Carnival Cruise Line
http://www.carnival.com/
http://www.carnivalcruise.ca/
I’ve been on 5 Carnival Cruise Line cruises in total now starting from 1989 to 2009 & while the first 3 cruises I went on with Carnival were okay (the first one back in 1989 was the best), the last two were so terrible, I REFUSE to ever go near Carnival Cruise Line again.
In my opinion, the company has gone down the drain & at this point are so mismanaged & care so little about customer service, that it’s not just my review that says they are terrible, I did a quick search when I came back from my cruise in September & found other reviews of Carnival that were sad too.
I feel Carnival is greedy & I will show you how greedy they are based on what I experienced.
I documented my experiences on this last cruise & it came to 10 pages, but I know no one is going to want to read 10 pages, so I’ll try to be as short as possible. It came out long, I’m sorry, I tried to cut it short.
- I first started to have problems with Carnival when trying to book a cruise with them. I got a price quote & then 2 weeks later I called back & was told the price was $100 more.
I told the guy I wanted to pay the original price I had been quoted. He said he’d see what he could do, but he couldn’t really do anything because the prices had gone up. He said he would call me back. I told him if I have to speak to your manager, I can do that too.
Never heard back from the guy.I called him twice, left him messages, didn’t hear back AGAIN.
Called his supervisor, left a message, you guessed it, no call back again, so FINALLY I called head office to speak to the President’s office – Jerry Kahil.
The President’s executive assistant Susan doesn’t know how to deal with the public, I can tell you that right now.
There have been times with a few different companies when I’ve had to deal with the President’s Executive Assistant & each & every time I have dealt with them, they have been very very nice, sharp, & they get things done that same day. That’s why they are given the job to assist the President.
Susan was this close to making me get off the phone & me booking a cruise with their competitor. She didn’t care that I was a returning customer, her attitude was, “well I don’t know what you want me to do.”
Finally only because I wanted to book the cruise since it was all I could budget out, I made her step up to the plate & move her ass.
If a company makes the customer do all the work to get things done, you know it’s a terrible company.
She said she would have the sales rep call me.
LOL, do you think I EVER got a call????
Of course NOT! Not that day, not for the next 4 days, so I called back again & this time after leaving a message on Susan’s voice mail, she didn’t even have the courtesy to call me back, she had customer service call me back & you know what they gave me for me wasting my time for about 2-3 hours?
A $25 credit towards my cabin.
This company Carnival Cruise Line makes BILLIONS of dollars, they treated me like a nobody, dropped the ball not once, but many times, & then they have the audacity to only give me a credit of $25.
By this time I had already booked the cruise with a travel agent & guess what? They gave me an even better rate than the first Carnival cruise line rate I had received.
- Over the next several weeks I had to arrange things, get all the details together so I’d be all prepared for my cruise with my son. I booked cabin decorations for my son’s birthday that was 3 days into the cruise. I specifically told the guy NOT to put the decorations in the cabin for when we arrived, but to do it on the 31st. He even asked me if I wanted it on the 29th & I said NO, weren’t you listening?
Well you guessed it, the decorations were there when we arrived & some were even falling down from the walls.
This is the ONLY credit I got from Carnival for all the mistakes they made during my cruise, but what really irked me, is that they didn’t believe me when I said I requested them on the 31st, they insinuated that I was lying or trying to rip them off.
This was a foreshadowing of the terrible attitude Carnival’s staff gave off while I was on my cruise.
It became apparent to me that all they care about is money & trying to get money from me.
As an entrepreneur I know full well you want to make as much money off of every customer or client you have, but to make them feel that way is TOTALLY not good business sense at all.
- Before even sailing, the quality of service I got from their main Carnival number was terrible. They might have been nice, but I was given misinformation many times that ended up costing me time & money. I was first told that if I brought my own laptop I wouldn’t be paying the same prices one pays for Internet access within the Internet Cafe where they give you a PC to access the net.Days before I was about to leave on vacation, I found out that was WRONG, whether you bring your own laptop or use their space & desktop computer, they charge you the same rates.
So, I had gone out to purchase a laptop for no reason at all.
Also it makes no business sense to me at all that you would charge someone the same amount for bringing their own hardware, using their own space, etc. vs. a customer using their desk & desktop computers. I wrote to head office, they didn’t care. In fact I don’t think they even understood my point so I was starting to get the feeling that they have very very poor communication skills.
- More Internet issues happened while I was on the cruise & I’ve come to the conclusion that whoever they hire to design their main site & the Internet login access site on the cruises doesn’t know what he’s doing. A billion dollar company & they can’t even afford to get a programmer, website coder, GUI expert to design their sites properly because I had problems with Carnival’s site before even sailing. Yes, more wasted time.
The Internet access on the ship was sooo slow, (yes they admitted it won’t be as fast as your high speed at home), that in the end it costs you even more money than their per minute or package rates because of how slow it is.
There were several times that I couldn’t even connect, AND even times when the login page to login wouldn’t load. Finally after a couple of days I got the hang of how to get to the login page, but the point is I shouldn’t have to struggle to get there in the first place. That’s why it’s called “USER FRIENDLY“.
The first time I didn’t complain, but then after it happened several times in a 2 day period, I complained to the front desk. They put me through to the IT manager or left a message for him, & he never called me back. Later on he said he never got the message.When I had to call him again to complain & ask a simple billing question, I was never given a credit for all the wasted time I had spent calling the front desk, trying to reach him (Zolta), not being able to do my work because I couldn’t connect, etc.
In fact he was very rude which is typical of IT people. They shouldn’t be handling customer service, any company that cares about customer service knows that. He didn’t quite get that it doesn’t matter how many times I logged onto the Internet, what mattered was how many times I couldn’t log on. To him me wasting my time & getting frustrated was no big deal.
My point is this, if I’m going to pay ridiculous rates likes 55-75 cents per minute, you are damm right I’m going to expect quality service.
If you can’t provide consistent service, than you shouldn’t be charging those rates just because your customers are being held on a ship with nowhere else to go.
I spoke to guest relations again after speaking to Zolta, but of course they never called me back or compensated me for my time & money.
- Carnival’s spa. Everyone knows that Carnival’s spa charges an arm & a leg for any service you get & the girls who do the services aren’t that great & I know what good & great are, I’ve been seeing estheticians for the last 25 years.
Anyway, before I even sailed, I called up Carnival to ask if I got a massage, would I be able to get a registered receipt from a licensed massage therapist.The girl said I think so, I said NO, don’t think, please go ask, so I waited on hold while she went to ask.I was told YES, I could get a legitimate receipt so I could write off the massage to my health plan.
I decided I needed a massage, so when I got on the ship, I booked a massage, but before I did, I asked this girl who was right there in the spa (the other girl wasn’t on the ship, she’s just at a call center), do I GET a legitimate massage receipt so I can write this off to my health plan.
I couldn’t afford to get a massage unless I got the money back from my health plan.
She told me YES, they would give me a receipt.
The girl who gave me the so called $195 massage was okay, except at the end when she left me to get dressed & then never came back. So, I had to go & find my way out to the front.
Clearly chatting it up with the receptionist was more important since that’s where I found her.
The same spa company has been managing Carnival’s spa area ever since I can remember. Some English company. Sometimes you luck out & get a really great girl, other times you don’t.
How much you want to bet that they aren’t even licensed massage therapists?
I’ve been getting massages for around the last 20 years, so I know a good massage from a mediocre one.
If it was a really great massage, okay, I could justify $195, but it wasn’t all that great. I’d rate it a 6-7.
Guess what else I experienced. So a spa area is supposed to be nice & quiet, right????
Well CARNIVAL decided to design their ship with one of the kids’ camps right above the spa so all I would hear during my relaxing massage was kids screaming & feet stomping. In fact the first time it happened it scared me.
Anyway, back to the receipt…
Yes, I’m sure you have already figured out the end of the story… I forgot to ask for the receipt because it just slipped my mind & 2 days later I remembered that I never received it, so I called up the spa & spoke to Jo & she told me that NO, they don’t issue those kinds of receipts. I said yes they do, I was told twice that you do.
She told me she would call me back, but do you think they ever did?
Nope.
I then called & got Jo again & I said you told me someone would call me.
She “claimed” that the manager got me mixed up with another Michelle. She said she would put a note on her desk.
Again no phone call, so I called guest services, spoke to Hima & instead of the manger of the spa calling me, Candice (one of the supervisors at guest relations) calls me & tells me no, there is no receipt.
I was furious. I would NEVER have spent that kind of money on a massage had I known I couldn’t write it off to my health plan. I felt & still feel that Carnival mislead me on purpose to take my money. 2 people lied to me.
Jamie the manager of the spa called me back saying she never got any messages from Jo (see they speak English & somehow they can’t communicate, or they are all just playing one big HUGE game stringing customers along, because why would Jo lie & say that there was a mixup between 2 clients both named Michelle?) & that no, they can’t give out receipts because they are International.
I called Candice back, she said she would send that off to head office, but do you think I ever got a response from head office? LOL, of course NOT. They took me for almost $200 & that’s all Carnival cares about.
Other smaller things that happened that just added to the terrible vacation…
- I inquired about a necklace in their jewelry shop. It had no price & the girl was clueless as to how to get the price. I asked the girl to have someone call me, she wanted me to call them because hey, it’s my job to chase the company when I’m on vacation. She took the message, no one called.
- We were told at the first demarcation point that we had to have photo ID which I didn’t know about, so we got downstairs (it takes around 20-30 minutes to get to the area to disembark) & then we had to rush all the way back upstairs to get it. I called the front desk to make sure we even had time to go onto the Island because it was getting late & we still had to get our ID, then trek all the way back down again.
Later on the next day I found out we didn’t need our ID for that stop because Half Moon Cay is one of Carnival’s own Islands. So that’s 2 sets of employees that have no clue what is going on. We wasted our time, energy & were frazzled.
- My son orders a sprite on the island & the girl wouldn’t let him take the can.
- When we first boarded the ship & signed in, we were never told my son’s sail & sign/cabin card wouldn’t work to buy things, so midway through the cruise when it didn’t work, we had to backtrack from where we were & what we were doing (trying to vacation), all the way to guest relations to find out why it didn’t work. You have to understand ships are very large, so to do that round trip takes almost 30 minutes, not to mention having to stand in line to wait to talk to someone. Again poor communication skills.
- Calling guest relations is always a nightmare. The line is always busy, or I got disconnected & then when I called back & tell them I just got disconnected, the guy who answered didn’t apologize, he just robotically said, “how may I help you.” as if I hadn’t said a thing that warranted an apology.
- I ordered a small cake for my son’s birthday & instead we got a large. I had to make sure I wasn’t overcharged. Same guy who screwed up on the decorations.
- The ship’s temperature in the dinning areas at night time was freezer temperature. Finally after freezing for 2-3 nights straight so we couldn’t even play cards (I thought maybe things would change after a day or something) I went to complain to guest relations. I was told they can’t change the temperature. Lovely, I go on a cruise to be in freezing cold temperatures.
- On one of the excursions the time on the ticket said 9 am & I found it hard to believe that this short excursion was only available at 9 am when I knew we’d never get there in time. I go to guest relations to inquire. Girl says no, that’s what it says, 9 am.
Then I notice on the ticket that it says last showing at 4:30 pm, so I said there must be other show times if they say that. The girl goes to look it up on the excursion sheet & says to me, “you can go any time in between those times.
”No apology, nothing from her.
I’m not sure there were any lights on behind those eyes of hers that registered that I knew more than she did about her own company & how things are done, plus that it’s very rude to get something wrong & then not apologize.
- While we were using our steamer to steam clothes, two lights in the cabin went out, so we called maintenance. We had to go for dinner & figured by the time we got back it would be fixed. I figured the first thing the maintenance guy would check was the fuse, but he didn’t.
When I walked in the door he was fixing something else with the bathroom light & even though I told two people at guest services, he didn’t even know that the other light was out too.
When I told him, I also asked him if all the lights were on one breaker & he said he didn’t know.
That’s when he decided to check & guess what, the minute he flipped it, the lights went on.
He also stood on the stool I use to sit on while working at the table. He never covered it with anything, & when he put the stool back, he didn’t even wipe it off. I had to do that for him.
- At one of our sea days we went to eat lunch in the dinning room only to be turned away because they close lunch at 1:30 pm. I was shocked & upset since I didn’t know they stopped serving at 1:30 pm. When I walked out to the hallway, guess what time it was on the ship’s clock? 1:33. The maitre d’ knew I was upset & didn’t like the lunch on the lido deck, but clearly that didn’t matter, he still turned us away for a measly 3 minutes.
- I did receive a note about a $25 credit when we first arrived, but I didn’t realize it was because of that credit I had received months earlier. I thought maybe it was because of all of the screw-ups & my son’s birthday, so when I called to talk to guest relationship about the $25 credit from head office, someone named Everine proceeded to treat me with disrespect asking me if:
a) I got some letter stating I was supposed to get a $25 credit
b) She demanded to know what transpired & when I told her Carnival screwed up, she made it seem like Carnival never screws up. LOL, yeh right.
c) who gave you this credit, as if I am going to remember the names from months earlier.
d) then she tries to make it seem like I was given a $50 credit when I initially told her it was a $25 credit. The reason she assumed this is because there was already a $25 credit on my account, but because of her lack of intelligence, she didn’t put 2 & 2 together & tell me the $25 credit was already on my account.
I, NOT her, finally figured out that the note I received when we first arrived was for that credit.
It was just all about her attitude & man, these people on board are very very stupid. That’s why there are soooo many mistakes.
- The last thing that happened that really pissed me off, is that you can view your bill from your room on their TV. It always looked to me to be accurate, so based on my balance, I decided to go play Bingo.
Then on the last night of the cruise a spa treatment my son had had 3 days earlier “suddenly” appeared on the invoice taking me over what I had wanted to spend.
I have a feeling Carnival does this on purpose so you spend more money on the last day thinking you have more money when really you don’t. My massage treatment showed up on the invoice the night I had it, so why would his spa treatment not show up for 3 days?
So that about wraps up just this one horror story about Carnival Cruise Line.
I’ve come to the conclusion that because there are so many foreigners on board who don’t understand English or communicate well, too many issues crop up. There are more foreigners now then there were when I cruised with them before, but even the girls from England in the spa can’t explain their treatments to me. I have to keep asking questions & say “you didn’t say that before”, to get a complete understanding of what is being sold.
One night I spent 20 minutes walking back & forth from one end of the ship to another because either I was given the wrong club to go to for the comedy hour, or because the staff I was talking to didn’t know where the room was.
Then with all the lying & game playing Carnival does…
Did I have some good times? Yes, I did try to enjoy myself despite all of this.
I finally found a good waiter because the other 2 weren’t good so that was a relief, some of the food was good (some great fish), but I remember the food being better the last several times.
I did go to their Supper Club, but I don’t recommend it at all. The bread was the only thing that was really good, the Dover Sole I ordered was tasteless which is rare, so even though it was a good price at $60 for 2 people, it wasn’t worth it for me to spend that extra money.
The cruise director Noonan was funny, but really, I spent the good majority of my vacation having to deal with Carnival’s terrible service & based on their attitude overall, there is no way I will ever sail with them again.
The only reason I decided to sail with them this time, is because their prices are definitely cheaper than any other cruise line, BUT, is it worth it? NO, it’s not.
One wants to enjoy their vacation, not feel like their money is being taken. People want the company who is taking the money to care about them & it’s clear Carnival just doesn’t.
Even though the cruise was cheaper, I wasted a lot of money I didn’t have to waste because of the problems I mentioned above.
I don’t want someone who wants to try cruising for the first time to be deterred from cruising ever again & I’m concerned a newbie will think all cruises are like my experience & they aren’t.
In my opinion Carnival is just a terrible company.
About 3 years ago I had a problem with one of their staff when trying to get a discount they promised me reinstated because it expired.
She proceeded to cause problems with one of my staff lying about me or making up some story, & Carnival didn’t do a thing about it.
This is unfortunately typical of how Carnival runs their company.
Whatever you decide, I hope you enjoy your vacation & CRUISE.
Michelle
