Carnival Cruise Lines review: Horrible cruise line 9

On September 12, 2009 my wife and I boarded the Carnival Destiny whose itinerary included Grand Cayman and Jamaica. Upon stepping into the ship’s lobby, I overheard a fellow guest complaining about the ship’s safety and engine not working properly. I immediately went to the information desk and waited for over 20 minutes in line to be told that the ship’s propeller was not working properly and that the cruise was no longer going to the destinations that we originally purchased this cruise for. I was offered a 20% discount on a future cruise and directed back to the ship’s terminal to speak with a Carnival Cruise Line Supervisor to get further information and to find out all of our options. I left my wife in the lobby as she suffers from a chronic medical condition and has difficulty standing for long periods. When I entered the terminal it was a mad house, people were confused, angry and told that they would be able to speak to a supervisor if they signed up and got in line. I immediately signed up and was told repeatedly by a cruise associate that I would be the next in line to speak to the next available supervisor. I waited for over 2 ½ hours without speaking or meeting with one supervisor, even though all guests were told the ship would not leave the terminal until each guest was able to speak with a supervisor. Instead I was given a generic card for guest services to contact after the actual trip. With no options I had to return to the ship, as the horn was blowing indicating that the ship was leaving port. My wife was on this ship, as were our belongings, though we did not know the location of our luggage and were told if we got off the ship, it would be without our luggage, which wouldn’t be returned to us until the ship returned from the cruise. Some medications, personal care items and all of our clothing, shoes were in our luggage. This fact left us with no options, but to stay on a ship sailing to places we didn’t want to go. They never offered in any way to compensate us or return any of our money, and stated that if passengers didn’t take the cruise, their money wouldn’t be returned until 10 days after the cruise. We did not have additional funds for a hotel and did not have the ability to replace our clothing, medications, personal care products etc. We were therefore trapped, as we never received the letter that some passengers had received during the check in process, even though we had to wait in three separate lines to gain access to the ship. During the check in process at the terminal my wife and I waited in three different lines w/o any communication by the staff that the itinerary had changed. We had no way to get off the ship, as we didn’t know where are belongings were and couldn’t get our money returned to us that day. We did not have any money to take another flight home, as we were not scheduled to fly home until September 19th 2009 and on April 29th we had already paid $300.00 to change our airfare and travel destination in order to take the Carnival Destiny to Jamaica, as we had thoroughly enjoyed our last brief time in Jamaica several months ago, through the Carnival Freedom.
Not only were we devastated about not going to Jamaica, we were very angry that we were never given the opportunity prior to entering the ship and handing over our luggage to not take the cruise, as I never received the paperwork, period. I was promised I would have the ability to speak to a supervisor when I spoke with a customer service representative in the terminal and I never got the opportunity to find out what our options were, until the ship’s horn blew. Our trip was the absolute worse trip we have ever experienced in our entire lives. Not only was the staff rude, illiterate and unhelpful, they had no skills in terms of customer service. We were put in lines for breakfast and lunch that were obscenely long, in which 50-60 people were in one line as the staff closed other lines that could have reduced the 30-40 minutes it took to get our food. Food particles were frequently found on our plates, bowls and silverware, which we attribute as the source of the viral infections we acquired during our stay onboard. My wife unbeknownst to her ended up using a spoon that had dried on food particles and once this happened we frequently had to change utensils, bowls, plates for the fact that they had dried on food, which could have led to more than the food poisoning, and viral infections we obtained. Specifically, I obtained food poisoning on the first sea day after eating an undercooked hamburger during lunch. I also found my fork had dried on food particles on it as well. Vomiting, sweating, diarrhea ensued for over 24 hrs, which occurred less than one hour after eating the meal. Food borne illness is a serious issue. Hepatitis A, and other chronic diseases are a few of the diseases we could have acquired while unknowingly eating from utensils and plates, bowls that were not cleaned properly and when the issue of my food poisoning was brought to the attention of the kitchen staff, they never even responded to the seriousness of this issue, only stating that it sometimes happens. Room service failed to even come one day when we called, another day our room service tray sat out in front of our cabin for over 5 ½ hours. On the last day of our trip in port, we were told we could have breakfast until 9:30am and when I attempted to get some at 9:00am, the cruise attendants were putting it away, before I could even get to it.
On our first day at sea, my wife had to assist a female passenger who had fallen from the wet deck stairs of the hot tub. Puddles of water were everywhere by the pool and hot tub areas. My wife worked on preventing the woman from going into shock and preventing her from unconsciousness. When this fall occurred I went to the nearest staff and instructed him to call the medical personnel. The bar attendant who barely spoke English stated he wanted to see the woman first, and I had to continue redirecting him to get immediate medical attention. When I returned to the site of the woman’s fall, there were 10 or more workers standing around, not having any clue as to what to do. If it wasn’t for my wife and another passenger keeping her alert and awake, this woman may be in a coma today. The medical personnel did not arrive for at least 15 to 20 minutes and was a nurse, not the doctor, who came when the nurse requested his presence and it took him 10-15 minutes to get there. The nurse stated to my wife that she had completed all the requirements of a cardiac assessment and my wife tried to explain that the passenger hadn’t had a heart attack, but had instead fallen due to the slipperiness of the pool/hot tub area that was being neglected by the staff. The nurse demanded them to mop up the water, something that every other single cruise line we have ever been on, does on a consistent basis. When my wife tried to tell the doctor about the burning pain the fallen passenger was experiencing in her lower back, she was dismissed as he was focusing on the sling she had on from a fall that occurred the night before, because of slippery steps. The patient had to wait 10-15 minutes to get pain relief and as witnesses, wasn’t even asked if she was allergic to any medications. This woman may be dead today if she had indeed been allergic. These actions from the medical personnel display extreme negligence, malpractice and incompetency. The staff that placed her on a board rolled her on her back, which led her to scream in agony, instead of placing a stabilizing board up against her back to stabilize her, prior to rolling her over and prevent any further injury. My wife is trained in both CPR and First AID and was horrified when the staff that placed her on a board rolled her on her back, the area of injury, which led her to scream in agony, instead of placing a stabilizing board up against her back to stabilize her, prior to rolling her over and preventing any further injury. The staff acted as if they had never been trained in using the device and had to be directed to unbelt the belts on the board. The staff was frequently reprimanded by the nurse, almost dropping the patient a couple of times. Shortly, after this injured passenger was removed from the deck, I went to the grill and obtained some lunch, which included a hamburger and fries, and some nachos. About an hour later I began sweating profusely with nausea that led to vomiting and diarrhea. This went on for the rest of the day and evening, in which I recognized the symptoms of food poisoning as my wife had experienced the same symptoms earlier this year after drinking unknowingly milk. Most likely spoiled the meat from the hamburger was undercooked, as the next day I was feeling better. Two days later after my wife discovered dried food on a spoon she had eaten ice cream with and we both came down with a viral infection.
On top of the food poisoning dry, cold or lukewarm food and undercooked food was a repeated theme on this cruise. My wife was eating ice cream when she felt a hard object on her spoon, which turned out to be dried on food that wasn’t washed properly. We found numerous bowls, plates that were not cleaned properly w/ dried on pieces of food as evidence. Staff was blasé about these facts and did nothing to correct these problems. Shortly thereafter my wife and I both became sick with viral infections, though we took every plausible precaution, washing hands frequently, using germ sanitizer, we weren’t aware of the unclean dishes with stuck on foods, until after the fact. Other problems included Elevators that were frequently inoperable, stuck on certain floors or completely out of service. There were no directions provided as to where to go in order to get off of ship when in ports and many guests walked around aimlessly, in which crew members were not able to speak in English to direct us. The Family show that took place at 8:45pm each evening frequently involved inappropriate adult-themed material. One evening we were exposed to the female dancers dressed with undergarment costumes that resembled thong underwear, in which they completely exposed their buttocks as they engaged in risqué interactions with the male dancers. Children were removed during this time, by responsible parents. This form of entertainment is not something one should see on a cruise ship. We were utterly disgusted with this cruise, its ship, staff’s treatment of its guests and are therefore requesting all of our money $ 400.00 of it credited to our Capital One Credit Card, which is the credit card that we used for our onboard cruise account. In addition, having had taken several cruises with most of the other cruise lines, usage of the internet and the amount of time it took to log on, was absolutely ridiculous and the $50.00 that we were charged we also want to dispute as no one would help us with the ridiculous fees we were charged and it is an obscene amount of money to charge guests, when your cruise line has the ability to connect to wireless forms of communication quite easily. As of 9/22/09 after speaking to Guest Relations Department, they are unwilling to give us any of our money back and we have had to contact you, our credit card company for mediation and assistance. Consumer Affairs website has over 52 pages of complaints similar to ours, submitted by other naïve passengers of previous Carnival Cruises. We have enclosed some sample pages from their website. As of 9/22/09 after speaking to Guest Relations Department, they are unwilling to give us any of our money back and we have had to contact other services for mediation Matthew & Kristine Picardo. This lack of action taken by Carnival Cruise Line should be illegal. They take advantage of passengers trapped financially, physically and legally, bullying the Middle Class American to the fullest extent, while they make billions of dollars, dollars that hardworking individuals try to earn and save for a nice vacation, but instead end up with more problems, stress, conflict, powerlessness, they incurred before the so-called vacation. Carnival Cruise Line’s customer service, communication, fairness and respect are non existent. If we had known their “we don’t care” attitude towards their customers, we would never have done business with them. We have never had such poor customer service and will go to whatever means necessary to get our hard-earned money returned to us.