On Thu, 18 Aug 2011 17:58:35 -0400, Ray Goldenberg
wrote:
http://consumerist.com/2011/08/carni...tion-nightmare
.html
Jennifer and her husband went on a cruise for their vacation last month,
but it wasn't all that relaxing. They ended up less healthy and more
stressed at the end of the vacation than at the beginning. It began with
an asthma attack-inducing smoke-filled stateroom, and somehow actually
got worse from there. Worse how? There was the food poisoning,
accidentally being double charged for everything, and a ship employee
who was almost comically insensitive to the fact that Jennifer uses a
wheelchair.
³My husband and I went on a three day cruise in July with Carnival
Cruise lines, and it ended up being hell.
* The room we'd been assigned was so smoke-filled that smoke
came out when we opened the door. We're both asthmatics and had to use
our inhalers to keep from having an asthma attack. It was so bad that we
spoke to Guest Services onboard AND called their 800 number while still
in port, and we were told they would be doing nothing until we sailed.
The 800 number told us we weren't allowed to leave the ship.
* We did a special meal that was offered to 12 people, tops,
called The Chef's Table. It was on the last night, which we then spent
puking our guts up from food poisoning. We had to hightail it to the
port's ER after we got off the ship.
* On the Sensation, which is gigantic, there is one tiny area
where children are not allowed. There are postings that it's 21 and up
all over. Parents ignored this. The attendant in the area said he
couldn't do a thing about it. I went to find someone else, who eyerolled
me and said "I'm busy. Get someone else."
* I'm disabled, and need a wheelchair. We mentioned this when we
booked. We filled out a form for them over it. Yet they sat us at dinner
in a spot where I'd have to climb stairs.
* Their dining room hostess also decided that I somehow didn't
need the wheelchair, and questioned me one night. "Why are you in that?
You look too young to be in that. I think I saw you without it earlier.
So do you really need it or what? Are you okay? Your face looks REALLY
BAD. Seriously. You look terrible." And on. And on. It was formal night,
and I had made a special effort to look pretty; this girl's speech put
me in tears.
* The ship itself is VERY wheelchair inaccessible. There are
steel bands all over that are very hard to wheel over, which means you
have to run over them at speed and risk getting ejected from your chair.
It's also impossible to navigate any room with tables in it, as they're
too narrow to get through. I did a lot more getting out of my wheelchair
than I should have, which left me in considerable pain.
* On top of ALL that, Carnival doublecharged us for EVERYTHING.
We got off the ship and found out that our bank account had been wiped
out by it, and we were in the negative. It took a week for all the false
charges to go away.
I used the channels that Carnival asked me to. We asked for a
partial refund for all our troubles, and said that we'd accept a credit
for a future fare; if they'd work with us, we'd give them one more
chance.
They rejected me. Big time. And they pretty much told me I was lying
about the food poisoning. We got a "thanks for complaining, now go
away". We were treated like ****, and I do NOT want to go away.
I'm not going to read through a ton of trash talk from people that
were not on that cruise and can only speak from their own experiences.
Something like I got when I said I had a horrible cruise aboard the
Carnival Liberty. All kinds of people apparently knew better than I
what I went through and didn't hold back on nasty comments.
Bad experiences happen on all sorts of vacations. And if you are not
there, all you can do is second guess the person complaining. I'm old
enough to not give a damn anymore what people say. I've been there
and done that.
With that said, maybe some of their complaints were directed at the
wrong people such as their dining experience. I know when I was
having problems, my room steward actually had tears in her eyes and
called her manager to come to my cabin to experience the noise I was
experiencing. She was so great and compassionate, I gave her a C note
at the end of the cruise.
All iin all Carnival did what they could do because it really wasn't
the fault of the crew. It was the builder's fault. When I said that
before, some asshole called me an engineer that knew how ships should
be built. All I said was insulation should have been put between the
wooden Lido deck and Deck 8.
However, we have forgiven Carnival due to the fact they tried to do
everything they could but couldn't. I give them an A for effort. So,
we booked a Panama Canal cruise with them for March 13. I made damn
sure this time our cabin was sandwiched between two cabin decks and
all I need to do is go two up or two down to do whatever I want to do.
Quit second guessing people. Constructive critisism works a lot
better. All some of you did was make their cruise experience worse.
Have some compassion.
Credit vs Debit? I agree. Use ONLY a credit card from a reputable
bank. It's insured against illegal usage whereas a debit card isn't.
One can always get one of those cash credit cards where you load it up
yourself.
As for disabled access, I think they may have a valid complaint with
the ADA folks. I know Carnival's website states is accomodates people
with wheelchairs and have cabins especially for them. I would have
skipped off the cruise and demanded accomodation or a refund. All
ships that dock in the USA have to comply with the ADA. As for smoke
in the cabin, was it a non smoking cabin?? This could have had a
potential fatal outcome depending on how bad their asthma is.
Nuf said, now let's all get along.
Rich