SLSH

Well Carnival did admit they are partially to blame and are looking into their booking agent. They wouldn't tell me what "normally happens" with agents, but she did say it would be unusual that my agent didn't call me.

With plane tickets and school vacations, rebooking another time wouldn't have been an option.

Of course I know we can't have our rooms back and it's fine if you can't have sympathy for me.

I guess I'm wondering if, in people's experince,booking with Carnival's agents is typically like this. You talk with them once and never hear anything again.

Believe me, I'm trying to chalk this up as a life experience, but when you are still in the middle of it, it's hard to have that attitude 100% of the time.

Hello,

I am wondering if anyone can give me any advice. I am about to go on my 7th cruise (4th carnival cruise) and experienced a problem yesterday that I have never encountered before.

Normally I use a local Travel Agent or book myself online, but last July, the website was having problems so I called and booked through a Carnival Travel agent. I put our deposit down, and the agent said that the remainder would automatically be billed when it was due in November.

In November I received an email from Carnival that said, "Booking confirmation" and "welcome aboard". I misunderstood that down at the bottom, it was telling me to to pay. I assumed it was a receipt and confirmation that my final payment went through. I never heard anything else.

My husband and I surprised our kids with the cruise, so on Christmas day, I was trying to show them our booking info. The site just kept saying error. I assumed their website was having problems.

Finally, last night I thought it odd I hadn't heard anything from Carnival. I called and they told me my booking was canceled for non payment and they kept the almost $1,300 deposit. After a lot of work, she did get me re-booked on the ship, but we lost our nice rooms and we are in complete opposite ends/floors of the ship. We don't have our dining time anymore, and I had to pay a lot of money for interior rooms (almost the same price as our ocean view room).

I'm not saying that this is all Carnvial's fault. I do have a lot of the blame myself because I should have been more involved. Normally I check my credit cards, but the past few months I haven't, so I didn't notice we hadn't been fully charged.

I feel like one of the advantages of booking with the cruise line or any agent, is that they can keep you apprised of things better. I was surprised to learn that they don't send you out emails saying your booking is canceled or about to be canceled or that they are keeping your deposit. The agent I worked with never called me or let me know that my booking was going to be canceled for non payment. Or that I wasn't (when I was supposed to be) set up on automatic payments. The one email they did send me looked like everything was normal and fine.

I get promotional emails from them every day. I just think a little more contact would be good.

To say I'm devastated is an understatement. I've just never experienced anything like this before and I still can't believe it happened. Guest relations is checking to see if they can get our rooms a little closer together, but they aren't hopeful because the cruise is so soon.

Does anyone have any advice for me? Has anyone experienced this before? Should I try to push for an interior room rate from the time that I booked? (I have some screen prints and a family member who booked also). If they can't get our rooms closer, is there anything else I should try?

(I already know all the things I should have done in the beginning. I know I made mistakes also. I would change everything if I could go back in time. I am just wanting to take some of the sting our of this situation and still try to make the best of this expensive vacation. I just feel like it's been tainted.)

TIA,

SLSH