A few cruise ships have been waiting to come back to port in the wake of Hurricane Isaac. The Carnival Elation is one of those ships that will be coming back to port at New Orleans as the Mississippi River has receded some of the flood waters and slowly returns back to normal.
Carnival has announced that its 2,000 passenger cruise ship Carnival Elation will return to the Big Easy a day behind schedule later tonight, and will depart on a rescheduled 3-night cruise in place of the 4-night cruise it’s next passengers booked.
Last night the cruise line was contemplating sending the cruise ship to the port in Mobile, Alabama, since the Mississippi River was closed, but the reopening of the river allowed the Elation to come back to its home port.
Embarkation on the Elation will be tonight between 6pm and 9pm at the New Orleans’ Erato Street Cruise Terminal.
In spite of this storm being out of the company’s control, Carnival is going out of its way to make it up to its passengers. They are offering a 50% refund for the amount they paid for sailing and a 25% discount on any future cruises with the company on any 3-5 day voyage.
Cruise lines don’t have to offer any kind of reimbursement for changes in itineraries or schedules due to storms, and that’s typically where travel insurance can kick in. But the cruise line is trying to keep its passengers loyal to the company with incentives like this. If someone wants to schedule a cruise in hurricane season and they know certain cruise lines have offered refund packages in the past because of storms, they might be more inclined to book with those cruise lines.
It’s the U.S. Coast guard that closed the Mississippi River due to flooding, and even though there will be a few restrictions with the opening of the river, cruise ships will be allowed to come in later today.
Passengers on carnivals Elation cruise ship that were delayed coming back late on august 30th were not offered any kind of discount on a future cruise and many passengers lost jobs, had to spend the extra 30 or so hours we were delayed changing flight schedules,rearranging sitters. Dealing with running out of prescriptions and money needed that most weren’t prepared to need. Instead of realizing these passengers were stressed due to the lack of these nessicities and the strain it put on them for many reasons, the cruise line acted as though the extra day and a half was a welcome gift that passengers should be thanking them for. Though we realize it is not the fault of the cruise line that we were delayed we feel they should offer the passengers debarking the ship late at least an incentive to cruise again but I guess since we already paid and sailed we weren’t as important as those who could have just cancelled altogether and cost the cruise line tons of money! Futhermore when a passenger called the nurse for something to calm their nerves because their regular medicine was only intended for five days the nurse said sure I can sell you one allergy pill for just $35 dollars! This being a gold card passenger who has cruised more than a few times and spent thousands of dollars both booking and sailing with carnival cruise line. Really? We won’t be back!