Thirty-two dollars.
That’s all that separated a good cruise from a bad one, in Nick Prewett’s mind. That’s how much he’d paid Carnival for ground transportation back to Miami International Airport through its Web site.
Our first night on the ship we received our shore excursion tickets which we had also booked online prior to our departure, but no transfer tickets.
On our final night on ship, I called the front desk to inquire about the return transfer. At that time I was told there was no record of a return transfer. Upon clearing customs, we exited the doors and the buses were taking transfer tickets.
Since we did not have a transfer ticket, we elected to take a cab. I never thought to ask for a receipt since I was on vacation and had been told on the ship they had no record of a transfer purchase.
Turns out Prewett had been charged for ground transfers, but for some reason, the vouchers were never delivered.
He contacted Carnival by e-mail to ask for a refund. Denied.
So he phoned the cruise line.
I called and spoke with Corina, and she was very good at explaining some facts that I wish I would have known before hand.
First, that my name was on an electronic manifest and that all I had to do was check in and they would have let me on the bus.
Second, that if I had a receipt, I could be reimbursed for my cab fare.
Third, that not everyone is on the electronic manifest and that some people still have vouchers to get on the bus.
My concern is that at no time during my booking, my trip or even when I asked on the ship, was I instructed how to take the transfer to the airport.
Corina said she was a supervisor and was very understanding of my situation, but said that she could do nothing to give me a refund regarding this situation. I asked to speak with someone else in a management position and she said that she spoke on behalf of the management in her department and that there was nothing they could do to help me in this situation.
She apologized and said that if I had a receipt or had I checked in to get on the bus that it would not be an issue. She stressed that it was out of the control of her department to issue a refund to me.
So, to recap: Prewett buys ground transfers online, but is never told that he doesn’t need vouchers to redeem the trip back to MIA. But it tells him after the fact. And now Carnival wants to pocket the money.
Needless to say, he’s disappointed.
Carnival does a great deal to ensure guests are happy and know exactly what to do to make their vacation exciting, but I feel I was let down with my purchase of a return transfer.
For me this isn’t about the $32 for the transfer, it is about providing correct, accurate information to keep guests happy.
I believe that I acted in good faith to find out how to utilize my return transfer. It’s funny how the little things like this can grow to overshadow a wonderful vacation.
I asked Carnival to check its records related to Prewett’s ground transfers. A representative responded:
Our policy, when guests claim they did not use transfers for whatever reason, is to either request the unused transfer voucher or proof of the alternate form of transportation used before a refund is considered. However, for this particular situation, we’ll offer either a future onboard credit for $32 or a refund.
Our guest care department will be contacting the guest to advise.
Nice. But really, this could have been avoided if a supervisor had just asked this one simple question: Is it worth $32 to keep a customer happy? Particularly if it’s $32 for a service we weren’t able to provide?
If Carnival’s managers can’t make that kind of a simple decision, maybe this problem goes way beyond a miscommunication over a ground transfer.
Way, way beyond.
(Photo: joshbousel/Flickr Creative Commons)
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I’m surprised Mr. Prewett doesn’t commnet anywhere on on the cab being more pleasant, quicker, and less explensive than a cruise line transfer!
Why didn’t Mr. Prewett ask about the transfer tickets before the last night of the cruise? At that point, the guest services desk on board is typically swamped with people making settlements to their statements, that probably only a cursory search was made (not to excuse the cruise line, just stating a fact). If he had asked as soon as he realized he didn’t have tickets, he probably could have avoided this. Also, why not inquire at the bus as to whether or not they might have had a record of the purchase? We just got back from a cruise with Carnival — my packet of paperwork I took with me included a printout of the receipt screen and the email we received showing which excursions had been purchased. That way if we did not receive tickets for one of them we would have had proof as to the transaction and could have handled it much sooner.
My own experience is that if you’re traveling between Canaveral and MCO, book a one-way car rental each way.
Many of the car rental companies have offices within blocks of the port and/or closest hotels. Believe it or not, it’s cheaper, and much, much nicer. Ar Orlando, we walked right over, picked up a car and drove to Canaveral, where we turned it in and got our hotel’s shuttle to that facility. Disembarking from the ship, my husband took the car rental company’s shuttle to their offices, picked up the car and came back for us. It gave our toddler a little longer to say goodbye to the “MIckey ship.”
Michael, I agree, why didn’t he ask earlier in the cruise? BUT, this may have been a first time cruiser and didn’t know what was normal. Even if he was an experienced cruiser, he may not have realized until the last night that he didn’t have the voucher. And he obviously thought that asking onboard the ship was the right place to ask – the transfer buses line up in a different place than the taxis in Miami so he probably thought he would be wasting his time walking over there.
Still in Miami (and most ports), a taxi is the cheaper and better option than cruiseline transfers so hopefully next time he’ll just skip the frustrations with the cruiseline and go independent.
A couple of years ago we had the same experience with another cruise line after missing our connecting flight. We were told someone would meet us at the airport in NAS.No one did. We took a cab. When we arrived at the dock it was already boarding and we ran to get on board. No receipt. Response no re-embursement. Must be one ot the cruise industry’s new profit centers.
Ya know… I hear soooo many negative comments about cruise lines and the way they do their “business” that I have zero desire to ever take a cruise. I don’t feel like I could ever trust these companies to be honorable in their dealings.
If he had used a travel agent to book his cruise, this would not have been an issue. Just another reason to use a professional who would have made sure he had all of his needed documents ahead of time…
Unfortunately the answer the cruise line gave him is standard as they never back down from policy. This being said, if he had used a professional to book the cruise, that agent would most likely have been able to get him a refund after he returned home due to their relationships with the cruise lines. Since it does not cost the traveler any more to book the cruise through a professional (and sometimes it can be less) I just don’t understand while people try to do this themselves ??
Once again another problem, because vacationers think they can do better themselves and not use a professional travel agent. This problem will also increase as many cruise lines are switching to edocs.Tip a good agent proofs the documents and would have an answer before the client went on vacation. Also, the internet doesn’t get the customer a lower price if the rate decreases, a good travel agent does.
Did he have a printout of his reservation that he made online, to show the cruise what he had purchased? With any type of purchase made online, you should ALWAYS print out your proof of purchase. And in if the purchase is travel related, you need to take the print out with you for exactly something like this.
So from a cruiseline’s point of view: Who’s to say anyone sold RECEIVED vouchers less than face value and took a nice taxi ride? Those vouchers are the same as cash to the bus service–that’s how the independently owned contractor gets paid. It also holds up the bus when the count of guests doesn’t match the number of collected vouchers. And this electronic list, who’s to say the bus driver isn’t checking off for a full bus even though some decided not to wait to have their luggage stuffed on a bus and took a taxi? Who’s to know?
And no receipt for the taxi ride because you were on vacation. C’mon. Do me a favor, please post everywhere that you’ll never, ever cruise with Carnival again over this and quit wasting bandwidth over $32.
This is exactly what you get when you don’t use a travel agent. A travel agent would have covered this with him before he went, and made sure that he had everything that he needed, and had his back in the event something did go wrong.