Hurricane Irene - Carnival Glory

[sushilover]

My business partner and her family are scheduled to sail today from NYC Pier 88 to Canada. Carnival is going ahead with the sailing but will be departing earlier (3 PM) than scheduled (5 PM) and may depart earlier if the situation warrants.

Her family does not want to go on the trip for a variety of reasons including not wanting to be away from home during a major storm. Carnival has told them that they will not reschedule the trip nor can they expect a refund since Carnival is honoring their side of the contract by actually providing them with a cruise.

She did not purchase trip insurance because she is a cruise newbie and thought she was safe since she was sailing out of NYC. It seems to me that Carnival can be a little more flexible given that this is a 1 in 100 year storm and 4 governors have declared states of emergencies. Furthermore, all airports and subways/buses in NY will be closed after noon today and also some bridges and tunnels.

Is there anything she can do? She was going to contact the credit card company and explain the situation and hopefully they will credit her card and just allow Carnival to dispute the situation with her directly.

I welcome any helpful and/or constructive comments. Please no comments about the necessity of trip insurance. Thank you.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Your friend may want to check out the Carnival message board on Cruise Critic as it may have more info.

I am not expert by any means but my short answer would be no. And her CC company is not going to side with her. If Carnival is not canceling the cruise then she can go or lose her money. Unless she feels it will be an unsafe, miserable trip and she would rather lose her money than go on it, she should go for it. There are probably a lot of people who are going to miss the cruise because of transportation problems with the airport being closed and if they don't have trip insurance then they are in really bad shape. I think she is lucky if she is in NYC and can get to the pier.

My business partner and her family are scheduled to sail today from NYC Pier 88 to Canada. Carnival is going ahead with the sailing but will be departing earlier (3 PM) than scheduled (5 PM) and may depart earlier if the situation warrants.

Her family does not want to go on the trip for a variety of reasons including not wanting to be away from home during a major storm. Carnival has told them that they will not reschedule the trip nor can they expect a refund since Carnival is honoring their side of the contract by actually providing them with a cruise.

She did not purchase trip insurance because she is a cruise newbie and thought she was safe since she was sailing out of NYC. It seems to me that Carnival can be a little more flexible given that this is a 1 in 100 year storm and 4 governors have declared states of emergencies. Furthermore, all airports and subways/buses in NY will be closed after noon today and also some bridges and tunnels.

Is there anything she can do? She was going to contact the credit card company and explain the situation and hopefully they will credit her card and just allow Carnival to dispute the situation with her directly.

I welcome any helpful and/or constructive comments. Please no comments about the necessity of trip insurance. Thank you.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

I just saw somewhere they are shutting down the public transit in NYC at noon and I also saw a post on the CC board for Carnival that the ship is leaving at 1pm now - not sure if that is true. If you friend is going to go she needs to get going!

 

[Octoberbride03]

If I were your friend I'd go on the cruise. Yeah, its a hurricane that happens that far north in who knows how long. But what happens happens. There is nothing she can do now until its over anyway. May as well go and get out of the weather and have a good time. Whatever needs to be done as a result of the storm will still be there when she gets home. It just gets done a ew days later.

How long is the cruise?

 

[sushilover]

They want to be home to watch over their house in case there is flooding or any other damage. They live in Westchester County, about 40 minutes North of the pier. The cab company and all others in the county will not drive into Manhattan today because they are not sure they can get back with the bridges and tunnels closing at noon today.

Cruise is only for 5 days.

Bridges, tunnels, airports, subways shut down yet Carnival is still sailing and won't reschedule. IMHO, a bit unseemly and does not say much for their customer service.

 

[roth697]

Just another great reason not to sail carnival (lack of customer service)!

 

[smootenloopers]

My business partner and her family are scheduled to sail today from NYC Pier 88 to Canada. Carnival is going ahead with the sailing but will be departing earlier (3 PM) than scheduled (5 PM) and may depart earlier if the situation warrants.

Her family does not want to go on the trip for a variety of reasons including not wanting to be away from home during a major storm. Carnival has told them that they will not reschedule the trip nor can they expect a refund since Carnival is honoring their side of the contract by actually providing them with a cruise.

She did not purchase trip insurance because she is a cruise newbie and thought she was safe since she was sailing out of NYC. It seems to me that Carnival can be a little more flexible given that this is a 1 in 100 year storm and 4 governors have declared states of emergencies. Furthermore, all airports and subways/buses in NY will be closed after noon today and also some bridges and tunnels.

Is there anything she can do? She was going to contact the credit card company and explain the situation and hopefully they will credit her card and just allow Carnival to dispute the situation with her directly.

I welcome any helpful and/or constructive comments. Please no comments about the necessity of trip insurance. Thank you.

Why is it that when companies actually do what they say they will do in their cruise contract, people think they are being unreasonable and should make an exception for them?

I'm sure many will think I'm overly harsh, but the ship is sailing and they chose not to be on it. Why shouldn't they bear the financial responsibility for that choice (and the choice to not buy insurance) rather than Carnival? People need to start taking reponsibility for their own decisions.

 

[ALSBC91]

It's safer for the ships to be out at sea during hurricanes than tied up at a pier. That's why the Navy sends their ships out to sea rather than keep them in port.

Would have been better for Carnival to cancel the cruise and go ahead and move the ship out. Sounds like they tried to have their proverbial cake and eat it too: the ship needs to be moved, might as well do the cruise. At this rate, they've moved the sail time so much that I'm sure between the closing of the transportation and the people not knowing time change, the ship will be fairly empty anyway.

 

[floydfamily4]

I feel bad for your friend but I don't really agree that Carnival is at fault. If they cancelled then yes but the ship is going. I do still feel bad though because its a sucky situation regardless

 

[Kae]

Just another great reason not to sail carnival (lack of customer service)!

That is not true. Two words Travel insurance..

Kae

 

[Christy323]

Her family does not want to go on the trip for a variety of reasons including not wanting to be away from home during a major storm.

That's the key right there, unfortunately. Not that it is impossible for her to go on the ship, but that she does not want to go. Your business partner is choosing not to honor her contract with Carnival. She certainly isn't to blame for the hurricane, but neither is Carnival. It's an unfortunate situation all around, especially because of the fact that a hurricane in NY is virtually unforeseeable (but that's what trip insurance is for). Ultimately, I don't think she'll be able to get any compensation from Carnival, & her CC company will likely side with Carnival.

 

[Tozzie]

They want to be home to watch over their house in case there is flooding or any other damage. They live in Westchester County, about 40 minutes North of the pier. The cab company and all others in the county will not drive into Manhattan today because they are not sure they can get back with the bridges and tunnels closing at noon today.

Cruise is only for 5 days.

Bridges, tunnels, airports, subways shut down yet Carnival is still sailing and won't reschedule. IMHO, a bit unseemly and does not say much for their customer service.

The subways and busses are shutting down at noon, the Bridges and Tunnels are open and will remain open, they will close bridges only if winds are 60mph or greater, that means that they won't be closing any bridges until after 8 pm tongiht or later.

 

[JoeCosta]

Only cancel for any reason insurance will cover you being afraid of going and that only pays 50% back of your costs. Should weather keep you from getting to the ship (which you would have to prove) then you would be covered.

Otherwise Carnival is not at fault at all and this is not a lack of customer service issue, but a lack of your friend obtaining travel insurance. It sure is easy blaming someone else though ain't it!

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

Only cancel for any reason insurance will cover you being afraid of going and that only pays 50% back of your costs. Should weather keep you from getting to the ship (which you would have to prove) then you would be covered.

Otherwise Carnival is not at fault at all and this is not a lack of customer service issue, but a lack of your friend obtaining travel insurance. It sure is easy blaming someone else though ain't it!

Have to agree with JoeCosta. We buy insurance just for reasons like this. She gambled and sounds like she lost. It doesn't matter if it's a one in a million storm. Flame away, I'm ready.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

I don't see any fault with Carnival here either. They notified everyone the ship was leaving early, and the ships almost always sail when there is a hurricane, regardless. They just sail out of the storm's path. Now if your friend hadn't been notified the ship was leaving early, then showed up and missed it and Carnival wasn't going to reimburse her cost of cruise, THAT I would see as Carnival behaving badly (i.e, recent issue with RCCL in San Juan).

And on the flip side of the coin, I think that the majority of passengers would be more upset if the cruise HAD been cancelled than the fact it wasn't. Can you imagine if someone had travelled all the way to NYC from another state, despite the storm, and then got stranded there because Carnival cancelled?

Does anyone know of any instance where a cruise has been cancelled due to a hurricane BUT FOR when the ships can't get into port to pick up the passengers?

 

[2disneydads]

IMHO, a bit unseemly and does not say much for their customer service.

Carnival has done a lot more for its passengers than, say, Royal Caribbean or NCL. Royal Caribbean left approximately 145 people on the dock in San Juan when it sailed a ship out early to avoid a storm-related port closing, and Carnival left even more. But Carnival paid to put up every passenger and flew each and every passenger with a passport to Barbados to meet the cruise there. Royal Caribbean only provided similar services for the few passengers who purchased air arrangements from Royal Caribbean. And NCL is shortening its sailing from NYC to Bermuda originally scheduled for tomorrow and postponed to Monday without any compensation whatsoever for the guests who lost a day of their cruise. Carnival is sailing, sailing is safe, there is adequate access to the terminal (there is no public transportation near the terminal in any event) and the folks in question did not buy insurance despite numerous warnings from the cruiseline to do so. I don't see any reason for these people to expect Carnival to do anything for them.

 

[clten]

I'm sorry your friend is missing the cruise. But it isn't Carnival's fault and they shouldn't be painted as the villan. (Funny wasn't there a thread earlier this week about how bad RCCL was and how great Carnival was in handling passengers out of San Juan??) They cannot change the rules for each individual. If they did, there's no sense in having a contract with anyone.

Your friends were traveling during hurricane season. I know they didn't picture that the hurricane would be heading right for them but this comes up every Aug/Sep/Oct. That's why there is insurance. And it's not true that insurance would only cover 50%. There are cancel any reason insurances that will cover 100% but usually have to be bought when you make a deposit on your trip. There are also insurances that will cover if you don't want to leave for just this situation -- your home or your destination is facing hurricane. That's why you have to compare policies and buy what suits you or know you are risking the full amount you paid.

And being a cruise newbie isn't a good excuse either. There are plenty of resources if you don't know what you are doing -- starting with a good Travel Agent.

 

[bats]

What a shame her first experience is one that hasn't had a happy ending.

For those flaming her for not getting insurance, the OP has already explained that the cruiser was knew and didn't realise. Having insurance may not have covered the cruiser for 'not wanting to go' anyway so there's no point telling her she should have got insurance. As she was a newbie, a good TA may not have been known ... we're not all members of this fantastic board afterall.

Last year, most of Europe was shut down due to an ash cloud from Iceland. Our flight to Vegas was cancelled and even though we have annual insurance cover, we weren't covered as it was a natural disaster.

It was only because we booked a whole package holiday and not separate flights/hotel/car etc that we were able to switch our dates and not lose out too much. I imagine that your insurance works the same no, or is it different as you often have hurricanes, tornadoes etc?

Anyway, the cruiser made the decision not to go and presumably knew that she could possibly lose every penny of the cost .. just a shame all round really.

Hope they manage to get a first cruise at some point

 

[miztigg]

uhmm even if she bought travel insurance i dont think they would have rembursed her i never had to file a claim and i usually dont buy it. However can u cancel and turn it in just cause u dont wanna go?? her friend is at fault not carnival

 

[bats]

Just as an aside and not directed at the newbie cruiser .... I often hear that US citizens don't buy insurance, whereas here in the UK, I don't know anyone that doesn't buy it.

Do you tend to buy it if you travel outside of the US but not on home turf?