Carnival 24 Hr Free Return

[Beermam42]

Carnavial is offering a free return from a cruise if you say with in 24 hrs of sailing you do not like it.

You cannot fly home from a forgien port unless you have a passport.

Wonder if they put that in fine print.

 

[mikehn]

Tha's a great bet for Carnival. After all the investment in time and planning, 99.9% of people are going through with their vacation plans. I see zero people flying home within 24 hours.

 

[Bear3412]

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20130912-706954.html

http://www.carnival.com/about-carnival/vacation-guarantee.aspx

 

[bumbershoot]

Wonder if they put that in fine print.

Looking at the Carnival page bear posted, nope, it's right there on the main page in the same typeset size as the rest of the discussion about the guarantee. They even highlight the concept that you need to read the info by bolding and capitalizing the bigger "HERE'S SOME INFORMATION YOU NEED TO KNOW".


Though honestly, HOW many years have we been dealing with "fine print" in our culture? How many more recent years have we been dealing with links that contain important information, or popups, or just different areas on a website? Someone who doesn't read EVERYTHING, who just reads the main blurb advertising something, really shouldn't be surprised if they don't know everything they need to know about that thing.

 

[anniemck]

This has actually been their guarantee since at least 2005 when I worked for them, they are just starting to make it known to tell people... try it, you might like it, if you don't we will send you home.

I was an agent with them back in 2005 and I only knew of 2 people that used that guarantee back then.

 

[TXDCLfan]

Carnavial is offering a free return from a cruise if you say with in 24 hrs of sailing you do not like it.

You cannot fly home from a forgien port unless you have a passport.

Wonder if they put that in fine print.

Old news...they have had this offer for years.

 

[Wadekind]

Old news...they have had this offer for years.

New to me. The WSJ article presents this as new. Did the old offer you are referring to include 110% refund and the $100 credit if you decide to try again?

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

A huge crisis not withstanding, I think people would give it more than 24 hrs to stink...and after that, the guarantee is up...

 

[ronandannette]

Tha's a great bet for Carnival. After all the investment in time and planning, 99.9% of people are going through with their vacation plans. I see zero people flying home within 24 hours.

I agree. We've taken two Carnival cruises and I've returned from both of them wishing we'd booked another line but nothing I can imagine short of a family emergency back home would have caused me to bail out in the middle of the Caribbean. (I know, I know, fool me twice; shame on me. We'd rather stay home period than sail Carnival again.)

 

[jimsubry]

I agree. We've taken two Carnival cruises and I've returned from both of them wishing we'd booked another line but nothing I can imagine short of a family emergency back home would have caused me to bail out in the middle of the Caribbean. (I know, I know, fool me twice; shame on me. We'd rather stay home period than sail Carnival again.)

I'm interested in knowing what are some of the things people don't enjoy on Carnival. We've never done one, but whenever you hear of bad things happening (food poisoning, murder, etc.) it's always Carnival. However, we met a family when we were on St. Thomas - they were doing Carnival, we were on Disney and we were comparing prices. He said he got basically the same 7 day for $2000 for 4 people, and here we were at $4000 for 3 people. (Don't know if they had a balcony, though, we did) He said they were very happy with the service, the offerings, etc. Their alcoholic drinks there were more expensive, and you had to pay for soda. My husband was all, "So...we're paying double then, for free soda!" ha ha

I'd love to hear more downsides to make us feel better about spending the money!

 

[Mickeyhugger]

And this thread has WHAT to do with DCL?

Let's sling the mud?

 

[jjje]

It would have to be a really bad cruise for me to do something like that. I can't imagine too many people take them up on that.

 

[MassDisLovers]

We've sailed on Carnival (older, smaller ships and a very new huge ship) and had great cruises each time. We've also loved cruises on RC and DCL. In fact, we were caught in a hurricane (Andrew in '92) on Carnival and in talking with others in the airport when we finally docked days later, Carnival seemed to deal with it much better. The food, service, activities are sometimes great on DCL, sometimes not so much. Same on Carnival. Its all good when you're on vacation.

 

[ronandannette]

I agree. We've taken two Carnival cruises and I've returned from both of them wishing we'd booked another line but nothing I can imagine short of a family emergency back home would have caused me to bail out in the middle of the Caribbean. (I know, I know, fool me twice; shame on me. We'd rather stay home period than sail Carnival again.)

I'm interested in knowing what are some of the things people don't enjoy on Carnival. We've never done one, but whenever you hear of bad things happening (food poisoning, murder, etc.) it's always Carnival. However, we met a family when we were on St. Thomas - they were doing Carnival, we were on Disney and we were comparing prices. He said he got basically the same 7 day for $2000 for 4 people, and here we were at $4000 for 3 people. (Don't know if they had a balcony, though, we did) He said they were very happy with the service, the offerings, etc. Their alcoholic drinks there were more expensive, and you had to pay for soda. My husband was all, "So...we're paying double then, for free soda!" ha ha

I'd love to hear more downsides to make us feel better about spending the money!

Yes, it is "basically" the same thing meaning transportation to selected ports, meals included, activities and entertainment and a place on-deck to dip in a pool or lie in the sun. But it's the nature of those basic offerings that make he difference. We haven't sailed Disney (and likely never will) but we have sailed 4 other lines and can make credible comparisons.

The main dining room food is OK although the menus are uninspired; they have a good number of items they call "comfort food" that include things like meatloaf and chicken fingers and macaroni & cheese. It goes along well with their trend towards an extremely casual application of any sort of dress-code including on what they call "elegant night" where khakis and a polo shirt are recommended for men. DH and I did fairly dressy cocktail-wear (as we always do on a cruise) and felt like we were in costume.

The pool decks are OK but without any theming or ambiance; just plastic-slat chairs around a small cement square of water. The water slides are OK but simple; you couldn't spend a whole afternoon doing it. Many ships have what they call the Serenity deck (an adults only area) but again no ambience or theming just a space with no kids and on many ships there is no dedicated pool here.

While all these things are subjective, personally we find the activities and entertainment to be very important to our cruise experience. Carnival has implemented what they call Fun 2.0 where they have almost eliminated live music and scaled their headline shows back to two a week. One night the main stage hosts a passenger talent show which is really (IMO) only entertaining for the people in it. They rely heavily on their comedy nightclub as the star attraction but we have found on both cruises that the family-friendly material is weak and the adult shows are so rank as to be unenjoyable for us. Activities are limited to rowdy pool games, trivia and casino/bingo. No wine tasting classes, cooking demos or enrichment sessions which are things we really like.

And no, we've never had our plumbing back up or caught noro but we have been on a ship that lost propulsion and had to be tugged overnight from Nassau back to Miami. While that wasn't a life-threatening disaster it did make for a lost 1/2 day in port, missed flight and a VERY disgruntled 2500 passengers which was not pleasant (we basically stayed in our cabin that whole evening to avoid the fuss that was going on everywhere).

So while the price is substantially lower (and we are on a budget for vacations like a lot of other people) in terms of value for us it just isn't there. The itineraries are also very good but again that doesn't carry the day for us anymore. We'd really rather not cruise at all than cruise Carnival which is a big reason why we are in Hawaii right now on our first land vacation (not including Disney) in 9 years.

As always, YMMV.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Their rates are down and the bookings are still way down. This just show how desperate Carnival is to get bookings going.

AKK

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

I'd rather stay home than cruise CCL. I've had enough. My first was great, and my second a few yrs later was great, last yr's was decent, and this yr's was crappy. No mas. I'm Carnivaled out. If I didn't cruise DC, I would literally be happy with just NOT cruising. RCI hasn't interested us much in recent years because they are still casino vegas style cruising, we did not find their food to be up to par. That is one thing Carnival is better at, at least we thought the first several times. Their service in the last few years is just terrible, terrible. Uncomfortable even. I feel like my Carnival Dream should have a subtitle of the "Guilt Trip" as in "all I make are tips, I need tips" says the room steward...

Anyway anyone who hasn't cruised DCL, my personal opinion is that there is no opinion even with the other cruise ships. I have cruised RCCL extensively, CCL a lot (am gold on both of those actually), and one on Renassaince that I think got bought out but I'm not sure by who, and DCL is the BEST cruising product we have cruised. That makes sense because its fares are more on par with Celebrity etc. We haven't cruised Celebrity or Princess. But DCL far surpassed for us the ship experience.

The only positives I can say for CCL are their itineraries are typically taking you to really great places for an economical price. Enjoy the islands. Expect people that tend to be more rude (some interesting stories on cruise critic lately), expect service to be rude or overwhelmed (and then you won't be disappointed like I was) expect hairy chest, bean bag toss, trivia, all the same daily ship activities. Expect cheesy cruise directors and hard working entertainers but the shows do not nearly have the budgets that DCL has. I've been in the passenger show several times and we have had our group participate in it every year. It's a pretty big production and very nerve wracking.

I got off the Carnival Dream Mar 2 and I was content if I didn't cruise anymore for like a decade. I told my friend I was cruised out. She pointed out that I was Carnivaled out. Than Dad booked Mom for their 45th anniversary and we surprised them and all booked it too and showed up the night before for 'their' dinner reservation at the Contemporary! And I realized that my love for cruising was still alive, in fact was an obsession now. We were on the ship a matter of hours and we all looked at each other and said "we gotta start planning the next one."

CCL is too cheap for me. Too cheap to deliver a good product and too expensive for what they offer. I echo the comments above majorly. I'd rather stay home and relax than go on a CCL. I wouldn't go on a free one. It wouldn't be free and once I got on board, I would be subject to high pressure sales from bar staff, photograghers etc. 'buy bingo!' 'buy a drink!' 'buy buy buy'

No thanks. I'll save my money for DCL. A crappy cruise for $1500 just sucked away our time off and money this year. The islands were still nice. but I didn't need 4 sea days of that... I pay the same rates for my Disney cruises, I just have a few less days of mediocrity, as I say...

 

[disneylove69]

The reason they are so cheap is they make the money on alcohol so lots of drinking and pushing the sales. I have friends who have won free trips on carnival and threw the tickets away. I say if a cruise is cheaper then a motel 6 there is a reason. I here they make a great onion sandwich

 

[disneydreamer82]

And this thread has WHAT to do with DCL?

Let's sling the mud?

EXACTLY!!!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

And this thread has WHAT to do with DCL?

Let's sling the mud?

Well, I think the first post was (maybe) meant as a FYI. But others turned it into a "let's bash Carnival" thread.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I agree. We've taken two Carnival cruises and I've returned from both of them wishing we'd booked another line but nothing I can imagine short of a family emergency back home would have caused me to bail out in the middle of the Caribbean. (I know, I know, fool me twice; shame on me. We'd rather stay home period than sail Carnival again.)

I'm interested in knowing what are some of the things people don't enjoy on Carnival. We've never done one, but whenever you hear of bad things happening (food poisoning, murder, etc.) it's always Carnival. However, we met a family when we were on St. Thomas - they were doing Carnival, we were on Disney and we were comparing prices. He said he got basically the same 7 day for $2000 for 4 people, and here we were at $4000 for 3 people. (Don't know if they had a balcony, though, we did) He said they were very happy with the service, the offerings, etc. Their alcoholic drinks there were more expensive, and you had to pay for soda. My husband was all, "So...we're paying double then, for free soda!" ha ha

I'd love to hear more downsides to make us feel better about spending the money!

Cheaper doesn't necessarily mean better, imo.
I drive a Toyota & for double the price I could have bought a Lexus. Basically they are both vehicles for getting from point A to B. Right?

Same thing with going to Six Flags, or pay more to visit WDW? Why bother going all the way to FL & paying hotel when we have a huge theme park 1 hr drive from home? I'll tell you why, it's not the same experience.

If you feel it will be, go ahead & sail Carnival & form your own opinion. We did 3x all the while trying to justify how DCL could charge so much more.
We even tried one of their ships just 6 mos old. It was still decorated like a brothel. One of the evening activities for my then 9 yr old in the kids club was a Coke-tail party, mostly just soda & being told he had to dance. Real fun for a 9 yr old boy.
On our 2nd Carnival cruise, we had drunk ladies shouting down the hall to each other right outside our door at 3am. Girrrrrrrrl!!!!!

While waiting in a long line to board the ship, the guy in front of me would floss his teeth a little, then fling the floss back over his shoulder for a while. Then pull it back & floss some more. On & on it went. I had to back away a few feet so it wouldn't whip me in the head. mmmmm...
Inner city ghetto sails the seas.

Once we tried DCL, we realized it's worth it to pay more.

When I book, I don't compare my quote to cheaper cruise lines. I know they exist. When I plan a visit to WDW, I don't calculate how much I'd save if we went to Six Flags instead.
I know exactly what I like.
I'm not a snob; I do love my Toyota.