Carnival Cruise Line, Galveston, TX - arrived late and not allowed to board ship - poor service experience

# 8 for May 16, 2003

Complaints.com received the following on May 15, 2003:

From: David Cortez [Email User]

RE: Carnival Cruise Line, Galveston, TX - arrived late and not allowed to board ship - poor service experience

To Whom It May Concern: Now that the initial shock has worn off, I can better explain to you the catastrophe that occurred to me and my family in dealing with YOUR cruise line, CARNIVAL. We planned a family vacation about 6 months in advance. We were to leave from Galveston, Texas on April 28, 2003. My family and I live in Corpus Christi, Texas and have never had the experience of taking a cruise; therefore we went to a local travel agency here in town CAREFREE TRAVEL and dealt with an agent there, Patty.

Through her we booked a cruise, a date, and paid all our fees in advance. The family consisted of me, Yvonne Cortez, my sister, Melissa Cortez, and my parents David and Janie Cortez. This was to be our long-awaited family vacation, but instead it turned into a nightmare. First of all, I was not feeling very well the day before we were to leave on the cruise, but I was determined to go with my family, so we headed out Monday morning all together with my sister, and mom and dad. On our way up there, we experienced several problems along the way. One major hold-up was a blow-out. So we got out, my dad did what he had to do to get us back on the road again. Once on the road, we were stopped again, but this time by construction workers on a road in Bay City, which held us another half hour. Finally we were back on the road to get to Galveston but time was getting short, therefore we call the emergency number listed on our travel vouchers to let them know we were on our way.

We spoke to Leslie who was there in the Port at Galveston, she said Okay we’ll wait. We were only 10 minutes away so we got there as fast as we could and were so happy to see the Jubilee is still there. But instead of unloading our entire luggage, Leslie says “I am sorry, you are too late, I cannot let you board”. So we sat in our vehicle and watched as our ship left without us. It was a very devastating experience. Especially the fact that this cruise was something we had all worked so hard to save our money to go on, just to have to turn right back around and go home. It was like a bad dream.

We could not believe that CARNIVAL could not let us board under the emergency situation that was out of our control. So we headed right back to Corpus Christi. I still felt ill, not only because of the devastation of not getting on the ship, but I had been sick since the day before. So since we were back in Corpus Christi, I decided to go see my doctor.

Well I had a 103 degree fever and a very bad kidney infection. I had to be seen every day that week for antibiotics injections and I was put on Cipro tablets for one week. So even if I had gotten on the ship, there is no telling how much worse my illness would have escalated and what could have happened. But my family and I have gotten together to send this letter to your company to ask for some kind of compensation. Our ultimate dream would be to get another chance to experience a cruise on one of your ships. Even if it is to a different location, we just want the opportunity that we feel was taken from us to be rescheduled for another time. I hope CARNIVAL CRUISE can find it in their hearts to make our dream vacation come true. Sincerely, The Cortez Family