Refurbished Fantasy's 1st Cruise!!

[Rowan555]

I think they should refund part of your money, not a discount on a future discount or credit. That's like saying, "yeah we screwed, but spend more money with us & we'll give you a bargain." That's not much of a mea culpa to me. People didn't get what they paid for, so they should get their money back. That's my 2 cents on what Carnival should do.

 

 

I don't agree with this at all. Perhaps in certain situations - such as the people that were affected in a big way by the smoke fumes, or something like that - but overall, I don't think a refund is warranted or necessary. As a business, Carnival wants people to cruise with them again, particularly if a bad experience has certain passengers swearing to never set foot on another Carnival cruise. The offer of on board credit or a discount off a future cruise will encourage people to give them another try. And if they don't plan to ever cruise Carnival again, then frankly, Carnival has no incentive to give them anything.

[DGP1111]

The offer of on board credit or a discount off a future cruise will encourage people to give them another try. And if they don't plan to ever cruise Carnival again, then frankly, Carnival has no incentive to give them anything.

 

Nicely said!! :)

[beach410]

We were on the first cruise after Sensation's dry dock last year and we didnt experience any of the above, the only thing I noticed is that they were putting up the ping pong tables during the cruise.

 

It's a shame you had to experience this on your first Carnival Cruise, it would frustrate me as well, and I feel like you should definately be compensated in some form. I suggest you send Carnival a letter expressing your disappointmen, I certainly would. We sailed on the Fantasy a couple of years ago over spring break and it was great.

 

But I agree with other posters, I would not book any ship just prior to or directly after dry dock in the future anymore.

[Mikel1733]

And if they don't plan to ever cruise Carnival again, then frankly, Carnival has no incentive to give them anything.

 

I don't agree. Especially given the state of the economy every business Carnival included has a vested interest to keep any and all customers. I have no doubt there are passengers who today feel they will never sail Carnival again. If Carnival responds positively to this situation some if not many of the customers can be salvaged. Cruises aren't some small impulse purchase. Trips for families run thousands of dollars. These are big ticket items.

[Rowan555]

I don't agree. Especially given the state of the economy every business Carnival included has a vested interest to keep any and all customers. I have no doubt there are passengers who today feel they will never sail Carnival again. If Carnival responds positively to this situation some if not many of the customers can be salvaged. Cruises aren't some small impulse purchase. Trips for families run thousands of dollars. These are big ticket items.

 

Exactly - and the best response is a substantial discount or credit for a future cruise. Giving a refund offers NO incentive for someone to return to Carnival, and makes the loss of a customer more likely.

[Mikel1733]

Exactly - and the best response is a substantial discount or credit for a future cruise. Giving a refund offers NO incentive for someone to return to Carnival, and makes the loss of a customer more likely.

 

So if you buy a car that is a lemon and the dealer doesn't stand behind the sale at all but instead says..........."Sorry you got screwed on this deal but next time take this discount" you think that will bring back a lot of customers that have been lost?

[DolfanNY]

Rowan I agree with you. Even though there were some major issues on the Fantasy, I saw plenty of people eating, drinking(not the ships water), gambling and having a good time. Carnival should do the right thing and give a decent size onboard credit or % discount on a future cruise. These problems were a major inconvience but not the end of the world. I am a retired police officer from New York I worked at ground zero everyday. Everyone should put things in the proper prospective. I really hope Carnival does the right thing for all of us.

[Puggy2009]

ya know i sail on the fantasy on october 27th. the refurb did take place in mobile, al. where i am from. im going to be completely ticked off if the ship is nowhere near done. i know a cruise is exactly what you make of it. if you go on with a positive attitude and keep that attitude you will have a great cruise. i have been on a cruise before that was pure hell in my opinion. i waited in the terminal in new orleans for over 10 hours to just be transported by bus back to gulf port mississippi which i passed heading to new orleans to later see upon arrival in nola that my ship was not there. some things cannot be helped. and you cannot blame carnival for it. but this honestly falls on behalf of carnival and mobile. and at this point i am completely upset with people that work in the shipyard it was refurbed in. i do however realize the ship returned 2 days late due to hurricanes and the fact that it was behind put things off but i do hope that the cruises this month will be better than the first one. i will write a detailed review when i get back on november 1st. happy sailing to the rest of the passengers on the next two weeks.

[Rowan555]

So if you buy a car that is a lemon and the dealer doesn't stand behind the sale at all but instead says..........."Sorry you got screwed on this deal but next time take this discount" you think that will bring back a lot of customers that have been lost?

 

That is in no way a valid comparison. People enjoyed their cruise and had a great time, there were just issues that detracted from the overall experiences. ANY cruise has some issues - this one just had more than the usual.

[Kurbanfan]

I think they should refund part of your money, not a discount on a future discount or credit. That's like saying, "yeah we screwed, but spend more money with us & we'll give you a bargain." That's not much of a mea culpa to me. People didn't get what they paid for, so they should get their money back. That's my 2 cents on what Carnival should do.

 

I agree!

 

I And if they don't plan to ever cruise Carnival again, then frankly, Carnival has no incentive to give them anything.

 

I'm with Mike I don't agree with this either. They need to fix what was broken, which was this cruise.........not try to entice them into spending more money:cool:

[VacaRequester]

That said, I truly believe you guys had a miserable vacation.

 

Here's the thing: it was not a miserable vacation. But is was really disappointing. You try to make the best of it, and I met lots of really really great people. But where we SHOULD have had things clean they were dirty. Where they should have been professional in handling things that went wrong, they weren't. It was consistent through the whole trip, and kind of put a wet blanket on the whole thing. here's the big deal too - even if YOU made the best of it, you were barraged with stories through the whole trip from your shipmates - from 'my throat was closing up from the smoke" to "don't go in that bathroom" to "our lights still don't work". Add that up with all of your own personal issues and it was hard not to be annoyed or downright angry. The worst part of all is when the crew themselves would confide in you that the ship was not where they wanted to be.

 

Everyone kept saying, for the whole cruise, wow if this had been your first cruise you'd never come back. I took a cruise on the Legend early this year with my family and we LOVED it. It was our first, and we had reservations about using Carnival, especially considering it was spring break. We were very pleasantly surprised, and I could not wait to go on this one. NOW, while I can't wait to cruise again . . . I'm not sure I'd gamble on Carnival again since it is my family and it's such a huge thing monetarily, time wise and effort wise to take a whole family on a trip. And believe me, I AM A GAMBLER . . . but I don't like the odds . . .

[Rowan555]

Good point - one of the worst things about the cruise was dealing with angry passengers who had many different complaints. Most were valid, of course, but it does get old when you're trying to make the best of things and have a nice time.

 

One thing I will mention, though - on our NCL Spirit cruise last year, nothing went "wrong" at all, but I have never witnessed so many unhappy passengers on a cruise - including me and my husband. By the end of the cruise I had talked to at least 200 people who said they would never sail NCL again. I guess, in many ways, this ultra-glitchy Fantasy cruise was more fun, more pleasant, and an all-around better experience than the glitch-free NCL cruise we took a year ago!

[scperk]

Good point - one of the worst things about the cruise was dealing with angry passengers who had many different complaints. Most were valid, of course, but it does get old when you're trying to make the best of things and have a nice time.

 

One thing I will mention, though - on our NCL Spirit cruise last year, nothing went "wrong" at all, but I have never witnessed so many unhappy passengers on a cruise - including me and my husband. By the end of the cruise I had talked to at least 200 people who said they would never sail NCL again. I guess, in many ways, this ultra-glitchy Fantasy cruise was more fun, more pleasant, and an all-around better experience than the glitch-free NCL cruise we took a year ago!

After many Carnival cruises my DW and I decided to try NCL again last october,,,We were very dissapointed in the quality of the food and the service we recieved in the dining rooms....Needless to say we will not book any more NCL cruises ............Dennis

[halos]

I don't agree with this at all. Perhaps in certain situations - such as the people that were affected in a big way by the smoke fumes, or something like that - but overall, I don't think a refund is warranted or necessary. As a business, Carnival wants people to cruise with them again, particularly if a bad experience has certain passengers swearing to never set foot on another Carnival cruise. The offer of on board credit or a discount off a future cruise will encourage people to give them another try. And if they don't plan to ever cruise Carnival again, then frankly, Carnival has no incentive to give them anything.

 

I couldn't agree more...but it is far more effective coming from you since you were actually on the ship. ;)

If I had a crappy cruise (due to something that was the cruise line's fault) a nice reduction on a future cruise would suit me just fine...but then again, I love cruising and aside from the ship sinking, it would take a LOT to put me off from ever cruising again...so the future discount would be perfect for me.

 

Rowan I agree with you. Even though there were some major issues on the Fantasy, I saw plenty of people eating, drinking(not the ships water), gambling and having a good time. Carnival should do the right thing and give a decent size onboard credit or % discount on a future cruise. These problems were a major inconvience but not the end of the world. I am a retired police officer from New York I worked at ground zero everyday. Everyone should put things in the proper prospective. I really hope Carnival does the right thing for all of us.

 

A-Men!

(and, thank you for your service :) )

. I guess, in many ways, this ultra-glitchy Fantasy cruise was more fun, more pleasant, and an all-around better experience than the glitch-free NCL cruise we took a year ago!

 

You just chose the wrong week. You should have sailed with us on the Spirit. :D

[Queenb559]

This is my first post to this site. My husband and I were also on the Fantasy last week and none of the previous posts are untrue. We sailed on the Legend earlier this year and had a great time but last week was just simply rediculous. We tried to make the best of a bad situation but things just continued to go wrong during the entire trip. We also took pictures of piles of trash and garbage simply pushed aside. We love Carnival and WILL sail with them again because we know that this is not their "normal" standards. They should be ashamed of themselves as a company to have let this ship leave port in this shape.:eek:

[Kurbanfan]

This is my first post to this site. My husband and I were also on the Fantasy last week and none of the previous posts are untrue. We sailed on the Legend earlier this year and had a great time but last week was just simply rediculous. We tried to make the best of a bad situation but things just continued to go wrong during the entire trip. We also took pictures of piles of trash and garbage simply pushed aside. We love Carnival and WILL sail with them again because we know that this is not their "normal" standards. They should be ashamed of themselves as a company to have let this ship leave port in this shape.:eek:

 

 

I couldn't agree more!

Make sure you write your letter.......hopefully they will man up and make it right with maybe a refund of some sort:)

[VentureMan_2000]

I couldn't agree more!

Make sure you write your letter.......hopefully they will man up and make it right with maybe a refund of some sort:)

 

 

You are such a Monday morning Quarterback...

 

 

I don;t think you would know what to man up is...

 

 

If you don't like a company you have done business with.. may I suggest you move along and don't do business with them again.

 

To suggest you know how best to run Carnival's business is just crap... and should be flushed down the toilet as such... :cool:

[scperk]

LHP is sailing right now on the Fantasy, so we will get the new scoop on whats going on after she gets back tomorrow.......Dennis

[chiarigirl]

Just an FYI, this drydock was extended and at least the first two cruises were cancelled. October 4th was not initially the first sailing after DD. So even if those who had scheduled it had known about the DD ahead of time, they would have probably thought they were in the safe zone.

 

As far as compensation i can not say what it should be. However being management in a retail business. One thing can either build your business or kill your business and that is word of mouth. I would imagine they would try to do what it was to satisfy the customers within reason. I know they are cautious with giving compensation and that is because you have real complaints, and then you have those complaints that are not warranted. If I were carnival and saw that many passengers had the same complaints i would know they were warranted, whether it was in or out of their control, and i would be doing what was necessary to satisfy my customers so they could at least tell others, this happened but this is what they did to take care of me.

 

I guess we'll wait and see what happens. I'll be on the fantasy two weeks from tomorrow.

[jb2510]

Well I just sent my letter to Carnival as well. We had 14 people as part of our group, nine of which were first time cruisers! As I said in my letter, you have one chance to make a first impression - and Carnival failed at that during embarkation. And unfortunately, the last impression wasn't much better!

[Mikel1733]

You are such a Monday morning Quarterback...

 

 

I don;t think you would know what to man up is...

 

 

If you don't like a company you have done business with.. may I suggest you move along and don't do business with them again.

 

To suggest you know how best to run Carnival's business is just crap... and should be flushed down the toilet as such... :cool:

 

 

Wow........I didn't think personal attacks were tolerated on this site?:(

[Nunu]

Wow........I didn't think personal attacks were tolerated on this site?:(

the internets is serious business to some people

[Nuttycruisegirl]

You're not. You are just honest enough to voice your experience.

 

I don't understand the whole defense thing..........everyone deserves a nice cruise. I don't care if it is fresh out of drydock or not.....shouldn't matter, those people paid just as much money as any other cruise.....

It's really kinda creepy to me the way people try justify Carnivals mistakes or any other cruiselines for that matter.............

 

 

I agree Kurban...After reading several of these experiences from passengers on different ships that have come out of drydock I will not book for the last couple of weeks before a drydock, nor the first couple after. Just to be safe. Sounds like the ships aren't scheduling quite enough time off for the work and making it up at the expense of passenger comfort.

[EastTex]

Wow........I didn't think personal attacks were tolerated on this site?:(

 

 

I have to go along with you on this. I re-read what Kurbanfan said and could'nt find anything inflammatory that would cause Ventureman_2000 to come out swinging like he did. Not sure what brought the attack on, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.

[Kurbanfan]

You are such a Monday morning Quarterback...

 

 

I don;t think you would know what to man up is...

 

 

If you don't like a company you have done business with.. may I suggest you move along and don't do business with them again.

 

To suggest you know how best to run Carnival's business is just crap... and should be flushed down the toilet as such... :cool:

 

 

***** are you talking about:confused: Hopefully you will feel better after you get over your hangover:rolleyes: