Buyer Beware!!!
Considering a cruise? Consider any cruise line over Carnival.
September: I paid $500 towards a cruise that was to take place the following year, September. This was half of the full fare for a double occupancy cabin.
Five months later February - I was informed that a grandbaby was due to arrive about the time of the cruise, so I called the agent I booked with through Avoya Travel and requested a refund. There were still 7 months left until the cruise, which is within the usual refund time frame.
May: My agent had called Carnival Customer Service several times requesting the refund for me - with no success. I decided to call Carnival personally and was told I could not work through them. I had to let the agent handle it.
As an option I asked the agent to request the money could go towards my son and his wifes cruise. No deal. The cruise had to be booked by the person whose name was on the credit card.
FASTFORWARD to July. Numerous calls to my agent have gone unanswered so I decided to call Carnival AGAIN. This time I lucked out and got an agent who did speak English and she informed me that:
1) I would NOT get a refund;
2) I cannot transfer the money to someone else to help pay for their cruise; AND
3) CARNIVAL now has possession of my $500!!!
We put people in jail around here for stealing. Can this cruise line get away with that?
Let alone they are a part of the Costa Concordia that sank off the coast of Italy, or that they owned the cruise ship that caught fire in the Mexican Riviera, or that another of their ships lost power to the discomfort of passengers for many hours, lets talk about their dishonesty and policies that are slanted to serve only the cruise line.
I did appreciate the customer service rep today who finally talked to me, the customer, instead of shuffling me off to the agent again. She informed me that there are MANY others who share my same dilemma and are disillusioned with them - but the cruise line will not change their policy.
There you go. Want a PEOPLE FRIENDLY cruise line? Choose any other company besides CARNIVAL. And happy cruising.
Tisha (a poorer but wiser traveler)
Sandy, Utah
June
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