Carnival Vacation Club - The Twilight Zone

This will be my first cruise without receiving tickets.

Carnival Vacation Club told me last week they had been mailed out by
FEDEX.
When I did not get them after 3 days I called them again and asked for
a tracking number.
They did not have one. I was then told that they had been mailed out
from Carnival to
their office in Phoenix and they had not arrived and must be presumed
lost. Now I have no
tickets - which I can live with because the Fun Pass is supposed to do
the trick. However
I have just realized I also have no VIP tags for luggage - hopefully I
can get these in Miami
before boarding Carnival Valor.

This just does not have the hallmark of VIP service - lost tickets - no
VIP tags and prices
that seem more than what can be had on the open market. On our last
cruise to Alaska
Carnival Vacation Club did have a get together with some good food.
Unfortunately it was held immediately after the evening dinner - so 99%
of the food went untouched. CVC has a website that offers no
information about your booking. One logs in - then you have exactly the
same information as any one else. No good calling Carnival itself to
try to find out any information - it is as if one is from a banished
tribe. Carnival said - "Oh no - we can't answer any questions you have
- you have to contact CVC directly". I asked "Can you at least confirm
that I have a cabin 8C-8217" - Answer - "Sorry, we cannot even see your
booking so we cannot answer questions about it". After escalating to a
supervisor I did finally squeeze out that that was my cabin number -
hardly VIP service.

So if you want to vanish into the twilight zone just join Carnival
Vacation Club and have no tickets - no VIP luggage tags - no
information - and be told tall sea yarns about FEDEX mailings. The CVC
Phoenix office seems a long way away from any ocean or port - could
this be the problem in that they never actually see a ship or the sea?

No more CVC for us.

My clients ALMOST fell for the CVC ... It is very important that you
book with CARNIVAL and NOT the vacation club to get the BEST a travel
expert is always best!