Has anyone ever used the Carnival Great Vacation Guarantee?

Just wondering if anyone has ever decided they didn't like cruising on a Carnival ship within 24 hours and used their guarantee to get them home early? If so, how did that work?

Lisa

Nope.

You would have to be a real miserable person not to be happy on a cruise.

CCL knows only a small percentage of people would use this guarentee

Nope. Always enjoying myself too much. :D

can't imagine it happening to me but I am sure someone has, so I'll be watching this post:)

We thought about on our last cruise.

It was an 8 day on the Liberty. There was a weather issue and we were going to miss Grand Turks, which is where we really wanted to go. We were told once we departed. The first two days were ya sea so the only time we could have departed was the third day.

We decided to stay on board and still had a good cruise, not our best but still good.

We ended up in Grand Turks anyway.

If you leave do you get 100% back or will they deduct the amount of days spent on the ship?

You would have to be a real miserable person not to be happy on a cruise

Of course... because the cruise operator has absolutely no possible fault for someone not being happy on a cruise. Carnival is perfect in every single way, including the employees and the product.

Welcome to the hospitality industry, where everything is perfect 100% of the time and if you're upset, it's your own fault and you're a miserable person.

Nope.

 

You would have to be a real miserable person not to be happy on a cruise.

 

Nope.

 

You would have to be a real miserable person not to be happy on a cruise.

 

CCL knows only a small percentage of people would use this guarentee

Agree!:)

Agree!:)

Aww shucks. I guess those on the Concordia, Splendor or Triumph were all miserable and deserved it.

This guarantee is so bogus. By the time you realize the cruise sucks so much that you want to get off, chances are that you're already past the deadline to invoke the guarantee, or no longer eligible for it.

Carnival knows it and that's why they tout it so much. Basically nobody would use it.

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It's just like the 110% price guarantee for the excursions. Good luck with that.

It's just like the 110% price guarantee for the excursions. Good luck with that.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1993313&highlight=excursion+guarantee

There's been a decent amount of success with that. There are other threads about it. Most people won't bother getting off the ship. I agree with Tapi, that's why they offer it. ;)

Of course... because the cruise operator has absolutely no possible fault for someone not being happy on a cruise. Carnival is perfect in every single way, including the employees and the product.

 

Welcome to the hospitality industry, where everything is perfect 100% of the time and if you're upset, it's your own fault and you're a miserable person.

Which is correct about 98% of the time. ;)

How does this work if your first one or two days of the cruise are sea days? Do you basically have to complain enough to GS in the first 24 hours of the cruise and say you want to get off the ship? I would be very curious to hear of a first-hand account of someone using the guarantee!

Just wondering if anyone has ever decided they didn't like cruising on a Carnival ship within 24 hours and used their guarantee to get them home early? If so, how did that work?

 

Lisa

I remember reading a thread about someone that went to guest services to invoke the guarantee because the air conditioning wasn't working in their room and no one seemed to take the complaint seriously. Once they invoked, they got someone to the room immediately and fixed the room to their satisfaction. So the couple ended up staying.

But if you do choose to exercise the guarantee, I think you have to pay your own way home and Carnival reimburses your expenses. So, if you don't have a passport or the means to make your way home you probably have no choice but to finish out the cruise.

This past March (2014) we were on the Sunshine. You can read lot's of reviews of the Sunshine and reach your own conclusions. At any rate, things were so bad in the first 12-15 hours that I went to guest services the first morning and asked for details to invoke the guarantee. We were about 90% ready to invoke at that point.

At the mention of the possibility I might invoke the guarantee Carnival went the extra mile to make the cruise tolerable and we decided to stay on board. The cruise was still the worst we've ever had but they made a significant effort and we thank them for that. We will never set foot on the Sunshine again but that's another story.

I am not suggesting you use the threat as a club to resolve some minor issue. My wife and I both met with the guest services manager and I think she could easily tell we were seriously dissatisfied at that point. Had Carnival not done so much to help resolve our issues we would have jumped ship at the first port. It was that bad. We were very pleased with their efforts to resolve the problems.

We are looking forward to our 14 day B2B on the Splendor coming up this November so I guess you could say they did a good job of keeping us a Carnival customers.

This past March (2014) we were on the Sunshine. You can read lot's of reviews of the Sunshine and reach your own conclusions. At any rate, things were so bad in the first 12-15 hours that I went to guest services the first morning and asked for details to invoke the guarantee. We were about 90% ready to invoke at that point.

 

At the mention of the possibility I might invoke the guarantee Carnival went the extra mile to make the cruise tolerable and we decided to stay on board. The cruise was still the worst we've ever had but they made a significant effort and we thank them for that. We will never set foot on the Sunshine again but that's another story.

 

I am not suggesting you use the threat as a club to resolve some minor issue. My wife and I both met with the guest services manager and I think she could easily tell we were seriously dissatisfied at that point. Had Carnival not done so much to help resolve our issues we would have jumped ship at the first port. It was that bad. We were very pleased with their efforts to resolve the problems.

 

We are looking forward to our 14 day B2B on the Splendor coming up this November so I guess you could say they did a good job of keeping us a Carnival customers.

I would think that if a ship had the guarantee invoked the main office would investigate and heads would roll. Therefore if you say you are considering doing it they will do whatever possible to fix the problem.

on our first cruise. My husband was getting bored out of his mind after only a few hours on the ship. We don't drink, smoke or gamble much and didn't find the fun in the hairy chest contests or the bar hopping things etc. He'd read his books that he brought during the lay overs that we had coming from SLC to New Orleans and didn't have anything to do. I was devastated but be didn't know how to turn off his type A personality and just relax. Finally after talking to some people he found a way and we thoroughly enjoyed the rest of our cruise and look forward to the next one we're taking next Aug 2015! we really did discover there is so much to do that's not the drinking etc. It was the sea days that were boring for him at first --one of the things we did discover was the art auctions even if you don't buy any art it was fun to watch the other people. and you get free champagne although we got a free soda instead.

I'm definitely not planning on using the guarantee, but I was just curious if anyone ever did and why. I'm sure Carnival counts on the fact that 99.9% of people wouldn't ever use it.

Lisa

Someone invoked the old guarantee on the Miracle a few Christmases ago. The AC was broken and Carnival could a) do nothing to fix it and b) could only move them from their upgraded balcony to an interior. It was on one of the NYC to Bahamas runs (I said it's been a few years), so by the time he could invoke the guarantee he couldn't get off until Nassau because they wouldn't pay the penalty for them to debark in Port Canaveral. Of course, they had to pay their own way home (old guarantee), but CCL took care of the arrangements and put them up for a few days in Nassau.

I'm trying to hunt down the thread now. I remember commenting on it, but Uncle Google isn't working today.

Someone invoked the old guarantee on the Miracle a few Christmases ago. The AC was broken and Carnival could a) do nothing to fix it and b) could only move them from their upgraded balcony to an interior. It was on one of the NYC to Bahamas runs (I said it's been a few years), so by the time he could invoke the guarantee he couldn't get off until Nassau because they wouldn't pay the penalty for them to debark in Port Canaveral. Of course, they had to pay their own way home (old guarantee), but CCL took care of the arrangements and put them up for a few days in Nassau.

 

I'm trying to hunt down the thread now. I remember commenting on it, but Uncle Google isn't working today.

I remember reading about it. If I am not mistaken, I believe it was the son's mother who started the thread.

I remember reading about it. If I am not mistaken, I believe it was the son's mother who started the thread.

Yup. And she was trying to figure out how to get them home or make the cruise better. I think her name was Professor something.

If you leave do you get 100% back or will they deduct the amount of days spent on the ship?

you get 110% back plus they fly you home

How does this work if your first one or two days of the cruise are sea days? Do you basically have to complain enough to GS in the first 24 hours of the cruise and say you want to get off the ship? I would be very curious to hear of a first-hand account of someone using the guarantee!

You need to let GS know you want off the ship within the first 24 hrs of departure. Then, GS makes arrangements to fly you home at the first port you visit