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Carnival Cruise Lines

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Louis of West Melbourne FL (7/3/04):
I booked and paid for a cruise on the Carnival Glory, criuse was to leave on 7/03/04. I booked criuse on 06/29/04 a.m., that evening my wife was hit by a car. She received numerous injuries, to include a shatttered ankle, recieved staples to side of head to close wound, & other numerous cuts & abrasions. I called Carnival to receive a refund and was told it has to go before a review committee. I called Carnival reservations on 07/02/04 to see if cabin was sold. I was told ship was fully sold out, so I can safely assume that my cabin was resold.

Cynthia of Bacliff TX (12/10/03):
I booked a cruise for 2 in August of 2003 and paid half ($400) as a deposit. This cruise was set to depart Galveston on Oct 8, 2003. My employer, due to a major inspection slated for that week, refused to give me the time off even though I had booked the cruise before I took this job and had included this time off as a condition of my employment. Carnival allowed me to change the date of the cruise with little hassle. The cruise was rebooked for Jan. 2004.

Today, Dec. 10, 2003 Ed Hernandez calls me and informs me that if I do not pay the balance due by tomorrow my cruise will be cancelled and I will forfet all money paid to this point. I have not heard from Carnival since I rescheduled the cruise. No confirmation, reminder, nothing. Now, I am out $400. They will not allow this to be rescheduled or any refund. Despite my explaining to them that I had unexpected surgery and have just returned to work.

I am horribly disappointed by this whole experience and I feel cheated. Do they not have an obligation to send a bill or reminder of a balance due? It seems to me that they take advantage of people by advertising low fares that are good several months later and then count on consumers to forget therefore forfeting all money paid.

Faye of Brooklyn NY (10/18/03):
A party of five which included my mom was scheduled for a cruise on Carnival Cruise Line. Weeks before our departure our mom took sick. She was admitted at Downstate Medical Center and was diagnosed with multiple problems including hypertension and diverticulitis. Also deep venous thrombus of the left leg. I explained all of the above to the travel agent who booked us with the cruise line and Carnival Cruise Line itself.

I was told I cannot get back a refund due to Carnival Cruise line policy. Also, I explained the situation to Continental Airline. We had reservations with the Airline traveling from Newark to Puerto Rico. When I spoke to Mr. Khan, I was told to present proof of my mother's medical condition before they can issue to us credit. When I did send the necesary paperwork I was told there is nothing they can do, therefor we lose out on everything.

Damage Resulting: It's over $6,000 that is out of our hands.

Stephanie of Colorado Springs writes (5/30/01):
We reserved a cruise for four people on Carnival. One of the people had to cancel so my travel agent contacted Carnival who advised her they would process a refund of her deposit of $250. About 1-2 weeks after the request for the refund was supposedly processed we added an additional person to our reservation, making it a group of four again.

The travel agent again asked about the initial refund and was advised it had been processed and a quote was given to add the 4th person and our balance was paid in full. After we returned from our vacation I was contacted by my travel agent who advised me that Carnival never processed the refund as they said they had, they just applied the balance to the 4th person's account and used it towards her trip. They even confirmed that their notes show they would process the refund, the amount the "new" 4th person was quoted and that at the time of the quote the initial refund had already been processed.

They are now refusing to refund the initial deposit made by the person who had to cancel and also saying that the remaining 3 were actually quoted too low and should have paid more! Carnival is refusing to stand behind their employee's error and honor the initial refund and the price they quoted to add a new person to the reservation. Ms K has reviewed the account and agrees that we were told a refund was processed (which it wasn't) and that when the 4th person was added we were given a quote that should not have included the initial deposit that should have already been processed. Our experience with Carnival Cruise Line's customer service has been the worst I've ever seen.

Bridgett of Birmingham AL (5/5/02):
We were booked on the Imagination (Carnival) for a cruise on November 3 to November 8, 2002. (6 people, 3 cabins). A hurricane formed in the Gulf several days prior to our scheduled departure and we asked Carnival to allow us to change the dates of our cruise to avoid the storm. They said we could not change dates without losing the money we paid.

The storm was so bad we were unable to port in Grand Cayman and finally ported in Ocho Rios 7 hours late and were only there 3 hours. I complained immediately upon our return and didn't have a response until recently. I received letters dated December 2, 2001, April 17, 2002 and April 24, 2002 within a week of each other - form letters not addressing my complaint at all and offering a 10% discount on my next cruise. I want a complete refund, to be rebooked at their expense or, at the very least, to be refunded for port charges for ports we never went to.

I paid over $5,000.00 for this trip (we took our parents for their birthdays) and we didn't get to go anywhere. I feel that we were held hostage on a ship for 5 days. The weather was horrible, the ship rocked and rolled so violently that almost everyone on the ship was sick. I feel that we were defrauded by Carnival - we paid to go to Grand Cayman and Jamaica and didn't. We paid port charges for ports we didn't go in to. I feel they could have allowed us to change the dates of our cruise to avoid the storm.

R.N. of Chazy, NY, writes:
Booked a 7 day cruise through Gateway To Travel travel agent on Carnival Cruise Lines from 3/6/99 to 3/13/99. Our original flight was to leave Burlington, Vermont at 6:55am to arrive in NY at 8:29am.

Well, our flight out of Burlington did not leave til 9:20am due to a plane malfunction. US Air had to call a mechanic in, who was an hour away. We tried to change our flight to get into Miami to board the boat by 4:00pm. US Air could not get us into Miami in time. They flew us to Orlando to spend the night & on Sun 3/7, flew us from Orlando to San Juan, Puerto Rico, which was our first Port of Call. We did not board the M/S Imagination until 6:45pm Mon. 3/8/99.

Carnival Cruise Lines gave us a certificate with a 20% discount towards our next cruise, but it had to be used within 18 months. I wrote to Carnival giving them the certificate back & asking for a 20% discount off the cruise I just took because it was a once in a lifetime cruise for me and when I spent the $1204 for the cruise, it included my airfare. It was a package deal.

Carnival wrote me a letter and stated that "I feel the gesture extended was fair & equitable. Regrettably, no further concessions may be granted in this instance." I feel that I should be given a 20% discount off ghe cruise I just took. I will never cruise again with any cruise line. Is Carnival Cruise Line being fair and should my request of receiving a 20% discount off the cruise I just took reasonable?

It sounds reasonable to us. Even if it is not legally required to do so, Carnival should cough up the discount. Why are all the cruise companies turning into Scrooge lately? Are they trying to mimic the callousness of their airborne cousins, the airlines?

Sharron of Lodi CA (2/23/02):
They overbooked and we walked in on other people and our name was in the computer yet we almost had to get off the ship. We were downgraded, missed our flight coming home thanks to them also and in this flight home my luggage was smashed on arrival home.

Very traumatizing. My friend and I are foster parents and left behind 16 children we either put in respite care or our husbands watched on a weeks vacation and yet we were told they had no room for us?

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