Carnival On-Ship Jewelry Purchase Awareness

Figured I'd pass this on for what its worth.

I bought my wife a beautiful diamond ring on our late June cruise on Ecstasy. It was our 20th anniv. and she participated in the selection because she's got a pretty good knowledge of diamonds having spent many early years working in a jewelry. (I"m not saying she's an expert, but she's not naive.

So, a bit under $3K. Very good price for what she picked up. The ship store manager offered to send it away for resizing and would mail it back. THe option of her just taking it home to have it resized on our nickel was offered and she decided to do just that. As we're going through our paperwork when we got home, she read the small print in our warranty papers that stated that only Carnival can resize or you void your warranty.

I don't necessarily have a problem with that, but I wish they had just told her that. Minor complaint 1.

We call the Jewelry division of Carnival and they get us to send it back and offer to reimburse us for the shipping. So far, so good.

Well we have called now several times over the month of July to find out when the ring is coming back. Resizing takes only a few minutes. They have been pretty rude to my wife claiming they have to have the ring re-made completely and it could take up to 12-16 weeks. This is a major complaint grounds for me. I think making my wife wait four months to get her anniversary present back is just crazy.

So, as always. Caveat Emptor. Figured I'd let the rest of you know in case you are considering a ring purchase on your next ship.

Just to complete the story, we've asked about a refund and were refused. (my wife really loves the ring so this wasn't going to be a great option) We've asked about having them expedite it. We were denied. We've actually been quite courteous with them and it has been met with a lot of rude responses. Go figger. I guess my last option is to protest my credit card bill. I will try and give them until the end of August as she really loves the ring. Maybe the "protest" of charges will get them off their butts. Probably not, big corporations tend to not worry about a small purchase (to them, not us!)

Will update the story as it completes itself.

Yeah....we bought a watch for our oldest son that broke on our second day home. Granted it wasn't NEARLY as expensive as that ring, but it should have lasted longer than 5 total days, ya know?

We were pretty pissed, but we just decided that Carnival wouldn't see a penny of our money in their shops ever again.

Thanks for posting your experience.

I agree it would have been nice if they had bothered to mention the warranty being voided if you took care of resizing the ring yourself. Ya gotta wonder now with being treated like this if it was worth being that concerned about the warranty. :rolleyes:

Ugh that sucks. Just another reason that women should fall in love with flat screen tv's.

Well, like I said, beautiful ring, good price (we did have it appraised at two different local stores for insurance purposes), wife loves it. What are we to do at this point. They have her ring hostage. :) I'll give them a few more weeks before I go nuts.

:D

Ugh that sucks. Just another reason that women should fall in love with flat screen tv's.

:D or golf clubs

To OP. Thanks for sharing

I would not buy jewelry on a cruise ship ever. Im not diamond expert to know the quality. I have seen the stuff on my last cruise. The biggest rip-off is the 'by the inch" fake gold and silver chains. People line up for it.

The price isnt even a bargain!!:p

Yeah....we bought a watch for our oldest son that broke on our second day home. Granted it wasn't NEARLY as expensive as that ring, but it should have lasted longer than 5 total days, ya know?

 

We were pretty pissed, but we just decided that Carnival wouldn't see a penny of our money in their shops ever again.

Since our first on Carnival isn't until October, I can't speak to their policies; however, on HAL, I had a set fall out several months after the cruise and they repaired it without problem. On RCCL, I have returned before the year was up without a problem. You should have been able to send the watch back to Carival

I was looking at the watches while I was there. The Tags mostly but I wouldnt buy a thing unless I knew how much I can get the same one for on land. They did not have Breitling! dangit!

What kind of warranty do you get on a diamond ring? I believe Carnival's policy is incase the diamond doesn't appraise for what you paid. If you had the ring appraised, and were satisfied, you should have had it sized yourself. Hope everything works out for you.

I'm just curious OP, but how did your two appraisals come out compared to Carnival's price?

And was it just to be a normal resizing or was the ring really tiny or really big to start with?

Was it perhaps channel set stones or eternity style?

I have not bought a ring on vacation in many years, but I do remember being advised in the Caribbean to have the ring sized at home as hands tend to swell in the heat.

Good luck on all this.

I bet now you will be happy just to get the ring back.

Over 5 cruises we have purchased several pieces of jewelry on board and have been real pleased with the product and price. Granted these were not real expensive purchases. Anything that would fall into a major jewelry purchase for us would be limited to our trusted family jeweler at home.

My DW did purchase a nice Swiss watch for me as a late anniversary gift in 2007 on the Valor. I have worn the watch pretty much constantly since with 0 issues and no problems.

One thing I have noticed about Carnival...they will pretty much stick to their guns with anything that has a written policy associated with it. That's no excuse for rudeness or poor guest service. Hopefully your deal with the ring will be rectified in the near future.

Everything I have ever bought as far as Jewelry on board says if it breaks or fades or anything not proper happens send it back to us the info is in your paperwork your given for repair or replacement. Also the shops on cruise ships are not run by carnival or rccl or any cruise line they are outside vendors who operate the shops for the cruise lines. But a few phone calls to Carnival might not be a bad idea when it comes to the wait you've had.

Everything I have ever bought as far as Jewelry on board says if it breaks or fades or anything not proper happens send it back to us the info is in your paperwork your given for repair or replacement. Also the shops on cruise ships are not run by carnival or rccl or any cruise line they are outside vendors who operate the shops for the cruise lines. But a few phone calls to Carnival might not be a bad idea when it comes to the wait you've had.

I have a question if the shop are not run by the cruise line but out side vendors so why is that.

Even though they are outside contractors they still represent the carnival name . Carnival doesn't like complaints . call carnival and find out who is in chare of the contract vendors and then give them your complaints in writing and by e mail.

I'm just curious OP, but how did your two appraisals come out compared to Carnival's price?

 

And was it just to be a normal resizing or was the ring really tiny or really big to start with?

Was it perhaps channel set stones or eternity style?

 

I have not bought a ring on vacation in many years, but I do remember being advised in the Caribbean to have the ring sized at home as hands tend to swell in the heat.

 

Good luck on all this.

I bet now you will be happy just to get the ring back.

Wife reports appraisals were about 40% higher than actual paid price. One of the jewelers offered to buy it from here for amount paid. This is someone locally with a great reputation.

On resizing locally/warranty issue, this ring has a lot of smaller diamonds in the setting. The warranty covers any of these ever falling out. There was something about the way the diamonds were mounted that would have made it difficult for local jewelers to mount replacement diamonds. Not sure what. This difficulty could also have something to do with resizing? Not sure on that.

Even if they had to melt down the gold and start over completely from scratch, 4 months is ridiculous in my opinion. We'll never buy another thing from a ship's store like this. Had we been told this 4 month thing, we'd have never purchased it.

We are in the process of booking a quick getaway later this month. This customer service issue is putting Carnival in last place behind RCCL and NCL. We're not wanting to put any more of our money in their pockets until we get this issue settled to our satisfaction.

I think most people will be better off dealing with a local jewler than buying something away from home. Just too many risks and hassles to justify the potential of saving a little money. Heck, just go to a pawn shop and haggle a bit and you'll get a better deal.

Just a FYI, you are not even talking to Carnival, another 3rd party company sells the fine jewelry on Carnival. I have the name somewhere .... so dont judge carnival when you are not doing business with them. Just because you bought on a Carnival ship, doesnt mean you bought from Carnival.

Shame on them. Anyone who has every had jewlery work done knows it should not take that long to have the thing resized. My engagement ring was done overnite at a local jewler...

I feel badly for the OP's wife.. we all know what it's like to fall in love with a piece of jewlery and then have to wait for it.. so close but yet so far.. Hope it all works out.. you will have to let us know.. be sure you have it reappraised when you get it back to be sure there were no changes to the original stone/stones...

Good Luck & what a nice Anniversary gift..

Carnival leases the space for the gift shops with the contract to sell Carnival products to:

Starboard Cruise Services

8052 N.W. 14th Street

Miami, FL 33126

Carnival leases the space for the gift shops with the contract to sell Carnival products to:

Starboard Cruise Services

8052 N.W. 14th Street

Miami, FL 33126

Contact information for them:

Complaint Department – Starboard Cruise Services, Inc. 8034 N.W. 14th Street Miami, FL 33126 (786)-845-7488 customer.service@starboardcruise.com

Wife reports appraisals were about 40% higher than actual paid price. One of the jewelers offered to buy it from here for amount paid. This is someone locally with a great reputation.

 

On resizing locally/warranty issue, this ring has a lot of smaller diamonds in the setting. The warranty covers any of these ever falling out. There was something about the way the diamonds were mounted that would have made it difficult for local jewelers to mount replacement diamonds. Not sure what. This difficulty could also have something to do with resizing? Not sure on that.

 

Even if they had to melt down the gold and start over completely from scratch, 4 months is ridiculous in my opinion. We'll never buy another thing from a ship's store like this. Had we been told this 4 month thing, we'd have never purchased it.

 

We are in the process of booking a quick getaway later this month. This customer service issue is putting Carnival in last place behind RCCL and NCL. We're not wanting to put any more of our money in their pockets until we get this issue settled to our satisfaction.

I am not standing up for them in any way and four months is too long a time, but it sounds like the ring may have channel set diamonds.

If the stones are channel set they may actually have to rebuild the ring, especially if it needs to be more than a size larger or smaller.

I have noticed too that some of the salespeople in the jewelery shop on board did not seem to know a lot about jewelery.

I'm sure some do, but I have talked with some who obviously do not.

Probably an experienced sales person or an actual jeweler could have told you if the ring was going to be a problem to resize.

Figured I'd pass this on for what its worth.

 

I bought my wife a beautiful diamond ring on our late June cruise on Ecstasy. It was our 20th anniv. and she participated in the selection because she's got a pretty good knowledge of diamonds having spent many early years working in a jewelry. (I"m not saying she's an expert, but she's not naive.

 

So, a bit under $3K. Very good price for what she picked up. The ship store manager offered to send it away for resizing and would mail it back. THe option of her just taking it home to have it resized on our nickel was offered and she decided to do just that. As we're going through our paperwork when we got home, she read the small print in our warranty papers that stated that only Carnival can resize or you void your warranty.

 

I don't necessarily have a problem with that, but I wish they had just told her that. Minor complaint 1.

 

We call the Jewelry division of Carnival and they get us to send it back and offer to reimburse us for the shipping. So far, so good.

 

Well we have called now several times over the month of July to find out when the ring is coming back. Resizing takes only a few minutes. They have been pretty rude to my wife claiming they have to have the ring re-made completely and it could take up to 12-16 weeks. This is a major complaint grounds for me. I think making my wife wait four months to get her anniversary present back is just crazy.

 

So, as always. Caveat Emptor. Figured I'd let the rest of you know in case you are considering a ring purchase on your next ship.

 

Just to complete the story, we've asked about a refund and were refused. (my wife really loves the ring so this wasn't going to be a great option) We've asked about having them expedite it. We were denied. We've actually been quite courteous with them and it has been met with a lot of rude responses. Go figger. I guess my last option is to protest my credit card bill. I will try and give them until the end of August as she really loves the ring. Maybe the "protest" of charges will get them off their butts. Probably not, big corporations tend to not worry about a small purchase (to them, not us!)

 

Will update the story as it completes itself.

I bought a ring on a Carnival ship several years ago. I thought there was a one year return policy on it. They must not offer that anymore.

I agree the time line is waaay too long, many resizings can be done while you wait (of course, there are always exceptions for complexity).

What a disappointment for your wife!!

I hope it works out. And while people are right that this is not Carnival's fault/responsibility, they still should have some ownership for the companies they chose to represent them, especially for onboard purchases.

I hope it works out!

Returning it for a full refund should definately be an option.

They advertise a ONE YEAR warranty that you can return it for any reason.

I would simply get the refund and take it as a lesson learned....because sometimes when something like this happens....it causes more problems. (losing a stone etc). There is an old Nascar saying..."cautions breed cautions".

Make sure you are talking with Starboard.

We had to return a Fossil watch that my son had for 9 months (one of the hands broke off) and they gave us a full refund...no questions asked.