Dishonest onbord booking agent what should I do

[dyson]

Ok guys,

I have a question I had something happen on the ship and I don't know address it.

 

we book another cruise for May in Charleston a 10 day Journey's while we were on our last cruise.

We generally book a deluxe ocean view for the size of the room and the sunshine doesn't have one. So I went to book a interior because honestly we don't like the suites in the back because of motion sickness, and we spend most of our time on deck and just sleep in the room

The future cruise agent told us that the ocean view was larger than a interior in any class room. so we booked a ocean view on his insistence on the size and I didn't want to argue about a ship I had never been on

 

but now I have discovered that a 4j interior is the same size but at the time of booking it was almost $1,000 less in cost.

so I called carnival can talked to them and they said that there's nothing they can do because it was a early saver

 

I don't know what direction to go here. Right now a 4j is actually more than what I paid.

However when you look back at when I booked its a thousand less.

it seems like the guy on ship just took advantage of us not knowing the size difference on that ship. ( the sunshine ).

 

It seems like there should be something that they can do right? I may have been a honest mistake but I don't think so this guy said he has been doing it for years so he should have known the sizes right

Edited December 14, 2016 by dyson

[Micahs Grandad]

Call again and speak to supervisor. This is why we know the ship and cabin we want before seeing cruise guy on ship. They are often a glut of misinformation

[beerman2]

Ok guys,

I have a question I had something happen on the ship and I don't know address it.

 

we book another cruise for May in Charleston a 10 day Journey's while we were on our last cruise.

We generally book a deluxe ocean view for the size of the room and the sunshine doesn't have one. So I went to book a interior because honestly we don't like the suites in the back because of motion sickness, and we spend most of our time on deck and just sleep in the room

The future cruise agent told us that the ocean view was larger than a interior in any class room. so we booked a ocean view on his insistence on the size and I didn't want to argue about a ship I had never been on

 

but now I have discovered that a 4j interior is the same size but at the time of booking it was almost $1,000 less in cost.

so I called carnival can talked to them and they said that there's nothing they can do because it was a early saver

 

I don't know what direction to go here. Right now a 4j is actually more than what I paid.

However when you look back at when I booked its a thousand less.

it seems like the guy on ship just took advantage of us not knowing the size difference on that ship. ( the sunshine ).

 

It seems like there should be something that they can do right? I may have been a honest mistake but I don't think so this guy said he has been doing it for years so he should have known the sizes right

 

 

 

Not quite sure "dishonest" comes into play. Maybe a misunderstanding on his And/or your part.

[meatloafsfan]

The booking agent may not have been dishonest; he may not have known that the 4J's were the same size as ocean views and not the insides. Often the materials released by the cruise line just gives general info about the size of the cabins (i.e. all insides are 180 sq feet, all ocean views are 220 sq feet, all balconies are...well, you get the idea).

 

For instance, my mother is in a wheelchair and has to have an accessible cabin. It doesn't seem to matter the ship, Carnival doesn't list the actual measurements of those cabins accurately. If it's an inside cabin, it states 180 ft. If it's an oceanview (including the massive accessible spa oceanviews on the Dream class), it's listed as 220 sq feet.

[ray98]

....but a 4J isn't an OV cabin.

[Schoifmom]

Honestly, this is one of the reasons that we book sleeper cruises on board. We trust our PVP to be honest and straightforward with us, so we transfer all bookings to him once we return. Then we can take our time deciding what we want to book and then firm it up without being rushed by the FCD person or feeling pushed because of all of the lines of others wanting to get to them.

[sparks1093]

You probably would have had a stronger case had you said something as soon as you returned from the cruise and realized the error.

[SadieN]

Did you look at the deck plans when you booked? You can see the size differences there.

Was a 4J available when you booked?Did you specifically say you did not want ES?

Edited December 14, 2016 by SadieN

[winddawn]

Ok guys,

I have a question I had something happen on the ship and I don't know address it.

 

we book another cruise for May in Charleston a 10 day Journey's while we were on our last cruise.

We generally book a deluxe ocean view for the size of the room and the sunshine doesn't have one. So I went to book a interior because honestly we don't like the suites in the back because of motion sickness, and we spend most of our time on deck and just sleep in the room

The future cruise agent told us that the ocean view was larger than a interior in any class room. so we booked a ocean view on his insistence on the size and I didn't want to argue about a ship I had never been on

 

but now I have discovered that a 4j interior is the same size but at the time of booking it was almost $1,000 less in cost.

so I called carnival can talked to them and they said that there's nothing they can do because it was a early saver

 

I don't know what direction to go here. Right now a 4j is actually more than what I paid.

However when you look back at when I booked its a thousand less.

it seems like the guy on ship just took advantage of us not knowing the size difference on that ship. ( the sunshine ).

 

It seems like there should be something that they can do right? I may have been a honest mistake but I don't think so this guy said he has been doing it for years so he should have known the sizes right

I'm sorry you're disappointed with your booking, but IMO it is your responsibility to know what you are buying before you pay your hard-earned money. Chalk this one up to a lesson learned the hard way. It sounds like you not only didn't know about the cabin you purchased, but you also did not understand the early saver booking rules you booked under.

 

While early saver does not allow you to downgrade, it does allow you to upgrade if you are not happy with your cabin, but of course you'll have to pay the going rate for the cabin you choose. Or maybe the upsell fairy will call you before your cruise and offer you a deal on an upgrade.

 

I hope it works out well for you. There are worse things than spending 10 days in paradise while sleeping in an ocean-view cabin. And it sounds like you booked at a pretty good rate, so that is something to enjoy too.

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise.

[repo-cruiser]

I'm sorry you're disappointed with your booking, but IMO it is your responsibility to know what you are buying before you pay your hard-earned money. Chalk this one up to a lesson learned the hard way. It sounds like you not only didn't know about the cabin you purchased, but you also did not understand the early saver booking rules you booked under.

 

While early saver does not allow you to downgrade, it does allow you to upgrade if you are not happy with your cabin, but of course you'll have to pay the going rate for the cabin you choose. Or maybe the upsell fairy will call you before your cruise and offer you a deal on an upgrade.

 

I hope it works out well for you. There are worse things than spending 10 days in paradise while sleeping in an ocean-view cabin. And it sounds like you booked at a pretty good rate, so that is something to enjoy too.

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise.

 

In other words People who work for Carnival know absolutely nothing about the Carnival ships and it is up to you to find out what the room size, I mean come on why should a Carnival employee know anything about a Carnival ship.;)

[Micahs Grandad]

In other words People who work for Carnival know absolutely nothing about the Carnival ships and it is up to you to find out what the room size, I mean come on why should a Carnival employee know anything about a Carnival ship.;)

 

It is remarkable how much nonsense comes from these cruise specialists.

[ABQrobin]

I was very disappointed with our agent when we booked onboard last cruise(Aug 2016). I don't think we will do it again for that reason. It took over an hour to do, and he only gave us a choice of 3-4 balcony rooms.... we were just on the computer 15' away from him and saw online that there were 20+ balcony rooms open. I know that because it was just two of us, he was not considering rooms meant for 3-4 people, but he should have said that instead of this is all that is available. Then I asked about booking ES rather than Returning Guest, he said it was the same thing and kept typing. We didn't really think about it again until about a month later when we saw something about it here. My DH wanted to switch our cruise (March 2017) to sooner due to his work schedule opening up... I told him we couldn't because it was ES. Oh well, we learned our lesson. The agent really was zero help at all.

We also asked him information about the Magic upgrades, shows, etc...and he had zero idea. He got out a map and showed it to us. Duh, could have done that myself online. He was useless.

[klfrodo]

Les than 100% honest?

Have you ever met a sales person?

 

Chalk it up to your inexperience and learn from it.

[lady_cruiser]

Did you look at the deck plans when you booked? You can see the size differences there.

Was a 4J available when you booked?Did you specifically say you did not want ES?

 

Laughing here. You remind me of my friend's mother-in-law. She was Jewish and whenever someone asked a question she answered with a question. Never could we get an answer from her, rest her soul.

[sfaaa]

Lack of prior research and incompetent onboard future cruise consultant (not uncommon) are the underlying root cause. Dishonesty is not the problem.

Edited December 14, 2016 by sfaaa

[Micahs Grandad]

Lack of prior research and incompetent onboard future cruise consultant (not uncommon) are the underlying root cause. Dishonesty is not the problem.

 

agreed

[cruzeluver]

Not surprised. The future cruise consultant we met with in June on Sunshine had been with Carnival a whopping one month at that point (previously worked for Royal Caribbean). While I would not expect them to know every detail of every ship in the fleet, she insisted to us that Magic had a Jiji's Asian Kitchen which it does not.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

He probably was not completely knowledgeable about cabin sizes. The website doesn't even depict an accurate size if you have not noticed. It shows all cabins from insides to oceanviews to balconies are 185 sq ft. It shows a handicap cabin as 185 sq ft. Not true. Insides are smaller, oceanviews are a little larger and handicap cabins are big. I never book ES. Too many variables and my past guest rate is usually only about $10 more pp.

[Micahs Grandad]

Sure wish they would bring back FCC

[Jamericannn]

I highly doubt you can do anything about it this time. You may just have to look at it as a lesson learnt. I always do extensive research before selecting any room.

The agent was half right. The general oceanviews are larger than inside cabins. There may be a few special laid out rooms that this does not apply but in general ICs are 185 and OVs are 220.

[bury me at sea]

I agree with the misinformed or uninformed opinion rather than dishonest.

 

Our MO is to research extensively prior to sailing,

know exactly what cruise we want, and we have pinpointed our top three cabin preferences for the number of people planning to cruise, based on what was available the day prior to boarding.

 

It helps tremendously to understand the differences in the rates being offered at the time and to state your wishes.

 

I hope it all works out to your satisfaction.

[ginnstars]

For instance, my mother is in a wheelchair and has to have an accessible cabin. It doesn't seem to matter the ship, Carnival doesn't list the actual measurements of those cabins accurately. If it's an inside cabin, it states 180 ft. If it's an oceanview (including the massive accessible spa oceanviews on the Dream class), it's listed as 220 sq feet.

 

FYI. As a formal TA, I can speak with authority that they (Carnival) know darn well what the dimension (Length, Width, height) of ever class of cabin in every ship is. INCLUDING the balconies. And which cabins are the odd dimensions. I know this because they gave ME the specifics. It was an internal (Carnival) website, of course, but because I was a TA I could access it. So they just have to do a little more work and find it. Unfortunately, only a general summary is available on the public site.

 

If you ever need to know if the measurements of the door will work for your mother, and they say they don't know. It's probably cause they don't know where to look. Escalate to a supervisor or to someone with more knowledge or even someone from special services.

 

As for the OP's issue, I would say escalate it to a supervisor as well. If you feel like you have been wronged by Carnival, it will only fester and make you less inclined to book with them and you'll be reminded every time you go into that Oceanview room. If they won't give you the interior room, or the lower price, maybe compromise with them to give you some OBC? IMO, it would of taken that man just a few more minutes to verify that the room was in fact larger/smaller then the one you wanted. All he had to do was a simple check. I blame laziness, not Dishonesty, though.

[BoDidly]

FYI. As a formal TA, I can speak with authority that they (Carnival) know darn well what the dimension (Length, Width, height) of ever class of cabin in every ship is. INCLUDING the balconies. And which cabins are the odd dimensions. I know this because they gave ME the specifics. It was an internal (Carnival) website, of course, but because I was a TA I could access it. So they just have to do a little more work and find it. Unfortunately, only a general summary is available on the public site.

 

If you ever need to know if the measurements of the door will work for your mother, and they say they don't know. It's probably cause they don't know where to look. Escalate to a supervisor or to someone with more knowledge or even someone from special services.

 

As for the OP's issue, I would say escalate it to a supervisor as well. If you feel like you have been wronged by Carnival, it will only fester and make you less inclined to book with them and you'll be reminded every time you go into that Oceanview room. If they won't give you the interior room, or the lower price, maybe compromise with them to give you some OBC? IMO, it would of taken that man just a few more minutes to verify that the room was in fact larger/smaller then the one you wanted. All he had to do was a simple check. I blame laziness, not Dishonesty, though.

 

Good advice seem every person you call will give you a different answer.

[winddawn]

In other words People who work for Carnival know absolutely nothing about the Carnival ships and it is up to you to find out what the room size, I mean come on why should a Carnival employee know anything about a Carnival ship.;)

I'd venture to say this person's job was to book cruises. It sounds to me like this person accomplished that.

 

To me this is much like those Carnival PVPs we read about on this board every day that market to the point of being annoying. It is up to the customer to back away from these types of sales people.

 

I'm not saying I agree with it. I'm just saying that's reality and we all have to deal with it when we spend our money with Carnival or any other company.

[winddawn]

I'd venture to say this person's job was to book cruises. It sounds to me like this person accomplished that.

 

To me this is much like those Carnival PVPs we read about on this board every day that market to the point of being annoying. It is up to the customer to back away from these types of sales people.

 

I'm not saying I agree with it. I'm just saying that's reality and we all have to deal with it when we spend our money with Carnival or any other company.

These types of sales people give new meaning to the term "carnival barker."

 

Yea, go Google that.