Carnival offers 110 percent refund guarantee on cruise

MIAMI, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Carnival Cruise Lines, based in Florida, said it is offering passengers a 110 percent refund and transportation home if they don't have a good time.

The company said passengers on its Fun Ship vacation will receive a "Great Vacation Guarantee" comprised of a 110 percent refund, free transportation home and $100 worth of onboard credit for future vacations if they find themselves dissatisfied within the first 24 hours of their cruise, The Miami Herald reported Friday.

Gerry Cahill, president and chief executive officer of the cruise company, said the guarantee is an attempt to attract new customers following a string of bad publicity.

"Among people -- not so much people who have cruised with us, but more among people who have never tried the Carnival brand -- they got a bad perception of the brand," he said.

Recent public relations disasters for the cruise line included a fire in February that knocked out power on Carnival Triumph and left the 2,758-passenger ship dead in the water before it was towed to port in Mobile, Ala.

The Carnival Dream experienced an emergency generator failure in March while in port at Philipsburg, St. Maarten, and the company said it would fly passengers back to Florida when it became impossible to complete the voyage.

Also in March, a mechanical problem at sea forced the cancellation of some scheduled stops for the Carnival Legend, which returned to port in Tampa, Fla.