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Sadly, I am finished with Carnival


gone_cruisin

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This thread is not meant to be a Carnival bashing or cheering for another cruise line, as I have only cruised Carnival and loved them....until the last few months. While their product is still a great value and their ship personnel are the best, their customer service at HDQ is the worst! I would love to continue cruising with them, but I fear if I do, it will continue to be a financial disaster for us.

 

Here is my story:

 

My June cruise was fabalous!!!! Until I got off the ship. Carnivals cc hold practices (and yes they are carnivals, not my cc) put me and my bf in a serious situation at Boston aiport. (see thread http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1658365). We were stuck in Boston without an available cc to rent a car or get a hotel. We had to call our parents to use their cards. When I spoke with Customer Care, I basically told 1) we didn't do that and then after they realized they did rack up our holds 2) we're sorry but there is nothing we can do for you....this is just our practices.

 

Today we had to cancel our November cruise. We made weekly payments on various cc and debit cards. One of the cc is now cancelled. The other cc have a zero balance. We tried to get Carnival to refund us in another method (check, all into the checking accounts), but we were once again told, sorry this is our practices. We were told it's not their problem that an $1000 credit will sit on our credit cards. As far as the cancelled card, they will still process the refund and when they get the rejection, they will contact me then to schedule a check refund which would take 6-8 weeks to process. Ugh!

 

I spoke to multiple supervisors and explained over and over again the problems I've had with Carnival and their financial practices with customers, but my complaints fall on deaf ears. I can no longer afford for Carnival to just hold my money as they wish.

 

I told the supervisor to immediately cancel my Revently booked aft wrap Breeze cruise and that I will never spend one red cent on Carnival again.

 

Sadly I will need to start looking for another cruise line that can provide me the value and entertainment that Carnival could (and hopefully have better customer service).

 

Again, this thread is meant to educate people of how badly Carnival treats their customers. I am not a troll, nor am I one to just spout off over the littlest things. I am (or was) a loyal customer for the last 10 years that is tired of battling Carnival when it comes to my money.

 

Feel free to comment, and I'm sure that I will get many sarcastic "see ya" or "bye" comments. All I ask is that you read my thread link first and maybe you'll understand my frustration level with them.

 

Can anyone recommend a suitable cruise line for 30/40 years olds at a comparable price and itineraries?

 

Thank you

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I hate to tell you this but putting holds on credit cards is common throughout the industry and pretty much everywhere. I see holds on my card even when I fill up at the gas station. I suggest when you cruise with someone else that you choose CASH option when paying for your onboard expenses.

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Yikes -- so sorry that you have had such a bad experience -- that really stinks!

I can't help but think that there is something amiss, however -- we have used credit cards and debit cards and never had anything like you describe -- just small holds that disappear when the actual bill hits at debarkation.

I am going to try something new (for us anyway) on our upcoming cruise -- going to build OBC and use cash and see how that goes.

Hope you get your mess straigtened out.

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I hate to tell you this but putting holds on credit cards is common throughout the industry and pretty much everywhere. I see holds on my card even when I fill up at the gas station. I suggest when you cruise with someone else that you choose CASH option when paying for your onboard expenses.

THIS.

 

(How've you been, Carolin?)

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We have holds put on by other cruiselines as well. While it doesnt affect our CC it did affect my GF debit card.

Cash is still king If you want to avoid holds being put on your cards

 

BTW sorry to hear this happen it can be frustrating

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Cash option is the way to go. Our local Shell station puts a $99 hold on our debit card. After the second time we decided to never use it again.

 

Same way with any cruise line.

 

We deposit ~$200-300 cash at the beginning of the cruise and if we ran out we deposited more at the CS desk. We hardly ever needed to do that.

 

We don't use the credit/debit card until the last day and only if we needed to settle our final bill.

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For the OP I totally feel for ya. I don't understand why holds are placed on credit cards. It makes no sense to me. It is just an inconvenience. :(

 

It's to prevent you from spending the money on something else and not having enough on the card for the charges (in addition to making sure in the first place that it is a valid card with enough credit to cover the charges).

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There has to be something else to this story. Do ships handle their credit card holds or accounts differently based on some other criteria? I've been on 12 Carnival cruises. On four of them, I used a debit card, and a credit card for the rest. In all cases, I've had a single $100 hold on my debit or credit card throughout each cruise. In 12 cruises, I've never had more than one hold placed on either type of card. Then, 2-3 business days after our return, the charges appear (usually 1-3 separate transactions) on the card or bank account. Granted, I don't spend that much while on the cruise ($250-700). So, maybe that has something do with it?

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There has to be something else to this story. Do ships handle their credit card holds or accounts differently based on some other criteria? I've been on 12 Carnival cruises. On four of them, I used a debit card, and a credit card for the rest. In all cases, I've had a single $100 hold on my debit or credit card throughout each cruise. In 12 cruises, I've never had more than one hold placed on either type of card. Then, 2-3 business days after our return, the charges appear (usually 1-3 separate transactions) on the card or bank account. Granted, I don't spend that much while on the cruise ($250-700). So, maybe that has something do with it?

 

The June cruise was my 9th cruise with Carnival and I have never had it happen to me before. I have used the same cc for my sail and sign account for the last 4 years. Nothing changed from my end.

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As a society I think we're all too reliant on plastic. Computer breaks down or something like your situation goes amiss and we're totally lost. I always carry a spare cc for backup and, of course, there is no substitute for good old fashioned cash in a pinch.

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I totally feel for your level of frustration however it is a common practice nowadays in the entire travel industry. Now that you are wiser about what is liable to happen, maybe you can plan ahead with a cc with higher available balance or cash.

I only say this because we went to a hotel in Dallas last weekend and my DH used a cc with a low available balance and a $250 hold was put for incidentals etc. and that put us over our available limit. He again tried to use it at dinner that night and of course it was declined. Embarassing but his own fault for grabbing wrong card.

When we cruise, we make sure to use a cc with a high avail balance so we don't run into this problem.

My DD's ages 23 and 25 have cruised/traveled in hotels using their debit cards and have run into all kinds of nightmares with holds so now they travel with travelers checks or cash. They have a very limited amount of extra cash and need to use cc to travel (which I have advised them against...if you can't afford to vacation, you shouldn't! LOL) so they will use cc for groceries, gas, even to pay their rent so that frees up cash to use for travel.

 

whew! Sorry that was long winded but I hope it helps as I'd hate to see a satisfied Carnival cruiser abandon ship when this practice is NOT Carnivals fault and is practiced industry wide! :)

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My question is I usually take the one card I have that has a low limit placed on it , $1000 max just in case it gets compromised while we are on the islands . Take another just for back up dont use it . Our sail and sign will come in under $500 so how can they put a triple hold or whatever on a card that maxes at $1000. :confused::confused:

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The June cruise was my 9th cruise with Carnival and I have never had it happen to me before. I have used the same cc for my sail and sign account for the last 4 years. Nothing changed from my end.

 

Are you sure that the CC issuer's policies didn't change? I always get those inserts in my CC bills but hardly ever read them.

 

And Carnival isn't the only one that puts holds on CC's

 

Hate that this happened to you, but on CCL's website regarding their policy:

 

 

If you are using a credit card or debit/check cashing card please be advised that there will be a hold placed on your account as a deposit for your onboard purchases. During your cruise additional holds will be added if your Sail & Sign® account exceeds the amount of deposit Carnival has on file. If you presented a credit card, this will reduce the amount available on your credit card for other purchases. If you presented a debit/check cashing card, the hold will restrict the available cash in your checking account. All charges will be billed to the credit card or debit/check cashing card at the end of the cruise. Please note that Carnival Cruise Lines will not be held responsible for any bank-imposed overage or insufficient funds charged on debit or credit cards.

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I am sorry that happened to you.

 

We had the same thing happen to us, but it was my debit card they took out a lot of holds on and I didn't even realize it. I had been very careful in checking our spending as I knew how much I had. We drove to FL from VA and on the way back, I paid for our gas to get home. Mind you, we drove home in the middle of Hurricane Irene. We were trying to stop to find shelter, but every hotel/motel in NC was booked solid. Only once we got home and got our power back (our cells had died in the car while we were on the cruise) was I able to see I had over drawn my account for the hold they placed. It was like a double hold. They charged me and still had the hold on my card.

 

But like the second poster said, each place will place holds. We just know next time, we will use a credit card to avoid any overdraft fees--which my bank refunded fully to me.

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Again, this thread is meant to educate people of how badly Carnival treats their customers. I am not a troll, nor am I one to just spout off over the littlest things. I am (or was) a loyal customer for the last 10 years that is tired of battling Carnival when it comes to my money.

 

Feel free to comment, and I'm sure that I will get many sarcastic "see ya" or "bye" comments. All I ask is that you read my thread link first and maybe you'll understand my frustration level with them.

 

Can anyone recommend a suitable cruise line for 30/40 years olds at a comparable price and itineraries?

 

Thank you

 

I'm sorry you had to go through these trials... it really sucks and I know, I've been in difficult financial situations myself. Unfortunately, you are going to find that ALL cruise lines have similar policies, not just Carnival. When you are on a very tight budget the best policy is to go cash.... that way no holds of any sort will be put on your accounts. Save your cc for emergencies only.

 

When I purchase something at my neighborhood Lowes, they refund me in the same manner I paid... if I paid with CC, they credit my CC, if I paid by cash, etc... Again, this is a standard practice, not a Carnival thing.

 

I honestly can't think of a better cruise line for younger cruisers than Carnival. Plus you'll may an enormous premium if you go elsewhere.... I'd just start saving in cash for your next cruise. That one, I promise, will be worry free.:)

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Hey Darryl :) Doing great. Next cruise for us is out of New Orleans right before Marti Gras. Wish you could be coming with us.

I have a rather large milestone b-day happening somewhat near that date, and I've never been to Bourbon Street. I'll get back to you later on it. (unless you were just being polite ;) )

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Sorry to see you go. Remember that Carnival owns Princess and HAL too or they are owned by the same company. But other than that..I have never heard of what has happened to you.

 

We have cruised on several cruise lines and never had this issue but paid in full for flight home in advance and always have had another credit card with us. Have rather high limits on both.

 

Paid sail and sign bill in full before we get off the ship and everything seems all set to leave so how would one know if their credit card had a hold placed on it unless they tried to use it?

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I am sorry that happened to you.

 

We had the same thing happen to us, but it was my debit card they took out a lot of holds on and I didn't even realize it. I had been very careful in checking our spending as I knew how much I had. We drove to FL from VA and on the way back, I paid for our gas to get home. Mind you, we drove home in the middle of Hurricane Irene. We were trying to stop to find shelter, but every hotel/motel in NC was booked solid. Only once we got home and got our power back (our cells had died in the car while we were on the cruise) was I able to see I had over drawn my account for the hold they placed. It was like a double hold. They charged me and still had the hold on my card.

 

But like the second poster said, each place will place holds. We just know next time, we will use a credit card to avoid any overdraft fees--which my bank refunded fully to me.

 

I couldn't even tell you if NCL put holds on my cc on our last two cruises because I never checked after to see.

 

We had a similar issue when we left the Sky, I stopped to get gas on the way home and my debit card was rejected. When I tried to get money from the ATM it showed a zero balance. By the time we got to our first lay over stop we had money in the account again and from what I figured out later the hold and the charges were on the card at the same time for a few hours bringing the balance to zero.

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