Carnival Hellgend I mean Legend 5-3-09!

[walkswife]

:mad:

 

YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT OUR POINT IS. We are pissed becuase they knew about this even before the cruise left and lied and didn't inform us until 6pm the evening before. That's horse crap! 20.00 is in the contract but a 14 billion dollar company and there customer service sux. I really hope you get 2 out of your 4 ports and we'll see you're frustration when CCL . ME ME ME See people like you cause civil unrest by bad comments and not getting the facts straight. If you read there was at least half the ship that was pissed off.!

 

 

Then half the ship didn't read their cruise contract!!!

 

I am one of the fortunate ones.... 3 cruises and never missed a port... made cayman both times.... but I do understand when I board that ship the possiblity is there and I would be bummed but accept it and move on... have a great day in the sun on the ship with my friends or my kids.... I do cruise more for the ports but do understand the possiblities....

[kyrisong1]

This thread just goes on and on.

What exactly did people want Carnival to DO? The government issued warnings it was unsafe to go to Mexico, civil unrest in a third world country............. they PROTECTED their ship and their passengers.

How are they supposed to pull ports out of their "magic bag"?

You have to have permission to port in a country, it's not like a road trip where you pull in to the first motel you see..........They need permission, they need to pay port fees, there can't be too many other ships in port, there has to be a place to dock or tender.

It's like people can't see past their own wants and needs, to the details involved.

Ok what happened sucked for you, it wasn't Carnivals fault, wasn't the captains fault and certainly wasn't the poor crew's fault (who took the brunt of it from the way it sounds)

It was life, it's like when it rains when you plan a bbq or picnic, when the plane can't take off because of mechanical problems.

Life happens for Gods sake, deal with it, get over it......

It's not the first time ports were canceled and it won't be the last.

Carole

[VOLLEYBALLDUDE2000]

QUOTE: We are pissed becuase they knew about this even before the cruise left and lied and didn't inform us until 6pm the evening before. QUOTE END

 

How did they know before the cruise left?

[LemurCat]

QUOTE: We are pissed becuase they knew about this even before the cruise left and lied and didn't inform us until 6pm the evening before. QUOTE END

 

How did they know before the cruise left?

 

Obviously, the labor unrest dissidents called in their civil unrest to Carnival HQ in Miami before protesting. ;)

[gtalum]

I too wonder how anyone here would know that Carnival knew they wouldn't be docking in Roatan at the time of boarding. The situation is extremely fluid. They don't dock when there are demonstrations and protests, but those are very spotty and they wouldn't know if one was going to occur until the day they're scheduled to dock there.

 

Remember, word of mouth, especially form another vessel, is not gospel.

[LemurCat]

And I'm also going to point out that 500 people "protesting" on a cruiseship technically equals a potential mutiny. Argh, mateys.

[Kurbanfan]

And I'm also going to point out that 500 people "protesting" on a cruiseship technically equals a potential mutiny. Argh, mateys.

 

500 people were protesting:confused:.......or was it 500 people disembarked early;) with a few screaming memmies:D

[LemurCat]

500 people were protesting:confused:.......

 

Apparently a herd of people were gathered in the Atrium. It's still in question in they were protesting or thought it was the trivia hour.

[floridacruzin]

Is the Hellgend a new ship? I do not see it listed in Carnival's Fleet?

[Kurbanfan]

apparently a herd of people were gathered in the atrium. It's still in question in they were protesting or thought it was the trivia hour.

 

lmao!!

[LemurCat]

Is the Hellgend a new ship? I do not see it listed in Carnival's Fleet?

 

It's short for Hellgenddam. It's a ship Carnival's borrowing from HAL. Figured it would be a good way to get the old people smell off of it.

[walkswife]

First, I understand that many people cruise just for the experience on the boat. Cruise lines offer cruises catered to these folks called "cruises to nowhere". They are generally cheaper than cruises that visit other ports of call. To imply that destinations are not part of the package and just a bonus is being disingenuous.

 

 

Um on a daily basis every cruise to nowhere I looked at was MORE expensive not less.......

[Sanddiver]

If someone visits a place and is injured or worse on an excursion then so many think it is the cruise lines fault and they should have done something to prevent the problem, Then, when the cruise lines make the call not to visit a place, after discussing it with authorites, due to safety concerns they get bashed for it. Go Figure.. Do you really think the cruisline WANT to have these things happen? They lose a lot of money as well with their commisions from selling excursions and it actually costs them more to have to keep the ship at sea with casino's retaurants and crew members working when they should be off the clock

[Sanddiver]

QUOTE: We are pissed becuase they knew about this even before the cruise left and lied and didn't inform us until 6pm the evening before. QUOTE END

 

How did they know before the cruise left?

The chatter on the coconut telegraph about this did not start on Roatan until the day before it happened, How is it that Carnival knew about it even before those of us on the Island did?

[floridacruzin]

It's short for Hellgenddam. It's a ship Carnival's borrowing from HAL. Figured it would be a good way to get the old people smell off of it.

 

LMAO..that was good

[TX Traveling Mom]

What an amazing variety of opinions!

 

OP - I'm so sorry that your trip, as well as many others, was affected by this H1N1 (Swine Flu) epidemic. I'm sure the civil unrest in Roatan made your frustration even worse.

 

However, you were on a cruise ship in the Caribbean :) -- There were hundreds of people around the world who were dealing with this epidemic at homes, schools and hospitals. Here we were dealing with high school students trying to prepare for AP exams, not knowing if they would close our school because of the flu and kids would not be able to take their AP exams, and not knowing if their exam scores would be ready before making college course selections in the fall because of schools being closed around the country affecting the College Board's grading process. But surely these are trivial matters compared to tropical ports of call and magical shore excursions. :rolleyes:

 

I am still planning to sail on the Carnival Legend in June. We already know that we won't stop in Cozumel. Our children are disappointed to not be swimming with the dolphins, but..."you get what you get, and you don't throw a fit!"

 

If we don't stop in Roatan, that means we still get to have a relaxing day on a cruise ship far away from schools and work and housework. etc.

 

Obviously you were unhappy with Carnival's customer service, which I can understand, to some extent. However, I've cruised both Carnival and RCCL (and Disney too). I've loved each and every trip! I will hopefullly be able to cruise both Carnival and RCCL again.

 

My philosophy is that "you get what you pay for." Last summer, we paid almost twice as much to cruise with RCCL as we are with Carnival this year. For thie higher price, we were sailing on a fabulous, new ship, with much to offer. We expected the best of customer service. This year, with the economy as it is, our sailing price seems comfortably low. I've watched it come down almost 25% during the past 3 months! That being said, I am looking to see what corners they have had to cut to bring the price down. It would be nice if they were to give us free drinks and other freebies to make up for the changes, but I don't see how they can. They seem to have already cut prices dramatically!!!

 

Neither Carnival nor RCCL can be held responsible for the flu epidemic or for the civil unrest in Roatan. They can only be responsible for their reactions to the situations. IMHO - I'm glad that they tried to quiet the large crowd who were angry on your cruise. If one post I read is to believe, the leaders were confined to their cabins, at least for a time, which would have made me feel safer. I'm traveling with my kids, who would have been "imprisoned," not in their cabin but on a very short leash by their parents because of safety concerns with so many other angry passengers on board. How is that fair?

[Socref124]

I would be pissed too. I believe they could have re-routed the ship from the beginning to another itinerary. Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Grand Turk, Nassau, Freeport, Key West, St.Thomas, ect. Especially if they new of the trouble in Rotatan ahead of time.

I think they(Carnival) take any chance they can to have more sea days

More days at sea = more money for Carnival..

 

You are Dreaming now. Dominican Rep, Grand Turk, Nassau, Freeport and St Thomas are to far away to get to and then back to Tampa. With all the other ships re-routing, did you ever consider that maybe a ship with three stops and two stops would be given Jamaica and Key West over a ship that had four scheduled stops? Nothing wrong with being upset. What's wrong is people thinking Carnival can instantly get you to another port because civil un rest breaks out on your way to Roatan. Fortunately, all these people that want something got to stop at two ports, got served good food everyday, were entertained everyday and were cleaned up after everyday. I would be more pissed at all the passengers in front of the pursers desk acting like inmature children demanding a meeting with the Captain. Somehow, all this poor behavior on the part of passengers is being overlooked by a lot of people on this thread. Just think of the other 2,000 passengers that weren't protesting. How did this poor behavior of 500 people effect their vacation. They missed two ports and had to put up with fellow passengers acting like spoiled children. It's OK to be upset, it's OK to be disappointed and it's OK to go through the proper channels to try and solve your problems, but, IMHO, it is childish to only think of yourselves and not how your actions are affecting others.

[Socref124]

Then half the ship didn't read their cruise contract!!!

 

I am one of the fortunate ones.... 3 cruises and never missed a port... made cayman both times.... but I do understand when I board that ship the possiblity is there and I would be bummed but accept it and move on... have a great day in the sun on the ship with my friends or my kids.... I do cruise more for the ports but do understand the possiblities....

 

OMG, could you imagine if they would not have been able to port in Grand Cayman.:eek:

[Midnight Writer]

Aren't these people happy just to be out of the neighborhood or out of their area? I would be so gracious and happy just to be away from work and family everyday just to have fun. No one I mean NO ONE is going to ruin my holiday vacation and I say this to those who want to complain it will you get you nothing. The Cruise lines do not want to hear it, they are not even American based ships there is nothing you can do about it, they are all for the greed and money

 

I say this, If you are not happy do not attend anymore cruises.

Stop b* and complaining as no one wants to hear what you have to say.

 

I am one of the ones who intend to travel on the Legend cause I want to have fun with my Girl Friends and we intend to do it wheter we go to the islands or not.

ViVa La Legend!!

[stlrboo]

The three of us, DW, myself and the DS are sailing on the Legend on June 14th! We have already been informed that we are not going to COZ, but were sent a letter informing us of this action, as well as the opportunity to cancel the cruise for a 'credit'!.. We opted NOT to do so...:)

 

If CCL deems it impossibe, due to strife or unrest in Roatan, to dock for any reason even after we board the ship, we will accept the $20.00 pp port charges (as OBC) and move on..!:p LOVE being on a cruise ship instead of being at home/working/dealing with every day matters...:o

 

I've read every post on this thread, and I realize people become upset over silly things, but blaming Carnival (or any cruisline), for missing a port (due to unforseen circumstances) is frivilous...:p

 

Sit back, enjoy the vacation as well as the ship, and move on! DRAT, I'm sooooo ready to go right now...!:D

I would be happy on the Legend for 7 days, with NO, ports... I'm 'on vacation', and I'm going in with a positive attitude.. :)

[JoeyJoeJoeJr]

OK, how would a company plan for an entire industry being rerouted to other ports? Not just one or two ships, but every ship from every company being rerouted. Get a clue.

 

Comparing airline emergency route planning with alternative ports for ships is not worthy of comment.

 

Thanks for the civil discourse and judgment-free sharing of opinions.

 

To have a backup plan for every trip does not infer that they need to all be used simultaneously. Carnival obviously cannot cover every contingency, but they should have in the back of their minds some alternatives and plans for implementation. In this case there is some dispute over what Carnival knew when, but what if by standard procedure they reached a decision milestone before leaving a port that determined their next course of action? In this case it sounds like they may have chanced visiting Roatan on the small possibility that things would get better. What if they had a milestone as they were leaving Belize that said by x:00 we should be fairly certain of our ability to dock in Roatan, otherwise we try to sail to <other port>. I have read stories of being unable to tender due to weather and the same principle would apply. If weather forecast is predicted bad, have an alternate ready and make a decision before you get to the location and are stuck. Maybe Carnival does this. Maybe there is not enough redundancy in the system to accomodate irregular operations. Clearly some itineraries are harder to reroute than others. But it would seem to me to be to the benefit of the cruise industry as a whole to tackle this.

 

Did they stop serving meals? Did Lido buffets close? Did the bars, casino, and lounges close? Did they lock up the lounge chairs on the sun decks? Did camp carnival close? No. Life and service went on. The interruptions were caused by people who should have chose alternative vacations.

 

As I said, they pretended like nothing happened. The customer-oriented approach would be to offer something additional as an acknowledgement that they failed to deliver on an aspect of their sold itinerary.

 

The ship doesn't have to move on it's own steam. I would prefer they tug it out to sea then back if that's an option, but otherwise I will enjoy the on board activities and relax. If we don't leave port, I'll expect the casino and shops will remain closed.

 

You're setting the bar awfully low. The point is, contractually Carnival probably only guarantees that you get a place to sleep. After that they only need to do the minimum required by law to sustain life, which could probably be satisfied with servings of cold scambled eggs and a working toilet.

 

In reality, everyone has expectations beyond what is guaranteed in the contract. You're ok with no ports of call. Would you be ok with no pool? ..... and no alcohol? .... and no evening entertainment? .... Everyone has a line where they will feel they did not receive value for their money. Is Carnival obligated to compensate those people? Possibly, but not in most instances. It is in their best interest however to provide some redress for unsatisfied customers to keep repeat business and avoid bad publicity.

 

They paid for seven days lodging on a ship. An industry where that would be OK, would be the hotel / motel / condo business. More people have had to sit in their rooms on weather drenched vacation days on land than have been rerouted to a day at sea on a ship

 

Not a great analogy since most people unsatisfied with their lodging can switch to another hotel mid-stay. My hotel stays also do not usually come with an itinerary.

[cruiser009]

I was on this cruise to "Exotic Caribbean" and I believe Carnival Management did a very poor job of handing the issue of change in itinerary.

 

Lots of Carnival "fans" on this board have dinged the "complainers" without completely understanding the issue at hand - no one is saying Carnival was at fault for not stopping at Cozumel or Roatan.

 

The issue is what measures did Carnival Management take to provide the customers with a good cruise experience?

 

1) Did the Management really try that hard to find an alternate port (instead of Roatan)? I and many of my fellow passenger didn't think so. The Captain of the ship categorically said that they did not consider the option of staying an extra day in Belize when we had just left from Belize (announcement of not going to Roatan came an hour after leaving Belize - but the crew knew this as soon as we left Roatan, if not earlier. I am saying this because as soon as we got back on the ship from Belize, I saw one crew member telling another that the next day is going to be a day at Sea with no port of call in Roatan).

 

The captain gave a very lame excuse for not staying an extra day in Belize. He said that not every passenger would have liked to stay in Belize. First of all, passengers were not asked this questions by anyone on the ship and second, those people that did not want to land at Belize could have stayed on the ship and enjoyed their "Fun Day at Sea".

 

Just FYI - Belize had the capacity to handle one more ship the next day as there were no other ships scheduled to be in Belize the next day as per my conversation with the locals in Belize.

 

2) Management should have been proactive in identifying an alternative port - Considering that 2 other Carnival ships could not dock at Roatan that week should have been a good enough reason for Carnival Management to have had a Plan B.

 

3) As a goodwill gesture, Carnival could have given a partial refund to all guests considering a) we got only 2 out the 4 ports and b) Carnival made a ton of money in on-board revenue by keeping everyone on the ship for 2 extra days. Instead they gave us $40 of our port fees for Cozumel and Roatan.

 

4) When I booked the cruise, I was told by the carnival agent that instead of Cozumel the ship will stop in Key West - which I later found was not accurate information. Carnival needs to ensure that the customer service agents are not providing wrong information to passengers.

My overall takeaway from this experience was that Carnival (a $14 billion company that also owns Princess and Holland America cruise lines and 88 ships in total - for people who did not know this) was more focused on making money than providing the customers with a good experience. Customers who had taken time –off from work and shelled out a lot of money to be on this cruise in these tough times were not treated fairly.

I will never cruise on Carnival again.:mad:

[G'ma]

 

Cruise from HELL!!!!

 

Be Aware if you think you are going on a 7 day caribbean Cruise you are not you are going on a circular booze cruise to belize with a bonus stop in grand cayman!!!!!!!!!

 

BE AWARE when you book a cruise that itineraries can and do change often...and the change can be for many reasons........ The passenger ticket contract outlines that very well. .... It's always a really good idea to read the information to prevent embarassing and obnoxious behavior.... And, Carnival has a separate section with information about this on their front page...down at the bottom, labeled:

 

"Port Cancellation Policy".......

 

BE AWARE that the ticket contract to which we all agree when we reserve our cruise states the following:

 

14. CARNIVAL’S USE OF GUEST’S LIKENESS

Carnival and/or its promotional partners have the exclusive right to include photographic, video and other visual portrayals of Guest in any medium of any nature whatsoever for the purpose of trade, advertising, sales, publicity or otherwise, without compensation to Guest, and all rights, title and interest therein (including all worldwide copyrights therein) shall be Carnival’s sole property, free from any claims by Guest or any person deriving any rights or interest from Guest.

 

Further, be aware that the Captain is the Master of the vessel and has the right to remove a guest from the ship for disruptive behavior or confine the guest to quarters...... Proven disruptive behavior can also get people banned from cruising Carnival in the future.

 

A bunch of guest having temper tantrums because of decisions made by Corporate and/or the Captain is disruptive, immature and annoys other passengers.

 

Grow up.

[cruiser05]

anyone know if the Valor docked in Roatan? Or if the Legend is going to tommorrow?

[knight2096]

Thanks for the civil discourse and judgment-free sharing of opinions.

 

To have a backup plan for every trip does not infer that they need to all be used simultaneously. Carnival obviously cannot cover every contingency, but they should have in the back of their minds some alternatives and plans for implementation. In this case there is some dispute over what Carnival knew when, but what if by standard procedure they reached a decision milestone before leaving a port that determined their next course of action? In this case it sounds like they may have chanced visiting Roatan on the small possibility that things would get better. What if they had a milestone as they were leaving Belize that said by x:00 we should be fairly certain of our ability to dock in Roatan, otherwise we try to sail to <other port>. I have read stories of being unable to tender due to weather and the same principle would apply. If weather forecast is predicted bad, have an alternate ready and make a decision before you get to the location and are stuck. Maybe Carnival does this. Maybe there is not enough redundancy in the system to accomodate irregular operations. Clearly some itineraries are harder to reroute than others. But it would seem to me to be to the benefit of the cruise industry as a whole to tackle this.

 

 

 

As I said, they pretended like nothing happened. The customer-oriented approach would be to offer something additional as an acknowledgement that they failed to deliver on an aspect of their sold itinerary.

 

 

 

You're setting the bar awfully low. The point is, contractually Carnival probably only guarantees that you get a place to sleep. After that they only need to do the minimum required by law to sustain life, which could probably be satisfied with servings of cold scambled eggs and a working toilet.

 

In reality, everyone has expectations beyond what is guaranteed in the contract. You're ok with no ports of call. Would you be ok with no pool? ..... and no alcohol? .... and no evening entertainment? .... Everyone has a line where they will feel they did not receive value for their money. Is Carnival obligated to compensate those people? Possibly, but not in most instances. It is in their best interest however to provide some redress for unsatisfied customers to keep repeat business and avoid bad publicity.

 

 

 

Not a great analogy since most people unsatisfied with their lodging can switch to another hotel mid-stay. My hotel stays also do not usually come with an itinerary.

 

 

Very good post.