I posted before we went on a Carnival cruise in August. It was a really fun time for all of us.There were several complaints we had like, dirty cabin the first day, nobody cleaning dishes off tables in the buffet area,crew members cutting in line at the tender boat etc..
I wasnt look for some big money reward from them. My husband spoke to a customer service rep about 2 weeks ago, he spent 40 minutes on the phone. Yesterday we received a letter in the mail from Carnival stating, basically sorry about the service and we would really like you to sail with us again. Here is a 50$ onboard credit. In the letter they had our reservation linked with my sister in law and brother in laws reservation as well(they came on the cruise with us). They said my sister in law and brother in law will each recieve a 50$ on board credit, and me and my husband will as well.. I guess what we dont get is the fact that we are a family of 5? To me this was a slap in the face. I think I would of just rather had a sorry for your experience and nothing offered then what they did. No, I did not expect a free cruise. I expected them to maybe address our issues in the letter they sent us. Oh well.. I think somebody said you get what you paid for.

By Yjja123 on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 - 10:22 am:

Sadly, it seems whenever the cruiselines compensate or give credits children are not included.
If you would cruise through Carnival again I would write them another letter. Years ago we had an issue with an onboard doctor on Carnival. They first offered us a $50 credit. I wrote again and they offered us all 10% off a future cruise.

By Jackie on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 - 10:28 am:

Yvonne, my husband wrote another letter today. He was more offended by their follow up letter then I thought. He is going to send it today. We will see how that goes.

By Bobbie~moderatr on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 - 10:53 am:

I would be offended to.. That is a bunch of nonsense.. You pay good money, you get good service. $50?? What is that?? Agreed, Hope DH gave them heck.

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 - 02:32 pm:

Good luck with the second letter!

By Crystal915 on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 - 10:40 pm:

Wow, I am surprised, we had an EXCELLENT cruise with Carnival. We sailed on the Ecstasy, they were clean, friendly, and we had a lot of fun. I'm sorry your experience was bad, and that is really not an acceptable response considering how expensive cruises are, and the fact that there were 5 of you. I hope you get better results with the second letter.

By Jackie on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 08:10 am:

Crystal, that is the thing. Sometimes people go on these cruises and had a wonderful time. Some times people go on cruises and find many negative things. I have read tons of reviews on the different Carnival cruise ships. I guess it depends on the staff, the management on each ship. We had a 7 night cruise, and everyday dishes would just be stacking up on the tables out by the buffet area. I find this unacceptable for a cruise ship. We paid money for a family of 5 to cruise, and I expected much more then what we got.
Here is the kicker..my sister in law got a letter from Carnival. In her letter, our reservation was not mentioned. They received a 200$ on board credit if they cruise again with Carnival. Why did they get $200, and we got a total of $100 for a family of 5? It does not make sense to me.

By Kaye on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 08:17 am:

If you are 100% sure you won't cruise with them again...I would mail that certificate back and say. Thanks, but no thanks, when I pay $$$ (and I would list the number) I expect to be treated like I at a nice restruant, instead I was greated with service and amminities similar to what you would find at a fast food place. I will not spend money to cruise on carnival again.

By Crystal915 on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 10:06 pm:

Jackie, that really is just awful. I'm sorry your experience was not so great, and the way they are handling it would definitely make me think twice when booking my next cruise, even though we had a great ship.

By Dandjmom on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 12:49 pm:

Someone read my mind. mail it back , and exactly ell them thanks but no thanks and the reason why. Maybe the overlooked and didn't know that your family was 5 on it's own. I would mention this in my letter let them know exactly what Kaye said, you didn't pay to go to a fast food restaurant.

By Karen~admin on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 04:24 pm:

Perhaps they gave you a credit based on your category of stateroom? Did your SIL have a different category stateroom?

By Jackie on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 04:29 pm:

Karen-she did. They had a balcony room, we had an inside room. I never thought of that? But..we had 5 people to pay for, they only paid for 2. So technically we gave Carnival more of our money LOL

By Jackie on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 04:29 pm:

Karen-she did. They had a balcony room, we had an inside room. I never thought of that? But..we had 5 people to pay for, they only paid for 2. So technically we gave Carnival more of our money LOL

By Yjja123 on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 04:42 pm:

Yeah---but they tend not to consider 3rd & 4th guests with these things. Just follow up. I am sure you will receive a better compensation.

By Karen~admin on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 07:39 pm:

I think they probably issue credits based on the category of the stateroom. And as Yvonne said, they don't consider 3rd, 4th guests, etc. because the *base* price of the staterooms is based on double occupancy in most cases anyway.

By Kaye on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 08:41 pm:

But jackie, didn't you have 2 rooms for your family of 5?

By Eve on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 09:56 pm:

I'm sorry, Jackie. It's a bummer to pay so much and not be completely satisfied. There are such mixed reviews for Carnival. My only complaint was the desserts could have been better. (The chocolate buffet was good though!)

How did you have 5 in a room? The only way we could have done that would have been to sail one of the oldest ships. I wish they had bigger rooms besides the suits for families. Do tell!

Good luck with the letter writing.

By Crystal915 on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 10:20 pm:

You know, I've been thinking about this, and it's totally unacceptable. I know after we sailed they emailed us a $50 credit for another cruise (I'd forgotten all about it, because it had an expiration date that we couldn't meet), just for cruising with them. They obviously hand out the credits fairly liberally, and $50, or even $100 isn't much considering how much you spend not only on the tickets, but while on board. I really hope they resolve this to your satisfaction.

By Jackie on Friday, September 29, 2006 - 07:45 am:

Ok, originally we had booked 2 inside cabins side by side. Then my sister in law and brother in law decided they would like to come along as well. So they booked a balcony room. We rearranged the reservation, and had my son booked in with them. So technically they have 3 people in there room.Their room had an extra bed. We gave up our 2nd room. I am not exactly sure what and how it was done. But, we actually got an upgrade on the cruise. We were first booked on the 7th floor. Then it got arranged that we had a 4 person room on deck 9 which is the Lido deck. My sister in laws cabin was on deck 8.
WOW.. I know it sounds so confusing. Anyways, we had a 4 person room, but actually all 5 of us slept in our 4 person room every night. Simply because Faith still sleeps in a crib. We pushed the 2 bottom beds together, put the crib next to us. The older kids slept on the 2 upper bunks. My son was able to sleep in my sister in laws cabin, but I figured they wanted their privacy. He was given the option every night. It was just easier to have us all in one cabin. Was it crowded.. YEP!!!..but it was a lot of fun.
The first day we confused the cabin steward with the amt of people in the room and the extra crib. He soon caught on