Very Poor Response and Customer Service From Carnival. Please read..

[texsun49]

All the uninformed outrage is amazing. The OP and others have themselves worked up into a lather over things that from their posts they have not even basic understanding. I personally dont like to go through life angry, so I don't waste feelings of outrage without at least researching enough to know I have a reason. For some they just want to take this oppertunity to bash CCL for whatever reason..didnt like your cruise with them, you hate the colors, or dont like large corporations.. whichever that is fine and within your rights... but you would look a lot better if you just said that instead of making outrageous and illinformed comments to make your point. Cruise ships are not the Navy, transfers to other ships or use of lifeboats is out of the question unless ship is in danger of sinking, and the passengers to the disappointment of many it would appear, did not arive in Mobile with faces smeared with feces, and looking like refugees from hell.

[Socref124]

Just got off the phone with Carnival. I called inquiring about cancelling our two cruises that are fully paid for. Wanted to know what our options were.

 

Due to the Triumph issues I agree accidents happen, but DON"T agree with the way they handled it. They could of brought another ship out there to get the passangers off.

 

So I called to see what Carnivals attitude towards upcoming passengers. Its not good.

 

If you paid for your cruise they are NOT offering refunds. Its a Triumph issue not a Victory or a Liberty issue is there response.

 

I was told as far as compensation to future passengers, there has not been any brought out to this point.

 

So in a nutshell, if your unsure about the cruiseline or have concerns about the response, your SOL.

 

Im booked in two weeks on the Victory then right after on the Liberty. They don't care about loyalty, they just want the money!:(

 

Is it a poor response because you aren't getting what you want? If you weren't sure about the cruise line, you shouldn't have booked a cruise. These types of accidents can happen on any ship at any time. No one died, no one was seriously hurt and everyone made it back safe and sound.

THis is a ship with 4000 people aboard in the uneven choppy waters of the Gulf of Mexico, not a bus rolling down highway 41. It would be to dangerous to get people from one ship to another. If you have ever had to board a tender in Grand Cayman of Belize, you know what I mean.

[johneeo]

Its not the point about the fire.... Who cares about that. If the ship is stranded at sea, in this day of age they could of brought another ship and a transfer boat. I do not buy this crap that its to dangerous to transfer from one ship to another. They do it all the time!

 

No they do not.

 

I do not remember of any instance where 4,000 were transferred from a disabled ship to another.

 

Have you ever transferred to a tender from an anchored ship in calm waters? Imagine being at sea with 25 MPH winds and 6 foot seas on a disabled ship. Guaranteed disaster.

 

If you have done any reading from experienced posters, such as mariners and Coast Guard, you might have a clue.

[pe4all]

So Arcticcat - are you going on your cruises, or canceling? You haven't been back for almost 2 days to let us know....

[thesanders08]

I feel bad for all the people that are going to be on either one of these cruises with this guy. He is going to be the party pooper of both cruises cause he did not get his way. What is the point of going on these even if you do not get your refund you are already throwing a fit. I would hate to see how you would act on the ship. I really hope you change your attitude before going because I really do wish you to have fun and make great memories. Whats done is done. The chances for this happening in the near future again is very very low. I am sure your house is more likely to catch on fire than either one of these ships will. I am sure you were watching 20/20 they always blow things out of proportion. They only talked to very few people. How do you know these people were not getting paid extra to blow this even more out of proportion ??? You don't know. We went on the Liberty in November and loved her. She is a great ship. And the staff was even greater. Go in with a great attitude and looking to have fun. And if something does happen then get upset like you are now, but please other people paid a lot of money too do not ruin it for those people.

[RRLLAL]

I asked my brother, a former Navy Officer, what would have happened if this were a Navy ship, and he replied, without hesitation, another ship should have pulled up alongside and provided generator power to keep everything working, and another ship would have provided all the food supplies necessary to keep everyone happy.

 

Carnival is a HUGE corporation. If they are incapable of providing for the safety and comfort of passengers in an incident such as this which should have many contingencies already in place, then it should NOT BE IN BUSINESS.

 

If I sound angry, it is because this corporation WHICH ALSO OWNS COSTA is a blight on the entire industry.

 

The entire cruise industry is going to have to work to overcome this PR disaster

 

ROTFLMAO!

 

Cool story.

 

Sent using my Commodore 64 on Tapatalk 5.3

[johneeo]

I read a lot of incredibly ignorant statements in this thread. I was watching Juan Williams filling in for O'Reilly tonight. He had a lawyer and a former Carnival employee. He actually said he could not understand why Carnival didn't fly someone out to fix the ship. My God it took months of a large team on experts working 24/7 to get the Splendor back in service. Fly out someone to fix it????

 

I always thought he was a very sharp guy :confused: now not so much

 

I have always thought Juan Williams was a twit.

[johneeo]

They are in the gulf buddy not the open ocean.. And the waves are low..

 

DING DING DING!

 

We have a winner for CC's dumbest statement ever posted.:rolleyes:

 

Thanx for the laugh!

[IL-cruisers]

I'm no CCL cheerleader; I think the corporation has some questionable business practices and I'm not a fan of present or past management. I only sail on CCL-owned lines because of the reasonable cost and itinerary availability, and then only rarely. FWIW I agree that this situation was handled badly by management. Even many of the "cheerleaders" have comped to that.

 

The silliness that is the basis of this thread is astonishing. (Note Cat's not been back in 2 days.) A legal contract is a legally-binding contract. Case closed, as the judge assigned such a ridiculously frivolous lawsuit would say. Of course it would never get that far; any lawyer you tried to retain would politely usher you out of their office and bid you "good day."

 

(And no trip insurance? Really?)

 

But to speak to the main issue of the OP and CCL not sending "rescue" ships to off-load the pax, it's simply not possible as long as no lives were immediately endangered. You say the Gulf has small waves. You know that when you're 50 or 80 feet up looking down from the deck, everything at the surface level looks smaller. Those small waves are probably 5-8 feet. Recall the Triumph has no stabilizers functioning. I don't know that they had functioning anchors, do you? Well, you must because you mentioned they could anchor. What do you do with the pax who have trouble walking or are entirely incapable of walking?

 

Have you ever watched a crew lower/raise tenders? It's quite an operation, and that's anchored in a calm protected harbor. Now imagine the open rolling ocean. The Triumph was rocking and unstable enough (again, no stabilizers) to cause a lot of motion sickness among the pax. And it's a dangerous operation for the crew. Case in point. This tragedy occurred in a sheltered harbor on a still ship in a non-emergency drill situation. Again, with no pax in danger of loss of life, they would not endanger the crew unnecessarily.

 

In short, if you're looking to get your money back on contractually agreed-upon trips and you're past any refund threshold dates prior to the trips, and you have no trip cancellation insurance, CCL won't give you your money back nor should they. Sorry to join the Greek chorus of other posters, but there you are.

 

I sincerely hope you're able to enjoy your trips if you go ahead with them, and you don't make everyone around you miserable.

[deborahjo]

I have sailed with them before. Thats the loyalty!

 

If you have sailed with Carnival before then you knew you were with in cancellation policies. IMO you are just trying to start something were there is nothing. You did not sail on the Triumph so you are not due anything.

[johneeo]

The Gulf is over 8000 feet deep... You think they have 24000 feet of anchor chain? :rolleyes:

 

As for transferring 3000 pax in 4-6 foot seas and no stabilizers while the ship is listing slightly. It's not like changing vehicles at a rest stop, You don't know squat about the ocean or sailing do you?

 

I am of the opinion he doesn't know squat about a lot of things.:rolleyes:

 

However, I do find him somewhat amusing.;)

[johneeo]

The point Arctifact was making was that (he) should be allowed to cancel his cruise without penalty and with full refund

 

If I was Carnival, I would pay him to go with some other cruise line.:rolleyes:

[johneeo]

Look everyone! We found h8's like 50th alt forum account. I've noticed "Arctic" that you keep coming here to complain, try to erroneously argue minor points, and have ignored every question posed toward you in this thread.

 

Note to rest of community... very high chance that Arctic does _not_ have a cruise booked, and never called customer service. This is what we call a troll :)

 

IMHO, I don't think he is smart enough to be a troll.

 

But, I could be wrong. He could be a diabolical genius.

[deborahjo]

Has nothing to do with me....... I spent good money on two cruises back to back. If Carnival is a bad company for neglecting basic needs for people, then I have THE RIGHT to request a refund... This is 2012. There is other options to get that ship to a shore so passengers can transfer to another boat. It costs $$$$$ Thats what this is all about. So ya it does affect me, cause if it happens on either one of my cruises, you clowns will come back and say, you knew what you were getting into or it was your decision. Yes it is my decision, and if I lost confidence in the company thats my decision. Ya they won't refund my money..... Who cares. Thats a drop in the bucket. You pro Carnival lovers, they can do no wrong and heaven forbid a poster dosn't agree with you, you all gang up on him like a old boys club. You know what site this is? Cruise CRITIC. It means to criticise. That is what im doing. But you can't take ciriticism, so best you leave to another site...

 

First I see you have not been around much. To,much heat in the kitchen?

 

Second. Get the year right. Last I knew it was 2013.

 

Third. These are exchange of information threads. Yes it gets heated sometimes. If you do not like that thread go elsewhere.

 

You have paid for a vacation that you leave on in a short time. If it is a cruise or other vacation there would be a penalty. They have set space aside for you and may not be able to rebook the cabins on a cruise or fill a hotel room. Of course they, any business, would keep at least a portion of your money that you are now wanting returned.

[J and J]

so arcticcat - are you going on your cruises, or canceling? You haven't been back for almost 2 days to let us know....

 

lol!

[blondddeee]

Actually, they won't tender when the seas are rough...And I'd assume the seas in the Gulf are pretty darn rough...

 

Exactly, I went on a cruise years ago and we had to skip one of the stops because the sea was too rough to do the tender...much less add 4000 people to another ship and then they would have to probably comp those peoples cruise too. But I think it was mainly a safety reason- everyone was safe and it sounds like it wasn't a great time, but many people made the best of it and are more positive then the media has been. I also wouldn't want to be stuck on a little life raft vs a big ship...in the middle of the ocean. I think they handled it the best they could.

 

I do think maybe they should give the option of cash instead of another cruise for the passengers affected- not sure they will want to jump on another cruise anytime soon.

 

Is there a way to transfer the cruise to me? I will go for you :o

[The4Cruisers]

and I'm angry over their apparent lack of proper maintenance procedures.

 

Can you back this up? Or are you just parroting someone elses opinion?

[awhcruiser]

Bingo!

 

 

I feel bad for all the people that are going to be on either one of these cruises with this guy. He is going to be the party pooper of both cruises cause he did not get his way. What is the point of going on these even if you do not get your refund you are already throwing a fit. I would hate to see how you would act on the ship. I really hope you change your attitude before going because I really do wish you to have fun and make great memories. Whats done is done. The chances for this happening in the near future again is very very low. I am sure your house is more likely to catch on fire than either one of these ships will. I am sure you were watching 20/20 they always blow things out of proportion. They only talked to very few people. How do you know these people were not getting paid extra to blow this even more out of proportion ??? You don't know. We went on the Liberty in November and loved her. She is a great ship. And the staff was even greater. Go in with a great attitude and looking to have fun. And if something does happen then get upset like you are now, but please other people paid a lot of money too do not ruin it for those people.

[jimboridesmtb]

I don't think a refund should be granted. However, I was wondering why didn't they deploy the lifeboats? Is it some reason they didn't?

 

If you think the bathroom issue was bad on the Triumph imagine how bad it would be on a life boat.

[Btyson]

They are in the gulf buddy not the open ocean.. And the waves are low..

 

Definitely enjoyed this post. It made me feel smart.

[run4rain]

Come on people! If someone doesn't agree with you, what's the harm in saying, "That's great! Here's what I believe and although it's different than what you think, let's respect each other"? There's no need to be snarky and rude in order for your opinion to be heard.

 

I came on to CC to read up on potential future cruises and here are all sorts of people being really sh***y to each other. :( It's very sad to see and although the recent troubles with cruise ships won't keep me from having a future fun vacation, some of the comments all over this board are making me seriously reconsider my decision.

[snootz]

Some peopel go through life so confident when they are wrong or have incomplete information....they are usually frequently dissapointed, and generally unhappy.

 

I couldn't agree more.

[ShipFish]

But to speak to the main issue of the OP and CCL not sending "rescue" ships to off-load the pax, it's simply not possible as long as no lives were immediately endangered. You say the Gulf has small waves. You know that when you're 50 or 80 feet up looking down from the deck, everything at the surface level looks smaller. Those small waves are probably 5-8 feet. Recall the Triumph has no stabilizers functioning. I don't know that they had functioning anchors, do you? Well, you must because you mentioned they could anchor. What do you do with the pax who have trouble walking or are entirely incapable of walking?

 

This, exactly.

 

I've watched this argument go around and around. Tendering is a completely different exercise than boarding or disembarking a cruise ship in motion (whether that's under power or just drifting) - I say this as someone who has done both several times (although I'm also no expert in the technical logistics of it). For a start, although every cruise line organizes their tender operations differently, most will use a platform close to the waterline which is not going to be a viable option outside of normal tender conditions (as stated by quoted poster: swell that looks small from the open decks is not when you're closer to the water line). That generally leaves the option of the shell-doors at least a deck above the water line - the same place you see pilots and customs officers board and disembark by rope ladder.

 

To give you a few examples of how the transfer goes:

 

And one where it's gone wrong (warning for blood):

http://youtu.be/u1ngmOC2UTs

 

All the videos show people who are at least relatively fit and experienced at the transfer from vessel to vessel - and it's still very very risky for them.

 

Yes, there would be cruisers who would be able to make the climb/jump onto a smaller vessel to transfer, but there would be many (most of the ones people would agree should have the priority to get off a vessel in any sort of trouble, such as those with medical conditions) who would be unable to manage such a task. And as it's been stated in another thread - it's one thing is a crate of food gets dropped in transfer, another when someone is maimed or killed. And out of up to 3000 passengers? That's extremely high odds for an accident.

[sacmom3]

Some peopel go through life so confident when they are wrong or have incomplete information....they are usually frequently dissapointed, and generally unhappy.

Love your post texsun, it's so true.

[cruise_girl2002]

Just got off the phone with Carnival. I called inquiring about cancelling our two cruises that are fully paid for. Wanted to know what our options were.

 

Due to the Triumph issues I agree accidents happen, but DON"T agree with the way they handled it. They could of brought another ship out there to get the passangers off.

 

So I called to see what Carnivals attitude towards upcoming passengers. Its not good.

 

If you paid for your cruise they are NOT offering refunds. Its a Triumph issue not a Victory or a Liberty issue is there response.

 

I was told as far as compensation to future passengers, there has not been any brought out to this point.

 

So in a nutshell, if your unsure about the cruiseline or have concerns about the response, your SOL.

 

Im booked in two weeks on the Victory then right after on the Liberty. They don't care about loyalty, they just want the money!:(

 

ARE YOU INSANE!!!!????? bring out another ship?!?! WHERE...HOW!!!! They don't have another ship laying around. why inconvenience 4000 more people?! If you transfer them to another ship, there aren't enough lifeboats for everybody and to top it off...its UNSAFE!! you agreed to the terms and the contract when you booked that cruise. they aren't doing anything wrong. the victory is fine, the freedom is fine.