The Not-So-Mexican Splendor Cruise Review - April 26 - May 3

[luv2cruise777l]

Ya think that those ports could handle more ships than they already had?

 

We were not the only ship in San Fransisco.

 

Princess is owned by the Carnival corp. Did they do something different?:confused:

 

Yes, they are getting 50% credit for a future cruise for sailings on

 

Sapphire Princess (departed April 25th)

Star Princess ( departed April 27th)

 

Why Princess and not Carnival if they are owned by the same company???

[kelz66]

Yes, they are getting 50% credit for a future cruise for sailings on

 

Sapphire Princess (departed April 25th)

Star Princess ( departed April 27th)

 

Why Princess and not Carnival if they are owned by the same company???

 

Good question...sounds like a good topic for a letter to the Carnival Corp.

:cool:

[voyagefiend]

Good question...sounds like a good topic for a letter to the Carnival Corp.

:cool:

 

Yep, I sent a letter through Johna at Crucon. Does anybody have an email address for Carnival customer service? The website forces you into a "limited number of characters" window.

[momofzeke]

Guest Relations

Carnival Cruise Lines

Carnival Place

3655 NW 87th Ave

Miami, FL 33178-2428

 

It does seem like those of you who stayed on the ship and caused no problems are the ones kind of left with the short end of the stick.

 

Maybe Carnival will reconsider their position if enough of you send a letter. Good luck! :)

[Brangwen]

They said they asked their captain why they couldn't just sail around down there and he had said it was an option they had considered. However, if there was a medical emergency, they would not have been able to dock at a port to get the person off. :confused:

 

I'm not familiar with how medical emergencies are handled so I'm just the messenger here. :)

 

I honestly have no clue either... but didn't they take someone off in Cabo due to medical issues?? (I just remember the announcement that it was "not" swine flu related illness - maybe it was the kid that broke his arm?) :confused::confused:

[aggieastrosfan]

I will definitely be writing a polite but detailed letter this week. I had a great time, and made the best of what was given to us. That being said, Anne made a very good point in saying that those of us that were accomodating and somewhat understanding basically got nothing. The ones who got their way on this trip were the ones who treated the crew like absolute dirt with their yelling and screaming.

 

I didn't expect anything other than port charges refunded, which is exactly what we got. However, I would be lying if I said it didn't sting to hear that the other lines are being a lot more generous to the Riviera sailings than Carnival is.

[Gumby&Pokey]

i just had a very long discussion with a carnival rep from the complaint dept, i told her most of the people would have wanted a warm port like san diego or catalina, she said that they could only go to sanfran, she states they could not just cruise around the mexican coast because they felt that most passengers want to go to a port, i asked about some form of compensation and told her i knew they were giving it to other salings and she clearly states that carnival would not be giving us any compensation:mad:

[TortieGal]

I honestly have no clue either... but didn't they take someone off in Cabo due to medical issues?? (I just remember the announcement that it was "not" swine flu related illness - maybe it was the kid that broke his arm?) :confused::confused:

 

That was kind of my thought...I didn't think the ports were actually "closed" so to speak. I just thought we weren't docking in Mexico given the CDC advisory. I don't see why, in a worse case scenario, we couldn't dock and let the person off??

 

I'm just as confused. ;)

 

Hopefully Southern Crossers is much less eventful.... :p

[Pechez]

!

 

However, we do feel somewhat ignored as we did not complain, we thanked every staff member in sight as their time off was impacted and they worked very hard to make our cruise experience terrific,

The open bars did not work for us either as we are not big cocktailers.

We met some really wonderful people and it was great to put faces to names and to cruise with some folks we had cruised with before.

 

Jeff and Anna, GREAT seeing you two again. Hopefully we will cruise again together.

Pechez and TexmanAl

[kelz66]

I will definitely be writing a polite but detailed letter this week. I had a great time, and made the best of what was given to us. That being said, Anne made a very good point in saying that those of us that were accomodating and somewhat understanding basically got nothing. The ones who got their way on this trip were the ones who treated the crew like absolute dirt with their yelling and screaming.

 

I didn't expect anything other than port charges refunded, which is exactly what we got. However, I would be lying if I said it didn't sting to hear that the other lines are being a lot more generous to the Riviera sailings than Carnival is.

 

you forgot the 2 one hour open bars....:rolleyes:

 

If Corporate is giving something back to Princess cruisers, they should extend that to all of their cruise lines.

 

:mad:

[fivelimes]

Finally got of the Carnival Splendor April 26th cruise....

I planned this trip over a year ago with 30 people, we were so excited to go. I completely understand not going to Mexico but agree with everyone else...why not stay in warm water? I watched people leave the boat on Thurs in Long Beach and they were very unhappy. My nephew got off the boat and said that the news media was all over the place. We tried to understand the logic of the decisions being made and tried to keep a stiff upper lip. But again I agree...we tried to be the ones not causing extra trouble and go along with the ride (no pun intended!) but when we started hearing that the future cruises got to opt out for a later cruise or that they got major upgrades and room credits, it made us feel cheated and totally unimportant. I called Costco several times as this is who we booked through and they couldn't believe that Carnival hadn't done anything. Carnival did try to say that they would offer 1 hour of free drinks but you had to go to a certain bar to get it and we found out later that because it was a formal night, drinks were free anyway!

 

At this point, I am completely disappointed with Carnival's lack of response to us. We were scheduled for 3 Mexican ports and got one VERY rainy SF port. NO ONE had proper clothes to get off the ship and we watched people get off and immediately back on because the weather was so terrible. When we got to the airport at Long Beach the Alaska Airlines person checking us in told us she heard that we would be offered 1/2 off our next cruise....funny how rumors get started....or did Carnival offer that to some passengers and nothing to others??? Who knows.

 

It will be a very long time before I take another cruise...I felt trapped on a ship for 7 days with nothing to do but eat or drink...it sounds fun, but after a couple of days it wears on you. They could have offered free movies so we at least could have done something, oh wait...they did play Slum Dog Millionaire on the big screen for us as a bonus..but they stopped it 1/2 way through because no one could read the subtitles....what a riot!

[Ashleezmom]

Anne, Thank you for posting your review!! You said the things I wish I could say in a review but can never seem to put in words. We had a wonderful time while we were on the ship. Our waiter Imade and our cabin steward Inyoman were the best! Loved the ship itself. But when it came down to seeing Cabo and not being allowed to get off the ship, we decided to disembark in LB. I was willing to go on to SF but my husband had cabin fever and could not imagine going another 3 days without land. The cold weather and other things added to this decision. We did not scream and yell at anyone, if fact we told our staff about our decision, left our gratuity on our bill and also gave an extra tip to all the staff that serviced us. Not their fault....

 

I left the ship with letter in hand saying i would not receive any refund..etc. I accepted that, but I feel, like you, that Carnival in this case should offer to its guests the same compensation that is being offered to future sailings. 50% is being offered to Princess guests and Carnival (whose parent company is the same) should do the same.

 

If we don't receive any compensation, I will still not scream and shout, but I will quietly reconsider my future sailings and may decide to try other cruiselines.

[AllenF]

I dont think the open bars was fair to all the cruisers like Anna mentioned some of us were not big drinkers. Another point is the Bar made more money for this cruise because they were open all 7 days and by us not being in the Mex. ports they made plenty to be able to give 2 free hours. Those on 2nd seating got to drink 2 hrs and those who had 1 seating if they went only got 1 it was a nice gesture but a 50/100 bucks credit would have been fair to all.

[TortieGal]

At this point, I am completely disappointed with Carnival's lack of response to us. We were scheduled for 3 Mexican ports and got one VERY rainy SF port. NO ONE had proper clothes to get off the ship and we watched people get off and immediately back on because the weather was so terrible. When we got to the airport at Long Beach the Alaska Airlines person checking us in told us she heard that we would be offered 1/2 off our next cruise....funny how rumors get started....or did Carnival offer that to some passengers and nothing to others??? Who knows.

 

 

Princess, owned by Carnival, gave 50% off future sailings. RC gave their guests open bar (similar to Carnival) and also gave a tiered system of OBC based on stateroom type.

[aggieastrosfan]

Hopefully Southern Crossers is much less eventful.... :p

 

Actually, I'm hoping it's a lot more eventful! ;)

[AllenF]

If we don't receive any compensation, I will still not scream and shout, but I will quietly reconsider my future sailings and may decide to try other cruiselines.

 

 

I already cancelled my next Carnival cruise after 14 it is time to try another cruise line. This was not based on just this cruise but it did help make my decsion easier by there lack of compensation for those of us who did not scream and shout.

The Staff was not at fault for sure

[Ashleezmom]

I already cancelled my next Carnival cruise after 14 it is time to try another cruise line. This was not based on just this cruise but it did help make my decsion easier by there lack of compensation for those of us who did not scream and shout.

The Staff was not at fault for sure

 

I completely understand, we are Platinum also and have only ventured out twice to another cruiseline. Maybe a change will do us good :o

[voyagefiend]

How unfortunate Carnival has "NO" concept of how to provide "customer service" from corporate in Miami. I agree this has nothing to do with the crew of the Splendor. . . I felt bad for them, as they work very hard to do a good job. The decision makers in Miami appear to be run by the attorneys (the win-lose type).

It's time to cancel my next cruise and rebook with a different line.

[Wennfred]

I dont think the open bars was fair to all the cruisers like Anna mentioned some of us were not big drinkers

 

I didn't even know that there was an open bar :rolleyes:

 

 

 

Fred

[AllenF]

I completely understand, we are Platinum also and have only ventured out twice to another cruiseline. Maybe a change will do us good :o

 

You know it has just been a bunch of small stuff but it has added up.

I will just spend my money on something new :)

[AllenF]

I didn't even know that there was an open bar :rolleyes:

 

 

 

Fred

 

Well you had to be smoking to be able to fight to get a drink :eek:

[cruiserbryce]

glad you had a good trip. I would be interested in sailing on one of the adjusted itinerary cruises. It is to bad that the stop in LB caused delays though.

[Brangwen]

I didn't even know that there was an open bar :rolleyes:

 

Yeah, we apparently missed that announcement also... it was sunny and warm on our aft balcony so we were sitting out there for part of the afternoon. We just happened to be sitting at the mojito bar when it started to fill up - and we were informed what was going on (this was party #2). :cool:

[Gumby&Pokey]

yes they had a one hour free drinks, but only bar level drink nothing over 6 dollars when i tried to order a martini for my wife and was told no drink over 6 dollars, the sad part for us non drinkers we got nothing, i just heard that princess and royal gave there people something back and that princess went to san diago and cataline nice warm ports:mad:

[steveNcindy]

Would getting off in Long Beach not technically be utilizing the Vacation Guarantee since you were not allowed to debark in Cabo? Is there not a provision in the Guarantee for a refund of the unused portion of the cruise?