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Carnival Cruise Lines - Overbooked

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Carina of Oatchogue NY (9/14/04):
On April 13th, 2004 I booked a cruise for myself, my husband, my sister and brother in law with Carnival Cruise Lines on the Carnival Triumph for the October 30th 2004 sailing. I booked 2 cabins and paid a deposit of $1000 per cabin. On Friday, September 10th my travel agent informed me that the balance was due. I gave her my credit card number and Carnival was contacted with the balance at 2pm on September 10th.

Upon calling Carnival with payment, my travel agent was informed that the reservation had been cancelled and we had been put on a waiting list for the sailing that we booked 5 months prior. Apparently the payment had to reach Carnival by noon, not end of business which is normal practice. My travel agent tried to get us back on this ship but to no avail. According to the Carnival Reservation Center, they over-booked this sailing. Since they knowingly over-booked the cruise they were “trying to get people off.” This quote comes from Sara Luz at Carnival.

I called Carnival directly but they would not give me any information because they had no proof it was me on the phone. I was told the travel agent had to call. Again my travel agent contacted Carnival with no success. Representatives actually refused to speak with us. We finally decided that if they were not willing to speak with us then we would simply accept Carnival’s unfair decision to cancel our reservation. We preferred to be removed from the waiting list so we could make other arrangements for vacation.

When Carnival was told this, they said that the only way they would waive the penalty fee (our entire $2000 deposit) is if we remained on the waiting list and got on the ship for the original sailing date. Weren't we just told that we were bumped and put on a waiting list because there was no room for us? How are we expected to get on this sailing if they cancelled our reservation? If we do not get on the ship on October 30th we will be charged; even though Carnival can’t fit us. (I would like to add that the required deposit was $500 per couple. We were “accidentally” charged $1000 per couple. We let the double deposit remain to reduce the balance due. Now they intend to keep the entire $2000.)

Carnival admitted that they over-booked and they cancelled our reservation because our payment came 2 hours past noon on the due date. It’s pure theft. Our payment was made on the payment due date. Carnival is simply looking for ways to reduce the amount of bookings. Not only is Carnival making money on the passengers of this completely booked sailing but now they’re trying to make money from the people whose reservations Carnival cancelled.

It is my assumption that penalties are incurred to cover the expense of an empty room. There is no empty room. We are expected to pay for a room that is being paid for and occupied by other passengers? My travel agent told me to try to call Sara Luz back. She was apparently working on the problem. My sister called but Ms. Luz refused to get on the phone. She could be heard in the background saying “Tell her to call her travel agent.” We called the travel agent back and conferenced with Carnival but, conveniently, Ms. Luz was away so we spoke to her supervisor Janice Vega. She was just as rude and unhelpful and would not speak to any of us. She simply stated that due to security reasons she could not release any information and that their cancellation policy was clearly stated in their brochures. (Please note that we did not receive any brochures or contracts. Nor did we receive a billing statement or a due date prior to September 10th.)

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