Dabee
Newark,#2Consumer Comment
Wed, October 31, 2007
Here are the facts according to you: (1) Your sail date was to be September 30, 2007; (2) You reserved your cruise in April of 2007; (3) You paid $500.00 deposit (I assume when you booked the cruise in April); (4) Three weeks (that's 21 days) before the sail date of September 30th your husband found out he did not have his vacation time scheduled; by my calculation, that would be 09/09/07. (5) You are upset because Carnival would not return your $500.00 deposit. (6) You booked your cruise directly with the cruise line; Here are the facts that make sense: (1) Your sail date was to be September 30, 2007; (2) Your reserved your cruise in April 2007; (3) You paid a $500.00 deposit in April when you booked the cruise; (4) Full payment would have been due to the cruise line no later than 07/17/2007 (75 days prior to sail date); (5) By 09/09/2007 (within the 29 to 8 days prior to sail date) the cruise line penalty would be 50% of the total cruise cost (you lose the deposit when you cancel 75 to 30 days prior to sail date); (6) Use a cruise specialist next time. A good one will send you a "Final Payment Due" invoice prior to the date that the cruise line requires full payment. (7) If we are to believe your time lines, YOU owe Carnival money. It sounds to me like you paid the deposit on this cruise and neglected to pay the final payment by the due date for whatever reason (when you book with the cruise line YOU have to remember when your payment is due). Take my advice and use a qualified cruise specialist...a good one will send you a reminder, not because they are required to do so, but as a courtesy and because they have the client's best interest at heart and want to retain the client. There is something definitely wrong with a Carnival representative telling you that you may get a future cruise credit of $500.00 when you had not paid the balance on your cruise just 3 weeks prior to sailing....this just does not make any sense at all. And yes, I agree that you would have suffered much more had you gone on this cruise since the cost would have been greater than $500.00. If you wanted to get your $500.00 back, you should have cancelled your cruise no later than 76 days prior to sail date or 07/16/2007. One last fact: You owe Mr. Arison (Carnival's CEO) an apology for that evil comment.
Cory
San Antonio,#3Consumer Comment
Mon, October 22, 2007
I found that kind of odd about the scrape and scrimp too. You state the $500 was a deposit. What would have been the total cost of the cruise? Also how much more money would you have spent IF you HAD gone on the cruise, over and above the price of the cruise. We took one two months ago and out bill was only $340. I talked to a guy I know and he and his girl and another couple spent $1200 ON DRINKS alone. Hard to frickkin' believe. They sure make it easy.
Steven
Jacksonville,#4Consumer Suggestion
Sun, October 21, 2007
If you suffered that much of a loss from the 500.00 deposit you probably would have gone deeper paying for the rest of the cruise plus expenses on the cruise. Did you take them up on their offer of applying the 500 towards another cruise and then cancel that to.
Tallulah-phoebe
Beverly Hills,#5Consumer Comment
Sat, October 20, 2007
Perhaps your husband should have gotten approval for his vacation BEFORE booking the cruise. A "time off request" is just that ... a REQUEST. It doesn't mean you're actually going to get it. Common sense means booking the cruise after you know for sure what your vacation dates are going to be. Had you read any of the information provided to you at the time of booking, you would have known how difficult it would be to make changes to your itinerary (especially since I assume you did not bother to buy the optional travel insurance either). Poor planning and irresponsibility on your part does not constitute a rip off by Carnival.