“We were not treated as valued customers of Carnival”

by Anita Dunham-Potter on September 4, 2009

miracleFred and Deborah Marenna were looking forward to celebrating their 25th anniversary on the Carnival Miracle. It was the perfect itinerary for celebrating as it would visit exotic Panama and Costa Rica.

But the day before the Connecticut couple was to fly to Fort Lauderdale, things started to fall apart. Their travel agent called with bad news: The Miracle’s entire itinerary was being altered and the ship would no longer be visiting Panama or Costa Rica. The couple had the option to continue the cruise with the revised itinerary that would include a $50 onboard credit or they could opt to receive a full refund.

Money for nothing

The Marennas were devastated as the entire reason they booked the cruise was to visit Panama and Costa Rica so they opted not to go on the sailing and receive a full refund. But they were angry. They were out $100 on airline cancellation fees and $190 for cruise insurance that proved to be useless since it would not cover any loses because the cruise wasn’t canceled.

Fred Marenna felt he was entitled to more restitution and contacted Carnival with his issue. “We have cruised with Carnival several times before and I am surprised we weren’t given some other options like booking us on another cruise with the same itinerary or some other compensation.”

After several letters to the company and not getting any responses he contacted Consumer Traveler for help.

Miracle whipped

I contacted Carnival to get their side of the story and spoke with Carnival spokesperson, Vance Gulliksen. He stated that the December 15, 2008 sailing onboard the Miracle was changed due to a “technical problem” that affected the vessel’s sailing speed. “This made the vessel unable to operate its scheduled eight-day western Caribbean cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Panama, Costa Rica and Belize,” said Gulliksen. The ship’s original three-port itinerary was changed to an alternate route that featured four ports of call: Costa Maya, Cozumel, Belize and Roatan. Gulliksen noted the technical problem only affected the ship’s sailing speed and that all hotel systems were operating normally.

Upon learning of the situation, Gulliksen said Carnival distributed letters to all guests and travel agents with clients the affected sailing on Dec. 12 advising them of the itinerary change. Guests scheduled to sail on the affected voyage were offered the option of receiving of a full refund of their cruise fare or sailing on the modified itinerary and receiving a $50 shipboard credit.

The Miracle’s propulsion problem was subsequently fixed and the ship is currently in New York operating eight-day Caribbean voyages but will resume its eight-day southern and western Caribbean voyages from Fort Lauderdale in October. “Carnival sincerely apologizes for the disruption to the Marenna’s vacation plans,” said Gulliksen. He adds they would gladly work with the Marennas in applying their refunded cruise fare in re-booking one of these voyages.

Fred Marenna doesn’t agree he just wants to sail on the itinerary he purchased or at least be refunded the $290 he lost.

As the prop turns

Propulsion problems on cruise ships are rare, but they do occur. “Cruise lines are typically quite fair with passengers whose vacations are inconvenienced, canceled or have substantially altered itineraries,” says Stewart Chiron, a cruise industry expert who is nationally recognized as The Cruise Guy.

Chiron notes that these issues are often handled as a group, but also on a case-by-case basis. “Cruise lines are in the service business and care a great deal about their passengers,” he says. So, did Carnival do right by the Marennas? According to Chiron, not really. “Carnival should have refunded or credited the value of the insurance premium paid by the Marennas as a goodwill gesture to encourage their future booking. The couple is on their own with the airline change fee because it wasn’t booked through the cruise line.”

As for Fred Marenna, he is disappointed that Carnival didn’t come through and “do the right thing” to rectify the problem. “We were not treated as valued customers of Carnival,” he says.

(Photo: mcw026/Flickr Creative Commons)

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Tagged as: azipod problems, canal, canceled trip, cancelled ports, Carnival Cruise Lines, Carnival Miracle, Costa Rica, cruise issues, Panama, propulsion problems, Stewart Chiron, The Cruise Guy, travel insurance, Vance Gulliksen

  • http://cigarcruises.net Clay

    Why does this surprise anyone? Carnival it not known for their stellar customer service representatives. Now I will say that if you look at the Coast Guard Maritime Information Exchange propulsion problems are more common than thought, but I don’t actually fault Carnival. If this were last year the cruiseline would have offered cash for the air change fee, not so today. We are all affected by the economy. It’s unfortunate that their vacation was postponed, but the only ones that can “ruin” it are the travelers themselves. As an agent, it’s my responsibility to make their inconvenience palatable and fix it. Anyone can book a cruise, If I can’t properly set realistic expectations or manage upsets, what good am I?

  • nadabrainiac

    I don’t quite get the problem. Maybe it’s just me, though. If those ports were so critical to see on those specific days, why not just fly there? If the bigger point was to take a cruise, that didn’t change. If the bigger point was to spend some quality time with someone important to you, that didn’t change. It appears they are regular cruisers, so these places could be included on a future cruise, and the new destinations could be enjoyed on this cruise. It feels to me like the cruise line made reasonable accommodations under the circumstances. I’m not a cruiser, but I’ve always had the impression that itineraries are subject to, and often do, change, due to a variety of reasons. If that’s the case, and i was a regular, I would probably have a mindset that took that into consideration when I was making my reservations.

  • Jim P.

    While I tend to side with the customer..the cruise contract does spell out quite specifically that the line has the right to change the itinerary and ports at any time for any reason.

    Having mechanical difficulties that make the original schedule impossible but which are not severe enough to take the ship immediately out of action certainly seems a reasonable issue.

    This is like going to Disneyland, riding Space Mountain maybe the the entire reason you went but if the day you get there, it’s broken and not running, it’s not Disney’s fault nor do they owe you a whole lot for the situation.

    Had the couple booked their air through the line they’d have been covered..I know, it’d also cost more but that’s how it goes. The insurance company probably owed them a partial refund since they did not get to use the product for the entire period. They are not owed a fullr efund since some benefits of the insurance were activated the moment they bought it, they were paying for coverage for a number of things but a specific itinerary was certainly not one of them.

  • http://thevacationstop.com Steve Mencik

    If they had purchased travel insurance from a third party, instead of from Carnival (as I assume, though it is not stated), they may have been covered for the difference.

    Otherwise, the customer really has no case. Itineraries can be altered for many reasons, including mechanical and weather. In fall of 2008, my wife and I were supposed to visit Grand Turk, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten on a cruise. Hurricane Omar said we weren’t going to St. Thomas and St. Maarten, but to Ocho Rios and Grand Cayman instead. St. Maarten is one of the few islands that we have yet to visit, and was one of the reasons we chose that cruise. Was I disappointed? Of course. Did I want to visit the port during a hurricane? Hell no!

    They should be thankful they weren’t sent to Ocho Rios. That seems to be one of the favorite replacement ports. Another cruise I was on skipped Limon, Costa Rica and went to Ocho Rios due to political unrest in Costa Rica. I’ve been to Ocho Rios too many times now. Couldn’t they at least try Montego Bay?

  • http://www.cruisemagic@org Susan

    When purchasing airfare separately from the cruiseline, you should always purchase third party insurance to cover both. Had this been done, the insurance company would probably have paid for the airline change fee.

  • MollyNYC

    It wasn’t clear to me from the story if the Marenna’s bought their insurance from Carnival or an independant company. After going on a number of cruises, talking to travel agents, as well as other passengers, most people know that they should never buy insurance from the cruise company. I’m surprised that the Marenna’s didn’t know this after 5 cruises. The Marenna’s need to find a new Travel Agent, as theirs is totally clueless on this important issue.

    Years ago, a cruiseline cancelled our cruise. We got a full refund from the cruiseline, and our insurance company allowed us to put our insurance policy “on hold” for a future cruise. We used it two years later for a different itinerary with another cruiseline.

    That said, Carnival was cheap and tacky in their compensation. If the insurance was bought through them, they could have easily allowed the Marenna’s to apply it to a future cruise w/ them. And they should have refunded the $100. air fare loss as a gesture of good will. Even doing the $100. as a room credit for a future cruise would have been acceptable. So, what could cost Carnival very little in actual money, but would compensate the Marenna’s fully for their $290.00, is what gives Carnival their “K-Mart of the Seas” reputation.

    I too have been on cruises where ports I was looking forward to visiting were cancelled due to circumstances beyond the cruiseline’s control. The management has always come through with what we thought was appropriate compensation – and we never had to ask for it. Carnival’s response to the Marenna’s doesn’t surprise me.

  • Trvl agnt CJB

    I’m a travel agent and last May when the Swine Flu started I had a group leaving from San Diego on a 4 night Carnival cruise and one of the ports was Ensenada, which was canceled. Carnival gave my clients the option to rebook or a $50 on board credit. One client opted to rebook next year. Carnival gave them full credit including the insurance. It’s my understanding if Carnival, not the client, makes the decision that the insurance is not affected.

  • Multi-cruiser

    I have cruised probably two dozen times, six of them on Carnival ships before I learned my lesson and finally decided that my last Carnival cruise WAS my LAST Carnival cruise. Carnival has NEVER treated me like a “valued customer,” but I kept cruising with them because it WAS a value and it was convenient. I have decided that the “value” wasn’t worth the “cheap and tacky” treatment I received. The last cruise involved a multitude of problems which affected numerous passengers (especially everyone in the dining room at the dinner seating we were assigned), but no one on board cared to address any of the issues. The last straw for me was when half of our shore excursion was cancelled but we weren’t informed until the bus was under way and no price adjustment was offered. When I wrote to Carnival asking for a refund of half the cost of the day trip, I was informed that Carnival contracts with independent vendors for their shore excursions – which I already knew – and was not responsible. True, but Carnival advertised the excursion, I paid my money to Carnival and Carnival handed me the tickets. They should assume some responsibility in guaranteeing that their passengers are getting what they pay for. Fortunately it was a relatively inexpensive outing – in fact, I would have been appeased with only $20 or $25 back. Instead, I was offered a “free gift” on my next Carnival cruise. I politely declined the offer and informed them that I don’t need another key chain and would be severing all future travel for myself and anyone else I can talk into cruising on any other cruise line out there – and as a trained-but-not-working-as-a travel agent, cruise coordinator and tour director, that’s a considerable number that I’ve been able to influence over the past couple of years. I know it’s not a drop in the bucket to Carnival’s bottom line, but I feel better knowing that I may be saving my friends and family from being treated like cruising cattle.

    P.S. NEVER buy travel insurance from your travel provider whether it be a cruise line, a touring company or whatever. Especially in these economic times, you never know how stable a company really is and if the company goes under, there goes your insurance right along with your trip. And always pay by credit card as an extra level of protection. I have been saved a couple of times by following these simple rules.

  • DesrtDrmr

    The cruise contract always states that the itinerary can be changed for any reason. The Marenna’s could have rebooked their cruise at a later date or changed cruise lines with their refunded fare. Carnival is not the only cruise line that goes to those ports. I don’t know what kind of insurance they had, but we have had to cancel several cruises due to “uncovered” reasons, and the insurance companies have always let us apply the insurance to a future cruise. Unfortunately, the air change is up to them if they didn’t purchase air through the cruise line, but they probably saved over a hundred dollars purchasing it on their own. I don’t think they were owed any thing more than they got. If the truly wanted to celebrate their 25th on a cruise, they could have taken the credit and sailed on that day, if they wanted to visit those ports, they could have taken another cruise. I’m not unsympathetic to their plight, but feel that they are acting rather childish in refusing any of the offered solutions and then crying about it…….. I hope they enjoy their 25th Anniversary, whatever they choose to do. That’s a special one, for sure.

  • http://aol barbara

    yes you should have; carnival caters to a a young and not very sophisticated adult clientale ,and young adult party goers.i had an awful experience with them and left the ship and payed only a third of my cost which was more than enough for the aggravation i had.

  • RyanWest

    Carnival’s actions were very reasonable. The Marennas were advised of the changes before the sailing and given several options. Both the airfare and travel insurance are unrelated issues since they were not booked through the cruise line. The cruise line is under no obligation to compensate the travelers based on business decisions.

    Over the years, I have had my share of issues with cruise lines:
    Princess Cruise line canceled our entire cruise four days before sailing. We received a full refund and a “we’re sorry”.
    NCL changed our ports of call without any notification. We received a note under our door of the changes with a line telling us to read the small print.
    NCL made a billing error on our final payment after several letters, including an insulting one from the CEO’s office; we had to have our credit card company settle it.
    While on RCCL’s Song of America the ship caught fire. We received a full refund less a $50 fee for a hotel stay the night before
    our sailing.
    While on Holland America we sailed though a hurricane (quite the e-ticket ride); no compensation offered and no discounts at the bars.

    The offer by Carnival meets the industry norm. Like with anything read the small print in the back of the brochure before signing on.

  • emtravels

    My instincts confirmed! Thank you, posters, for your comments….. I knew there was an intuitive reason I turned out cruise invitations…….

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