OPEN LETTER TO CCL ON THE MARDI GRAS CANCELLATIONS

[gatour]

5 hours ago, docsdrillers said:

Let me clarify.

a) I’m not asking for more compensation.

b) I stated that since it was based on the amount we would have paid that what they were offering was generous.

c) I was proposing another form of compensation which would actually save CCL money and at the same time satisfy customers by giving them more options for rebooking.

d) if they gave us the amount in OBC’s on any of their ship lines then it would only cost them cents on the dollar...if they give you 500.00 off a future cruise it’s 500.00 of revenue lost..if they gave it to you as an on-board credit on Princess for say a drinks package it may only cost them 100.00.

Hope that clarifies my position and suggestion.

 

In regard to d.

 

Comparing apples to apples.  For simplicity sake lets say the new cruise costs $2000 at the time of booking,  with your your future cruise credit, you pay $1500.  Yes there is a revenue lost, but the cost doesn't equal $500 as the cost is actually the cost of salaries of crew memembers, fuel and food (among other costs) 

 

For the drink package their will also be a revenue lose of $500 on Princess

 

 The true cost  of the drink package is the raw cost of the actual drink package on Princess (things like ingredient cost, including alchohol, bartender/server wages/, ice, mixers, etc.)

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

3 minutes ago, WhaleTailFlCruiser said:

they offered all of us on canceled Mardi Gras sailings full refunds 25% FCC and if we rebook by February an extra $100 OBC.

$100 OBC PER PERSON

[WhaleTailFlCruiser]

18 minutes ago, twodaywonder said:

$100 OBC PER PERSON

I cruise solo so it is only a 100$ 😂

[mikenbon]

I read the post by John Heald regarding the delay and all that is being offered to the affected guests. No where did he say it was the shipbuilders' fault, as the OP mentions. Perhaps it's a delay in furnishings or technical equipment etc.
Delays can happen with new builds of anything  - several of neighbours houses were not finished until about 6-9 months after their original dates, and they were not given any compensation. In fact they were out of pocket the months of paying rent in their temporary homes. New cars aren't always delivered on time due to manufacturing delays. It is unfortunate, but Carnival seems to be quite fair in what is being offered, in my opinion.

[PhoenixCruiser]

6 hours ago, cc-riderslc said:

You might ask the company that you used to purchase trip cancellation insurance. I know, for example, Travel Guard allows you to apply the insurance to another sailing for no additional fee. 

 

Great suggestion, there is a time frame but it is good to check.

[FSHLOT]

I guess i just dont get it. This was canceled a whole year from departure day. Is that not enough time to change plans? Why do people feel entitled to get anything from CCL? Of course they will give you something, but come on, this is still a whole year away!!  Geez

[Cruiser785]

I think your letter is perfect. I am one with the insurance they won't reimburse. I also paid quite a bit in gift cards, which wouldn't be a problem, but I truly only wanted this ship doing this Europe cruise and transatlantic. I have no desire to do this ship in Florida...or any other carnival ship. I booked what I wanted...am not getting it and am stuck with lots of gift cards. Not fair. 

[noitsnotatuba]

2 hours ago, FSHLOT said:

I guess i just dont get it. This was canceled a whole year from departure day. Is that not enough time to change plans? Why do people feel entitled to get anything from CCL? Of course they will give you something, but come on, this is still a whole year away!!  Geez

More like 8-9 months.

 

We were booked on a September sailing of MG and had just reserved our airfare to NYC (it was cheap, wanted to jump on it). We had to pay $300 for Delta to redeposit our miles and now we have to hope Carnival will pick up the tab. So yeah, I am glad they're offering us something.

[docsdrillers]

3 hours ago, FSHLOT said:

I guess i just dont get it. This was canceled a whole year from departure day. Is that not enough time to change plans? Why do people feel entitled to get anything from CCL? Of course they will give you something, but come on, this is still a whole year away!!  Geez

I think we need to look at the problems facing passengers affected by the cruise in 2 different categories.a) those that had a Caribbean cruise should have no issue transferring the booking to another sailing as there are literally hundreds of Carnival sailings to choose from.Airfare is easy to change too and minimal to no research goes into excursions on Caribbean sailings..so the offer from Carnival actually works very favourably for those impacted.

b) Then there are those of us who booked the inaugural sailing strictly because of the unique itinerary..many booked a back to back including the Transatlantic.

A European cruise requires a lot of preparation and requires pre post hotel bookings,transfers from distant ports as well as plenty of research to get the right tour per port.

Changing one way flights takes time,and encounters costs in cancellations.

 

We are scrambling to find another European cruise at roughly the same time period to minimize impact of the cancellation.

We too only booked this on Carnival for the itinerary and have no interest in sailing with Carnival on a Caribbean cruise..I have hundreds of options with other cruise lines that may be more suitable for our age group and demographics.

 

Hopefully this explains to those looking from the outside on how different passengers were impacted in different ways..

 

Comparing these two diverse groups is not comparing Apples to Apples.

Hoping this provides clarity to those that are just not getting why this can be somewhat a burden even if it’s 9 months away.

[jimbo5544]

14 hours ago, mikenbon said:

I read the post by John Heald regarding the delay and all that is being offered to the affected guests. No where did he say it was the shipbuilders' fault, as the OP mentions. Perhaps it's a delay in furnishings or technical equipment etc.
Delays can happen with new builds of anything  - several of neighbours houses were not finished until about 6-9 months after their original dates, and they were not given any compensation. In fact they were out of pocket the months of paying rent in their temporary homes. New cars aren't always delivered on time due to manufacturing delays. It is unfortunate, but Carnival seems to be quite fair in what is being offered, in my opinion.

I agree with the last comment, while I do not know the reason(s) for the delay, I cannot fathom a miss by that length of time without the ship builder being at fault, especially with a similar experience on their last build.  

[jimbo5544]

23 minutes ago, docsdrillers said:

I think we need to look at the problems facing passengers affected by the cruise in 2 different categories.a) those that had a Caribbean cruise should have no issue transferring the booking to another sailing as there are literally hundreds of Carnival sailings to choose from.Airfare is easy to change too and minimal to no research goes into excursions on Caribbean sailings..so the offer from Carnival actually works very favourably for those impacted.

b) Then there are those of us who booked the inaugural sailing strictly because of the unique itinerary..many booked a back to back including the Transatlantic.

A European cruise requires a lot of preparation and requires pre post hotel bookings,transfers from distant ports as well as plenty of research to get the right tour per port.

Changing one way flights takes time,and encounters costs in cancellations.

 

We are scrambling to find another European cruise at roughly the same time period to minimize impact of the cancellation.

We too only booked this on Carnival for the itinerary and have no interest in sailing with Carnival on a Caribbean cruise..I have hundreds of options with other cruise lines that may be more suitable for our age group and demographics.

 

Hopefully this explains to those looking from the outside on how different passengers were impacted in different ways..

 

Comparing these two diverse groups is not comparing Apples to Apples.

Hoping this provides clarity to those that are just not getting why this can be somewhat a burden even if it’s 9 months away.

Being part of the group I understand your comments.  At this time, I really can’t get into planning a replacement, perhaps after the holidays.

[Nic6318]

Hi Docsdrillers

 

First, I feel that it needed to address your issue about all the time and effort you have to put in to resolve everything. It has already been brought up that you made the decision to do this on your own as opposed to using a TA. Many people do this. For some it is a matter of satisfaction of getting everything done right, or maybe for some a feeling that they more in control and have a better understanding of all the details. These are the details that you wouldn't need to be spending your time and energy dealing with now if you had a TA initially. Of course, while there are many good TA's out there, there are also many who aren't up to the same standards. So, unless you are lucky, it can be hit and miss with a TA as well. Either way, it was your choice. The complications for you is the effort to try and find a substitute vacation that fits the same time period. 

 

It would seem that at most you should only be out of pocket the cost of insurance. That is typical. As far as what you are suggesting for Carnival to make their offer more appealing to you, it is just that, something more appealing to you. Carnival isn't really trying to please you specifically. They are trying to satisfy most of the people involved with a fairly standard offer that could arguably be considered fair. You could always specifically ask for more, but it doesn't appear that you want more. I don't think that at this point Carnival is at all interested in doing anything that would seem like a joining of their different brands. If that were to hurt their future business with you personally, I believe they have shown no interest in the past to bend over backwards for passenger loyalty. 

[TomCruise48]

On 12/21/2019 at 9:20 AM, docsdrillers said:

CCL owns HAL,Costa and Princess too.

Why not allow us to use our FCC on any of those companies?

To be fair I’d even consider the FCC amount as an OBC as opposed to a discount..this way customers are given extra options to rebook and it will only you cost you x cents on the dollar as opposed to a straight cruise discount.

What you're asking for is not unprecedented.  Several years ago (probably about 10) we were booked on a Carnival Baltic Cruise when Carnival decided to cancel their European season cruises due to low bookings because the  economy was depressed.  Carnival offered us a cruise on Princess at the same fare with a similar itinerary leaving on a different day from a different port.  We couldn't make the new dates work, so we declined their offer.  We had our cruise fare and airfare refunded, but no FCC.  I'm not certain that this offer was made to everyone affected.  It may have been done because we were part of a group booking and our TA went to bat for us. 

 

Your thought is good, but if Carnival were to take your suggestion, it would create problems with those who have already rebooked using their FCC.  Some of them would complain that this offer was not available to them at the time of rebooking and this could start another round of airfare and hotel reimbursements if they were allowed to rebook again.

[docsdrillers]

Many thanks for providing your example.

 

Now I can use this precedent to hopefully get them to agree to my proposal..

after all a precedent has been set.

Legally precedents carry a lot of weight in rulings ..so many thanks..

[consmarci]

I am crossing fingers that you make some headway, but I think all stars would have to align perfectly for that! My only request would be that my gift card refunds could go towards another of their lines (Princess, HAL). In my mind, that is not asking too much, but evidently, according to the Carnival Supervisor I spoke to, it is asking too much! 

[gatour]

5 hours ago, docsdrillers said:

b) Then there are those of us who booked the inaugural sailing strictly because of the unique itinerary..many booked a back to back including the Transatlantic.

A European cruise requires a lot of preparation and requires pre post hotel bookings,transfers from distant ports as well as plenty of research to get the right tour per port.

Changing one way flights takes time,and encounters costs in cancellations.

 

We are scrambling to find another European cruise at roughly the same time period to minimize impact of the cancellation.

We too only booked this on Carnival for the itinerary and have no interest in sailing with Carnival on a Caribbean cruise..I have hundreds of options with other cruise lines that may be more suitable for our age group and demographics.

 

Hopefully this explains to those looking from the outside on how different passengers were impacted in different ways..

 

Comparing these two diverse groups is not comparing Apples to Apples.

Hoping this provides clarity to those that are just not getting why this can be somewhat a burden even if it’s 9 months away.

In regards to planning...

 

I have done a 12 day Med cruise with a pre and post stay in Barcelona, I had research hotels, excursions flights etc  .  A transatlantic cruise from New York City with me flying to NYC several days before my wife.  Then afterwards staying in Bath for three days, and afterwards London for several days.  That was interesting, between the getting me and my wife into NYC at different times, getting a hotel room for me in NYC.  Getting both of us to the ship (me from a hotel in Manhattan, my wife from Laguardia).  Then once arriving at Southhampton, arranging for a rental car of sufficient size to our luggage.  Then figuring out Stonehenge is on the way from Southampton to Bath.  I can on about this trip and the amount of planning research that was involved.

 

The key part was the TA.  I don't normally buy trip insurance, but for this trip I did because all of the moving parts

 

Then a 7 Med cruise again out of Barcelona, this was relatively easy as I already had a general idea on where I wanted us to stay and restaurants for Barcelona, so the major research was the excursions.

 

So I fully understand the planning involved in multi-leg trips 

 

My reference to apples to apples was in regards to this

 

"

d) if they gave us the amount in OBC’s on any of their ship lines then it would only cost them cents on the dollar...if they give you 500.00 off a future cruise it’s 500.00 of revenue lost..if they gave it to you as an on-board credit on Princess for say a drinks package it may only cost them 100.00.

Hope that clarifies my position and suggestion."

 

The potential revenue lost would be similar between a future cruise credit vs a credit to an OBC.  You are now in a cabin at "full price" and buying a drink package at a discount.  The cabin could have been booked by someone else at "full price" and the drink package at full price.  So if you booked a cabin with FCC or booked a cabin with OBC there is a revenue "loss"

 

There are several reasons why I don't book an inaugural cruise.  The earliest sailing I would book a cruise on a ship in the build mode is for several months after the originally schedule inaugural cruise.  I have read enough stories about shipyard delays and construction still going on during the initial sailings.  I don't want to deal the additional stress.

 

I don't mean this as sarcastic... again I wish you good look in getting your desired enhanced compensation.  It has worked in the past.

 

 

Edited December 22, 2019 by gatour

[docsdrillers]

Clearly our math calculations don’t align.

if I use my FCC of 1810.00 on another cruise then I’m in a cabin at an 1810.00 discount..so they lost 1810.00 compared to the price another person would have paid.

If I spend that 1810.00 as OBC then their loss is significantly less.

if I buy 10/day wifi pass at 120.00 on 12 day cruise what is their cost..zero..the wifi is on anyways.

If I buy a 80/ day drink package do you think their cost is 80.00..it’s probably 10-15% of that and only if I drank a lot..which we don’t...

[1city@atime]

On 12/21/2019 at 8:47 AM, robc1972 said:

That is why you should never book on the maiden voyages of a ship, delays are to be expected.

The compensation offered is plenty, not surprised people are already asking for more.

 

I dunno, the wife and I got off the inaugural Panorama cruise last week and it was perfect. Not a problem to be had. 

[pacruise804]

23 hours ago, Cruiser785 said:

I think your letter is perfect. I am one with the insurance they won't reimburse. I also paid quite a bit in gift cards, which wouldn't be a problem, but I truly only wanted this ship doing this Europe cruise and transatlantic. I have no desire to do this ship in Florida...or any other carnival ship. I booked what I wanted...am not getting it and am stuck with lots of gift cards. Not fair. 

 

I think the gift card issue is something many don't consider.  Many advise purchasing via Allstate/AARP for the 10% discount, but don't factor what happens if you don't use the card.  We purchased a $500 gift card once for a Carnival cruise, and received a discount on gas through our grocery store. Since we didn't spend much on board we had a card refunded to us of over $100, which we then used on another Carnival cruise.  If we hated the Carnival experience (or cruising in general) then the card would have been of no use unless we could find a friend sailing Carnival.

 

I saw another post where someone had $1500 in gift cards and wanted to make sure they could launder them through the casino, which is great if you actually take the cruise but not very helpful in your case.  It is unfortunate that your cruise was canceled - especially since you aren't interested in any other Carnival sailing.  I don't think it is unfair though since the gift card risk should have been known.

[rukkian]

2 hours ago, pacruise804 said:

 

I think the gift card issue is something many don't consider.  Many advise purchasing via Allstate/AARP for the 10% discount, but don't factor what happens if you don't use the card.  We purchased a $500 gift card once for a Carnival cruise, and received a discount on gas through our grocery store. Since we didn't spend much on board we had a card refunded to us of over $100, which we then used on another Carnival cruise.  If we hated the Carnival experience (or cruising in general) then the card would have been of no use unless we could find a friend sailing Carnival.

 

I saw another post where someone had $1500 in gift cards and wanted to make sure they could launder them through the casino, which is great if you actually take the cruise but not very helpful in your case.  It is unfortunate that your cruise was canceled - especially since you aren't interested in any other Carnival sailing.  I don't think it is unfair though since the gift card risk should have been known.

That is definitely a risk in using gc.  You have to pretty much decide you are going to take some carnival cruise, or you should probably not buy gc, as you are then locked in.  The benefit is the 10% off, which you have to weigh against the risks.

[westview1]

On 12/22/2019 at 6:47 AM, FSHLOT said:

I guess i just dont get it. This was canceled a whole year from departure day. Is that not enough time to change plans? Why do people feel entitled to get anything from CCL? Of course they will give you something, but come on, this is still a whole year away!!  Geez

I don't get it either.  I was booked on a Princess cruise out of Brisbane, Australia.  We were on the Legend sailing from LA to Sydney when we found out that the ship was having issues and had let the passengers off in Freemantle (on the other side of Australia), and was going back to Sydney for repairs.  When we got to Brisbane after spending a week in Cairns, we were notified the day before the original sailing date that the ship would be delayed 1 day and it would be leaving from Sydney not Brisbane.  They would fly us to Sydney to meet the ship.  The next day (the original embark day) they canceled the cruise.  We were generously compensated by Princess, but the point I'm getting to is that we had no notice.  Things happen.

 

TL:DR my cruise was canceled the day of the cruise, we were in Australia.

[lazydayz]

1 hour ago, nofocruiser said:

I don't get it either.  I was booked on a Princess cruise out of Brisbane, Australia.  We were on the Legend sailing from LA to Sydney when we found out that the ship was having issues and had let the passengers off in Freemantle (on the other side of Australia), and was going back to Sydney for repairs.  When we got to Brisbane after spending a week in Cairns, we were notified the day before the original sailing date that the ship would be delayed 1 day and it would be leaving from Sydney not Brisbane.  They would fly us to Sydney to meet the ship.  The next day (the original embark day) they canceled the cruise.  We were generously compensated by Princess, but the point I'm getting to is that we had no notice.  Things happen.

 

TL:DR my cruise was canceled the day of the cruise, we were in Australia.

 

For those of you who do not get it, our cruise was not a year away.  The inaugural was scheduled for August 31, and we got notice on December 20.  It offered a unique Baltic itinerary on a new ship.  Many had flights, hotels and tours booked.  So it was a huge inconvenience and costly to some. 

 

Not really sure why anyone would argue with us being disappointed.  Yes, life happens and sometimes when it does, it is a  disappointment. 

 

[jimbo5544]

3 minutes ago, lazydayz said:

 

For those of you who do not get it, our cruise was not a year away.  The inaugural was scheduled for August 31, and we got notice on December 20.  It offered a unique Baltic itinerary on a new ship.  Many had flights, hotels and tours booked.  So it was a huge inconvenience and costly to some. 

 

Not really sure why anyone would argue with us being disappointed.  Yes, life happens and sometimes when it does, it is a  disappointment. 

 

It is with a capital D, that said I think we will get everything back (except the time) with the possible exception of insurance.

[westview1]

2 hours ago, lazydayz said:

 

For those of you who do not get it, our cruise was not a year away.  The inaugural was scheduled for August 31, and we got notice on December 20.  It offered a unique Baltic itinerary on a new ship.  Many had flights, hotels and tours booked.  So it was a huge inconvenience and costly to some. 

 

Not really sure why anyone would argue with us being disappointed.  Yes, life happens and sometimes when it does, it is a  disappointment. 

 

I realize that the cruise was 8 months out and it's an inconvienence, but 8 months should be enough time for you to be able to cancel hotels, flights and tours without a big hit to your wallet.  Most hotels don't require you to pay upfront and even when you book air with points, you can call the company, explain the situation and they will work with you.  Or find a different cruise perhaps this way you won't be losing the airfare miles/money.  

 

It's disappointing, but at least there is time for you to address the situation.  

[FSHLOT]

4 hours ago, lazydayz said:

 

For those of you who do not get it, our cruise was not a year away.  The inaugural was scheduled for August 31, and we got notice on December 20.  It offered a unique Baltic itinerary on a new ship.  Many had flights, hotels and tours booked.  So it was a huge inconvenience and costly to some. 

 

Not really sure why anyone would argue with us being disappointed.  Yes, life happens and sometimes when it does, it is a  disappointment. 

 

I get it, i posted a year, but its only 8 months. Still have plenty of time to change plans. Not arguing the disappointment either.