What exactly does Carnival Ticket Contract say about....

[MyImagination]

Since many people have been asking about the Ticket Contract I thought I would print a few paragraphs from it. Very interesting reading.

 

http://www.carnival.com/CMS/Static_Templates/ticket_contract.aspx

 

 

18. If the performance of the proposed voyage is hindered or prevented (or in the opinion of Carnival or the Master is likely to be hindered or prevented) by war, hostilities, blockage, ice, labor conflicts, strikes on board or ashore, restraint of Princes, Rulers or People, seizure under legal process, breakdown of the Vessel, congestion, docking difficulties or any other cause whatsoever or if Carnival or the Master considers that for any reason whatsoever, proceeding to, attempting to enter, or entering or remaining at the port of Guest’s destination may expose the Vessel to risk or loss or damage or be likely to delay her, the Guest and his baggage may be landed at the port of embarkation or at any port or place at which the Vessel may call, at which time the responsibility of Carnival shall cease and this contract shall be deemed to have been fully performed, or if the Guest has not embarked, Carnival may cancel the proposed voyage without liability to refund passage money or fares paid in advance.

 

 

15.It is agreed by and between the Guest and Carnival that all disputes and matters whatsoever arising under, in connection with or incident to this Contract or the Guest’s cruise, including travel to and from the vessel, shall be litigated, if at all, before the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, or as to those lawsuits to which the Federal Courts of the United States lack subject matter jurisdiction, before a court located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, U.S.A. to the exclusion of the Courts of any other county, state or country

 

20. Carnival and the Vessel shall have a lien upon all baggage, money and other property whatsoever accompanying the Guest and the right to sell the same by public auction or otherwise for all sums whatsoever due from the Guest under this contract and for the costs and expenses of enforcing such lien and such sale.

 

2. (a) The Guest admits a full understanding of the character of the Vessel and assumes all risks incident to travel and transportation and handling of Guests and cargo. The Vessel may or may not carry a ship’s physician or other medical personnel at the election of Carnival. While at sea or in port the availability of medical care may be limited or delayed. Guest acknowledges that all or part of their voyage may be in areas where medical care and evacuation may not be available. Guest agrees to indemnify and reimburse Carnival in the event Carnival elects to advance the cost of emergency medical care, including medical care provided ashore as well as transportation and/or lodging in connection therewith.

 

3. Any travel agent or sales agent utilized by the Guest in connection with this contract is solely the agent of the Guest and not Carnival. Carnival is not responsible for the financial condition or integrity of any travel agent utilized by Guest. In the event that an agent shall fail to remit to Carnival any monies paid to the agent by Guest, Guest shall be and remain liable for the fare due to Carnival, regardless of whether liability is asserted before or after embarkation. Issuance and validity of ticket contract is conditional upon final payment being received by Carnival prior to sailing. Any refund made by Carnival to an agent on behalf of Guest shall be deemed payment to Guest, regardless whether the monies are delivered by the agent to Guest. Receipt of this ticket contract, any other documentation or notification pertaining to the cruise by Guest’s travel agent shall constitute receipt by Guest.

 

7. Carnival reserves the right to increase published fares without prior notice. In the event of an increase, the Guest has the option of accepting the increased fare or canceling reservations without penalty. Carnival reserves the right to use any substitute ship in the performance of this contract.

 

 

 

 

17. (a) Carnival shall not be liable to the passenger for damages for emotional distress, mental suffering/anguish or psychological injury of any kind under any circumstances, except when such damages were caused by the negligence of Carnival and resulted from the same passenger sustaining actual physical injury, or having been at risk of actual physical injury, or when such damages are held to be intentionally inflicted by Carnival.

[ccletzgo]

that amazes me. If the ship cant cruise, then oh well. Sorry you just spent $2500.00!:rolleyes: In our buisness, we could never treat people like this...

 

Now I am interested to read other cruise company's contracts. I have some searching to do....................

[bUU]

Here's RCI's:

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/pdf/RCI_guestticket.pdf

 

Different industries -- even different customer-facing industries -- definitely operate differently, and indeed I would suspect you'll see radically different provisions between the mainstream cruise sector and the premium cruise sector.

 

Terms and conditions are very-much a reflection of the market, dependent greatly on how much customers are willing to pay. The more customers are willing to pay, the higher service levels can be, and that includes how far terms and conditions are weighted in favor of the customer. Mainstream markets, especially these days, seems to be all about getting the lowest price, rather than being all that discriminating with respect to service-levels. Many folks prefer to pay less now and risk being more disappointed later, and punish companies that seek to offer a better product at a higher price.

[ccletzgo]

Yep, I'm not surprised. Why should Carnival care, there is always another cruiser around the corner waiting to pay the $$'s.

 

 

I started a thread a while ago about how Carnival does not have any past guest loyalty program. You could have 20 past carnival cruises and it gets you nothing. No suite perks either. Nothing but priority embarkation and that is not at all the ports. Yet, people keep on booking, and throwing there money at them. :confused: I think alot of it has to do with first cruises. People seem less intimidated with Carnival, and then they go back because of

familiarity. As long as people keep buying, Carnival will continue to conduct business as usual. I am guessing, if you compare, that Carnival has the biggest percentage of first time cruisers, compared to other lines.

 

(dont even get me started on there common practice of over booking ships)

[bUU]

I dunno. It think it is more a matter that the situations happen relatively infrequently, and many customers are relatively understanding that businesses often protect themselves from liability in order to keep costs down. Often, a company needs only to provide a little compensation under these circumstances for many customers to perceive it as "more than they needed to do for us." Better to promise less and provide a little more than promised.

 

Loyalty in consumer markets is a dirty little secret, actually: There is practically no loyalty. Customers are very quick to jump-ship (pardon the pun) to the next supplier who's willing to charge just a little less.

 

What you said there in bold is right on-target, and applies to every mainstream, consumer-facing business: They'll continue to conduct business as usual as long as people are willing to make their buying decisions almost totally on price.

[steveaaaa]

. People seem less intimidated with Carnival, and then they go back because of

familiarity. As long as people keep buying, Carnival will continue to conduct business as usual. I am guessing, if you compare, that Carnival has the biggest percentage of first time cruisers, compared to other lines.

 

(dont even get me started on there common practice of over booking ships)

 

CCL has the best price and variety. They are not the biggest in the world for nothing.I have sailed on several lines and I prefer RCI but the pricing and the ability to utilize reward points from credit cards is the reason I stay here.

Steve

[MyImagination]

Yep, I'm not surprised. Why should Carnival care, there is always another cruiser around the corner waiting to pay the $$'s.

 

 

I started a thread a while ago about how Carnival does not have any past guest loyalty program. You could have 20 past carnival cruises and it gets you nothing. No suite perks either. Nothing but priority embarkation and that is not at all the ports. Yet, people keep on booking, and throwing there money at them. :confused: I think alot of it has to do with first cruises. People seem less intimidated with Carnival, and then they go back because of

familiarity. As long as people keep buying, Carnival will continue to conduct business as usual. I am guessing, if you compare, that Carnival has the biggest percentage of first time cruisers, compared to other lines.

 

(dont even get me started on there common practice of over booking ships)

 

Im just curious, is the lower price the only reason you are sailing with carnival on your upcoming cruise? If not, what was the attraction.

[Sharon Temple]

I read the fine print, too, although a little too late. Struck me funny that there is NO (that I could find) provision at all for the measly little passenger to even voice a complaint. I have a business and my fine print covers my butt, but we also recognize that clients have a right to complain (in fact, we want to know any problems so we can correct them) and we even give them a number to call. I know we are small potatoes next to CCL, but the concept is the same. Make the client happy. I imagine, in the end, all I will be able to do is not sail CCL ever again. I'll also tell everyone I can about the shabby treatment. Will that matter to them? Nah. I'm not giving up yet, though.

[SouthernCaribbean]

I read the fine print, too, although a little too late. Struck me funny that there is NO (that I could find) provision at all for the measly little passenger to even voice a complaint. I have a business and my fine print covers my butt, but we also recognize that clients have a right to complain (in fact, we want to know any problems so we can correct them) and we even give them a number to call. I know we are small potatoes next to CCL, but the concept is the same. Make the client happy. I imagine, in the end, all I will be able to do is not sail CCL ever again. I'll also tell everyone I can about the shabby treatment. Will that matter to them? Nah. I'm not giving up yet, though.

 

I was reading about your ordeal. I feel bad for you. As you have seen Carnival does a great job of insulating themselves from lawsuits.

 

I hope you have a wonderful time on your next cruise, regardless of the line you choose.

[Sharon Temple]

I actually just got off of the phone with a fellow cruiser-to-nowhere who lives in south AL. Here's new info: the Holiday did not go out yesterday. Our c.t.n. attorney has been in touch with CCL. She's representing at least 600 pax, and the list keeps growing. CCL hasn't commited to anything and is investigating and trying to decide what to do. So maybe their customer service will go up a notch.

 

I plan to cruise again (when $ is available) but don't know which line. Depends on lots of things. You can bet, though, I'll check it out on CC first. Wish I'd known about this site before HOLIDAY.

[bUU]

Struck me funny that there is NO (that I could find) provision at all for the measly little passenger to even voice a complaint.

The passenger's leverage is to refuse to purchase the cruise. That's a pretty typical situation when you're in a mainstream, high-volume consumer-market, where there are tens-of-thousands of customers to one seller.

 

I imagine, in the end, all I will be able to do is not sail CCL ever again.

However, what alternatives will you pursue instead?

 

It isn't clear to me that any of the alternatives provide a comparable product at substantially the same price-point, without the same terms and conditions applicable. I've chosen RCI twice, based on price and itinerary, but RCI, Carnival, NCL, ... doesn't seem to matter much. They're pretty-much all the same: The market forces them to be pretty-much the same because if one was really that-much-better than the others, it would experience higher demand, which would prompt it to raise its prices (which is, actually, what seems to have happened with RCI, since it seems, just recently, that RCI is a bit pricier than Carnival).

 

So maybe their customer service will go up a notch.

Maybe, maybe not. More likely, they'll just do what they need to to address this specific set of customers, due to the unusual situation. For many of the customers, what the cruise line may end up offering up as a settlement/good will gesture may end up making some customers feel that the cruise line was especially nice to them, given the understanding that the customers have now that the cruise line really isn't obligated to provide anything.

[cruising3times]

We personally have had nothing but great response from Carnival. In the summer of 2000 Our Paradise cruise was cancelled as were several weeks of cruises cancelled due to a problem with the ship. We found out about three weeks prior to sailing, we were given a full refund, a half price cruise and if there were any charges to change our airfare which was not booked thru carnival, carnival was going to pay. Everything worked out perfectly, we went Christmas week for half price, much less than we were paying for our August cruise and the airline did not charge us even one cent to change our airfare. This was all taken care of the same day that our cruise was cancelled, we did have a very efficient travel agent. We continue to sail on Carnival because we have a great family vacation at a reasonable price. And remember Carnival Corp owns many of the cruise lines..

[steveaaaa]

Im just curious, is the lower price the only reason you are sailing with carnival on your upcoming cruise? If not, what was the attraction.

Yes it is the lower price and only that reason.I prefer RCI Voyager class ships but with rewards points, sailing CCL is a no brainer.Yes other lines have cards and rewards but CCLs is/was so good to me.I use my cards for business and charge up to $30,000 a month.If it was not for a 10,000 point cap per month per card, I would have earned a $1000 off a CCL cruise every 6 weeks.When you can sail for almost free it is too good to pass up.

Steve

[Sharon Temple]

Wow, I'm jealous. :D