Not happy with your cruise? Get your money back! Carnival Cruise Lines is enhancing its vacation guarantee by giving passengers a 110 percent refund and free return flight if they're not happy with their cruise within 24 hours.
According to Cruise Critic, the Great Vacation Guarantee takes effect immediately. Not only does it include refunds and free flights, it only includes complimentary ground transportation and hotel accommodations, if necessary. Anyone who is interested in trying a different Carnival Cruise in the future will also receive a $100 shipboard credit.
Dissatisfied passengers must contact guest services within the first 24 hours of leaving the departing port if they are not satisfied.
"Within a day's time you've had a real chance to experience the product and the service and make a decision as to whether it's meeting your expectations or not," Carnival's Chief Marketing Officer Jim Berra told Cruise Critic .
A passenger may use any reason to request a refund. If the problem is caused by something that can be fixed by guest services, they'll offer to fix it. However passengers can turn down the fix, especially if they don't think their expectations are being met or if they don't think the Carnival cruise is right for them. The cruise line will honor the request without further question and the cruise line will arrange to have them go home once the ship reaches the first port of call. The passengers will then receive a 110 percent refund. There may be some conflicts to arise under the Jones Act as this law prevents cruise passengers from traveling between two U.S. ports without also stopping at a foreign port. The cruise line vows to take responsibility for any penalties that may be applied.
"We did do training to make sure crew understood how the guarantee works and how we want these interactions to take place at guest services," Berra said. "We're being relatively relaxed about this because we want to make it as consumer friendly and easy as possible," Berra said. It doesn't hurt, of course, that Carnival is very confident in the experience it offers.
The move is being done to encourage first-time cruisers and those who have never tried Carnival before, to give it a chance. The cruise line notes that many passengers might be scared following the fire on Carnival Triumph and other incidents.
"There are a lot of questions, barriers and uncertainties about cruising," Carnival's chief marketing officer Jim Berra told Cruise Critic. "We believe this guarantee is a chance to show just how confident we are in our product and also give cruisers more peace of mind in selecting Carnival."
Berra only expects a small number of people to take advantage of the guarantee. "We do a lot of research around guest satisfaction, and the vast majority of our guests are very satisfied with their experience, and we expect that to improve as we make further investments in our product."
Weather could impact use of the guarantee as it is the middle of hurricane season.
The Great Vacation Guarantee applies to U.S. and Canadian residents who take three- to eight-day cruises to Alaska, the Bahamas, Canada and New England, the Caribbean, and the Mexican Riviera through April 30, 2015.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
