I booked a cruise with Carnival on the Triumph with a debarkation date of October 4th and an embarkation date of October 11th of 2003. I booked the cruise several months in advance because I wanted everything to go smoothly because Carnival was marrying us on the ship, it was our honeymoon and we were traveling with our 2 children. Our booking agent was to book 2 rooms for us; one on the exterior with a window and one across the hall on the interior of the ship.
We communicated many many times with our booking agent and discussed the fact that we were first time cruisers and that this was our honeymoon and we really needed 2 rooms. She, Lesley DaCosta the booking agent, explained the rule that one adult was supposed to stay overnight in the room with the children as they were ages 6 and 12. However, she said it wouldn't be a problem for us if we didn't have an adult in the room with the children because Carnival has too many passengers to check each room.
We discussed prices and I was assured that we had 2 rooms on level 6A of the ship. For those of you that have never cruised before, level 6A is NOT the floor level but rather a category of different room types on several different floors on the ship. So, with all things discussed, I paid 1/2 or the $2000 up front and later paid the 2nd 1/2 via the telephone with my agent prior to the mandatory deadline for payment. At this point, we were very excited and felt our booking agent had given us a great rate on 2 rooms for our cruise.
So, we arrive early on the debarkation date due to the fact that we were getting married on the ship the day it set sail. We were escorted to our ROOM... Not ROOMS to give us time to shower and get dressed for our wedding ceremony. We complained that we were to be booked 2 rooms and that we paid for 2 rooms. However, the ship representative said they could not give us another room but would "upgrade" us to a category 6B. We couldn't tell the difference between the 6A and 6B and were not satisfied because we still weren't given 2 rooms for which we had paid for. We were told that they couldn't provide us a second room because they ship was full and were given a very short "sorry". The representative looked at our boarding passes and said we should have known we only booked one room because we are all listed on each boarding pass.
Again, for those of you who are first time cruisers, the boarding passes do not list room numbers or floor levels... Only the category paid for, a list of passengers you have paid for and the amount you have paid. With that said, there was no way we could have known we were getting 1 room for the price of 2... Particularly because we were first time cruisers.
When we returned home, I called Carnival's Guest Relations office to make a formal complaint. The representative expressed no true remorse and explained to me again that "we should have known our agent only booked us one room because all of our names were on the boarding passes. I explained that we had no true way of knowing that we only had 1 room since the boarding passes don't list room numbers and that there was no way this "misunderstanding" was our fault. I explained that I had had numerous conversations with the booking agent and that this was devastating to our honeymoon. After being put on hold, the Guest Relations representative came back with a "generous" offer of 15% off our next cruise if we book another cruise with them within the next 18 months.
Now, you can imagine how disgusted we were by their offer. We will never be able to relive our honeymoon, we paid the price of 2 rooms to only receive one and he was uncaring and actually believed we would WANT to cruise with Carnival again. He is sadly mistaken. We will NOT cruise with them again. They did not make it right with us and we will tell 10 people who will tell 10 more people what a scam company they truly are.
In addition for being taken for our money with regard to the room (s) we booked, Carnival's nurse in the infirmary should lose her job. While shopping in a store in the Cayman's, our oldest son fainted from heat exhaustion and dehydration. The people of the island were so compassionate and were quick to respond. They provided a fan, cool water, a chair, some smelling liquid to bring him to and a taxi to get us all back to the ship ASAP.
However, when we arrived in the infirmary on the ship, the nurse didn't want to be bothered. We explained that our son had passed out and had hit his head on the concrete floor and needed to be checked. She took one quick look at him from behind her counter. Didn't even get up from her chair and proclaimed him a healty young man who just needed to go to his room and rest and drink some water. We explained that we really would like him to be checked due to the fact that he hit his head and may have a concussion. She said the doctor was out and wouldn't be back in till later and we just really needed to take him to the room and let him rest.
Still she hadn't checked him for a concussion, didn't give him any liquids. Didn't even check his vitals for that matter. The people of the Cayman Islands were much more compassionate and caring than the nurse in the infirmary for a cruise ship we paid good money to sail with.
We also made a formal complaint to Guest Relations and they said something would be done about it. Weren't told what would be done. Didn't receive an apology for the poor care we received. And haven't heard from them since.
I would like to also inform first time cruisers of some of "hidden" fees that they will get stuck with if they don't know in advance. The cruise line automatically docks you approximately $10 per person per day for gratuities, whether you eat any of their formal meals or not. If you want to have control of who and when you tip, you must request that the automatic gratuities be removed from your account with the Pursers Ofice on the ship. For us, if we hadn't done so, we would have paid $280 in tips for services we never used.
You should also know that the cokes and water that are provided in your stateroom everyday are NOT courtesy beverages. They charge your account for them every day they are provided to the tune of $12.50-21.50 for 6 soft drinks and 2 waters.
You should also know that they do not allow you to have a printout of your account when requested and only provide one the morning before your cruise is over. Then if you have anything you disagree with, you have a very limited amount of time to get it corrected. We found on our statement that they had only removed the automatic gratuities on 3 out of 4 of us, so they gave us $70 and said it must have been an oversight.
Also, let it be known that the ship is beautiful as long as you stay in the public areas. Once you enter the halls of the staterooms it is a whole different story. The carpets are waterstained, half of the laundry machines don't work and the washers that do flood the floor approximately 1 inch deep. The laundry soap dispensers take your money and don't give you detergent. This isn't just on one floor, but all of the floors that have machines. We checked.
I also want to add that the walls of the staterooms are VERY thin. We had the loudest neighbors next to us and across the hall from us. They stayed up all night and spoke at the top of their lungs. We complained, but the ship couldn't really do anything but ask them to be more quiet. It's not like they could kick them off the ship. But, it made for several sleepless nights.
Also, BEWARE of the Excursion Packages. They are overpriced and you may be in for a HUGE disappointment. Carnival MUST profit in some way by pushing these excursions. Examples of some of the scam excursions are the following:
In Cozemul, Carnival offers an excursion package to see the "Mayan Ruins". These are NOT the true Ruins but are recreations to get tourists money.in addition, you have to book the excursions in advance and regardless of the weather or Carnival's ability to get you to the excursion, you have paid in advance and are not refunded your money. I am very happy we didn't book this excursion because Cozemul had just recently been pelted with rain and the "Ruins" were severely infested with mosquitos.
Also offered was an excursion to see "Hell". Rock formations that supposedly prove the existence of the Biblical Hell. Some of the passengers that went on this excursion said it was a few boulders that were made of odd substances and nothing like what they were expecting to see based on the excursion package description.
The cruise ship tries to deter you from striking out on your own (there must be profit in excursion packages) and they use fear as the tool to get people to sign up for the excursions. We struck out on our own in Cozemul, the Caymans and in Jamaica and had wonderful experiences at each island. You just have to ask the right questions, barder when you feel overcharged and make sure whomever is transporting you around the island can speak English if that is your first and preferred language.
I hope this e-mail reaches thousands and thousands of people so that they might avoid being victims of the little tricks of Carnival Cruise Line.
Mary
Lawrence, Kansas
U.S.A.
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