Carnival 'dropped the ball' on my wife's Birthday decorations!

[cruzeluver]

Ship happens

 

Carnival should put that on their t-shirts. :rolleyes:

 

If anyone from Carnival said that having the decorations up when they got to their room would not be a problem and they were not, Carnival dropped the ball, period. The credit should have been issued immediately. Nowhere did the OP state outright or in any way imply that this situation ruined their cruise.

[Scrappinbec]

Sorry this happened to you! Glad you all had a great time dispite this problem. We have ordered the "Congratulations" decorations for our upcoming cruise to surprise our daughter for graduating college (this cruise is our grad gift to her & her first cruise). Hope this doesn't happen to us. We ordered it online several months ago and plan on taking my email confirmation with me incase we have a problem.

 

Again sorry this happened and hope you things are better for you next time!!

[MrPete]

A few years ago some of the family were on a cruise and we had told the maitre d' about a couple of nieces' birthday. We could hear them singing happy birthday all around us but never stopped at our table. Obviously a disappointment and a couple of upset nieces but they were far from traumatized for life. Cruising is still one of their favorite vacations. It would be silly to hold a grudge against the maitre d', much less Carnival. Why poison yourself and become bitter? Let it go. Life goes on.

 

How much did they pay for that?

[Ksea1961]

Sorry this happened to you! Glad you all had a great time dispite this problem. We have ordered the "Congratulations" decorations for our upcoming cruise to surprise our daughter for graduating college (this cruise is our grad gift to her & her first cruise). Hope this doesn't happen to us. We ordered it online several months ago and plan on taking my email confirmation with me incase we have a problem.

 

Again sorry this happened and hope you things are better for you next time!!

 

 

Hopefully you get what you ordered. I found that what happens is, the ship's gift shop is stocked with these different gift/clothing items and they work from that. If they run out of certain items, they are not always automatically replenished. I ordered some things for my husband and son on our last cruise and they were never delivered. The lady from the shop called to apologize (on the 3rd day) and my credit card was refunded within a week. If we were celebrating something special, I would pack my own decorations just in case...and maybe bring a just in case gift.

[skittl1321]

I'm sorry to hear Carnival did not provide the service you paid for, nor notified you that they wouldn't be providing it! It is ridiculous you had to go out of the way to get a refund for something they sold you and did not deliver. As soon as it was unavailable, Carnival should have contacted you and given your money back- no leg work on your part!

 

Hopefully you still had an enjoyable cruise.

[Laurin612]

Sorry to hear that they ran out of decorations--I hope your wife had a great birthday!

[Sparky2]

While I am sure you were disappointed in not having decorations for your wife's birthday I woud hope that in spite of paper decorations not appearing in your stateroom, that the cruise itself would have been enjoyable enough.

 

And if you couldn't enjoy the rest of your cruise because of paper decorations then maybe cruising isn't for you. You might be happier with an All Inclusive vacation.

 

Where did that come from? He said other than that disappointment, they had a great cruise.

[Sargent_Schultz]

How much did they pay for that?

 

I didn't ask.

[jsfromsc]

Sorry you paid for something you didn't get. :( I hope Carnival issues the credit soon. Your wife is very pretty. I hope you both had a great time on the cruise even without the decorations.

[lady_cruiser]

Where did that come from? He said other than that disappointment, they had a great cruise.

I misread that so I guess I owe the OP an apologize and thanks for bringing this to my attention.

[keystonemama]

This happened to me also in November on the Sensation, it was my DH's 50th birthday surprise cruise, when we opened the cabin door, no decorations. :( There was, however, a letter on my desk apologizing for it with an explanation of "they ran out". :confused: I had ordered mine over a month in advance. Luckily I had had a door banner printed up saying happy birthday on it. Since we always use a "cash" account, our refund was applied back to our S & S card on day 2 of the cruise. Wonder how often this really happens?

Happy Sailing,

[Tashak]

I was thinking of ordering the regular Bon Voyage decorations for upcoming cruise, might have to rethink that plan.

[lastinga]

How much did they pay for that?

 

They came and sang for my daughter's 10th birthday when they brought the $12.00 cake we had ordered. The cake was surprisingly good!

[Leo's Rule]

While I am sure you were disappointed in not having decorations for your wife's birthday I woud hope that in spite of paper decorations not appearing in your stateroom, that the cruise itself would have been enjoyable enough.

 

And if you couldn't enjoy the rest of your cruise because of paper decorations then maybe cruising isn't for you. You might be happier with an All Inclusive vacation.

 

Lady, the OP said they enjoyed their cruise. Did you not see that part?

 

Update: Lady, I've gone through the thread now. I see where you said you missed it. My bad.

[Leo's Rule]

Thank you very much for your understanding. My wife and I have had a few problems as of late ... Some my fault, and some her fault.

 

In an attempt to show just a little thoughtfulness on my part, I had hoped something as simple as a few Happy Birthday cabin decorations would be a nice touch, and show that I was honestly thinking of her on her special day ... well, I tried

 

.

 

It sucks that happened to you. I ordered decorations for my mom's birthday when we were on the Destiny and I had no problems. The decorations were already up when we entered the room. But I did order mine well before the cruise. I don't know if that had anything to do with it. :confused: But I do think it was wrong of them to keep promising something would be done when they knew all along (I'm assuming they knew) the decorations never made it aboard the ship. I wonder why they don't have some in the formalities shop...or whatever the place is called.

 

But glad you enjoyed your cruise.

[Bigtex1622]

....... The cake was surprisingly good!

 

That is good to know.

 

 

:rolleyes:

[Scrappinbec]

Hopefully you get what you ordered. I found that what happens is, the ship's gift shop is stocked with these different gift/clothing items and they work from that. If they run out of certain items, they are not always automatically replenished. I ordered some things for my husband and son on our last cruise and they were never delivered. The lady from the shop called to apologize (on the 3rd day) and my credit card was refunded within a week. If we were celebrating something special, I would pack my own decorations just in case...and maybe bring a just in case gift.

 

Thanks! I do plan on taking some door decorations but had already planned on that (even before this post). Either way, we will have a great time and I know we will eventually get a refund (should something happen and not get the decorations we ordered).

[Sparky2]

I misread that so I guess I owe the OP an apologize and thanks for bringing this to my attention.

 

No problem. Sometimes it's so easy to read something too fast & misinterpret it.

[Havingfun2010]

It is unfortunate that your plans were not followed through on.......for me it doesn't rise to the level of being unforgivable.....mistakes do happen....I wonder if you had ordered the decorations a little further in advance if that would have helped to ensure that the decorations were actually delivered to the ship in time for your sailing?

 

I have always been told that items ordered through BV or even shore excursions had to be made no less than 2 weeks prior to sailing.

 

I made last minute (about 10 days out) reservations for a retirement celebration at a local steakhouse during the Christmas holiday season. We were to have a private dining room and a special menu......I even called on the day of the dinner to confirm the reservation, but thought that just confirming our name and number in our party would be sufficient.....wrong, the 20 of us arrived at the restaurant only for them to not have the private dining room available, apparently to them we were just the party of 20 arriving at 7.....except there were 2 parties of 20 arriving at 7.......and no special menu.....

 

We ordered off the menu and couldn't even be seated together as there was no way to configure tables in the regular dining room during normal seating.......

 

Their excuse was a new hostess......still a big disappointment for me.

 

Just curious, did this restaruant give you anything for the mixup? Like a round of free appertizers or drinks for the mixup? Did you ask for anything? When companies mess up, it is their responsibility to either fix it, or give you something to make you happy. Your dinner was ruined, the birthday lady did not get her decorations. It doesn't matter, if Carnival accepted the money, than they had no excuse not to deliver. If not the decorations, than maybe a bottle of champagne at dinner instead to make up for it.

 

My lessons in life is to always ask for something. Especially in a restaurant. I once was served the wrong food. When they were going to take it away, I just told them to leave it, and bring me the correct plate, because they were required to throw it out by health codes. I will just sample it, and see if I like it for the next time. What could they say? They messed it up, not me.

[sparks1093]

Just curious, did this restaruant give you anything for the mixup? Like a round of free appertizers or drinks for the mixup? Did you ask for anything? When companies mess up, it is their responsibility to either fix it, or give you something to make you happy. Your dinner was ruined, the birthday lady did not get her decorations. It doesn't matter, if Carnival accepted the money, than they had no excuse not to deliver. If not the decorations, than maybe a bottle of champagne at dinner instead to make up for it.

 

My lessons in life is to always ask for something. Especially in a restaurant. I once was served the wrong food. When they were going to take it away, I just told them to leave it, and bring me the correct plate, because they were required to throw it out by health codes. I will just sample it, and see if I like it for the next time. What could they say? They messed it up, not me.

 

Good customer service may mandate providing something to sooth the waters but it's certainly not a "responsibility".

[golfadj]

Good customer service may mandate providing something to sooth the waters but it's certainly not a "responsibility".

 

Always watch to see if a restaurant does something to say sorry and those are the ones that we keep coming back to.

 

Local Panera's opened up and really butchered our order the first week they were open.

 

They apologized by giving us a couple of cookies and a coupon so that our next meal was on the house.

 

Changed a negative to a positive and we keep coming back. Long run they are well ahead by doing this.

[sparks1093]

Always watch to see if a restaurant does something to say sorry and those are the ones that we keep coming back to.

 

Local Panera's opened up and really butchered our order the first week they were open.

 

They apologized by giving us a couple of cookies and a coupon so that our next meal was on the house.

 

Changed a negative to a positive and we keep coming back. Long run they are well ahead by doing this.

 

Absolutely, but if they decided to offer a lower level of customer service then they would have been within their rights to do so (and no doubt would have taken the chance of losing you as a customer). (I probably read "responsibility" a little too strongly in the post that I quoted.)

[Nikki Lisette]

Good to know, thanks OP for posting. A birthday cake was ordered for me for embarkation day which is my legal birth day. I have my fingers crossed that that tasty, chocolate cake is sitting on my vanity after dinner. Lol.

 

I plan to decorate my cabin myself, after all, I'm not sure Carnival carries Margaritaville Tour decorations. ;)

[mzloolue]

I arranged for decorations for dh.

They did not do it.

I was pretty ticked and had to spend some time on the phone.

[ccletzgo]

They could have at least offered something else. Champagne and candy or strawberries. Anything.........flowers? :mad: No decorations on board, so your SOL.. Mistakes happen, but Carnival did nothing to make up for it.. nothing.:mad: