Comments on: “It’s funny how the little things like this can grow to overshadow a wonderful vacation”

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:57:51 +0000

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.

By: Nobody

Nobody — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:22:01 +0000

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.

By: Bodega

Bodega — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:31:12 +0000

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.

By: ninas

ninas — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:44:55 +0000

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.

By: Deb

Deb — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:15:34 +0000

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 ??

By: Dawn

Dawn — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:27:20 +0000

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.

By: Bob Sime

Bob Sime — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:26:29 +0000

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.

By: Tweets that mention “It’s funny how the little things like this can grow to overshadow a wonderful vacation” -- Topsy.com

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:18:35 +0000

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By: warped

warped — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:01:13 +0000

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.

By: Laura Townsend Elion

Laura Townsend Elion — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:58:44 +0000

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.”