Carnival dropped the ball- Boarding mid cruise

[dancindukes]

We were scheduled to sail from Athens Greece 10/11 on Vista. Due to a strike by air traffic controllers, all flights to Athens were cancelled. The strike was eventually called off but getting to Athens was near impossible. We were in Paris. After searching all options of still trying to make our Athens departure, including a 21 hr ferry ride, we opted to stay in Paris and then fly to Malta a pick up the cruise there. THREE times our travel agent let them know we'd be at the dock at 8 AM. John Held even got involved and knew we'd be there at 8 AM. We received confirmation from Carnival with instructions on where to be for boarding at 8 am. We get there and no one at the port has anything from Carnival about us boarding. At 10:45 after multiple calls by the port to the ship Carnival security shows up and escorts us on board. He acted very annoyed over the entire event. NO ONE to help us with our luggage. We had to sit in a chilly room on metal chairs for over 2 hours. Lousy way to treat a paying guest. There were 3 couples that boarded in Malta. Shame on Carnival.

[Rod in Az]

We were scheduled to sail from Athens Greece 10/11 on Vista. Due to a strike by air traffic controllers, all flights to Athens were cancelled. The strike was eventually called off but getting to Athens was near impossible. We were in Paris. After searching all options of still trying to make our Athens departure, including a 21 hr ferry ride, we opted to stay in Paris and then fly to Malta a pick up the cruise there. THREE times our travel agent let them know we'd be at the dock at 8 AM. John Held even got involved and knew we'd be there at 8 AM. We received confirmation from Carnival with instructions on where to be for boarding at 8 am. We get there and no one at the port has anything from Carnival about us boarding. At 10:45 after multiple calls by the port to the ship Carnival security shows up and escorts us on board. He acted very annoyed over the entire event. NO ONE to help us with our luggage. We had to sit in a chilly room on metal chairs for over 2 hours. Lousy way to treat a paying guest. There were 3 couples that boarded in Malta. Shame on Carnival.

 

Sounds like an unfortunate "adventure".

 

Once you got on board, hope you enjoyed your cruise!

Edited October 24, 2016 by Rod in Az

[oneillcd73]

So Carnival makes an exception and lets you board where it's convenient for you, but you're upset because it it took a little longer than you hoped for?

 

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[stobe1]

Oh, the humanity!!!

[dancindukes]

So Carnival makes an exception and lets you board where it's convenient for you, but you're upset because it it took a little longer than you hoped for?

 

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It's not a special "exception". You can board at any point during a cruise. It wasn't what I "hoped" for, it was what Carnival told me to do. Be there at 8. I followed through. They couldn't even follow their own instructions.

Edited October 24, 2016 by dancindukes

[Sparky2]

Hope you still enjoyed your cruise.

[Havingfun2010]

So Carnival makes an exception and lets you board where it's convenient for you, but you're upset because it it took a little longer than you hoped for?

 

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You did read that they missed the ship because of an airline strike, and than under their own expense had to fly to another port, to meet the ship? So how was this convenient for the poster? They did all the legwork, had the permission, and Carnival dropped the ball.

[stobe1]

Hopefully you were wise and had travel insurance, since travel disruptions and work stoppages are clearly covered under most policies.

[Micahs Grandad]

You did read that they missed the ship because of an airline strike, and than under their own expense had to fly to another port, to meet the ship? So how was this convenient for the poster? They did all the legwork, had the permission, and Carnival dropped the ball.

 

Interesting how some people always think Carnival never makes a mistake.

[berrieh]

It's not a special "exception". You can board at any point during a cruise. It wasn't what I "hoped" for, it was what Carnival told me to do. Be there at 8. I followed through. They couldn't even follow their own instructions.

 

Honestly, I think the poster said that because your OP is poorly worded for this. Your OP implies you selected the 8am time: "we opted to stay in Paris and then fly to Malta a pick up the cruise there. THREE times our travel agent let them know we'd be at the dock at 8 AM. John Held even got involved and knew we'd be there at 8 AM." This suggests you'd selected to arrive at Malta and board at 8am and not that they'd selected the time.

[Raven Days]

I don't understand how it's Carnivals fault that the airline went on strike and you missed your flight and had to catch up in Malta. Is it possible that the ship was late to arrive in Malta?

[chengkp75]

For the OP, you cannot always "board at any point during the cruise". Now, while both Greece and Malta are Schengen countries, and travel between them does not require any formalities, I don't know what the next port was after Malta, and whether this required Customs and Immigration clearance, but at the very least, the passenger manifest needed to be changed and resubmitted to the Maltese officials for departure, so they may have been waiting on these officials before allowing you to board. Knowing the Maltese, even if they had been told by Carnival to be onboard at 8am, that could have meant an actual arrival of the officials anywhere between 8am to noon.

 

And no, typically when boarding at ports other than embarkation ports, there will be no porters to assist with luggage. Frankly, I don't believe any of the major cruise lines would have handled this differently.

[BNBR]

It's amazing the excuses people will make to justify poor service by Carnival...

 

These fanboys are pathetic. John Heald could smack a guest across the face with an injured puppy and they would find a way to blame the guest.

 

Carnival knew their guests would be at the dock at 8AM. They didn't communicate this was too early or too late. They left the guest there and it took several calls to facilitate. OBVIOUSLY this is bad service. Carnival should have had a representative there at 8AM (or communicated why they couldn't be there this early) to handle it.

Edited October 24, 2016 by BNBR

[golfb4cruzing]

After 2 hours, you should have thrown in the towel and flew back to SC. That would have really shown them who's boss. They probably had a cabin ready for you and everything. :D Next time ask for a warm metal chair.

Edited October 24, 2016 by golfb4cruzing

[StolidCruiser]

It's amazing the excuses people will make to justify poor service by Carnival...

 

These fanboys are pathetic. John Heald could smack a guest across the face with an injured puppy and they would find a way to blame the guest.

 

Carnival knew their guests would be at the dock at 8AM. They didn't communicate this was too early or too late. They left the guest there and it took several calls to facilitate. OBVIOUSLY this is bad service. Carnival should have had a representative there at 8AM (or communicated why they couldn't be there this early) to handle it.

 

Of course there couldn't have been any multitude of players in the game that dropped the ball. It HAD to be Carnival.

 

As annoying as those "fanboys" who say Carnival can do no wrong are those such as yourself who say they MUST be to blame.

 

Put on your objective glasses and look at it from both sides.

[epixx]

I suggest you take the ferry next time this happens.

[BeachChik]

Saying you will be there at 8 and being able to board at 10:45am isn't that unreasonable. Who knows what has to happen in the back end to allow passengers to board at a different port. There may have been issues in that end that held it up. But I do find it a bit hard to sympathize when you write you were forced to sit in a chilly room on metal chairs. That is so petty it actually just makes you look like someone that is a complainer.

[steph7021]

I don't understand how it's Carnivals fault that the airline went on strike and you missed your flight and had to catch up in Malta. Is it possible that the ship was late to arrive in Malta?

 

 

How'd they "miss" their flight??

 

 

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[steph7021]

It's amazing the excuses people will make to justify poor service by Carnival...

 

These fanboys are pathetic. John Heald could smack a guest across the face with an injured puppy and they would find a way to blame the guest.

 

Carnival knew their guests would be at the dock at 8AM. They didn't communicate this was too early or too late. They left the guest there and it took several calls to facilitate. OBVIOUSLY this is bad service. Carnival should have had a representative there at 8AM (or communicated why they couldn't be there this early) to handle it.

 

 

THIS [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

 

 

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[dancindukes]

How'd they "miss" their flight??

 

 

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There was no flight to miss. The airport was closed the day we were to fly into Athens which was 2 days before the cruise. We were to fly in from Paris. My TA called Carnival. The next port was Rhodes and the only way to get there is to first fly into Athens. Remember the airport is at this time closed. Carnival gave us the option of meeting the ship in Malta. Carnival said we were to be at the dock at 8 AM. We were there at 7:45 & watched Vista dock. My complaint is that I did everything Carnival asked and they did nothing to follow their own instructions. Once the security person arrived none of us received any sort of explanation at all from him.

 

The officials at the pier in Malta had a list of people to allow on the ship after showing proper id. These included entertainers and workers. We watched dozens get on the ship. Carnival never sent the list of the six paying guests. That is no way to run a business. Imagine having a reservation at a restaurant and watching dozens of people be seated before you. That's what it was like. Very frustrating. We had already missed 4 days of a 10 day cruise.

 

Yes we always travel with insurance.

[BNBR]

Of course there couldn't have been any multitude of players in the game that dropped the ball. It HAD to be Carnival.

 

As annoying as those "fanboys" who say Carnival can do no wrong are those such as yourself who say they MUST be to blame.

 

Put on your objective glasses and look at it from both sides.

 

Of course Carnival is to blame. It's called showing some responsibility. Are you telling me Carnival does not have a phone? The disinterested and rude person who finally greeted them - resting bitchy face maybe? Goodness... you are EXACTLY the point I was making.... They can do no wrong.

 

"We received confirmation from Carnival with instructions on where to be for boarding at 8 am. We get there and no one at the port has anything from Carnival about us boarding. At 10:45 after multiple calls by the port to the ship Carnival security shows up and escorts us on board. He acted very annoyed over the entire event."

 

What more do you need? Even if it's just a lack of proper communication with the guest, it's still a lack of proper communication and you can see the guest is unhappy. Really, what more do you need to accept Carnival can actually do something wrong?

Edited October 25, 2016 by BNBR

[realtordebp]

We were told by Carnival that it was illegal for someone to board mid cruise. We were told that the passenger had to check in at their departure port.

 

We have a cruise booked on the Dream on Dec. 26 but our granddaughter, who plays college basketball, has a tournament the first few days of the cruise and the coach will not let her go with us. We were trying to fly her to a port to board for the last 4 days of the cruise, but Carnival told us it was not allowed. If anyone knows different, we would love to verify that. We have already paid for the entire 8 day cruise for her.

[thinfool]

We were told by Carnival that it was illegal for someone to board mid cruise. We were told that the passenger had to check in at their departure port.

 

We have a cruise booked on the Dream on Dec. 26 but our granddaughter, who plays college basketball, has a tournament the first few days of the cruise and the coach will not let her go with us. We were trying to fly her to a port to board for the last 4 days of the cruise, but Carnival told us it was not allowed. If anyone knows different, we would love to verify that. We have already paid for the entire 8 day cruise for her.

 

This is true in the Caribbean, not in Europe.

 

At least it is mostly true for the Caribbean. What it amounts to is that it is very complicated and possibly costly for a cruise line to allow subsequent boarding on a closed loop sailing from a US port.

[maldenmusic]

Sounds like quite an adventure.

[steph7021]

There was no flight to miss. The airport was closed the day we were to fly into Athens which was 2 days before the cruise. We were to fly in from Paris. My TA called Carnival. The next port was Rhodes and the only way to get there is to first fly into Athens. Remember the airport is at this time closed. Carnival gave us the option of meeting the ship in Malta. Carnival said we were to be at the dock at 8 AM. We were there at 7:45 & watched Vista dock. My complaint is that I did everything Carnival asked and they did nothing to follow their own instructions. Once the security person arrived none of us received any sort of explanation at all from him.

 

 

 

The officials at the pier in Malta had a list of people to allow on the ship after showing proper id. These included entertainers and workers. We watched dozens get on the ship. Carnival never sent the list of the six paying guests. That is no way to run a business. Imagine having a reservation at a restaurant and watching dozens of people be seated before you. That's what it was like. Very frustrating. We had already missed 4 days of a 10 day cruise.

 

 

 

Yes we always travel with insurance.

 

 

Oh I was agreeing with you....you didn't miss your flight! People on these boards are ridiculous. I think you have a very valid complaint. But I do hope you enjoy Europe in the meantime.

 

 

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