Carnival Dream Flooded!

[Intr3pid]

Not necessarily. The Carnival Triumph made major news for several weeks a few years ago after an engine room fire severely crippled the ship. Most of the ships power was out, no A/C, no restrooms, no hot food services. When the news reports on major issues with cruises, all cruise lines feel the impact...usually from first time cruisers who cancel. I know a lot of folks who cancelled planned cruises on Carnival and other lines after the new broke. I sailed on the Triumph shortly after she was put back into service.

Granted, my elderly neighbor and her friends are not adventurous travelers, her first and only flight was was at the age of 77, she's 84 now, and she still won't take a cruise because of the negative news reports over the years.

That was a terrible accident - no toning it down. While anecdotally you may have heard of cold feet, the reality is the cruise industry is raking in record profits and new passengers like no tomorrow:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/385445/number-of-passengers-of-the-cruise-industry-worldwide/

Carnival, as a group, has brands at several price points. It owns Cunard, whose pricing can be considered just as premium as DCL's. (It also owns Seabourn, which is a considerably higher price point than DCL.) If Cunard had a disaster like we saw on Triumph, that could be a fatal blow to the brand.

The "Carnival" brand, on the other hand, is a mass-market brand (= carries ~22% of global cruise passengers). You can happily cruise away on "Carnival" for a 7-nighter at ~$100 per person per night. So, if you are going to have some problems at sea, you aren't going to just walk away. There is little else at this price point. Stuff happens.

 

[cruiser21]

Disney snobs...can't stand them. Disney does no wrong blah, blah, blah. They're on here too.

And yes...stuff really does happen on Disney too. We had a bad experience on one of our cruises and although Disney tried to fix it they couldn't and we cruised with a cabin that smelled like a sewer. Yum.

Feel sorry for the passengers... not a fun thing to deal with on a cruise. Hope everything works out for them.

I've had a flooded bathroom, broken AC, lost luggage, fire alarms at 3am, intrusive servers, pervy servers(don't ask) all on Disney. I don't expect every vacation to be perfect...stuff happens. I've only really gotten mad once that's when Disney sent my bag to the airport with someone else's luggage. I about lost my you know what when they wanted me to fill out a lost and found slip and said they'd contact me in 2 weeks if they found it. Long story short I got my bag back within 2 hours. I think it's more important to look at how companies resolve errors then to expect them not to have any.

I've noticed Carnival is one of the best at keeping their customers informed during weather issues, canceling cruises in a timely matter and providing compensation when due. I would be very comfortable booking a cruise with them in hurricane season.

 

[mousefan73]

When we were on the Magic in November the Edge flooded and they had to shut it down for a couple of days. I wouldn't mind a little convenience for a full refund, free flights home, and half off another cruise,

That‘s what I was thinking. DCL can feel free to flood our stateroom a bit. As long as nothing gets damaged feel free to give me wet carpets for that compensation!

 

[TestingH2O]

For those questioning the media coverage, I saw it on the national news last night.

 

[mevelandry]

When we were on the Magic in November the Edge flooded and they had to shut it down for a couple of days. I wouldn't mind a little convenience for a full refund, free flights home, and half off another cruise,

Seen on Facebook:

"For a free cruise and 50% off the next one, please flood my cabin every time" ... LOL

 

[mevelandry]

Can't say whether it's true for this situation or not, but, typically, the "50% off future cruise" wording means you get 50% of the cost the cruise you are currently on. So that someone in an inside room, can't use it to get 50% off a verandah room.

Give me 50% off an inside cabin and I'll take it.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Most amazing thing to me is that everything is already fixed - new carpet installed, bedding replaced - John Heald posted pictures and everything looks as good as new! It was all fixed before the next cruise left (on Sunday). There's some really hard workers on that ship.

And apparently, only 2 people took Carnival up on their offer to fly home before the end of the cruise. Everyone else stayed.