them for everyone” so I’m normally against making exceptions. I think this case is completely different and they should have simply let her take someone else. Just a thought: have her reach out to a PVP. Hopefully she can find someone with some compassion.

 

 

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Edited October 27, 2017 by bakersdozen12

[LH25]

Normally I am in the camp of “rules are rules and if they break them they have to break them for everyone” so I’m normally against making exceptions. I think this case is completely different and they should have simply let her take someone else.

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I agree. I don't see how the cruise line is out anything by letting someone go instead of the original person booked, and ESP. in a case like this.

[gtalum]

This doesn't sound right. Someone has made a mistake. The no refund part makes sense if they're beyond the final payment deadline, as it's basic contract of carriage, but the $250 fee is likely the nonrefundable deposit that is kept if you change the booking.

[gtalum]

Just charge it back and start sailing a different cruise line.

 

This is not a good plan. If the cruise line has a legitimate claim to the funds it will just go to collections.

[thinfool]

I am not going to go into specifics, but a good Travel Agent would have, could have offered some legal and very valid methods to deal with this situation.

 

Also, there have been several threads on CC that deal with similar situations.

 

Finally, I did not read each post in this thread, but is there insurance involved that would affect the outcome for the family?

[Cafedumonde]

Regardless of what their policy is if you complain enough on this they will switch out the passenger. They are not losing any money doing it.

[Gypsywych]

Good to see that you've taken it to Carnival itself on FaceBook. Now, let your sister talk to the actual Guest Solutions people and ignore the peanut gallery on the page. There are always that few that think they know better. :rolleyes:

My sympathies to your sister.

[easyboy]

This doesn't make any sense. Why would they charge a cancellation fee if they have already been paid in full for the fare? And you could just be a "no show" and they wouldn't get that $. Something is not right. We cruised a few years ago and my son in laws dad was to join us but pass away a month before the cruise. Carnival was very helpful and for a $50 change fee, we replaced another family member in his place. You need to keep calling until you find someone that knows what they are talking about. Good luck and sorry for your loss.

 

 

 

I agree. Looks unreasonable for the cancellation fee policy, if true, to be imposed on a booking of a dead passenger that is already fully paid.

Our sympathies for your loss, OP.

 

 

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[jakesnana]

I am not going to go into specifics, but a good Travel Agent would have, could have offered some legal and very valid methods to deal with this situation.

 

Also, there have been several threads on CC that deal with similar situations.

 

Finally, I did not read each post in this thread, but is there insurance involved that would affect the outcome for the family?

 

Agreed, but I didn't want to start expounding the virtues of using a TA, which providing full disclosure I am one of them. I STILL think it has to do with the original booking being an Early Saver, which comes with it's own set of rules/restrictions. I am not a big fan of this program and ONLY sell it if specifically requested. However, a TA has avenues/contacts that the average cruise passenger does not, which could be VERY helpful in a situation like this.

[woodman]

:( This is really a heartless way to treat a loyal customer. There should be some one in authority that can give this poor lady some satisfaction. That being said the devil is always in the details(small print) of the contract we all agree to before Carnival or any cruise line will issue you a boarding pass. Travel insurance

is always a must.

[DaisyandMoe010]

This doesn't make any sense. Why would they charge a cancellation fee if they have already been paid in full for the fare? And you could just be a "no show" and they wouldn't get that $. Something is not right. We cruised a few years ago and my son in laws dad was to join us but pass away a month before the cruise. Carnival was very helpful and for a $50 change fee, we replaced another family member in his place. You need to keep calling until you find someone that knows what they are talking about. Good luck and sorry for your loss.

 

I had my kids coming with me on my next cruise and one cannot go now....I called and was also charged only a $50.00 change fee and was able to add a different person.

[luv2trvlnow]

I always thought that once you are past final payment the cancellation terms are almost the same for all fares. The only difference I have seen for Early Saver is no name changes even after Early Saver. The real difference is cancellation policies for cancellations that come before final Payment.

 

I would say that is this case she would have the cancellation penalty for her husband's fare. That amount would depend on how close to the sailing date she is. They would have to pay the full fare for a person to be added to her cabin since there are no name changes. She should not have an additional $250 cancellation penalty. That is the penalty before final payment. This would be according to their contract terms and conditions which of course they are always able to modify if they choose to.

[Ziggy7]

My sympathies to your sister, and sad to say this will not be the only place she finds no sympathy or waiver of penalty fees such as utilities and cellphone carriers, etc! I too recently have lost my husband of 41 years and telling them or sending them the death certificate has not had much importance on canceling services without penalties. RCI did the same thing to my Dad when my Mom died before their cruise years ago, so we always get travel insurance now. :( I hope she is able to at least get a name change so she will have someone to go with her!

[aka-texas]

This is not a good plan. If the cruise line has a legitimate claim to the funds it will just go to collections.

Good luck collecting from him.

[klfrodo]

Good luck collecting from him.

you don't collect from him. you file a claim against his estate.

The court will ensure the claim is paid if found valid.

[AdGuyMG]

Finally, I did not read each post in this thread, but is there insurance involved that would affect the outcome for the family?

 

Neither the original post or any follow up posts had any mention of any travel insurance purchased, which certainly would have covered any financial losses, penalties and fees the OP's sister is facing.

[kc58ab]

Wow that sure doesn't seem right. I would think if you paid the $250 cancellation to change and add another person why would there be a third fare charged? Or if there wasn't a different person added there shouldn't be a $250 charge because they could be just a no-show how would they know if a person passed?

I would try reaching out to John on his fb page.

I'm so sorry for you and your sister's loss. I hope someone will get this corrected for you.

 

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