I am an avid cruiser. I absolutely love them. They are relatively inexpensive with many cruise lines to choose from. One of the reasons I cruise is because they are so inexpensive and I usually find a good deal if I wait long enough. This time I decided to book early, against my better judgment, because I was assured that with Carnival, if the price ever
was lowered, they would honor that price. With my Early Saver Rate I couldnt go wrong, right? That is absolutely incorrect!!! What a mistake!!! Their manipulative wording leads one to believe this is the case, but when the price
is lowered on all travel websites one usually books through and you actually call about it, they say it has to be lowered on their website for it to be valid. It has to be a Carnival advertised rate. Now wait, is Travelocity paying the difference
to Carnival to give their patrons such a better rate, or is it indeed a Carnival advertised rate!
So essentially, they can lower their fares everywhere they get actual bookings from, and can continue to keep their fares high on their website, so as to not honor the lower price guarantee. And this is not considered wrong to them! The
fact is, if I were to book this cruise today, it would be $150.00 less, so that should be the price given to me, as that was my belief when I originally booked the cruise.
This upsets me most because it is deceitful and dishonest. I feel as though they are actually stealing the money from me because of the way this is portrayed on the travel site I booked from. I have lost my extremely hard earned 150.00,
but YOU dont have to! DO NOT book the early saver rate! You can shop different cruises closer to the date of your planned vacation and can always get a better rate with the cruise line or one of their many competitors.
The service level on Carnival is also terrible compared to other cruise lines. The staff is obviously angry and overworked (and I know they all are overworked on cruises but with these people you can see it). The staff is sometime curt and rude. I actually felt threatened once when I fell asleep the night before departure and forgot to set my bags out the night before as I was supposed to. They came to the door the next morning, three men questioning why I did not put my bags out, in a threatening manner, and then said that they are sure I will never do that again. As if I had committed a
crime! I know I had created more work for them and I was sorry, but I couldnt believe that they were actually willing to scare me because of it! I had passed it off as one angry porter and not the cruise line, but now that I have spoken
with their customer service agents, I am assured it is the entire cruise line that is the problem also. Dont have someone threaten you, lie to you,
Manipulate you or be rude to you on your hard earned vacation!
I for one will never travel on Carnival again, because if they are willing to be that deceitful with their fares, what else are they being deceitful about when you are trapped on their ship for a week! Apparently they are not beyond threatening their guests for making a mistake. Fortunately, there are many other cruise lines, so I do not see a problem with finding
another one, and this time, I will wait and shop around. I have never had a problem with Royal Caribbean and they are just as fun as Carnival advertises to be, but without the mistreatment of their customers. They also are frequently less expensive when you get to the bottom line because Ive noticed Carnival adds more to the price for a better room than Royal Caribbean does. Enjoying your cruise is essential, so do not make the same mistake I did, just say no to Carnival!
0 comments