Just wanted to know what others had been told in the ship shopping talks regarding buying at the Carnival approved stores and refund/exchange policy once home?
Generally, if you buy in a Carnival recommended store and something happens to the product within thirty days you can send it to Carnival and they will have it replaced. Ie: The ruby tennis bracelet you bought at Diamond's International lost a ruby and the clasp broke. In some cases even buyers remorse is covered.
Unfortunately, the only time buyer's remorse comes into play is IF you purchased the jewelry from the shop ON the ship.
They do honor that. We bought our son a Fossil watch that had the second hand break after 9 months. We returned it (with a copy of the receipt~very important) for a full refund.
No questions asked....but again this was bought ON the ship.
In order for any warranty for merchandise purchased in port (off the ship) you must have registered your purchase with Carnival while on the cruise.
There was a very simple form to fill out. This way Carnival has an exact record of what was purchased and when.
Did you fill out this form and turn it in while you were on the cruise?
i am going to be a "contrarian" and talk to this topic. The port lecturers (these are the folks that tell you about shopping) work for a private franchiser who actually pays the cruise line for the sole rights to tell you where to shop. Why do they do this? Because they only recommend shops that pay a promotional fee to the company (part of which gets kicked-back to the cruise line). Stores which refuse to pay the fee (some might call it blackmail) will not get mentioned on the ship. The "hook" is to have this guarantee which sometimes works and sometimes does not seem to work. This system creates some interesting situations which do not benefit the cruiser. As an example, when you cruise on Celebrity to Rio de Janeiro the ships promote (20 times a day) a jeweler called Amsterdam Sauer. They even tell you not to deal with anyone else in Rio and to tell the cruise staff if you are solicted by any other jeweler. The problem is that although Amsterdam Sauer is a reputable company, many would say they do not hold a candle to H Stern who is arguable one of the top jewelers in South America. H. Stern will no longer pay the "blackmail" fees so they get shunned. The fact that H. Stern has stores in New York (5th Avenue) and Miami that will take care of any problems is never mentioned. And than there is the famous (or infamous) Diamonds International. Its no coincidence that this company has stores in almost every cruise port (including some small cruise towns in Alaska) and make much of their money from cruise passengers. In fact, in Puerto Vallarta (we spend most of the winter at PV) they actually open their store early for the cruise tours. We have never met locals (including those who winter in this nice town) who would ever use DI. Its not that there is anything wrong with DI, but there are better bargains and quality to be found elsewhere. Of course these other stores can give you better bargains because they do not have to pay the "fees" to the cruise lines. Does this mean you should not shop at the "recommended stores." No. It just means you should be aware of how the system works and shop with a degree of skepticism. Keep in mind that in many many cases the best stores will never be mentioned at the port lecture.
I looked through my cruise boxes last night, I didn't find any of my Carnival shopping information. It might have been tossed in one of our moves, Sorry.
Originally posted by Hank:
i am going to be a "contrarian" and talk to this topic. The port lecturers (these are the folks that tell you about shopping) work for a private franchiser who actually pays the cruise line for the sole rights to tell you where to shop. Why do they do this? Because they only recommend shops that pay a promotional fee to the company (part of which gets kicked-back to the cruise line). Stores which refuse to pay the fee (some might call it blackmail) will not get mentioned on the ship. The "hook" is to have this guarantee which sometimes works and sometimes does not seem to work. This system creates some interesting situations which do not benefit the cruiser. As an example, when you cruise on Celebrity to Rio de Janeiro the ships promote (20 times a day) a jeweler called Amsterdam Sauer. They even tell you not to deal with anyone else in Rio and to tell the cruise staff if you are solicted by any other jeweler. The problem is that although Amsterdam Sauer is a reputable company, many would say they do not hold a candle to H Stern who is arguable one of the top jewelers in South America. H. Stern will no longer pay the "blackmail" fees so they get shunned. The fact that H. Stern has stores in New York (5th Avenue) and Miami that will take care of any problems is never mentioned. And than there is the famous (or infamous) Diamonds International. Its no coincidence that this company has stores in almost every cruise port (including some small cruise towns in Alaska) and make much of their money from cruise passengers. In fact, in Puerto Vallarta (we spend most of the winter at PV) they actually open their store early for the cruise tours. We have never met locals (including those who winter in this nice town) who would ever use DI. Its not that there is anything wrong with DI, but there are better bargains and quality to be found elsewhere. Of course these other stores can give you better bargains because they do not have to pay the "fees" to the cruise lines. Does this mean you should not shop at the "recommended stores." No. It just means you should be aware of how the system works and shop with a degree of skepticism. Keep in mind that in many many cases the best stores will never be mentioned at the port lecture.
Hank
You are absolutely correct. That is why it is so important for folks to "know before you go".
Forums like this are marvelous places for first hand information!!
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