Miracle Bumping Again

Hi Cruisers,

First, we just got back from the August 7th Sailing on the Miracle. I will post a review later.

 

Second, and most important Carnival has done it again. Co-workers of ours booked the September 26 cruise out of Baltimore on the Miracle. They booked and paid for this cruise last June 2003. When we got home we were so excited to tell them about our cruise and how great it was. Unfortunately, they were told by Carnival while we were on our cruise that they were being bumped. They were told they could go on the Legend out of NY on September 28th. They are not happy since we live in Baltimore and this was so convenient. One of the co workers was going on this trip for their Honeymoon.

 

We feel so bad for them. We enjoyed our cruise on the Miracle and know that they would have too. We don't even want to talk to much about our cruise in front of them.

 

Why does Carnival overbook so much. They have made a lot of people in Baltimore unhappy. I guess that is why they are not returning next year to Baltimore.

 

Well, that is it for now. Will write a review of our cruise soon. We did have a Great time.

 

Keep Cruising

dothow

Did they have a confirmed cabin or a guarantee?

Cruisinfanatic,

 

They had an assigned cabin.

 

dothow

I had hoped all the bumping was over for the remaining Miracle sailings out of Baltimore. I'm not sure when Carnival requires final payment, but I assume they wait until that time to see how many people will actually be sailing. It seems like short notice to notify them last week that they have been bumped from their cruise only 1 1/2 months away.

 

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that I'm not on their bumping list for Oct 24th!

I'm certainly no expert, but from what I've read on the subject, Carnival greatly underestimated the demand for cruises in the NE. They also over-estimated the rate of cancellations, thus creating an overbooking problem. I imagine that this issue will continue for some time, until they have had a chance to 'read and react' to the dynamics of what is a new market to them.

 

Many businesses rely on 'consumer dynamics models' when entering a new market. These models help the business determine what the potential is for sales, what their 'average consumer' will be, and what the spendig habits of that average consumer will be like. When the reality does not conform to the model, then they must react to the new reality, and make adjustments accordingly. Unfortunately, many big businesses take longer to adjust then would seem necessary. I would think on this issue, though, that Carnival would already be deep into making changes in their system to prevent overbooking. The real problem is this: If most cruises are booked far in advance, they will be reaping the consequences of their misjudgement for quite a while, until they are beyond all of the cruises currently booked.

 

Good luck to anyone booked in Baltimore. I cannot imagine the disappointment of finding out you have been bumped... :(

Cynde: Final payment should have been made 70 days before your cruise. Did youpay yours?? Seems people who live in Baltimore are the ones being bumped since theyhave no air invloved. (sucks- since some of these people booked a long time ago) Being from PA I dont think you will get bumped.

I still don't understand how they can overbook on assigned cabins - did they sell the same cabin twice? It's almost understandable that they could bump a guarentee cabin, and it's been said they have been bumping groups - but the friend of the op doesn't seem to fit either of those.

I had a group of 120pp on one of the sailings out of Baltimore. Some had assigned cabins some had Guarantees. Although my group was unhappy about the bump I can asure you that they were WELL taken care of on another cruise the same week. They can bump me anytime. Its just like the airlines when they overbook. You always get better then what you paid for. Anyone that didn't want the bump got a full refund. I for one loved what they gave us much better then what we were supose to get

I have to admit that I would have been extremely upset if my Miracle group had been bumped, but in hindsight there are definitely some positives to being bumped from the Miracle to the Legend:

 

• Your cruise is one day longer on the Legend
  
• The Legend has a better itinerary (I did not like the Bahamas at all)
  
• You may get a shipboard credit from the cruiseline
  

I still don't understand how they can overbook on assigned cabins - did they sell the same cabin twice? It's almost understandable that they could bump a guarentee cabin, and it's been said they have been bumping groups - but the friend of the op doesn't seem to fit either of those.

Cruise lines just airlines overbook with the expectation that some will cancel prior to the final payment being due. In the case of the Miracle in Baltimore this did not happen. You do not hear of this often on Carnival. Princess used to be well known for doing this. I have always heard that the cruise lines will usually offer something better than what you had to make everyone happy.

I still don't understand how they can overbook on assigned cabins - did they sell the same cabin twice? It's almost understandable that they could bump a guarentee cabin, and it's been said they have been bumping groups - but the friend of the op doesn't seem to fit either of those.

I agree 100% with you. How can they just take a cabin from someone? If someone hand-picks a cabin, pay well over a year in advance to "rent" this cabin for a week, how can Carnival justify taking it right out of your hands, so to speak? That is not fair. I am still holding my breathe for 9/5. We have an assigned cabin, but obviously it means nothing! :( Will just wait and see.

The way carnival is looking at it== its better to bump someone who lives close by so they wont lose their airfare...and offer them a better deal then to bump someone who paid a lot of money for airfare==which they will lose.

I wonder how often this happens on sold out ships in Flordia.

 

Did it happen when they first moved to other ports like Galveston. and we never heard about it

dothow, had your friends received their docs yet? I know others waiting to sail the Miracle that have their docs and are worried about being bumped.

That was my question too.....Had your friends already received their docs? :confused:

Sorry, double post. :(

Cynde: Final payment should have been made 70 days before your cruise. Did youpay yours?? Seems people who live in Baltimore are the ones being bumped since theyhave no air invloved. (sucks- since some of these people booked a long time ago) Being from PA I dont think you will get bumped.

serene56 - I made final payment a few weeks ago, and I know it posted to my account. I booked a guarantee, so that still has me worried. We're now 69 days out, so Carnival should know for our sailing if it's overbooked.

 

I'm not sure when the Legend is done with its sailings out of NY. If I get bumped and Carnival offers to fly me to another port and sweeten the deal, I can't say I'd be too disappointed!

 

By the way - did the people who got bumped book directly through Carnival or through a TA. And how were they notified that they had been bumped?

That's really sad. What a terrible way of doing business. Radical concept: don't sell what you don't have.

 

For the bumping, it could be handled in a much better way. *Ask* people if they want to be bumped. I bet you would find enough that would want to, especially with a little incentive. Since they end up giving a bonus to the upset customer as compensation, doing it the other way around is a no-brainer.

We are booked for the September 12th cruise out of Baltimore, and i have recieved my Documents. I worried a little when I read the article in the Baltimore Sun about the bumping of local passengers, but when I called Carnival the Rep told me that I was fine and that the article in the paper was misleading. They had to cancel group bookings not individual bookings. The group bookings were done by travel agents and travel agents were aware at the time of booking that these cruises were overbooked and that cancellation was a possibility. I thought Carnival did a pretty good job of trying to make it up to the bumped passengers, I almost volunteered my spot, but my wife would have had a coranary. Just my 2 cents

Thanks for that information - it makes me feel a little better knowing that I booked individually directly with Carnival. I'll feel a LOT better once I have my docs in hand!

27123

It was not only group bookings cancelled. The honeymoon couple booked asindividuals. Also, two brothers in our office booked as individuals in June of 2003 over a year ago. They were paid in full and had room assignments. As far as travel agents knowing this is not true. One of our co-workers who is also a dear friend is an agent and informed us that they knew nothing about Carnival Miracle out of Baltimore being overbooked. The bookings on the Miracle open up in May of '03' and the two brothers booked at the beginning of June. Carnival still continued to book long after that. The ship was not oversold when the brothers booked in June. Therefore, we really do not know how they determine who gets bumped and who does not. The two brothers are accepting Carnival's offer to go to NY on the Legend. They honeymoon couple are thinking about it.

 

Keep Cruising

dothow

The way carnival is looking at it== its better to bump someone who lives close by so they wont lose their airfare...and offer them a better deal then to bump someone who paid a lot of money for airfare==which they will lose.

I wonder how often this happens on sold out ships in Flordia.

 

Did it happen when they first moved to other ports like Galveston. and we never heard about it

serene - :( I live in Baltimore, 15 minutes from the port. I have an 8a guarantee that I booked (blame my naivete) through an organization well over a year ago. I'm a member of the organization, got an email, the price was right, so I booked. I've since learned how to do it the right way from these boards. In my naivete, I had no idea I was booking a "group" cruise for DH and myself.

 

My TA, totally useless, said that Carnival assured the group coordinator that we would NOT be bumped. I'll wait and see. I'm on the same cruise as cyndepet (Hi, Cynde!)

 

Since I've learned from my mistakes, the cruise in 05 is booked thru an online agency AND we have an assigned room.

 

Here's wishing cynde and myself much luck...keeping our fingers (and toes)

crossed.

Again if you booked directly with Carnival you were not bumped. I think the question should be, Is Carnival giving a higher priority to its own bookings than they do to those done by a travel agent? If I owned the world's largest cruise line I would

I am also on the Miracle - October 24th out of Baltimore.

 

My TA still doesn't have a booking number (or so he says) for our cruise. He said that we will not have a room number until they start berthing (sp) the rooms. He said that we (My group of 30) will not be bumped. We all (for the most part have Cat. 8A rooms. I paid the deposit last summer and the final payment in June or July.

one of the guys I work with, his girlfriend is a TA and last year when we were trying to book one of the Baltimore sailings they were filling up fast then. June last year I was trying to get on the September 5th sailing. i tried her first because she could get a discount, she couldn't do it then i tried Carnival; the 12th sailing was the next with any availability & Carnivals price was the same as the TA with the discount. I figured booking direct is always better at least for me it is, i not really a big fan of middle men

The reason your TA can tell you for sure that you will not be bumped is because that agency probably already had a group bumped and Carnival will not do it twice to the same agency. My group of 120pp on the Sept 5th sailing got bumped to an 8 nite cruise on the Legend sailing to San Juan St Thomas and Tortola verses a 7 nite on the Miracle sailing to Key West Freeport and Nassau. The also got upgraded from an inside and outside to a balcony, free drinks for 1 hour, free bus transportation to and from NY plus a shipboard credit. Again I do not think it is right for them to overbook a sailing but things happen and I have to say they did the best they could do to satisfy clients. The newspaper was very misleading making it look like people lost money, I had some people that canceled and got full refunds with in a week. When you look at how little people paid for this cruise its a wonder no one canceled out. If you got in with a group you got $100 pp discount then if you booked through reg resv. No way did Carnival make money on these sailings