Vacation Guarantee

[TXParrothead]

Just curious.....

 

For all of the horrible reviews that are posted here why don't these people take advantage of the vacation guarantee? Carnival will prorate the refund and pay for your return flights.

[sw6416]

I would imagine its beacause you must disembark from the first non US port of call. Then you must pay for all travel yourself for which you are refunded at a later time by Carnival. Maybe its not a well know thing for some?

 

A bad day on a Carnival ship has to be better than any day trying to get home on a plane from another country!

[dodukes]

I didnt even know that was possible but there is no way no matter how lousy the trip maybe (unles its a medical thing for me i guess) that I would debark in any other country not of US and try to make my way around and fly myself back just to get a refund from carnival. Id rather suck it up and if it was really taht bad just send them a letter explaining what i thought the faults were, not for anything other than to get it off your chest, but i agree i would NOT be in any other country trying to make my way home ...

[Cotton]

About Carnival's Vacation Guarantee...

 

This is what happens, and I know from personal experience:

 

1) Before you get to the first port-of-call, you must let the purser know you want to discontinue your cruise.

 

2) You must sign a statement as to why you want to discontinue the cruise. This statement will be notarized in the purser's office, and you'll be given a copy.

 

3) YOU are responsible for paying for your own plane trip. They will reimburse your flight back to the original homeport city only, not to your home town. Once back at the homeport city, YOU are responsible for getting yourself back home, whether by car or air.

 

4) In the event no flight is available the day you leave the ship, YOU will be responsible for securing a hotel room, at your expense. No reimbursement for hotel.

 

5) After you return home, you must send to Carnival a copy of your notarized statement and a copy of your airline bill, along with proof of your cruise documents.

 

6) Then, about two months later, you should receive reimbursement for the airline fare, as well as for the unused portion of the cruise.

 

It's NOT worth the hassle, believe me.:rolleyes:

[BND]

My opinion also is these bad reviews are just that, bad reviews. The person posting them doesn't want to leave their vacation, they just want to complain and in some cases be compensated for their "horrible time".

[mikesteg]

This is what happens, and I know from personal experience:

 

Did they have any sort of follow up phone call/interview? Seems like they'd be all over this as an opportunity for which they've already paid the cost. They'd have some worthless inteviews, but surely they would find some serious issues also.

[salty dingo]

My opinion also is these bad reviews are just that, bad reviews. The person posting them doesn't want to leave their vacation, they just want to complain and in some cases be compensated for their "horrible time".

 

I think there is a component of spite in some of those "first post" negative reviews. Perhaps they thought they were due some sort of compensation for their troubles, and were denied, and they are fighting back. That's a lame excuse, but there are lame people out there.

[Cotton]

Did they have any sort of follow up phone call/interview? Seems like they'd be all over this as an opportunity for which they've already paid the cost. They'd have some worthless inteviews, but surely they would find some serious issues also.

 

Yes, a gentleman who identified himself as the 'Director of Guest Relations' at corporate level contacted me by phone less than a week after I returned. We had a pleasant conversation, and I reiterated my reason for leaving the ship. He thanked me for my candid reply and courteous manner, and said the matter would be addressed.

[mikesteg]

I think there is a component of spite in some of those "first post" negative reviews. Perhaps they thought they were due some sort of compensation for their troubles, and were denied, and they are fighting back. That's a lame excuse, but there are lame people out there.

 

No doubt. Just like in real life, most of us know that when people walk up to you on the street and volunteer negative information (or positive) that it has to be taken with a grain of salt. The catch is when the newbies get together with the clueless, and the clueless are convinced that ... I dunno, let's say ... that bathrooms on Carnival ships might routinely stink. :D

[mikesteg]

Yes, a gentleman who identified himself as the 'Director of Guest Relations' at corporate level contacted me by phone less than a week after I returned. We had a pleasant conversation, and I reiterated my reason for leaving the ship. He thanked me for my candid reply and courteous manner, and said the matter would be addressed.

 

That's good. Any idea if the actually addressed the problem, or if it was just a placebo? Obviously you're still an enthusiastic cruiser. :D

 

I wouldn't be terribly surprised if they really did have a director level (or his/her direct staff) follow up on these. There can't be all that many cases to deal with, and something that causes a reasonable person to walk off the ship could potentially wind up on CNN. :eek:

[TXParrothead]

Cotton...

 

Don't answer if you don't want to but, why did you leave the ship?

 

The red tape would make me stay...

[salty dingo]

The red tape would make me stay...

 

Usually they use duct-tape to make you stay...

[Cotton]

TX - Sorry, not meaning to be coy or secretive, but I'd rather not go into it; a personal matter.

 

Mike - No, the same person called me a coupla weeks later and gave me an update. The matter was handled to my satisfaction. Yes, I will continue enjoying my cruises.:)

[vesw01]

Cotton

Did they offer you anything else - like a discount on another cruise? If you left the ship it must have been bad - something made you come back.

[salty dingo]

Cotton - since it was a personal matter, is it safe to assume you were not leaving because you were unhappy with the ship's services?

 

If so, it is nice to know they honor the guarantee even if the reason for leaving is not due to something they did wrong.

[rucruizin]

We had a problem in a cabin on the Paradise once. It was making my usually easy going DH...insane. His state started making me crazy and neither one of us were sleeping. One morning in the hall one of our neighbors made a comment to his SO who was still in the cabin about the $@* noise. We inquired if it was the same noise keeping us up and indeed they were experiencing the same problem. As we talked in the hallway, several others oveheard the conversation and said it was keeping them up too. Everyone had seperately made reports and each one said they had received a letter of apology ( which I was very impressed with) but the problem had not been resolved. We decided to go in force (not with force) down to the pursers office and let them know that it was a problem for all of us. Some of us were very calm and others were yelling and anrgy. I wanted nothing to do with the angry mob so we listened to the cheif purser tell us that they were experiencing a problem with one of the side thrusters (?), and that was the source of the high pitched whine, and nothing could be done about it until they arrived back in port. The ship was full so no one could be moved but the purser offered ear plugs.

 

We chalked it up to...stuff happens and decided not to let it ruin our vacation. Others continued to yell and be hostile towards this poor woman who simply couldn't do anything about it.

 

On the morning of debarkation instead of a S&S bill we received a statement with a zero balance and a check. Carnival on it's own had rebated a % of our cruise portion back to us. I wrote Carnival and thanked them for the wonderful treatment we received, which was far above my expectations. That was our first Carnival cruise...that experience has kept me coming back.

[ZanieOR]

It occurs to me that anytime anyone writes anything negative about their cruise, others criticize them and accuse them of wanting to get something from Carnival even if that was never mentioned.

 

I am excitedly looking forward to my first cruise and I know I'll have a wonderful time, no matter what little problems may be encountered. But I appreciate those review that are honest about what those problems might be (though it seems they are mostly different for everyone), along with the glowing accounts of the fun things I have to look forward to.

 

Real life vacations are never quite as perfect as we imagine (though sometimes reality is even better), being that we are human beings subject to our own limitations and tolerance to annoyances.

I just don't think everyone who has complaints and criticisms deserve all the negative comments they sometimes receive.

[rucruizin]

You will have a wonderful time if you remember, if you miss a port, go again. If it rains, stay inside and laze around. If the food isn't quite what you'd imagined, be glad you don't have to cook it. If any staff member isn't quite as cheerful, or they don't provide the service you expect...remember that everyone has bad days. If the lines are long, make conversation with everyone around you, the time will fly by and you will get where you are going in no time. If you lose your luggage, be thankful that you are on a ship with 2,000 other people and let the thoughtful offers of strangers humble you. If something needs to be addressed, remember how you hate to be yelled at for someting that isn't YOUR fault. Remember that nobody likes a whiner so be cheerful, be thoughtful, be gracious.

 

My dad always used to say..."if you can't say something nice, FIND something nice to say."

 

:D ;) :)

[MyImagination]

Interesting reading. Was always curious about people that have invoked the guarantee.

[momofmn00]

You will have a wonderful time if you remember, if you miss a port, go again. If it rains, stay inside and laze around. If the food isn't quite what you'd imagined, be glad you don't have to cook it. If any staff member isn't quite as cheerful, or they don't provide the service you expect...remember that everyone has bad days. If the lines are long, make conversation with everyone around you, the time will fly by and you will get where you are going in no time. If you lose your luggage, be thankful that you are on a ship with 2,000 other people and let the thoughtful offers of strangers humble you. If something needs to be addressed, remember how you hate to be yelled at for someting that isn't YOUR fault. Remember that nobody likes a whiner so be cheerful, be thoughtful, be gracious.

 

My dad always used to say..."if you can't say something nice, FIND something nice to say."

 

:D ;) :)

 

Nice: What a great way to have a GREAT Vacation!!!! Very Inspirational!!!!:D

My Comments about the guarentee: I personally have only cruised once and personally it was pretty great!!!! I don't know if I would personally take advantage and go home if I was having that miserable of a time, but who knows...:confused: But, one of the room stewards (our friends's to be exact...) was telling us on our cruise while he was folding papers on the last night of the cruise by our door that the week before the seas we so rough that 16 families [rooms] went home!:eek: I didn't really know Carnival would cover that, but wow! That must have been some high waves!!!!!

[LHP]

We need to remember that this guarantee must be implemented before your first port. It is very possible that people who had significant problems on a cruise, did not have them until AFTER that first port. Since the first port can be as quickly as day 2, that does not give you a lot of time to "react". Most people try to convince themselves that it will get better.

 

We are going to be on the Victory at the end of the month. We leave New York on a Saturday....our first port is Sunday morning. So if there is a serious issue where someone would want to take advantage of the Vacation Guarantee that happens on Sunday night....you are out of luck. And you still have the rest of the week on the ship.

 

So just because people do not use the Vacation Guarantee, does not mean they just want to complain. Other factors apply. Also, it is sad that with the vile way some groups have acted on a ship, that the respectful cruiser is the one that is forced to abandon their cruise...just because Security did not step up to the plate.

[LHP]

the dreaded double post