For those of you that think we have "Rights"

[blindrid]

I foudn this reading pretty interesting and though of those that complain about their rights on a cruise. I doubt if those people would read this anyway but: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38792765/ns/travel-cruise_travel/

 

Have a great day.

[Sarah@Sea]

I wrote a mini research paper for my health law class last year and since my procrastination landed me during homework onboard I decided to write about medical services on board. Yep, all outlined in the cruise contract, which seems most people do not read. Why would the cruise line cover your airfare, I've been delayed many times on flights and have never received any compensation...actually usually get hit 2x...late flight and lost/misguided luggage.

[big_duck]

Amusing that no one would ever even think of asking an airline for compensation for missing a cruise. :cool:

[msmayor]

People ALWAYS have rights when it comes to the cruise contract. No one is holding a gun to their heads forcing them to make final payment and go on this vacation. You don't like the terms? Don't go; choose a different vacation.

 

Those who cruise agree to the terms of their own free will.

[Warm Breezes]

A cruiser has the right to purchase/not purchase a cruise and to purchase/not purchase travel insurance. Any financial responsibility after purchasing the cruise and agreeing to comply with their contract will usually be the cruisers or their insurance companies to bear (depending on if they purchased insurance or not). I know this when I purchase my cruise tickets and, therefore, I purchase insurance to cover myself should the need arise.

[uppitycats]

When I first considered cruising, I carefully read through all the fine print on the web page, on the contract, on the cruise brochure provided to me..everywhere where such stuff occurred. It never occurred to me to do otherwise. So when I read here about people complaining about stuff it astonishes me to realize that I must be among a very small minority who actually DO That -- read the small print..ask questions about it..BEFORE I actually put down the first dollar.

 

Interesting article, but nothing new that i didnt' already know.

[MsTabbyKats]

I'm surprised the cruise pays for funeral/burial if you die at sea.

Unless it's their fault...that is......

If an ill, elderly person dies...they pay. Unless I'm misinterpreting......

[grammax3]

Very interesting article, but most of the things should be known by cruisers before they cruise. It is given to them before they cruise. It always astonishes me when people blame the cruiseline for weather changes, custom problems, i.e. not getting off ship on time, missing a port, on one of the boards a woman complaining about the fog horn being blown to often, etc. Know what you are buying before you buy it!

[firefly333]

I'm surprised the cruise pays for funeral/burial if you die at sea.

Unless it's their fault...that is......

If an ill, elderly person dies...they pay. Unless I'm misinterpreting......

 

I have a friend whose FIL died. they did have Carnival insurance, but they said how great Carnival was. they interred the body and shipped it home and took care of the widow. They said Carnival was great.

[MsTabbyKats]

I have a friend whose FIL died. they did have Carnival insurance, but they said how great Carnival was. they interred the body and shipped it home and took care of the widow. They said Carnival was great.

 

Wow...I'm impressed.

 

My friends father died in Puerto Rico...while waiting for the cab to the airport to fly home. Sudden heart attack..... Her mother had a nightmare getting the body back home.

[Timmys_mom]

I have a friend whose FIL died. they did have Carnival insurance, but they said how great Carnival was. they interred the body and shipped it home and took care of the widow. They said Carnival was great.

To inter a body is to bury it. What exactly did they do?

[gogetter]

When I first considered cruising, I carefully read through all the fine print on the web page, on the contract, on the cruise brochure provided to me..everywhere where such stuff occurred. It never occurred to me to do otherwise. So when I read here about people complaining about stuff it astonishes me to realize that I must be among a very small minority who actually DO That -- read the small print..ask questions about it..BEFORE I actually put down the first dollar.

 

Interesting article, but nothing new that i didnt' already know.

 

Just curious how long it took to read over everything and understand it?

[uppitycats]

Just curious how long it took to read over everything and understand it?

 

Really not that long. A couple of hours. And then a re-read the next day. I don't have any legal training...just patience to wade through the "therefores" and "so as to", and other such clauses that get the cruise line out of major responsibilities...

[gtalum]

I'm amazed at the number of people who agree to contracts without reading them first. These same people are inevitably the ones who whine when a company acts precisely within the terms of the contract that person signed.

 

Many of the problems in Chris Elliott's article are addressed by a simple travel insurance policy.

[richstowe]

Wow a preprinted legal agreement where the consumer has no rights. My goodness :eek:

Have you even read a car rental agreement , plane ticket, car insurance , home insurance etc etc etc .

In the end swallow hard and suck it up because you have no other choise.Are you going to rewrite the

agreement ? That laughter you hear is them reading your revised legal agreement.

If things don't work out you will have to be persistent and complain in a productive

and efficient manner. You may get good results. Bitchen about the form is pointless (unless

you like bitchen)

:cool:

[bankerbabe]

Ug. A typical Christopher Elliott cruise article.

 

His other stuff is pretty good, I enjoy his trouble-shooting articles, but his articles on cruising are ALWAYS negatively skewed.

[PA Dutchman]

I would assume by the questions on CC 75% of cruisers don't read the ticket information. First time I read it was after we booked one of our first cruises all I said was WOW. We need to get insurance. Now we read it alot to see what changed and if it would affect us. I love when somebody has a problem and right away people answer to SUE Carnival. Good luck

[Vanessa L]

When I first considered cruising, I carefully read through all the fine print on the web page, on the contract, on the cruise brochure provided to me..everywhere where such stuff occurred. It never occurred to me to do otherwise. So when I read here about people complaining about stuff it astonishes me to realize that I must be among a very small minority who actually DO That -- read the small print..ask questions about it..BEFORE I actually put down the first dollar.

 

Interesting article, but nothing new that i didnt' already know.

 

You likely have no idea just how small a minority you are. This has been one of my soap box diatribes for years....how can ANYONE spend even $100 (let alone thousands) on a vacation and not do any research, on the place, transportation, what their rights are if anything goes wrong, so many "need to know" pieces of information and yet, as you pointed out, you are in a VERY small percent of the population that actually checks that stuff. It shocks and amazes me on a daily basis.

[blindrid]

You likely have no idea just how small a minority you are. This has been one of my soap box diatribes for years....how can ANYONE spend even $100 (let alone thousands) on a vacation and not do any research, on the place, transportation, what their rights are if anything goes wrong, so many "need to know" pieces of information and yet, as you pointed out, you are in a VERY small percent of the population that actually checks that stuff. It shocks and amazes me on a daily basis.

 

Hi Vanessa:

 

That was the point of me posting the article even though it was pretty elementary. So many people come on here and complain about stuff they should have known, or better yet, already agreed to per the terms of the contract. Whether it be a cancelled port, whatever, typically people have no clue.

 

I pretty much learned that after years of business travel (flights and the like) that you are pretty much hung out to dry and rely totally on the courtesy of the company/people you are dealing with.

[elcuchio24]

Come on, you don't want everyone reading the rules. Then we wouldn't have funny threads like "One night I heard noise coming from the cabin next door, I told guest services but they acted like there was nothing they could do. I demand compensation!!"

 

"Our balcony was too windy, and one time I smelled cigar smoke. I demand a free upgrade or I'm gonna sue!"

 

:):):)

 

People. They're the worst.

[GaNavy]

You likely have no idea just how small a minority you are. This has been one of my soap box diatribes for years....how can ANYONE spend even $100 (let alone thousands) on a vacation and not do any research, on the place, transportation, what their rights are if anything goes wrong, so many "need to know" pieces of information and yet, as you pointed out, you are in a VERY small percent of the population that actually checks that stuff. It shocks and amazes me on a daily basis.

 

Vanessa, I'm with you and uppitykats. That cruise contract is fairly long - seems like all the more reason to read it... but apparently many just say, what could possibly be in there that I need to read? :rolleyes:

 

Folks, this isn't a question of "rights." This is a contract, and contracts involve no rights other than the ones that the parties agree to give each other with respect to their relationship. I think most of us would agree we're getting a fair deal - Carnival hauls us all over the seven seas, feeds us, entertains us, cleans up after us.... but no, they're not some genie in a lamp who's going to give us 3 wishes if something goes wrong that the contract says is our responsibility.

 

It's pretty simple. Read the contract; you're bound by it whether you read it or not so you might as well invest an hour or so in reading it. And buy travel insurance.

 

It's interesting to me that whenever the subject of travel insurance comes up on these boards, a whole lot of people just dismiss the idea as a waste of money. I'm willing to bet that most of them have never read the cruise contract.

[okgirl]

You likely have no idea just how small a minority you are. This has been one of my soap box diatribes for years....how can ANYONE spend even $100 (let alone thousands) on a vacation and not do any research, on the place, transportation, what their rights are if anything goes wrong, so many "need to know" pieces of information and yet, as you pointed out, you are in a VERY small percent of the population that actually checks that stuff. It shocks and amazes me on a daily basis.

 

I guess I'm one of the ANYONE'S you are referring to....I'm not going to waste my time reading a bunch of legal yik-yak...Like a PP said, what is my recourse if I disagree with the terms???? Not go on a vacation that the vast majority of people have no problems with. Are things going to go wrong, perhaps, then my rights are what they are!

 

For years I didn't take out trip insurance because I was young and healthy and the thought that something could go that wrong seemed remote. Through experience I now never travel without it and I'm probably (compared to the average cruiser) a bit over insured. Now THAT'S the fine print I do read!!!!

 

I just think life is too short to worry about the stuff that you can't change or to let yourself be bothered by the small bumps in the road.

 

I was about to say "I've been lucky" , but then I realize that my experience is the norm not the exception. 20 cruises and so far I got fogged in in Galveston once and had to miss Nassau (big whoop) once. I received the compensation offered both times and just bought a few more DoD's.

[richstowe]

I guess I'm one of the ANYONE'S you are referring to....I'm not going to waste my time reading a bunch of legal yik-yak...Like a PP said, what is my recourse if I disagree with the terms???? Not go on a vacation that the vast majority of people have no problems with. Are things going to go wrong, perhaps, then my rights are what they are!

 

For years I didn't take out trip insurance because I was young and healthy and the thought that something could go that wrong seemed remote. Through experience I now never travel without it and I'm probably (compared to the average cruiser) a bit over insured. Now THAT'S the fine print I do read!!!!

 

I just think life is too short to worry about the stuff that you can't change or to let yourself be bothered by the small bumps in the road.

quote]

 

Exactly! What are you going to do if you don't like what is in a preprinted agreement?

 

By the way how did you people who think its important to fret about things you can't change actually get onto CC.

 

Don't know about you but I had to agree to the terms dictated to me by more then 5 various software and hardware companys

in order to use my computer and internet and CC.

 

Finally my lawyer friends tell me these preprinted legal agreements don't have much legal value. They are there to scare you.

You will lose a lawsuit not because of some form you signed but because they have time ,money and lawyers on staff!

 

Feel free to keep reading these forms though

[elcuchio24]

I guess I'm one of the ANYONE'S you are referring to....I'm not going to waste my time reading a bunch of legal yik-yak...Like a PP said, what is my recourse if I disagree with the terms???? Not go on a vacation that the vast majority of people have no problems with. Are things going to go wrong, perhaps, then my rights are what they are!

 

For years I didn't take out trip insurance because I was young and healthy and the thought that something could go that wrong seemed remote. Through experience I now never travel without it and I'm probably (compared to the average cruiser) a bit over insured. Now THAT'S the fine print I do read!!!!

 

I just think life is too short to worry about the stuff that you can't change or to let yourself be bothered by the small bumps in the road.

quote]

 

Exactly! What are you going to do if you don't like what is in a preprinted agreement?

 

By the way how did you people who think its important to fret about things you can't change actually get onto CC.

 

Don't know about you but I had to agree to the terms dictated to me by more then 5 various software and hardware companys

in order to use my computer and internet and CC.

 

Finally my lawyer friends tell me these preprinted legal agreements don't have much legal value. They are there to scare you.

You will lose a lawsuit not because of some form you signed but because they have time ,money and lawyers on staff!

 

Feel free to keep reading these forms though

 

Your lawyer friends eh? My company spends millions of dollars building our contracts, and our risk management arm handles dozens of claims each year, the majority of which don't reach litigation be cause of that same 'useless contract' that was signed. They do hold up. Don't take them lightly.

[gtalum]

What are you going to do if you don't like what is in a preprinted agreement?

 

Choose a different arrangement, pick a different company, or insure myself against the negative clauses. There are plenty of options, but you can't act on them if you don't know what you're trying to protect yourself from.

 

I never sign or agree to ANYTHING without reading it in full first. This is the same reason why so many people ended up with mortgages they couldn't afford (and our economy is wrecked as a result of): failure to read the fine print.