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Carnival Cruise Line

MS Carnival Victory

Your Rating:
Reviewed by:Rene Wells
# previous cruises: 2
Date of Trip: April 27, 2003
Itinerary: Caribbean - Western

My wife, myself and another couple from Texas decided to take a cruise. We elected the Carnival cruise ship Victory. We flew in and out of Ft. Lauderdale Airport, which was very nice. Traveling to the port had long lines and there was lots of traffic. The first thing that comes to mind is chaos. Porters were standing around for tips (they do not work for Carnival). I was told later that Porters are government workers at the dock. I gave him $10.00 for 5 bags, and our friends did the same.

Leaving from the port in Miami had its problems with the ship, and we were a little late for sailing. It would seem the ship has some mechanical problems, or needed a jump-start or something. What ever it was they apparently did not fix it, or had other problems as you can read later.

A tip for you (no pun intended) they will apply $68 per person for gratuity on the first day, to your room bill on your Sail & Sign Cards. We are not hard people to please, and I am sure the people on board the ship would have made more money in tips if they would of let us do the tipping ourselves. I have always resented automatic gratuities.

The casino was a lot of fun even if we did drop a few bucks $$ with them. We always enjoy casinos, just ask the wives. Another tip, they do not give booze away when you are gambling, like most casinos. The opportunity to booze it up and loose more of your money is limited. I would guess they are trying to help out those people that have gambling problems.

The crew was nice, and we appreciated all the little things. Like the "towel animals very cute" that would be on our bed in the evenings. The staff was friendly and provided us with reasonable service (not good)

Apparently the power on the ship had failed twice during our trip. That would mean, no elevators or air-conditioning (hot! very hot). This was a big inconvenience but we are not pointing fingers here.

Also pictures are taken everywhere you can think of. When you walk on the ship, when you eat, when you leave the ship at ports and even when you board again. You do not have to buy any of pictures you do not want. You even have the opportunity to find them on the wall quickly and dispose of them in the trashcan. This is for those people that really don't take good pictures I guess. This is an attempt to get more of your money, which it did, by a tune of almost $200 over the total trip. Looking back I would say the trashcan is cheaper, but I could not convince the wife of this. The only thing that does not cost extra is flushing the toilet.

We would not recommend booking shore excursions on the cruise ship. The excursions are expensive, $60 to $70 and more. Even $30 for shopping excursions. Once off the ship you can find taxies, excursions, mini trips, shops, and more.

There is nothing as relaxing as being out on the open sea, watching the waves.

Disembarkation on Sunday to the dock after a week on board had it's own problems. Confused and unorganized is the best way to describe this event. This is where the NIGHTMARE and the horror stories begin. I pointed out our 5 bags to the porter and another $10 later, the porter wheeled our luggage from the terminal to the taxi, where it was loaded in a mad rush. We were in a hurry to get back to Ft. Lauderdale Airport to make our flight. Once at the airport and unloading the bags, I noticed that one of the five bags was not ours. After checking in for boarding passes, I called Carnival Cruise Lines to explain the dilemma. I was told there was nothing that could be done on Sunday and I should call back the next day on Monday. They would not go out and find my bag that I had left behind.

Let me begin by saying how frustrating it is to observe extreme ignorance when dealing with barely coherent people. I was conveniently disconnected twice during my call in. When trying to resolve problems with a company it is the true time to find out what these companies truly believe in (greed). You can almost hear in the background of the phone " we already got your money, what's in it for us?"

On Monday I called Carnival Cruise back. I was told, it was my responsibility for taking the wrong bag. That I should ship the wrong bag I had back to the right owners. At not time did anyone check my baggage claim tickets against the bags that were loaded. I still am not for sure what all the security people do at the dock, if not to check claim tickets to bags. I was told, they expect people to take the right bags with them. That porters would never load the wrong bags, if I didn't tell them to do so. I was also informed they had my bag, and it would be shipped to me by UPS. I decided to grin and bear it, not saying that I was not without some fault in this matter.

The wrong bag I had belonged to a couple that lived in Pennsylvania. I called them with the information that was found on the bag to get the right address. The Pennsylvania couple said they were happy I had the bag, and would reimburse me for the charge. I said no problem, just forget it. I said Carnival was shipping me my bag. We talked for a long time about the cruise and they were very pleasant people to talk to. They even said they would send me a picture of there family. I dropped the bag off at FedEx Ground and another $13 later it left Texas on its way to Pennsylvania, back to its original owners.

More then a week later, after work one evening, the wife went shopping with a friend. The doorbell rang and sure enough it was the friendly UPS man. I was informed at that time it was C.O.D. from Carnival Cruise for the amount of $25.38. The first words out of my mouth to the UPS man was those #!*x%#!* at Carnival Cruise!!! UPS would only take a check for the C.O.D. no cash. Did I happen to mention earlier that the wife was gone from the house with the only checkbook we have? The next day I called Carnival back to discuss their customer relations and my disappointment. What a wacky bunch of people at Carnival Cruise. The UPS truck showed up the next day and it was paid for. If the bag did not have all the pictures in it, that was purchased on board the ship, and items such as jewelry, and nick nacks from the gift shop on the ship. They could of keep my bag with all my dirty underwear and stuff in it. I would of gladly paid for a new bag.

Another tip one thing of interest to you may be if your luggage is lost or stolen they will only cover $50 per bag. There were over 3000 passengers on board and 1000 crewmembers. They historically average about 10 bags per trip that need to be shipped out from port. If Carnival shipped out the average 10 bags ground freight instead of C.O.D. they would be out around $130. This would also make very happy customers. Such as me, who at one sitting at a blackjack table lost $100.

Would I travel with Carnival again? Let me think...NO!! Like I said "there is nothing as relaxing as being out on the open sea, watching the waves".