Left Behind on Carnival Shore Excursion

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I wanted to give everyone who will be cruising on Carnival a serious heads up, especially onboard the Carnival Valor.

 

Everyone who cruises is familiar with ship policies that encourage their customers to book excursions THROUGH the cruiseline. This GUARANTEES that in case an excursion runs late, the ship will wait for you. Booking independently will not guarantee this safety net, which justifies the increase in prices for ship-sponsored excursions.

 

CARNIVAL DOES NOT FOLLOW THEIR OWN POLICIES. If you book an excursion through Carnival, and it runs late, there is every chance that you will be left at the port to fend for yourself. Their is no guarantee they will assist you in somehow meeting the ship at the next port, getting home, or even finding you transportation.

 

My boyfriend and I booked a two-tank scuba excursion through Carnival in November on the fourth and last stop of our 7-day cruise in Costa Maya, Mexico. We have cruised many times before, on many different lines, and this was our 3rd cruise with Carnival. We also know that the cruiseline excursions are generally much more expensive, so we usually book on our own, and are very aware of when we need to be on the ship. At this particular port, the dive options are limited, and the best-reviewed dive company only took bookings through the ship. So we paid $140 per person (twice the price if we had not booked with Carnival) to go on this trip.

 

Anyway, long story short, (and I'll answer any questions about the details) the cruise excursion, which started at 1pm ship time, ran late, which should not have been a problem. There were four of us from our ship that started the excursion on our boat. The two people with us had trouble clearing their ears on the first dive, and chose to get off the boat before the second dive. That left my boyfriend and I. We knew we were tight on time, but the divemaster said he had checked with his boss, and that the ship would wait. We had to be on the ship at 4:30pm, the dive shop put us in a taxi at 4:40pm, and we went directly to the pier where we were told it was too late. Then we saw the ship start to move, and our great vacation came crashing down around us.

 

Carnival left us in Mexico with NO PASSPORTS, NO DRY CLOTHES, NO TOILETRIES, NO MEDICATIONS, NO MONEY, AND NO HELP WHATSOEVER. We had to fend for ourselves and find our own way back to Miami. By the way Costa Maya is FIVE HOURS from the closest airport.

 

We filed an incident report/complaint with Carnival as soon as we were able to (the relevant Carnival department that handles these types of emergencies is only open weekdays apparently). We are still going back and forth with this, as Carnival had been unable to get thorough responses from the Excursion Desk manager on the Carnival Valor, Ivana Popsis. The most recent Carnival standpoint is that they are blaming the port authority for "making the ship leave on time" and there was nothing they could do. This is EXTREMELY POOR customer service, as I could care less what the port authority "made" them do, as their responsibility is to their cruise customers, and to make sure they return home SAFELY at the end of their cruise. And we all know people who have waited to leave ports on a ship where an excursion ran late. Too bad for us there wasn't 50 people on our excursion (although Carnival would not "speculate on what would have happened with a hypothetical like that").

 

MORAL: Be aware of your own time, because Carnival is not looking out for your best interests. Better yet, stick with a cruiseline who does not constantly appear in the news for illnesses, murders, and numerous other scandals.