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Just off the broken Dream the good and the bad


floridagal062

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I was recently on the carnival dream that got stranded at St Martin. I have very mixed emotions on the whole experience and was interested on how others may see it so opinions are welcome. First we had a family group of 21 of us. We all had an amazing time and it was the first cruise with my whole family there so that was awesome. I can only imagine how difficult it was for Carnival to handle another problem. We docked at beautiful St Martin as scheduled and that evening, when it was past time to leave we were told we were having issues and we be leaving late. This was on Wed. After a few more announcements we were told the issused were greater than expected and no more would be said that night. The next morning of course we were still there and we were told they would be flying people home. There were 6 in our group that dont fly either from fears or medical issues so we went down right away to report this. I spoke to Jamie our cruise directer who took our info and we also went to the customer service desk later to report as well. This was Thursday. For the next 3 days we were still in st martin and about 3 times a day went to customer service to see what was going on. They set up alot of flights but comunication was an issue. A few in our group would go to cs to check on flight status and told no flight yet and then a few hours later told they missed their flight. lol But all in all they did a great job. On Saturday they called our room and said they had us on the norweigen ship the next day and we would have our papers within an hour. We recieved nothing so 3 different times we went to cs to see where they where and the first time they said we all had to go see the doctor. Three of us had very high blood pressure and all of us recieved a letter from the doctor saying unalble to fly. We took it back to cs and was told our room info for ship would be delivered soon. Our last stop there was at 10pm and we were told it was being delivered right now. Went to our room and nothing. Was going to bed at 11 when the phone rang and a lady told me none of us had a room on the ship and we would have to stay on the island for 10 days and then maybe we would have a ride back. We were shocked! I got the others and we went back to cs. We were taken to a back room by the "carnival care team" We were told that was our only option because there was no room on the ship for us. Funny how we wer the first to report that we cant fly yet 30 some other people got placed and we didnt. After this meeting we all were so upset and did not know what to do One of our party has severe panic attacks and was crying all evening. We were told to meet him at 7:30 am and that morning waited an hour and were told he was on the phone if we wanted to talk to him. He said they were still working on it. I saw Jamie and asked why we didnt have a room if we were the first to talk to her and she said she passed the info and didnt know what happened. A couple of hours later they boarded the ones that had a room on the ship, who were seated on the other side of the atrium and we were still there. Then my friend had a major panic attack and had to be taken to the doctor in a wheelchair. Finally a few hours later we got on the other ship and many passengers from that ship told us there were plenty of rooms still available. So I am confused why they had to put us through all of this for nothing. What do you think. We were so impressed with how carnival handled everything until the 24 hours of hell they put us through which left us all with a bad feeling about the experience.

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Thank you for sharing with us your account of your trip on the Dream. I wondered how they handled guests who don't fly. I don't fly either and never will. I have a combination of fear and medical issues.

 

I'm sorry that you had to experience what you did, but am glad that you all made it home safely.

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I can't imagine what it must have been to be there with such a large group and worrying about everyone getting back home. But I think that on a ship with 3000 some people and everyone needing some way to get home, something is bound to get mixed up or not work out perfect. I know people have jobs to get back to, family and pets to care for. But crazy me, if they tell me I have to stay there for 10 days I may just be like "pay for my food, pay for my hotel, and pay for my drinks!!!"

 

But seriously, sorry about your friend and her panic attacks. I hope at least your vacation wasn't completely ruined. And besides it could have been a lot worse right?

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I'm not trying to be snarky or rude but your post would be so much more readable if it had paragraphs.

 

Sorry CCL didn't take care of you as well as they could have.

 

:-)

 

 

Im sorry but that is really rude and condescending .

 

OP glad ye all got home safely and thankyou for taking the time to tell us your expierience :)

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Im sorry but that is really rude and condescending .

 

 

I disagree. It was hard to read...if this poster is made aware of that, maybe they'll not repeat it if they post again.

 

 

OP, I am glad you're all home safe and I'm sorry you had this experience.

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We were on the Sun Going directly from one ship to another you really notice the difference. I will say the food was better on Sun as well as great service.

 

The people were so nice to us on that ship and very accomadating. The different dining options were very nice. I think there were 5 different resturaunts that had an extra charge but we didnt try any.

 

It was for sure an older crowd than we are used to on carnival. A much more laid back atmosphere and very few children.

 

On the other hand the dream was a much larger more beautiful ship by far but the Sun is a much older ship. I am 52 but enjoy the high energy of carnival and I dont care how many children are around I enjoy seeing them have a good time, but thats just me.

 

PS I do hope that is enough paragrahs

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Thanks for the report Floridagal... sounds like you did the best that you could and kept a good attitude through this messy situation. I hope your friend is doing well and not overly traumatized by her panic attacks. Glad the ship doctors did the right thing by them.

 

Sounds to me like you will have mostly GOOD stories that will come out of this memorable trip. How cool that you got to be on 2 different ships! I hope your whole family tries to travel again...

 

and I like paragraphs too ;) You done good!

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I understand the problems the op was facing. However, you should always be prepared to have a change of transportation, just in case. What if you were in Belize, and had an accident, and had to be med-vac'd? This would have been done by a helicopter, and then a flight home. I don't think Carnival did wrong here. Actually, I think they went way above and beyond to accomodate those who cannot or do not want to fly by placing them on another lines ship. It had to be quite a task getting it all okayed and so forth.

As far as the relative that had panic attacks, been there, did that. Yes, they can be devastating and also make you feel as if you are having a heart attack. I no longer have them. Zanax was my friend when I did. Just a half a pill, and it would stop the attack immediately. Your relative might want to look into this before traveling. Just a little helpful tip. The last attack I had was on my granddaughters birthday. We were going to her party, and a full blown attack started coming over me. I told myself... no, i am not going to let this happen. It stopped . I haven't had one in over 13 years now. Some people believe we are all energy and we can heal ourselves with our mind. I don't believe that personally, well, except for this one time....:rolleyes:

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I'm not trying to be snarky or rude but your post would be so much more readable if it had paragraphs.

 

Sorry CCL didn't take care of you as well as they could have.

 

:-)

 

Oh now. It's a lovely long paragraph.

I couldn't grasp waht the problem was. I must've missed something.

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luddite

 

The only problem is when you lie to people for a few days telling them we have you booked on a ship and then call your room to tell you you are all set and you will have your info in an hour and none of this is true. Then 3 times telling you it is on its way then just one hour later they are telling you you will be left on an island for 10 days and that is your only option if you cant fly is wrong. Especially when we get on the ship and there is still tons of empty rooms we found out. For some reason we were singled out. We were also the only ones forced to go to the doctor to prove we could not fly

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"Was going to bed at 11 when the phone rang and a lady told me none of us had a room on the ship and we would have to stay on the island for 10 days and then maybe we would have a ride back."

 

floridagal - I'm just curious, during this phone call did the carnival rep say whether this 10 day stay in St. Martin was at your expense or that carnival would cover it?

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Later that night around 11:30 pm is when we had the meeting with the carnival cruise care team and yes he told us carnival would pay for expenses. I told him after all the lies I was told all day how did I know they they would not leave us stranded on the island with no passport and no way home. They did say this to one other couple and they were retired and said they would be happy to stay on the island and ofcourse they found them a room on the ship right away. I believe they were trying to scare people into saying fine I will just fly then.

 

I do not take anything away from what they did right which was everything else. They played cnn on the big screen by the pool saying how rough we had it and we all cheered and laughed. They went out of their way to make it right to everone i guess we just fell in a crack. lol I cant imagine finding flights for 3500 people in 2 1/2 days.

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For the life of me I don't understand why people are so ready to make excuses for carnival. The op states that except for......carnival did the right thing, then makes refference to being lied to all day. If anyone lied to me like that I hardly think I would say that they did the right thing! Op also states that he felt carnival was trying to coerce passengers into saying that they would fly by telling them that they would be "stuck" (my term, not carnivals ) in ST Martin for 10 days. Just when is enough ENOUGH for you people?

 

Why should carnival improve anything when passengers are so ready to make excuses and accept the status quo because the fares are cheaper? Remember................you get what you pay for!

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We were on the Sun Going directly from one ship to another you really notice the difference. I will say the food was better on Sun as well as great service.

 

The people were so nice to us on that ship and very accomadating. The different dining options were very nice. I think there were 5 different resturaunts that had an extra charge but we didnt try any.

 

It was for sure an older crowd than we are used to on carnival. A much more laid back atmosphere and very few children.

 

On the other hand the dream was a much larger more beautiful ship by far but the Sun is a much older ship. I am 52 but enjoy the high energy of carnival and I dont care how many children are around I enjoy seeing them have a good time, but thats just me.

 

PS I do hope that is enough paragrahs

 

I was on the Sun. I agree that the Sun has a wonderful crew. This was our second voyage on her since Christmas. We were on the New Year's sailing and there were many families and it was a much livelier sailing than the one that you boarded. Typically 10 and 11 day sailings like the Sun is currently doing have an older crowd.

 

You were stranded on our favorite island. I hope that there were passengers who new the island inside and out who could help you really enjoy your extended stay.

 

We sailed with a few empty cabins and quite a few passengers disembarked in St. Maarten to have a land vacation since it was our last port. That is why we could take 35 Carnival passengers back to Miami with us.

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buckeye

 

She was already on med but only brought enough for 7 days because she thought that was all she needed

Oh, okay. Sorry, just trying to be helpful as I know what she was going through. Panic attacks are probably some of the worst thing that ever happened to me... and I feel for those that are going through them...

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OP I'm glad it finally worked out for you.

 

You said opinions were welcome so here is mine.

 

I think Carnival went above what was required by taking into consideration you and the others who had issues with flying (whether it is fears, medical or personal) and trying to secure you other methods of transportation. There really may be other reasons that someone in your party with their reasons may have to fly off of an island (as someone above said, for medical reasons)

 

I also think taking other passenger's word for how many empty cabins or not were available is questionable at best. How exactly do other passengers know a lot of cabins are available. And even if there were, you state that 30 other people were to get accommodations, that takes a quite a few cabins.

 

Also you state you were the first to tell the CD, but how do you know none of the others had talked to someone else before you, like the HD or a supervisor or another front desk worker. So I really don't think it is fair to think Carnival just left your party till last, you also say you had a bigger party so that would have meant trying to keep you together.

 

Now for the other side of the coin. I think Carnival did a horrible job of communication with you and the other's in your party. But then again with every issue that I have heard of on the two cruiselines I follow, that is a common complaint among ships and passengers, when something happens. So I can't say I'm surprised by this. But sorry that you had to experience it.

 

But it sounds like, in the end it all worked out and you will have memories to share.

 

And there were some valuable lessons learned, like never leave home with only the amount of meds you need for the time planned to be away, passports can be important even on closed loop cruises, flying may be a neccessity when travelling to an island.

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