- Report: #206325
Complaint Review: CARNIVAL CRUISE - Internet
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CARNIVAL CRUISE
CARNIVALCRUISE.COM Internet, U.S.A.
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CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES CARNIVAL PROMISED REFUND AFTER HUBBY BECAME ILL ON SHIP, AND WAS TOLD TO LEAVE BY PURSER GALVESTON TEXAS, MIAMI BASED Internet
On August 12th, my husband & I, both senior citizens, boarded the CARNIVAL Cruise ship ECSTASY at noon, leaving Galveston TX, for a 5 day cruise to Cozemel. We were with 6 other family members.
We were told our rooms weren't ready, and to go to the buffet. We sat at the pool for a short while, then proceeded to the buffet. The food was terrible..the selection was BLEAK, and there was a HAIR in the rice. By then it was 2PM, so we decided to go to the room and rest.
We had been in the stateroom for about 15 minutes, when my husband became ill. He was shaking, sweating, nauseous...we didn't know WHAT was wrong, but we feared it might be a claustrophobic panic attack, due to the small size of the room.
We decided to call the medical office, and try to reach the ships Dr. Perhaps there was some medication we could be given. This reaction had happened before during an MRI.
There was no answer, so we went to the pursers office. We were told the Dr. wasn't available. By then my husband was trembling violently..in the middle of the tiny lobby. The purser then telephoned someone, who he said was a NURSE (a male) and handed the phone to my husband. The nurse agreed it might be a panic attack, and said he doubted if any medication he could give would be much help, and advised us to get OFF the ship! He assured us our fare would be refunded.
The purser ALSO confirmed our fare would be refunded, as well as the TOURS we had pre-paid for, and called to have our luggage brought to the lobby. He cancled out our boarding cards, and escorted us to the terminal ramp.
We drove the 10 hours home, believing their promises, safe with their assurance we had done the right thing. We couldn't have stayed on the ship in that tiny cabin, with panic attacks!
I had planned that cruise for 6 months...shopping, booking tours, getting excited about the vacation with our relatives...WHY would I want to END it, unless it had been an emergency! We were shocked at the panic attack, and crushed our vacation was over.
NOW, comes the bad part: We were so upset during the attack, we got NOTHING in writting! We didn't have the NAME of either the purser OR the nurse.
When we got home, I called CARNIVAL to get the ball rolling on our refund.
HAHA...what a joke THAT turned out to be.
According tp their records, the purser said he had advised us NOT to disembark! They wouldn't be refunding ANYTHING, even the price of the tours. Their attitude was basically "too bad". They said we had cancled the trip, and refused to give us the names of the NURSE and the PURSER, so we could file a claim with our travel insurance! I asked about their "guarantee" that said we could get off the ship if we weren't happy with the cruise. They replied that only worked if we got off at the first FOREIGN port! We would have had to stay on the ship 2 more days, to do that!
Then they mentioned it was "mental". So I said what would you have done if it was a heart attack? Would we get our fare back THEN? the answer was NO.
I BEGGED them for the name of the NURSE, so we could submit a claim to the travle insurance...the refused to give me the names of anyone we had dealt with. We are stuck in a catch 22.
After several phone calls, I finally got a vague promise they would extend some sort of voucher on a future cruise. I DON'T WANT A FUTURE CRUISE. I will NEVER use Carnival again. This was our 15th cruise, and I am STUNNED at the treatment extended to us. We are out $978.00
Although the purser & nurse were very nice, the other crew members we encountered before his illness were rude and disinterested. The other 6 members of our family are still on the cruise as I type this. I only hope, after reading other complaints about CARNIVAL, they managed to have a good time.
I implore you readers, book ANY OTHER cruise line..don't book Carnival. Their customer service is a JOKE! We had one other "bad" cruise before...and that was the only other time we sailed with Carnival! We swore we would never sail with them again..but we figured maybe they had changed. They hadn't.
I also urge anyone reading this to check out all the numerous other complaints about Carnival, on the internet. I was stunned when I saw so many people had so many bad experiences with this company.
Mary
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Carnival Cruise Lines
We were told our rooms weren't ready, and to go to the buffet. We sat at the pool for a short while, then proceeded to the buffet. The food was terrible..the selection was BLEAK, and there was a HAIR in the rice. By then it was 2PM, so we decided to go to the room and rest.
We had been in the stateroom for about 15 minutes, when my husband became ill. He was shaking, sweating, nauseous...we didn't know WHAT was wrong, but we feared it might be a claustrophobic panic attack, due to the small size of the room.
We decided to call the medical office, and try to reach the ships Dr. Perhaps there was some medication we could be given. This reaction had happened before during an MRI.
There was no answer, so we went to the pursers office. We were told the Dr. wasn't available. By then my husband was trembling violently..in the middle of the tiny lobby. The purser then telephoned someone, who he said was a NURSE (a male) and handed the phone to my husband. The nurse agreed it might be a panic attack, and said he doubted if any medication he could give would be much help, and advised us to get OFF the ship! He assured us our fare would be refunded.
The purser ALSO confirmed our fare would be refunded, as well as the TOURS we had pre-paid for, and called to have our luggage brought to the lobby. He cancled out our boarding cards, and escorted us to the terminal ramp.
We drove the 10 hours home, believing their promises, safe with their assurance we had done the right thing. We couldn't have stayed on the ship in that tiny cabin, with panic attacks!
I had planned that cruise for 6 months...shopping, booking tours, getting excited about the vacation with our relatives...WHY would I want to END it, unless it had been an emergency! We were shocked at the panic attack, and crushed our vacation was over.
NOW, comes the bad part: We were so upset during the attack, we got NOTHING in writting! We didn't have the NAME of either the purser OR the nurse.
When we got home, I called CARNIVAL to get the ball rolling on our refund.
HAHA...what a joke THAT turned out to be.
According tp their records, the purser said he had advised us NOT to disembark! They wouldn't be refunding ANYTHING, even the price of the tours. Their attitude was basically "too bad". They said we had cancled the trip, and refused to give us the names of the NURSE and the PURSER, so we could file a claim with our travel insurance! I asked about their "guarantee" that said we could get off the ship if we weren't happy with the cruise. They replied that only worked if we got off at the first FOREIGN port! We would have had to stay on the ship 2 more days, to do that!
Then they mentioned it was "mental". So I said what would you have done if it was a heart attack? Would we get our fare back THEN? the answer was NO.
I BEGGED them for the name of the NURSE, so we could submit a claim to the travle insurance...the refused to give me the names of anyone we had dealt with. We are stuck in a catch 22.
After several phone calls, I finally got a vague promise they would extend some sort of voucher on a future cruise. I DON'T WANT A FUTURE CRUISE. I will NEVER use Carnival again. This was our 15th cruise, and I am STUNNED at the treatment extended to us. We are out $978.00
Although the purser & nurse were very nice, the other crew members we encountered before his illness were rude and disinterested. The other 6 members of our family are still on the cruise as I type this. I only hope, after reading other complaints about CARNIVAL, they managed to have a good time.
I implore you readers, book ANY OTHER cruise line..don't book Carnival. Their customer service is a JOKE! We had one other "bad" cruise before...and that was the only other time we sailed with Carnival! We swore we would never sail with them again..but we figured maybe they had changed. They hadn't.
I also urge anyone reading this to check out all the numerous other complaints about Carnival, on the internet. I was stunned when I saw so many people had so many bad experiences with this company.
Mary
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Carnival Cruise Lines
5 Updates & Rebuttals
Pat
Knoxville,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
We Had An Excellent Carnival Experience
#2Consumer Comment
Thu, August 17, 2006
Last December my husband and I took a Carnival Eastern Caribean cruise and had a wonderful time. It was our 1st cruise and was everything and more than we expected. The food was excellent, the service was wonderful, and the staff was very helpful and efficient. We had a balcony standard room, which was actually bigger than we expected, and not much time was spent in the room anyway. I understand and would also be upset if I had been told there would be a refund, and it didn't come through, but your message goes much further than that. You saw it as an opportunity to completely discredit the cruise line. Our Carnival experience was wonderful, and I look forwarding to cruising with them again in the near future.
Peter
Pony,Alabama,
U.S.A.
A lesson learned ...
#3Consumer Comment
Thu, August 17, 2006
There is an old legal saying that I believe rings true in this situation: "IF IT WAS NOT DOCUMENTED, IT DID NOT HAPPEN."
Mary
Broken Arrow,Oklahoma,
U.S.A.
Responding to comments
#4Consumer Comment
Thu, August 17, 2006
To Hugh...thank you for your suggestion. We are going to try to reach the family members in the morning, when their cell phones should be working by then. You idea of getting a note in writting was an excellent idea. To Peter, You really need to read the entire complaint. I had NO problem with leaving the ship. It was a PANIC ATTACK, but leaving was the right thing to do. The PROBLEM arose with CARNIVALS promise to refund, and their LIES about their instructions, and the RUDENESS of their customer service. I am not, nor will I ever be more concerned about money, than the welfare of my husband and other people. My complaint was meant to WARN people that when Carnival promises something, to GET IT IN WRITTING. I also wanted to voice my opinion, that if people are planning a cruise, DON'T book it with Carnival. There are much better cruises. Your rush to judge me, and my intentions, and to make negative comments has prompted me to defend myself and my statement. I agree with you that anyone with an illness should NOT be on a cruise, or airline flight, and THAT is why we LEFT. It was a PANIC ATTACK, not life threatening, but very scary. The problem arose with the fact that CARNIVAL LIED, and issued a report to their customer service dept. saying they advised us NOT to get off the ship, and that they gave us nothing in writting to clarify these actions. Yes, it was up to us to get notification, and we dropped the ball in that respect. The point is, their refusal to give us the NAMES of the key personel in this decision is hindering any chance of a refund through our Travel Insurance, and their basic "too bad" attitude is NOT the way to treat people! In case you still think I am a money grabbing witch, I assure you, it is the PRINCIPLE, NOT the money. When you promise something, you should at least deliver, or be courteous in your explaination of why you're reneging on said promise. As consumers, we all deserve better than we sometimes get. All we have is our voice, and our hope things can change if we speak up.
Peter
Pony,Alabama,
U.S.A.
Carnival was only doing what was right
#5Consumer Comment
Wed, August 16, 2006
I support Carnival 100% for insisting that a sick customer disembark. Had he remained on board, he would have infected the entire ship with his "mystery illness." I find it disenheartening that this man's wife is more concerned with her pocket book than with the health and well-being of hundreds of people on board the ship. Every year we see instances in the news where hundreds of people aboard cruise ships come down with norovirus and other illnesses that were caused when ONE sick individual came aboard the ship, spreading their disease to others. I applaud Carnival for making an ill person leave so as not to ruin the vacations of hundreds of others. The cruise director is obliged to act in the best interest of the majority of people -- not one individual who seemingly could not care less about inflicting an entire ship with his disease.
Hugh
Paducah,Kentucky,
U.S.A.
If family is still on the ship....
#6Consumer Suggestion
Wed, August 16, 2006
If the rest of the family is still sailing, is there some way they could be contacted to have them get the names of the purser and nurse? You might even be able to get the family member to have them write up an excuse note for you as the chances are pretty good the purser and nurse don't know about your refund problems. A note on ship's letterhead that said "I advised Mary and her husband to leave the ship and told them they could get a full refund" would do wonders for your case. Good luck.
