Carnival Corp. Maintenance

With the recent fiasco on the Carnival "Triumph" comes more evidence to
support my postulate that Carnival Corp. is cutting corners in their
empire.

1. We have taken two cruise on their Holland America "Noordam."
The first was over Christmas, 2010 and everything went well.
On our second trip, in January, 2011, we noticed a strong smell of sewer
gas amidship and reported it to a ship's officer. The smell never really
disappeared. In conversation with another passenger who claimed to know
the ship, he said that the problem was with the design and maintenance
of the waste management system.

From my knowledge of spacecraft life support systems, it would appear
that the problem was with the scrubbers, which contain lithium
hydroxide, and which has become more expensive. Are they cutting corners
here?

2. We took a trip on the Grand Princess in January. The ship had
undergone refurbishment, but it still showed signs of aging. The main
complaint was that food quality, especially in the buffet, was
quasi-generic. This sagging quality also appeared in the main dining
room, where the "veal scallopini" was nothing but a breaded veal cutlet
with some sauce and tasted like greasy sawdust. The "baked Alaska" was,
in reality. "faked Alaska," consisting of ice cream embedded in Cook
Whip, not meringue.

We did have one day where our toilet did not flush, but maintenance
quickly corrected the problem. We never did find out the cause.

3. We also took a trip on the Carnival "Dream" the week before Labor
Day, 2010. One day there was no hot water, so the captain opened up the
bar during dinner hour. What a chintzy "apology!" Again -- it appeared
to be cutting corners on maintenance.