Carnival screwed up my "free cruise" reservation

[dbsb3233]

Just taking a few moments to vent, so please indulge me...

 

We have 2 certificates for "free" Carnival cruises from Golden Nugget casino. After we got back from a Vegas trip to pick up the certificates last November, I called the special Carnival # provided and booked 2 cabins for an October 2014 cruise, and prepaid the port fees/taxes as required. I created an account on their website, and printed out our cruise reservations. All seemed fine, and I left it at that since the cruise was still a year away.

 

Got a call yesterday from the "personal cruise coordinator" that now calls us every month to try and sell us more Carnival cruises (oh joy). That started shortly after I created the online account. When I told her "No thanks, we already have a Carnival cruise scheduled", she said "Oh, I only see the one that was cancelled".

 

Cancelled?!?

 

I pulled out my printed reservations. It shows my payment received for the port fees/taxes. It also shows $500 deposit due Dec 3, and Balance due July 21. I figured that's just what the system automatically puts on there as a matter of course, but since we're using free certificates (which was perfectly clear when I called the special number and gave the certificate #'s), I just figured that was perfunctory. I think the program rep I made the reservation with even said that - ignore it since the certificate covers that internally.

 

But something went terribly wrong at that point. 3 days after that Dec 3 "deposit due" date, they cancelled the reservation! I didn't even notice until now that the port fees/taxes I'd paid were credited back to by credit card on Dec 6 (just 2 weeks after I make the reservation in the first place).

 

Then I screwed up a little. We were on a different cruise (Princess) in late January, when a rep from Carnival apparently called my house to straighten this out. We had a housesitter who jotted down the "call Carnival at xxx-xxxx" message, but I never did because I just assumed it was our monthly "can we talk you into buying a new Carnival cruise" call. At that point, I had no idea there was any problem with our reservation, so I never had reason to check up on it... until yesterday when she noticed it was cancelled.

 

Compounding the situation is the deadline for booking and making any changes using the "free cruise" certificates was Feb 14.

 

The personal cruise coordinator that called yesterday (who was really calling just to sell new cruises and only happened to notice the cancellation by chance) said she'd recreate us new reservations based on the old ones, but I have no idea yet whether that will work. The casino program coordinator doesn't work on Saturdays so she said she'd talk to them Monday and see what can be done. I still have no idea whether Carnival screwed up, or Golden Nugget screwed up. I suspect it's the former, because I would think Carnival just bills GN after the fact as a lump sum for all certificated redeemed.

 

Hopefully they'll call back tomorrow and say "Sorry, we screwed up, it never should have been cancelled, and everything is back the way it was now". It BETTER work out that way, or I'm gonna raise hell with them.

 

OK, off my soapbox now. I just needed to vent a little. :D Thanks for listening. I'll update this after they call tomorrow.

[misguidedangel]

Well, someone screwed up for sure..

 

How come you never logged in to add your reservation. I do it within a couple of days of booking and check it at least once a week. In case something goes wrong, I can see it, if nothing is wrong I just sit back and keep going there as often as I can until the I leave for the cruise!!!!!

 

Hope it all gets fixed in the end.....snafu's suck..

[morganboys]

no offense but you are just now noticing this? my first flag would have been the message about needing the $500 deposit. I would have kept checking it and when the it still showed that I needed the deposit I would have called carnival. I hope you get this fixed but 2 & a 1/2 months later might have cost you your free cruise. good luck on this one.

[dbsb3233]

Well, someone screwed up for sure..

 

How come you never logged in to add your reservation. I do it within a couple of days of booking and check it at least once a week. In case something goes wrong, I can see it, if nothing is wrong I just sit back and keep going there as often as I can until the I leave for the cruise!!!!!

 

Hope it all gets fixed in the end.....snafu's suck..

That's exactly what I did -- logged in within a week and added the reservation to my (new) online account. That's how I printed the reservation. I see now that my credit card charge was on 11/19, and the date I printed the reservation was 11/26, so I must have linked them up a week apart. At that point it appeared everything was fine.

 

But we have a big Asia cruise in April (on Celebrity) so I've been focusing on that one instead. I hadn't logged back into Carnival since November. Are they prone to snafus? I've taken almost a dozen cruises but this will be our first on Carnival (and maybe our last, if this is representative).

[dbsb3233]

no offense but you are just now noticing this? my first flag would have been the message about needing the $500 deposit. I would have kept checking it and when the it still showed that I needed the deposit I would have called carnival. I hope you get this fixed but 2 & a 1/2 months later might have cost you your free cruise. good luck on this one.

I'm pretty sure the initial agent said just to ignore that part because (obviously) the certificate covered the cruise. It just seemed logical that whatever remaining "payments" for the cruise would be handled internally, since all I was responsible for were the port fees and taxes (and of course any on-board charge we might incur during the cruise).

 

I am a bit mad at myself now for not checking up on them sooner to make sure they didn't screw anything up, but really, I shouldn't have had to. Everything seemed fine when I made the reservation, based on what the agent told me, combined with what I printed out.

 

I guess if I ever use Carnival again, I know now to keep checking frequently to make sure they don't screw it up.

Edited February 23, 2014 by dbsb3233

[kathy884]

I think they'll get it all fixed for you. Tell us how it works out. What a pain, though. // I think your needing to check your reservation regularly when every thing is all set is ridiculous. // Sometimes trips are booked way in advance. // We're cruising in three weeks on one of the land based casino cruise offers too. We booked ours almost a year ago, and this weekend is the first time I bothered to sign in online (thought I'd put in passport information, etc. and check out their website. didn't bother for the first 11 months, though). // I hope all gets worked out for you and that you really enjoy your trip. I would call the special offer 800 number too rather than the regular Carnival 800 number if you have one of those. They are really familiar with the terms and want to keep the customers with these deals happy.

[Tapi]

It seems to me like Golden Nugget is at fault. Not Carnival. If it was a free cruise from Golden Nugget, and as you mention, the agent told you to disregard the notice for payment (since Golden Nugget would be covering it), then it means that they didn't pay.

 

Those "pesky" Personal Vacation Planners can sometimes be useful. I guess that without him, you may have shown up for your cruise and found out then there was no cruise! :eek:

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Edited February 23, 2014 by Tapi

[dbsb3233]

It seems to me like Golden Nugget is at fault. Not Carnival. If it was a free cruise from Golden Nugget, and as you mention, the agent told you to disregard the notice for payment (since Golden Nugget would be covering it), then it means that they didn't pay.

 

Those "pesky" Personal Vacation Planners can sometimes be useful. I guess that without him, you may have shown up for your cruise and found out then there was no cruise! :eek:

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Could be. Just depends on how the payment between GN and Carnival actually takes place. I would guess that part is not on a reservation-by-reservation basis (where GN makes a payment individually for each one of the hundreds of certificates they give out that are redeemed), but rather Carnival bills them once for the total as part of the partnership agreement. But maybe not. Hard to say for sure.

[awhcruiser]

I would have called on Dec.3rd to find out why it was cancelled.

Cancelled?!?

 

I pulled out my printed reservations. It shows my payment received for the port fees/taxes. It also shows $500 deposit due Dec 3, and Balance due July 21. I figured that's just what the system automatically puts on there as a matter of course, but since we're using free certificates (which was perfectly clear when I called the special number and gave the certificate #'s), I just figured that was perfunctory. I think the program rep I made the reservation with even said that - ignore it since the certificate covers that internally.

 

But something went terribly wrong at that point. 3 days after that Dec 3 "deposit due" date, they cancelled the reservation! I didn't even notice until now that the port fees/taxes I'd paid were credited back to by credit card on Dec 6 (just 2 weeks after I make the reservation in the first place).

 

Then I screwed up a little. We were on a different cruise (Princess) in late January, when a rep from Carnival apparently called my house to straighten this out. We had a housesitter who jotted down the "call Carnival at xxx-xxxx" message, but I never did because I just assumed it was our monthly "can we talk you into buying a new Carnival cruise" call. At that point, I had no idea there was any problem with our reservation, so I never had reason to check up on it... until yesterday when she noticed it was cancelled.

 

Compounding the situation is the deadline for booking and making any changes using the "free cruise" certificates was Feb 14.

 

The personal cruise coordinator that called yesterday (who was really calling just to sell new cruises and only happened to notice the cancellation by chance) said she'd recreate us new reservations based on the old ones, but I have no idea yet whether that will work. The casino program coordinator doesn't work on Saturdays so she said she'd talk to them Monday and see what can be done. I still have no idea whether Carnival screwed up, or Golden Nugget screwed up. I suspect it's the former, because I would think Carnival just bills GN after the fact as a lump sum for all certificated redeemed.

 

Hopefully they'll call back tomorrow and say "Sorry, we screwed up, it never should have been cancelled, and everything is back the way it was now". It BETTER work out that way, or I'm gonna raise hell with them.

 

OK, off my soapbox now. I just needed to vent a little. :D Thanks for listening. I'll update this after they call tomorrow.

[dbsb3233]

I think they'll get it all fixed for you. Tell us how it works out. What a pain, though. // I think your needing to check your reservation regularly when every thing is all set is ridiculous. // Sometimes trips are booked way in advance. // We're cruising in three weeks on one of the land based casino cruise offers too. We booked ours almost a year ago, and this weekend is the first time I bothered to sign in online (thought I'd put in passport information, etc. and check out their website. didn't bother for the first 11 months, though). // I hope all gets worked out for you and that you really enjoy your trip. I would call the special offer 800 number too rather than the regular Carnival 800 number if you have one of those. They are really familiar with the terms and want to keep the customers with these deals happy.

Thanks. I would think they would fix it too, but there's still a part of me that worries about the Feb 14 certificate deadline, or a "well we tried to call in January when we noticed the mistake so now you're out of luck" response.

 

But I agree - I think these casino partnerships fall into "major client" territory for them, and they'd do even more to keep those customers happy. I did use that special number when I called to make the reservations in Nov, and I would definitely use it again, as they seem to be the ones that administer the casino program.

 

Fingers crossed.

[dbsb3233]

I would have called on Dec.3rd to find out why it was cancelled.

Oh if I'd noticed it was cancelled then, I sure as heck would have. I only found out about the cancellation yesterday, and I'll be all over them tomorrow when that dept opens up (actually my rep is supposed to call me an hour after they open).

[awhcruiser]

Please report back and let us know how it turned out!

Oh if I'd noticed it was cancelled then, I sure as heck would have. I only found out about the cancellation yesterday, and I'll be all over them tomorrow when that dept opens up (actually my rep is supposed to call me an hour after they open).

[mousey]

I hoe all goes well for you tomorrow! Yes, please do let us know the results.:D

[grumpyjr88]

I hope it all gets sorted!

 

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Forums mobile app

[INCHARGE]

This sounds like a problem with the Casino certificates. Carnival would not have let you book a cruise with nothing down, just port charges. They must have tried to collect the money, and something went wrong. That should be on the casino, and they will need to fix it, probably by issuing you 2 more certificates. Either way, I would not give up until they paid up. Document everything, and speak only with supervisors. You should not have had to make sure they did their part right. You just know you did everything you were supposed to do. It's a good thing you copied the original reservation. As soon as you get it corrected, let us know. It will be fine, but you must make sure to talk to supervisors at both places.

[jks336]

that's like this cruise I got booked. I used my citi card thank you points. and I am always on manage my cruise just checking and noticed the bal due was different. gave them a call and seemed that citicard thank you network had not sent over the payment when due, but with me calling and her getting ahold of financial they figured it out and got it straightened out. "whew" not as bad as your cruise getting cancelled tho!

 

and I tell you what, if carnival rebooks and wants to say charge more, you get the golden nugget to pay that difference since I agree as well that it was THEIR screw up. and as another poster stated as well, GOOD THING you checked, finding out now is wayyy better than showing up to board and they say, sorry, no dice!

[dbsb3233]

Well it took 50 minutes on the phone and a two long holds while the rep went and straightened it out with a supervisor, but they finally got it straightened out and put back together the way it's suppose it be.

 

It was Carnival that screwed up. She confirmed that it wasn't the Golden Nugget. They just get billed lump sum for all the cruise certificates redeemed as part of the program, not separately for each booking. Somehow the certificates just weren't applied to my 2 reservations. And therefore when the phantom deposit requirement (which was never suppose to appear) wasn't paid by 12/3, the system automatically cancelled the reservations and refunded the prepaid taxes/fees.

 

At the top of the phone call, she said it was all put back together and just needed for me to pay for the taxes/fees (again). But then she gave the amounts. They were $30 pp higher than what I'd paid before, for the exact same booking numbers and cabins. I told her that wasn't really fair. Since Carnival is the one that screwed this up to begin with, I really shouldn't have to pay more for taxes/fees (looks like the cabin rates went up since I booked them in Nov). I offered to go ahead and pay the extra but asked if they could offset it with cabin credit or soda pkg or something. Another 15 minute hold while she talked to the supervisor, and she came back and said they went ahead and manually adjusted the fees/taxes to be exactly what they were before.

 

Now when I go online and look at each reservation detail, the "cruise rate" line is gone entirely and it just shows the (manually adjusted) amount for taxes/fees, and a bold line underneath saying Balance Paid In Full. :)

 

It was kinda messy getting there, but it all looks back where it it was supposed to be now. Yay!

[kgymn]

I though there was a condition somewhere that states that if taxes and fees go up even after you are paid in full you may be responsible for paying the difference, in particular if gas prices go up. I'm glad they were able to make good on the original price for you!

 

I am very happy to hear they were able to get your booking back! I can only imagine how frustrated I would be in the same situation!

 

~Katy

[cruzin2010]

Great ending. Happy that they took responsibility and fixed it.

[ItsAllAboutTheSass]

Cabin rates irrelevant to taxes/fees

[dbsb3233]

Cabin rates irrelevant to taxes/fees

I wondered about that. I figured port fees were probably fixed but I figured taxes were based on the fare (like a sales tax or something). But that was just my guess.

 

Now that you mention it, I see they are fixed. Our 2 cabins are different classes and types (one inside, one OV), and different rates. But the original fees/taxes total was exactly the same for both (per person).

[kathy884]

That's a long time to be on the phone. I'm glad that they got it worked out for you, but what a pain for you to have to be on the phone so long. // Carnival has a lot going for them and we've enjoyed cruising with them before and I hope you will too.

 

In my limited personal experience they seem, though, to have a few too many snafus that yes do get worked out, but it's more effort and energy than a vacationer should have to extend to get things taken care of. I hope they get their act together and that you have a carefree sailing. I'm hoping for the same for us on the cruise we're doing in three weeks.

[agc291]

I though there was a condition somewhere that states that if taxes and fees go up even after you are paid in full you may be responsible for paying the difference, in particular if gas prices go up. I'm glad they were able to make good on the original price for you!

 

I am very happy to hear they were able to get your booking back! I can only imagine how frustrated I would be in the same situation!

 

~Katy

 

I believe this is just if you upgrade your booking. If you leave it as is then you are fine.

 

However, gas prices raising is a different part of that and it is stated all over carnivals site that if it goes over a certain amount then you could be charged x amount per day.