What should Carnival have done better?

[Cuizer2]

[quote name='firefly333']Being old sucks. [/quote]Perhaps, but it beats the alternative.

[Mikew0805]

I know this is unpopular.. However, I think Carnival did what they could. In the press release on CCL's site, they made it clear that they had every intention of getting back to Texas. However, because they didn't know exactly when.. guest could still disembark in NOLA. Those that wanted more firm timeframes, should realize that communication with the affected areas was probably hit and miss at best.

Carnival should not be responsible for transportation between the ship and anywhere else, with the exception of those who booked transportation through Carnival. Travel is never a guaranteed thing, and why should Carnival bear costs outside of their ship, that are a direct result of a natural disaster? This is a perfect time for insurance to kick in and help out, that is what it is there for, for those who decided to purchase it.

I am not trying to sound mean, or unsympathetic.. however, I do not think the people on the ship were the only ones in the dark of what was going to happen. As far as the ship already turning towards NOLA, then three hours later being told that is where they are going, well I wonder if it ever crossed anyones mind that they headed that way while they were trying to secure a berth, and didn't notify anyone until it was official. I think it would be worse to say " We are heading for NOLA," and come back later and say "Oops, we are not going there, lets try Mobile!"

[hubofhockey]

[quote name='Mikew0805']I know this is unpopular.. However, I think Carnival did what they could. In the press release on CCL's site, they made it clear that they had every intention of getting back to Texas. However, because they didn't know exactly when.. guest could still disembark in NOLA. Those that wanted more firm timeframes, should realize that communication with the affected areas was probably hit and miss at best.

Carnival should not be responsible for transportation between the ship and anywhere else, with the exception of those who booked transportation through Carnival. Travel is never a guaranteed thing, and why should Carnival bear costs outside of their ship, that are a direct result of a natural disaster? This is a perfect time for insurance to kick in and help out, that is what it is there for, for those who decided to purchase it.

I am not trying to sound mean, or unsympathetic.. however, I do not think the people on the ship were the only ones in the dark of what was going to happen. As far as the ship already turning towards NOLA, then three hours later being told that is where they are going, well I wonder if it ever crossed anyones mind that they headed that way while they were trying to secure a berth, and didn't notify anyone until it was official. I think it would be worse to say " We are heading for NOLA," and come back later and say "Oops, we are not going there, lets try Mobile!"[/quote]

The most important thing Carnival should have done was to keep its passengers informed. I am not sure what, if any, financial responsibility that Carnival has to its passengers. There is a certain amount of risk in cruising during hurricane season. I know that I would never take a cruise during hurricane season for those reasons. If I did, I would get travel insurance to cover myself and would understand that I am assuming the risk in taking a cruise that time of year.

[RizzoLee]

I was a toss-up between the 3:

Helping with alternate arrangements from New Orleans;
Communicated better; and
Cancelled Ecstasy.

That being said, if passengers boarded knowing they were leaving their cars behind that they may not be able to get to with the evacuation warnings.... Seeing what's happened in the past, I would not have chanced it.

[lady_cruiser]

For other personal reasons, I no longer cruise on Carnival Cruise Lines but under the circumstances I think Carnival did all they could. The only other option that might have work would have been for Carnival to make 3 or 4 calls to the companies handling airport transfers and have the bus/vans waiting dockside for anyone needing them. With the understanding that each passenger would pay for their own transfer to the airport. Think about it - Carnival making a few calls or several hundred passengers trying to make the same call. Do the math.

[mstexas2008]

I think this cruise should have been cancelled. My friend and I were scheduled to go on this cruise ([B]which would have been our 1st[/B]), but we decided not to get on that ship. It was very scary to see the way the waves were beating against the sea wall before the storm was schedule to hit Galveston. We kept calling to be sure they were still sailing and we also told them that we couldn't get on the island, but they told us to show our boarding information and we would be allowed on the island and we were. We asked if we could reschedule and they told us we would lose our money, so we just took the loss, because we begin to weigh out the what if's, what if something happens to our car, what if we can't get back to the port, what if this storm is a really bad one. I'm glad we didn't go!!!!! I think carnival made a bad decision;they ended up losing money and time by having to go to a different port and probably some good customers, but i don't think they really care because they are in the business to make money!

[kelz66]

[quote name='VentureMan_2000']I'd love to see this poll if a possible answer was, "Carnival stated clearly in their contract that Mother Nature is the passenger's issue"...[/quote]

Stop being reasonable!!! :rolleyes::p

Personal responsibility has no place here...someone else is always to blame or at fault.:rolleyes:

We all know Carnival owns a weather control machine!!!!!:p

[gpcruiser]

It doesn't matter what Carnival did or didn't do - someone wouldn't be happy. Possibly more communication but how could they communicate what they didn't know. When you are dealing with hurricanes plans become fluid and that is frustrating when people are trying to make plans. Just my opinion- I wasn't on the ship...

[pboedeker]

Carnival announces Sunday at 11am that we would have our official debarkation talk at 5pm.

At 5pm (debarkation talk #1) they announce the change to New Orleans, with an option to overnight on the ship until it sailed back to Galveston (no date given). Several passengers use the free phones to make arrangements. We called home on our cell phone and had someone make the arrangements for us. Most passengers we came across were flying home from New Orleans, some decided to stay on board until they sailed back.

Carnival announced Monday about 5pm at the second Debarkation talk that the Ecstasy would sail to Houston on Wednesday.

Third debarkation talk was Tuesday morning - I did not attend because it dealt with those passengers staying on board after New Orleans.

At each of these talks, there were passengers who tried to go "off" on Carnival and it's decisions during the "Q&A" time. Usually the meeting was ended at this point and those passengers were left argueing with themselves.

[cruzeluvr]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][COLOR=blue]I am not a fan of Carnival, and the few times we sailed with them we have felt that the service was lacking. HOWEVER, that being said, it sounds like in this case Carnival did the best they could under some very difficult circumstances. Could they have done certain things better or different? Maybe, but we are posting here with the benefit of hindsight. Their most important responsibility was to keep everyone out of harms way and they did that. In changing the debarkation port, their first responsibility should have been to make alternate arrangements for their air/sea passengers, which they did. After that, providing bus service back to Galveston was obviously out of the question, so the only other thing I can think of would have been to arrange for the cruise only passengers to purchase transfers to the New Orleans airport.[/COLOR][/FONT]

[BEEZALAR]

[quote name='firefly333']thats exactly my point!!!! They only mentioned taking us back to Galveston, which we knew couldnt happen. We felt they said Galveston knowing it couldnt happen to cop out of handling things. The announcement said we could stay on the ship in hopes of getting back to Galveston!!! Wouldnt you think by sunday night Carnival would have known this was impossible???[/quote]

Carnival knew it was impossible and so did you. So why are you so hung up on carnival not TELLING you what was going on ? They couldn't say where they were going until it was confirmed. And like we learned in the military .......... You have to wait and some situation just suck, get over it!

[Kurbanfan]

[quote name='Cuizer2']What government representatives and cruise ship captains fail to understand, even though there is a long history of how to properly handle these problems, is that they must communicate. Don't just tell what you know, tell what you don't know and what you are doing. And don't guess.

Tell everybody that they cannot go back to Galveston. This applies to both the government officials handling the situation post hurricane and Carnival.

Carnival should have told the passengers the closest port we can go to is New Orleans. Not even residents are being allowed into Galveston. We recommend that you get off in New Orleans and return home. Here is a list of public transportation available from the Port ... (list the public transportation and the contact numbers - this would include planes, trains, buses and rental car companies). Carnival should have informed the passengers that anyone that parked their car at the port needs to contact their insurance company and make arrangements to purchase a replacement car.

Nothing in the above provides any false hope, and everything above is true. No mention of going back to Galveston or Houston should have been made until such arrangements had been made and approved. Telling people we hope to return to Galveston in the near future is open to interpretation, even if you say that could take months, it still holds out false hope.

If you tell people what they want to hear, then you pay the price when it turns out what you told them is not going to happen. Sure, it may not be Carnival's fault that things didn't work out, but Carnival is still the one losing credibility. Tell the people that even the residents are not being allowed back to Galveston. That if they drove there, they are a tourist and they aren't going to get permission to go to Galveston until after the residents do. If they flew there, great, they can fly home just as easily from New Orleans. If they drove, going to Galveston will do no good, as their car will not work. Go home somehow and make arrangements get a replacement car.

Tell it straight. Don't sugar coat it. Treat the people with respect, but make the situation sound as bad as it really is. Even if Carnival is not going to provide any financial assistance, Carnival can still provide the options for free (available to Carnival via an Internet search). Then Carnival can provide the options in printed form to the passengers in the same manner that it provides other letters and the Carnival Capers. At least then it would look like that Carnival at least cared. Right now it looks like Carnival could care less unless you purchased your travel arrangement through Carnival.

Communicate. Give an update every hour, every half hour if need be. Carnival could say its requests to allow the ships to return to Galveston has been turned down. Then, when Carnival finally is sure that the ships can return, Carnival can then make the good news announcement that they are being allowed to return. It works better if the news gets better as time goes along, rather than having to provide bad news later by having to back off of what you had "hoped" would be true.[/quote]

Absolutely right on Cruizer2!!!!

[jpg1747]

I think that when the embark/debark port city was being evacuated that Carnival should have canceled the cruise. If the decision to evacuate was made after the ship sailed, then that obviously wasn't an option.

I don't they they are responsible for those who chose to make their own transportation arrangements when they had the option to do it through Carnival. Both Carnival and their passengers knew the risk on cruises like that. It's the chance you take. It's why you should always have full coverage travel insurance.

It would be a nice good faith gesture for Carnival to offer those passengers something - either a partial refund and/or a credit on a future cruise, but I don't think they are obligated to do anything more than what they did.

[LibertyGirl7]

[quote name='steveaaaaa']They should have only taken care of their air passengers as air is an option to purchase from them,therefor their assistance would be with their paying passengers only.Everyone else should have been educated enough to have travel insurance.If not,need I say more,especially during storm season.
Steve[/quote]

I agree. It's a risk you take and Carnival can't be responsible for what Mother Nature dishes out.

Let's just all be thankful that Carnival kept the ships and her passengers out of harms way. The residents of Texas are dealing with a lot more loss and devastation which is a lot worse than anything anyone experienced on those two ships because they were delayed and redirected.

[kelz66]

[quote name='jpg1747']I think that when the embark/debark port city was being evacuated that Carnival should have canceled the cruise. If the decision to evacuate was made after the ship sailed, then that obviously wasn't an option.

I don't they they are responsible for those who chose to make their own transportation arrangements when they had the option to do it through Carnival. Both Carnival and their passengers knew the risk on cruises like that. It's the chance you take. It's why you should always have full coverage travel insurance.

It would be a nice good faith gesture for Carnival to offer those passengers something - either a partial refund and/or a credit on a future cruise, but I don't think they are obligated to do anything more than what they did.[/quote]

But they had a ship load of people willing to take the risk who chose not to cancel like some people did.

appearently they can't win no matter what they did or will do...LOL :rolleyes:

[marktac]

[quote name='firefly333']I dont know, might be. I had actually booked Conquest 2 weeks earlier and they moved the date to the Crazies date, at no cost. They might agree to transfer the deposit to Voyager if I explained what happened on the Conquest and give me a break. Ill write to Carnival and see what they say back before I decide. Im also booked on both the Ecstasy and Triumph in 09, in addition to the Conquest. Was planning on all 4 cruises in 09 and totally gung ho until this last cruise.[/QUOTE]

This cruise is still over a year away. There shouldn't be any cancellation fees. If you TA is charging them, you need a different TA, IMHO.

[Georgiagolfer]

But it all goes back to communications. I agree with cruizer2, just tell what you know and/or don't know, but above all do not just stay silent. Once the ship turned and headed to New Orleans, announce on the PA where you're going and state that updates will be given as available. What does it take to announce on the PA every hour or so, this is the update or no update or meeting at ???? time and location.

No one has asked for CCL to pay for their transportation from New Orleans, all have stated that they feel CCL provided little if any updates. We all like answers, but a little common sense goes a long way. Perception is reality in the eye of the perceiver. Maybe the Captain and CD were upfront, but if 3000 passengers don't think that, then CCL missed the boat.

[firefly333]

[quote name='BEEZALAR']Carnival knew it was impossible and so did you. So why are you so hung up on carnival not TELLING you what was going on ? They couldn't say where they were going until it was confirmed. And like we learned in the military .......... You have to wait and some situation just suck, get over it![/quote]

I am so impressed with all the compasionate nice folks on CC, just cant get over how nice folks are here. NOT. lol

Being nice must be a old fashioned virtue?

[waiting4acruise]

[quote name='firefly333']I am so impressed with all the compasionate nice folks on CC, just cant get over how nice folks are here. NOT. lol

Being nice must be a old fashioned virtue?[/quote]
I agree 100%.

[gemsm]

At the risk of sounding "mean" here...I can not believe that passengers are even griping about this.

For those that thought that the conquest should have been cancelled because they were evacuating Galveston...90% of cruise passengers fly to the cruise port they are departing from . Why should 90% of passengers miss out on their cruise because of the 10% that drove?

As for Carnival needing to communicate more -- My guess is that they couldn't because they had no idea what was going on. No offense but my guess is Carnival Corporation ranked pretty low on the food chain of what the government officials were worried about at the time.

[LorrieB]

[quote name='Erica@cruisecritic']Ever since Hurricane Ike devastated Galveston this weekend, Carnival has been racing to make arrangements for Carnival Conquest and Carnival Ecstasy, the line's two Galveston-based ships. Now that the ships are finally headed for their temporary new home in Houston, cruise travelers are wondering whether Carnival could have handled the situation better. You can read more about the situation in our news item.

What do you think? Did Carnival do all that it could to help passengers in this unusual situation? Please vote in our poll.[/quote]
I was on the Conquest cruise that left Galveston on September 7. We were not told anything until the last moment about anything. We were told right up until Saturday that we would be debarking in Galveston. We were then told that we would not be going to Galveston. Sunday evening at 11:00 p.m. we were told that we would be porting in New Orleans in the morning. We were told that we could either get off the ship in New Orleans or we could stay on the ship as it headed for Houston but that there was no idea of when we would be able to port. They hoped for Thursday but didn't expect it. We were given a day in New Orleans, and I must say it was a plus, but we were also given no help in acquiring transportation home. Thank God we had a laptop with us and had gotten the internet service or we would never have been able to get a rental car home. Carnival failed miserably in their endeavor to take care of their passengers. We were the ones who lost our vehicles in Galveston and were displaced. Carnival lost nothing but a one week cruise out of Galveston. We were not offered any compensation for our misfortune. Did I expect money? No. But Carnival should have offered discounts on a future cruise just to keep us cruising with them. Was Hurricane Ike their fault? Absolutely not!!!! But, it was also not our fault that we were dropped in New Orleans. Now we have the cost of a rental car, the cost of going to Houston to retrieve whatever items we can out of our vehicles, and the added cost of loss of work. Our vehicles can't just sit there. I imagine there will be a cost to us if we can't get out to Houston in a timely manner. So you see, we, the passenger, suffered much more than Carnival did. They may have lost their one week income from a cruise but we all know they will recoop that by just adding another surcharge. They can call it the Hurricane surcharge. That way we can all suffer as well.

[LorrieB]

[quote name='jbrambach']I think Carnival should have HELPED people to make alt travel plans out of NOLA. NOT pay for the cost of getting them home or cost of flight changes rental cars etc.
But by HELPED I mean provide free internet & phone (from their staterooms)onboard so the passengers could make their own travel changes. And also provide shuttles (at a cost) to the airport.
I also think they should have debarked the whole ship in NOLA. Why go back to a port that has no electric?[/quote]
Carnival did offer free long distance calls from your stateroom but with only 5 phone lines for an entire ship, no one.... and I mean NO ONE was getting through to anyone. Internet was not free. We had to pay a per minute charge of 89 cents per minute to arrange for a rental car. Thank God we had the laptop. If we had waited until getting into NOLA there would have been no vehicles left. We rented from Alamo and when we got there to pick up our vehicle, The Disaster Team of about 20 people were there as well getting all the remaining vehicles.

[LorrieB]

[quote name='steveaaaaa']They should have only taken care of their air passengers as air is an option to purchase from them,therefor their assistance would be with their paying passengers only.Everyone else should have been educated enough to have travel insurance.If not,need I say more,especially during storm season.
Steve[/quote]
Travel insurance ended on Sunday, the date the cruise was supposed to return to Galveston. Travel insurance was useless.

[LorrieB]

[quote name='Abear2'][FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4][COLOR=darkred]In my opinion I think everyone should have gotten off in New Orleans. The reason being is that I am not sure if the waters in Houston are safe to return to at this point. There is so much debris floating around that I would be scared to go back now. People are going to blame Carnival no matter what, but I feel this hurricane was at no fault of Carnival. I think they did the best they could with the situation they had. Ok so people are saying they should not have left Galveston when they had a chance of the hurricane hitting, but we are in Louisiana and we had the same chance. When people choose to cruise during hurricane season they know that they will always have a chance of a hurricane. We didn't get a direct hit here, but we have many homes damaged and flooded in Vermilion parish. It is only 5 miles from my house that it was completely flooded. This I might add is twice in three years to the same people. That is so heart-breaking to see. Please at a time like this let's not point the fingers at anyone because it was an act of God and not Carnival. I understand that everyone has an opinion and I am simply stating mine. I just want to send my deepest sympathy to everyone that may have lost a home, car or life. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/quote]
The only people who truly have a right to vote in this poll are the ones who were on the two ships. Saying that you think this or you think that is ridiculous. If you were not on the ship you have no idea how we were treated or what misinformation we were given. Being dumped in New Orleans was not my choice. Losing my car to Hurricane Ike was not my choice. Having Carnival treat me like the relative who had overstayed their welcome was Carnival's fault. Don't pretend to understand what we were going through if you were not there. Did we get home? Yes. Do we still have to return to Houston or Galveston? Yes. We have to get our personal property out of our vehicles. Our vehicles will be destroyed. I understand that homes and properties were damaged in the storm and that is extremely unfortunate. My heart goes out to those. But trying to say that you understand what we went through or that you feel we are being greedy or being unreasonable is moronic. If you were not on the ship, don't pretend to understand why we are mad, upset, and downright disappointed in Carnival. Carnival's new slogan should be... "Don't let the gangplank hit you in the rear on your way out"

[LorrieB]

[quote name='mechcc']Carnival should have cancelled the Ecstasy cruise as the Island was in evacuation mode. Yet at the same time, those folks who sailed on it should have made arrangements, someway, somehow to keep their car off Galveston. It would be tough, I realize that but I wouldn't head to the area with my car with that great of knowledge. And I would be more than prepared to be able to get home from NOLA or Mobile.

[B][COLOR=red]CARNIVAL allowed an entire passenger cruise ship to depart from Galveston while Hurricane Ike was not yet determined to hit Galveston. When those of us who were on the Conquest departed, Hurricane Ike was projected to hit the Florida Panhandle. We did not know, no matter what you believe, that Galveston would be hit before we left on our cruise. [/COLOR][/B]

And Carnival may of or may not of kept their passengers informed as much as possible. We will never know.

[B][COLOR=red]How can you say we will never know. Those of us who were on the ship are telling you what we were told. We were not kept informed. Okay, let me say it one more time.... WE WERE NOT KEPT INFORMED. I believe that is why we are so upset. Saturday we were told to have our luggage outside of our rooms for debarkation in Galveston on Sunday. Did we believe it? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!! But we were at the mercy of Carnival to tell us the truth. When did we find out? It was after dinner (10:00 p.m.) that we would not be debarking in Galveston. When were we informed we would be going to New Orleans? 11:00 p.m. Sunday evening. We were told that the ship would be docking in New Orleans. We were also told that the ship would be continuing on to Houston Wednesday out of New Orleans and that we could stay on the ship. We were also told that they were hoping, not positive, HOPING, that the Conquest could debark on Thursday, but likely it would be later than that. Now I ask you this... if you have a job and you want to keep it.... don't you get off the ship in New Orleans? [/COLOR][/B]

I would think that Carnival gave phone and internet access to their passengers on this ship. Do have a co-worker who was on Ecstasy when Gustov came through and the port was closed just in case for a few days.

[B][COLOR=red]We were given phone access but when the ship only has 5 phone lines (this information came from the pursers desk) how many people do you honestly believe were able to take advantage of it? Hmmmmm??????[/COLOR][/B]

I don't think it would of been wise to bring passengers to Houston and certainly not Galveston by bus. Houston is still under curfew and still has massive electrical outages. And Galveston is just totally devestated and I don't believe anyone but recovery people are even allowed to get into Galveston. I also think that Carnival only owes help to those passengers who booked air throught them. It always cost more to do it but in this case it paid off for some.

[B][COLOR=red]Guess what, they are bringing passengers into Houston. There are still power outages, curfews and extreme damage. But, there are 380 passengers still on the ship. And I bet that 95% of them are retired. I would have loved to stay on the ship and then try to get to Galveston to see what is left of my car, but again, I have a job and bills to pay. If I don't work, I don't get paid. I was already four days late getting back to work.[/COLOR][/B]

Yes, it is tough on the passengers and on Carnival. Not getting back to where you were suppose to and losing a car is tough. But those are small losses compared to what many many have lost. And not to mention the lack of basic services for days.

Stuff happens, buy insurance. IMHO.[/quote]
[B][COLOR=red][/COLOR][/B]
[B][COLOR=#ff0000]It must be so easy to pass judgement on us while you are sitting at home on your computer reading about what we were going through. As someone who was going through all of this on the Conquest I am insulted by your lack of compassion. We too had losses and saying that the loss of a car is small just proves that you have never been through anything like this. How do you know that this isn't our only vehicle. That we didn't save for years to go on this cruise. That we can afford the Thousands of Dollars loss due to not having gap insurance. And you know what, yes, it is our fault for not buying gap insurance but that's like saying that everyone who lives in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, California, and anywhere that natural disasters happen are at fault for living there because they should have known better. There is always a chance of natural disaster. Maybe we couldn't afford gap insurance. Who are you to honestly look down on us and pretend you know what we are going through.[/COLOR][/B]