Missed a Cruise due to Driver Getting Lost?! Help!?

Question

My parents should be cruising the Atlantic heading to Puerto Rico right now, but never made it to the port in NYC.

The travel agent assisting them with the cruise recommended a personal driver to take them from NJ to NY. They were picked up at 1030AM and arrived in NY at about 1230-1245PM. However, the driver could not navigate his way around and had them driving around lost in NY for over 3 hours! The ship left at 4PM, they never even made it to the Carnival Check in, so now Carnival is keeping their money. Meanwhile, this driver had already taken the $160 from my parents when he picked them up, and never gave it back to them!

My point is, what can they do?? Carnival sees this as a "No Show" and wants to keep the money. My poor parents spend an entire day in a car driving back from NJ to NY, then back to NJ and no cruise. They spent over $3000 on this cruise and are just going to lose it?

What would you do?

Answer 1

This is why you purchase cruise insurance.  And it's also why many people go to the departure port the day before their cruise begins.

Also, it's up to the passengers to make sure they know where they are going, as far as getting to the cruise port.  There are directions in the cruise info that's sent to passengers.  Also, there are websites like CruiseCritic.com that has tons of info about getting to/staying near the ports, etc.

They also could have arranged to "catch up" with the cruise at the first port stop [this alternative would've been facilitated by having cruise insurance].

It's sad that your parents missed their cruise entirely.  But this is why one needs to do a lot of research before any trip and to be prepared with alternative plans in case something goes wrong.

Answer 2

It's probably too late now but they gave up to early. Just because they arrived late for the first leg of the cruise they could have flown down to Puerto Rico and met the boat there Jet Blue charges around $100 per person one way). Carnival would have assisted but not paid for it. You are responsible for getting to the ship on time, failure to do so is your fault and not Carnival's. Travel insurance would also have helped but then again hindsight is always 20-20. It takes two days for the ship to reach San Juan so maybe it is not too late. Good luck. As for suing the driver, absolutely, this is ultimately his fault but don't expect any satisfaction in the near future as this is a long process.

Answer 3

I'd take the driver's employer to small claims courtand sue for the cost of the cruise and the $160 he took from them. They souldn't have any trouble winning the case.

Answer 4

I used to work for Carnival and they are fairly strict with their policies. Unfortunately, they probably will not do anything. However, please call 1-800- carnival and ask for Guest Relations. Beg for them to possibly consider issuing a credit. See if they can help you. In addition, I will be glad to book your next cruise for your family on your choice of ships, and I can rebate you 1/2 of my commission. We traditionally receive about 16% of the total price in commissions.( Take out the taxes and fees). If you need any additional help, please visit www.worldviewtravelservices.com.

The only time you would be covered in a situation like this is if you bought the vacation insurance or if you opted for the Carnival transfers.

eddie cambas

Answer 5

I just came back from a cruise on the Carnival Miracle yesterday, in NYC...Is that the same ship they were going on? They should have NEVER payed the driver! I dont think there is anything they can do about getting their money back from Carnival.

Answer 6

People miss the start of their cruises all of the time for various reasons.  Sometimes its missed or delayed airline connections, sometimes other things like this.   A cruise leaving NY city will take 2 days to get to Puerto Rico.   The first thing they should do (or have done) was call the cruise line and tell them what happened and  find out where and when they can meet the ship.   Have them ask the cruise line for help meeting the ship; cruise lines like happy passengers and do what they can to help in these situations.  People meet ships on missed departures all of the time.  On our last cruise we had people meet our ship at the first port stop.  Then they need to make arrangements for one way tickets to fly to that port.  If its Puerto Rico it should be no big problem because its easy to get to from NY or NJ.

Then after the cruise is the time to hire  a lawyer and I would file suit against both the taxi driver and the travel agent.  Now that's what I would do.

Answer 7

Carnival is not responsible for them missing there cruise at all, so I doubt you can do anything about getting there cruise money back, but I sure as he-- would go after the driving company who drove around for 3 hours, lost. I probably would have stayed in that car for 45 minutes and then told that driver to let me out and hailed a NY cab. I would not have paid that driver a dime. Do have them contact carnival anyways and politely ask them if they can help them at all.

Answer 8

i'm sorry but it's your parents fault! The directions to the terminal are in the cruise packet they have to have in hand to get on the cruise!!

Why would they not have directions,

why would they not question the driver about why it's taking so long to get to the terminal?

why would they not have insisted the driver pull over and aks for directions?

why did they not call a friend or the travel agent who booked them?

Sorry for being so dumb they should loose $3,000. If i paid that much money i would surely be their on time. Plus you have to be at the terminal atleast 2 or 3 hours before the cruise even starts, so looks like they would have been late any ways if the driver never got lost!! sorry!

Answer 9

Unless they had purchased insurance through the cruise line they are going to be out of luck and will loose the money.  I would suggest same claims court with the taxi company.