Letter Sent to Carnival!!!!!

[Cruise_Q]

Going on 1st time cruise w/ccl in july...been on rccl about 10 years ago. can't tell you what neg happened on last cruise and unless something tragic (like i fall off ship or something like that) happens, i will not be focusing on the neg...just going to have agood time

[McGyver]

Well, I had to respond as you are not the only one that has cruised the Liberty and experienced this. We fully sympathize with you and hope you get some kind of satisfaction from Carnival. We sailed Jan 31, 2009 (western) and are experienced cruisers (Princess).

 

Besides us having terrible weather and rough seas the only thing that really saved our cruise was our aft balcony and our ability to make our own fun. Missed Jamaica because of rough seas!

 

Service was non existent throughout the cruise, booked open seating for dinner and was assigned a late seating. Service in the dinning room was brutal, head waiter OK, but assistants just disappeared. Even spoke with maitre D and what does he do, gives the head waiter heck right there in front of us, boy did that help our service..... The best service we had was from Harry's and we went twice because of service elsewhere.

 

Water in our room went brown on day three and concierge said it was fine, well when after you shower with soap and water and dry off and the towel comes away brown I beg to differ. We had to push concierge to provide us with bottle water, they thought it was safe to drink (I have pictures of the towels if interested).

 

Bar service on all decks was terrible, no limes on day one...ever had a Mojito made with lemons...just not the same......by day three..first stop Cozumel we had limes

 

We did make the best of the trip, by making our fun when we could.

 

Anyways, I could go on , but won't. Did not write Carnival and will not, we did leave specifics in the surveys but I guess they don't read those. Our cruise with Carnival in Jan 2009 was our last cruise with Carnival sorry to say..Fun Ships they are not!

 

Cheers

 

To Whom It May Concern:

On Saturday, March 21, 2009, eleven family members, friends, and I embarked (2Z7G77) on what I truly believed would be a vacation of a lifetime for us. We sailed on a 7 Day Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Liberty. For two of us, it was our second adventure on this ship albeit a different itinerary. Our previous cruise on Liberty was phenomenal.

As we planned our 2009 vacation, we encouraged our family and friends, some of them first-time cruisers, to join us on a Carnival Cruise. Of course our previous experience steered us in our decision making process. Twelve of us embarked on what can be best described as a mediocre week at sea. Part of the cruising experience is the fun and enjoyment experienced between ports. What follows is a list of disappointing and disturbing events and occurrences that riddled our family vacation.

· On three occasions there was a hair in our food;

· Coffee was at a premium – they ran out every morning;

· The ship was generally unkept – food on the floor, spilled drinks, etc.;

· State rooms were not re-stocked properly – we had to ask for toilet paper, soap, etc.;

· The shows were the very same as two years prior – and not as good as before;

· Teenagers overtook the elevators; security alerted- and their response was reprehensible – “This is a fun ship – even for kids” – At the expense of others’ fun?

· Deck chairs were being reserved by guests for other guests that never appeared;

· Water completely stopped in the state rooms just prior to our departure from St. Thomas;

· Day 2 of the cruise the water ran “black” – with no explanation given

We brought these items to the attention of staff members, when one could find a moment to talk to us. They appeared to be over-tasked and too busy to attend to our concerns. We spoke with many guests, and we concurred that the staff was obviously at a minimum level, as evidenced by our mediocre service. “Disappointed” was the way many of us summarized our trip.

We anxiously await a response from Carnival Cruise Lines. Please include a reason why our next vacation should be on a Carnival Fun Ship

[pnjkeith]

To Whom It May Concern:

On Saturday, March 21, 2009, eleven family members, friends, and I embarked (2Z7G77) on what I truly believed would be a vacation of a lifetime for us. We sailed on a 7 Day Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Liberty. For two of us, it was our second adventure on this ship albeit a different itinerary. Our previous cruise on Liberty was phenomenal.

As we planned our 2009 vacation, we encouraged our family and friends, some of them first-time cruisers, to join us on a Carnival Cruise. Of course our previous experience steered us in our decision making process. Twelve of us embarked on what can be best described as a mediocre week at sea. Part of the cruising experience is the fun and enjoyment experienced between ports. What follows is a list of disappointing and disturbing events and occurrences that riddled our family vacation.

· On three occasions there was a hair in our food; Just Remove It, no worries.

· Coffee was at a premium – they ran out every morning; Make it yourself.

· The ship was generally unkept – food on the floor, spilled drinks, etc.; Remove all tips, you'll feel better.

· State rooms were not re-stocked properly – we had to ask for toilet paper, soap, etc.; Fire that dang cabin boy, another reason remove them tips.

· The shows were the very same as two years prior – and not as good as before; Nothing new there, try diff ships.

· Teenagers overtook the elevators; security alerted- and their response was reprehensible – “This is a fun ship – even for kids” – At the expense of others’ fun? take the stairs, you need exercise after all that grub in the dinning room.

· Deck chairs were being reserved by guests for other guests that never appeared; Of course, all cruise ships come with chair hogs, no charge.

· Water completely stopped in the state rooms just prior to our departure from St. Thomas; Next time take bottled water.

· Day 2 of the cruise the water ran “black” – with no explanation given Oops too much pooping going on. Sorry, take on bottled water.

We brought these items to the attention of staff members, when one could find a moment to talk to us. They appeared to be over-tasked and too busy to attend to our concerns. We spoke with many guests, and we concurred that the staff was obviously at a minimum level, as evidenced by our mediocre service. “Disappointed” was the way many of us summarized our trip. Next time do not remove tips on day of departure.

We anxiously await a response from Carnival Cruise Lines. Please include a reason why our next vacation should be on a Carnival Fun Ship

 

Sorry your cruise was so wonderful. Come back soon! :D:D

[sarcasticgirl]

Could not agree more!! I am new to these boards and was amazed at how many people talk about how horrible their cruise was becuase xyz happened. I have been on 10 cruises and for a moment thought that i must have been "lucky" to be on the right cruise every time. I later realized that i have such a great time because i go into VACATION with a positive attitude and don't let little annoyances ruin my trip :cool:

 

 

Perhaps the original post you guys read was different than what I read. No where in the first post did I see anyone saying the cruise was horrible or it was ruined. The OP said they had fun, but these were the things that disappointed them.

 

With that said, if you take some of these events and put them in a different setting you'd probably feel differently. If i were out at a restaurant and found hair in my food, I'd point it out, most likely get my meal or at least part of it on the house and would never return to that place again. So why exactly is it so out of the question to enumerate such events to Carnival?

[zqvol]

As soon as I read about running out of coffee I knew that this one was a bunch of bunk designed to get everyone in an uproar.

[Kurbanfan]

Bar service on all decks was terrible,

 

No coffee now terrible bar service:eek: Ok now that is just wrong:D

[mzche1999]

I bite my tongue reading this message board a lot, but come on! You're on vacation, why make a list of every little annoyance? H and I didn't even have air conditioning on a 10 day cruise, yet we still had a wonderful time. In the real world, we have short tempers and little patience. But our motto on a cruise is "Don't let it get to us! Let it go!"

 

Kids are irritating. ignore them. Hair in the food is disgusting, but easily and immediately corrected. Asking for soap or TP takes literally 20 seconds. Toss the chair hogs' crap on the floor and take their chairs. Do you really go on a cruise to watch movies? Yes? Fine, bring a portable DVD and DVD's from home. And coffee is available through room service, coffee bars, dining room, etc. Yeah, the buffet gets busy and it runs out, but but it's not your only source.

 

I don't see why people are so uptight on a vacation. Relax! Life isn't perfect, there's no way the cruise line can make your vacation perfect.

 

Wow! So paying consumers should just accept what they are given?? Maybe you would have some kind of valid point if this trip was FREE, but OP paid good money for it and at the very least should not have to have HAIR in their food....on multiple occasions. You would not address that? You ACCEPTED the fact that you did not have A/C for a 10 night cruise? Were you supposed to? It is your right to be laid back and accept what is offered, but I think it really shameful to imply that the OP is uptight to point out the issues they encountered. When people just "accept" things, they are not helping to make things any better either.

 

Hugs,

Chelle

[kwbound]

I just got off a B2B on the Liberty March 7th and had the best room steward I've ever had on the Lido deck cabins...No other problems in any other parts of the ship....Some people just look for the negatives.....Dennis

 

Having no water, or water running black is not "looking for negatives"...that's being slapped in the face with a negative. How bad would something have to be before you would consider it a worthy complaint? No water for the entire cruise? Running out of alcohol (which they will never do since they make money on that)? It seems like there are some people on this board who believe nothing short of sinking is worthy of complaining about, and I'm not sure they'd think that was. (There may be something in the fine print of the contract to cover that...I'm sure someone will let us know.)

[cathalane]

When I go on vacation, I don't look for negatives and I don't let negatives affect the total enjoyment of my trips. That being said, if there is something that bothers me, I speak up. I want to get what I pay for. If one vacationer experiences something bad and keeps quiet, its like passing on that bad experience to the next person. I am thankful to those who report on what needs improving - how else would it get improved?

 

Also, I bet the OP wasn't keeping a specific list, but sat down after the cruise to try and put to paper how the cruise "felt" wrong. Maybe the chair hogs felt like a small issue, but imagine waking up to take a shower and having black water come out - ok then forget the shower, I'll just go get a cup of coffee and relax. OK NO COFFEE <deep breath> I'll just sit by the pool. NO CHAIRS!!!! :eek: See how it builds?

[jpg1747]

It's been my experience that letters sent to any corporate headquarters with nothing but complaints do not elicit a favorable response. Generally all you will get is a boilerplate generic response. It always helps to start with a compliment or some positive comment before letting them know what made you unhappy. Companies are more likely to try to make you happy if they think you will be a repeat customer.

[Janchris]

Is it possible the water problems led to them running out of coffee?

 

Good thinking.....probably the reason for no coffee. Wonder if they had tea.

 

Hopefully you get a response from CCL. When I had a lost luggage problem on my last cruise, I not only wrote but also called and got a nice person in customer service who was kind enough to give us a small discount on another cruise. My insurance paid for the luggage issue. Good luck.:)

[crusinpsychRN]

I bite my tongue reading this message board a lot, but come on! You're on vacation, why make a list of every little annoyance? H and I didn't even have air conditioning on a 10 day cruise, yet we still had a wonderful time. In the real world, we have short tempers and little patience. But our motto on a cruise is "Don't let it get to us! Let it go!"

 

Kids are irritating. ignore them. Hair in the food is disgusting, but easily and immediately corrected. Asking for soap or TP takes literally 20 seconds. Toss the chair hogs' crap on the floor and take their chairs. Do you really go on a cruise to watch movies? Yes? Fine, bring a portable DVD and DVD's from home. And coffee is available through room service, coffee bars, dining room, etc. Yeah, the buffet gets busy and it runs out, but but it's not your only source.

 

I don't see why people are so uptight on a vacation. Relax! Life isn't perfect, there's no way the cruise line can make your vacation perfect.

 

 

Did that count as "someone will tell you it's your fault"?

 

I never read about any diappointment with movies???

 

Coffee has run out on 2 ships, Miracle and Inspiration. No one should have to ask for toilet paper! The shows are not new for too long a period of time. Teens in elevators: tell them to STOP, get a name and see the purser. Kids somehow end up doing this sometimes for some stupid reason.

[Frank12]

Sorry it sucked for you. The Liberty last year was our best cruise yet.

[mzche1999]

Having no water, or water running black is not "looking for negatives"...that's being slapped in the face with a negative. How bad would something have to be before you would consider it a worthy complaint? No water for the entire cruise? Running out of alcohol (which they will never do since they make money on that)? It seems like there are some people on this board who believe nothing short of sinking is worthy of complaining about, and I'm not sure they'd think that was. (There may be something in the fine print of the contract to cover that...I'm sure someone will let us know.)

 

Maybe they would consider the ocean floor an exciting new port!:D

 

Hugs,

Chelle

[Smoofdaddy]

Black water?? I have alway said Carnival's water is hit and miss

Ohhh black water, keep on rollin'............:D:rolleyes:

[vacruizer]

Having no water, or water running black is not "looking for negatives"...that's being slapped in the face with a negative. How bad would something have to be before you would consider it a worthy complaint? No water for the entire cruise? Running out of alcohol (which they will never do since they make money on that)? It seems like there are some people on this board who believe nothing short of sinking is worthy of complaining about, and I'm not sure they'd think that was. (There may be something in the fine print of the contract to cover that...I'm sure someone will let us know.)

 

I agree - while I'm a laid back go-with-the-flow kind of person, I just don't understand that old, "any old day on a ship is better than a day at work" mentality where you can't ever make a complaint and the cruise line can do no wrong. Sure, there are things that happened to the OP that wouldn't bother me at all, like the shows being the same. Others I experienced myself last summer on the Liberty like constantly running out of toilet paper. That problem, contrary to what someone said earlier would take two seconds, actually took 2 hours with the purser's desk since we never saw our steward the whole cruise and they never answered their calls. We also never received beach towels in the room - the purser's desk first didn't believe us and thought we had taken them. :mad: I also ran into the drink issues on the Glory in January with lemonade and water where you could do laps around Lido and never find a drink station that wasn't out of either ice, cups, or lemonade/tea. Dining room waiters last cruise were very nice but overloaded and rushed to the point where they couldn't keep up with the little things like coffee with dessert. Cruise ruining? No. Disappointing? Yes.

 

I've been saying her for a while that Carnival is walking a dangerous line with their staff cutbacks and that they need to be very careful that service doesn't suffer to the point it begins to drive away business. It seems that it's starting to happen some.

 

Have I still enjoyed those last few cruises where there were problems? Yes, absolutely. But as much as I love Carnival (and I'm a stockholder who has taken six cruises with them in just over two years) they definitely need to work out some staffing issues - service is definitely in a slump and I feel sorry for the crew that can't provide the service they want to because they are now overloaded.

[byoung70]

My first time posting so please bare with me. I am not a first time cruiser and have spent many hours reading the posts on CC. I wish I had found this sight a long time ago. Amazing amount of great information both good and bad and I love hearing both. I have been on five cruises with Carnival in the past few years and have a cruise booked on the Valor in May for the Western Carribean. Every cruise has been great and I know that the next one will be also, unless the ship sinks. So I guess you could call me a Carnival cheerleader, but I think it is more my tolerance of imperfection that has made every cruise a great experience. I think the OP has done exactly what anyone should do if they are not satisfied with apsects of their cruise and by taking the time to write a letter they have performed a great service to Carnival and other passengers. From a corporate stand point it is the only way they get the necessary feedback to improve their product. If no one ever complains, they have no way of knowing what to change. If alot of people complain about the same thing, then they know that someone is not doing their job or they need to change policy. It also gives them a second chance to retain that person as a customer. If the customer just goes away to another cruise line without the feed back, Carnival as well as all other passengers lose. Also, without the complaints alot of people would have nothing to post about and this site would not be as interesting.

[Rok4u2]

I have been on a few cruises and only a few times have I had bad service or something that really upset me. On the FREEDOM, Rome to Miami - 2007, there was a hair in the salad of one of my table mates. The Matre d' was informed and he came right over. The entire table had free wine that night. I have had a few "not the best" cabin stewards. I spoke to the Purser's Desk and cabin steward appeared at my door and we "worked" out the problems. The next day a bottle of wine and a nice note was in the cabin. Things happen - but it is not going to ruin my cruise.

[crusinpsychRN]

I bite my tongue reading this message board a lot, but come on! You're on vacation, why make a list of every little annoyance? H and I didn't even have air conditioning on a 10 day cruise, yet we still had a wonderful time. In the real world, we have short tempers and little patience. But our motto on a cruise is "Don't let it get to us! Let it go!"

 

Kids are irritating. ignore them. Hair in the food is disgusting, but easily and immediately corrected. Asking for soap or TP takes literally 20 seconds. Toss the chair hogs' crap on the floor and take their chairs. Do you really go on a cruise to watch movies? Yes? Fine, bring a portable DVD and DVD's from home. And coffee is available through room service, coffee bars, dining room, etc. Yeah, the buffet gets busy and it runs out, but but it's not your only source.

 

I don't see why people are so uptight on a vacation. Relax! Life isn't perfect, there's no way the cruise line can make your vacation perfect.

 

 

Does this count as "someone will tell you it's all your fault"?

 

I never read they wanted to watch movies?!?

 

No one should have to ask for toilet paper.

 

Teens and younger kids find something enthralling about messing with elevators. It mus have to do with the undeveloped mind.

 

I hope the second hair caused you to call the Maitre D'.

[rtfnl]

I told you afew months ago to switch ships and come with me and my partner on the Valor. I'm sorry the cruise wasn't what you anticipated. :)

[PaddleAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gargarjo

To Whom It May Concern:

On Saturday, March 21, 2009, eleven family members, friends, and I embarked (2Z7G77) on what I truly believed would be a vacation of a lifetime for us. We sailed on a 7 Day Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Liberty. For two of us, it was our second adventure on this ship albeit a different itinerary. Our previous cruise on Liberty was phenomenal.

As we planned our 2009 vacation, we encouraged our family and friends, some of them first-time cruisers, to join us on a Carnival Cruise. Of course our previous experience steered us in our decision making process. Twelve of us embarked on what can be best described as a mediocre week at sea. Part of the cruising experience is the fun and enjoyment experienced between ports. What follows is a list of disappointing and disturbing events and occurrences that riddled our family vacation.

· On three occasions there was a hair in our food; Just Remove It, no worries.

· Coffee was at a premium – they ran out every morning; Make it yourself.

· The ship was generally unkept – food on the floor, spilled drinks, etc.; Remove all tips, you'll feel better.

· State rooms were not re-stocked properly – we had to ask for toilet paper, soap, etc.; Fire that dang cabin boy, another reason remove them tips.

· The shows were the very same as two years prior – and not as good as before; Nothing new there, try diff ships.

· Teenagers overtook the elevators; security alerted- and their response was reprehensible – “This is a fun ship – even for kids” – At the expense of others’ fun? take the stairs, you need exercise after all that grub in the dinning room.

· Deck chairs were being reserved by guests for other guests that never appeared; Of course, all cruise ships come with chair hogs, no charge.

· Water completely stopped in the state rooms just prior to our departure from St. Thomas; Next time take bottled water.

· Day 2 of the cruise the water ran “black” – with no explanation given Oops too much pooping going on. Sorry, take on bottled water.

We brought these items to the attention of staff members, when one could find a moment to talk to us. They appeared to be over-tasked and too busy to attend to our concerns. We spoke with many guests, and we concurred that the staff was obviously at a minimum level, as evidenced by our mediocre service. “Disappointed” was the way many of us summarized our trip. Next time do not remove tips on day of departure.

We anxiously await a response from Carnival Cruise Lines. Please include a reason why our next vacation should be on a Carnival Fun Ship

 

 

Sorry your cruise was so wonderful. Come back soon! :D:D

 

I am a go with the flow, easy-going cruiser, and I love Carnival, but this think this response to the OP was kind of ridiculous.

 

Some of the items would not have bothered me (the shows being the same, chair hogs), but some are really wrong (black water, no running water, no coffee, ship looking dirty).

 

People pay a lot of money for these cruises and the suggestion that the OP should have just "taken on bottled water" to solve his or her issues with black water or no water is just silly.

[summer08bride]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I hope you update us with Carnival's response. We're going on our second cruise in a little over than a month and hope we don't get the same problems. I do think we could look past most things (unless we miss our cruise -- unlikely since we're flying in the day before, but still possible -- or lose our luggage).

 

The only negative things I can remember from our first cruise are that the cheap mexican "vodka" we bought at costa maya (I'm sure it was really tequila) gave us both horrible stomachaches, that I cut my toe on the rocks at a beach in cozumel, that I "lost" my camera in the stateroom (later found it in the dresser with my shirts), and that we had to leave the last port a few hours early because of inclement weather. It was hard to even come up with these things. Things are bound to go wrong with anything -- I'm hoping whatever it is won't bother us too much. :o

[missabbi]

Ok, after many cruises, I could get by with having to search for coffee, ask for toilet paper, etc. But, I draw the line at the brown water...that would disgust me. If it was a problem with the whole water supply on the ship, each cabin should receive some credit for putting up with that. I say that after finding a ladybug in my salad on RCL. I removed it...and ate around it. :D

[PaulMedik]

To Whom It May Concern:

On Saturday, March 21, 2009, eleven family members, friends, and I embarked (2Z7G77) on what I truly believed would be a vacation of a lifetime for us. We sailed on a 7 Day Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Liberty. For two of us, it was our second adventure on this ship albeit a different itinerary. Our previous cruise on Liberty was phenomenal.

As we planned our 2009 vacation, we encouraged our family and friends, some of them first-time cruisers, to join us on a Carnival Cruise. Of course our previous experience steered us in our decision making process. Twelve of us embarked on what can be best described as a mediocre week at sea. Part of the cruising experience is the fun and enjoyment experienced between ports. What follows is a list of disappointing and disturbing events and occurrences that riddled our family vacation.

· On three occasions there was a hair in our food;

· Coffee was at a premium – they ran out every morning;

· The ship was generally unkept – food on the floor, spilled drinks, etc.;

· State rooms were not re-stocked properly – we had to ask for toilet paper, soap, etc.;

· The shows were the very same as two years prior – and not as good as before;

· Teenagers overtook the elevators; security alerted- and their response was reprehensible – “This is a fun ship – even for kids” – At the expense of others’ fun?

· Deck chairs were being reserved by guests for other guests that never appeared;

· Water completely stopped in the state rooms just prior to our departure from St. Thomas;

· Day 2 of the cruise the water ran “black” – with no explanation given

We brought these items to the attention of staff members, when one could find a moment to talk to us. They appeared to be over-tasked and too busy to attend to our concerns. We spoke with many guests, and we concurred that the staff was obviously at a minimum level, as evidenced by our mediocre service. “Disappointed” was the way many of us summarized our trip.

We anxiously await a response from Carnival Cruise Lines. Please include a reason why our next vacation should be on a Carnival Fun Ship

 

 

gargarjo,

 

We've sailed Liberty three times and never experienced any of those issues.

Our most recent was this past June for a B2B Eastern then Western. For those two, the shows were the same, but not the same as two earlier when we cruised her for the first time.

 

We've also found ZERO hairs in our food.

 

The ship was as clean this past summer as when it was new.

 

Our rooms were stocked and restocked promptly.

 

Never noticed any teens out of control.

 

We didn't experience any black water.

 

May have ran out of coffee, but I wasn't aware of it so not a problem.

 

The ship's staff was very friendly and the ship's officers were out and about 24 / 7 visiting with passengers.

 

Ship's maintenance was very prompt about replacing a bent door handle / cover on our balcony. The cover had nothing to do with the function of the door, but they replaced the entire handle assembly just to replace the bent cover.

 

We did notice chair hogs on her several years ago, but never noticed any this past summer. Maybe they were all on your sailing? :o

 

You state;

We anxiously await a response from Carnival Cruise Lines. Please include a reason why our next vacation should be on a Carnival Fun Ship

Are you after a discount, refund or apology of some sort?

[PaulMedik]

........... I say that after finding a ladybug in my salad on RCL. I removed it...and ate around it. :D

 

 

missabbi,

 

Why? They're loaded with protein!