My husband and I sailed on the Carnival Pride Jan. 18 for a 7 day Mexiacn Rivera Cruise. Prior to our departure we purchased through Carnival.com some shore excursions. We made our purchases through the cruise line, paid our money to the cruise line all based on the description provided by Carnival.
We decided on Wed., Jan. 21 while in port of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico that we wanted to swim with the dolphins. We did copious amounts of research of the various descriptions that Carnival.com had listed for this port, as well as dolphin swims at some of the other ports too, there were various levels of interaction to consider as well as other amentities such as if lunch we included or not.
We finally decided on the "Dolphin Signature Swim" in Puerto Vallarta at cost of $175.00 per person. We chose to do the 1:15p time so that we could still do some shopping in town in the morning before our excursion left. I know this was a lot, but we figured, given the description (i have included verbatum below) this was not much for the lifetime experience and memories we would have. Little did I know what experience we would really get for this total $350 cost.
Description of the Dolphin Signature Swim from Carnival:
"Approximately 3 1/2 hours. Journey into the intriguing world of the dolphin through an amazing small-group experience. The program begins with a brief AUDIO PRESENTATION on dolphin characteristics and communication techniques.
Then, you will head down to the Dolphin Lagoon, in groups of NO MORE THAN 5 GUESTS, for a 45 MINUTE IN-WATER experience with the dolphins. Touch, feed, play, and swim with dolphins while learning about these amazing marine mammals.
The Signature Swim Program is INTIMATE, exilarating, and ENLIGHTENING; a PERSONALIZED experience all rolled into a swirl of shared laughter, caring and LEARNING.
Following your dolphin swim you'll enjoy a complimentary lunch at the Dolphin Center with your choice of fresh salads, gormet baguette sandwiches, char-grilled burgers, or mexican specialities and a soft drink."
Our tour left late from the pier, we were there 10-15min before the scheduled time as requested but apparently there were others who were running extremely late. We received NO Audio presentation to learn anything about these amazing animals (again maybe because we started the tour late to begin with?). There was a total of 14 people, so instead of keeping to the promise of groups of no more than 5 and having 3 groups, they broke us into 2 groups, 1 group of 8 (that we were in) and another group that consisted of 6.
Now I guess our experience could have still been salvaged at this point even with the larger groups in the water and having not gotten the audio presentation had we actually been allowed the full amount of time in the water that the tour promised.
The description stated we would be in water for 45 min. We were walking off the bus that drove us to the Dolphin canter @ exactly 2pm, and by the time we were walked in told where not to put our hands on the dolphin (ie the mouth, eyes, blow-hole), put on our life vests and got in the water, it was 2:20pm. There was a man in our group who left a waterproof watch on who checked the time as we were getting into the lagoon. After getting out of the water there were obsticles to getting back to our lockers, such as being forced to stand in line to take a picture with a sea-lion (not in the description I might add), rinse off all the salt water, etc.By the time i cot back to the locker 10 min later and looked at my watch it said 2:55pm. Meaning we got into the water at 2:20p and out @ approx. 2:45p - A TOTAL OF 25 IN WATER MINUTES.
It felt to us like the only real time spent inthe water with the dolphins was time spent long enough for their photographer to snap pictures for them to sell to you for anywhere from $25 for one 4x6 to $99 for 8 pictures on a disc or $200-something for 16 or 18 pictures on a disc. And forget it if you wanted the really cool photo book of your experience with the dolphins that they tried to up-sell to everyone in the locker area (when we should have been getting the audio presentation instead), because to get that book you have to buy one of the overpriced photo discs first then you get to pay the extra $60 for the book.
This whole tour is nothing that the description promised, you don't actually get to learn about these animals unless you go aut of your way to ask the trainers about them, and even then you anly get an half answer. They really only care about making sure evary one gets the photo-ops with the dolphins and thet the camera guy catches it on his camera to sell to you. They rush through everything. Like a fast food dolphin experience.
Afterwards we were suposed to get an awesome gormet freshly prepared lunch, or so we thought. We proceeded to a staff member standing near an empty snack bar area and asked where the Carnival pasangers got their lunch. She took our wrist bands and gave us each a buffet plate and showed as a cooler with all melted ice and the remnants of picked over sodas then pointed us across the walk way to a tropical enclosed alcove with a buffet line set up inside it.
As we got closer to this buffet line it became very apparent that this food had been sitting out a long time, probably since the morning excursion. There were no "gormet baguette sandwitches" or "char-grilled burgers" most of the food that was left was dried out with bugs/fruit flies all over it. It was just plain gross. There were a few mexican dishes in the warmer dishes. Since my husband an I had not eaten any lunch, anticipating a gormet fare to be served during our excursion, we were very hungry. We tried to take some food that looked safe enough to eat and we took from underneath where it would have been kept the warmest, and away from bugs landing on it. Still, after a few bites each we threw away the rest and walked back to wait for the bus to pick us up.
Immeadately upon return to the ship we went to the Purser Desk to lodge a complaint. Being as we purchased through Carnival and they supposedly "vouch" for these tour operators, I figured we would be taken care of. I mean this is why the ship tells you to only buy excursions from them and not from the guys standing down on the piers. So if someting go wrong they are there ot stand up for you. That is a line of crap. The guy at the Purser desk tok down my complaint and forwarded it on to the manager for the Shore excursions, saying I would hear from the manager either that night or the next morning.
My the next morning at 9am I had not heard anything back. I called the Purser desk back. The woman i spoke with stated that the manager had placed a call into the tour operatot and would need to speak to to the tour operator first before they would talk to me. It would probably be later that day.
At this point I was even more pissed off as both my husband and my self had gotten sick from the little bit we did try to eat and had spent all night the previous night in our cabin getting sick. We missed dinner and all other ship activities that Wed evening as a result of the neglignece of this supposed tour operator. I asked that the Shore excursion manager be made aware of this new development.
It was not until Thursday evening during the limited time that the shore excursion desk was open that day that I went down to talk to some one face to face, as I had not gotten any phone calls back.
The Woman at the desk pulled up my information and stated that the manager was only going to approve a 50% refund. I told her that was rediculus that they did not earn even $50 with the product that the provived on that tour and with the way thet the food had mad us both so ill 50% we not enough to moake up for the physical pain. She kept reiterring 50% was the maximum she was authorized to give for a refund.
I took the 50% for now but any in the process of disputing the rest. I was told the was the max they were allowed to give and that after i got off the ship I could call Carnival Guest Relations that "they would take care of me" that they would be able to "refund the remainder" since I was so ill from the food. I still was never able to speak directly to the head manager for this department.
I have since called guest relations this afternoon and spoke to someone named Jessica and they do not want to refund the remaining $175.00 and when I asked to take to her supervisor she told me that it was her supervisor who told her that they cannot refund the remaining $175.00. So the assistant manager at the shore excursion desk was full of it when she told me that "guest relations will take care of you, they have the authority to refund remaining balances". So I plan on going up the managment ladder as far as I have to until I see results. If I have to go to my local media I will, I want my story told.
Major corporations should not be able to conspire to defraud consumers this way! Please, this was not the first time that this has happened on this dolphin swim excursion and I know I was not the only person to complain for this sail date! I'm sure there are others on other sail dates too, and will be others that get scammed into this terriffic sounding excursion in the future.
Carnival Cruise Lines needs to know that it is not ok ot conspire with their tour operators to scam their customers. Cruise customers should be able to buy shore excursions through the ship with confidence! Afterall, that is where most of my money goes! I could have gotten this same excursion on the pier independent of Carnival for a lot less, but I paid extra thinking I was paing for the piece of mind that if something went wrong I was guarenteed by Carnival, that they had my back... NOPE!
Kristina b
Rocklin, California
U.S.A.
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