Cruise lines get blamed for things outside of their control.
Passengers, for example, might expect a refund when their flight gets canceled and they miss their cruise. They also often expect the cruise line to pay if the ship gets delayed and they miss their flight.
People also get angry when their ship changes itineraries, and they miss a prepaid third-party excursion or beach club.
Cruise lines generally only give you money back on services they actually sell. If you book airfare or an excursion through the cruise line itself, you generally have a lot more recourse than when you use an outside company.
The reality is that cruise lines sell insurance to protect passengers from these problems. That insurance also protects the cruise line from angry passengers.
No cruise line official likes to tell a passenger they can’t sail due to illness and won’t be getting a refund. The same logic applies to a death in the family or any other reason the passenger cancels a cruise when they don’t have insurance.
John Heald, Brand Ambassador for Carnival Cruise Line (CCL), shared a story on Feb. 1 that should serve as a warning for all cruisers.
Cruise passengers often have to use their phones but should always be on airplane mode.
Image source: Carnival Cruise Line
Carnival passenger shares an expensive mistake.
Heald, who is mostly taking the weekend off (a rarity for the hard-working brand ambassador), shared the following story that should serve as a warning for passengers.
“Just got my monthly cell phone bill through, and $411 worth of the bill is from my 17-year-old daughter using her phone while on board the Pride,” shared the unnamed passenger.
Carnival, for the record, does not allow people who buy its internet plans to make WiFi calls.
“She has made phone calls to her boyfriend in Silver Spring and used data for messaging. I just want to make people aware that Carnival will not warn you of these charges for MB of data used and for calling. One thing I do know is Carnival will not refund these charges because Carnival and my travel agent said there is nothing they will do,” they wrote.
The passenger then pleaded for Carnival to cover some of the cost of the bill, which came from the passenger’s cellphone provider, not the cruise line.
“John, I hope you will show some compassion and help with at least 50% of these charges,” they added.
“Thank you, and I am sharing this for one reason, and that is to please be careful,” he wrote.
Heald pushed back at the idea that the cruise line does not warn passengers.
“The cruise directors always make announcements about putting your phones into airplane mode (don’t call me Shirley), and this will protect you from the charges this family now has. And while I would love to be able to help with the charges, I am afraid I cannot do anything. I am very sorry,” he added.
Heald then had a little fun with the situation.
“I also have to mention that I was surprised some of the charges were from her daughter actually calling her boyfriend, as in talking on the phone. I say that because, as every parent will tell you, the following two iPhone facts are true. One, it is sodding well impossible to separate a teenager from their phone. Two, they will never answer the bloody phone if it rings. They can text, Snapchat, and TikTok without a second thought, but actually talking? Nope, not a hope in hell,” he shared.
Heald intentionally gets product and brand names wrong.
Many of the over 1,000 comments on Heald’s post were not sympathetic to the person who emailed Heald.
“I accidentally left my phone off of airplane mode after an excursion. Shortly after we sailed, I got several notifications from my cell carrier. I immediately put it back in airplane mode. There is NO way she didn’t know she was accumulating charges. Just thought she would play dumb and her parents would fix it for her,” wrote Ellen Bagdon.
Many people put the blame on the parents.
“The parent should have told the child not to use the phone. Every time you saw the child with the phone, you should have taken it away or checked what she was doing with it. As usual, people are always trying to pass the buck on personal responsibility,” posted Joy O’Donnell.
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