Carnival Cruise Becomes Vacation Nightmare

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.

On 8/18/2011 5:58 PM, Ray Goldenberg wrote:
http://consumerist.com/2011/08/carni...tion-nightmare
.html
* 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.

This sounds to me like they used a debit card and do not understand the
difference between a hold and a charge. And while some of the things
sound reasonable, it sounds like they complained about an awful lot of
stuff which makes me wonder what was real and what was exaggerated.

Also, Consumerist often seems to publish complaints that seem dubious at
best.

Bill

On Thu, 18 Aug 2011 21:00:37 -0400, Bill
wrote:

This sounds to me like they used a debit card and do not understand the
difference between a hold and a charge. And while some of the things
sound reasonable, it sounds like they complained about an awful lot of
stuff which makes me wonder what was real and what was exaggerated.

Possibly... but on the other hand, my one Carnival cruise, while not
quite this bad, was truly horrible.


--
We are becoming a country that believes the rich have earned their money but the well educated have not
earned their intellectual superiority. This leads to a nation that idolizes Kardashians.
Joel Stein, TIME, 8/23/10

On 8/19/2011 7:45 PM, Patricia Martin Steward wrote:
On Thu, 18 Aug 2011 21:00:37 -0400,
wrote:

This sounds to me like they used a debit card and do not understand the
difference between a hold and a charge. And while some of the things
sound reasonable, it sounds like they complained about an awful lot of
stuff which makes me wonder what was real and what was exaggerated.

Possibly... but on the other hand, my one Carnival cruise, while not
quite this bad, was truly horrible.

But let's look at some of her comments. She calls the Sensation "huge",
yet it has a capacity of just over 2000. She claims to have had problems
with her table in the dining room, yet never says anything about talking
to the Maitre'd, which anyone with half a brain would have done rather
than just talking to the "hostess" and apparently never getting it
resolved. If the special dinner they had caused their food poisoning,
why didn't the other 10 people at their table also have it?

And as for the charges, I see she said "It took a week for all the false
charges to go away." which to me indicates a hold. Otherwise, she would
have said that it was a credit that was applied.

Bill

BTW I went to the Consumerist site and there are other people pointing
out that she used a debit card and that it was stupid to do. The poster
also responds at one point and complains that the cruise fare was also
double charged, so clearly this person does not understand how debit
cards work (and maybe there is something wrong with her account since
when the actual charge hits, the hold should go away).

Bill

"Bill" wrote in message
...
BTW I went to the Consumerist site and there are other people pointing out
that she used a debit card and that it was stupid to do. The poster also
responds at one point and complains that the cruise fare was also double
charged, so clearly this person does not understand how debit cards work
(and maybe there is something wrong with her account since when the actual
charge hits, the hold should go away).

Bill

As you so very well pointed out, all people are ignorant except you and me.

Sunny-----Oh Boa, why does Bill give a ****? He doesn't know his ass from
a hole in the ground. Boa, you and I know the difference, we are in a hole

On Sun, 21 Aug 2011 08:39:27 -0500, Villa Deauville wrote:

"Bill" wrote in message
...
BTW I went to the Consumerist site and there are other people pointing out
that she used a debit card and that it was stupid to do. The poster also
responds at one point and complains that the cruise fare was also double
charged, so clearly this person does not understand how debit cards work
(and maybe there is something wrong with her account since when the actual
charge hits, the hold should go away).

Bill

As you so very well pointed out, all people are ignorant except you and me.

Sunny-----Oh Boa, why does Bill give a ****? He doesn't know his ass from
a hole in the ground. Boa, you and I know the difference, we are in a hole

Sunset, you disgust me. Just because dead Jews can no longer own an
American Express like all the rest of the rich America (like my good
friend Bill), you STRIKE OUT like the snake around youer neck.

Jean--If You don't Have A Credit Card, Jesus Thinks You Are Scum

On Sat, 20 Aug 2011 10:30:43 -0400, Bill wrote:

BTW I went to the Consumerist site and there are other people pointing
out that she used a debit card and that it was stupid to do.

Billy Goat's Gonads

*STFU* you short minded idiot.
--
The Storage Neighbor-Crabapple | 12390-C Arnold Mill Road
Alpharetta, Georgia 30004 | Tel: 770.569.0060
"Free blow job with every rental"| www.storageneighbor.com

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

On Tue, 22 May 2012 19:47:12 -0500, Oldsarge
wrote:

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.

First mistake - going on a three day cruise and doing it with
Carnival. People who do these type cruises do it to party, not to
relax

* 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.

Current Carnival policy is that guests can't smoke in their
staterooms. How long ago was this cruise? Did you ask for a room
change or did you have a handicapped room that couldn't be changed?
Did you ask the room steward for help?

* 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.

Were the other people affected? If not, it was probably a food
allergy.

* 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."

This is pretty common - crew doesn't want to annoy the parents.
Carnival is a young people's cruise line and there will be children.

* 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.

Did they not change your table when you asked?

* 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.

You are too sensitive. You should have laughed at her. I have only
been on one Carnival ship (Pride) and I use a scooter. The crew were
very nice to me and made a special effort to see to it that I was OK.
Of course it wasn't a 3 day cruise. The only place I had a problem
was in the Lido where it wasn't possible for me to get food and carry
it to the table and the crew weren't always helpful.

* 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.

The business with the tables I did not find to be true on the Pride.
Maybe that is also part of it being a 3 day cruise. The only place I
had a problem was going on the outer deck where there was a high
threshold. The metal bands didn't cause me any problem. I have used
a wheelchair on various ships and did not have any problem except once
ashore when my husband was pushing me very fast and the wheels got
stuck in a gap in the cement sidewalk and I did get ejected from it,
but I wasn't hurt, and it made a funny story to tell afterward.

* 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.

It may be that on those short booze cruises they have to put a hold on
the account in case you caused a lot of damage to the ship. If the
charges went away, you don't really have a complaint.

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