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when do I panic

boksir

By boksir,
in Cruise Air

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boksir

boksir

Posted
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having a bit of a fit here.... we have two adjoining rooms, therefore two booking numbers... Carnival has done our flights... only I think they are splitting us up!!! ( I say this because only two of us have our flights in... the other two do not) Help.. we are a family of four with two kids 5 & 10.... I do NOT want to have us separated.... I would call them, but the Fly-Away centre for Carnival is closed...

 

Any advice or has anyone experienced this??? They HAVE to keep a family together ... surely???? :eek:

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travelntreats

travelntreats

Posted
Posted
having a bit of a fit here.... we have two adjoining rooms, therefore two booking numbers... Carnival has done our flights... only I think they are splitting us up!!! ( I say this because only two of us have our flights in... the other two do not) Help.. we are a family of four with two kids 5 & 10.... I do NOT want to have us separated.... I would call them, but the Fly-Away centre for Carnival is closed...

 

Any advice or has anyone experienced this??? They HAVE to keep a family together ... surely???? :eek:

Nope... they do not have to keep a family together at all, given that there are 2 seperate booking #'s. That being said, I'd be on the phone in the early a.m. to your TA or CCL and explain the importance of everyone having the same flights due to children flying.

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FlyerTalker Excellent Advice! Rare

FlyerTalker

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I start to panic when I see both the pilot and co-pilot running from the cockpit screaming at the top of their lungs. :D

 

When the cruise was booked, did you CLEARLY make it known that you are a family of 4? And was that clearly known to Carnival, not just your travel agent? If not, then there is most assuredly some culpability on your end.

 

Call your TA and Carnival. And book your own air next time.

 

PS: No, they don't HAVE to put a family together.

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boksir

boksir

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"I start to panic when I see both the pilot and co-pilot running from the cockpit screaming at the top of their lungs"

Hahahahah... thanks for the laugh.. funny.... :p

When I booked with CCL they were very clear that we were a family of 4 with 2 young children... it was actually a point of discussion because in the fine print it mentions separate bookings amoungst a group cannot be guaranteed flight together.... I was very specific about asking questions regarding this when I booked and I was told that adults in a group would possibly be spearated but it was not their practice to separate families with children. And now it seems that they have done just that....

 

I will certainly be calling as soon as they open in the morning.. I just came on here to see if anyone had a similar experience and was able to rectify it to their satisfaction... you neve know unless you ask eh :)

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kenish

kenish

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I will certainly be calling as soon as they open in the morning.. I just came on here to see if anyone had a similar experience and was able to rectify it to their satisfaction... you neve know unless you ask eh :)

 

Maybe they meant that parents will not be sent on one flight and kids on a different flight. But, the two parents may be on different flights with kids split between them.

 

By all means call Carnival...but to help you properly posture yourself, it's not Carnival's obligation to sort this out. Read the fine print and they are booking flights as a "convenience". One of the downsides to cruiseline-arranged flights. That said, Carnival will probably fix the situation...but they can validly pass the buck and say it's between you and the airline. Your position is far better if the kids are alone on a separate flight, clearly unacceptable if they are UM (unaccompanied minors) on the airlines you are using.

 

Please let us know how this turns out, hoping for a happy ending!

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Fattony

Fattony

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It appears they were pretty clear that you're not guaranteed everyone will be together. Not their "practice" just means, to my mind, that they don't try to split up groups, and may try to avoid doing so. Beyond that, you accepted their terms. Agreed, you need to phone them, but know that once you accept their terms you have limited, if any, bargaining power.

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lovermonkey

lovermonkey

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Don't mean to butt in, but I kind of have a question about the flight package thing. When we booked, I guess Carnival will setup our flight to N.O. but I guess we don't find out unitl 45 days before the cruise. I was just concerned and wanted to know if they normally have one way flight etc. How do they pick the flight?

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6rugrats

6rugrats

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. Your position is far better if the kids are alone on a separate flight, clearly unacceptable if they are UM (unaccompanied minors) on the airlines you are using.

 

Just curious, why is this clearly unacceptable? Kids fly as UMs all the time.

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6rugrats

6rugrats

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Don't mean to butt in, but I kind of have a question about the flight package thing. When we booked, I guess Carnival will setup our flight to N.O. but I guess we don't find out unitl 45 days before the cruise. I was just concerned and wanted to know if they normally have one way flight etc. How do they pick the flight?

Please read the sticky at the top of the page, which explains cruise air. You could have any combination of crazy flights. I am guessing you are asking about nonstops, not one way flights.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=530322

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6rugrats

6rugrats

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I just wish they would tell you what it is they picked of you a head of time. SO I can prepare.

Why didn't you book the airfare yourself? I don't know the closest airport to you, but just looking at ORD-MSY, leaving 16 April and returning 23 April, you can get a nonstop flight for $279 pp round trip. Was it so much cheaper through Carnival?

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lovermonkey

lovermonkey

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Why didn't you book the airfare yourself? I don't know the closest airport to you, but just looking at ORD-MSY, leaving 16 April and returning 23 April, you can get a nonstop flight for $279 pp round trip. Was it so much cheaper through Carnival?

 

 

No it was not. I was a (dork) for doing so. I went thru an on-line service which did all the flight information, and low and behold it was done by Carnival. Thought it was going to be done thru the on-line service.

 

Hope you don't think I am complaining. Just wanted to know how Carnival does this and what the odds of me getting a non-stop trip to N.O.

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Ashland

Ashland

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When making your cruise booking you should have had the reservations "linked" there is an option for this and then there are options for flying/dining/shows etc...At least this is what I have found when doing a linked reservation on RCI...

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boksir

boksir

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Oh Joy!!!! Carnival was very very accomodating this morning with my concerns... the booking was indeed linked and it was their error they said with much apology!!!! They said it was indeed not their intention to split up a family with young children, but they do need to reserve the right to split up other bookings. It all depends on what flights are available and they try to get the best flights within certain "cushions" between flight arrival and boat departures... not always availability on all flights to accomodate the number of people traveling in a particular group.

 

regardless.. we are all flying together... I know kids fly as UM's all the time... but this is one mamma who could not let that happen!

 

Now back to enjoying the anticipation of the trip :D

 

Thanks to all who took the time to post... especially the funny ones;)

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kenish

kenish

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Glad it had a happy ending and was a false alarm.

 

The reason I said kids flying separately as UM's was unacceptable is because presumably the parents wouldn't be available at one end or the other to see the kids off or accept them on arrival. Also, there's a chance that the itenerary cruise air arranges for them might not meet UM requirements for the airline involved (interline connection, last flight of the day, etc)

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UKBayern

UKBayern

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The reason I said kids flying separately as UM's was unacceptable is because presumably the parents wouldn't be available at one end or the other to see the kids off or accept them on arrival. Also, there's a chance that the itenerary cruise air arranges for them might not meet UM requirements for the airline involved (interline connection, last flight of the day, etc)

 

Another thing is that some airlines do not accept children under the age of 6 as UMs, even when travelling with older siblings.

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