Carnival Cruise Lines
reviews and complaints

Booked 4 day cruise on carnival cruise lines july 2009 scheduled for december 2009 as 25th wedding anniversary getaway. Prepaid for a shore excursion in Freeport in october. Left on cruise as scheduled and took shore excursion as scheduled on monday in freeport bahamas. The cruise so far had been ok. Not as good as one we had previously taken as the service was definitely not up to par. On Tuesday upon arriving in Nassau, Bahamas, I attempted to withdraw funds from the ATM to take with us onshore to purchase souveniers and ride the bus to the beach. The ATM receipt advised that I had no funds available. I called the bank from my cell phone ($13.00) and was told that the funds I should have had available had been placed on hold by carnival cruises. I spoke with the customer service desk and was told that I had been billed for a shore excursion. I told them that the shore excursion had been paid for back in October. She told me that she knew that but they had to put through another charge in order for the tickets to be printed out. She apologized and said that the money had been returned to my sail and sign account and that I could use that to purchase whatever I wanted on the ship. I asked her to return the funds to my debit account so that I could get cash and she advised that she was sorry but any unused funds would be returned to the account after the completion of the cruise. I advised her that this was unacceptable because I needed cash in order to go ashore. Her response was that there was nothing she could do. We spent the day on the ship doing absolutely nothing worthwile, seeing Naussau Bahamas from the dock only. Some 25th wedding anniversary this turned out to be. We contacted ship management the day of debarkation and requested half of the cruise amount refunded or another cruise to this destination as recompense. We were issued a complaint number and told to call. We called the day after we returned home. Our funds had been returned to our account minus the $88 gratuity. We objected to that as the service was lousy and it was refunded but were told that while they were very sorry that this had happened, there was no way we would receive any further refund or cruise. They advised they had the right to hold funds at their discretion based on the spending exhibited on the cruise. We spent $8.99 on a picture the first day in Freeport which was applied to the sail and sign card. Carnival regularly puts a $50 hold on your card when you board then up to $200 per person while you are on board. I knew that and I knew that they would also charge me $11 per day per person for gratuities. The money they held was in addition to all of this that I had in the account already available for their holds. The money they held was for a service that had already been paid in full 2 months before the actual sailing. All I wanted was to be able to see Nassau up close and personal and their unnecessary hold on my available funds left me stranded with no cash and nowhere to go except their boat. We have since heard from them again as they again advised us that we would not received anything more from them regarding our complaint. We asked them not to send any additional cruise information via email or regular mail and no more phone calls from their agents and even this went unheeded as we recently received a flyer asking us when we were going to sail with them again. When the agent called again I asked him why he thought we should choose carnival after our experience. He told me I should have cashed a check at the service counter on the ship so that I could have had cash. Do you think anyone ever even offered this during any one of the 5 trips to the service desk? NO! Unbelievable.

When i board the ship i put my things in my stateroom and went to have fun. The next day when we getting off the ship in the bahamas i got ready to get off and i went to get my items; georgia id, birth certificate, 400.00 in cash, and my boarding pass, it was gone. And when i went to tell the ship security what they so called did i was not pleased what they call them self doing they just said it was nothing that they could they sent me home wit nothing i had to get home the best way i can cause that was the only money i had, i could not even pay for the parking at the port.

I booked a 6 day cruise out of Mobile. Tropical Storm Lee hit the coast the day we were suppose to board and leave. Because of the storm, the trip was delayed one day which caused the cruise line to be shorten the trip and one port of call to be canceled. Thus the trip was 2 days at sea, 12 hours in port and 2 days back home. Not my ideal of a fun trip. Thus I requested to cancel the trip. I was told I could not but they would give me 20 % discount back on the trip (two weeks after the trip). I know they do not control the whether but they should allow people to cancel, when they have shorten/change the trip because of a huricanne.
IF they have the right to change anything and I am expect to just except it, I suggest DONT USE THE CRUISE LINES ...FLY ! to the destination

I book a cruise for my family in 2 cabins at the same time. Instead of putting all of us in staterooms close to each other the day before the cruise they split the cabins and gave my Children 18, 21, 23 a upgraded cabin in the aft of the ship While I got stuck 2 deck below in the the midship. When I called to see if we could switch the cabins I was told this could not be done because the ship was full. When I mentioned that we only wanted to switch cabine they refered me to my agent. Who told me this was the cruiselines decision and there was nothing that could be done. When I told the cruise line and the agent that they had neglected the upgrade to the person who funed the trip they only offered an apology. Had I known this would be the best part of a Horrible cruise I would have cheerfully canceled the trip and donated my money to the cruise line who by all account desperately needs the revenue. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY. This was only a warning of how bad the company customer service policy is. I cruise every year this was the first and last I will ever be on a Carnival ship.

I received a post card saying I was chosen to receive a free cruise. The post card had the Carnival Cruise Line boat on it so I originally thought it was carnival all I needed to do was claim my prize by calling the 800 number on the card! Turns out you have to attend a 90 minute presentation that is Not a time share but a travel discount club. The membership fee is $8999.00 plus an annual fee of $299 for discounted travel fees: hotels airline tickets car rentals cruises ect... I listened to my gut that's said No Way! I was asked again to join by 2 other sales reps again I declined! I received my Free Cruise voucher which is a scam because in order to activate the voucher you must mail in a cashiers check for $249 by certified mail! :( the deposit is non refundable and Ultimate Executive Travel won't even talk to you on the phone or email until you activate your certificate! I was mislead by World Travel and would recommend to others not to waste your time even going to the over 90 minute more like 2 hour presentation!

I planned a vacation for July 9th - July 16, 2011 on the Carnival Miracle cruise Line. It turned out to be the cruise from hell. Carnival staff took my luggage in NY at the port. only to load it on to the norweign which was also leaving the same day. For 5 days i had no clothing to change into, I washed my underwear daily. and did lots of crying on this vacation. I'am one to understand that nothing is error proof. My concern is how the carnival staff treated me as a guest. I was treated as if I had forgotten my luggage. This was my forth vacation with Carnival and I am very surprised that they did not take full responsibility for my vacation being a total disaster. My cabin was 7109 It was a vacation I had longed for after the passing of my husband.

I have made oral and written complaints. But I didn’t get any responses. So I make this complain again. We were on board the carnival pride on March 27, 2011 and planned to celebrate my parents’ 50th marriage anniversary at Paradise island Bahams. My parents traveled all the way from China for this purpose. However, the ship didn’t go to Nassau due to the mechanical failure at Port Canaveral (Orlando), FL. The reason is that the crew failed to handle the situation appropriately by dropping the anchor too fast. As a direct impact, our celebration plan was totally ruined. So as a remedy, we booked a shore excursion at free port Bahamas, but not till the last minutes we didn’t learn that the shore excursion was canceled. The person in charge the excursion even lied to us that he noticed everyone at his/her cabin. The fact is that we stayed in the cabin till the last minute and no one ever knocked our door or left any notes at the door:. This incident left us stayed on the ship without any other choice; all other excursions were not available at that time/. This incident totally ruined our travel and our mood as well;. Last thing I want to complain is that during cruise disembarkation at Baltimore port, we were told to wait for a group people pass the gate first". We waited for 40 minutes until that group was gone; the crew member told we can’t *** on this side and we spend another 1:.5 hour lined up on the side of the ship/. Over all, the management of the ship was chaos, and the crew should take full response of missing the port of Nassau/.

I have made oral and written complains. But I didn’t get any responses. So I make this complain again. We were on board the carnival pride on March 27, 2011 and planned to celebrate my parents’ 50th marriage anniversary at Paradise island Bahams. My parents travelled all the way from China for this purpose. However, the ship didn’t go to Nassau due to the mechanical failure at Port Canaveral (Orlando), FL. The reason is that the crew failed to handle the situation appropriately by dropping the anchor too fast. As a direct impact, our celebration plan was totally ruined. So as a remedy, we booked a shore excursion at free port Bahamas, but not till the last minutes we didn’t learn that the shore excursion was cancelled. The person in charge the excursion even lied to us that he noticed everyone at his/her cabin. The fact is that we stayed in the cabin till the last minute and no one ever knocked our door or left any notes at the door. This incident left us stayed on the ship without any other choice; all other excursions were not available at that time. This incident totally ruined our travel and our mood as well. Last thing I want to complain is that during cruise disembarkation at Baltimore port, we were told to wait for a group people pass the gate first. We waited for 40 minutes until that group was gone; the crew member told we can’t take off on this side and we spend another 1.5 hour lined up on the side of the ship. Over all, the management of the ship was chaos, and the crew should take full response of missing the port of Nassau.

Carnival does a bait and switch, watch out for it. This is how one of them works, carnival promotes discounts on the site and then switches when you click on the site for the promo. In other words the promo isn't there and you have to click on something that favors them. This is a complete scam and is illegal wtadch people/peoples.

Booked a cruise with Carnival two days before my wife got laid-off. Paid for the extra insurance thinking we could cancel if something happened unexpectedly. Called them within three days to ask them to cancel the trip due to my wife's lay off. They refused because I had booked a cruise via their early-saver program that didn't allow for cancelations. That info was, of course, buried deep in their contract that you only see when you confirm your booking. They're total fraudsters. I say stay away. Or have your lawyer review the contract before you agree to booking anything with them. Also, the women who I discussed our situation with was argumentative, very rude and unsympathetic.

I booked a cruise on feb 18th, at that time I specifically asked the sales associate if my wife were to get pregnant what would I need to do to get my money back. He said cancel before the refund deadline or buy the trip insurance. I asked so the trip insurance will cover pregnancy and he said yes. I purchased 300 dollars of trip insurance and went about my time. One month later we find out my wife is pregnant so I call to cancel. Now there is a 750 charge to cancel my trip, I say well I bought the insurance they say well pregnancy is not covered under that plan.

Not being a first time cruiser I was rather supprise at the level of service received by myself and the 27 other people that were in my unusal small group of only 8 cabins. Dinner service started off bad with people with poor communication skills to being served cold food by the time it got to the table as well as a unfriendly wait staff to our kids. By the second night we had spoke to the manager of the dinning room and was moved downstairs were we treated like roalty by the new waiter and his assitantant. Camp carnival had the most unkind staff. We leave our 3 kids in a day care center durnning the week and comes monday mornning that they want to be back there again. The other thing that was very distubing was said by a crew meber holding an event on the deck where we sitting poolside. That the cruise would be better with out kids on board to bad you could not afford to leave the kids at home. When we went to complain every body said call customer service and when you call customer service they say you should have done on the ship. To end on more of a sour note customer service sends back a letter 1 week later to say they were sorry about what happen but please come sail with us again and when I try to reach the people I spoke to already I cant get them on the phone. I guess with us already planning our next cruise now for 2012 we will be on royal caribbean

Talk about trailer trash on a cruise.
A group of so called men on a "divorce cruise" drunk beyond reason and shouting their play by play sexual encounters loud enough for all to hear.
At 7am lido deck, with families going to breakfast, women and children in earshot, while soaking in a hot tub (they should have drowned) these fools decided to re live their frat party days. To bad for them they seemed in late 20's to early 30's. A little to old to act the fool.
The real travesty is the security team nearby, one man and one woman, did nothing to quiet this boorish group.
Even after being approached by offended guest trying to protect the innocence of nearby children, the security man could only make the ridiculous statement that they are prohibited from engaging with guests who behave badly. The guy has got to be wrong; a letter is going out to Carnival Cruise line for an explanation.

I recently had planned to go on my first cruise with Carnival Cruise Lines. My entire family have been using Carnival for over 15 years. I was in the military so I did not have time to travel since I stayed deployed to war zones. My family was excited that this was the first time in over 20 years our entire family was able to get together. My sister and her husband had both retire from the Navy and myself from the US Air Force. We all served 30 years each. I had never cruise and everyone told me it would be a great time. I listen to my Carnival Cruise Agent. (Raul Lorie) He informed me that all I needed to cruise was a birth certificate and a photo ID. I had checked with him on 3 different times about this information. He insisted that this is all the paperwork I would need. Well after waiting months to leave. My wife and I arrived with my brother and his new wife in Miami Florida. We just spent 2 days traveling down to Miami since we wanted to do the trip first class. We stayed in very nice hotels near the port. We arrived at the port and checked in. Only to have Carnival Cruise personnel tell me that my wife would not be able to cruise since her birth certificate was issued by a hospital. This was the first time we had heard this information. We did not print off our boarding passes or luggage tags since my sister did this for everyone traveling on the cruise. My family had booked I believe 9 cabins on the Carnival Glory leaving on the 13th of Feb 2011. Most of family was celebrating some type of anniversary. The Carnival agent informed me that we needed my wife vital certificate card. We called our daughter at College and asked her to go to our home and get the card faxed to Carnival. We did this only to have Carnival change their minds and say this is not good enough. They told me and my brother that it was a immigration law and that they could be fined by federal government. The agent(Dominque and Jason) told us to go the immigration office at the end of port and asked them to look at our paperwork to see if we could get back into the USA. I took my vehicle out of parking at a cost of 20.00 bucks. I went to the office and spoke to Officer Morrell and the Major and Lt in charge of the shift. They said we had more paperwork than needed. (Birth Certificate, Marriage License, Military ID, State Issue Driver's License). They actual called Carnival Cruise Lines for me and spoke to Evette. They explained to Evette that my wife paperwork was fine to get back into the USA without problem. Evette told them to send me back to ship that we only had 2 hours left to get on the ship. Now we arrived at 9:45 and the ship leaves at 4:00 Pm I got back to the port and went to the embarkation office to see Evette. They paged her and she came out and told me. She had to go to the Supervisor Office to let them know we were cleared by Immigrations. After waiting nearly a hour and half another Agent came out and told me that regardless of what immigrations says that Carnival Cruise Policy (POLICY) is that they do not allow customers to cruise on Hospital Birth Certificate. No matter what our Carnival Cruise Agent told us. So we sat and watch the ship leave. The agents were just giving me and wife the run around. I told them they kept us there all day. They stated we could have left at anytime. I told the agent this was not true since they had our luggage onboard the ship and it had not been returned to us. A few seconds later several porter came by me with my luggage and I said to them that is my luggage. They actual dropped the bags and left without a single word. Now my wife has cancer and I am disable vet. I asked for help with the bags but it came on deaf ears. We struggled to get our bags back down stairs and loaded into the car. The agent told me to have a nice trip home and that I could fly to Nassau on Wednesday and catch up with the cruise there. She explained this would give my time to get a good birth certificate for my wife. Now the birth certificate she intended to use was used to enter the military, get married, registered to vote etc. So we left to head back to Columbia SC. It took us almost 2 days to get home. When I got home on the 14th of Feb. I called our agent to let him know about the trouble. He insisted that a hospital birth certificate was good and that he would call first thing on the 15th to get this resolved. Now my entire family is on the boat and their cruise was damaged since we were not there to enjoy it with them. Our agent did not call us like he said he would. I ended calling him. After staying on hold and having to call 4 times I finally got through to Carnival. Carnival cruise said that we would only get a refund for our taxes and port fees. Our cabin money my father put into each cabin would be lost as well. My father gave us 1500.00 for christmas present for our use while on the cruise. Well after sitting at home for 2 days and finally convincing my wife to fly to Nassau and catch up on the crusie. We obtained her birth certificate from GA on our way home. I went to the Airport to buy the tickets only to find out I can fly to Nassau on birth certificate as previous told to me by Carnival agent. So I called Carnival again to let them know I was given more bad information. The Supervisor told me there was another problem with flying to Nassau. Since our ship was in ST Thomas instead of Nassau. Now after everything that has happened no response from Carnival at all. My family has complained as well. Still No response from Carnival after waiting more than a month. I hear they have a lot of complaints to handle. I have a GOOD Suggestion for Carnival. Do the right thing by your customers and you will have a lot less complaints. It can take years to earn a customer but only a few seconds to loose one or never get one in my case. I just wanted to let everyone know how Carnival handles their Vets and Cancer Patients. A cruise ship is nothing more than a floating HOTEL. I have never received such poor service from any company in the world. I have travel all over the world in my past 30 years in the military. I had hope for a resolution by now or at least a call or letter or email or something. Doing Nothing is unacceptable. Thanks for nothing other than bad memories.

Carnival promised us that if we booked a senior rate and the price changed before we sailed they would credit us the difference. Our price did drop and when I called, they would only upgrade our room. They first told me it was too close to sailing (I noticed online that the early saver rate has up until 2 days before sailing). I called 1 week before sailing.

I just booked a cruise six days ago. The sales agent Kyle and a supervisor will not allow me to switch to a lower rate room. I was not informed at the time of booking that I could not change or I would have waited. I would like to switch or a full refund should be in order.

Suzanne LeBrun Booking # 16zj34. I have given a $300.00 deposit and would like to book the room I want or refund it in full. The room rate I found on the computer is $329.00. I have sailed with you before but will not do so in the future if this is the way you conduct your business.

I had booked a cruise on Carnival Cruise Lines for our three year Anniversary on 12/27/10 out of Boston with the cruise setting sail out of Miami. There was a bad storm and flights to Florida were cancelled for 2 days. Therefore, we could not make our cruise. I contacted Carnival to let them know about the problem and asked for a refund or at least a credit for another cruise as our cruise. Carnival refused to help us in any way saying they are not obligated to do anything since we didn't purchase insurance. I admitted to not reading the fine print on the insurance policy and did not think I would need insurance in the case of the airport shutting down. I tried to reason with Carnival as their were many open rooms on the cruise and the company did not lose money as a result of our cancellation. I asked for a credit for a cruise in May and they refused. This company could care less about their customers and the greed and arrogance is beyond belief. I could understand their position if our cruise was sold out and they lost the fee on our room, however this was not the case. We were not taking a room they needed to sell in a sold out situation and we did not use any of their amenities, including food and drink. Yet, Carnival sees fit to take our money. I highly advise anyone thinking of taking a cruise to avoid Carnival at all costs. This is the most uncaring, unethical company I have ever dealt with.

I had a cruise booked with Carnival last fall and when the date was coming due to make the final payment we knew we wouldnt be able to make the trip, I called and spoke to the agent who booked it (Carnival employee) and asked to have my money sent back to me, I was told that it was a special fare and I couldnt get my money back but they could keep it for me until I was ready to rebook, I asked to speak to someone in customer service (no such thing there) they said that the monies would be kept until I was ready to rebook...Guess what I went to rebook and was told there was no money because I didnt cancel, which is what I tried to do more than once... Does a big company like Carnival need these dollars

When we arrived we went to customer services to load our spending card. My husband put down cash and when we ask about the soda cards we were told we had to go to a bar to do that. So while he was waiting on paper work I went to bar behind us and assumed I had to give cash to load cards there. So I told the girl what I wanted to do and gave her a hundred dollar bill. She took it and ask if I wanted to get mugs also I said yes. She swiped our cards and gave me change back. Well when she swiped our cards it took it off the money my husband had just put down. Not knowing this at the time and thinking I had paid to load the cards we left. A few days later I went to get a print out and add more money to cards when I noticed the 73.50 off his amount. So I went and got my reciepts and they called a supervisor I had to come back an hour later to confront the lady I paid. She says we dont take cash so I let her know she took mine.. She also denied this I know what I paid her and I do not need carnivals 73.50 I just want what we double paid. They said they we turning it over to a board to decide. I will not ever go on carnival again. I will spend my money some where else. So as of now we paid a total of 157.00 for 8 tyo 10 cokes way to go carnival.

My wife and I were to take a cruise to encinada, mexico, june 2009. Carnival changed that cruise because of the swine flu to catalina, ca. We declined that cruise, asking for a refund since you can board a boat off the coast of ca for less than $10 to go to catalina. They refused that refund request although a credit was issued for part of the money a few weeks later. Since then I have become unemployed for the past year. We have asked repeatedly for the refund of the remaining $181.40 due to a hardship. They have told us they don't consider being out of work a hardship. We have written them dozens of letters and sent at their request, many fax (They say they don't receive them and we have to resend them) and they still refuse to refund that money. We've even gone as far as to look up their president and ceo, gerald cahill, with no response. They say they offered us to extend and apply that money towards another cruise but when you are laid off and trying to pay your bills, I feel spending even more money to take a cruise is not the way to go as our bills come first.
They say they have sent us emails but to this day, we have never received one email from this company. Those of you who were on that ill-fated cruise where the engines failed, good luck in getting what they promised you. If anyone knows a way to get our money back, other than contacting a lawyer, please let us know. Our local news stations won't help us either. Just a word of warning to those customers of carnival cruiselines. They are a multi million dollar company, registered to other countries, that steals your hard earned money when the problem had nothing to do with something you did.