Don't use Gifts and Services

[travler27]

With all the complaints and people who "will never sail Carnival again" you gotta wonder how they continue to fill up all those ships.

 

Some folks get bent over the smallest stuff.

[The4Cruisers]

Really! What an overreaction! Did CCL drop the ball and not do the gift as planned? Yes they did.

 

However, do any one of us live a perfect life, never making any mistakes? Imagine if life had the same expectations that these "never sail Carnival again" people have... If you make a mistake, your life is terminated.

 

Geesh folks, nobody is perfect and mistakes happen. At least they got their $25 and learned what the card said.

[cruzzza]

From what I've read on this thread, there are occasional problems with not being told something is a gift or not being told who it's from when getting a gift. That is a problem to me. Carnival should have a better system in place. Receiving a cake at a meal or decorations in the room probably doesn't come with a gift card, but maybe it should. Apparently, there are several cases of this happening. Whatever the system is, it's not being followed properly. I am somewhat surprised that in such a short time frame, so many posters are saying that it happened to them too. Obviously, this is something that is broken in the system. Sometimes apparently they do get it right, but I wonder how many times they don't. Yes, mistakes happen, but if it were truly rare, there wouldn't be so many others saying,

"Yes, it happened to me, too."

 

I do happen to think it's a big deal. Now, I will think twice about gifting to someone onboard. If I were to gift to someone, I don't want to say, "Hey, I'm going to get you a surprise onboard, but instead of letting it be a surprise, I'm telling you now because of the lousy system Carnival has."

 

Or, what if they get the item and they had thought it was from Carnival, their TA or their waiter - and I have to ask them about it because they don't mention it, which makes me feel like I'm fishing for a "Thank you" when I really just want to make sure they got it. Like the people in the prior post who tipped the waiter really big for a cake someone else sent.

 

Carnival does seem to be bungling this in a big way and I'd be really upset too.

[RWolver672]

To all of the posters who have said that $25 is no big deal, please send me $25. :D

[Cruise-Crazy]

I ordered a cake for my sister's anniversary to be delivered at dinner. They delivered the cake and sang, but never let them know who the cake was from. They thought it was from the waiter, and they gave him a larger tip at the end of the week for it.

 

Never assume..... :D

[hannahsmomtoo]

Carnival does seem to be bungling this in a big way and I'd be really upset too.

 

That is a pretty broad statement. Our gifts on the Splendor were handled perfectly.. both in delivery and in the "slips" in our stateroom.

Many people have stated that they also had good experiences on their sailings.

[San_Antonio_Ex]

I have always been a dedicated Carnival passenger. Some of you are missing my point. I have used their guest servies at least 5 times. I am upset as to their attituded. I talked to their guest services department, to their booking department, the department that handles people who have just returned from their cruise and a few more. NOT ONE of them really could care less about how my friend or I feel about their screwup. My friend was celebrating her 25th wedding anniversary and her birthday. She just suffered the loss of her father and a few other sad things in her life. I wanted to do something nice for her that would make her smile and start her cruise off in a great spirit. THIS DID NOT HAPPEN !!! Carnival ruined my nice surprise for her. It's like giving someone a surprise party but someone else takes the credit for it. My surprise for her was ruined and she would never have known anything special was done for her had she not gone and asked why she was given a $25 dollar credit to her account. If she would not have seen the $25 credit she would NEVER had known I even did this for her....

 

I understand your disappointment as you meant for her to have a nice surprise from you at the start of her cruise. But keep in mind that she WAS surprised by the credit, was enjoying it, and then learned that it was from you. It wasn't the surprise you had planned, but it was a pleasant surprise. I'm not sure what Carnival can do now since they can't turn back time and make sure she got the card on the first day. People do make mistakes, your friend received the surprise and the money, and the only thing harmed is your need to have your surprise come off a certain way. I think it was a very nice thing for you to do, and I know your friend thought so as well. I'm sure she was just as pleased and surprised when she read the note - maybe even more so since she was three days into the cruise and didn't expect anything at that point. :)

[dadof2boys]

I can understand how this is frustrating. We too have had issues with carnivals Bon voyage department. We had ordered our boys these ocean pals animals. We had told them that there would be a surprise when we got to the room. I honestly didn't think there wouldn't be. We paid for them, I had the receipt, all looked good. Well, nothing in our room. Nothing, no note, gift, anything. Went to guest services who said they would look into it and get back to me. At dinner the next night the maitre d came over and explained that they forgot to load them and that when we were in port the next day they would see if another ship also in port has any extras. So now day 3, he came over at dinner to explain that they did not have any. They would issue a refund. Well, that just kills the whole thing. I mean part of the whole deal was getting these gifts delivered to my children. Now I just have my money back. I asked if there was anything they could do for the boys. He said what would you like? I mentioned the build a bear thing. He says he'll look into it. Day four, maitre d comes over and says that each boy can build an animal and choose a costume. He also stated we would still receive the refund. So day 5 the boys make their animals. It may have taken 5 days, but it was resolved. I do think though that this all should have been handled the same way, however I shouldn't have had to suggest it. This should have been presented as the alternative much sooner and without my suggestion.

 

Now it will not stop us from sailing Carnival. I just don't think their gifts department has it together.

[nancyfancy40]

I have always been a dedicated Carnival passenger. Some of you are missing my point. I have used their guest servies at least 5 times. I am upset as to their attituded. I talked to their guest services department, to their booking department, the department that handles people who have just returned from their cruise and a few more. NOT ONE of them really could care less about how my friend or I feel about their screwup. My friend was celebrating her 25th wedding anniversary and her birthday. She just suffered the loss of her father and a few other sad things in her life. I wanted to do something nice for her that would make her smile and start her cruise off in a great spirit. THIS DID NOT HAPPEN !!! Carnival ruined my nice surprise for her. It's like giving someone a surprise party but someone else takes the credit for it. My surprise for her was ruined and she would never have known anything special was done for her had she not gone and asked why she was given a $25 dollar credit to her account. If she would not have seen the $25 credit she would NEVER had known I even did this for her....

 

So let me get this straight. Was the please to be hers on this gift? If so, then the fact the she receieved it is the most important thing. How it was delivered is not important. Giving is about giving, not about receiving acknowlegment. Seems to me you made this more about you than her.

 

Just a thought.

 

Nancy

[jsjjkelly]

I can understand how this is frustrating. We too have had issues with carnivals Bon voyage department. We had ordered our boys these ocean pals animals. We had told them that there would be a surprise when we got to the room. I honestly didn't think there wouldn't be. We paid for them, I had the receipt, all looked good. Well, nothing in our room. Nothing, no note, gift, anything. Went to guest services who said they would look into it and get back to me. At dinner the next night the maitre d came over and explained that they forgot to load them and that when we were in port the next day they would see if another ship also in port has any extras. So now day 3, he came over at dinner to explain that they did not have any. They would issue a refund. Well, that just kills the whole thing. I mean part of the whole deal was getting these gifts delivered to my children. Now I just have my money back. I asked if there was anything they could do for the boys. He said what would you like? I mentioned the build a bear thing. He says he'll look into it. Day four, maitre d comes over and says that each boy can build an animal and choose a costume. He also stated we would still receive the refund. So day 5 the boys make their animals. It may have taken 5 days, but it was resolved. I do think though that this all should have been handled the same way, however I shouldn't have had to suggest it. This should have been presented as the alternative much sooner and without my suggestion.

 

Now it will not stop us from sailing Carnival. I just don't think their gifts department has it together.

 

I do this too. I order stuff for my kids as a surprise when they get in the room. Our first cruise with Carnival, I don't even remember what we ordered. But on the card for each of them we left them a note. On my son's, it was supposed to be "Thank you for being a good boy. Love mom & dad" When it came, it was computer generated and said THANK YOU FOR BEING A GOOD BUY. My son asked "Did you buy me at the store with a coupon?"

 

Our last cruise I ordered the box of cookies. Cookies were delivered, and frankly I forgot I had ordered them. My inlaws next door said "Hey, we got this paper on our desk saying you ordered cookies". So apparently we were supposed to get a paper with each delivery???

 

Little slips ups, but nothing for us to say we'd never use them again.

 

Shawn

[DanJ]

To all of the posters who have said that $25 is no big deal, please send me $25. :D

 

Actually I think most of use are saying the card is no big deal. The $25 wasn't lost or misplaced, only the card. So where can we send your cards to? LOL

[belkin]

OP sorry you are disappointed. I had something similar happen on RC. I ordered and paid for a dozen chocolate covered strawberries and a card to be sent to a friend of mine who was going on a cruise. I paid for them but she never got the berries or the card. When she got back and didnt say anything I finally asked her how they were and that is when I found out they were never delivered. Had to call RC and ask for a refund. I was disappointed but I got over it pretty quickly.

 

This was a few years ago. Recently she went on another cruise and I decided to give it another try. This time I sent $50 in OBC with a message and it she did get it :)

[Neals6]

Amen!!!

[lady_cruiser]

i bought a $25 gift certifcate for a friend and asked them to have a card put in her room on the first day of the cruise to let her know it was a birthday gift and she could use it for whatever she wanted. I asked to have a card that said "happy birthday barb..hope you win big and bingo"

as i knew she loved to play bingo. Well, she never got the card saying i got this $25 gift certificate for her and she did not even know i did this for her. During the middle of her cruise she happened to ask the girl at the purser's desk why a $25 credit was on her account. That was when she was told about me giving this to her as a gift. The girl read the "card" that she was suppose to get on the first day of her cruise. My friend thought the $25 was from carnival and had she not stopped to ask about the credit to her account she would have never learned it was from me. When i called carnival about this they basically said so sad..too bad. "at least she got the $25 credit so they weren't going to do anything about it". Both she and i are really pissed as they could care less about ruining the surprise i wanted her to have. I am a platimun card member and have used the gift services many times. I will no longer use their services again. I am very disappointed in their services and show no concern for their dedicated passingers. The sad thing is my friend loves royal caribbean and i talked her into going on this cruise. She now will no longer go on any carnival cruises. I go on carnival at least two times a year. We already have a cruise booked in december but my next one will be with royal caribbean. I am done with carnival because of how they dealt with this.

They no longer care about their repeat customers..so sad.

They have taken away their $100 towards their next cruise offer, made it harder to get to vip statis, and took away benifits booking agents can give clients. Carnival is sinking along with costa... They need to realize past guests (esp vips) keep them afloat. Cutting perks to them will add to them sinking.... I loved carnival and referred so many people to them. They have no idea what they are doing to their "past" dedicated passengers....

boring!