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Denied boarding

Kosmo82899

By Kosmo82899,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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crusinpsychRN

crusinpsychRN

Posted
Posted
By no means 18 years of age- add another 40+ years, I was so organized for my cruise in 2014.

 

I had a zip lock bag with my DL, passport, credit card I was to use for my S&S card, copies of Carnival's itinerary, envelope with confirmed reservation for transportation, hotel, the Steakhouse and port expedition info.

 

I put it all in my big bag purse the day before I was to leave.

Then, I went for a mani-pedi at the end of the day. As I went to pay, I took my wallet out of the big bag purse (which is usually all I carry anyway) and, you guessed it, left- with only my pocketbook.

 

It wasn't until I arrived home at 9pm that I realized my big bag purse, with all of my important papers, was at the nail place and the nail place was closed.

Though I was lucky.

The airport shuttle picking me up at 530AM the following morning and early flight could be changed for a later time so I could pick up my purse (when the nail place opened) and still make the cruise.

 

Age had nothing to do with it, however, the action afterwards, and luck, made it for a good ending.

 

I went to the nail place (closed) and there was a pizza delivery store next to it- still open.

As I was explaining the story through crocodile tears to the people working at the pizza place, one of the delivery men, happened to be a FB friend with the owner of the nail salon.

 

He messaged her and I ended up by speaking with the owner's husband, and he agreed to drive back ( one hour from where they lived) and get the purse for me.

 

As he handed me the purse, I slipped him a $50/bill, as he wasn't going to be getting home till 11PM or later.

 

Lesson learned and - great thread !

 

What a nightmare!

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lyannea

lyannea

Posted
Posted
What a nightmare!

 

Yes it was. The funny thing is that, as I was driving back to the nail place after 9PM, I was crying hysterically and yelling, "why me, God, why me " and , realized that I had stopped at a traffic light with my windows open and the people in the car next to me were all looking over at me, and, really, I didn't care.

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Badfinger

Badfinger

Posted
Posted
Just wanted to get some input from other cruisers and any tips on how to possibly win this battle against Carnival. Here is my story. Myself, my wife, my son, my daughter and her boyfriend who is 18 were supposed to cruise on the Carnival Paradise out of Tampa last week. Her boyfriend was denied boarding because he didn't have any form of photo id with him because he accidently left it in the hotel room in Georgia we had stayed at the previous night. We had his birth certificate and the hotel found his wallet with drivers license in it and sent us and Carnival a picture of the license. After waiting for over 3 hours we were told he wouldn't be allowed to board. Now we are fighting with Carnival to try to get the money we had paid to be put towards a future cruise with them. They are refusing to give us anything back or put towards another cruise because we didn't purchase the insurance they offer. We were told by the Carnival employees in Tampa that the insurance wouldn't have helped in this situation anyway but that is not what customer care is telling us. We have been on multiple cruises with Carnival and brought other couples previously on their first cruises. I am failing to see what Carnival feels like they will be losing by giving us our money towards another cruise with them. It was a 5 day cruise from Tampa to Mexico in the cheapest cabin they had so they won't be out much money in my opinion. Anyone with any suggestions on this?

 

Sorry I cannot read 17 pages of posts, but will add my 0.02 which is likely repetitive........here it goes:

 

What would carnival lose? The fare that they will get for those cabins that you won't be sailing in because you have no future cruise credit. They would basically lose the fare for the 5 empty berths they had when you did not board the ship...plus the money you would have spent on the ship and for excursions (maybe thousands...who knows).

 

And yeah, four of you voluntarily did not board the ship. That is totally on you and you alone.

 

And you did not buy insurance. Again you. Not Carnival.

 

Why 3 hours? Because Carnival was likely trying their very best to get you on the ship. Of that I am convinced.

 

And if this causes you to never sail Carnival again, don't worry, someone else will be in that cabin you won't be buying.

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mzloolue

mzloolue

Posted
Posted
Same here. When we travel I get all the passports, ID's, and BC needed to board at before we leave home and hang on to them myself with our boarding passes. I make sure we get on that ship. It is called taking responsibility.

 

My husband does this too.

When we took friends and boyfriends everything they needed to board went in DH's butt bag that stayed on him until we were all boarded.

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gpb11

gpb11

Posted
Posted
why do Americans, if you travel, not all have passports

I suppose the basic reason is that with such a huge variety of different places to visit without leaving the US, many Americans simply don't have a need for one.

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RDC1

RDC1

Posted
Posted
The lack of empathy radiating from many of these posters is kind of sad. I understand all views - but the tone is kind of disheartening. Such little care for our fellow souls.

 

Those who demand Carnival treat everyone identical, no discretion, just remember that position if you are ever pulled over by a police officer and they let you go with only a warning.... Maybe you should demand a ticket, so that you are treated like others. Anytime you get a little something extra from a company, special treatment, etc. Decline it.

 

Discretion is a constant in customer service. It's generally bad customer service to hide behind paperwork and terms. Every industry is different, and travel just seems to work this way. You rarely get much sympathy or care from airlines, either. Though, I certainly have been treated by airlines after unfortunate circumstances better than this person was treated by Carnival.

 

Ultimately, this just comes down to what different people expect from customer service. Some prefer a very militant approach, rules, follow them, too bad if you don't - everyone treated identical. Some prefer a little more of a human approach - with discretion and understanding.

 

Both are legitimate. Truth is, I think all of us prefer a little bit of both depending on the circumstances and our personal experiences. :D

 

Passenger gets ill prior to cruise, but did not purchase insurance?

 

Passenger loses drivers license before cruise?

 

Passenger did not check rules and did not bring birth certificate?

 

Passenger did not get proper Visa?

 

Passenger had passport but it expires before return of cruise?

 

Passenger made independent travel arrangements and flight was delayed causing them to miss departure?

 

So for these and hundreds more like them that cruise lines see each week, who wins the customer exception lottery?

 

While sticking to the rules might annoy the passenger making the mistake, it would be far more damaging to the companies image if they grant exceptions on an adhoc basis. How many customers would get annoyed for buying insurance only to hear of cases of where passengers got refunds when they did not buy. Or where one customer gets declined and another gets approved for a refund for exactly the same thing. Far better for the company to make sure its rules are clear and well communicated to the customer and then upheld.

 

If anything in this case the agent that made the comment that the answer would have been different with a different CBP agent. While you often get agents making comments like that because they want to appear to be sympathetic to the customer and not want to be the bad guy, but a comment like that is not good customer service training.

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RDC1

RDC1

Posted
Posted
By the way ... this is EXACTLY why I laugh when people say ... "I leave my passport in the safe on the ship and carry a photocopy of it." Clearly that gets you NOWHERE except frustrated.

 

Actually it provides you would a good initial document for the local embassy personnel to start on the process for replacing your passport. Without a copy they have to start from scratch on validating your ID, so having a copy can save hours in the process.

 

I carry a passport card for the same reason. Cannot fly on it, but it does provide a good source of identification for many other purposes, as well as a good source document for embassy in case passport replacement is necessary.

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RDC1

RDC1

Posted
Posted

What the OP never said was what was the BF's view of the problem.

 

If I was him I would have said that they should board and not let them cancel the trip for my mistake. Since they had been in touch with the hotel and the hotel had they credit card on file the hotel could have forwarded the wallet to either a hotel nearby or the BF's relatives. He might have needed to borrow some money until the wallet got to him, but clearly not an impossible situation.

 

It would be an interesting test of character if he told them that they should go and he would handle the issue vs letting them cancel and not taking such a stand.

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cherbear4000

cherbear4000

Posted
Posted

I just want to tell a missing travel document story where Carnival went above and beyond. My extended family does a yearly cruise. We were all on board, just waiting for one sister and her family to arrive. My sister and her family drove from Ohio to Florida straight through. They originally planned on doing the drive in 2 days, but ended up leaving a day later than planned due to one of her kids getting sick and having to go to the hospital. They make it just in time, arriving at Port Canaveral at 2:50 PM for a 4 PM sailing. They go to check in and realize they forgot my sister's and her husband's passports. They did have the birth certificates for all the kids. Once they realize they would not be allowed to board, the kids all start crying then my sister starts crying. Apparently is was quite the scene.

 

The check-in agent then tells them that if they can get someone to e-mail her a copy of their birth certificates they could board, but they had to do it ASAP since it was already after 3. Luckily, another sister was too pregnant to cruise and only lived 10 minutes from this sister. So the pregnant sister gets in her car and races to the cruising sister's house. She was able to go into the house (luckily the dead bolt had a key panel), open the safe and find the birth certificates. She then took pictures of the birth certificates and emailed the pictures to the Carnival agent. The agent printed out the pictures and that served as their copy of their birth certificates.

 

Of course, all of this took time. Carnival actually held up the ship for them. They ended up walking on board at 4:15, missing Muster drill. I was in the lobby waiting for them. The second they walked on board, the ship set sail.

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sparks1093 Great Review Rare

sparks1093

Posted
Posted
I just want to tell a missing travel document story where Carnival went above and beyond. My extended family does a yearly cruise. We were all on board, just waiting for one sister and her family to arrive. My sister and her family drove from Ohio to Florida straight through. They originally planned on doing the drive in 2 days, but ended up leaving a day later than planned due to one of her kids getting sick and having to go to the hospital. They make it just in time, arriving at Port Canaveral at 2:50 PM for a 4 PM sailing. They go to check in and realize they forgot my sister's and her husband's passports. They did have the birth certificates for all the kids. Once they realize they would not be allowed to board, the kids all start crying then my sister starts crying. Apparently is was quite the scene.

 

The check-in agent then tells them that if they can get someone to e-mail her a copy of their birth certificates they could board, but they had to do it ASAP since it was already after 3. Luckily, another sister was too pregnant to cruise and only lived 10 minutes from this sister. So the pregnant sister gets in her car and races to the cruising sister's house. She was able to go into the house (luckily the dead bolt had a key panel), open the safe and find the birth certificates. She then took pictures of the birth certificates and emailed the pictures to the Carnival agent. The agent printed out the pictures and that served as their copy of their birth certificates.

 

Of course, all of this took time. Carnival actually held up the ship for them. They ended up walking on board at 4:15, missing Muster drill. I was in the lobby waiting for them. The second they walked on board, the ship set sail.

 

Of course the regulations allow a copy of a birth certificate, unfortunately for the OP not a copy of an ID.

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Warm Breezes

Warm Breezes

Posted
Posted
I didn't read all the responses but this situation happen to a friend of mine and believe or not they ran to Sam's and signed up and they accepted the ID as a photo ID. Heard the same thing from a health cub.

 

this was a few years ago.....

 

Per WHTI laws it needs to be a Government issued photo ID. I don't think you can get that at a Sam's Club.

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