A little tolerance is called for

[LadyAlexa]

I am sicken by the attacks I am reading on people who are disappointed that their vacations are being cancelled. Yes, I am sure we all agree that this is a small inconvenience compared to what the people in the Gulf States are experiencing, but it is still a disappointment. Could we please show a little kindness?

 

LadyA

[Gingee]

Hey I agree. I am just hoping the people who lost their cruises can reschedule their vacations.

[CroozBlooz]

I haven't read all of the messages posted on this board, but the only time I have seen "attacks" is when the OP comes out swinging at how grossly unfair Carnival is being and how they aren't doing anything for those whose cruises have been canceled. While I suppose those attack responders could simply hold their breath, count to 10, think unpleasant things about the posters, and move on....let's face it, the horrific destruction and loss of life in the Gulf area is substantially more significant than a canceled cruise.

 

I haven't seen anyone attacked simply for indicating that they are disappointed because their cruise has been canceled.

[Bran8778]

Are these people losing money at all???? What exactly are they mad about????

[WeatherGeek]

It is just human nature to be disappointed when a vacation you've been looking forward to has been cancelled. It doesn't mean the person lacks compassion for the victims of the hurricane. I too, wish the attacks would stop. I have only seen a handful of them though, so I guess that is good.

I was originally scheduled to get married on the Sensation on 1/28/06 but had to change those plans to a beach wedding in Florida a couple of months ago. I'm glad I did....would have been a nightmare trying to throw everything together in the last 3 or 4 months now to plan a FL wedding.

[dsclark]

CCL just announced that their earnings will be down 1-3 cents per share as a result of Katrina. I expect their stock to plummet tomorrow. So, that should put a rest to those who claim CCL is a greedy company profiting off the disaster.

[lasifguvui5uh]

...and a great opportunity to buy!

[jcs56]

They are upset because in order to rebook with another ship...bigger ships they have to pay more. I would be upset too. Many people save a long time for these vacations and have a tight budget. It may seem minimal to have to pay another $3-400 but when your on a budget it's a lot of money. Also in many cases it means changing airline tickets, hotel bookings, excursions.....etc... I have not been effected but with my husbands vacation schedules I would be hard pressed to find another cruise for us. I just hope everyone can work things out; possibly do a land vacation or something....I'm sorry for all of you that are effected by all of this.

[dsclark]

Seriously, now is not the time to buy!

1) Oil will stay high and pinch profits.

2) The economy will slow down and reduce demand for cruises.

Fro example, the gulf area will see 25% unemployment. It is hard to sell a cruise to some that doesn't have a job. In addition, the high cost of gas and heating oil/ gas is reducing the amount of money available for luxuries, like cruises.

[Ima_HockeyMom]

I will admit that I had a hard time understanding why people are upset about their cruise being cancelled. When I first heard the news about CCL cancelling cruises to help out, I was in the car on my way to a hockey tournament. For the rest of the day, we were away from a TV, radio or computer so we had no idea which ships this would be affecting but we figured that the ship we are taking next month would be cancelled (Victory). Lots of our friends know we were scheduled to go on a cruise next month and they kept asking us all day long if we were upset about it being cancelled, etc.

 

We talked about it during the day and we both agreed that of course we would bit a little bit bummed but that it WAS the right thing to do and that by us sacrificing our vacation, we would be in turn helping others that literally have nothing but the clothes on their back. That even though we would have to give up our vacation...that *we* were the lucky ones.

 

My fiancee is 34 and has NEVER, EVER been on a vacaction. He has worked for 17 years without taking 1 single sick day, not one vacation. This would have been his very first ever vacation.

 

I agree that their have been a lot of personal attacks and that it hopefully has stopped, but it's hard to see one's point of view when there is so much more important things going on in this country right now.

[Millygirl]

I feel very badly for all of those people affected by Katrina. I feel just as badly for all of those people who had their cruises canceled due to ships being put into service to help the Katrina victims. For those of us who have not been affected by either, it's very easy for us to pass judgement on how those that are affected are dealing with it. But there is no wrong reaction here. People work very hard for their time off and they have every right to be disappointed that their trips have been taken away from them. Who are we to say they can't or shouldn't feel that way? It doesn't mean they are not compassionate towards those who have lost their homes, jobs, and loved ones. One has nothing to do with the other. We can all have our opinions but maybe we could refrain from judging anyone, in any situation, until we have walked in their shoes.

[opieant]

Dsclark,

 

You misread the quote.

 

"Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE: CCL; LSE) CUK announced today that the severe weather caused by Hurricane Katrina and subsequent port closures resulted in the cancellation of one voyage and the shortening of two voyages, as well as other voyage disruptions and related costs, for the company's Carnival Cruise Lines brand.

 

The above quote has nothing to do with thier choice to deploy 3 ships the the Gulf region to help house those americans who need all the help we can give.

 

The stock price will only reflect losses directly due to normal operational expences.

 

The stock will go up sharply this week. Trust me on this one. This stock will be a buy push on wall street this week. gains should be in 2-3 basis points against offseted projections.

[WhansaMi]

I feel very badly for all of those people affected by Katrina. I feel just as badly for all of those people who had their cruises canceled due to ships being put into service to help the Katrina victims.

 

 

Seriously? You really feel "just as badly" for people whose vacation plans have been messed up as people who have lost their homes, their jobs, their pets, and their loved ones?

 

Your scale of reality is very, very different than mine, then.

 

Sheila

[big_duck]

Dsclark,

 

You misread the quote.

 

"Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE: CCL; LSE) CUK announced today that the severe weather caused by Hurricane Katrina and subsequent port closures resulted in the cancellation of one voyage and the shortening of two voyages, as well as other voyage disruptions and related costs, for the company's Carnival Cruise Lines brand.

 

The above quote has nothing to do with thier choice to deploy 3 ships the the Gulf region to help house those americans who need all the help we can give.

 

The stock price will only reflect losses directly due to normal operational expences.

 

The stock will go up sharply this week. Trust me on this one. This stock will be a buy push on wall street this week. gains should be in 2-3 basis points against offseted projections.

 

Try including the whole statement next time:

 

MIAMI, Sept. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE: CCL; LSE) (NYSE: CUK - News) announced today that the severe weather caused by Hurricane Katrina and subsequent port closures resulted in the cancellation of one voyage and the shortening of two voyages, as well as other voyage disruptions and related costs, for the company's Carnival Cruise Lines brand.

ADVERTISEMENT

 

 

In addition, Carnival Cruise Lines has two vessels, the Carnival Conquest and Sensation, which homeported out of New Orleans. Given the tremendous damage to New Orleans, the company does not expect these ships to operate from New Orleans for an extended period of time. The Carnival Conquest will relocate indefinitely to Galveston, Texas.

 

Carnival Cruise Lines has chartered three vessels, including the Sensation, along with the Holiday and Ecstasy -- to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) on behalf of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for a period of six months that will be used in the hurricane relief efforts. The charters will begin Monday, Sept. 5, aboard the Ecstasy and Sensation, docked in Galveston, and Thursday, Sept. 8, aboard the Holiday, docked in her homeport of Mobile, Ala.

While it is difficult to determine the full financial impact resulting from the above hurricane related events, the company currently believes that these events will reduce earnings by between $0.01 and $0.03 per share with most of the impact expected to fall in the fourth quarter of 2005.

[steveaaaa]

Are these people losing money at all???? What exactly are they mad about????

Yes they are losing and being charged more. I have friends who have/had a cruise for February vacation booked.Being teachers,that is the only week available to them.The 2 rooms they had for themselves and the kids (bottom catagorys) were a good deal.Now in order to get onto another ship,they are forced to get a room catagory 4 cats higher than they had which will cost them another $1700 since they booked in December of 2004 for a 2006 cruise while on another cruise and the rates have skyrocketed,and the airfare change is another $900 for them.The final issue is they used their Icruise points for a total of $1000 off the bookings and now Icruise rewards are one half of what they were last month so that is another $500 they must make up.They do not have the extra $3100 so they are not going and they are going to forfeit the air tickets since they were purchased using 2 free companion tickets.

How do we not feel sorry for them?Yes they had insurance,but it appears they are only going to pay the 2 air tickets off.So in conclusion,they are out $500 off of fare in loss of non refundable reward points,they lose the value of the 2 free companion vouchers,and they recover the $600 in airfare but they paid almost $200 for the insurance.

Steve

[dsclark]

I have reread that statement several times... it does say that earning will be reduced 1-3 cents.. However, that is from earnings. it doesn't say how much earnings would have been reduced WITHOUT katrina.

Last quarter, they reported incredible earnings and the stock dropped a couple of bucks! Why? because they mentioned that the high cost of oil could decrease future earnings. Now, that was back when oil was at $50 a barrell. For most of this current quarter, oil has been selling between 60-70 a barrell (yikes!) I can only imagine what that will do the earnings for this quarter.

[tumeroll]

Yes they are losing and being charged more. I have friends who have/had a cruise for February vacation booked.Being teachers,that is the only week available to them.The 2 rooms they had for themselves and the kids (bottom catagorys) were a good deal.Now in order to get onto another ship,they are forced to get a room catagory 4 cats higher than they had which will cost them another $1700 since they booked in December of 2004 for a 2006 cruise while on another cruise and the rates have skyrocketed,and the airfare change is another $900 for them.The final issue is they used their Icruise points for a total of $1000 off the bookings and now Icruise rewards are one half of what they were last month so that is another $500 they must make up.They do not have the extra $3100 so they are not going and they are going to forfeit the air tickets since they were purchased using 2 free companion tickets.

How do we not feel sorry for them?Yes they had insurance,but it appears they are only going to pay the 2 air tickets off.So in conclusion,they are out $500 off of fare in loss of non refundable reward points,they lose the value of the 2 free companion vouchers,and they recover the $600 in airfare but they paid almost $200 for the insurance.

Steve

 

However, they stil do have their home, several autos all their clothing and two jobs that pay a decent wage. I'll bet that I can find two people in the Astro Dome that will change places with these folks in a heart beat if they still feel terribly put upon.

[dmcint9650]

I am one of the people that was booked on the Elation on 9/18. I am very upset with Carnival because they are not using this ship for the relief effort but moving other cruisers to this ship. There was no reason for them to cancel the people already scheduled for the Elation except that I'm sure that Carnival is making a more money using it for 3 and 4 day cruises.

I was taking my family on this vacation and had booked 4 cabins, saved for a very long time for this, took a lot of work to arrange everyone schedules. I am out a lot of money because I did not book the air with the cruise and it's nonrefundable.

[cathyoo]

Ahh, I do think the folks with legitimate complaints are getting slammed here. No one should ever complain using the thinking of some folks. Whenever something bad happens there is always someone else with a worse tragedy.

 

I feel very bad for those teachers. Not as bad as I feel for Katerina's victims but still I think they have a right to be disappointed. I think I can spare a little sympathy for them and I think that is all they want of their fellow CC'ers.

[Patdmoose]

We had 4 cabins (Main deck outside) booked on the 9/25 Elation.

Carnival has still not called or emailed to let us know that our cruise has been canceled. I found out when I signed in to the Carnival website on Sunday morning. I found a message that 'You have canceled your booking # ******'. I figured it was a glitch and called and left a message for my PVP. He still has not called me back either. By the time that I called Carnival CS on Sunday afternoon, they had raised the Conquest prices to where we would have had to pay $200+/person more for an inside cabin. The prices for today have now gone up an additional $50. This is a hurricane season sailing and it is pricing out like a summer cruise.

Carnival should have canceled the Conquest passengers and moved the Elation passengers into comparable cabins. Let's face it, there are no cruises leaving from NOLA, but there were thousands of people booked for cruises out of Galveston that have been left without options.

And if I have to read one more comment like "you should be glad you still have...'

Yes, we are glad we did not have the destruction of our homes, lives, and jobs; but because we didn't, we have the jobs and resources to help those who were part of this great tragedy. We have donated cash, supplies, and time to help the relief effort.

We have saved for months to take this cruise. If it had been canceled by a hurricane threatening Galveston, then that would have been the luck of the draw for booking during hurricane season. But it was cancelled due to some poor planning by CCL corporation. The people sailing on ships that were homeported from the stricken areas had an expectation that they would not be sailing. Those of us sailing from Galveston had no such expectation.

 

Can you imagine the outcry that would be taking place if they had canceled some of the Florida based ships.

[big_duck]

I am one of the people that was booked on the Elation on 9/18. I am very upset with Carnival because they are not using this ship for the relief effort but moving other cruisers to this ship. There was no reason for them to cancel the people already scheduled for the Elation except that I'm sure that Carnival is making a more money using it for 3 and 4 day cruises.

I was taking my family on this vacation and had booked 4 cabins, saved for a very long time for this, took a lot of work to arrange everyone schedules. I am out a lot of money because I did not book the air with the cruise and it's nonrefundable.

 

If they didn't use Ecstacy they would have used Elation - your cruise would still be cancelled.

[WeatherGeek]

And if I have to read one more comment like "you should be glad you still have...' Yes, we are glad we did not have the destruction of our homes, lives, and jobs; but because we didn't, we have the jobs and resources to help those who were part of this great tragedy. We have donated cash, supplies, and time to help the relief effort.

I agree. While being inconvenienced about your cruise pales in comparison to what is going on with those displaced by the hurricane, it doesn't mean you aren't allowed to feel upset or disappointed about it. While it didn't affect me personally, I get upset every time I read that Carnival is making people shell out extra $$$ for a vacation that has already been paid for, if they still want to cruise in the same time frame on a different ship.

[hightownCO]

I'm fairly new to these boards and cruising but while I don't post much, have been an avid reader. There's such a wealth of information and resources in the people here. However, I've also seen occasional hateful, mean-spirited replies on various subjects. Not many but enough that I am cautious about posting here.

 

The cancelled cruise subjects seems to have given a 'license to kill' (flame) to many here. Isn't it fun to be able to throw respect for others and restraint out the window and practice turning out a truly cutting personal attack.

 

I think everyone who has had their cruises cancelled have every right to be disappointed. I'm sorry you all are in that position and hope everything works out. That doesn't diminish the intense sorrow for those who have lost so much due to H Katrina. These aren't mutually exclusive feelings!

 

I'll donate whatever I can reasonably afford to help the hurricane victims. My employer will matching funds which is great and also they will be giving grants to firefighting units in the affected area to replace equipment. (Unfortunatly, I work for an insurance company and we'll honor millions of dollars in claims. I'll feel that loss next year in probably no bonus and no raise)

 

BUT, meanwhile, life goes on. I will go to the movie. I will spend money to repaint my bedroom. Someone, somewhere will probably think that that money should to to the relief effort. I will laugh at someones joke and not refrain for laughter because others are in tears because of Katrina. We have to go on being human and find some satisfaction in our individual lives and yes, voice some disappointment in some things. All the while, I can still feel very deeply for those people who have lost personal belongs, loved ones, their livelyhood.

 

To those of you who are faced with finding another cruse or cancell, I wish you luck and feel for you. I'd be disappointed too!

 

To those who are facing heartache and loss due to the hurricane, I ache for you as well and wish I could do more.

[Randy & Carmen]

Well stated hightown and with it said I'm closing this thread to help clean up the board to get it back on cruising and the purpose of CruiseCritic.com..Thanks