Fascination Passengers Upset With Carnival

[nae418]

11 years old, we cruised on Princess' Cruise line, Grand Princess ship, that year we upgraded to a Suite which came with a butler delivering the dinner menu each evening to our Suite, with the option of have dinner brought to our cabin.

 

We were all so excited.

 

Well that entire week, it rained and rained and rained and we had rough sea's as well. I invited my niece and her husband, it was their 1st cruise. I felt soo bad for them, it was me and my DH and 3 other couples, we simply made the best it. None of us really got sick, but bags were out all over the ship.

 

No complaints, we enjoyed just being away from homework, cleaning, cooking, etc. Nothing was offered to us from Princess Cruise Lines. The captain came on and said "He was so sorry, that a tropical depression was in the area, he tried to go around it, but it was too widespread. I believe we saw the sun maybe 3 days out of the entire week and on those days, the sun was out for 20 minutes at most, then came the clouds and rain and rain and more rain.

 

I say, it's your vacation, make the best of it! A bad day on a cruise ship is better than a good sunny day at home cooking and cleaning! IMO...LOL..

 

Happy Sailing

[Cinderose]

I dont book fall cruises due to the chance of hurricanes and bad weather. I also dont book summer cruises so I dont have a million kids to put up with. If you book during these times thinking you got a fantastic deal - think again - there are reasons they discount these. Dont complain when weather is at fault - Carnival cant control the weather! Pick a spring cruise! Then sit back and enjoy. But then again things can happen no matter when you cruise... Buy insurance.

[Blurgh]

Alot of people haven't been on cruises before. Alot of you have been on alot, thus you don't see the disconnect. And the media loves this stuff, especially in Florida. There was a thread about this cruise here. It seemed like a sub-par trip, especially considering they couldn't fit that small boat under the bridge. :D

 

It is what it is. This is childs play compared to what is going to happen when the RC ship comes back.

[scgamecock]

It's all in the attitude you have going into it. If I'm on a cruise, I will have fun - no matter what the weather is like...

[Piggeldy]

Last cruise (not Carnival) it was dark aaaaall day long, we had 20ft waves, force 8-10 winds, an average temperature of 35°F, rain, sleet, snow, storms, missed three ports... of course that is what you should expect when you cruise up (and down) the Norwegian coast in December.

 

There was nothing Hurtigruten could have done just as there is nothing Carnival could have done I assume. It's a lose-lose situation. No matter what you do, part of your clients won't be happy. You don't sail at all? People will complain other lines didn't cancel their sailings. You change ports? People will complain about port changes. You don't change ports? People will complain about bad weather, closed shops/bars. You stay at the last port due to weather? People will complain that they were back home late/missed flights. You leave the last port as scheduled and run into bad weather? People will complain you didn't stay and they got seasick. It just doesn't matter (as long as you don't sink the ship).

 

Know what you could get into.

Assume the worst, hope for the best and if life gives you lemons, drink a Tequila.

[Blurgh]

Last cruise (not Carnival) it was dark aaaaall day long, we had 20ft waves, force 8-10 winds, an average temperature of 35°F, rain, sleet, snow, storms, missed three ports... of course that is what you should expect when you cruise up (and down) the Norwegian coast in December.

 

There was nothing Hurtigruten could have done just as there is nothing Carnival could have done I assume. It's a lose-lose situation. No matter what you do, part of your clients won't be happy. You don't sail at all? People will complain other lines didn't cancel their sailings. You change ports? People will complain about port changes. You don't change ports? People will complain about bad weather, closed shops/bars. You stay at the last port due to weather? People will complain that they were back home late/missed flights. You leave the last port as scheduled and run into bad weather? People will complain you didn't stay and they got seasick. It just doesn't matter (as long as you don't sink the ship).

 

Know what you could get into.

Assume the worst, hope for the best and if life gives you lemons, drink a Tequila.

 

I agree with that. Also certain itineries, you have to kinda expect that conditions are going to be anything but perfect. If someone took a Cunard crossing and complained when they got to England, well, that person is a fool. :)

 

It's just Carribean cruises are sold a certain way. One of my favorite ads in the paper is an ad for a travel agent that does cruises out of NY.

 

"Afraid to fly?" lol. Well, if you don't like flying, you'll love the off "bad" cruise out of NY. I live up here and won't sail out of there. In the summer it's hurricane season (and recently they seem to love shooting the gap between the US and Bermuda), and in the winter, well, why would you take a tropical cruise out of NY in the winter? :D

 

I understand that most of them are probably great, but I still wouldn't go.

Imagine someone that gets sucked in by that ad and ends up on the wrong ship at the wrong time.

[Umbarger]

I guess they wanted Carnival to control the weather?? :eek:

 

I went on a Princess cruise once and we were trying to come into New York but we hit a major storm. The waves broke out windows and no one was allowed outside on deck. We were at a standstill. People were falling out of their beds and when you used the elevator it would slam against the side of the shaft because of the waves. Throwing us around. We couldnt get back into New York so the cruise was one day longer. I loved it. Got an extra day to my vacation. I thought of it as an adventure. The airline charged me $100 to change my ticket but Princess paid me back. That was one memorable cruise.

 

I couldnt believe the people at the customer service desk insisting they get into New York at the scheduled time. Stupid people.

[gelo7]

What can you do about the weather.

[Wags67]

Carnival does not control Mother Nature. Don't cruise in hurricaine season and expect Carnival or any other cruise line to be able to control the weather and its effect on interaries, service, ports and your vacation.

 

 

Ditto!

Carnival did fine by apologizing, but they shouldn't be expected to give anything more.

Your cruise is what you make of it. I'm waaaay excited just to be on vacation.

 

On one of our cruises we were supposed to sailaway at 4pm but we didn't sailaway till almost 10pm...no biggie...still on the ship, it just wasn't moving:p

[halos]

The world is full of morons...sometimes, they wind up as cruise ship passengers.

[Flick]

If they had bothered to take out travel insurance they could have made a claim based on trip interruption. Somehow, I seriously doubt they took out travel insurance, afterall that would be the SMART thing to do!!!!!

When I was a travel agent I had some clients that made such a claim. I have no idea whether they were successful or not but they always came back and bought insurance for their next cruise.

[halos]

If they had bothered to take out travel insurance they could have made a claim based on trip interruption. .

I don't believe for one minute insurance covers this type of thing....

[crusinpsychRN]

Idiotic.

[CelticCruiser]

that explains a lot. I had her as a sub on the Ike hurricane cruise I came back from and said I am not sure I will ever cruise on Carnival again I was so upset how she handled things. If I found out she was going to be my CD Id change ships thats how much I didnt like how she handled things.

 

Nothing like some one going thru a crowd with a royal wave like the queen of england when things are bad and refusing to handle anything. (she was still like hey they just told me about this change 10 minutes ago .. seriously the CD doesnt know these things?? Isnt even in on the discussion?? She gives women a bad imange acting like such a ditz.

 

Wow, do we have different memories of Jen Baxter! But then, maybe I'm more aware of what went on behind the scenes. I know that most of the info & decisions came from Miami, not the ship - and not Jen. She did her best in a bad situation, and was quite nervous about passenger reaction.

 

We took the extra days on Conquest instead of going home to Ike damage (and a washed-away car), and had a fabulous time. The 300 passengers remaining onboard even did a skit for the crew, thanking them for the extra effort - with Jen at the helm.

[okgirl]

Unfortunately Carnival has such a variable policy on how they handle these situations. I was on the Conquest last fall and we missed MoBay due to weather and GC because they closed the port.......people were up in arms.....all kinds of petitions going around, the Lobby was like a zoo......

 

It was a CC group cruise with the Crazies and we just made our own fun......John H. dubbed us the S.W.A.T Team of Fun.......

 

In that instance Carnival set up open bars with pre-mixed drinks at the Casino and on the Lido for an hour, plus refunded our port fees which totalled about $30 plus gave us a letter for 20% off a future cruise........

 

And when other sailings hear and read of similar compensation then I can kind of see why the Facination passengers felt shorted.

[themnms]

The only thing that I like more than a vacation going perfectly smooth, is for it to turn into a complete wipe-out. I love weather, I always have. Thunder, lightning, high winds, deep freezes, it just doesn't matter. (At Universal Studios I drag my poor daughter through Twister again and again). I would have paid double to have been on the Fascination during that cruise.

 

I still don't get why the (supposedly) smartest animal on earth can't seem to wrangle up a good time when life throws a curve ball.

 

here here

[livestocruisetoo]

What I think is amazing is that I have never heard of skiiers complaining, and wanting to sue a ski resort when they get snowed in because of a blizzard. Sometimes a few days with no power, and or heat. And they just can't leave when there is 6 to 8 feet of snow blocking the roads and the temp is in the teens or below :rolleyes:.

 

The only complaints you hear are from the X-country skiers, especially the ones with wooden skis. They tend to be very lean as well.

[livestocruisetoo]

Ditto!

Carnival did fine by apologizing, but they shouldn't be expected to give anything more.

Your cruise is what you make of it. I'm waaaay excited just to be on vacation.

 

On one of our cruises we were supposed to sailaway at 4pm but we didn't sailaway till almost 10pm...no biggie...still on the ship, it just wasn't moving:p

 

Hi Laura. If they could just open the casino it would be perfect. :D

 

sees you guys heading south next month...

 

Have fun!!!

[valashay50]

This trip started out wrong because we couldn't get out of port on time (hours late). Last time I checked I don't make those decisions. It is not a problem to book cruises in hurricane season but it is a problem when a captain of a ship makes decisions to totally disregard his over 1500 passengers lives. Other ships stayed in port in Nassau! Why didn't we? Why did our captain choose to jeopardize lives to get back to port on time but still could not get into the port because we had the same problem as when we got ready to leave (HIGH TIDES). If you are your love one was on the ship would understand because if I am not mistaken these captains are suppose to be trained to take percautionary measures. This man didnot. We got through this by the grace of GOD because if you had been on that ship to see the cleaning crew praying and the staff looking bewildered with people sick, food falling, people falling luggage banging it was HORRIBLE! I CAN'T REALLY MENTION THE TWENTY PLUS FOOT WAVES AND THE WHITE OUT DAYS. We were told nothing, nothing when we got back to port we found out that they could not even find us on the radar. Don't speak for those on that cruise ship if you were not on it because their was NO information given and people were terrified. DON'T MAKE STATEMENTS DON'T CRUISE IN HURRICANE SEASON BECAUSE I KNOW IN FLORIDA IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE HURRICANE SEASON TO HAVE A STORM. I KNOW THEY HAVE INSTRUMENTS TO PROVIDE THEM WITH INFORMATION. I WANT TO KNOW WHY THE CAPTIAN MADE SUCH A TERRIBLE DECISION. IT IS TWO DAYS LATER AND MY BODY STILL THINKS IT IS MOVING!

[Blurgh]

Get the popcorn. To be fair, though, it can get alot worse than 20 foot waves and AFAIK, if someone looks up a ship on a tracker site, once it gets away from US waters it doesn't come up on there anymore.

[debster11]

Lets see, these passengers bought passage DURING hurricane season, had bad weather and rough seas and are mad because of it? That's the chance you take during this time of year. Whatever.

[DaytonCruiser]

http://www.news4jax.com/news/29464714/detail.html

[Blurgh]

http://www.news4jax.com/news/29464714/detail.html

 

Hmmm. :) Quotes in article seem similiar.

 

Like I said, get the popcorn.

 

Still, I think it gets lost on here the difference in perspective between someone who's been on a boat 20+ times (which is 6 months or more experience at sea) and someone who strolls unto a boat for the first time ever and gets to experience that. lol.

 

I've seen people go into panic attacks because the boat shows SOME movement. A good ferry roll, even if it's beautiful out, will spazz even more people. Throw in some swells, crappy weather, a little bit of vertical pitching to go with the ferry rolls.... then you get lawsuits.

[AWCHIEF]

A nice stormy sea day seperates the tourist from the travelers.;)

[Pookeybear1966]

Ok, so the seas were rough....and the captain opted to wait to leave because he couldn't get under the DAMES POINT BRIDGE!!!! Ok, so how is that not looking out for the passengers. I think a few hours wait VS lifeboats or ships damage makes sense to me.

 

Come on people...you signed a contract that states Carnival doesn't reimburse....and now they are saying they are going to sue Carnival. It's just pure insanity.