Sometimes it pays to complain--Thanks Princess

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Greetings, Andy!

 

I'm glad Princess treated you so well! Carnival did the same for us almost three years ago--on a previous cruise they messed up our post-cruise rental car and lost a piece of my luggage. We ended up with a $600 discount for our Mexican Riviera cruise.

 

Hey, Becky had a friend over for a sleep over and she showed her the Dunns River Falls DVD--as soon as you and Susan came into view she said, "Those are my friends Andy and Susan--they were lots of fun!" So, there you go! ;)

 

Cheers!

Jayne

 

:D

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Andy- good for you!

I know you have been on Valor- how does your Carnival cruise compare to Princess?

I am shopping around for a NY cruise and Valor looks good to me. I'd like to try Carnival and NY seems like a good time to be on a 'fun ship'.

 

Hi, Eileen!

 

We've cruised Princess only once and Carnival four times--three on Spirit-class ships so it's not an apples to apples comparison--I believe the Carnival Legend sails out of NY and I'm pretty sure it's Spirit class. We really liked the layout of the Spirit-class ships. Steve and Becky (11) prefer Carnival and Emily (20) and I prefer Princess.

 

Here's what I liked better about Princess (keeping in mind I've sailed Princess only once):

 

Buffet food was better.

Shows had more variety.

Ship decor (lots of wood, glass and marble).

Embarkation--much smoother than any Carnival embarkation we've had!

Debarkation--also much smoother.

Prebooking of shore excursions (though I understand you can do that on Carnival now, too)

Movies Under the Stars.

Fewer announcements in the cabin.

Muster drill is held in the various lounges.

 

 

What I liked better about Carnival:

 

Towel animals!

Dining room service.

Quality of dining room food.

Dining room entertainment (well, the kids love the dancing waiters--I really don't care one way or the other).

Fun Vision.

Cabin/balcony size (larger bathroom!)--I missed my sofa when I sailed Princess!

Height of atrium.

Free soft-serve ice cream.

Variety of free drinks.

 

Cabin steward service was comparable. DDs liked the shows in the Princess Theatre better than Carnival, but they loved Carnival, too!

 

Love them both and will sail both again!

 

Hope that helps!

 

Jayne

 

:D

[critterchick]

Does anyone know if having a cabin "above" a bar area would be noisy????

 

On the Diamond & Sapphire Princesses, I've read here that the bass music from Club Fusion bleeds through to some of the Emerald Deck cabins on the stern, portside only. We stayed in E-719 (Starboard side, aft) and heard nothing from Club Fusion. Just a little vibration from the thrusters as we came into port. Nothing like on the Sun Princess where I thought somebody had put a quarter into a Magic Fingers bed & turned it all the way up!:eek:

[brunosr]

I am glad that Princess did something for you. Let’s face it, until you have stayed in a particular part of the ship before, how would you know what to look for in choosing a cabin. It’s nice to have some experience before hand or some help from others who have. That’s what this forum is all about, isn’t it. To find out about the ships, ports of calls, dinner arrangements, etc….

This Dec will be our third cruise, all with Princess so we are not truly seasoned cruisers, but we have been very happy with them. The only grip we had on the first cruise was that we had a hell of a time finding our luggage after disembarking. That had our bags in three different locations, so much for the colored and numbered stickers that ask you to put on. Anyway, the second cruise was fine and it only took 10 mins to get our bags and run.

Anyway, we have always booked our cabin on the Riviera deck up front. Dead end corridors mean’s no heavy traffic at night, a deck (Lido) between us and the spa, Gym, and running track. It’s a great place to be, maybe a little more movement is moderate seas but this just gently rocks you to sleep. The only problem we had on our last cruise was the people next door had a huge fight half way through the trip. Really quiet after that!!

[wizard-of-roz]

critterchick: We are bringing our service dog so we have asked for a handicapped room - E717 - it sounds as if you were close to this cabin. I'm glad to hear that we will NOT have any noise from Club Fusion.

Thanks for the "heads up" on any shuddering I may hear. Now, at least I won't be surprised!

[Jacqueline]

Honest, on my first cruise, I did look at the plans and was concerned that I was underneath the Horizon court. I talked to the TA and also asked the question on this board. Then I felt I could make an educated decision. This was back in 2000 on my first cruise.

My point is that every cruise there are cabins under the fitness center. On every cruise there is noise becaused some people will hit the gym early before the ports. So why shouldn't everyone get money back ?

Recently a cruiser on this board posted that they had a cabin with a stench throughout the cruise. Other posters confirmed this. They definitely were entitled to some sort of compensation. They could not have anticipated this - and it was pervasive (ie there were no times during the cruise that a place didn't smell).

I am glad for you and that you are happy with the treatment that you recieved from Princess, but short of some unusual noise (ir construction, a new 6am aerobics class), a refund makes no sense to me.

[DrivesLikeMario]

I agree that it's up to the consumer to be aware of their cabin location. It's very simple to just pull out the deck plan and see what's above your cabin & what's below.

 

IF there happens to be a hidden noise like pool plumbing that you can't figure out from the deck plans, then, yes, I can see the need for compensation if the passengers couldn't be moved to another cabin.

 

Our Grand Suite on the Lido Deck was under the jogging track. We heard really loud pounding as people jogged around (even some at night). I didn't even think of complaining. It was our fault for booking that cabin & I considered it a nuisance that wasn't worth complaining about.

 

Yes, it's good business, but I think you were lucky in getting the money. I've seen it many times where passengers didn't for these same cabins.

[abbydancer2003]

Honest, on my first cruise, I did look at the plans and was concerned that I was underneath the Horizon court. I talked to the TA and also asked the question on this board. Then I felt I could make an educated decision. This was back in 2000 on my first cruise.

 

Jacqueline,

 

Did you experience noise being under the Horizon court? I'm asking because we're considering switching our booking on the Dawn next year from BD (midship caribe balcony) to BA. BAs on the Dawn are either under the pool on Aloha, or under the Horizon court on the Riveria deck. I'm curious about the noise on both.

 

thank you

 

abby

[emdia43]

Andy and Jayne- sorry I think I have confused things with my abbreviations- I was talking about a New Years cruise (NY) not New York. :o

NOw that I have read my post back I can see how it looked. I wondered why you both told me about New York departures.....LOL

[losuds63]

Greetings, Andy!

 

I'm glad Princess treated you so well! Carnival did the same for us almost three years ago--on a previous cruise they messed up our post-cruise rental car and lost a piece of my luggage. We ended up with a $600 discount for our Mexican Riviera cruise.

 

Hey, Becky had a friend over for a sleep over and she showed her the Dunns River Falls DVD--as soon as you and Susan came into view she said, "Those are my friends Andy and Susan--they were lots of fun!" So, there you go! ;)

 

Cheers!

Jayne

 

:D

--Tell that cute munchkin we said hello and focus at school ..!!

[losuds63]

Andy and Jayne- sorry I think I have confused things with my abbreviations- I was talking about a New Years cruise (NY) not New York. :o

NOw that I have read my post back I can see how it looked. I wondered why you both told me about New York departures.....LOL

---When I was trying to explain this you blew it off and IAm like scratching my head --So now I gotcha --Heres the deal you live out of state and flying in, so heres my point go check out the Valor its a great ship and you can fly into miami and stay in a hotel down there and experience that side of town and that goes from sunday to sunday so coming down for new years is wonderfull Iam sure you will have a good time ---OOOH no i just check and it says the valor is sold out for that time I think you better check with your travel agent!!!:eek:

[losuds63]

. The only problem we had on our last cruise was the people next door had a huge fight half way through the trip. --

This also was a situation we had with our neighbors and they were fighting all week and he almost threw her over the balcony and had a guard in front of our room for 4 nights intill we got back to Ft Lauderdale and there was a guard on the bridge over looking our rooms 24-7 and I think they were arrested when we got back to shore and I also had mentioned this in my letter and think my credit might had something to do with this incident also !! ---?

[losuds63]

But Iam not sure a 100% on that but I did write a very pleasant letter !!

[losuds63]

Also let me state this --Its not like we got home and said" lets right a letter today to see if we can get something for free " from the first day this happened with the noise we complained to the front desk and called them out on this when were on board and the front desk I swear to you had no idea how to handle this situation ,and I told them to make a note that i called down to them and thats what prompted my letter ----Now I know your going to say what did you expect them to do --Well Ill tell ya "All they Had to do was move the more Softer Equipment like A stationary bike or the stair master above the rooms instead of the barbells and the treadmills and this would of solved the problem but they couldnt figure that out on their own and thats why I wrote the letter !!

 

Now we can let this thread die!!! Have a nice holiday weekend

[Lynnees]

That is nice that Princess sent you cabin credit for your next cruise.

 

But to be truthful- they shouldn't have done that. When you book a cruise you normally look above what is there and below what is under your cabin for noise.

Gee- with another line- I should have sent then a letter in regards to all the foot noise and the table and lounge chairs being moved around during the day and then the service- crew members moving carts from 1am. to 6a.m. Yes, I knew that we would have crew members for the pizza place but not during the middle of the night. I should have sent that letter in.

It goes along with cruising alot.

 

Sounds somewhat jealous I would think......arn't you? :confused:

[emdia43]

Where did you see 'sold out'? - Carnival's website still shows lots of rooms...

[Jacqueline]

I have had no problem with the noise of the Horizon Court. Yes, there is some movement of the chairs in the am when they are cleaning, but I really like the convenience of the location.

All in all we have spent over 30 days/ nights in these cabins and will book them again.

But I would not book under the running track or the gym.

I do think the OP got the $$ because of the fighting neighbors. Otherwise eveyone would get financial relief for the location.

[Maraprince]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents......

 

Whether or not the objective is to get "something" from the cruise line, if you have a problem with noise, odors, poor service or other issues while on your cruise you should report it and let the cruise line know. If it is something that can be corrected by the cruise line, they should know about it so other passengers don't encounter the same problem.

 

Studying the ship's layout is no guarantee you will have a noise free cruise. Not everything is shown on the layout.

 

Sometimes what the cruise line thinks will work well on paper and design turns out to be a nightmare in reality. You scratch your head and wonder "What were they thinking? Or who is the idiot who came up with this bright idea?" Passenger feedback is very important. The more honest you are can only help future passengers. If something wasn't right with your cruise, please let the cruise line know. Don't rely on Passenger Services or the Passenger Comment Cards to tell the whole story. If a passenger is unhappy with the resolution of their problem, why would Passenger Services let the cruise line know about it? It would only reflect badly on them.

 

Speak up if you feel something is wrong or needs to be corrected.

 

 

MARAPRINCE

[TourneyKit]

Jacqueline,

 

Did you experience noise being under the Horizon court? I'm asking because we're considering switching our booking on the Dawn next year from BD (midship caribe balcony) to BA. BAs on the Dawn are either under the pool on Aloha, or under the Horizon court on the Riveria deck. I'm curious about the noise on both.

 

thank you

 

abby

 

Hey Abby,

 

You'll be just fine on the Rivera Deck. We were in room R349 for a week and I never heard any noise from above. And frankly, being able to shoot up to the buffet and grab coffee (and anything else that looked good) was great !!

[Jennifer823]

Glad to hear that they responded so nicely to your letter! We were on the Carnival Imagination last year and bought some liquor in Grand Cayman that never got delivered to the ship. We sent a letter and filled out the form that the purser's desk gave us to fill out - we never heard ANYTHING from Carnival. I don't want to sail with them again, after that. (That was our third and probably last cruise with them.)