walkintheplank Posted February 1, 2022 #1 Share Posted February 1, 2022 That's how long it took to cancel a booking! What morons are running Carnival Corp. these days? I, as everyone else who has a cruise booked, received the extended protocols email giving me the option to cancel by calling before 2/15/22. Sounds simple? Ha! After four days of getting the "call wait times are too long, please call back", I finally made it to the cue. Let the fun begin! I was on hold for 1 hour and 24 minutes before a person picked up. Okay that was bad, but not near as bad as what was to come. What should have been a simple push of a button on the agent's keyboard took two hours to complete! After patiently waiting a few minutes that I thought was sufficient for the task, I asked her what the problem was? She said that so many people are calling to cancel that she has to get approval from "whoever" to complete the cancellation. Seriously? If the company sends out an email giving customers the option to cancel, then there is the approval! Why not create an online portal where booked customers can cancel if you are going to give them the option to do so? Rather, let's tie up a phone representative for two hours who could be assisting other customers! This is just horrible customer service! I get it. They are losing money and they are trying to keep it however they can, but pissing off the paying customer is not the way to do it. I was left with the impression that they just hoped I would give up so that they could keep my money. I don't normally run to internet forums to complain, but I must make exception here. I rooted for the return of cruising and booked a cruise to give my support and this is the return? Good job Carnival, you lost a customer! 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruizergal70 Posted February 1, 2022 #2 Share Posted February 1, 2022 I believe there is an online cancellation button. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schoifmom Posted February 1, 2022 #3 Share Posted February 1, 2022 (edited) It's okay to vent here, I'm sure that was frustrating, but I would advocate for patience here. I'm sorry that you went through this and I'm not defending Carnival, but Carnival (like everyone else) is struggling to hire enough workers, and they are all working from home. Chances are that you stumbled upon someone new who needed help. We all know just how great Carnival's IT systems are 😬 BTW, my cancellation took 1.5 hours on hold and 10 minutes with the representative. I received my gift card refund that same day (overnight) and I am still waiting on my very small refund to my credit card (cancelled on Friday). Edited February 1, 2022 by Schoifmom 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tm_aw_love Posted February 1, 2022 #4 Share Posted February 1, 2022 I can at least explain part of what was happening. Carnival (like just about any other company) uses 'tiers' of employees answering calls. The issue is that while the first tier person that you spoke to is more than capable of cancelling a booking they simply don't have the permissions to waive cancellation fees. The long wait was more than likely waiting in a queue for a person with appropriate permissions to waive the cancellation fees. That in conjunction with thousands of other people calling for the same reason creates a bottleneck. Giving EVERY employee the capability to perform a task like that opens such a large corporation up to a lot of risk. My suggestion (aside from some patience) is to manage your own booking online or use another person to manage your bookings for yourself (PVP, TA, etc.). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tm_aw_love Posted February 1, 2022 #5 Share Posted February 1, 2022 37 minutes ago, Schoifmom said: I am still waiting on my very small refund to my credit card (cancelled on Friday). My most recent one took about a week to hit my CC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandmsdad Posted February 1, 2022 #6 Share Posted February 1, 2022 I have had good luck getting ahold of my PVP lately. He has been responsive to both email and phone calls. I do not recall how I got assigned to him in the first place years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knights on the Beach Posted February 1, 2022 #7 Share Posted February 1, 2022 Did you by any chance cancel a Lido deck balcony cabin on Mardi Gras in December? I'm waiting for one to pop up so I can book it. 😇 1 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bandjwayne Posted February 1, 2022 #8 Share Posted February 1, 2022 Wow...That is a long time. I think that this i not a good sign. So many people are trying to cancel. I just hope my cruise in 23' goes as planned. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eh24fan Posted February 1, 2022 #9 Share Posted February 1, 2022 People cancelling means prices should go down and ships should be sailing at reduced capacities. I'm 100% ok with that right now! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groundloop Posted February 1, 2022 #10 Share Posted February 1, 2022 39 minutes ago, eh24fan said: People cancelling means prices should go down and ships should be sailing at reduced capacities. I'm 100% ok with that right now! That's what I was thinking also, but while window shopping for any good deals yesterday I noticed that prices across the board appeared to have gone up a good bit. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babygrljaz Posted February 1, 2022 #11 Share Posted February 1, 2022 I just cancelled mine, took about 5 min. Having a pvp definitely has its advantages 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mz-s Posted February 1, 2022 #12 Share Posted February 1, 2022 Why can't you cancel online? It takes seconds to click the button in the cruise manager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbarker10 Posted February 1, 2022 #13 Share Posted February 1, 2022 47 minutes ago, groundloop said: That's what I was thinking also, but while window shopping for any good deals yesterday I noticed that prices across the board appeared to have gone up a good bit. Yeah, my cruise on the Magic in a few weeks is higher than when we booked, plus we basically got Cheers 50% off. But people may not be cancelling for that one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schoifmom Posted February 1, 2022 #14 Share Posted February 1, 2022 45 minutes ago, mz-s said: Why can't you cancel online? It takes seconds to click the button in the cruise manager. I'm not sure that the cancellation penalties are automatically waved if you do that. When I called in, she had to manually waive the penalties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare IntrepidFromDC Posted February 1, 2022 #15 Share Posted February 1, 2022 Just login at carnival.com and cancel, you'll be shown your options. Somehow your thread titled reminded me of a funny video I hadn't seen in awhile... https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=233792524916636 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bucfan2 Posted February 1, 2022 #16 Share Posted February 1, 2022 3 hours ago, cruisemom2 said: Did you by any chance cancel a Lido deck balcony cabin on Mardi Gras in December? I'm waiting for one to pop up so I can book it. 😇 Keep checking...there will be plenty available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ilovesailaway Posted February 1, 2022 #17 Share Posted February 1, 2022 Yup, times like these you either have a PVP or wish you did. I cruised a few weeks ago. I booked on my own on the website cause I was offered a great deal and pulled the trigger. It worked out but I did have a reason to talk to Carnival after my booking and I spent an unreasonable time on hold. That's when I decided that from now on I will use my reliable and complementary PVP. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbanhawk Posted February 1, 2022 #18 Share Posted February 1, 2022 Yes, having a pvp is great. I called mine today to cancel a cruise. She picked up after 3rd ring. All done in 5 minutes! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babygrljaz Posted February 1, 2022 #19 Share Posted February 1, 2022 1 hour ago, Schoifmom said: I'm not sure that the cancellation penalties are automatically waved if you do that. When I called in, she had to manually waive the penalties. you're right they're not automatically waived. i tried doing it online, my penalty would've been almost $200 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Kehote Posted February 1, 2022 #20 Share Posted February 1, 2022 7 hours ago, walkintheplank said: What morons are running Carnival Corp. these days? Well, they did let you book, so they can't be that bad. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruizergal70 Posted February 2, 2022 #21 Share Posted February 2, 2022 4 hours ago, Schoifmom said: I'm not sure that the cancellation penalties are automatically waved if you do that. When I called in, she had to manually waive the penalties. When you click the link, you get a pop up explaining your options. I was emailed a letter noting that my deposit was non-refundable but I would be given FCC for the deposit minus $50 service fee. It included a link to apply the FCC to a future cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkintheplank Posted February 2, 2022 Author #22 Share Posted February 2, 2022 you're right they're not automatically waived. i tried doing it online, my penalty would've been almost $200 Don Kehote. ∆This is the correct answer∆ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mz-s Posted February 2, 2022 #23 Share Posted February 2, 2022 1 hour ago, walkintheplank said: you're right they're not automatically waived. i tried doing it online, my penalty would've been almost $200 Don Kehote. ∆This is the correct answer∆ That is absolutely ridiculous. No excuse for that one Carnival. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tm_aw_love Posted February 2, 2022 #24 Share Posted February 2, 2022 18 minutes ago, mz-s said: That is absolutely ridiculous. No excuse for that one Carnival. No excuse for what? Charging cancellation fees? It's simple call your PVP or Travel Agent, they will take care of that for you.... otherwise, call and speak to a representative that will be more than happy to have the cancellation fees waived. Cancellations is not the normal way that Carnival hopes to do business... why in the world would they never charge a cancellation fee? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaniel Lover Posted February 2, 2022 #25 Share Posted February 2, 2022 When I first started cruising, I just couldn't figure out why people used travel agents to book a cruise when you could do it all yourself without having to explain to anyone what you wanted. I always booked my cruises directly with the cruise line. Later, I made a complete change of mind. Now I always book cruises through a travel agent. The reason is that the more I cruised, the more I realized that unexpected things happen and sometimes you need to reach the cruise line to change something or to fix a mess. It's never easy to reach the cruise line, and I hate sitting on hold with them for so long. I'd much rather explain to my travel agent what I need, and let the travel agent get it done. I love getting an email from my travel agent saying that she's taken care of everything for me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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