CCL E-Marketing Ruined a "Surprise Cruise"

[shipcafe]

Hi Everyone,

Well here's my gripe. I've had a surprise cruise planned for my other half for a couple of months now aboard the Imagination to sail on June 2nd, 2005. I've kept everything under lock and key and made absolutely CERTAIN that NO contact information was used other than my own.

Somehow my partner has an old e-mail address registered with CCL from a long time ago. No other information would even match aside from the name which is a fairly common name. Tonight upon checking e-mail, my partner receives an e-mail from Carnival stating "Congratulations on your upcoming Western Caribbean cruise on June 2nd, 2005". I nearly got sick and got so upset . . . . .

I cannot believe how e-marketing has gotten so out of control as to track this old e-mail address and just assume that the name is to match on the booking? Again, I made no mention ANYwhere else of any contact information that would have drawn them to contact party #2 on the booking.

My whole aspiration was to keep the flights, cruise, everything a secret until the moment came. I would really like to submit the aforementioned as a complaint but truly believe that it will fall upon deaf ears and/or elicit a textbook, form-feed letter from CCL "regretting my disappointment in this matter". It is just how customer service goes these days.

Any feedback or suggestions would be great . . . .

Steve

[shipcafe]

Yeah I should. If anyone has the proper contact information at CCL by which I can mail, e-mail, etc. this in, it would be great . . .

[MrsBoo]

I'd be really mad too if I had a surprise planned & it was ruined like that.

 

However, for me, half the fun of cruising is in the planning and anticipation. I gave my mother a cruise for her birthday one year & let her know a month ahead of time so she could shop for clothes, tell all her friends what a wonderful daughter she had ;), etc,

 

Hope you don't let the ruined surprise spoil your trip.

[BettyB2]

I agree with the previous poster that you should contact Carnival regarding this matter and although I dont think they will do too much, it would be nice if they gave you a 10% off of a future cruise, shipboard credit or free upgrade for their error.

 

1-800-929-6400 is the Guest Relations department

 

Here are two emails you can try: pastguest@carnival.com customerrelations@carnival.com

 

Out of curiousity how you were planning on pulling this off? Doing all the packing etc? How exciting...I could not keep quiet for that long, but its worth a thought....hmmmmmm

Too bad the email had to ruin it for you...I too would be quite upset...but please have a great cruise.

[CoachTerry14]

Sorry you are upset about this. My wife said that she never wants to be surprised about a vacation. She enjoys getting prepared for a trip too much.

 

On the other hand I recently received the same email about an upcoming cruise and thought the email could be very helpful for some. I thought to myself that there are many people that do not prepare for cruises (not like the people here on Cruise Critic) and the links provided could be extremely helpful. :)

[misterchatter]

Just received an e-mail yesterday congratulating me on my upcoming Western Caribbean Cruise in June also. Only trouble is,we don't have one booked. They used our booking number for our cruise next January as reference. Also, the last name our our PVP was wrong, but they had his right extension. SO WHAT'S THEIR PROBLEM? I sent our PVP an e-mail and asked him what's going on. Can't wait to see what he has for an answer.

 

Mike

[lhall85917]

How disappointing after all the effort you put into it - I would at least call them and let them know - can't hurt! We also got an email about Western Caribbean cruise in June but it had the wrong booking number. I even tried using the booking number in the email on Carnival's website and it wouldn't work. I think the idea is good, but apparently there are some bugs that need fixed.

[MrPete]

Tonight upon checking e-mail, my partner receives an e-mail from Carnival stating "Congratulations on your upcoming Western Caribbean cruise on June 2nd, 2005". I nearly got sick and got so upset . . . . .

 

My whole aspiration was to keep the flights, cruise, everything a secret until the moment came.

 

So, what did you say? Did you play ignorant? Or did he think it was really coming true? Or a mistake?

 

How did he react? How were you planning on springing this on him? How were you planning on packing, or making sure he was packed?

[Randy & Carmen]

Ouch!.......man that bites!.......I think I'd have to write a few letters and emails etc....So sorry about that, Steve.:(

[BlueHerons]

Ouch!.......man that bites!.......I think I'd have to write a few letters and emails etc....So sorry about that, Steve.:(

 

No doubt. They should at least offer you an amenity as an apology. I would get on the phone and start calling until you find someone who will listen.

 

That sucks.

[Cotton]

Steve, you can look at this two ways:

 

1. :mad: Carnival ruined your upcoming cruise surprise. You can let that continue to eat at you, and the anticipation of a happy vacation will turn sour. You can board the ship with the attitude that the surprise is ruined, and therefore, the entire cruise won't be any fun now. You can tell your tablemates at dinner how horrible Carnival is for spoiling your surprise.

 

OR....

 

2. :) You can laugh it off with your other half, knowing that you cared enough to try to make it a big surprise for him/her. Then y'all can finish the planning together, go with a great attitude, and have the fun cruise you saw in your mind.

 

 

Carnival didn't do this to you on purpose, y'know?;) This was just a bad-timing coincidence; things like this happen all the time. Contacting them won't accomplish a single thing. I really don't think they should or would compensate you in any way because you wanted to surprise somebody.

 

 

OK....

 

 

Now it's YOUR call. I hope you choose the high road.

[glrounds]

Just received an e-mail yesterday congratulating me on my upcoming Western Caribbean Cruise in June also. Only trouble is,we don't have one booked. They used our booking number for our cruise next January as reference.[/QUOTE]

 

I received the exact same message congratulating me, however, my cruise TOMORROW is on the Mexican Riviera aboard the PRIDE ! ! Thousands of miles from the Western Caribbean ! ! :eek:

 

I actually thought it was pretty tacky ! Here's a company I'm depending on to miss icebergs, reefs, and terrorists and they can't even get my itinerary straight. ARRRRGGGHHH ! ! :confused:

 

Reminds me of an old adage my Grandmother used to spout:

 

"Its better to have people suspect you're stupid, then to open your mouth and remove all doubt" :D

[MrPete]

GARY!!!

 

 

Happy sailing! Enjoy!

[Elaine515]

...

 

I've just recently starting receiving emails from a Carnival PVP under my MAIDEN NAME.... Not only have I been married 16 years, BUT, I NEVER cruised Carnival until I got married.... go figure that one out!!!

 

 

 

....

[molme]

I also received an email yesterday from CCL about my upcoming cruise in Oct to the western carb. We have one booked for Jan 2006, but nothing in Oct. They even had the booking number for our Jan cruise on the email. I also noticed that my PVP's last name was different. The one thing not mentioned in the email was the name of the ship.

 

I replied to my PVP and asked her about this, but being a long weekend I don't expect a reply until Tues. Can't wait to hear her reply. If you noticed these emails were sent from the CCL email address, not the PVP's.:confused:

[shipcafe]

Hi Everyone,

Well I've had an evening to digest and sleep on it. Of course it's the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning. I tend to try and look at the brighter side as many of you have suggested (and which I very much appreciate).

I don't think my friend is quite as upset about the actual surprise being ruined as I was. He was more upset FOR me as I had done all of this and he truly did have no clue where we were going. For those of you asking, "how can you keep a trip a secret?" . . he's just the kind of person who that wouldn't bother so I knew well enough that I could plan this kind of a trip.

So HERE'S the deal :

I book a cruise under my e-mail address, my contact address, and all contact information is directed to my phone number, etc. At one point in the past (he lived cities away from where we are in Seattle), he might have ordered a brochure or who knows. Anyhow, someone decided to take the liberty and send him an e-mail to congratulate him on his June 2nd cruise to the Western Caribbean. While all of your e-mails did not even match the correct sail date with the correct ship, destination, etc. his happened to be RIGHT ON.

I was just sick when I heard him reading off that e-mail. The fact that I got this close with the surprise under wraps and to have some SPAM ruin the surprise was just horrible.

So I will definitely write a letter to the aforementioned addresses. I'll let you know if anything should come of it . . . . .

Thanks for all of your response.

Steve

[Randy & Carmen]

Good for you Steve......Great attitude and STILL writing a letter just like I would do....No, Carnival didn't do this on purpose to spoil your surprise but, in light of what happened, they might very well do something for you since it was their system that spoiled this......I know I would as a busines owner and I would want to know the feelings of my customers so YES, your letter and/or emails will be worth it!:) .....Good luck!

[shipcafe]

He's on the phone right now with Carnival. Guest Relations only handles past sailing issues so they transfered him to res (and now onto the web desk). So we'll see where this goes . . .

[GoinCruisin]

So sorry that happened... and I know that you are disappointed, as I would be too... what blows me away is that Carnival can't seem to find really simple information (past guest number for people that cruised 5 months ago for example), but they have no problem digging up info like this. Unbelievable!!! If you don't give them THAT email address, they have NO business sending anything to it... Good luck with your letter. I hope you both have a great cruise...

[shipcafe]

I'm more on the emotional side of it being upset that the surprise was blown just days away from sailing . . . Do they send the same e-mails to everyone planning surprise anniversary or renewal of vows cruises?

My friend is more on the war path that CCL just assumed that his name (which there are various others in the Seattle area) is taking this upcoming cruise . . .

[OC Mom]

Steve,

 

It's a great thing that you did for your partner! That wonderful gesture is still there, even if Carnival screwed up. I think you should persue your complaint to Carnival, but also have a GREAT time on your cruise, just as you have planned. The bright side, now he can pack himself ;) :)!

[Randy & Carmen]

Calm down and go enjoy your cruise;) .....If you let it eat on you, everthing will turn out bad.....I soooooooo empathize with you as I'm the king of surprises and would be PO'd to say the least if Carnival or anyone for that matter was the reason my surprise was spoiled:mad: .....and I've had surprises spoiled before....even on a CRUISE......lol......I was going to surprise a bunch of CCers and show up on their group cruise and they used Carnival's system to sniff me out:rolleyes: ....It spoiled everything I had planned but we all had a great time in spite of it......:D

[LostFan#1]

I, too, got an email from Carnival congratulating me on my Sept. 6 cruise to the western Caribbean. What? I'm leaving June 19. The ports of call the email listed were also wrong. I panicked - what if I HAD booked the wrong cruise?? But after checking my reservation, I realized someone in the email office had made a huge mistake. I was relieved but a bit annoyed.

[shipcafe]

So we got a response from CCL :

He spoke with someone at the help desk (not mentioning names but obtained it) and here is the explanation that was given . . .

I have a profile under Carnival.Com with my first name being "Steve" and the booking was made under "Steven". When they went to send out this round of e-marketing, it looked for "Steven" and could not find it so it defaulted to party 2 on the booking. The system THEN assumed that my friend's name was the same name registered years ago (now with incorrect mailing address, phone number, etc.). Bottom line is that they assumed this is the same person.

The problem comes in (for us and ANYone else out there) where CCL is e-mailing assumptive parties based on only a few pieces of data (if that much). It sounds like an extreme case but if one had a legal battle against someone else and we're sending this other person an congratulatory e-mail based upon a simple name match then we are now sharing this information and it could be used against party 1.

Some may think that I'm going off on a tangent but I think that there is a bigger picture issue with this e-marketing campaign, that's all . . .

[JrMafia90]

I would be really mad too. But I don't think it is also great to have a surprise cruise. I have a story that happened to us.

 

We booked our last Western Carib. cruise last Jan. One of the guys that was going with us was going to tell his family about it the week before the cruise so they would be so exicited. On Easter they came down, we her name was Rosa, we know two different Rosa's both with husband's name Vinny. Well nobody told the onle lady in our group that Vinny was going to surprise his wife with the cruise. She wasn't even sure which Vinny. So when they come over for Easter dinner, the lady says "Are you coming with us on the cruise?". Rosa was like what do you mean we are not going on vacation. And everybody behind Rosa was tryin to tell the lady to be quiet. But to make a long story short her husband finally told her they were going on a cruise. I think it was a good idea she found out then, because he was going to tell her a week before the cruise. Now some of you parents out there know that you have to go school shopping and go last minute shopping for the cruise. And 2 days after we came back from the cruise the kids were going back to school. So there wasn't going to be enough time for her to do her shopping. It turned out to be a great cruise.

 

I was reading on some other boards that a guy booked a surprise cruise for 4th of July and his wife booked a surprise vacation in some island for 4th of July. Anyway he told her 2 weeks before they left and she told him about her vacation. So they chose the cruise, she tried to get her money back but she couldn't so they lost about $2,000. That sounds horrible. If I found the link I will post it.