Carnival Splendor out of commission until January

The Carnival Splendor cruise ship on which 4,500 passengers and crew members were stuck at sea for several days because of an on-board fire will be out of service until Jan. 16, company officials announced Tuesday.

The Splendor was disabled Nov. 8 when a fire broke out in the engine room on the first full day of a seven-day cruise to spots along the Mexican Riviera. Passengers were forced to eat cold food and live without air-conditioning because the electricity was cut off. The ship was towed into San Diego on Thursday.

Passengers booked for upcoming cruises on the Carnival Splendor will receive a full refund on their fares and air transportation costs, as well as a 25% discount on future cruises.

The 952-foot ship is being inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Transportation Safety Board, Carnival engineers and technicians, and the Republic of Panama, where the ship is flagged. It will also undergo repairs.

“We realize how much guests look forward to their vacations and know that they are very disappointed by this news," said Gerry Cahill, president and CEO of Carnival Cruises. "We too are disheartened that we are not able to fulfill the dream of those who entrusted us with their important vacation plans.”

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Photo: Carnival Splendor is tugged into San Diego Harbor. Credit: Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images.

Comments

[Tamara]

'Passengers booked for upcoming cruises on the Carnival Splendor will receive a full refund on their fares and air transportation costs, as well as a 25% discount on future cruises.' I don't think this is going to hold with some people. After all, who's going to want to go on a cruise after something like this? And it's fine to mock the fact that this ordeal may not have been quite as serious as some of the more recent occurrences such as the Chilean miners' crisis, but how can people have the audacity to be comparing what are totally separate events anyway? There is no place for value judgements here. Some people really may have experienced trauma from being stranded on the Splendor. Trauma affects different people in different ways. So anyone reading this, who may be traumatized, you can get help and don't be afraid to admit it. In fact, many passengers who have been traumatized are being made aware of the fact that they could be entitled to compensation. Here is an outline: http://bit.ly/cwBiNx

[Allen]

Another Carnival Fiasco,
My wife and I were booked on the Splendor for the December 5th sailing. I was alerted to our cruise being canceled through news services rather than from Carnival.
My wife booked this trip over my reservations due to our last Carnival cruise experience four years ago. You may remember it.It made world wide news and set a record that I believe still holds. A 17 day Med, transatlantic, Carribean cruise on the Liberty where near half the passengers and a large portion of the crew became ill with a gastr-intestinal virus that was on board the ship when we embarked outside of Rome. We felt like prisoners in our stateroom, the common areas were DIRTY (until just before the CDC got on board for an inspection at St. Maarten to decide wether to allow the ship to dock at Ft Lauderdale)We only ate in the dining room once on the last night of the trip (after the CDC inspection). Carnival even managed to screw up getting every one off the ship and we came wisker close to missing our flight home. They drop kicked us out the door without so much as a free cocktail. Today, After 1 hour and 49 minutes on the phone with their Guest Lip Service people they drop kicked us out the door again. Still no kiss.
Think twice about booking on Carnival or any of the Carnival owned cruise lines. There are about ten including Princess.
Any one from Carnival reading this? This is just the start!

[Jennifer]

I am glad to hear that I have not been the only victim of poor customer service over the Splendor fiasco. I booked a cruise for me and my family over the week of Christmas. The girls have been so excited as this was going to be not only their 1st time out of the country but also on a cruise. Not only was this going to be a new and exciting way for my family to celebrate Christmas but my husband and I were to celebrate our 18th anniversary as well. I had a gut feeling that the cruise would be canceled so I had been watching the postings provided at Carnival.com. I learned of the cancellation approximately 45 minutes after the post on the website. I immediately picked up the phone to see if we could switch to the ship departing out of San Diego on the same day. Needless to say I was met with a lazy rep who had not interest in helping me. He stated we would have to pay the going rate for the cruise then wait to get a refund. In other words pay $5,000 up front and get a refund of the $4100.00...pay more for the same thing! Oh did I mention as I was sitting in shock over his "solution" he then stated "oh, sorry, the room configuration is no longer available, somebody else just booked it, I am sorry I can not help you further!"I thanked him for his lack of service and took time to cool down before trying again! I called back once I got home, this time I got a rep who was obviously trying to help, but once again was met with some resistance. Joan contacted the resolution services dept to see if they would put the 2nd part of our party that consisted of 3 in a room that sleeps 4. I don't think this is really too much to ask given the circumstances. However, after holding for about 5 minutes she came back on the line, with a sad voice (I knew she was trying to give it her all) and said that since this is a "holiday" voyage, there is NO WAY the resolution dept. will make any exceptions to the rules and book a party of 3 in a room for 4....Not the best way to keep customers loyal!We opted for a lesser 3 day cruise as to not disappoint our kids too bad for Christmas, we will make the best of the bad situation! Even though we now have a 25% discount waiting for us to use sometime over the next 2 years, I think this is a discount we may forgo!

[Mike J.]

ALLEN and JENNIFER should be ashamed. This is like kicking someone when they are down. If you saw the FULL list of compensation GIVEN to the guests on the disabled cruise, you would be suprised, but perhaps publicly you will say it's not enough. Nothing can ever be enough for people who like to complain. You know that the news media TRIED to get lots of people to complain about this trip but the VAST MAJORITY of those interviewed praised the hard work and immense efforts of the crew to make the best of a bad situation. Spam was never served to the guests but was supplied to the crew. The guests got sliced ham, corned beef, bread, etc. Out of 3300 passengers you will find some complaints like yours, but most saw how hard the crew worked during this week. Carnival put the crew in hotels too as well as passengers who wanted to stay overnight in San Diego. Check out Facebook and the senior cruise director's blog and you will see how loved Carnival is. Oh, and have a NICE day!

[James]

My family had 16 people booked on the Splendor. Carnival of course is providing a refund of cruise and air fare expenses as well as the 25% discount on a future cruise. The problem I have with all of this is for those that opt to book another cruise to replace the one that was cancelled, Carnival is charging them current rates to do so.

In other words, if you want to still go on a cruise vacation around the same time as the cancelled one, you're going to have to pay more money. Carnival offers early saver fares for those that book early. My family and I have the foresight to book early to take advantage of this promotion. We paid approximately $350 per ticket for this cruise. In order for us to book a similar cruise to replace it, we're going to have to pay an additional $250-$300 per person. The reason? Rates have gone up since the time we booked (as they always do) AND Carnival is unwilling to swap one cruise (the cancelled one) for another similar cruise at no additional cost to the traveler!!! In my opinion, that's criminal!!!

Not everyone wants a refund. I'm sure many (as with my family) would have liked to simply be booked on a different but similar cruise without having to pay more.

At the very least Carnival should have given affected passengers the following three choices:

1. Get your money back
2. Book on a similar cruise during the same timeframe at no additional cost
3. If a similar cruise is not available, allow travelers to pick a cruise of their choice with a credit up to but not exceeding the CURRENT rate of the cruise that was cancelled.

That is the consumer friendly way to handle this not to mention that it’s the right thing to do. Doing things Carnival's way is pulls the rug out from under people's vacation plans with little time to arrange for something else. This is particularly important in these tough economic times. Many of us have saved over a long period in order to pay for a cruise vacation. Most don't have the resources to simply buy another vacation while Carnival takes weeks or longer to sort out refunds.

Providing credit for the amount of the rate paid a year ago is little solace for those that still want to salvage their vacation plans now instead of waiting until next year.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not blaming Carnival for having the nerve to have a fire aboard one of their ships. I know things happen sometimes, and you deal with it the best you can. What I'm saying is that those future passengers who had their cruises cancelled should be held harmless when trying to scramble to make alternate vacation plans. In essence, those that took advantage of Carnival's highly touted promotion (Early Saver Fares) are getting the shaft!!

[Pete We;;s]

I was to sail on the SS Norway 1 week before it blew up one of its boilers. I was refunded and was given a 25% discount for my troubles but I never used it. I have pretty much stuck to Disney Cruise Line since. They have the best built ships.

[Debbie]

My family(myself, husband and son) and another family of 5 were booked on the Splendor for the 12/19/2010 sailing. This was our Christmas vacation that we planned months in advance to get the best rate. Now we have no Christmas vacation and I have no idea when our money will be refunded. Of course I immediately tried to get another cruise but because of it being so near Christmas everything was booked or the prices were just to high for a mid class cruise. I understand that they are offering the 25% discount but I don't know when I will be able to take advantage of this discount. I feel that they need to compensate me in another way. I now have to spend my Christmas vacation with my husband's family. Just what I wanted to do with my Christmas holiday. Maybe Carnival should pay for my Xanax prescription that I will be getting to make it through the holidays with the extended family.

[Heidi]

Looks like I may be one of the first passengers on the Splendor after it is fixed... Since my 7 day cruise is from January 16th - January 23rd!!
I'm not sure how I feel about that! DO I get excited... or should I pack my emergency gear just in case!!? :)