Complaint Review: Carnival Cruise Lines

The letter below is what I sent to carnival the week I was supposed to be on the ship!

Dear Carnival,
My first cruise ever, was with Carnival in 1991 aboard
the Celebration. My fiancee's first cruise ever was to
take place on Monday, May 20, 2002 aboard the Ecstacy
on his 28th birthday. This vacation was a surprise
birthday gift from me to him. It would've represented
a lot of firsts: our first time away from our 1-year
old daughter, his first time leaving the state of
California, his first time flying in a plane, his
first time leaving the country, and our first trip
together in 5 years! I am sad and very disappointed
that we weren't able to enjoy this cruise.

As you know, I booked this cruise on December 11,
2001. A friend of mine and her husband had just come
back from a Carnival cruise and suggested that I take
one because they had such a good time. It didn't take
much convincing, because I remembered the fun that I
had experienced cruising with Carnival at age 17 with
my family. In preparation for this cruise, over the
course of 5 months, I: ordered birth certificates for
my fiancee and I, started a weight loss/exercise
program in which I lost 20 lbs., made plans to visit
with college friends that now reside in L.A., arranged
for 7-day overnight daycare for our daughter,
requested time off of work, planned project deadlines
at work around this cruise, and told friends, family
and colleages about the trip. Now, in a week when I
return to work I will still have the same deadlines to
meet that were shifted becuase of this cruise and will
have to deal with the normal questions that is asked
of a person that had a wonderful vacation planned:
"How was your cruise? Did you get the pictures
developed yet?". Instead of telling about good
experiences I will let everyone know (I have already
told about 20 people) of my bad experience with
Carnival.
What I still don't understand is how could my booking
be deleted/cancelled without anyone knowing until 4
days before my cruise? After speaking with various
Carnival employees on several 800 numbers, I was told
my booking was cancelled on May 6th due to
non-paypment. When I brought this to my
reservationists attention today, she said that it was confidential/privilaged information that should'nt been given to me. So now I really want to know what is going on. That was really discouraging to hear. I don't know if I will have the good feelings that I've had about Carnival up until now. But I do know that nothing you can do can replace this week of my life. I still have not upacked. I have a fresh "hair do" and beautifully mancured hands and feet and nowhere to go. I had to go to the local mall yesterday and by a birhthday gift for my fiancee. What do you buy someone when a cruise was the original gift? Nothing can make up for that. I know that Bob Dickinson, Carnival's president and his employees stand by a Vacation Garauntee. I hope that this applies to me as a previous Carnival cruiser. What would make me content is: a full refund for my cruise with intrest, a full refund for our airline tickets, 4-days of my salary paid, and an fully paid cruise for two with an open-ended date. Please reply and let me know what you will be able to do to accomodate these requests.

Thank you, LL

LaRell
Richmond, California