Carnival Cruise Lines
reviews and complaints

I have just returned from the worst cruise ever, the very first day we had the worst smell, it seemed that a toilet was backed up and everyone kept saying things like "NY City water is dirty" I always leave from NYC and this is the first time I have ever smelled such a foul smell.

This smell stayed in the cabinet and hallways the whole time, 6 middle. It was nauseating, I had several reservations and had to attend because I really wanted to have a great time, after eating threw all the food up...just could not keep food down but still tried to have a great time...

All this and we have rocky water the whole time...along with the sickening smell what a horrible combination.

I will never travel on Carnival again...and I love to cruise and do so every year. Thank God there are other cruise lines.

Folio - 9176

This doesn't really matter, I already spoke to a customer care and submitted a whole list of complaints about our 14 day cruise to Hawaii on the Carnival splendor on April 27 thru May 11th and although I submitted a few pictures and informed them that all my complaints could have been seen if they look at their surveillance camera on the ship they basically said it was not the norm for carnival but they would give us a $100.00 on board credit the next time we cruise with them, I was so insulted, the cruise cost us $5900.00 not to mention the $1100.00 plane tickets and other expenses and 10 out of the 14 days we spent at sea and everything to do on the ship could be done in a day because there was so little to do, spent most of the time in our cabin. the food was the worse we ever had on any cruise and the crew were unpleasant and acted like we were bothering them. After all the proven complaints all they felt complaints were worth was $100.00. The customer care women was very pleasant and I know she was just relaying what she was told by the corporate big wigs who would fire every one on the Splendor if they or their family experienced what we did on this cruise. Ill stick with the cruise line I have used in the past who know how to treat their guests and it isn't Carnival ! Thomas Cahalan

This cruise was the most horrible I've ever been on! I'm going to outline a few of the problems, and the narrative the rest. Mind you, I've been in almost constant contact with Carnival and they choose to do nothing to remedy the situation!
Hubby and I cruised out of NOLA in April, immediately booked another for sons Senior trip in May, out of Galveston on the freedom. Minutes before embarking in Galveston, I'm notified the credit card I used for previous cruise had been compromised. Embarkation process was slow and unorganized, with guests being yelled at by staff, an altogether different atmosphere than NOLA. Very bad, not vacation-y or enjoyable at all.
Problem #1 After 4 hours, our luggage was finally delivered to our balcony state room, where I find my brand new hard case suitcase to be split across the bottom with a wheel hanging only by a few pieces of plastic. Inside, my husbands $1300 Invicta reserve Watch was damaged to the point of not working, not to mention the huge scratch across the face of it. Guest services was notified. They directed us to purchase a new piece of luggage in the Port of Cozumel up to $200 and we would be reimbursed. We took 1/2 our day in port, paid $80 for taxi to take us to some "mall" and got a pos piece of luggage for an outrageous amount. The guest services manager refused to reimburse me for the taxi fee. They said that my husbands watch and any other contents wasn't their problem. Thanks Carnival. Got our $$ now your customer service is non-existent. I see.
Problem #2. We had all gratuities removed from our account and chose to disperse them on our own as cash. When I went to guest services to do this, the agent and the manager spoke to each other, thinking I couldn't hear them, about how I am "grumpy" when I asked him why they called me grumpy, he stuttered a bit, giggled, and said they had said country. Haha. I know exactly what they said. They just didn't expect to get caught.
Problem #3 Two days after embarkation, the credit card I used on this sailing was compromised. This card has never been used for anything other than sail and sign on this ship. And it stays in a protected sleeve, so I know it wasn't scanned. So, simple math says to me... card A number used on carnival cruise 1 was stolen + card B number used solely on carnival cruise 2 was stolen = carnival cruise lines has a security issue somewhere within their credit card system. However, I'm the only one that can do that math. No one at Carnival WANTS to admit any fault.
They also don't want to compensate me for any of the trouble I've had to go thru due to any of their employees short comings, fraudulent activity, or disrespect.
Think twice before you give them your credit card number! And if you choose to do so, be sure to check and double check every single charge that comes thru that card account for the next few months!
On a side note, I spent over $8000 in the casino and $6000 on jewelry on the cruise in April. On the cruise in May, I spent over $14000 in the casino!

Just returned from our 1st Carnival Sunshine cruise from Charleston 5/18-5/23. BOOKING #4WBH91 celebrating our 50th anniversary.
Sad to say VERY, VERY UPSET WITH embarking AND disembarking procedures.
We waited 2 hrs. just to get a parking spot. Then we were parked TWO FOOTBALL FIELDS AWAY from bldg. 324 .with NO ASSISTANCE WITH LUGGAGE til after going thru security..It was 91degrees in the car during that wait!...with NO EXPLANATION WHY WE WERE WAITING.
At time of disembarking..we left our room at 8:00am.. then waited 2 hrs STANDING in the hallway..Why wasn't a lounge made available til our floor # was called., ie The.Liquid Lounge was right there?
Very disappointed our 1st cruise with Carnival for a very special event, was laddened with frustration!

I am a past Carnival guest . Today I reviewed your home page & found disturbing information. Canyou tell me why, Carnival or any other Cruise line would ignore offering nurses a discount? Firefighters are there, teachers too and Emt's. We are vital professionals who are most often ignored even though we save lives. We are dedicated professionals who deserve recognition too.
Julie Abramczyk, RN

To whom it may concern,

My name is Hugo Cazarez, I purchased two cruise tickets for the day of May 17, 2019 from Expedia. At the time of purchase I received an e-mail with the itinerary, in the itinerary it did not specify that there were additional steps that needed to be taken in order to become fully booked on the cruise. The day of departure I went on the the Carnival website to browse the activities, that is when I registered. Expedia neglected to mention that registration was required to get the boarding time. Expedia has a section labeled "Before you go" here a checklist is provided, the checklist is not readily available there is some navigation that needs to be done. The checklist says to complete the online registration to reduce check-in time at the port, it does not say that it needs to be done in order to be assigned a check in time or receive communication from carnival. We arrived 90 minutes before the departure time and were not let in because the registration had not been fully completed. I spoke to a customer service representative from your company and was directed to call Expedia, I was on the phone with Expedia for 2 hours, they were not able to resolve the issue and directed me to reach out to your company. This has been very frustrating, Instructions about boarding times and information should be clearly communicated by both the Carnival and Expedia, not hidden away. I would like to request a refund. You can reach me at [protected]@yahoo.com or [protected]

I just got off Carnival Sebsation cruises 5/6 thr 5/11. I registered a complaint on board to guest services as well. I booked our cruise by calling carnival directly. My one sister and I already had a room booked, my other two sister called me and asked to join us. When I called I was advised that ship was fully booked except for a few rooms in which one would accomidate all four of us which was a balcony E217. The person we spoke to new we were elderly and at no time told us there were pull down beds. I had previously on other trips had a balcony with carnival and remembered how roomy so figurec we would all fit. Usually balcony's has two beds, couch figured they would bring in a cot. This was not the case with the room we got. It was very small I thought for a balcony, no way big enough for 4 adult women. We did complane at guest services and was advised no other room was available. I have pictures to show what our conditions were. One of us had to sleep on THE FLOOR, is this the way to treat your customers? I have traveled many times with Carnival and was never treated this way. We feel we should be compisated having to put up with these conditions. We want to know what Carnival planes on doing.my other three sister do not want to ever cruise with carnival again. I would like to know what you plan on doing to keep our business? We are already planning to do another cruise in June 2020. It up to you now weather we will be booking with carnival.
sincerely, Sandra Reisinger. Email Reisinger.[protected]@Yahoo.com

I traveled on Carnival Sensation April 22-27, 2019. On April 24th I attended breakfast at the buffet and decided to eat on the terrace. Once I opened the door, I proceeded to walk through and the door slammed shut on the back of my right heel. Once I sat down and looked at my injury, I realized I was bleeding badly. I used the napkin I had to apply pressure on the large cut I had obtained. Immediately I asked a waiter if he could get me a bandage, which he replied I would need to go to Deck 3 to obtain. Once i showed him the cut and all the blood that was leaking, he ran to get me a bandage. I applied at that time, then went to Deck 3 for assistance.
Once I arrived, the lady at the front desk asked for my Stateroom card as I informed her of my injury. She went to a cabinet behind and showed me a small package she could provide for the amount of $1.75. At this time, in pain and agitated, I responded by informing her I was not going to pay for a bandage to stop the bleeding when the door on your ship closed on my heel and I was bleeding all over the floor.
She immediately snatched the small package and went back to the cabinet. At this point she gave me a bandage with ointment to apply. I did so in another room, where she followed and stood over me as I applied. She continued to say, "now tell me what really happened". I was appalled at her response and lack of interest to my injury. Once I applied the bandage I left and went to my state room where I decided to dress the wound better.
I received a letter the next morning advising they were aware of my injury and I could seek help if needed. At this point I was upset that it took the entire day before my injury was addressed in a more professional manner. I continued my vacation in pain to my heel, which inhibited my walking when when docked to our locations.
This issue was not handled professionally or with any concern from the medic. I feel the duty of a medic is to assist as needed and it was done.

We cruised the Carnival Breeze on April 20, 2019 through April 27, 2019. My booking number is 1SSX30. There were four broken washers on this cruise ship, and we had to wait in long lines to get our clothes washed. We also had issues with our bathroom sink because the stopper was not holding water in the sink; plus, we had no hot water initially. I contacted guest services about the cooler, and I left a note for maintenance to notify me if the cooler was functioning correctly, and they never contacted me. I contacted the guest care specialist at Carnival, and the agent by the name of Terence (last name withheld) said that they have no control over mechanical breakdowns. I have a problem with his statement because the ship belongs to Carnival, so the equipment on the ship belongs to the corporation. Granted, mechanical failures may not always be foreseeable, but the company earns billions of dollars per year and should have technicians onboard its ships to deal with any issues immediately. Although my overall was not bad, it was not the best either. I requested that Carnival provide some sort of accommodation in which the company refused. I am disappointed in the response from the company.

We just got back from a 7 day cruise to Jamaica, Cayman Islands and Cozumel on Carnival Freedom. We got back on May 4th. When I first spoke with the Carnival representative on the phone regarding the twin beds that were in the room they told me that to let our stateroom steward know and the beds could be put together. Well the twin beds are not the same height in the room. We spent the entire time on the cruise each sleeping on a bed, one of which was 6 inches higher than the other one. In addition, we got locked out of our safe. Someone came in and drilled a hole in the safe and opened it, and he said the safe needed to be replaced. I told him we wanted it replaced, and a woman who also works for Carnival came by and asked if we wanted our safe replaced, they told us they could take a safe from another room. I said yes, to her also that we wanted our safe replaced. They never EVER brought us another safe. I had to spend the whole cruise carrying my valuables around with me. In addition, I ordered a 4 pack of ocean spray cranberry juice from Carnival Fun Shops. The cans looked big. Instead, when they were delivered to our stateroom they were TINY little cans, 5.5 ounces. I feel ripped off because of all three things that I mentioned. I have pictures as proof of the safe and beds that weren't even the same height. I attached the pictures of the bed and safe. You can see at the bottom of the safe the metal shavings from where the Carnival person drilled into the safe. They didn't even replace it. I know, or the shavings would have been moved, in addition, I kept trying the safe all cruise long and it wouldn't work, so I know it was NOT replaced. I am very unhappy with Carnival Cruise Lines

5/5/2019To Whom It May Concern: From Margree Lewis.On April 14, Out Flight was cancel. Because of this we missed the Cruise Ship This was very upsetting. We bought a ticket on The Delta Airline hoping we could make it to the Cruise Ship we missed it by ten minutes. I am a senior city my age is 81, on May 18, I will be 82, living on a fixed income. Sacrifice to make this trip, it make me sad to hear that we can't get a refund. I rather have another date schedule to go on another Cruise instead of refund yours Truly Margree

Booking #5ZDG99
Carnival Conquest
8 Day Exotic Eastern Caribean
Sale Date April 13, 2019
Embarkation Port - Fort Everglades, Fl

The above reservation which was under two names, Castellanos and Morales was made with a Carnival Agent, named Xavier. Ms. Castellanos made the initial call to Xavier, and I followed by calling Mr. Xavier and making the reservation for myself and my husband. I gave Mr. Xavier our credit card information, obtained insurance from Mr. Xavier and received a confirmation number from him. Unfortunately two or three days prior to our departure Ms. Castellano's father passed away and she had to cancel her plans. She made certain to tell Xavier that this cancellation was only on her part, and that the Morales reservation was to stay in tack. On April 13, my husband and I arrived at Fort Everglades after driving 9 hours from South Carolina to fine out that our reservation had been cancelled. We never received an e-mail stating this cancellation, and I was not contacted either. I had received e-mails from Carnival counting days left to depart, so I do not understand why I did not receive one with regard to this cancellation. Needlesstosay, this was a total mess, we had to wait two hours to be reinstated, our luggage which was to be on deck 7, now was floating around. We were eventually able to get on board after several stops due to us not showing up on the computer. Once on board, we did not receive our luggage until approximately 9:00, because it was misplaced. Our scheduled 6:00 dinner reservation was non-existent, so we couldn't do that, and instead of being on Deck 7, we were placed on the Lido Deck. At no certain time was this cancellation authorized, and this was a very stressful way to start a vacation. Yes, there were two names on this booking, only one cancelled. Your agents should pay better attention when talking to their clients. I know these converations are taped, and I would appreciate it if someone would look into this and get back to me. What happened was very unfortunate and should not happen again to anyone.

The 3rd week into March my family was on the Carnival Miracle. My son was injured while playing mini golf. His injury was HORRIFIC! Not only was he traumatized by this but my other kids that watched it unfold were as well. Benton was hanging on to the hand rail as seen in the first picture and when he rounded the corner there he continued to hang on to it and went past the golf clubs in doing so the metal hooks at the end ripped him open under his arm into his armpit. You could literally see the connective tissue, muscle and nerves just hanging out. It was extremely gory and he was in intense pain. Watching him endure this was more than I could handle my 2 teenagers were bawling as they watched their little brother scream out in pain. We were rushed down to the medic station by security, who by the way kept telling me that I needed to calm down and that I just had "a mothers reaction" well there was hundreds of other people on board that were not his mother and reacted the same. Anyways his injury was so bad the doctor put him under to try and put him back together. He told us he was concerned that the blood flow would not return and his tissue would become necrosis as well as the obvious concern of infection. Im extremely upset with the way the security made me feel the night of and the next day when we filled out the incident report. I was made to feel as if he got a "scratch" on his arm when in reality he was severely injured and endured a night of hell. The bad part was it didn't end there. We then had several follow up visits with our pediatrician to check the tissue and remove sutures. Every single one of these appointments were awful because this is an extremely tender spot and it was incredibly sore and painful for quite some time. Now that we are home the only memory we carry from spring break is awful due to this incident which also kept him from swimming or getting in the water. We have had several medical bills from our visits since getting home and are now looking into physical therapy to regain his range of motion.
Resolution= Refund for our entire trip and credit to have another family cruise

I was on the 11th floor in a suite. The day of arrival the two elevators to that floor 10, 11th, and 12th floors were broken. We had to walk several flights of stairs several times daily to get to and from our room. Also, the interior elevators were broken as well. And when we asked guest services
To move us to a state room we were told
They could not.
The second day on the ship... the at sea day. The right side of the top deck of the ship was closed for repairs. So while we tried enjoy the pool and sun bathing all we heard was hammering, sawing, and sparks flying from maintenance work on the ship. It was very disappointing how run down and Broken the ship was. But the broken elevators was the most unacceptable part of our trip. I would
Have paid half the price for a state
Room as opposed to a suite.

My wife and i went on a cruise on the carnival victory April 15 through April 20th. we paid 12 dollars a day each for the wifi on the ship and it might of worked 10 percent of the time we were on the ship and that 10 percent it did not work very well. My wife also paid extra money for the anniversary package for our room and they did not set up any of it at all it was thrown in a pile in our room nothing hung up or set up at all like you guys advertised on your website. We also got hit with a 110 dollar gratiuity that we were not informed at all that it would happen for workers on the ship. We went to customer service on these issues and customer service just kept putting these things off on somebody else. Our phone and outside balcony light in our room did not work the entire time we were on the cruise ship that also was brough to customer service attention on the ship and nothing was taking care of at all. I feel like both of these issuse are safety issues. The toilet kept over flowing in our room not shutting off and running onto the floor we had to put towels down to keep it soaked up this issue was also brought to customer service attention. I was not satisfied in my cruise with carnival i totally understand issues come about but i expect those issues to be taken care of with as much money as my wife and i spent on your ship before and during and after.
The cruise ship also was running very fast with the water that we were making the trip a very rocky and rough trip.

Horrible experience on April 13th, 2019 at approximately 12 noon I truly hope whoever reads this understands what I had to go through. Let me start off by saying I've been trying to get my wife to go on a cruise for over 19 years .Finally we were able to convince her of a family trip Mother, Father, sister, brother, cousin and it's our anniversary.The dates for the cruise is June 14th through June 17th. Since booking the cruise most recently my wife's Mother and Father had to cancel due to serious medical reasons and her brother also had to cancel due to personel reasons however she says she still looks forward to going. On April 13th I had a appointment with my tax-preparer who was an hour behind schedule so I decided to call Travel agent Robert to make my final payment who was assisting me 1-800-819-3902 ext.82428 Robert already had my credit card info so he ran it through and for some reason he said it did'nt go through so he ran the crad through a second yime and he said it was accepted, in the amount of $ 1124.86 we get off the phone I walk accross the street to get money to pay the tax-man and I dont have enough to pay him so I call my bank U.S BANK and the representative says Carnnival charged you twice two payments of $ 1124.86 So Naturally I called Carinal agent Robert and attempted to explain to him his error he had made and he just argued and refused to believe what I was telling him he told me that i needed to get my Bank on the phone in which I did, Mr. Robert even as my bank Representative was trying to explain to him that there are two charges that has come out of the customers account and all you have to do is reverse one Mr. Roberts continued at this time to dispute the charges and refused to provide help finally after approximately 45 minutes of geeting no where we asked could we speak with a supervisor and after being on hold for about another 45 minutes I had to cancel my scheduled tax appointment. Finally a Senior agent not a supervisor getson the phone and She says yes I see both charges but there's nothing we can do about it now at this point my wife is sitting right next to me and She is experincing this entire engagement and after 19 years of never wanting to cruise this is her first experience. From here my bank assisted me with over draft charges that aquired do to insufficient funds because the Money was finally realeased after 4 days. The unwillingness, and unprofessionalism of both Robert and Traci is unexplainable. Me and my wife are both police Offcers myself 26 years and my wife 19 years on the job and I just always remember being curtious kind and professional, I never thought that I would be writing a customer compiaint on anyone but this was very frustrating to say the least, Like I said this is what my wife has to remember before going on her first cruise.I think some training needs to be provived and however Cranival can make my Wife's first cruise experience better than what she has witnessed. Thank You Sincerly William McDaniels

email: [protected]@att.net
phone # [protected]
carnival p.w 0331

I contracted a bad influenza and a very stiff neck during the last 4 days of the cruise from Sydney to Hawaii on the legend departibg 2 april 2019 and had to have Ventolin, antibiotics and Panadol. I have had some of my lung removed some 2 years ago and heavy congestion formed on my lungs and now have been vomiting the past 3 days and I have been quite I'll and unable to leave the cabin or hotel room in Hawaii. I now have diahrea  . 
The Carnival Legend should be contacted as this contagion is probably still aboard. 

Please forward this to Carnival Legend as there were many sick people in the Drs officoffice. This has spoilt my holiday and have to drag myself to the airport and try to get home.

Regards

Ellen Ellison

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------
From: Cruise Customer Service
Date: 28/03/2019 9:01 PM (GMT-10:00)
To:
Subject: **Correction Notice Regarding Your Carnival Legend Cruise **

Good Afternoon,

 

Not long now until you are embarking onto the Carnival Legend

Carnival Legend are looking forward to welcoming you on board for their upcoming cruise very soon.

In order to load all the supplies needed for this long voyage, we will now be sailing at 6:45 PM from Sydney. There will be no change to your Arrival Appointment and embarkation remains as planned.  All guests are required to be checked-in and on board no later than 3:00 PM. 

If you have any last minute questions please do not hesitate to call us on 1300 692 784.

 

We wish you a memorable holiday.

 

Kind Regards,

My Cruise Team

 MyCruises Customer Service Team

E.

cruisecustomerservice@mycruises.com.au

T.

1300 692 784

F.

+61 (0)7 5555 8899

W.

www.mycruises.com.au

 

Cruise date 4/11/19 out of Mobile. 3 persons booked and that was after talking to 2 different agents. Also told them that I would have a disability scooter. When getting onboard discovered 1 king bed. Went to guest services desk to get the 1 bed situation cleared up only to be told there was nothing that could be done at this time, with we don, t care attitude. I tried explaining that 2 different agents had booked this room knowing we had 3 people. We are in our 70S and this was our first cruise, very dissappointing if we do this again do not think I could do Carnival.

also before returning back to Mobile we were told to put our bags in hallway and they would be takencare of for us. However they failed to say we would now be last off.

We had also purchased a faster to the fun which I could not tell what this did for anyone, certainley not for us.

The only thing that I have to say good about this cruise was the clebrity Dining Room all in all even though you have become very cheap about it I want to praise the 3 people who took care of us Riomar Bernadette and julius these 3 folks made our dining experience very pleasant,

You deal with so many folks you probably dont care about 3 old folks that had a bad experience but word of mouth does go a long way. Thanks for a very miserable week.

Richard Norman 5FNP82

This is the 6th cruise i have been on and this ship is the worst one ever! The Grand Cabin i paid alot of extra money for smelled terrible, like methane gas coming out of the bathroom drains. We complained but nothing was ever done about it and the balcony was filthy, hadnt been cleaned in at least 4 or 5 cruises before us. Also, the grating above the balcony was rusty and dripping rusting dirty water on me and my clothes, as well as the bolts were falling out of the grating, i notified the cabin steward and the rusty bolt just layed on the balcony thru the entire cruise, not to mention the heavy grate only had one rusty bolt in it to hold it up, so you would think this would be a safety issue not to mention the methane gas smell coming from the plumbing and bathroom drains. The most important part of my complaint was when it came time to leave the ship during disembarkation the elevators were CLOSED! Unbelievable! I had to carry i and my wifes luggage up two flights of stairs, only to be told we would have to wait for all of the other passengers to leave the lounge before we could leave. REALLY? My wife refused and we left with the first 20 or so passengers anyways. I injured my neck and back carrying the luggage up the stairs to get off the ship and they werent any staff around at the Deck 6 we were on to help us. They never told us the elevators would be Closed during disembarkation, actually they told us those passengers with special needs could leave first if they were able to carry their luggage safely, but never told us we would have to carry luggage up 2 whole flights of stairs. Five cruises before never experienced this, and this time we were told we would recieve VIP treatment because we booked a suite. SOME VIP TREATMENT. I came home in terrible pain. I will never ever sail with Carnival Cruise lines ever again, from now on it is Royal Caribbean, where I feel that I am being treated with respect and dignity and that I am actually getting what I paid for. The ship was the Carnival Elation and the date this ocurred was April 13, 2019. We stayed in cabin U73. The cruise itinerary was 4/8/19 to 4/13/19 and the two shore excursions were Half Moon Cay and the second excursion was Nassau, Bahamas. The name is Reggie V. Johnston and my wife Susan K. Johnston. I feel that we should be compensated somewhat for all our pain and aggravation. Dissatisfied Passenger.

This is in regards to my cancellation of a cruise "3FQX71" dated for 7-14-19 and transferring my deposit to a future scheduled cruise "6FKV19" dated for 12-7-19.After cancelling my cruise and requesting for my deposit of $500 to be transferred to the future cruise in December, only $400 was transferred, and I don't understand why since I am only transferring the deposit to another booked cruise.I have been cruising with Carnival since 2009, and also have obtained the Platinum status #[protected], without ever cancelling a cruise or requesting a deposit transferr, so the question is why wasn't all of my deposit transferred.Futhermore, my wife reached Platinum status before I did and neither her nor I have received any type of incentive, such i.e upgrade nor a complementary cruise for reaching Platinum status.