Is It Just my Cruising Group's Opinion?

[doitallWMB]

But does it seem that Carnival Corporation is having proportionately many more issues than the other major lines? It seems that maybe there is a problem at the top of the house that might be causing all of this? Maybe the maintenance budget is too small or they haven't enough trained engineers? We love Princess which is a Carnival brand and personally we enjoyed the Dream. Just becoming concerned with seeming design flaws and repeated power failures. Especially fires, which is the most dangerous thing at sea in modern times. What if the automated systems had failed? I remember NCL going through this type of thing in the early 2000's and it definitely cost clientele.

[Havingfun2010]

But does it seem that Carnival Corporation is having proportionately many more issues than the other major lines? It seems that maybe there is a problem at the top of the house that might be causing all of this? Maybe the maintenance budget is too small or they haven't enough trained engineers? We love Princess which is a Carnival brand and personally we enjoyed the Dream. Just becoming concerned with seeming design flaws and repeated power failures. Especially fires, which is the most dangerous thing at sea in modern times. What if the automated systems had failed? I remember NCL going through this type of thing in the early 2000's and it definitely cost clientele.

 

You have a very good question. We all know, although many on the board will argue different, that Carnival in the last couple of years, and in particulally, this year have cut back on everything from the types of food, to entertainment, to the amount of times they even serve food, to perks etc. So if they are cutting back on the hotel side of the house, are they cutting back on the operations side? Maybe this is a wake up call to Carnival.

[klfrodo]

If I own a fleet of 100 cars.....

And you own a fleet of 25 cars......

 

Who would have the higher number of incidents by total number?

By percentage,,, it should be equal over a 10 to 20 year timespan, but by total number of incidents,, my number would still be higher.

[Pellaz]

If I own a fleet of 100 cars.....

And you own a fleet of 25 cars......

 

Who would have the higher number of incidents by total number?

By percentage,,, it should be equal over a 10 to 20 year timespan, but by total number of incidents,, my number would still be higher.

 

This is kinda what I was thinking. Sure, CCL has been in the news a lot with breakdowns, but they also have the largest number of ships sailing. Is the percentage of breakdowns higher or lower than with other lines?

[gelo7]

Hmmm...

[CdrescherRBL152]

Not only does it hurt that Carnival has the largest number of ships. But add to that the fact that one of there compators Disney, owns there a media network. Think back to the Concorida, ABC may sure that they always refered to it as a Carnival ship. Then did a 20/20 peice about mis-behavor on board cruiseships. Where although acts on every cruise line other then Disney was shown, the only one named was Carnival. And of course we all know, noone ever drinks adult beaverages and/or missbehaves on a Disney cruise.

[Name Of The Game]

viva las vegas!

[terryinal]

If I own a fleet of 100 cars.....

And you own a fleet of 25 cars......

 

Who would have the higher number of incidents by total number?

By percentage,,, it should be equal over a 10 to 20 year timespan, but by total number of incidents,, my number would still be higher.

 

That is just what I told someone yesterday. You are correct on this

[frangran]

True, but it wouldn't hurt to do a bit more maintenance on one's fleet.

[Cruisin 4 Ever]

But I'm not sure the public hears about every time Carnival, or I suppose any ship on any cruiseline breaks down. It bothers me that Carnival is sneaky about it though. I just sailed on Jan 21 on the Destiny. THe cruise ahead of us had propulsion problems so I contacted Carnival and John Heald and was assured the problem would be fixed prior to my cruise. I explained we were flying in from Canada and the flights were expensive because it's January. I had NO interest in taking the cruise if we wouldn't make our itinerary. I told them we specifically booked for Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay. Again I was assured by Carnival it was all good. We flew in the day before and as soon as we arrived in Miami, Carnival sent an email saying the itinerary had changed. Yet only 12 hours before they were assuring me it was all fixed. I was NOT offered my flights to be refunded. We were offered a refund on the cruise or $50 pp onboard credit if we took the cruise. That is BS.

[kybluecruiser]

No! It is just that carnival being the largest line they get the most negative news. Just look at Wikipedia for all major lines and you will see they all have issues. With regards to the triumph it kills me how the news media are only sharing the negative stories. I would imagine it will be like the splendor incident and many of the pax will have made the best of the situation and will return to carnival. I will be interested in reading Jen baxters account of the situation. I hope john heald and the leadership of carnival will allow her to do that.

[ducklite]

If I own a fleet of 100 cars.....

And you own a fleet of 25 cars......

 

Who would have the higher number of incidents by total number?

By percentage,,, it should be equal over a 10 to 20 year timespan, but by total number of incidents,, my number would still be higher.

 

You can't answer that question, there are too many variables. Who has a better PM program? Who has safer drivers who take annual safe driver refresher courses? The larger fleet could still have the lower number of incidents.

[Uncle Deane]

If I own a fleet of 100 cars.....

And you own a fleet of 25 cars......

 

Who would have the higher number of incidents by total number?

By percentage,,, it should be equal over a 10 to 20 year timespan, but by total number of incidents,, my number would still be higher.

 

Ding , ding ding, we have a winner.

 

ABC news reporting with a huge, negative spin on this incident. Oh wait, that's ABC/ Disney, a bit player competitor that has, what, 4 ships? Wait til one of those breaks down. Maybe it did and I just didn't hear about it on ABC?

[coops]

But I'm not sure the public hears about every time Carnival, or I suppose any ship on any cruiseline breaks down. It bothers me that Carnival is sneaky about it though. I just sailed on Jan 21 on the Destiny. THe cruise ahead of us had propulsion problems so I contacted Carnival and John Heald and was assured the problem would be fixed prior to my cruise. I explained we were flying in from Canada and the flights were expensive because it's January. I had NO interest in taking the cruise if we wouldn't make our itinerary. I told them we specifically booked for Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay. Again I was assured by Carnival it was all good. We flew in the day before and as soon as we arrived in Miami, Carnival sent an email saying the itinerary had changed. Yet only 12 hours before they were assuring me it was all fixed. I was NOT offered my flights to be refunded. We were offered a refund on the cruise or $50 pp onboard credit if we took the cruise. That is BS.

 

I'm sorry but if you only booked your cruise just for the itinerary and no interest in the cruise than you should not book a cruise. All cruise lines can and will change the itinerary if needed.

It is posted on your cruise contract.

 

As far as Carnival , I would never trust any of the people on the phone lines. More people on Cruise Critic seem to be more knowledgable then the cruise lines. I hope you don't think I am bashing you as I am not. Im just stating a fact.

[Cruisin 4 Ever]

I'm sorry but if you only booked your cruise just for the itinerary and no interest in the cruise than you should not book a cruise. All cruise lines can and will change the itinerary if needed.

It is posted on your cruise contract.

 

As far as Carnival , I would never trust any of the people on the phone lines. More people on Cruise Critic seem to be more knowledgable then the cruise lines. I hope you don't think I am bashing you as I am not. Im just stating a fact.

I don't think you are bashing but you also are not stating a fact and I completely disagree. If the itinerary doesn't matter than they should just say "you end up wherever we decide to take you". I ensured that I did not book in hurricane season to increase my chances of making it to port. We were all prepared to accept changes to the itinerary based on mother nature. Broken thrusters that keeps happening over and over on a ship does not fall into that category. And, Carnival is responsible for the inforamtion their staff gives out. I also have an email from John Heald - Senior Cruise director - he doesn't know what he's doing either???

[ducklite]

Ding , ding ding, we have a winner.

 

ABC news reporting with a huge, negative spin on this incident. Oh wait, that's ABC/ Disney, a bit player competitor that has, what, 4 ships? Wait til one of those breaks down. Maybe it did and I just didn't hear about it on ABC?

 

They had a fire, they handled it very well by all accounts.

 

They also take the time to put their ships into dry dock for six weeks to make sure that they are in great condition when they emerge, rather than wearing a Band-Aid.

[ducklite]

I'm sorry but if you only booked your cruise just for the itinerary and no interest in the cruise than you should not book a cruise. All cruise lines can and will change the itinerary if needed.

It is posted on your cruise contract.

 

As far as Carnival , I would never trust any of the people on the phone lines. More people on Cruise Critic seem to be more knowledgable then the cruise lines. I hope you don't think I am bashing you as I am not. Im just stating a fact.

 

Yes and no. I think you should book for the general itinerary but go with the flow when things change--as they have to at least some extent on four of the five cruises I've been on.

 

Frankly if Key West was that important to me, I would have just taken a land-based vacation there.

[lady_cruiser]

Interesting reading here. :)

[coops]

I don't think you are bashing but you also are not stating a fact and I completely disagree. If the itinerary doesn't matter than they should just say "you end up wherever we decide to take you". I ensured that I did not book in hurricane season to increase my chances of making it to port. We were all prepared to accept changes to the itinerary based on mother nature. Broken thrusters that keeps happening over and over on a ship does not fall into that category. And, Carnival is responsible for the inforamtion their staff gives out. I also have an email from John Heald - Senior Cruise director - he doesn't know what he's doing either???

 

I should have stated this better. If anyone has the mind set on a specific port and would be upset about missing it. Then they should really do a land vacation there. Your original post said if you knew you would miss those ports you would have never done a cruise in the first place.

But I agree that if the ship keeps having problems inform your passengers ahead of time. And Carnival should be responsible for the information that the staff gives out but honestly everytime anyone calls Carnival you can get 10 different answers and maybe just maybe 1 might be right.

I admire John Heald alot. He gives out information that is told to him. Sometimes it might be wrong but he is only going by what is relayed to him. Hope I explained myself better.

Dawn

[plk40atmc]

We were on Allure of the Seas last January and there was a fire very close to port. It was quickly taken care of and due to the fact that we were close to port it was no problem. They can all have the same problems.

[battchief1]

Everybody on here is experts and could run major cruise lines better than the people than the people that do it now!!:D

[mbalmr71]

If you think of all the sips out there running 24/7/365, it is reasonable to assume that there will be problems. I was on a princess ship that had a stabilizer malfunction that resulted in a huge 15 pluses degree list. Scared the bejesus out of folks but got corrected. Stuff happens. When it does it stinks if you are involved but I feel like the cruise lines do the best they can and go beyond to make up for it. Every time you walk on a ship there is an element of risk, hence the boat drill. I still book a cruise knowing the odds are greatly in favor of a fantastic and economical vacation. If stuck in a similar horrible situation I would be much more wary and afraid of my fellow pax than how the ships staff and cruise line was going to look out for me.

 

Btw, I later learned that from the crew on the princess ship that the stabilizer malfunction was likely caused by "Captain Crunch" and it was not the first time it had happened:eek:

[doitallWMB]

This is kinda what I was thinking. Sure, CCL has been in the news a lot with breakdowns, but they also have the largest number of ships sailing. Is the percentage of breakdowns higher or lower than with other lines?

 

No it is not. Carnival Corporation has too many problems in design. Fires are not to be critiqued.

[mholzy]

Not only does it hurt that Carnival has the largest number of ships. But add to that the fact that one of there compators Disney, owns there a media network. Think back to the Concorida, ABC may sure that they always refered to it as a Carnival ship. Then did a 20/20 peice about mis-behavor on board cruiseships. Where although acts on every cruise line other then Disney was shown, the only one named was Carnival. And of course we all know, noone ever drinks adult beaverages and/or missbehaves on a Disney cruise.

 

 

You are prohibited from posting further until you learn to spell, format sentences, use commas, and properly use the words their vs there.

 

I counted 12 mistakes and I think that's being generous.

[doitallWMB]

If I own a fleet of 100 cars.....

And you own a fleet of 25 cars......

 

Who would have the higher number of incidents by total number?

By percentage,,, it should be equal over a 10 to 20 year timespan, but by total number of incidents,, my number would still be higher.

 

Didn't I say Proportionately??