Time for a 12 day Scandinavian cruise out of Dover om the Carnival Pride

[princess76021]

25 minutes ago, gabbygal99 said:

I booked via Fly2Fun and they never scheduled us a charter. I got a last minute call saying if we could be at the bus in 10 minutes, then we could fly out today - they gave us seats on a flight from a B2B cruiser who had changed their mind and decided to stay on board.
 

Yes, you read that correctly. They assigned a chartered flight to someone who had planned to be on the ship until the 30th before they assigned a chartered flight to me and my husband. And we HAD booked Fly2Fun!
 

When we arrived to the airport (***8*** hours before our scheduled flight) we received no vouchers for food, in a tiny airport with one café in it, and then we discovered a few hours later that we were actually NOT on the flight manifest. Carnival then asked us to pay for a taxi with our own money and drive to Hamburg for a different flight? When we finally landed at the airport, Carnival was supposed to drive us all to our hotels - but the Carnival rep informed everyone the bus would only be driving to Heathrow. Everyone had to get their own taxis. 

 

There are literally hundreds of people who encountered the same types of screw ups. The OP in this post is probably one of a dozen people who had their accommodations work out fine. 

I'm hitting the "oh crap" button hugs not working 😬😬

 hugs from the oven! (Better known as Texas)

[maryann2]

1 hour ago, gabbygal99 said:

I booked via Fly2Fun and they never scheduled us a charter. I got a last minute call saying if we could be at the bus in 10 minutes, then we could fly out today - they gave us seats on a flight from a B2B cruiser who had changed their mind and decided to stay on board.
 

Yes, you read that correctly. They assigned a chartered flight to someone who had planned to be on the ship until the 30th before they assigned a chartered flight to me and my husband. And we HAD booked Fly2Fun!
 

When we arrived to the airport (***8*** hours before our scheduled flight) we received no vouchers for food, in a tiny airport with one café in it, and then we discovered a few hours later that we were actually NOT on the flight manifest. Carnival then asked us to pay for a taxi with our own money and drive to Hamburg for a different flight? When we finally landed at the airport, Carnival was supposed to drive us all to our hotels - but the Carnival rep informed everyone the bus would only be driving to Heathrow. Everyone had to get their own taxis. 

 

There are literally hundreds of people who encountered the same types of screw ups. The OP in this post is probably one of a dozen people who had their accommodations work out fine. 

Shocking.

Thank you for sharing. 

[Joanne G.]

1 hour ago, gabbygal99 said:

 . . . they gave us seats on a flight from a B2B cruiser who had changed their mind and decided to stay on board.
 

Yes, you read that correctly. They assigned a chartered flight to someone who had planned to be on the ship until the 30th before they assigned a chartered flight to me and my husband.  .  . 

I am so sorry for your experience. I wonder if I was the B2B cruiser who was assigned to a charter flight before you.  But I didn’t change my mind; on the initial document we had to turn in, I stated that I would be staying aboard.  Even after I returned the surprising letter about an assigned charter flight and reiterated that I was staying onboard, I got one more letter telling me my (unwanted) flight was being changed.  
 

I can understand it was a huge undertaking for Carnival to arrange for people to get home, but I know that is small comfort to those who had difficulties in their travels.   I sincerely hope your next vacation, whatever it may be, is joyous and uneventful.  

[jimbo5544]

3 hours ago, maryann2 said:

Shocking.

Thank you for sharing. 

 

4 hours ago, gabbygal99 said:

I booked via Fly2Fun and they never scheduled us a charter. I got a last minute call saying if we could be at the bus in 10 minutes, then we could fly out today - they gave us seats on a flight from a B2B cruiser who had changed their mind and decided to stay on board.
 

Yes, you read that correctly. They assigned a chartered flight to someone who had planned to be on the ship until the 30th before they assigned a chartered flight to me and my husband. And we HAD booked Fly2Fun!
 

When we arrived to the airport (***8*** hours before our scheduled flight) we received no vouchers for food, in a tiny airport with one café in it, and then we discovered a few hours later that we were actually NOT on the flight manifest. Carnival then asked us to pay for a taxi with our own money and drive to Hamburg for a different flight? When we finally landed at the airport, Carnival was supposed to drive us all to our hotels - but the Carnival rep informed everyone the bus would only be driving to Heathrow. Everyone had to get their own taxis. 

 

There are literally hundreds of people who encountered the same types of screw ups. The OP in this post is probably one of a dozen people who had their accommodations work out fine. 

There were literally hundreds (as in many) who had the same experience as we did.  I know as a fact, because we had people on three different flights.  Roughly 180/plane times 3…you can do the math.  It has been a while since I was in school, but certainly not a dozen or many dozens.  Facts are a funny thing, they are what they are.  Oh, another fact, the rails system was on strike that day.   They tried to to the best thing for a couple of thousand people in about 10 hours.  Things go wrong when this happens.  Taking a taxi would actually be a much better way to go it, they will be reimbursed.  We opted for a taxi ride the next morning to the airport, much better idea. 

[jimbo5544]

4 hours ago, fair-winds39 said:

Thanks for taking us along. We love your outlook and agree with what you said…it is what it is, and you made the best of it. We too really like the Pride and have been on her many times from Baltimore. In fact, we have Venezia next and Legend after that and I’m giving serious thought to switch Legend in March to Pride for April. We look forward to your next Live review.

Thanks for coming along for the ride, it certainly was not boring.  We will be on the Legend for a Greenland cruise in September. 

[BlerkOne]

7 hours ago, gabbygal99 said:

I booked via Fly2Fun and they never scheduled us a charter. I got a last minute call saying if we could be at the bus in 10 minutes, then we could fly out today - they gave us seats on a flight from a B2B cruiser who had changed their mind and decided to stay on board.
 

Yes, you read that correctly. They assigned a chartered flight to someone who had planned to be on the ship until the 30th before they assigned a chartered flight to me and my husband. And we HAD booked Fly2Fun!
 

When we arrived to the airport (***8*** hours before our scheduled flight) we received no vouchers for food, in a tiny airport with one café in it, and then we discovered a few hours later that we were actually NOT on the flight manifest. Carnival then asked us to pay for a taxi with our own money and drive to Hamburg for a different flight? When we finally landed at the airport, Carnival was supposed to drive us all to our hotels - but the Carnival rep informed everyone the bus would only be driving to Heathrow. Everyone had to get their own taxis. 

 

There are literally hundreds of people who encountered the same types of screw ups. The OP in this post is probably one of a dozen people who had their accommodations work out fine. 

Save receipts and ask Guest Relations for reimbursement. With thousands of cruisers to deal with, and very little time, it is not surprising that everything didn't run smoothly. A little surprising that anything worked at all.

[backbiter]

5 hours ago, Joanne G. said:

I am so sorry for your experience. I wonder if I was the B2B cruiser who was assigned to a charter flight before you.  But I didn’t change my mind; on the initial document we had to turn in, I stated that I would be staying aboard.  Even after I returned the surprising letter about an assigned charter flight and reiterated that I was staying onboard, I got one more letter telling me my (unwanted) flight was being changed.  
 

I can understand it was a huge undertaking for Carnival to arrange for people to get home, but I know that is small comfort to those who had difficulties in their travels.   I sincerely hope your next vacation, whatever it may be, is joyous and uneventful.  

We met another B2Ber who had a similar experience. Like you he filled in the form saying he'd be remaining on board, and was shocked to receive a letter giving him details of his charter flight.

He went straight to guest services (and had to face the huge queues there) to get himself removed from the flight so that his seat could be switched to someone who needed it. 

Something clearly went wrong processing some people's responses on the initial form for such mistakes to be made (alternatively, people filling in the forms might have accidentally ticked the wrong box in the stress of the moment. Those opting to stay on the ship were given no indication of how long repairs might take, but had only 2 or 3 hours to weigh everything up and return the form).

[ninjacat123]

On 7/6/2023 at 4:17 AM, jimbo5544 said:

So this trip is a little different than many if our others.  We have 15 grandkids and 5 grown kids.  They are always invited and sometimes come as families.   This time, when we asked, our daughter said yes for her oldest two. Gabby and Alyssa are joining us for this trip!

 

This caused some cabin flipping.  We gave up our 4th floor aft wrap VS and instead took two balcony cabins on 7.  More on that later.   

 

 

I just took an upsell from a regular balcony on Pride to an extended balcony on 4th floor aft for our October Rome cruise.  I have never cruised in a cabin with the balcony facing the wake.  Any tips or things to watch out for?  I've read sometimes soot can be an issue.  TIA!

[jimbo5544]

44 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

I just took an upsell from a regular balcony on Pride to an extended balcony on 4th floor aft for our October Rome cruise.  I have never cruised in a cabin with the balcony facing the wake.  Any tips or things to watch out for?  I've read sometimes soot can be an issue.  TIA!

My FAV area on any ship.  Love watching the churn of the props (assuming they are working 😅),  You will get vibration when they are using the pods to dock or leave.  Other than that it puts me asleep.

[jimbo5544]

On 7/25/2023 at 6:27 PM, backbiter said:

We met another B2Ber who had a similar experience. Like you he filled in the form saying he'd be remaining on board, and was shocked to receive a letter giving him details of his charter flight.

He went straight to guest services (and had to face the huge queues there) to get himself removed from the flight so that his seat could be switched to someone who needed it. 

Something clearly went wrong processing some people's responses on the initial form for such mistakes to be made (alternatively, people filling in the forms might have accidentally ticked the wrong box in the stress of the moment. Those opting to stay on the ship were given no indication of how long repairs might take, but had only 2 or 3 hours to weigh everything up and return the form).

Prob were not given information on the time of the fix because it was not known.

[Joanne G.]

6 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

I just took an upsell from a regular balcony on Pride to an extended balcony on 4th floor aft for our October Rome cruise.  I have never cruised in a cabin with the balcony facing the wake.  Any tips or things to watch out for?  I've read sometimes soot can be an issue.  TIA!

I was in aft facing 5268 on the Pride for my recent B2B adventure.   I loved it. Watching and hearing the wake is so relaxing.   And it can be particularly interesting when an aziopod fails and you see unusual patterns in the wake LOL.  We aft dwellers knew pretty early on that something was wrong as we left Kiel.

 

I enjoyed watching sail aways from my balcony.  I never had a problem with soot.   I felt vibrations at time, but not enough to bother me, other than immediately after the azipod failed, which hopefully will never happen again!  There isn't much foot traffic past your door being at the end of the corridor. 

 

Maybe a downside - I don't know about deck 4, but there was a laundry room opposite my cabin on deck 5.  It was a mixed blessing - convenient for me to use, which I did a couple times over my 21 days aboard.  But sometimes people congregated outside the laundry room, causing unwelcome hallway noise.

 

I hope you enjoy your aft cabin as much as I did mine.  

[jimbo5544]

On 8/1/2023 at 4:24 PM, Joanne G. said:

I was in aft facing 5268 on the Pride for my recent B2B adventure.   I loved it. Watching and hearing the wake is so relaxing.   And it can be particularly interesting when an aziopod fails and you see unusual patterns in the wake LOL.  We aft dwellers knew pretty early on that something was wrong as we left Kiel.

 

I enjoyed watching sail aways from my balcony.  I never had a problem with soot.   I felt vibrations at time, but not enough to bother me, other than immediately after the azipod failed, which hopefully will never happen again!  There isn't much foot traffic past your door being at the end of the corridor. 

 

Maybe a downside - I don't know about deck 4, but there was a laundry room opposite my cabin on deck 5.  It was a mixed blessing - convenient for me to use, which I did a couple times over my 21 days aboard.  But sometimes people congregated outside the laundry room, causing unwelcome hallway noise.

 

I hope you enjoy your aft cabin as much as I did mine.  

We have done many aft cains, mostly aft wraps.  On some ships we had small  soot issue, but never on Spirit class.

Edited August 3, 2023 by jimbo5544

[Pentlands]

We were not on a B2B but were on the ill-fated Pride cruise 9th July. Carnival might have done their best, but for a large multi-billion pound organisation failed miseably. One would expect that the company, togther with its 'sister' groups would have a smooth well rehearsed proceedure. But none of it. Long 2-3 hour lines at guest services, no other way of communicating and then the dreadful flights and delayts and mistakes. Carnival refuse to organise any transport back to Dover from the sirport for us, we had to try and do that ourselves. And don't get me started about any communication onboard or since the cruise. many of us still have no communicationb about how/when/if we are to be given the inadequate compensation. Never again.

 

[jimbo5544]

30 minutes ago, Pentlands said:

We were not on a B2B but were on the ill-fated Pride cruise 9th July. Carnival might have done their best, but for a large multi-billion pound organisation failed miseably. One would expect that the company, togther with its 'sister' groups would have a smooth well rehearsed proceedure. But none of it. Long 2-3 hour lines at guest services, no other way of communicating and then the dreadful flights and delayts and mistakes. Carnival refuse to organise any transport back to Dover from the sirport for us, we had to try and do that ourselves. And don't get me started about any communication onboard or since the cruise. many of us still have no communicationb about how/when/if we are to be given the inadequate compensation. Never again.

 

Well that is an opinion.  For the record ill-fated makes it sound like it sunk, it was a loss of power….  Tell me about how they rehearse something like this.  Well rehearsed procedure…hahahaha, absolutely not even a possibility (for any line).  Maybe have a sister ship sail next to the ship in case something happens?  NO wait….,charter planes circling over over the world to land and take up people a cabin at a time back to wherever they wanted.  How did you get back to Dover??? They def should have given you 50K at least per person….  Wake up, it is time for school.  

 

BTW, I did not get you started un anything, you posted on my thread.  Of course there were screw ups, as many have posted here and on other threads, it had to happen.  It was simply an unbelievable amount of information, logistics, lack of options in an extremely tight window.  I understand the frustration tied to what happened, Blatantly stating they failed miserably is either short sighted, ignorant or arrogant.  I will let you choose which one applies. 

 

Obviously you can cruise where and with who you want.  I can easily point you to each of the major lines where something like this has happened, and no better results, and in fact several worse/. This includes, RCCL, NCL, Princess, Costa, MSC, Ponant, and more.  Get the picture?  Let me know where you go next.  Happy cruising.

[Pentlands]

Firstly jumbo I really did think that these boards belonged to cruise critic and that all threads were open to all registered on here, forgive me that you have some sort of private ownership.

You don't believe that a massive organisation like this can have a rescue plan that they put into action. I assume that you were on that ship at the time and had first hand expereince of the ***** up they made. You don't believe that anyone is first of all bright enough to invent a system to prevent people needing to stand in long lines, sort of like giving them a numbered ticket and then calling the numbers, ah well if no one is bright enough to work that out what chance we got.

Also no one worked out that telling people what they are doing to rescue the ship and where it has gotten to actually is helpful, but if yopu really care nothing for your passengers why bother. treat them like mushrooms, keep them in the dark and feed them manure or similar.

It was said by the cruise director that flying people back to Uk was one option being considered, a plan would have worked out what WOULD happen WHGE not if this emergency happened. They were running around like headless chickens, I was just glad that the ship was not in any real danger of sinking or the Titanic would have had more survivors. They did not have a clue how to deal with the situation, how to deal with passengers, how to pass information in a useful and helpful way.

YES A PLAN WOULD HAVE HELPED AND SOME TRAINING GIVEN TO THER STAFF, you telling me that major issues like this are rare so they cannot anticipate and plan for them. If so you are a joke.

Yes I got home no thanks to Carnival and I think I might have a bit more experience of looking after myself I have had 79 years of practice. But abandoning elderly people and some looked frail in London as Carnival did with me and others was unforgivable and certainly will not be forgotten by me. Oh and by the way you can type a reply for anyone else who reads this thread, but don't worry i won't be reading it.

 

 

[SDPadreFan]

Jimbo - I wouldn't waste any more time on the Pentlands posts. Based on my reading, it could have been a perfect cruise and they would have found something to complain about.

 

As you know, we were on the cruise with you and pretty much had a fantastic time. Few hickups, but overall just fantastic. Wednesday was a little stressful but nothing this 67 year old retired Navy Chief couldn't handle. From my perspective, I thought Carnival did an admirable job under the circumstances. My experience with Guest Services on that Wednesday was terrific considering the overwhelming circumstances they were dealing with. But then again, I'm pretty easygoing and not always looking to get my fanny kissed. Life is too short to get so easily upset.

 

Probably our worst experience was the 3 hour airline check-in line we had to endure at the Hamburg Airport on Thursday, but we survived and it certainly won't change my opinion of Carnival. Already planning our next cruise with them. We were part of the early group that left the ship at 8:15am on Thursday.

[SDPadreFan]

But I won't say everything was perfect. Probably the most traumatic incident occurred at the Carnival arranged Radison Blu stay at Heathrow on Thursday. Check in was fine. The staff there were excellent.

 

BUT A NIGHTMARE STILL OCCURRED. When we did get to our nice room - horror of horror's, there were only 2 twin beds. My wife and I have been married 31 glorious years and together 33 years. So imagine my shock when I asked her which of the two twin beds we were going to snuggle together in and her reply was NEITHER. Felt like I had been transported back to the days of Ozzie & Harriet.

 

Think I may still have a little PTSD from that episode. Not making light of real PTSD as I know that can be serious. Just a little whine from this crusty old Navy Chief.

Edited August 4, 2023 by SDPadreFan

[Jamman54]

1 hour ago, SDPadreFan said:

But I won't say everything was perfect. Probably the most traumatic incident occurred at the Carnival arranged Radison Blu stay at Heathrow on Thursday. Check in was fine. The staff there were excellent.

 

BUT A NIGHTMARE STILL OCCURRED. When we did get to our nice room - horror of horror's, there were only 2 twin beds. My wife and I have been married 31 glorious years and together 33 years. So imagine my shock when I asked her which of the two twin beds we were going to snuggle together in and her reply was NEITHER. Felt like I had been transported back to the days of Ozzie & Harriet.

 

Think I may still have a little PTSD from that episode. Not making light of real PTSD as I know that can be serious. Just a little whine from this crusty old Navy Chief.

Oh, the horror!!! 😁

[jimbo5544]

3 hours ago, SDPadreFan said:

Jimbo - I wouldn't waste any more time on the Pentlands posts. Based on my reading, it could have been a perfect cruise and they would have found something to complain about.

 

As you know, we were on the cruise with you and pretty much had a fantastic time. Few hickups, but overall just fantastic. Wednesday was a little stressful but nothing this 67 year old retired Navy Chief couldn't handle. From my perspective, I thought Carnival did an admirable job under the circumstances. My experience with Guest Services on that Wednesday was terrific considering the overwhelming circumstances they were dealing with. But then again, I'm pretty easygoing and not always looking to get my fanny kissed. Life is too short to get so easily upset.

 

Probably our worst experience was the 3 hour airline check-in line we had to endure at the Hamburg Airport on Thursday, but we survived and it certainly won't change my opinion of Carnival. Already planning our next cruise with them. We were part of the early group that left the ship at 8:15am on Thursday.

I think the poster ran off.  Agree on the hamburg check in line.

[jimbo5544]

3 hours ago, Pentlands said:

Firstly jumbo I really did think that these boards belonged to cruise critic and that all threads were open to all registered on here, forgive me that you have some sort of private ownership.

You don't believe that a massive organisation like this can have a rescue plan that they put into action. I assume that you were on that ship at the time and had first hand expereince of the ***** up they made. You don't believe that anyone is first of all bright enough to invent a system to prevent people needing to stand in long lines, sort of like giving them a numbered ticket and then calling the numbers, ah well if no one is bright enough to work that out what chance we got.

Also no one worked out that telling people what they are doing to rescue the ship and where it has gotten to actually is helpful, but if yopu really care nothing for your passengers why bother. treat them like mushrooms, keep them in the dark and feed them manure or similar.

It was said by the cruise director that flying people back to Uk was one option being considered, a plan would have worked out what WOULD happen WHGE not if this emergency happened. They were running around like headless chickens, I was just glad that the ship was not in any real danger of sinking or the Titanic would have had more survivors. They did not have a clue how to deal with the situation, how to deal with passengers, how to pass information in a useful and helpful way.

YES A PLAN WOULD HAVE HELPED AND SOME TRAINING GIVEN TO THER STAFF, you telling me that major issues like this are rare so they cannot anticipate and plan for them. If so you are a joke.

Yes I got home no thanks to Carnival and I think I might have a bit more experience of looking after myself I have had 79 years of practice. But abandoning elderly people and some looked frail in London as Carnival did with me and others was unforgivable and certainly will not be forgotten by me. Oh and by the way you can type a reply for anyone else who reads this thread, but don't worry i won't be reading it.

 

 

Nobody abandoned anybody…but you are gone….buh bye

[jimbo5544]

58 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

Oh, the horror!!! 😁

It was terrible

[jimbo5544]

2 hours ago, SDPadreFan said:

But I won't say everything was perfect. Probably the most traumatic incident occurred at the Carnival arranged Radison Blu stay at Heathrow on Thursday. Check in was fine. The staff there were excellent.

 

BUT A NIGHTMARE STILL OCCURRED. When we did get to our nice room - horror of horror's, there were only 2 twin beds. My wife and I have been married 31 glorious years and together 33 years. So imagine my shock when I asked her which of the two twin beds we were going to snuggle together in and her reply was NEITHER. Felt like I had been transported back to the days of Ozzie & Harriet.

 

Think I may still have a little PTSD from that episode. Not making light of real PTSD as I know that can be serious. Just a little whine from this crusty old Navy Chief.

Our first room was twins but there were 4 of us, ended up with a king across from twins.

[jimbo5544]

3 hours ago, SDPadreFan said:

Jimbo - I wouldn't waste any more time on the Pentlands posts. Based on my reading, it could have been a perfect cruise and they would have found something to complain about.

 

As you know, we were on the cruise with you and pretty much had a fantastic time. Few hickups, but overall just fantastic. Wednesday was a little stressful but nothing this 67 year old retired Navy Chief couldn't handle. From my perspective, I thought Carnival did an admirable job under the circumstances. My experience with Guest Services on that Wednesday was terrific considering the overwhelming circumstances they were dealing with. But then again, I'm pretty easygoing and not always looking to get my fanny kissed. Life is too short to get so easily upset.

 

Probably our worst experience was the 3 hour airline check-in line we had to endure at the Hamburg Airport on Thursday, but we survived and it certainly won't change my opinion of Carnival. Already planning our next cruise with them. We were part of the early group that left the ship at 8:15am on Thursday.

Huh, wish we had hooked up, we had an ex Navy chief sailing with us.

[nybumpkin]

On 7/23/2023 at 1:31 PM, jimbo5544 said:

We have very good friends that cruise with us (we have a group of about 30 who sail with us frequently) who just will not fly.  I do understand it, but the world is such an interesting place, it eats at me not to explore it all.  Do not rush on the journey we call life, it will happen soon enough.  My better half and I got 19 months taken away (covid shut down) from us and we we are in catch up mode.  We do not know what the future holds for any of us, so my advice is live for today, in whatever way that means, enjoy the journey!!  

Jim, sorry to be posting this so late - but we've been traveling and I've been off CC for 2 weeks.🙂 I hate flying - after 9/11 it took me four years to get back on a plane. But I've come to realize that if I want to see places, I'm going to have to get on a plane to do it.

 

So glad you made lemonade when given lemons on your journey!

[jimbo5544]

On 8/6/2023 at 4:03 PM, nybumpkin said:

Jim, sorry to be posting this so late - but we've been traveling and I've been off CC for 2 weeks.🙂 I hate flying - after 9/11 it took me four years to get back on a plane. But I've come to realize that if I want to see places, I'm going to have to get on a plane to do it.

 

So glad you made lemonade when given lemons on your journey!

Thanks, while it was one hectic day, the trip was fantastic.  I would sign up for it again even if I knew the same thing was going to happen.  As it turned out, our least favorite port was Stockholm, so missing Gothensburg seemed OK.  Currently in heated discussion about doing another one next year.  We have traveled a lot (have Legend Greenland coming up next month, then land trip to Portugal, France and Spain in October, then Horizon in November, the Celebrity Antartica in January, the Celebration in Feb, and again in August and Holy Land trip in October) and by better half wants to take a break.  My head is still in catch up mode for losing 19 months….  We will see who wins.