Mad at Carnival Cruise Lines

C

craigchilds

Evolving Lead Gorilla
:mad:

I booked a 7-day Caribbean cruise aboard the Carnival Valor cruise ship out of Miami, Fla. last week. I chose this ship, in large part, because it advertised on Carnival's web site a comfortable, fancy cigar bar that featured nightly live jazz.

But my first night on the ship, as I was about to clip a Fuente 8-5-8 Flor Fina, I was told by the bartender that Winston's Cigar Lounge would no longer allow cigar smoking. I complained to our cruise director and learned that (starting last week), the Carnival corporate office had decided to test a new no-cigar policy on the Valor. If customer complaints aren't too high, they plan to enforce the new policy on their entire fleet.

Cigar smoking is still allowed on open decks (starboard side only), but not in any bar or lounge or casino... not even the Winston Cigar Bar.

I thought this was extremely disappointing, not to mention a tad dishonest. If I had known about the new policy, I probably would have sailed with another cruise line.... Smoking cigars on the open deck proved to be a not-so-good alternative. 1) It was windy, and 2) it was difficult to enjoy conversation with friends, since the open deck movie theater was playing every night. (I don't fancy having to watch Bee Movie with my cigar and cognac.)

Other than this one issue, the rest of the cruise was great fun.
 
Vote with your feet. Spend your vacation money where they allow smoking. Complain loud and hard to managment.:2
 
DMK said:
Vote with your feet. Spend your vacation money where they allow smoking. Complain loud and hard to managment.:2
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My friend and I (and our wives) were all upset about it. We complained and were comped a bottle of champagne. The cruise director (also a cigar smoker) said it was a bad idea that was costing the ship money but it was a corporate mandate that he had no control over.

I'll definitely write a letter to Carnival and the travel agency through which I purchased the tickets. But I doubt it'll do any good. The winds of change are blowing against us cigar smokers...
 
Wow that sucks man. How ironic (and idiotic) that the "Winston Cigar Bar" is cigar-free. Isn't it pretty obvious that if you're walking into a cigar bar that cigar smoke will be present.

I guess the Nazi's want everything. Oh wait... that is how it went down. :c
 
craigchilds said:
I'll definitely write a letter to Carnival and the travel agency through which I purchased the tickets. But I doubt it'll do any good. The winds of change are blowing against us cigar smokers...
Click to expand...

Definitely take the time to write letters to Carnival, especially if they are testing a new policy. Make sure that you tell them that the cigar lounge was part of you selecting that cruise and you would have selected a different cruise line if you had known about their cigar smoking policy. Make sure that both you and your friend write letters.

I has in the cruise business for alot of years and they do listen to customer feedback when they are testing new policies.

Hope the rest of your cruise was nice!
 
I'm sure the "cigar" lounge's obvious namesake Sir Winston Churchill would have a thing or two to say about that. What exactly is one supposed to do in a cigar lounge that forbids cigars?
 
Dude, I so feel your pain. I booked a Celebrity cruise a while back, in part because of an onboard cigar bar. Same thing, they went smokeless, and I had to smoke in the back corner of the ship.....nothing on the web site (web site said it was a cigar bar), or anything, I was tear-ass, BIG TIME......
 
craigchilds said:
I'll definitely write a letter to Carnival and the travel agency through which I purchased the tickets. But I doubt it'll do any good. The winds of change are blowing against us cigar smokers...
Click to expand...

A cigar bar were you can't smoke cigars? Clever.
Sue 'em for bait and switching you.

In your letter don't forget to tell them that there are thousands of wealthy cigar smokers with lots of discretionary income that have now gotten the word--no Carnival now or ever.
 
It's getting harder & harder to enjoy the pleasure of tobacco in public anymore.We have to enjoy it were we can now before it's outlawed,for only then outlaws will be able to enjoy the pleasures of smoking.:gn
 
I also had a problem with a Carnival Cruise out of Puerto Rico. You could smoke in the one cigar bar, which you were basically alone in, but you couldn't smoke outside on the main deck with all the cigarette smokers! Explain that to me!:mad:
 
You don't want to trade smoke with a bunch of carpet dropping smokers anyway.

One of my first questions when booking a cruise (the next will be my first) is if the cruise line has a smoke-free policy. No stogie, no booking.
 
Like others have mentioned write the cruise line. Since it is a test and complaints are what will be needed to stop it, you need to hopefully add your letter to the complaint list. Unfortunately, all they will probably comp you with is a discount on your next cruise if taken in the next year. My wife and I had some serious issues on our last cruise with Carnival and this is what they offered us, to which my response was " So,our vacation was ruined because of your cruise line but you want me to risk ruining more time off from work and everyday life on another cruise with you? No thank you, you can keep your discount."
At the very least they should have notified you of the change with a mass e-mail or snail mailer, but than again they probably failed to do so since they know they would have lost a good number of reservations. They probably figured once they got you out to sea what can you do about it other than complain? This is why I am a firm believer that it is hard to find good customer service nowadays.
 
Yeah, damn all that. I've been on one cruise, it was Royal Carribean. I didn't smoke back then but remember people sitting in the casino, bars, and on deck with cigars. I'll be checking before I go on my next one though.
 
You should state in the letter that you cannot enjoy a good cigar on an open deck like that. No cigar smoker would willingly choose that environment and we all bring our good sticks when we go on vacation. I don't smoke everyday and sometimes I can go weeks in between but you can count on it when I go on vacation one of the things on the list is where can I enjoy my cigars?
 
Just skip the cruises all together. Go to a nice resort on an island like Jamaica or the Dominican Republic for a week and smoke till you turn green. :2
 
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