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Carnival Cruise Lines

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To say that Carnival gets more than its share of complaints would be quite an understatement. We get more complaints about Carnival than about all other crise lines combined. We'd recommend reading this section carefully before you put down big bucks -- not after.

Here are just a few of the more recent complaints ...

Karen of Charlotte, NC September 8, 2008

Karen of Charlotte NC (09/08/08)
Billing Errors Our debit card was charged twice on the sign and sail account which caused an overdraft..this took the entire cruise to resolve. During this period of time, to cover our charges I deposited cash several times to keep money on our sign and sail account. One cash deposit was posted inaccurately (138) short and another cash deposit was entered as a withdrawal (70).

I complained and the ship, and also 2 seperate times with the Carnival Accounting Department. They refuse to resolve this without a receipt. I am not sure if I recieved a receipt or it was lost but either way they should have a a duplicate copy. I think of this as them stealing 208 of my money.

In addition to this billing error, I was charged double for some photos purchased on board (43.80), for a movie which we did not purchase (8.99), and a unknown charge for a location the accounting department was unaware of (23.00). I am still waiting on a refund or resolution for these items.

Overdraft bank charges, unable to pay bills when I returned.

Lisa of Baton Rouge, LA September 7, 2008

Lisa of Baton Rouge LA (09/07/08)
My husband and I have always sworn we would never take a cruise, we thought it sounded boring to be stuck on a ship and having to work what we wanted to do at the ports around the ships schedule. We won a free cruise through is job, and decided to book it after our wedding and use it as our honeymoon (yep, I'm cheap!). We went into it with very low expectations, and ended up being blown away by how much fun we had.

We had read all the fine print, so we knew what the charges were for gratuities and rescheduling policies, so there weren't any suprises. We did have one employee that didn't give the best service in the world, but we just adjusted our gratuity a little to reflect that, and went on our merry way.

We're looking forward to our next cruise in November, and have gotten a great deal and wonderful service so far with German, the guy at Carnival that we've booked through. He was really upfront about what rooms were louder and rockier, and we feel pretty happy about the room we booked.

Some of the experiences I've read here are unfortunate, but I have to say quite a few, like rescheduling and how seating isn't guaranteed, are on the Carnival website. They are taking care of thousands of people every trip, no way is it going to be perfect for everyone.

Kris of Spanish Fork, UT September 3, 2008

Kris of Spanish Fork UT (09/03/08)
while on a carnival cruise they put flyers in tje cabins and set up a booth on the ship wanting you to apply for a sea miles card, I applied and was told I had instant approval and that my ship charges would be put on this card. When I went to leave the cruise I asked at the info desk, they knew nothing about it and said it wasn't there problem, they charged my debit card, I spent differently on the ship thinking it was going on this other card.

The next day when I was home I called carnival guest relations, they were no help at all, also the charges on my debit were double what they should be, she said I needed to wait another 72 hrs, if the double charges were not gone @ that point then they could help me, I have just found them to be very rude, I will not use them again.

Bobby of Walnut, CA August 30, 2008

Bobby of Walnut CA (08/30/08)
On July 28, 2008: It's seems to be like a beautiful day. It's the first cruise that I've with my family. A five days cruise. Wow, very exciting. Around 11am to 12pm before registrating my boarding pass inside the building, I left all my luggages to the carnival staffing team in front of the building so they can deliver them to my room. It's extremely a breathtaking experience while touring around the ship... Around 4pm, while approaching to my room, I realize one of my luggage is missing. Instead of giving me my proper luggages, it was replace by a black purse. Obviously, I returned it and ask for my backpack that is filled with all my camera equipments.

The Carnival staffs told me that I will be getting all my luggages by 8pm. The day is definitely getting very gloomy. The trip is really a frustrating cruise. They never found my luggage. I made myself look like a fool because I was at the information desk almost few hours to ask the whereabouts for my luggage.

Because of not buying travel insurance, Carnival Cruise told me that they not responsible for disappearance of my luggage! It's not hard to back track to find out who last handled my personal belongings. Definitely bad management or unprofessional baggage handlers protected by crooked management system or handlers delivering to wrong room, still protected by crooked management not willing to backtrack and investigate.

IT'S DEFINITELY A FRUSTRATING AND SADNING TRIP. DON'T LET ANY CARNIVAL CRUISE STAFFS HANDLE YOUR IMPORTANT PERSONAL BELONGINGS OR ELSE YOU MIGHT END UP TO BE IN A WORSE SHIP EVER. TO THIS DATE, I HAVE NOT GOTTEN ANY WORD WITH MY MISSING LUGGAGE.

IT'S JUST PATHETIC AND SADNING KNOWING THAT THERE ARE SUCH UNPROFESSIONAL STAFFS WORKING AT CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE.

Samalea of South Point, OH August 29, 2008

Samalea of South Point OH (08/29/08)
when we purchased our last cruise with carnival we became club members, we were told we would rececive upgrade. specials, when i called to book we were charged the highest amount , we did not qualify for any specials. we had been better off just to book regular.

now we are planning to take our family next yr. which means we will need 3 cabins, i don't know if i should go with carnival any more. this would be our 4th cruise with them. i thought we would get more then choc. strawberries. you would think a person might get a little break. well looks like they may have lost some business. on the good part the staff was wonderful,

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