I have made oral and written complains. But I didn’t get any responses. So I make this complain again. We were on board the carnival pride on March 27, 2011 and planned to celebrate my parents’ 50th marriage anniversary at Paradise island Bahams. My parents travelled all the way from China for this purpose. However, the ship didn’t go to Nassau due to the mechanical failure at Port Canaveral (Orlando), FL. The reason is that the crew failed to handle the situation appropriately by dropping the anchor too fast. As a direct impact, our celebration plan was totally ruined. So as a remedy, we booked a shore excursion at free port Bahamas, but not till the last minutes we didn’t learn that the shore excursion was cancelled. The person in charge the excursion even lied to us that he noticed everyone at his/her cabin. The fact is that we stayed in the cabin till the last minute and no one ever knocked our door or left any notes at the door. This incident left us stayed on the ship without any other choice; all other excursions were not available at that time. This incident totally ruined our travel and our mood as well. Last thing I want to complain is that during cruise disembarkation at Baltimore port, we were told to wait for a group people pass the gate first. We waited for 40 minutes until that group was gone; the crew member told we can’t take off on this side and we spend another 1.5 hour lined up on the side of the ship. Over all, the management of the ship was chaos, and the crew should take full response of missing the port of Nassau.

Carnival promised us that if we booked a senior rate and the price changed before we sailed they would credit us the difference. Our price did drop and when I called, they would only upgrade our room. They first told me it was too close to sailing (I noticed online that the early saver rate has up until 2 days before sailing). I called 1 week before sailing.

i am 50 married 33 years we go some were 2 times ayear .we took a carnival cruise 8-28-10to9-2-10 from new orleans to carabean.for starters expedia charged me 50.00 per person more for rooms.our room got changed by carnival.took almost 2 hours to get on the boat.elevators take forever.tea is horrible cokes are to and are extra and must be gotten from bar ANOTHER WAIT .shock water ok .ate fine dinning 5 nights, very, very, very small portions and i had one good item.buffet was good exept not much to choose from and so many people i felt like i was in the pen with a bunch of hogs and we were all after the same bucket of slop.can you feal that?drinks-horrible tea, lemonade, and ok water.deserts[what].if you want service you need luck. house keeping and fine dinning service was great everything else did not exist .if you were lucky enough to find someone out of the 1100 crew they did not speek english.all the entertainment combined did not equill one show at branson mo.i will admit i did enjoy all the drunks.the rooms were better than i expected .its all abought money and thats ok except it is so obviuse.once they closed the stairway during a buissy evening on an already overcrowded boat.every were you go its crowded.you need to love to be close to a lot of people for a week.they ran it there way.it was nothing for them to close something and run you out.even a food bar.every thing is prompt so do not be late getting back on the boat.check your FUN CARD they charged me for 106. 00 they should not have.i found out who had the most FUN.they practically throw you off and it still took over an hour in line.then i was mad and in a hurry and carnival had no one watching or checking the luggage they had piled in the parking lot so i took a bag just like mine.THAT COST me another 45.00.a trip that started out to be 700.00 ended up costing about 1900.00.do not forget to have 80.00 up front for parking.bottom line.night mare on elm.NEVER BOOK EXPEDIA nor CRUISE with carnival.

On September 12, 2009 my wife and I boarded the Carnival Destiny whose itinerary included Grand Cayman and Jamaica. Upon stepping into the ship’s lobby, I overheard a fellow guest complaining about the ship’s safety and engine not working properly. I immediately went to the information desk and waited for over 20 minutes in line to be told that the ship’s propeller was not working properly and that the cruise was no longer going to the destinations that we originally purchased this cruise for. I was offered a 20% discount on a future cruise and directed back to the ship’s terminal to speak with a Carnival Cruise Line Supervisor to get further information and to find out all of our options. I left my wife in the lobby as she suffers from a chronic medical condition and has difficulty standing for long periods. When I entered the terminal it was a mad house, people were confused, angry and told that they would be able to speak to a supervisor if they signed up and got in line. I immediately signed up and was told repeatedly by a cruise associate that I would be the next in line to speak to the next available supervisor. I waited for over 2 ½ hours without speaking or meeting with one supervisor, even though all guests were told the ship would not leave the terminal until each guest was able to speak with a supervisor. Instead I was given a generic card for guest services to contact after the actual trip. With no options I had to return to the ship, as the horn was blowing indicating that the ship was leaving port. My wife was on this ship, as were our belongings, though we did not know the location of our luggage and were told if we got off the ship, it would be without our luggage, which wouldn’t be returned to us until the ship returned from the cruise. Some medications, personal care items and all of our clothing, shoes were in our luggage. This fact left us with no options, but to stay on a ship sailing to places we didn’t want to go. They never offered in any way to compensate us or return any of our money, and stated that if passengers didn’t take the cruise, their money wouldn’t be returned until 10 days after the cruise. We did not have additional funds for a hotel and did not have the ability to replace our clothing, medications, personal care products etc. We were therefore trapped, as we never received the letter that some passengers had received during the check in process, even though we had to wait in three separate lines to gain access to the ship. During the check in process at the terminal my wife and I waited in three different lines w/o any communication by the staff that the itinerary had changed. We had no way to get off the ship, as we didn’t know where are belongings were and couldn’t get our money returned to us that day. We did not have any money to take another flight home, as we were not scheduled to fly home until September 19th 2009 and on April 29th we had already paid $300.00 to change our airfare and travel destination in order to take the Carnival Destiny to Jamaica, as we had thoroughly enjoyed our last brief time in Jamaica several months ago, through the Carnival Freedom.
Not only were we devastated about not going to Jamaica, we were very angry that we were never given the opportunity prior to entering the ship and handing over our luggage to not take the cruise, as I never received the paperwork, period. I was promised I would have the ability to speak to a supervisor when I spoke with a customer service representative in the terminal and I never got the opportunity to find out what our options were, until the ship’s horn blew. Our trip was the absolute worse trip we have ever experienced in our entire lives. Not only was the staff rude, illiterate and unhelpful, they had no skills in terms of customer service. We were put in lines for breakfast and lunch that were obscenely long, in which 50-60 people were in one line as the staff closed other lines that could have reduced the 30-40 minutes it took to get our food. Food particles were frequently found on our plates, bowls and silverware, which we attribute as the source of the viral infections we acquired during our stay onboard. My wife unbeknownst to her ended up using a spoon that had dried on food particles and once this happened we frequently had to change utensils, bowls, plates for the fact that they had dried on food, which could have led to more than the food poisoning, and viral infections we obtained. Specifically, I obtained food poisoning on the first sea day after eating an undercooked hamburger during lunch. I also found my fork had dried on food particles on it as well. Vomiting, sweating, diarrhea ensued for over 24 hrs, which occurred less than one hour after eating the meal. Food borne illness is a serious issue. Hepatitis A, and other chronic diseases are a few of the diseases we could have acquired while unknowingly eating from utensils and plates, bowls that were not cleaned properly and when the issue of my food poisoning was brought to the attention of the kitchen staff, they never even responded to the seriousness of this issue, only stating that it sometimes happens. Room service failed to even come one day when we called, another day our room service tray sat out in front of our cabin for over 5 ½ hours. On the last day of our trip in port, we were told we could have breakfast until 9:30am and when I attempted to get some at 9:00am, the cruise attendants were putting it away, before I could even get to it.
On our first day at sea, my wife had to assist a female passenger who had fallen from the wet deck stairs of the hot tub. Puddles of water were everywhere by the pool and hot tub areas. My wife worked on preventing the woman from going into shock and preventing her from unconsciousness. When this fall occurred I went to the nearest staff and instructed him to call the medical personnel. The bar attendant who barely spoke English stated he wanted to see the woman first, and I had to continue redirecting him to get immediate medical attention. When I returned to the site of the woman’s fall, there were 10 or more workers standing around, not having any clue as to what to do. If it wasn’t for my wife and another passenger keeping her alert and awake, this woman may be in a coma today. The medical personnel did not arrive for at least 15 to 20 minutes and was a nurse, not the doctor, who came when the nurse requested his presence and it took him 10-15 minutes to get there. The nurse stated to my wife that she had completed all the requirements of a cardiac assessment and my wife tried to explain that the passenger hadn’t had a heart attack, but had instead fallen due to the slipperiness of the pool/hot tub area that was being neglected by the staff. The nurse demanded them to mop up the water, something that every other single cruise line we have ever been on, does on a consistent basis. When my wife tried to tell the doctor about the burning pain the fallen passenger was experiencing in her lower back, she was dismissed as he was focusing on the sling she had on from a fall that occurred the night before, because of slippery steps. The patient had to wait 10-15 minutes to get pain relief and as witnesses, wasn’t even asked if she was allergic to any medications. This woman may be dead today if she had indeed been allergic. These actions from the medical personnel display extreme negligence, malpractice and incompetency. The staff that placed her on a board rolled her on her back, which led her to scream in agony, instead of placing a stabilizing board up against her back to stabilize her, prior to rolling her over and prevent any further injury. My wife is trained in both CPR and First AID and was horrified when the staff that placed her on a board rolled her on her back, the area of injury, which led her to scream in agony, instead of placing a stabilizing board up against her back to stabilize her, prior to rolling her over and preventing any further injury. The staff acted as if they had never been trained in using the device and had to be directed to unbelt the belts on the board. The staff was frequently reprimanded by the nurse, almost dropping the patient a couple of times. Shortly, after this injured passenger was removed from the deck, I went to the grill and obtained some lunch, which included a hamburger and fries, and some nachos. About an hour later I began sweating profusely with nausea that led to vomiting and diarrhea. This went on for the rest of the day and evening, in which I recognized the symptoms of food poisoning as my wife had experienced the same symptoms earlier this year after drinking unknowingly milk. Most likely spoiled the meat from the hamburger was undercooked, as the next day I was feeling better. Two days later after my wife discovered dried food on a spoon she had eaten ice cream with and we both came down with a viral infection.
On top of the food poisoning dry, cold or lukewarm food and undercooked food was a repeated theme on this cruise. My wife was eating ice cream when she felt a hard object on her spoon, which turned out to be dried on food that wasn’t washed properly. We found numerous bowls, plates that were not cleaned properly w/ dried on pieces of food as evidence. Staff was blasé about these facts and did nothing to correct these problems. Shortly thereafter my wife and I both became sick with viral infections, though we took every plausible precaution, washing hands frequently, using germ sanitizer, we weren’t aware of the unclean dishes with stuck on foods, until after the fact. Other problems included Elevators that were frequently inoperable, stuck on certain floors or completely out of service. There were no directions provided as to where to go in order to get off of ship when in ports and many guests walked around aimlessly, in which crew members were not able to speak in English to direct us. The Family show that took place at 8:45pm each evening frequently involved inappropriate adult-themed material. One evening we were exposed to the female dancers dressed with undergarment costumes that resembled thong underwear, in which they completely exposed their buttocks as they engaged in risqué interactions with the male dancers. Children were removed during this time, by responsible parents. This form of entertainment is not something one should see on a cruise ship. We were utterly disgusted with this cruise, its ship, staff’s treatment of its guests and are therefore requesting all of our money $ 400.00 of it credited to our Capital One Credit Card, which is the credit card that we used for our onboard cruise account. In addition, having had taken several cruises with most of the other cruise lines, usage of the internet and the amount of time it took to log on, was absolutely ridiculous and the $50.00 that we were charged we also want to dispute as no one would help us with the ridiculous fees we were charged and it is an obscene amount of money to charge guests, when your cruise line has the ability to connect to wireless forms of communication quite easily. As of 9/22/09 after speaking to Guest Relations Department, they are unwilling to give us any of our money back and we have had to contact you, our credit card company for mediation and assistance. Consumer Affairs website has over 52 pages of complaints similar to ours, submitted by other naïve passengers of previous Carnival Cruises. We have enclosed some sample pages from their website. As of 9/22/09 after speaking to Guest Relations Department, they are unwilling to give us any of our money back and we have had to contact other services for mediation Matthew & Kristine Picardo. This lack of action taken by Carnival Cruise Line should be illegal. They take advantage of passengers trapped financially, physically and legally, bullying the Middle Class American to the fullest extent, while they make billions of dollars, dollars that hardworking individuals try to earn and save for a nice vacation, but instead end up with more problems, stress, conflict, powerlessness, they incurred before the so-called vacation. Carnival Cruise Line’s customer service, communication, fairness and respect are non existent. If we had known their “we don’t care” attitude towards their customers, we would never have done business with them. We have never had such poor customer service and will go to whatever means necessary to get our hard-earned money returned to us.

Attn: Complaints Department
Re: Splendor Cruise 1-31-09 Brazilian Visa (booking reference#)
I recently was a customer on your ship that went on its first inaugural trip to South America. It will also be my last trip on Carnival Cruise lines and any of its other cruise alliance companies. To say I was a customer before I boarded your ship in Barbados is a stretch. I have a few problems with how we were treated, what was done, and your policies.
We booked this trip with one of Carnival’s Vacation planner. To say the least we were extremely excited about this trip and visited your website at least every 2 – 3 days. One of the things I found ironic about this is right on your website you claim the following about your vacation planners:
( http://www.carnival.com/cms/fun/click2_call/default.aspx?WT.mc_id=BBookOnlineFindACruisePVPE)
With so many fantastic Carnival cruise options, you could probably use some help picking the sailing that's just right for you.

Allow our professional and attentive Personal Vacation Planners to provide you with:

One-on-one vacation planning assistance
Expert knowledge of all of our itineraries including The Bahamas, Caribbean, Alaska, Canada and Europe
Guaranteed best available rates and stateroom availability
Convenient and affordable airfare to compliment your cruise vacation (if necessary)
Insider travel tips and advice
Assistance in selecting and booking our award-winning shore excursions
Advance notice of upcoming sales


Note two of the bullets from above when I continue this story: the first bullet is one on one vacation planning assistance and insider travel tips and advice. Too bad this is not true. Since in the several conversations I had with my planner she did the mention that by the way you need a visa when you go to Brazil. Sounds like a travel tip or expert knowledge to me. I am in the tire service industry and if I forgot a huge part like “make sure you retourque your tires” I could be liable if those tires fall off, even though it says this in small lettering on the one page invoice. Meanwhile all I hear from your company is that you should have read the whole contract therefore too bad so sad. Wow why would Carnival travel planners not state something while booking this type of trip, it would have saved the 100 plus people in Ft. Lauderdale a lot of grief.
But in addition to this it is the way we were treated. Now remember we had already paid for this trip so we were a customer of yours. We arrive at Ft Lauderdale docks and right away the porters are saying you better have your visa or else you are not getting on. I looked at my husband and said they must be joking. We had VIP entrance so we went to the head of the line, the carnival associate told us get your luggage put it here and come back. We did, she then directed us to a set of chairs with a bunch of other visa-less people and the people needing wheelchairs. The Carnival employee manning this area refused to speak to us, said it “was above her pay grade”. We said can we get someone to talk to and she said “they know you are here”. We sat there for an hour with nobody coming to see us. The couple next to us finally demanded someone come and talk to us. She radioed someone and then escorted us upstairs to another room. Here we sat again.
So now we are in a room with about 50 others and we hear the rumors. Basically you are not getting on and good luck. Nobody from Carnival ever came to speak to us. I understand there is a problem but to ignore it and us is not what I call customer service. We were treated like lepers. Two employees that did come up tried to address different people but did not have any ideas on how to solve or what could be done. Luckily we left before the bomb scare or else our day would have been even worse.
Since Carnivals alliance ships sail to Brazil and have had problems like this in the past they should have been better prepared. We will take some of the blame but the communication from Carnival was terrible. Apparently an email was sent out, we did not get this. Why a box was not in the fun pass like: got Brazilian visa? The only questions were about your passport and credit card. Was the visa not just as important? The other reason I wonder is that us 100 people did not get aboard and that means we did not spend XXX money during those days on your ship. Your company lost money on this. Not only that but everyone I speak to and asks us about cruising I will sway away from your companies. Word of mouth is huge in marketing. You may think your immune being a huge company with controlling interest in the cruise industry but these days in this market I would not be so superior.
Just to let you know the best part of my cruise was meeting three other couple who had the same problem, one had booked through your super vacation planners, one through Sea Miles and one through a travel agent. The one through the travel agent has already given them half of their expenses back that incurred due to this problem. The second couple who spoke to their Carnival cruise agent at first said she was extremely sorry and did not know you needed a visa and would make sure they were taken care of. But of course as you know your company is standing behind the contract and is not doing anything.
So in the end my question is what is Carnival going to do for us? Do I expect you to pay all my expenses? No. But I do think you should pay for at least half. Also I hope you change your policies on how your personal vacation planners book trips with your future customers. That since they are the experts as you claim they should make sure to inform the customer you need a visa when you sail to certain countries. Also you should change your Fun pass to include a check off list for visa needed. Not only will you have happy customers they will think “Wow how professional”, and they will be repeat customers due to the superior service. These days the companies that will make it through these hard times are going to need customer service along with a superior product to make it.
I have included our expenses as a note to you and see how much it cost us. This extra expense means we spent less on this trip too. I also included a copy of the fun pass where it states what you need on the boat. I hope your company seriously changes their policies and remembers a customer is a customer no matter if they are aboard their ship, on the phone, or trying to board the boat. I hope you will rectify our losses and take care of your customers that did not get aboard and hold true to your mission statement: Our mission is to deliver exceptional vacation experiences through the world's best-known cruise brands that cater to a variety of different lifestyles and budgets, all at an outstanding value unrivaled on land or at sea.
If you would like to discuss further I can be reached at (250) 318-3099 or at the address noted below.



Sincerely,

never going on carnival