C
CJ Johnson
Guest
If you haven't heard, CCL's Holiday is partially disabled with 'propulsion problems'. I just returned from the 1/31 cruise and it was a horrible disappointment. We did not stop in Progresso at all and had part of an evening and part of a morning in Cozumel with no time to do any excursions. This is the 3rd cruise in a row (beginning on the 1/22 trip) where CCL has removed most of the scheduled itinerary, and they are not notifying passengers of the problems. Their MO has been to wait until everyone is at the pier, hand out a letter stating the changes, because they know once we're all there it is too late for most of us to go back home and reschedule our vacations. There were 17 of us, some of whom drove 12 hours for the cruise specifically to see the Mayan ruins, which we could not do as a result of the Holiday's problems. Carnival did not offer even a hint of an apology for the frustration and disappointment caused, and the only compensation we received was a refund of the $20 in port charges since we did not dock at Progresso. (They are required by law to refund that!)
If this had happened unexpectedly I wouldn't be so unhappy, but this has been going on for weeks and CCL is making no attempts to inform their 'guests' or give them the opportunity to make changes to their vacation plans. CCL gets their money and all of us unsuspecting vacationers miss out on the trip we planned. Some on our cruise had pre-paid for excursions at both ports and lost their $$ spent, and many missed their plane out of Mobile upon our return because we arrived back so late. Aside from the dishonesty on CCL's part, look at the hundreds of dollars many passengers lost! It is incomprehensible to me that Carnival cares so little about those who put their trust in CCL's reputation. We tried talking to staff and Carnival management at the port and it was abundantly clear that they couldn't care less. If we canceled we would not get a full refund or the opportunity to book on a different ship.
Other gripes are the fact that before booking, when I went to Carnival's site and 'picked a fun ship' - the Holiday - and took the virtual tours, NOT ONE PHOTO WAS ACTUALLY FROM THE HOLIDAY. All the 'tours' and pictures were of the newest ships. As a result, the Holiday was a HUGE visual disappointment. It is dated and small, and as it has already been sold to one of CCL's sister companies in Spain, they are doing little to maintain her or her appearance. While the food was good in the dining room and the staff was friendly (with one exception), the buffet food was mediocre and along the quality lines of a cafeteria. The exception to helpful staff was one of the pursers who, when I inquired about how and where we might manage a quick trip to the beach the one morning we were in Cozumel for a few hours, he tried to direct me to the CCL-sponsored excursions that were expensive and which we didn't even have enough time in port for! He never did answer my question about getting to a beach and his entire manner was abrupt and rude.
As far as the mechanical problems, the Captain himself announced that the ship would have to be removed from the water and fixed in dry-dock, the staff told us that the ship had been sold and wasn't going to be fixed by Carnival at all, and then CCL told Fox News Mobile that they had mechanics and parts at the port and the boat would be fixed over the next few days. I am pretty well convinced, based on my experience, that CCL is lying and will say nearly anything at this point to keep from losing passengers on the Holiday until they can replace the boat - which one staff member on board said would not be for several months yet.
In the end, while this is partially a rant, I sincerely want to warn anyone and everyone possible to check into this and make sure you know what Carnival is really going to provide on your cruise. Maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised and the boat will actually be fixed, but if that were going to be the case it seems like the Captain would have known about it and would not have insisted that the boat could not be fixed in the water.
Our trip - my first cruise - was a horrible disapointment and I would sincerely hate to see anyone else have the same experience we had, so I'm hoping that posting here will help a few people do enough checking to avoid the same unfortunate experience we had and hopefully keep you from losing excursion dollars or plane fares.
Lastly, the link to Mobile Fox who reported the story locally is here:
http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/BrokenCruiseShipUpsetsPassengers
and includes about 15 comments from other passengers on the 1/31 and previous cruises to corroborate the problems.
Best of luck to everyone booked on the Holiday soon - I hope they really will fix the ship or that you can change your plans.
CJ Johnson
If this had happened unexpectedly I wouldn't be so unhappy, but this has been going on for weeks and CCL is making no attempts to inform their 'guests' or give them the opportunity to make changes to their vacation plans. CCL gets their money and all of us unsuspecting vacationers miss out on the trip we planned. Some on our cruise had pre-paid for excursions at both ports and lost their $$ spent, and many missed their plane out of Mobile upon our return because we arrived back so late. Aside from the dishonesty on CCL's part, look at the hundreds of dollars many passengers lost! It is incomprehensible to me that Carnival cares so little about those who put their trust in CCL's reputation. We tried talking to staff and Carnival management at the port and it was abundantly clear that they couldn't care less. If we canceled we would not get a full refund or the opportunity to book on a different ship.
Other gripes are the fact that before booking, when I went to Carnival's site and 'picked a fun ship' - the Holiday - and took the virtual tours, NOT ONE PHOTO WAS ACTUALLY FROM THE HOLIDAY. All the 'tours' and pictures were of the newest ships. As a result, the Holiday was a HUGE visual disappointment. It is dated and small, and as it has already been sold to one of CCL's sister companies in Spain, they are doing little to maintain her or her appearance. While the food was good in the dining room and the staff was friendly (with one exception), the buffet food was mediocre and along the quality lines of a cafeteria. The exception to helpful staff was one of the pursers who, when I inquired about how and where we might manage a quick trip to the beach the one morning we were in Cozumel for a few hours, he tried to direct me to the CCL-sponsored excursions that were expensive and which we didn't even have enough time in port for! He never did answer my question about getting to a beach and his entire manner was abrupt and rude.
As far as the mechanical problems, the Captain himself announced that the ship would have to be removed from the water and fixed in dry-dock, the staff told us that the ship had been sold and wasn't going to be fixed by Carnival at all, and then CCL told Fox News Mobile that they had mechanics and parts at the port and the boat would be fixed over the next few days. I am pretty well convinced, based on my experience, that CCL is lying and will say nearly anything at this point to keep from losing passengers on the Holiday until they can replace the boat - which one staff member on board said would not be for several months yet.
In the end, while this is partially a rant, I sincerely want to warn anyone and everyone possible to check into this and make sure you know what Carnival is really going to provide on your cruise. Maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised and the boat will actually be fixed, but if that were going to be the case it seems like the Captain would have known about it and would not have insisted that the boat could not be fixed in the water.
Our trip - my first cruise - was a horrible disapointment and I would sincerely hate to see anyone else have the same experience we had, so I'm hoping that posting here will help a few people do enough checking to avoid the same unfortunate experience we had and hopefully keep you from losing excursion dollars or plane fares.
Lastly, the link to Mobile Fox who reported the story locally is here:
http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/BrokenCruiseShipUpsetsPassengers
and includes about 15 comments from other passengers on the 1/31 and previous cruises to corroborate the problems.
Best of luck to everyone booked on the Holiday soon - I hope they really will fix the ship or that you can change your plans.
CJ Johnson
