ifihadamilliondollars

I called Carnival on March 24 and requested a refund for my April 19 cruise because I’m Canadian and the borders were closed. I was told by the agent that a refund request had been issued. So I’ve waited patiently for 2 months. Today I ran out of patience when I started seeing that people were getting refunds for May cruises. When I called, they told me I was given an fcc! So, long story short, they rectified that and I am now getting a refund but they won’t tell me how long. I told them it’s not my fault they screwed up 2 months ago (I have name of the person I spoke to) and I shouldn’t be put at the bottom of the queue. I am not impressed with carnival. She told me several times that I’m one of a million people. I am aware of that which is why I waited two months. Anyways, I told them if I don’t have it in 30 days I’m starting a credit card chargeback. I’m guessing they don’t care but I’m pissed. They owe me $3200! It should not take this long to issue refunds. 

8 hours ago, bud said:

update from previous post.  Still nothing no emails and when I  go online no history of any booking Poof.

Very frustrated.  

Yes i find that unsettling too. However, I can prove I paid them with credit card statement if necessary and I have emails showing my cruise on apr 19 was paid in full. So they can’t get away with not refunding. I certainly hope they wouldn’t try to pull something like that. I would never cruise with them again if they did. 

Did you guys get any kind of email after you cancelled? I requested a refund 3 days ago. Was told I would have it in 10 days and my cruise disappeared from “my cruises” but I’ve no email confirmation. Just a cruise gone. Poof. I asked the lady for a conf # that I called or something but she gave me her name and said I would get an email. It’s unsettling. 

17 minutes ago, Nessa55 said:

I'm with you

I’m Canadian booked on magic apr 19. I called the other day and asked for a refund since the borders are closed. They submitted a refund request based on the fact that the Canada us border will still be closed then. No argument. When I said it was pretty much a given that my cruise would be cancelled anyway she agreed. Said it would take about 10 days for a refund to be issued.

4 hours ago, dougygreen said:

I agree with you and I would not put it past them to do this based on how poorly and stubbornly they've dealt with this situation so far. Their revised/extended cancellation policy seems to conveniently avoid clearly mentioning deadlines for cash refunds vs. FCC. This convoluted and almost deliberate lack of transparency, (On the phone, online) is why i'll probably never sail with them again. I'm Canadian and booked for a sailing out of NYC at the end of May. We're definitely cancelling before March 31st, but just waiting for them to announce full refunds for May bookings in the next few days. If they don't, I'm going to fight for my deposit to be refunded in cash and not FCC as well. Better to cancel now, get most of your money back, and then hound them if they try to hold your deposit. It's just not worth the risk for us at this point, (Border crossing, possible quarantine, altered itineraries, exchange rates, health etc.) I was told by a Carnival rep. on the phone that there is some sort of "form" we can fill out to explain our situation as non-U.S citizens but I can't find it. If anyone else has, let me know.

Thanks. If anyone knows where this form is, please share. I’m going to call this weekend in and get to the bottom of it. 

1 hour ago, vwrestler171 said:

Just because Canada won't let you travel, doesn't mean that Carnival needs to cancel.  

Well Carnival can’t dock at an Canadian ports until a least the end of July which affects all Alaskan cruises and eastern Canada. Canadians and Europeans can’t enter USA to take a cruise, its very unlikely any Caribbean islands are going to allow docking 3 weeks from now considering this virus is just taking its hold down there, anyone with a lick of common sense knows that things are not going to improve within the next few weeks. And carnival knows. They just don’t want to give refunds. 

I am booked on the Magic April 19. I know I’m not going because...umm..let’s see. I’m Canadian, the borders are closing tomorrow, and there’s no way this will be close to being over by April 10 and Carnival knows it. I think they are waiting until the March 31 deadline so we all have to cancel and take a FCC then they will cancel our cruises and get out of giving a refund. I’m not okay with that. Anyone else agree that this is what is going on? 

15 hours ago, emckeeve said:

Are there “formal nights” on this itinerary?  If so, which nights.  We have a family group of 15 and would like to plan accordingly. Thanks.

 

Yes on the first sea day (Sunday) and Thursday (Ketchikan day)

On 8/1/2019 at 4:23 PM, Deesquared said:

Thanks for your great detailed review, and all the photos. Our family has sailed on the Ruby twice, and we love her.

 

Thank you also for your thoughts on the on-board Naturalist. I have heard interesting views on Michael, and his style. I am also a Naturalist, and am hoping to work on-board the Princess ships at some point. Would you mind telling me more about his presentation, and what he talked about? Thank you!

 

Wonderful pics of all those humpback whales, by the way!

Honestly? I didn't care for him. He seemed to be something of a "bullshitter" (harsh, I know but you asked!) And I felt like his main goal was to sell his books. He spent a long time on a story about his first winter alone in a cabin. He showed some slides, talked about his book, made some suggestions for what to do in Alaska.

Disembarkation:

Was a piece of cake. Very well organized. We got off and were put right into a cab. No problems. I'll say this about Princess. They are very well organized.

Here is some random food pictures.

The lobster on formal night, Baked Alaska and Creme Broule

Victoria, BC

Okay. This port is just downright stupid. I understand that they have to stop in a Canadian Port. But C'mon. We didn't dock til 7pm. There was some kind of hold up with customs and we didn't get off til 730. Unless you had an excursion booked, there was nothing to do! We walked to Fisherman's Wharf. Just some bars and restaurants. And apparently some people walked downtown which was a bit of hike and all the shops were closed!!

Ketchikan

I think my favorite day of the whole trip because I finally got to see some wildlife (other than whales).

We did the Zodiac Boat Excursion. It was awesome!!!

Of course, it was drizzling when we docked in Ketchikan. But, amazingly, it stopped just long enough for our 2.5 hour excursion, then started again just as we were coming into the dock. Can't ask for better than that in Ketchikan.

A van took us out to the dock where they outfitted us in thick, wool socks. a wet suit/rain coat thing complete with a jacket and pants, mittens and rubber gloves. We were in a small group and my husband and I had our own boat (they seat 4). There was only two other boats plus the guide. A very small, private tour.

The boats go really fast and its choppy out there, or it was that morning anyway. A bit of a rough ride at times, but so fun!

And the best part? The Harbour Seals! And we saw a few bald eagles. The guide had fish in his boat and he threw it in the water and the eagle swooped down right in front of us. Amazing. We also saw some deer. No bears! He took us to a view spots on the shoreline where they might be, but no luck!

I highly recommend this tour if you want to have fun and see wildlife up close.

Glacier Bay Day:

We had amazing weather for Glacier Bay. No rain. The sun peeked out a few times. Not overly cold. I'm probably going to get a lot of flack for my next statement and it is just my opinion. Disclaimer: I have a short attention span. I kind of thought Glacier Bay was overrated. There. I said it. Yes it was a beautiful place to see and I'm glad I had the opportunity. But once I saw Marjorie and took some pictures, I was done. The other big glacier there is covered in dirt. And then there was one other one on the way out but I didn't see it. Now, you have to remember that we went to Mendenhall and canoed to the Davidson Glacier, so I was probably just a little glaciered out at that point.

On 8/1/2019 at 3:40 PM, 1emerald1 said:

What was your bed configuration?  Was it under the window or on the wall?  Thanks.

It  was against the wall, not under the window.

Our next stop was Skagway. We did the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari through Princess. It was awesome. If you really want to get out and see Alaska, I highly recommend this tour.

They took us on a ninety minute boat ride to get where we needed to be. We saw lots of beautiful scenery along the way. But the best part of this boat ride was our tour guide, Zack. This kid was hilarious. He talked the whole time, standing up at the front of the boat, making jokes. But he was also very knowledgeable about the area and shared a lot of interesting facts. My husband immediately whispered to me that Zack reminded him of Sean Penn's character, Jeff Spicoli, in Fast Times at Ridgemont high. Then Zack made a joke about how people often tell him that!

They took us to a remote beach and fed us a delicious little lunch. Turkey sandwiches with real turkey meat, fresh bread, water, applesauce, and delicious trail mix. Then the fun began. They loaded us onto a school bus. Yes a school bus. And took us through the woods! It was a little scary.

When we reached the staging area, everyone was outfitted with rubber boots and life jacket and an oar to paddle the canoe. We hiked through the woods to the water. We paddled part way to the glacier and then our guide turned on the motor.

Even though there was a light drizzle most of the time, it was still an amazing adventure. We tied up the canoes and got out near the glacier. We hiked as close to it as we could get. Sometimes, you can go right up and touch it, but we couldn't that day as the water was running fast and deep and they felt it was too risky.

After our excursion in Juneau, we had about three hours to explore. We headed for the Red Dog Saloon first to have a famous Duck Fart Shooter. The Red Dog was a cool place. I would have liked to spend more time there and eat dinner but we had planned to go to Tracy's Crab Shack. We should have stayed at Red Dog cause Tracy's was lined right out the door so we didn't end up getting to do that. Anyways, Red Dog did not disappoint. We snagged the last empty table right inside the door. Some others from our tour group had to wait outside.  We did the duck farts. They were delicious. Better be for $7.50 a piece! And because we did the duck farts we were given a sharpie to sign the table. The atmosphere in Red Dog was quite enjoyable. And they even had dirt floors.

The third component of our Juneau excursion was a trip to Mendenhall Glacier. We only had an hour, not long enough to hike to nugget falls unless you really hoofed it. But I think anything longer than an hour would have been too long. Once you've checked out the glacier there isn't much else unless you're really into the educational stuff in the center. We had a good chuckle at a lady who came up to me (very obviously from the south) and asked if the white stuff on the mountain was snow! Very amusing for a couple canucks. I guess if you come from the deep south you might not have seen snow before.

The whale watching part of our excursion was great! We were on a fairly small boat, maybe 50 people. Lots of room for everyone. We saw tons of whales. I don't know how she can tell, but the naturalist said we saw 20 different ones. We also saw bubble net feeding which the guide said was rare. I don't know if that's true or they just tell everyone that to make them feel like they got their money's worth. I googled it and apparently it is, so there you go!

16 hours ago, GolfMommy17 said:

Interested to know about the weather  (rain, temps, etc)   and how was the whale watch itself?  Heading to alaska next week on a cruise.  still trying to figure out the clothing!

Hi!

The weather was great. Much better than I expected. Temperatures were in the 60s. It never felt cold except at Glacier Bay. In Juneau it was sunny all day with just one or two brief showers. It did rain in the evening when we were back in town but very light rain. Skagway, it drizzled on and off most of the day but very light, hardly bothersome. Glacier bay it was sunny blue skies. Ketchikan it was raining when we docked but luckily, it stopped for our excursion, then started again just as we were finishing.

So, all in all, not too bad!

Whale watching was awesome. I will post pics and talk about that in my next post.

We did a Princess Excursion in Juneau. The one with The Salmon Bake, Whale Watching and Mendenhall Glacier.

The tour was through Allen Tours. They were great. Someone was waiting right at the pier with a sign. We took a bus out to Auke Bay and went to the Salmon Bake first. Our whale watching boat (which took us to the Salmon Bake) was fairly small. It had an upper and lower level with a bathroom and a little snack bar which offered alcholic drinks. Not sure why you need to drink booze to go Whale Watching, but to each is own.

So, the boat took us up Auke Bake To Orca Point Lodge for the lunch. The lunch was quite yummy. They had salmon, of course. And chicken, rice, green beans, rolls and delicious brownies for dessert. After lunch we had time to walk down to the beach and take pictures.

Monday July 15 was our day in Juneau. We didn't dock until 11am. As you can see, the day started out a little overcast. But it actually turned out to be a nice day, with some sun the afternoon. I even got a little sunburn on my nose and head if you can believe that! While we were out whale watching. Which I will get to shortly. Funny story, while we were waiting for the announcement that we could get off the ship, we saw a van pull up with a few people and luggage. I can only assume they missed the ship in Seattle and had to fly to Juneau! That sucks.

We missed the theater Sunday evening (Colours of the World) because we decided to eat at the Crown Grill and the only reservation supposedly available was 830. We didn't like anything on the main dining room menu for that night. Funny thing, when we arrived at Crown Grill, there were several empty tables! Hmm.

However, the food in the Crown Grill was delicious. I've included pictures of the menu.

I had the shrimp and pancetta bisque and new york striploin. I forgot to take a picture of the bay scallop timbale and my husbands filet mignon. The milk chocolate peanut butter bar was yummy!

Sunday July 14, our first full day of the cruise, was a sea day. We started out the day attending a lecture with by the onboard Naturalist, Micheal Modzelewski. After that, we went to a Go Pro seminar where we learned a few tricks.

We attended the British Style Pub Lunch in the Crown Grill. It was complementary and quite delicious. I had the fish and chips and hubby had Bangers & Mash.

Some pics of the offerings at International Cafe. (Not buffet as I called it in my earlier post! Although it was sort of a buffet since it was included in cruise fare and all you can eat! And eat we did!)