Changing Cabins and 1 very rude Carnival Supervisor

[gianna01]

when we booked our cruise (directly through carnival) The girl from carnival suggested we split the couples up (my dh and I are going with sil and bil) Since my dh and i are past cruisers and my inlaws are not. She suggested this so we could have our cabins close by and pay the same price. So we werent cheating carnival THEY suggested us doing this. I asked how do we switch cabins when we embark and she said to go to the pursers desk and get it switched (she never mentioned a fee!!) and let our person (who takes care of our cabin) to make the beds into a king instead of 2 twins.

[SunnyinMA]

The age policy is a bunch of bologne.....When booking thru TA's they state the age policy but though Carnival they don't if kids are traveling with parents and are to be in a seperate cabin they may be booked that way. You can book the kids in their own cabin some TA's dont' know this. On one cruise we had gone though our TA and she said we had to have an adult in each one I asked her to check with Carnival on the policy because on other cruises booked directly though them we did not have to have our kids booked that way..........she did and we were able to book everybody where we wanted them to be. :D

 

I agree when it comes to your own children...The PVP said no problem to booking my 13 & 19 y/o DS's into their own cabin, she just put a note in the reserv. about me being next door.

 

To the OP: I hope you drop a note to carnival to let them know about this. They can't fix it if they don't realize it's broken.

[leadout_kv]

NO but then you would be using someone elses S&S card, unless you went to the Pursers desk and just got extra key for all the cabins.

If you did that and wanted to check your S&S account on the TV, you would have to go to your original cabin to do so.

 

Ah, ok. thanks for explaining this.

[Dee777]

I am very sorry to hear about your experience with Ken. I am sorrier for myself, who will be departing from Miami on Jan.6. :(

[boaterette]

Just because the pvp said to book it that way still doesn't make it right. Show me Carnivals policy regarding this and that it is ok with them and I will change my opinion. Until then it is still cheating if you don't plan on sharing the room with the one you booked it with. To me it is the same thing as buying on e soda card and sharing it. Still cheating.

[kidless]

Just because the pvp said to book it that way still doesn't make it right. Show me Carnivals policy regarding this and that it is ok with them and I will change my opinion. Until then it is still cheating if you don't plan on sharing the room with the one you booked it with. To me it is the same thing as buying on e soda card and sharing it. Still cheating.

 

Oh give it up will you

[Chigirlcruzin]

Just because the pvp said to book it that way still doesn't make it right. Show me Carnivals policy regarding this and that it is ok with them and I will change my opinion. Until then it is still cheating if you don't plan on sharing the room with the one you booked it with. To me it is the same thing as buying on e soda card and sharing it. Still cheating.

 

I disagree. A PVP is a Carnival employee. Why would PVPs risk their jobs by breaking policy to save a random person on the other end of the phone some money? If Carnival policy didn't want them to do this, PVPs wouldn't encourage people to do it:rolleyes:

[Knights on the Beach]

This is exactly why I booked who needed to be in each cabin for our cruise next month -- I didn't want the hassel of dealing with it later. In our case, it wasn't a lower rate, but an automatic upgrade at the guarantee price for past guests. The couple we are traveling with are first time cruisers and my TA offered to book one of us in each cabin so we'd both get the automatic upgrade. I declined the upgrade and booked both cabins as OV. Guess what? We now have our cabins assignments and we were both upgraded to what we would have gotten anyway, so in this case, honesty paid off and no switcheroo needed at the start of our vacation.

 

I think its different if you are booking children in with an adult because you have to in order to book and if you are booking two seniors in with a younger adult or a past guest into a different cabin in order to get a lower rate when you dont have to.

We have NEVER had a problem booking our kids in their own cabin, and we have always booked through a TA.

[LHP]

I realized later that I could have just gone to the Pursers desk and saved myself this grief. Wish I had known then what I know now ! Hopefully, someone else will learn from our error.

 

I didn't cheat Carnival out of money, Our VIP at Carnival actually booked us this way.

 

However, getting there early (other matters aside) was a good idea. There are staff allocated to checking in the arrivals at that time and they are not involved in the process of assisting the people who are getting off.

 

We generally arrive around 10.30 for a cruise. There are less line ups and confusion. Makes for a less stressful booking in process. :)

 

We ended up just getting "room keys" only at the Pursers desk and sorting the billing there. We moved ourselves as the cabins could accomodate the changes we needed.

 

At the end of the day, our cruise was amazing and we will not let the "one bad apple" taint our view of Carnival. (Uncle Bob will be hearing from us)

 

Actually that won't do you any good. Uncle Bob is retired.

 

Gerry Cahill is now the President/CEO.

 

Btw, though, in the fairness of full disclosure....are you going to tell him that the reason you booked the cabins this way was to get some cruisers a "past guest discount" that did not earn it?

 

I am certainly not excusing rudeness.....but if Ken picked up on this ...it may have been the reason for his testy disposition. Because "technically" it is cheating Carnival. Past Guest Discounts are for "past guest".

[caribbean dreams]

Just because the pvp said to book it that way still doesn't make it right.

 

I don't care if someone is booked into a PG cabin to get a discount.....Just don't sneak them in the Past Guest party

.........Now thats just wrong:p ;)

[Soccerfan]

Btw, though, in the fairness of full disclosure....are you going to tell him that the reason you booked the cabins this way was to get some cruisers a "past guest discount" that did not earn it?

 

I am certainly not excusing rudeness.....but if Ken picked up on this ...it may have been the reason for his testy disposition. Because "technically" it is cheating Carnival. Past Guest Discounts are for "past guest".

 

 

I'm sorry but Ken was rude before I even opened my mouth. You could pick up his annoyance at having to deal with such issues from his body language right away. Ironically, I passed Ken in the terminal when we came back. He still had the same stone face and walk that he had a week ago. Those tight shoes must still be giving him problems in a big way :)

 

The Past Guest Discount issue was suggested to us by our PVP at Carnival I don't believe that is cheating. In fact, because the rate was so good I booked 4 cabins on this sailing and at a later date, before the final payment was due, I encouraged 6 of our friends to join us. They had a wonderful time and are going to book 2 further cruises that we already have booked with Carnival for next year. Carnival gained 6 more passengers that will sail with them again. I didn't cheat Carnival, they gained more passengers who probably would never have took a cruise without encouragement like this.

 

I also booked a further 2 cabins in addition to ours for the Europe/Greece Splendor Cruise in Oct 08 because there was a really good special on. I have gathered 16 of our friends to join us on this venture, I know the 2 other cabins will be snapped up by more friends in the near future.

 

I have 22 of us going on a Freedom cruise in November 08.

16 of these people have not sailed before. I have persuaded them to come with us as I know they'll have a great time.

 

So, No I don't believe I have cheated Carnival by doing what I did. If we were paying regular rates without any specials then we would have probably taken 1 cabin for the 4 of us instead of 4 cabins and they wouldn't have gained dozens more new cruisers. (We have booked many group cruises as I am planning to make addicts out of my friends, it shouldn't just be me that ends up bankrupt due to cruising :D )

 

Just wanted to let you know that I appreciate your feedback!

 

Thanks

[kidless]

Soccerfan, You don't have to explain yourself to anyone. Don't listen to the Carnival Cheerleaders who live in glass houses and always throw stones.

[DreDay]

So basically you tried to cheat Carnival out of money and are now unhappy. I guess if you had just booked everyone like you should have you wouldn't have had any problems.

 

SO RUDE!!! The OP said she was fine with the fact that Ken could not make the change but was taken aback by his tone She was. Even if OP had been rude to Ken (which I don't believe was the case), it does not justify his behavior.

 

This is totally unacceptable and I hope that the OP complains!!

[CRUISEGUY1970]

The age policy is a bunch of bologne.....When booking thru TA's they state the age policy but though Carnival they don't if kids are traveling with parents and are to be in a seperate cabin they may be booked that way. You can book the kids in their own cabin some TA's dont' know this. On one cruise we had gone though our TA and she said we had to have an adult in each one I asked her to check with Carnival on the policy because on other cruises booked directly though them we did not have to have our kids booked that way..........she did and we were able to book everybody where we wanted them to be. :D

 

 

It depends on the ship and the cabins your are booking. For instance the Fantasy Class vessel's standard inside/ocean view staterooms do not have connecting cabins(with the "Evolution of Fun", that is changing). If you book stateroom GTY's, Carnival can't guarantee, even with the bookings linked that the cabins will be next door to each other.

[Yellow_Jacket]

I have found that having that Platinum Card works wonders at the Purser's Desk. They are all smiles and nods.

[Knights on the Beach]

[quote name='CRUISEGUY1970']It depends on the ship and the cabins your are booking. For instance the Fantasy Class vessel's standard inside/ocean view staterooms do not have connecting cabins(with the "Evolution of Fun", that is changing). If you book stateroom GTY's, Carnival can't guarantee, even with the bookings linked that the cabins will be next door to each other.[/QUOTE]The cabins don't have to be connecting, just near by (next to or across from each other).

[Kittybork]

[quote name='Yellow_Jacket']I have found that having that Platinum Card works wonders at the Purser's Desk. They are all smiles and nods.[/quote]

They should be smiles and nods for everyone no matter what color your card is.

[Soccerfan]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to update you on this issue.

I wrote a very lengthy letter to Carnival about this matter.

Last week they acknowledged receiving my letter and sent me a "45 day" letter to be used to get something like a free photo on my next cruise. :rolleyes:

I won't bother calling them to use this offer. I would gladly exchange it for an apology from Ken!

[oysterfiend]

:confused: Excuse my ignorance but I would have thought to qualify for a past cruisers discount you'd need to be a past cruiser.

Its like someone belonging to an association that has members's benefits and giving their card to their relatives or friends-
The membership belongs to them and is usually not intended to be transferable without some extra costs involved.
We own a caravan park and offer a discount to The motorhome association members-
The discount is for them (the members)not their van and it is really annoying when Overseas tourists turn up with these cards that are obviously not theirs.
Incidentally we get nothing out of this and have no affiliation with their group
other than the fact we want the genuine members custom-
That does not mean we want to give everyone a discount or we would go out of business.
When discounts are abused businesses seriously consider discontinuing them.

Safety would be my biggest concern-
Suppose there was tradgedy-
How would it be known who really was in the cabins if names had not been officially changed.
I would think it best to book the cabins with the correct names of the people sleeping in them in the first place.:confused:

[Thatmom]

[quote name='boaterette']So basically you tried to cheat Carnival out of money and are now unhappy. I guess if you had just booked everyone like you should have you wouldn't have had any problems.[/QUOTE]

You must of missed the be nice thread!!!
have a really nice day!!!
Carla

[MistyRo76]

I will tell you from recent personal experience that the Carnival PVP's are very adament about getting everyone in a group the best possible rate. I just this week began booking our group (now upto 19 people) on the Imagination in September. Some of my group are Past Guests, some of us are airline employees who qualify for the interline rate, (some of us are both) and some have never been on a cruise. When I first began talking to my PVP, she wanted everyone's names and whether they were past guests, interline or first timers. She then recommended that we try to move everyone around so there was a PG is as many cabins as possible and all interline in our last two. She said, don't worry about it, you can all sleep in whatever cabin you want. The PG rate was $199, interline $204 and regular rate was $209. But the PG rate came with a automatic upgrade. She said this way we could keep our cabins close together.

My worry was how it would work to switch rooms once we got there and what would happen with credit cards, where luggage would be delievered ect. We decided that we didn't want to spend an hour (or hours) fixing this once we got on the ship. The savings just weren't enough to even risk having any hassles. And we could care less where on the ship our cabins are or if they are together or not. So I had her change it all back. But Carnival PVPs are DEFINITELY pushing this method of booking.

Misty

[7SEASSISTER]

it takes nothing to switch it out, first off the credit card you check in with isn't for the room, it is for you personally - so it along with expences moves with you.

we had 9 cabins, took us 15 minutes - they were awesome, we also waited until the end of the day when the line had gone downn at the pursurs desk, since we could spend freely.

[MistyRo76]

It's good to know that it wasn't a hassel for you. But having never done that before, we didn't want to risk it. Especially since the most $$$ anyone would have saved was $10. If I would have saved $100 or more booking this way, it might have been worth it. But we preferred to just keep things the way they were supposed to be. I truly appreciate our PVP trying to get us the best possible bargain. But for us, this is just easier.

Misty