thanks

I eally feel better about booking with a pvp.  We had bad luck with TA.  We have the best pvp in the fleet, have been with her almost nine years.  We started cruising with RCCL but since switching over to Carnival, have never gone back.  We have too much fun on Carnival.  I thought Royal was boring, just mho.

Joan

 We have 18 people and the TA helps us manage the whole thing and E-Mails updat. Did you go through group people at Carnival?

 Carnival really has no control over what aTravel Agent does or does not do. They are independant of Carnvial.

I dont know if this would work or not, but I would try contacting Carnival Group Travel. Perhaps they will be able to do something for you. 

The only other option: As soon as you board ship, go to the dining room and ask to speak to the Maitre D'. He may be able to rearrange the dinner seating for everyone. But 24 people is really a lot to change the seating for.

Now, if you had booked directly through Carnival, with their Personal Vacation Planner, It would be no problem. My sister's extended family of 16 went on a cruise. And their PVP had them at tables right next to each other with the same waiters crew serving everyone.

Best of luck, and keep us informed how you make out.

Your TA can have your reservations linked so that you have the same dining times but you will not all be seated at the same table.  They will most likely break you up into three groups at tables near each other.  They don't usually seat more than 8-10 passengers at a table.

Unfortunatley, since you booked with a TA Carnival will not deal with you directly, only through the TA.  I imagine since you've booked a group through the TA that you received a good fare and are getting some special perks.  Otherwise, I would suggest transferring your booking to a Carnival PVP if it's not too late.  I seem to recall that Carnival will allow you 30 days to transfer a booking but I'm not exactly sure.  Maybe you should give them a call to find out.

Good luck and enjoy your cruise.

thanks

 Since you booked directly thru Carnival, and you are not getting any satisfaction, call back and ask to speak to a supervisor. Insist on speaking to a supervisor.

The PVPs are there to help you. If you are not getting any satisfaction, they are not helping you. That is what they are paid to do. 

I think Carnival takes customer satisfaction very seriously. If they didnt, would they have as many repeat cruisers as they do? I dont think so!

nettietron:

THE BOOKING WAS WITH CARNIVALS CRUISE ASST.  THE PERSON WORKS AT CARNIVAL.  WE HAVE LOTS OF CRUISES WITH CARNIVAL AND HE IS NEW WITH US THIS YEAR.  WHAT HAPPEN WITH THE OTHER PERSON I HAVE NO IDEAL. ALL THE OTHER CRUISES WERE GREAT AS I AM SURE THIS ONE WILL BE ALSO.  IT JUST THAT I WOULD LIKE HIM TO WORK BETTER WITH US. THAT IS WHAT HE GET PAID FOR....OR SHOULD I SAY THAT IS WHAT I PAY HIM FOR. THIS IS THE SECOND TIME ON THE SPIRIT. AND WE THINK THIS IS CARNIVALS BEST SHIP.  HELP!!!

frank711:

The only other option: As soon as you board ship, go to the dining room and ask to speak to the Maitre D'. He may be able to rearrange the dinner seating for everyone. But 24 people is really a lot to change the seating for.

I don't know if I would automatically assume the worse at this point.  Nettietron is just uncomfortable because he has no paper explicitly stating that all their cabins are successfully linked.  That doesn't mean they aren't.

IMHO, as soon as Nettietron and his group gets their S&S cards, compare dining room, times, and table numbers.  It might just turn out all OK.

Just out of curiosity, did others who have linked bookings ever get any written confirmation showing their bookings were indeed linked?  I mean, is confirmation  normal?

nettietron,

I know the group cruise I was on,  the TA that set up the group did manage to assign the seating for the group. 

that might be something that has to be done closer to the sail date.  But if you were told that the booking numbers are linked I am sure they are....   but ask if they can at least send you an email confirming that they are linked. 

Just keep doing your best to find out if you will be able to give them a table seating chart when you get closer to your sail date.

I know I could be very wrong about this and I am just trying to help you find a solution to your problem, but maybe there isn't anything that they can physically send you that lets you know you are all booked together unless it was done as a group.  Maybe he can't send something because there is no actual page that shows this.  I know where I work some things we deal with are internal only and cannot be distributed to our clients.

Call and speak to someone else.  Ask them the same question you asked your PVP and see if they see the same thing.  If they do, you are probably OK, but if not, then ask for a supervisor and tell them the situation.  If there is nothing they can send you, they aren't just going to put something in writing on their own, this is too much of a liability for CCL and the PVP...if something goes wrong down the line they don't want you standing there with a note from some PVP saying I have this in writing...good luck with your venture...just call someone else.  Sounds like if you use Carnival all the time and your old PVP left you need a new one anyway so might as well start establishing a new relationship now.  I will give you my PVPs name and number and see if she can help you...tell her you don't care for the attitude of the person you are dealing with now and see if she can help you.  Her name is Nahomie and her number is 1-800-819-3902 Ext. 82838.

nettietron:

When we were on the Royal Caribbean cruise and signed in on-line to check things under our name, we also could see who was linked to our cabin for dinner. 

With Carnival we have 10 cabins and 24 people. The person we work with at Carnival on booking our cruises we also rely on for linking the cabins so we can sit together for dinner.  I REALLY don't have much faith in him.  When you ask him something he makes you feel like we are bothering him and he does not care.  When asked about the links and asked if he would fax what he shows written down he says "I have it all".  Not that extra step for satification. I have a feeling he will not do it at the end.  I don't want to get him in trouble but would like him to do that small thing. What can I do ....This was not a group booking.  It was just one of those we want to go things and ended up with a nice group of friends.

If you would like to email me your booking information, I will have a Supervisor look at your bookings and contact you. 

Have a good day!

tracyanns:

I know I could be very wrong about this and I am just trying to help you find a solution to your problem, but maybe there isn't anything that they can physically send you that lets you know you are all booked together unless it was done as a group.  Maybe he can't send something because there is no actual page that shows this.  I know where I work some things we deal with are internal only and cannot be distributed to our clients.

That made me think that possibly they can't send out anything because it would contain info about other people's bookings?  As you pointed out, this isn't a group booking, but rather 10 separate bookings. 

 Walt,

You are closer than you think on this subject - A Carnival Reservation Agent (which is contacted through 1-800-Carnival) or a PVP only deal with individual bookings. If someone knows there might be more than 5 cabins booked, then they need to go through the Groups Dept. This would give them a better rate and some amentities.

Working with a travel agency is always best under those circumstances since if you have cancellations and drop below the required number of cabins, then they can fill them for you to retain you amentities.

And for those who didn't know - there is a way to document the linked bookings on either group or individual bookings. An experienced travel counselor would know this. A Carnival representative should also, but sometimes they aren't as savy as someone who wants to earn you as a client for long-term, after all they had you sold the moment you dialed their number - their job was 90% done.

DS - 

Thanks

I do not think you can do that now... the group section takes care of groups that have a reserved number of cabins at a set price.... so it is a different thing... what you need to do is to make sure you have all the booking numbers linked.  and read the FAQ section for the early saver rate

here is a link

http://www.carnival.com/cms/fun/earlysaver/default.aspx