RCI & Carnival Cruise Lines RCI Travel Agency - THEY'LL TAKE YOUR MONEY AND ABANDON YOU AFTERWARDS!! Phoenix Arizona

The beginning of May 2008 I called RCI (my fiancee is a member until 2025)and wound up speaking with one of their travel agents who was very helpful and went over a few cruise options with us. We eventually decided to go ahead and purchase a short cruise from Long Beach to Catalina to Ensenada and back (just 4 nights) so we could try a short cruise first and perhaps do a longer one later.

The RCI agent was initially suggesting a longer cruise on a Royal Caribbean ship but that would have meant us flying to Miami and being gone longer than we wanted so we asked her to book the shorter Long Beach cruise with Carnival instead. She booked our reservations and I gave her my credit card information. She told us that we would be receiving tickets etc a few weeks before the cruise. This was the last I heard from RCI.

The week before our cruise I went looking for our cruise tickets and realized that we never received them or a receipt, confirmation, not even an email from RCI with our cruise information or details. So I called RCI and spoke with a customer service lady who told us that Carnival no longer issues paper tickets and she directed us to the Carnival website to fill in the information for the Fun Pass. She walked us to the site and gave us the booking number to input on the screen to complete the registration process. She said once we completed that we would be able to print out our boarding pass and luggage tags and we would be all set. I asked her if we needed anything special for my fiancee since she was granted indefinite asylum in the U.S. and she told me that the Carnival website would help us determine what paperwork and documents we needed to bring and that we could input those documents while completing our Fun Pass. I spoke with RCI at least 3-4 times during the week prior to August 4th while preparing for this trip getting everything filled out correctly on the website and for general questions. At no time did anyone mention that we would need to show them a letter showing that my fiancee had requested Permanent Resident Status. In fact we had a letter from the Dept. of Homeland Security stating that she was granted asylum indefinately and could remain in the United States as long as she wished without being required to apply for permanent resident status. (Of course this would be moot once we marry). But at no time was this ever mentioned by anyone at RCI or Carnival.

The Carnival Story:

Please review their Better Business Bureau report also which speaks for itself: http://www.bbbsoutheastflorida.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Business/CompanyReportPage_Expository.aspx?CompanyID=21000334

After speaking with RCI and being directed to the Carnival website I was having difficulty getting my fiancee's information input so that it showed Complete instead of Incomplete. I called RCI who then told me to call Carnival and speak with a Customer Service representative there who knew more about completing their Fun Pass info than RCI did. So I called Carnival and explained that the site was asking for a Permanent Resident number for my fiancee and that she was an Asylee and described the card she has from the Dept of Homeland Security Immigration Dept. showing that she has Indefinite Political Asylum. We had tried inputting both numbers on this card where it was asking for this number.

The website finally accepted the number on the back of the card (this is her USCIS ID number) without the letter A (a pop up box said no letters so I took out the A). The Carnival C/S rep also had me change her country of residence to Indonesia even though she is now residing in America. She explained that even though she was now living and working in the U.S. that she was still considered a resident of Indonesia even though she was here under indefinite asylum and that she had run into this before and helped other customers fix it as well. After making these changes on the Carnival website both of us were listed as Completed with the Fun Pass and I printed it out along with luggage tags for both of us and prepared for our vacation. The Carnival representative said we were all set to go and to bring the document we used to get the number from that was accepted on their website.

Documents we brought with us to board per the C/S rep and Carnival Website:

Me Birth Certificate, CA Driver's license
Her Birth Certificate, CA State ID, Immigration Status/Asylum Status card with the number on it that we had to put on the Fun Pass website), and her old passport (she did not renew it in 2007 as she had no need to as she cannot go back to Indonesia) in case they wanted a 2nd picture ID.

Departure Day:

We got lost on the way to the ship and called Carnival again and spoke with a very nice lady who stayed with us on the phone while we made our way to the ship. We arrived, parked in the structure, turned our bags over to the handlers in the parking garage and were directed to the building for check in. We got into the building and got up to the counter and gave the gentleman our Fun Pass and documents. He looked at the documents for me and then looked at the documents for my fiancee and called over another Carnival employee who identified herself eventually as a supervisor. She took my fiancee's documents and went away for about 20 minutes. When she came back she said that she went to see the Customs agent in the building and that they would not let us board the ship because we needed to have a letter showing that she had applied for Permanent Resident Status. I explained to her that this was the first we had heard of this after speaking with multiple Carnival reps and RCI reps and that we had completed the Fun Pass online and were told that we were all set. This lady was rude and said anyone can put in any numbers on that website and refused to let us board. She offered no alternatives, nothing but you can't go We stood there in the terminal in complete and utter shock. I then got extremely angry and made a few colorful comments (4-letter words) while they went to take our bags off the ship. I called RCI right then and there and spoke with a gentleman who was also shocked to hear what was going on. I told him I expected a full refund from RCI and he said he was sure we would get it but that I needed to call the next day as the cancellations department was closed for the day.

The aftermath:

I have never felt so humiliated in my entire life. They made us feel like criminals when all we wanted was to take a vacation. Three months we looked forward to our vacation. We told all of our friends and family coast to coast and even overseas that we were going on our first cruise to celebrate our recent engagement. All of my clients knew, my co-workers, even our mailman knew we were going. Once they brought us our bags nothing more was said. We were just directed to the exit. We left the building with our bags in tow and could not believe what had just happened to us. My poor fiancee was in tears and I was alternating between fuming mad and complete shock. That night was just a jumble of mixed emotions ranging from anger and outrage to sadness and tears. I did speak with RCI the following day (Aug 5th) and once again explained what happened and did not hear back for 6 days. Then when I did hear from them they requested that I send a letter to Carnival explaining why I felt it was "unfair" rather than admitting fault due to poor customer service on their part for not following up after selling us the cruise and collecting a nice commisson. (I noticed the two were billed separately on my credit card).

Now after more than two weeks they won't return phone calls or emails and have not responded to the letter I sent demand my money back.

The Consequences:

Once you have reviewed the Better Business Bureau report I have included with this letter you will also conclude (as anyone would) that Carnival Cruise Lines has little or no regard for their customers. I do not expect Carnival to do the right thing this time or in the future. I do not expect them to make a refund to you, me, or anyone else. But I am not requesting the refund from Carnival. I am requesting the refund from the company who booked this vacation and who we paid for this vacation, RCI.

I have already filed a report against RCI with the Phoenix BBB. If RCI chooses not to refund the full price I paid for this vacation I will be forced to take actions both civil and legal and will name both organizations in the suit along with reporting this to a few other agencies including the National Better Business Bureau (BBB), the U.S. Chambers of Commerce, and the Attorneys General Consumer Affairs Divisions for California, Arizona, Florida, and Indiana and any other agency or entity that may have an interest in this kind of activity.

The emotional roller coaster we went on from this would resonate with any jury and just by looking at the BBB report on Carnival Cruise Lines I am willing to bet that a large class-action lawsuit could be put together without much difficulty and won.

So the bottom line is - DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH RCI OR CARNIVAL!!

Brad007
Santa Ana, California
U.S.A.