I Can't Believe Carnival Cruise Change the Itinerary at the last minute

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I am writing on behave of the treatment I received from Carnival Cruise Line. I cruised on Carnival in the past and had a wonderful time. After which I started to plan for my next cruise as soon as I returned home. My family and I planned a trip to Jamaica and was schedule to leave on Sept. 12, 2009. To my family and I surprise, the itinerary had changed, drastically, at the last minute. I can understand that things happen, but for you all not to give your customers a choice is ridiculous.  I am a single mom of two kids, who is on a fix income; and to spend that much money for a cruise I did not take is absurd. Carnival did not attempt to rectify the situation that they created and it caused for a very dissatisfying vacation my family and I experienced.

I do not appreciate the way Carnival handle the situation. Taking our bags in the parking lot, then having someone hand out a paper as they walk by, and then instructing us to go talk to someone in the office when you all knew that the line would be long and we would not be able to get our money nor our bags back at that the particular time.  Then to research the site and to find Carnival does not have an itinerary that goes to Key West, Nassau, Bahamas, and Freeport was even more disappointing; your itinerary is Western Caribbean: Miami, FL; Key West, FL; Cozumel, Mexico; Fun Day At Sea; and back Miami, FL in 4 days. Why was that not an option for the itinerary? For my family and me to drive from Atlanta, Ga. to Miami, to cruise to Key West, when we could have driven was a waste of time, spending a day at sea, when it only took us 16 hours to arrive in Bahamas, was another waste of time. Arriving in Freeport was very disappointing; this should not be on the itinerary at all. There was nothing to do there, nor was it an inviting place to go; it was a construction site. I did not pay all that money to see a construction site.

Some options that should have been given:

-          Given passengers a CHOICE

-          Allow the ship to be fix and delay the trip for a day

-          Bypass Key West and Bahamas and proceeded to go to Jamaica

-          Given full refunds to customers or reschedule the trip

I paid all most $1300 for a cruise to Jamaica and I got a $1000 cruise to Bahamas which I have already taken; that is a $300 difference in the trips.  Needless to say you all, Carnival, have lost my business for life. I would like something to be done to rectify this situation immediately for my family inconvenience. Going to Jamaica was and still is a trip of a life time and you all ruined it for my family. I still want my trip to Jamaica, but it will not be with your cruise line.

i to was on the ship with my husband. and i also agree i understand that things happen but how about instead of saying you get 20% off of another cruise you get 20% on your sail and sign of what you paid for this cruise. and they traded two great places for three nasty places. i mean key west i can go to at anytime. and i chose this trip because of the itenerary. they just pretty much stole money from everyone. i am very disappointed in CCL they say they are a multi-billion dollar industry should be able to give more choise. i will no longer be cruising with carnival.

You've had a busy day, guys.  I know hard it is to find reasons to come unglued.  Blaming others is not the easiest job there is. 

I can't believe Carnival makes us get off the ship when our cruise is over and we return to the home port...  Disgusting and unfair - it really ruins our day!

Our May 09 cruise was re-routed due to the swine flu - we went to Canada instead and had a GREAT time

i am not blaming someone i did enjoy my cruise because that was really the only choice i had. but i just feel when the propulsion screwed up on the cruise before ours they would have notified everyone of the change. they had to of know that they weren't going to be able to get it working within a couple of hours of getting the next cruisers aboard. i just feel that they could of handled it in a different matter than they did. i just do not plan on cruising with them until they can show the people that paid all that money to go to those places. i feel they pocketed all that extra money we all paid for a cruise that could of been done in three days. i feel they ripped us off.

 Here is Carnival's published policy. Did they follow this procedure? Had you read the policy before purchasing the cruise. 

I'm not saying that Carnival was right, just that, were you aware of your rights before booking this cruise?

CRUISE CANCELLATION AND ITINERARY CHANGE POLICY CRUISE CANCELLATION:

If a cruise is cancelled, guests will have the option to receive either a cash refund or a future cruise credit.

ITINERARY CHANGE PRIOR TO DEPARTURE:

If Carnival has adequate notice prior to sailing that a vessel will deviate from the published itinerary it will promptly – upon making the itinerary change -- notify guests of the change through their travel agents or directly, in the case of a direct guest booking.
If the itinerary change is for reasons within Carnival’s exclusive control, guests will have the opportunity to cancel their booking without penalty prior to sailing and within 24 hours of the guest notification, and in such an instance, guests will have the option to receive either a cash refund or a future cruise credit.  In the event a guest does not cancel the cruise on a timely basis, no refund of any kind will be available.
Due to the nature of a cruise vacation, itinerary changes sometimes become necessary for safety, weather or other reasons beyond the control of Carnival.  If the itinerary change is for reasons beyond Carnival’s exclusive control, including but not limited to safety, security, weather, strikes, tides, hostilities, civil unrest, port closings, emergency debarkations of guests or crew, late air, sea, car or motor coach departures or arrivals, mechanical breakdowns or problems not known to Carnival, itinerary changes consistent with U.S. State Department travel warnings / advisories or other applicable US or foreign governmental advisories, guests will not be provided any compensation.  Guests electing to cancel will be subject to the standard cancellation terms.

ITINERARY CHANGE AFTER DEPARTURE

In the event an itinerary change becomes necessary while the ship is at sea or when notice prior to sailing is not feasible, Carnival and/or the Master will attempt to substitute an alternative port.  Carnival and/or the Master may, in their discretion and for any purpose, deviate in any direction or for any purpose from the direct or usual course, and omit or change any or all ports of calls, arrival or departure times, with or without notice, for any reason whatsoever, all such deviations being considered as forming part of and included in the proposed voyage.  Carnival shall have no liability for any refund or other damages in such circumstances.  

REFUND OF GOVERNMENT FEES AND TAXES:

If a port is cancelled from the scheduled itinerary, a refund of the government fees and taxes for the cancelled port will be provided via a shipboard credit.

grider2006:

i am not blaming someone

...juxtaposed with:

i feel they ripped us off

they could of handled it in a different matter than they did

[sic x 2]

i just do not plan on cruising with them until they can show the people that paid all that money to go to those places

i feel they pocketed all that extra money we all paid for a cruise that could of been done in three days

This must all be some new variant on the concept of blamelessness that I am unaware of, in which blame is cast but is still deniable.

Not only is there blame, but there's now accusations of fraud to go with it.  Sorta the cream cheese icing to the cake, as it were.

Fine print is your friend, Mr/Ms Grider;  your boring friend, but your friend nonetheless.  You really need to become better acquainted.

I totally agree with you, I am the mother of the bride whose wedding was planned in Jamaica, I was told by Carnival in Miami, if we got on board, they would have their wedding planner, help us plan another wedding......we went to guest service desk on the 3rd floor several times, for help and was told, since I didn't plan the wedding thru Carnival, there was nothing they could do, However, I used the referral that a Carnival representative gave me over the phone when I first started to plan her wedding,....what a great dissappointment for us and the entire wedding party. We drove from SC. Have you sent a letter to Gerry Cahill, President & CEO of Carnival

they owe us a full refund, because my daughters wedding was cancelled in Jamaica

I am alway amazed at how with 111 hrs on board a ship on a 5 day cruise how people can be so upset about the 12 hours that they didn't get to spend in the ports of choice.