Complaint Review: Carnival Cruise Lines - Carnival Liberty Florida

To be clear, Carnival Cruise Line does not own a bunch of other cruise lines.  Carnival Corp does.  There is a difference.  Carnival Corp is the parent company.  I promise you the service is a lot better on Cunard and Seabourn, two other Carnival Corp brands.  Heck, even Princess and Holland America have better service,two more Carnival brands. 

That said, you have to realize Carnival is the bargain basement brand of cruise lines.  Yes, you get what you pay for in cruises and Carnival is, as a whole, the cheapest mass market cruise line.  It's for people looking for a decent product but are budget minded.  If you want better service, you need to pay a little more for other large cruise lines.  How does anyone go on a cruise ship that says "Carnival" on the side and expect a classy product?       

I have to agree with Robert - Irvine (U.S.A.) - after subjecting myself to reading thei entire ripp-off - I still haven't a clue of what actually offended the originator!

It appears that communication is not one of your strengths.  But some advise for you, when you want to report a "RipOff" it is good to at least say what the RipOff is.

The details of the dining room experiences when looked at individually, may seem insignificant -- but when they repeat, escalate and multiply each evening -- it gets to be very frustrating

- They may if you would tell us what they were.  We still have ZERO idea what your problem was.  The only thing I am getting from your update is that your problem was actually with only one crew member.  So was the rest of the cruise okay? 

I am actually really interested in what was so bad with the Assistant Waiter that you wrote bad comments, had to curse and yell at them for 90 minutes, and hold this "grudge" against them for 18 months.

The next night, the original team was back and of course the assistant waiter had a major chip on her shoulder and continued throughout the duration of the cruise
- I wonder if she was the only one with a "major chip on her shoulder"

And just for the record, my intention was NOT to get something for free, but to help me assess if I should spend my dollars with Carnival and give them another try, or to choose another carrier.
- Okay so what does that mean? What would they have had to do to convince you to go with them?  You already talked to them and basically said what they told you was "bullcrap".  What did you want them to do?


By the way if the Dining Room experience was so bad why didn't you try one of the other dining options?

Glad you stopped by and posted.

You have now joined the other 246 UNhappy Carnival customers who have posted here as well!

As far as the other rebuttals, if you stick around you will get to know these guys REAL WELL!

Thanks for doing the right thing!

You brought up some valid points in your message. Thank you. I can see where a reader would agree, that it appeared that I was trying to show my frequent cruiser status, however that really wasn't the case. If anything, having cruised so much has actually exposed me to a wide variety of experiences -- and thus allow for more tolerance as each cruise line, and each ship and her staff are different.

The details of the dining room experiences when looked at individually, may seem insignificant -- but when they repeat, escalate and multiply each evening -- it gets to be very frustrating. After 2 or 3 evening of challenges with the assitant waiter, the assistant Maitre d' changed our wait staff for the next evening and we had a fantastic dining experience.  The next night, the original team was back and of course the assistant waiter had a major chip on her shoulder and continued throughout the duration of the cruise. (Note, from the beginning, the waiter did a good job and was rather effective, it was always the assistant waiter who caused the frustrations). 

The point I was making was this -- when I spoke with Carnival, they do have part of the report that was filed on the ship (of course not the letter that I wrote, nor my comment card) and the information was missing my request to contact me to discuss. Yesterday, in my discussion with Lori, she stated that since it's a dining experience, even if I had properly complained within the 30 days, they would have done nothing anyway. Of course, the customary "sorry template letter" would have been sent, and the rogue employee may have been subject to retraining or communication.

Personally, I want others to know that IF they should have a series of bad dining room experiences, don't waste their time either on vacation or after the vacation - because Carnival will listen, but will do nothing about it! And just for the record, my intention was NOT to get something for free, but to help me assess if I should spend my dollars with Carnival and give them another try, or to choose another carrier.

I'm sorry if I didn't provide enough "detail" to adequately express my point. Truthfully, I'm not expecting anything to come of this -- it was a way to allow me to vent my frustration and to potentially forewarn an unsuspecting customer, who foolishly thinks that Carnival customer service is there to help.

Even after that childish rant, I have no idea what you think your problem was.

I am considering another cruise at the end of the 2011,
- Well it's good that the tree falling on your house, the medical emergency, and your loss of employment all worked itself out to the point where you are considering a cruise in the next 6 months.

If your complaint to Carnival was anything like this report I can see why they didn't respond.  All I got in your entire report is that you had a bad dining room experience.  But we have no idea what was so bad about it.  Was this truly a bad experience or just a case of a repeat cruiser trying to throw their "status" around and upset that they crew members didn't do exactly what they wanted at the exact second they wanted it?

Anyways on top of this, when you finally did decide to complain it has been 18 months.  Exactly what do you want them to do about it now?