Carnival Cruise Line Consumer Reviews - Page 3

COZUMEL MEXICO -- My wife and I cruised on Carnival's ship the Valor, 3/8-3/15/09 (just married in Aug 2008) and on 3/12 we went purchased the Zip line excursion in Cozumel, Mexico through the ship. My wife was badly injured when the guide failed to catch or slow her down coming into the 4th tower at @25mph. She crashed into the split rail log fencing, full force hitting her knees and shins. I was the behind her waiting to zip over to her, could see she was hurt and so did the guide in my tower. The guide in her tower was unaware of how badly hurt she was, I saw the bleeding and immediate swelling (hematomas on both legs).

My new wife has intense threshold of pain, this was about a 9 on scale of 1-10 and she was trying to hold back tears. Had to get her down from tower and back to start of excursion office for emergency first aid (used a golf cart to transport). Did not have any ice for swelling, used and antiseptic and gauze, did not trust hospitals in Mexico, so had them rush her back to ship's infirmary.

Ship nurse could only X-ray one leg due to equipment not working properly (did her left leg), and gave her pain medicine and asked her to come back later. They should have immobilized her leg just in case for precaution but did not. Within less than 2 hours we were back down at infirmary due to right leg swelling up twice the size from above the knee down to her ankle.

They did not X-ray her right leg till Fri. and basically heavily medicated her for the pain. She slept most the day and evening on Thurs. Her legs were swollen and started to see how bad bruising as they turned black and purple, even the lacerations felt hot to the touch. She had a slight fever.

While she was resting I went to guest services who gave me a hard time about getting a refund for the unsafe excursion and filed a complaint immediately. I wrote a letter to the captain and cruise director to inform them what happened, but no response.

This ruined the rest of our cruise and since returning home she has had to have follow up medical care; ultrasound for blood clotting, blood work, and an MRI with several doctor visits totally @ $4000.00. We filed a formal written complaint to Carnival hoping they would take care of medical bills and partially compensate us for loss of time on cruise. They responded by blowing us off claiming no liability for their recommended off shore excursion operators from whom they make a profit when you book on the ship.

I would never recommend Carnival to anyone, they did not care or show any concern or compassion for my wife after her injury. I did receive a call from the cruise director and he basically told me indirectly and off the record that I would probably have to sue them to get any compensation.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA -- This happened to us years ago, and I've been angry about it ever since. I know there's nothing I can do about it now, but wanted others' opinions on this - even if it's just to make me feel that I was justified in being angry. For our 10th wedding anniversary, my wife and I decided to go on a cruise and with the help of a travel agent, we settled on Carnival Cruise Lines "Celebration", sailing out of New Orleans, LA on Nov 7, 2000.

We arrived at the port in New Orleans in the early afternoon, only to find that it was jammed with people. The ship got into port late because of rough weather and they were still unloading and restocking the ship. After standing/sitting/leaning for about 4 hours, we were finally able to get aboard and go to our stateroom. Nice enough accommodations, even though our departure was going to be delayed because of how long it took for everyone to get aboard.

Our departure was further delayed by the captain's (or cruise line's) decision to wait for a group of 20 people from the MidWest whose flight was delayed. OK, I can understand this, I'd have been bummed too if we had missed the cruise. We finally got underway, and started down the Mississippi. It was unusually chilly and windy on the deck, and we hadn't brought warm clothes, so we stayed indoors.

Once out in the ocean, we experienced 17ft seas that had the ship 'shuddering' from time to time and the staff posted sickness bags to all of the elevator shafts. People were getting seasick everywhere. I spoke with someone at the purser's desk and they told me that there was a hurricane in the area, but that the captain had all of the latest weather equipment aboard and we'd reverse our direction if we had to to miss the storm. Several times the passengers were 'reassured' by the staff that we were going to miss the storm. Um, nope, we went right through it.

We arrived in Jamaica much later than anticipated and our tour of the falls in Och Rios was canceled due to lack of time. And in order to make it to the Grand Cayman's on time, we had very little time to do anything else in Jamaica. Once we got to the Grand Cayman's, the weather was bad enough that only one tether boat company was running (with three 50 passenger boats) and they were trying to service 4 cruise ships - two that were planned and two that stopped because of the bad weather. We elected not to go on the snorkeling excursion because of the weather, so we had now missed out on two excursions.

We kept telling each other that as long as we got to Cozumel, we could just make the best of things...well, that didn't work out so well either. Another ship that had docked in Cozumel had been slammed up against the dock, damaging the structure, and all of the passengers were being flown home. So we headed back to New Orleans a whole day in advance.

Now the worst of it... While we were aboard the boat, when it wasn't raining and windy, the crew was on deck sanding and refinishing the railings, etc, as the boat was to be dry-docked two weeks later and reassigned to Galveston, TX. The fumes and noise were so bad that we couldn't even sit on the deck the 1.5 days that it was nice enough to. The only area on the deck that you could have been comfortable on was blocked off. We were also asked to be out of our room for approximately 5 hours the one day so that they could rewire the electrical outlets in the room.

I went to the purser's desk again, expressed my displeasure with the whole cruise (politely), and was told that there was nothing they could do about it, I'd have to wait til I got to the States and call the main office number. I tried calling the customer service number, didn't get anywhere with the rep and asked to speak to someone higher up. A very self-righteous employee that was supposedly a manager got on the phone and told me that the best he could do was to offer me 10% off my next cruise. After all, the cruise line was 'gracious enough' to refund our port fee for Cozumel. Gracious? We didn't go there, so why should we be charged a port fee anyhow?

After several conversations with Customer Service employees/managers that told me the best they could do was 10% off my next cruise, I not-so-politely told them that my next cruise and those of any friends/family members would most certainly NOT be with Carnival. I understand they can't control the weather, but we were repeatedly told that we would sail around the storm and we didn't. And the inconvenience of the whole refurbishing of the boat while we were aboard was absolutely the last straw. Sorry to rant, but does anyone else feel I was justified in my anger at Carnival?

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA -- I am sitting here reading so many complaints about Carnival. Comments as "Don't sail Carnival". Those must be from others who are not reading all the reviews. From what I can tell, it's not only Carnival but all of the cruise lines, maybe more because Carnival carries more passengers than the others. I have sailed 11 times all on Carnival, my most recent cruise was this month, it was on the Carnival Miracle on December 9th. The only real cruise I can say that I had no issues with was on the Sensation 10 years ago and that would have been my 1st cruise. The reason I can say I had no complaints is because it was my first, I didn't know what to expect or how things ran.

I have since cruised 10 more times and each time I feel myself finding more and more things wrong with the company or the way things are done. That is because I compare it to my previous cruises. A cruise is what you make of it and how you handle problems, you figure there are 2,000 + guests on board and you are bound to have some issues. Was this cruise the best one, you may be asking? By far it was not.... there were some issues and I will bore you with them but what could be fixed was and what could not be fixed wasn't.

First, I must say that the Miracle has been my favorite ship in all. Just a great ship, no NEON lights. I did occur some issues, but minor ones. They should have advertised this cruise as a Geriatric Cruise, as it was mostly seniors. Not enough places open for breakfast and lunch with only the lido deck buffet being opened, no problem getting the food, the problem was getting a seat, get your food and have to walk around for 15 mins trying to find a seat.

As a veteran cruiser I have come to learn to expect that while on a cruise, however a ship with all older people who are only there to eat, casino and of course play bingo. If they would have only had a bingo from 12p-3p during the lunch time, it would have been empty and seats would be easy to find.

During the 2nd night on the cruise we ended up sailing through Tropical Storm Ulga and due to the high winds the wind somehow found a way through a crack in the door connecting the two rooms and was making the loudest whistle noise. At 5 am after lying there for 2 hours wide awake I got up and called the Purser's desk and it was fixed within 20 mins. I was surprised. The only major issue I can see was the cheap luggage tags that they provide you to use on the last night of the cruise.

These were something new since the last time I sailed on Carnival which was only in March 2007. I had two bags and they gave me 5 tags, I should have used each and every tag, as the one on each bag went missing during the transport from the cabin to the warehouse. They are all done by numbers now and not by colors.

So, one of my bags ended up in an area for bags with no I.D. and the other one ended up somewhere else in the warehouse, not sure where because a very friendly Carnival Employee found it and returned it to me. I feel that it is a hit or miss with any cruise no matter what cruise line. So go, ignore all the complaints and whining of the previous reviews on here and have a great time, it will be what you make of it.

If it ends up being a bad experience just choke it up as that and move on. I would recommend staying away from the older ships, Holiday and the Celebration as they are nothing like the newer ones. Also, one more comment and that would be if you end up in St. Lucia on any cruise they have a excursion called "Beach escape to Magical Marigot Bay" I must inform you that this is in no way a "BEACH" but a boat launch. Very disappointing. But, we made ourselves have fun and ended up enjoying it, what can I say I learn from experience. Enjoy!!!

My Complaints are as follows:

• Cabin Configuration. In June 2007 I changed my cabin from a standard cabin to a wheelchair accessible cabin. Upon doing so I was told that there would be sufficient room in the cabin to successfully maneuver a wheelchair inside our cabin. However, upon entering our cabin, we immediately realized that this was not the case. The primary reason for this was the Roll-Away Bed. Once it was opened, it was absolutely impossible to open the wheelchair while in the room. There was not even enough space to get from the bed at the window to the rest room. Threw out the duration of our cruise we were literally jumping over beds to get to the restroom.

On the first night of our cruise, I was injured while trying to get from one bed to the other in order to use the restroom. In order to move around in the room, my mother and I had to push the two (2) beds together (upon suggestion from the Chief Purser on 9/17/07). Even with the new configuration I still had to jump over a bed to get to the restroom. This is completely unacceptable.

When we got to our room our Television Set did not even work. It took them several hours to finally show up to fix it and then we had to wait for someone else to come and remove our ceiling to get to the problem. We did not even get a Television Remote until 10:00 PM after I had called several times requesting it.

There was an unbearable cigarette smell in the cabin through out the entire duration of the cruise. Housekeeping had to continually spray deodorizer in the room just so that I could stay in the room because the cigarette smell was aggravating my asthma and my mother and sister's allergies.

• Dining Room Service. On the first night of the cruise we did not eat dinner until almost 8:00 PM even though we were seated at approximately 6:20 PM. When they finally served our dinner, two 2 Steak Dinners had to be sent back because they were completely rare when they were requested as Medium Well. Three (3) baked potatoes had to be sent back as well for the same reason, they were undercooked. For the remainder of the cruise dinner services went on in a similar fashion. We never ate dinner before 7:30 PM. Two (2) of the nights my mother did not even eat her dinner because it took so long and we had to order sandwiches at around midnight. Because it took so long to get dinner we were forced to miss the Captain's Cocktail Party.

• Lack of Food Selection. There was an extremely limited selection of lunch foods available on the Lido Deck for Lunch and the Main Dining Room was not even open for lunch except for Wednesday, and the selection there was even worse.

• Lack of Activities on Board. There were hardly any activities for those who do not drink or gamble so often times we stayed in our cramped room. And when there were activities, they were planned extremely far apart so that we were often left roaming the ship with nothing to do.

The one activity we were looking forward to was the Midnight Buffet with Ice Sculptures as we have seen on your other cruises. We were severely disappointed when all the ship offered was a Mexican Buffet on the Lido Deck at Midnight. When I asked about the Midnight Buffet with Ice Sculptures, I was told that Carnival only has them on 7 Night Cruises. I was on a 5 Day Cruise and another 4 Day Cruise on Carnival and they offered the Buffet. I know that several other guests were disappointed by this information as well.

• Lack of Information/Assistance. On the last night of our cruise we apparently hit a rough patch of weather, because the ship began rocking back and forth rather violently. Everywhere we looked people were feeling the motion of the waves against the ship. Several people were visibly "Sea Sick" for lack of a better word. This horrible rocking sensation lasted from about 6:00 PM Wednesday until approximately 5:00 AM Thursday.

We were extremely concerned and every crew member that we asked had no answer as to what was going on. We were so sick that we were unable to sleep. During this entire ordeal not once did anyone come on over the ships intercom to explain what was going on or ease our fears. It took several days after we got off the ship for the motion sickness to clear up.

As a result of the rough weather my mother became very ill and it took four (4) of us to get her back to our cabin. She was severely nauseous and it was apparent to all that we needed help, but instead of helping us, every member of the crew that saw us took one look at my mother and literally ran the other way. One crew member even made a comment to another co-worker that they should get out of the way before my mother threw up on them. If it had not been for the help of 2 fellow guests my sister and I would never have been able to get my mother to our cabin. This behavior from the crew was completely unacceptable.

• Lack of Debarkation Order. Instructions for disembarking the ship were clearly provided. However, there were no members of the crew to actually ensure that those instructions were followed, specifically when it came to people with disabilities.

Guests with wheelchairs were told to wait in the Internet Cafe on the Empress Deck. However, when we arrived there was no room for all the wheelchairs because others without disabilities had decided that this would be a good place for them to wait to get off the ship, despite the fact that they had been given specific areas where they could wait until their section was ready to disembark. It was absolute chaos trying to maneuver the wheelchairs into areas that would not block the flow of traffic, and rather than correcting the situation, the few crew members that did pass us just allowed it, leaving those in wheelchairs to fend for themselves.

This "vacation"€ was such an absolute disaster from day one that if we had had sufficient funds we would have flown home from Freeport (our first port of call). I have never had such a horrific experience. I don't believe that anyone should have had to endure what we went through. We paid for this 'vacation' in expectation of this being a relaxing trip for us and instead it was an absolute nightmare.

I feel that the 10% off our next Cruise on Carnival that was offered to us by the Purser on board is an insult. I am not certain that we will ever sail with Carnival again. Due to the obvious hardship that my family and I had to endure I am requesting a refund of $350.00. I would like this refund to be applied directly to my Visa (the same card used to pay off the cruise) at your earliest convenience. I contacted Customer Service on 9/21/07 via the Carnival Website and have yet to receive a response. Quite frankly I am disappointed at Carnival'€™s lack of Customer Service when it is in regards to dissatisfied customers.

NEW YORK -- After having an amazing cruise on Royal Caribbean one year, my family (husband, 2 kids, parents & brother) decided to try out the other cruise lines out there... like Carnival. Maybe we were spoiled on Royal Caribbean or maybe Carnival "Fun Ship" Cruises just take no pride in quality of service. Before we even got on board the Victory, we were handed a change of itinerary stating that we would not be going to Nova Scotia Canada as intended, but instead, St John's New Brunswick. OK, no problem seeing as there was a slight tropical storm in the way and we'd never been to St John's Canada anyway.

First off, let me just say that as we boarded the ship, it just seemed so unrefined. The interior was decorated in such a tacky way, it reminded me of a gambling resort type, not so much Las Vegas, but maybe Atlantic City. Right off hand, you can smell the cigarette smoke, that emanated throughout the entire ship. It was disgusting to say the least.

That night we were looking forward to dining and having a good meal. Yet, another disappointment. The food was horrible and cold. My husband had ordered the NY strip steak with potatoes and green beans, what came on the plate was basically a rubber steak with a side of fat and grizzle. My chowder was warm at the top but ice cold towards the bottom. The chicken saute appetizer was so dry and tasteless. They tend to concentrate more on quantity rather than quality.

The next morning, we had a full day at sea, the ship was moving at such a slow pace like 15 knots, that most of the passengers on board, including my mom got terribly seasick. Everyone rushed to the doctor on board for those Dramamine pills. We didn't understand how a ship this size created so much rocking, people were swaying from side to side, it was awful. Not once did we feel any kind of swaying on our Royal Caribbean Cruise.

We thought that there would be at least something to do on the Victory besides drinking at the bars (there were several by the way), we tried to go play ping pong, but there was only ONE table that was placed in an enclosed area by the stairwell the size of my closet!! Of course there was a line of people waiting to play so we checked that off our list. Next, we headed to the arcade or should I say "money eating machine". Almost every games we tried to play with the exception of the surfing and the car racing games were broken. It cost $1 to play each game and once you put your tokens in, they don't start up and you don't get your money back.

Carnival Cruise Ship attendants don't bother to put an "out of order" sign. What to do next? We opted to work out at the gym for a while, of course, why did we even bother? Their freestyle weights were either too light like 7 lbs or too heavy like 25-30 lbs. There was nothing in between. Their running track was mediocre as well. Their pool slide was closed half of the time and when they did decide to open it, the water was icy cold. The Jacuzzis would have been nice if only they enforced the "no children" rule. It was crawling with kids under 12, even at the "adults only" Jacuzzis.

Some kids were even eating in the Jacuzzis and that was just plain nasty, but no one did anything. Even late at night, there were still kids in the Jacuzzis and we had to wonder, where are their parents?? Getting drunk of course! After all, Carnival Victory is basically a "Floating Bar" designed specifically for people who just want to drink, get drunk, leave their kids unattended to do whatever they please even if it means upsetting the other passengers, and for people who are too wasted to even know what the food should taste like. I think that's why the food is so awful, most of the people are just too drunk to realize it tasted like crap.

For instance, on our last night, we ordered pork chops and out came this pork chop with some green juice oozing and bubbling out (I kid you not). We were appalled and afraid to eat it. The food by the 4th day was still cold and we really dreaded dinner time. We opted for pizza and burgers instead. Luckily the only thing this ship had going for them was the 24hr pizzas and the late night burgers and fries.

Their 24hr soft serve ice cream was the only treat worth having, as the desserts they served during their dinners tasted like cardboard. We were really hoping the dinners and meals would be gourmet and just tantalize our taste buds, but it was far from that and it just left us with a bad taste in our mouths. It's pretty sad when pizza is the only thing worth looking forward to, and I am not a big pizza fan.

The service was also mediocre, the room attendants and waiters looked like they hated their jobs and wanted to jump ship. Our room attendant did however, do an OK job in tidying our rooms and placing extra towels etc., but he didn't go that extra mile with the towel animals every evening. He made us one freaky towel animal that didn't look like anything we've seen, more like a towel mutant which scared the kids. Maybe that was his intention, who knows.

Our waiter forgot our salads one night and the asst waiter totally ignored us and forgot to serve us any bread, as he just stood there chatting away and laughing with the other waiters. Karma works in mysterious ways as that asst waiter tripped while the ship still swayed from side to side.

This was truly a disappointing cruise ship experience. We will never step foot aboard a Carnival "Fun Ship" ever again. Our travel agent was so right when she said that if you want a family friendly, adventure-type cruise choose Royal Caribbean or Norwegian, but if you want to just party and get intoxicated, choose Carnival. We should have listened, but we live and learn.

KREBS, OKLAHOMA -- The following is a list of complaints lodged by me, my fiancé, and a host of other people we became acquainted with on this excursion due to the HORRIFYING experience of using Carnival Cruise lines. Experiences on Carnival Cruise Line "Sensation". Destination changed, after being promised by travel agent and checking to ensure that our party would indeed be taken to Grand Turks Islands. This did not happen. (I have researched and found that this is common with Carnival Cruise Lines. We requested to go to Grand Turks, and it was the only reason we agreed upon this cruise.)

Boarding of the ship was to be early because we were with a wedding party that paid extra so that we would have ample time to dress and prepare for ceremony. (Did not happen). Wedding scheduled for 1:30 p.m. By the time we boarded we had 20-45 minutes to get make up, hair, dressed etc. Some of us dressed in bathrooms that were not clean, and in hallways with vomit on the floor, because our rooms were not yet ready.)

Non-sailing wedding party guests (the bride's mother and friends) were all rushed off the ship without being allowed to take photos with the bride, resulting in a depressed and irritable bride the entire cruise. Wedding coordinator told us to talk to information desk about any issues we had. (They were VERY rude, and told us there was nothing we/they could do about it, so the best thing to do was try to enjoy ourselves.)

Pool was dirty, mildewed, unsanitary and disgusting. Water slide was broken the entire trip. Ice-cream machine was broken. (Which was one of the only things we felt may be safe to eat), being the other food was completely inedible). Nightly buffet closed early, when there was food available. Extra and miscellaneous charges on sign and sail card with no explanation.

We were told by staff there was to be a $10 per day gratuity fee. We were also told we could tip as we saw fit. Upon observation of our bill there was a 15% gratuity added for everything that we purchased. Even when the drinks were made incorrectly and returned to the bar, also the bar staff was rude.

No beer at Half Moon Cay. We were told they ran out and although we received someone else's bill and the wrong ticket, (which we accidentally signed) we were told too bad. Charges on my sign and sail card from a bar that we never were in. (Was told that they had to take care of it on the last day of the cruise. Now I know why they took them off and added them directly to my boyfriend's card because we shared a cabin.)

Freeport was completely disgusting and unacceptable. (To replace this with Grand Turks, which is the only reason we booked this cruise, was never discussed with us or any of the other passengers we came into contact with, and, was an unacceptable presumption by your Cruise Line to think that we would agree to this.)

We were told this boat was completely renovated. (Well, that was a lie all in itself, because there was rust and mildew in our windows. The bathroom vents were disgusting. Our shower, mirror, and first our linens were dirty. We were told we were the second voyage on this boat. Found from a previous itinerary that this was also a lie. Was given another list of different lies as to why we would not be going to our promised destination, and we found out the boat had been used by survivors of Hurricane Katrina for emergency shelter and residency for several months (information from a news article).

We were then asked for additional tips for poor service, and even for asking too many questions on the boat. Shower head was broken and disconnected from wall in shower, only for the hose to beat me excessively in my back and head. I watched a carnival cruise advertisement for 5 days about how my experience would be great. It was not. I even asked previous to our boarding (because things were going so badly already) if there was anyway we could cancel and just stay in Florida. We were told no.

The snorkeling excursion. (We should have never gone.) The alternator belt broke; all of the life saving devices were cut up and damaged. We were told that when we booked excursions there would trained professionals aboard to ensure that we were safe, not to mention that we tried to book other excursions and they would not accept them, then turned right around and said they were all sold out.

I could go on and on, and upon request I will give further information. But the biggest upset ever, was to find that my boyfriend of 3 years, fiancé of six (6) months had planned to set a wedding date, but after seeing how horrible an experience I was having, he DID NOT. He waited until we got home because he was going to surprise me with A CRUISE!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME, THIS IS LIKE A HUGE NIGHTMARE! THANKS, CARNIVAL.

I do want to recognize that out of 5 days on the hell ship, I had 3 people that were actually polite. At table #158 Martina, our waitress. This lady was as sweet as she could be. Even though she was apologizing for some kind of mess up every evening about 15 times per table visit, she was sweet and concerned. Another lady at the information desk, the last night of our cruise was very polite. (I will give credit where credit is due.) If she documented anything her name will be available (she had long brown hair, and Barry, the guy in the piano bar.)

But out of this 5 day horrifying hellish nightmare the only thing I can state is this was totally unacceptable and I will NEVER encourage anyone to use Carnival's services until something has been done to compensate for the Twilight Zone adventure! I work and have worked with the public for many years, and if I received one of these complaints I would no longer be employed and if in charge of operations I would immediately fire anyone who provided such ill service.

As I write this I become upset and ill just by reliving this series of incidents on what should have been an enlightening and memorable trip for all involved. I have emailed people from our trip and we all feel and know to be offered some kind of partial credit is completely unacceptable.

I hope someone will take the time to look at the overall picture and situations that were forced on all of us. You can look at your books and see how much money we spent in just our cabin alone. I implore you to make this right. All this money to be treated in such a manner and to be starved to boot! This was not a pleasure cruise; it was a floating death sentence! We were just lucky enough to escape.

As of April 18, 2006 I was informed that they would send me a letter of apology, and would love to offer me a $50.00 credit on my next cruise. That is just enough to cover my $50.00 mandatory onboard gratuity. Now, there is a slap in the face.

My husband and I recently returned from a Carnival "Fun Ship." We were on board the Sensation out of Port Canaveral, FL March 27-April 1st, 2006. This cruise was anything but fun. It was supposed to be our honeymoon. The problems started before we even boarded the ship. We were standing in line to go through security before boarding the ship when a letter was handed to us by an employee notifying us that our itinerary had changed. We were no longer going to Grand Turk in Turk & Caicos. The only reason that 90% of the passengers booked this cruise was because of its itinerary.

Once on board the ship, we were not allowed to take our carry-on bags to our staterooms. We were told that the rooms still were not clean, and they we were to get something to eat up on the Lido deck. We went onto the deck and of course we felt like sardines. Everyone was in line for food. The food was not very good. The hamburgers were well done and crunchy. It was very difficult trying to find a seat when over 1,000 people were on the deck at one time.

After 2 hours, we were told we could drop off our bags, but please don't stay in the room if it still needs to be cleaned. To our surprise, our room was clean and the Happy Honeymoon decorations that I had ordered were actually up. That evening at our first dinner, the food was awful. Anything but gourmet, however, our waitress Martina was very sweet.

The next day was our one day at sea. There was nothing to do. The decks were jammed packed with people, so trying to get a hold of a chair was near impossible. The water slide on the deck was not working, and didn't work during the whole trip.

There was very little entertainment available on board unless you consider the hairiest chest contest entertainment. We attended dinner again Tuesday night, and again it was a disappointment. For nightly entertainment they offered a comedian. We did not attend, but heard he was quite good. He was the entertainment for 3 nights straight. If you saw him the first night, there was no entertainment for the next two nights. We received letters in our staterooms informing us that they were shutting off the water supply between 1:00am-5:00am.

That night, we hung out at the disco. I set my drink down on a table and it slid right off onto my lap. I was wearing white pants, and my drink was red. I went to my stateroom to clean my pants and change clothes when I realized it was after 1:00am, and that I had no water to clean them with. The letter only informed us that we would not have water for that night only, except they shut our water off every night without informing us of it.

The next day we were finally going into a port. Nassau. It was nice. We had booked excursions on Pearl Island. The excursion had lasted an additional hour, so when we returned to the ship, we realized we had less than 2 hours before most of the stores were closing. We had to rush to change and eat and then run to the straw market in order to do a little bit of shopping.

Once we ran out of money, we returned to the ship. We received a preliminary statement of our account. It turns out that Carnival charged our Sail & Sign Card for excursions that were purchased weeks before our cruise ever left port. They ended up crediting back our account, but it put a hold on my credit card for that amount, so money was tight when it didn't have to be.

The waves that night caused the boat to constantly sway back and forth. You could hear plates and glasses falling in the dining room and the kitchens. Isn't there supposed to be some kind of contraption to prevent these kinds of things? Again dinner was awful. Not once were we happy with the food. The only food that was made available to us 24 hours a day was pizza. Tombstone frozen pizzas were better than the pizza they were serving.

On Thursday evening, we were in the disco again and ordered the drink of the day, which were Bahama Mama's. We were told that there was only beer and whiskey available. When we then ordered Corona's were told that they were out of them. Now the funny thing is, that we went to another bar and were able to get the things we ordered. How do you run out of alcohol on a cruise?

After being upset at the disco, we wanted to go to the Mexican buffet. The buffet was supposed to be open from 11:30 pm -1:30 am. We got up to the deck at 1:15 am, and it was completely empty. The food was gone and everything was cleaned up. It looked as though they didn't have a buffet at all. We again, were stuck eating nasty pizza.

On the last day we went to Freeport, Bahamas, which was the substitution port for Grand Turk. When we got there, they docked us in the industrial port. Nothing around us but construction, steamship lines, and ocean containers. In order to go anywhere on the island, you had to take a cab for at least 15 miles. There was absolutely nothing in walking distance. The last night at dinner, was probably the worst! The food was still awful.

On Saturday when we came back to Port Canaveral, passengers were being kicked out of their staterooms in order to clean them for the cruise later on that day. Not one person received compensation on board our cruise. We were seated at dinner with a couple that was married on the boat. They paid an additional $1,000.00 to have their wedding on board. They were guaranteed access to the boat at 11:30, their wedding at 1:30. They couldn't get onto the boat until 12:45. The bride had to rush to make her wedding.

Once the wedding was over, they were told that it was going to cost them an additional $1500.00 to receive their pictures, the photographer was included, but not the actual photos. The bride was not allowed to keep the top to her wedding cake, because food like that was not allowed off of the boat. She was guaranteed an upgrade to a suite, however, the boat was full, and no upgrades were available.

We then heard from another guest on board that she had found a letter in her stateroom for change of itinerary. However, this letter was for the week before. They too were unable to go to Grand Turk, however, they were given a different excuse as to why they could not go. It turns out that the Sensation can never sell out because it was one of the oldest boats in the fleet and the ports it sails to are not all that great. Carnival is selling Grand Turk in order to sell the boat, and when you get to the boat, you then find out that you don't get to go to Grand Turk. This cruise was more expensive because it was going so far south, and then we didn't even get to go.

Not one person was compensated for that reason alone. When we talked to guest services at Carnival's Corp office in Miami, we were told that Carnival does not accept complaints, and they don't issue refunds. What kind of customer service is that? Word of mouth is the best advertising that a company can receive, and I can guarantee you that if enough of us get the word out, Carnival will be filing bankruptcy in the near future. I will NEVER set foot on a Carnival "Fun Ship" again or any of its sister boats!

MIAMI, FLORIDA -- On December 15, 2005 my stepson and I left on a four-day cruise on the Carnival Imagination out of the Port of Miami. I purchased the cruise as a graduation present for Allen and it was to be a chance for him and I to get to know each other a bit better. While we did get to know each other better, we were totally disappointed with everything about the cruise. I have been a passenger with Carnival on two different occasions, once on the Imagination and I chose this ship because of prior experience. Needless to say it was a major mistake.

One of the first things I noticed upon boarding the ship was that the ship was far from clean. Outside of our stateroom was dirt and garbage. When we left the ship this dirt and garbage was still there. Upon entering the stateroom, Allen noticed that an electrical outlet was hanging from the wall. Shortly after the muster drill I notified the purser's desk and they told me that this would be taken care of in the very near future. It was still hanging from the wall the day we left the ship and it should be noted that this was a 220 volt outlet. This was and probably still is a major safety hazard.

The first evening was somewhat enjoyable, other than the food, which was served cold and it was impossible to find a clean table on deck. Staff would let dirty plates, glasses, silverware, and napkins sit on the tables on deck and in the other dining areas of the ship for hours and staff would walk by the tables and not even make an attempt to clean up the areas. Throughout the ship one could find dirty plates, silverware, glasses, napkins, and other garbage and it would still be there hours later. The overall quality of the food on this cruise was terrible. The only night we ate in the main dining room was the night of the Captain's dinner.

The Lobster that was served was cold and rubbery. It was so bad that everyone who was at our table sent it back only to have the second Lobster that was brought to the table as bad if not worse than the first. My stepson finally ended up ordering prime rib and it too was cold and not cooked the way he ordered. I never did eat my dinner that evening. Overall the food on this ship was not edible. The food served on deck was always and I repeat always cold. The restaurants never opened when they were supposed to and the food service staff was extremely rude.
Several people expressed their dissatisfaction at the overall quality of the food.

My biggest complaint regarding this cruise was the insulting offer Carnival made to my stepson and myself to compensate us for our dissatisfaction with this cruise was the offer of $25.00 shipboard credit on our next cruise and the offer of a "Bon Voyage" gift on our cabin on our next cruise with Carnival. When I called Carnival to express my dissatisfaction with this offer they became very rude and actually hung up on me. I then sent a second letter to the president of Carnival and I received another letter, not from him, but from one of his special advisors. I knew that my letter would never cross his desk.

The second letter that I received was also an insult as far as I am concerned. IT is very apparent that Carnival does not care about their guests anymore taking into consideration the overall poor quality of their product and their customer service. Because of this I flatly refuse to ever set foot on another Carnival Ship or a ship belonging to one of their sister lines. I would advise anyone to think twice before setting foot on one of Carnival's so-called "Fun Ships". This last cruise that I had with Carnival was anything but enjoyable.

MIAMI, FLORIDA -- On May 15, 2012, I purchased a cruise for myself and my nine year old son on the Carnival Magic Cruise Ship through vacation planner Mr. Michael **. The dates for our cruise was scheduled for July 8th through July 15th 2012, the 7 Day Eastern Caribbean cruise. After scheduling and purchasing my cruise from Mr. Michael **, I asked him about documents I would need to aboard Carnival Magic Cruise Ship. I inform him that this was my first cruise ever and I was not familiar with anything on boarding a ship and/or travel.

I asked him if I needed a passport for myself and my son and he assured me that I did not need a passport; however, I did need a birth certificate for my son because he was under the age of sixteen and I would need a legible state issued ID. I asked him to clarify, so that I could be sure, if I also needed a birth certificate and he told me "NO", that the ID was fine. He then said, "just make sure that ID was clear and legible".

When going through embarkation/checking in to board the Carnival Magic Cruise Ship, I was denied boarding because I was informed that I also need a birth certificate or passport along with my ID to board. I only had my state issued ID and son's state issued birth certificate. They allowed me to go home and get it but I would not have time to make it back to board the ship on time.

So I was denied the cruise and now the Carnival Cruise Group and Mr. Michael ** will not give me a credit, refund, or compensate me for anything but tax ($149.56). The Cruise charged me ($2,127.56) minus ($149.56) taxes for the cruise which totaled all together ($1978.00) for the trip that I never took that was paid in full. The money is just gone according to them and they claim they have done all that they can do but they really did nothing but take my money because no trip ever existed for me.

I am so upset about this because I worked too hard to pay for this trip that never took place. I am a public school teacher and I do not have a lot of money. I took on an extra job so that I could pay for my son and I a nice trip this Summer. I never in a million years thought something like this would have happened. It almost makes me think that trips like these are just not for poor people like me no matter how much and hard you work. I really hope you guys can help me get a refund or a credit on another trip. Thanks.

3655 N. W. 87TH AVENUE, MIAMI, FLORIDA -- We recently had a cruise on the Carnival boat Ecstasy which was originally scheduled to depart Galveston Port on February 19th 2011. As you must be aware, this cruise was delayed over 36 hours due to fog conditions in Galveston and also due to queuing circumstances in the Port behind two other scheduled cruises.

We purchased a Grande Suite for this cruise at a cost of a little over $1800 through American Express Platinum Travel services. This package included VIP boarding privileges. While the fog conditions were certainly no fault of Carnival Cruise line, and we well understood the challenges you faced in dealing with this weather event, almost every other aspect of the problems, including misinformation, lack of information, discourteousness, boarding confusion and near riot at the terminal were entirely the fault of your staff at the Port of Galveston and personnel at your phone center.

I will try to be brief. (Saturday the 19th). We drove down Friday night from Austin and arrived in dense fog. The next morning, upon arrival for our schedule 12 noon boarding, we were told that our cruise ship was delayed but would nonetheless be in port by 6:00 PM. Having checked our luggage into the holding area we were told to leave and come back around 6:30 for boarding. With no hotel room, we walked around the Galveston Strand carrying hand helds for around six hours, and had lunch. We attempted numerous times to get updates from the Carnival website but there no such information. We even called the 1-800 call center to inquire and were told that the boat was confirmed to arrive that evening no later than eight PM.

We found this highly unlikely as the fog had not lifted. We were also told that updates were posted on the website. This was simply not true. We attempted to get information from the Port of Galveston Authority, but it seems they are closed on the weekend and only have an automated answering cascade which eventually leads back to no information. Their so called €œ24 hour information line offered no timely information either. At seven PM with the fog becoming even heavier again, we purchased dinner and returned to the port embarkation.

We waited until around 9:30 PM to be told, finally, that the ship would not dock that evening, but would be in first thing in the morning and to return after 7:30 AM€. Meanwhile we were told we would have to retrieve our baggage from the Port Terminal warehouse.

This process was nearly a disaster! They asked the thousands of passengers to line up at an overhead door. After a forty five minute delay, it was announced that access would be at another overhead door which was approximately 140 ft. down the sidewalk. Of course this resulted in a mad dash by elements of the crowd to the new location. This created a fairly dangerous situation in which people were at risk of falling and getting stepped on.

Amazingly, after another twenty minute wait, it was again announced that access had again been changed to another location about a 100 ft. away, which caused a repeat of the last mad dash, only worse. At this point the crowd was caused to wait about thirty minutes more for access. Individuals began banging on the overhead door with fists and shouting. Eventually many of the passengers started chanting and yelling for access.

Finally the doors were opened and there were around three or four Port Authority security officers to greet us. They immediately began yelling at the crowd to back up and attempted to admit a couple hundred at a time. At this time the officer in the front physically manhandled several people including a woman who was stopped and separated from her husband who had already entered the warehouse. I myself became separated from my wife and party.

During the next wait, with people completely out of patience, the Port Officers were literally screaming and threatening the passengers waiting for the next group to be released. At this point I would point out that the mistakes made by Carnival staff and the Port security officers was obvious.

There was no announcement made about procedure to enter, size of groups to be admitted, caution against running, method of bag retrieval and so forth. It was a free for all and quite reckless. The changing of entry locations was seemingly arbitrary and the worst example of crowd management I have ever seen this side of the Egyptian uprising. Frankly this situation was on the brink of descending into a riot.

Inside the building the bags were arrayed by decks, but no one explained this, unless you personally approached a staff person for an explanation. Additionally the bags were in long rows, sometimes stacked atop one another with very narrow aisles between them. By the time I entered, I estimate 600 to 900 people were simultaneously trying to retrieve their bags without assistance, causing bags to be flung into the aisle area and generally jumbled.

I finally found my bags in three different aisles and spent close to thirty minutes just to locate them. Of course there was no ownership verification going on. People were tripping and falling over one another, and it was generally chaos. I saw perhaps two or three Carnival Cruise personnel in their red coats and they were standing well away, trying to avoid interaction with your passenger/clients. In other words they were useless.

When we finally retrieved our bags, took a shuttle back to parking and reloaded our cars, it was 11:30 PM. Needless to say there were no hotels available on the island by this time and with great resourcefulness we finally located a room in Clear Lake, approximately 40 minutes away. By the time we checked into our room it was almost one AM.

At this point we have been unbelievably inconvenienced, been yelled at, shoved and misinformed or left uninformed every step of the way. Besides being exhausted, we were also out of pocket for lunch, dinner breakfast, hotel room, travel and incidentals. On Sunday we were told the compensation would be $35 for meals and some credit from Carnival for a future cruise.

(Sunday the 20th) The next day we slept in, knowing full well that despite what we were being told by Carnival 1-800 information, that we would not likely be aboard before mid-afternoon. We spent countless hours on hold trying to talk to Carnival and when we eventually got through to a live person. We were told to go to the Convention Center in Galveston to await boarding which they estimated to be at 1 PM. They even told us around noon that the boat had arrived at the dock. This was a bald faced lie.

We finally got to the truth of the matter by reaching a Galveston Port Authority executive through the automated personnel directory and randomly calling their personal cell phones. He graciously checked the situation out for us, and confirmed, that our cruise ship was not in port, the pilot had not gone after it yet, and that when the Ecstasy did arrive in port it would be queued behind two other ships, (Holland America and your ship, the Conquest, as they were still on schedule and had priority over the Ecstasy. In his estimate, we might board around 8 PM. We drove back to Galveston for another day of aimless wandering around and expenses out of pocket.

I will say at this point I wished to cancel, but our traveling companions, who, like us, had scheduled time off from work and already expensed two hotels rooms, and meals, were more determined to complete the vacation.
We arrived back at the Port at around 7 PM Sunday evening. Indeed the fog had lifted during the afternoon and all three ships had reached port, but the Ecstasy had been consigned to a remote dock which had no boarding facilities and would have to wait until last for service, baggage and boarding.

By ten PM my wife and I became extremely frustrated and walked back to the Strand, with hand luggage in tow, to try to find something to eat and sit down. We had already spent two hours in 50 degree weather and mist on the sidewalk. There were close to 2500 people sitting on cold concrete and clamoring for any information. We personally spent hours on several cell phones trying to get honest information about our prospects for boarding and our so called VIP status.

At this point you might not think it could get worse, but it did, much worse. The only Carnival representative at the port embarkation door was a clearly low level employee who looked to be around 19 years old, and clearly so far down on the totem pole as to have no information let alone authority. He was doing the best he could, but he was overwhelmed. Our attempts to get useful information by phone were equally unproductive. In fact I was told, after 45 minutes on hold, then another 40 minutes waiting for a €œ"supervisor"€ to speak to, "€œthat there was nothing he could do"€.

I pointed out that only one flunky Carnival staff person was at the door trying to deal with over 2000 increasing angry passengers and that no one of any authority had attempted to clarify the situation. I pointed out that inside the embarkation facility was empty of any passengers and there must surely be 50 or more Carnival employees of various seniorities upstairs to deal more competently with the situation.

After about a ten minute hold he informed me that no one would answer the phone at the Galveston port and that I would need to speak to a supervisor at the door. I pointed out no such individual would make themselves available despite repeated requests to the 19 year old, an older woman or the security guards. This situation went on for hours on end in the same manner. He eventually stated he could do nothing about the situation on the ground and we would have to make the best of it with the personnel at the door (Presumably the 19 year old).

For a brief moment an older woman with Carnival (Linda) came out and ordered those of at the door who foolishly thought we had paid for VIP check in, to go to the end of line of nearly 3000 people, approximately 400 feet down the sidewalk. She then instructed the security officers to enforce this. At this point I have to point out that there were about 18 or so individuals trying to get their VIP boarding privilege acknowledged, two of whom were in wheel chairs, two on walkers, a man on oxygen, and another suffering a diabetic attack. To her credit she did not discriminate (sic), but ordered everyone to the back of the line. She left and was not to be seen again.

Finally a Port security officer allowed a mother and infant and one person on a walker to go in and sit down, but after an hour sent them back out on the sidewalk in the fifty degree weather. As I previously mentioned, my wife I left to try to find a warm place to sit down and grab a bite. Turns out Galveston restaurants roll up the sidewalk on Sunday at around 9:30 PM.

We found a small grimy bar and sat there for two hours, then returned at around 11:30 PM. The personnel at the door had changed. The 19 year old was gone and in his place were three large Port security officers. All Carnival staff had left the sidewalk. Most of the 2000 plus people remained on the cold sidewalk for what I estimate to have been four or five hours.

Finally we entered the boarding facility around midnight. I want to emphasize that at no time did anyone from Carnival try to inform the crowd of the estimated time we would be waiting or how soon we could enter. No attempt to get people off the cold sidewalk was ever made, even though the facility was clearly empty of all passengers for several hours.

At no time was any updated information available on your web sites. At no time was anyone on the Carnival toll free phone center able to offer any help or even current information about the status of the cruise, and in fact acted as though the entire situation was out of their hands and their control, which it clearly was. In fact over forty hours the only information we could get by phone was incorrect, evasive or factual lies.

We entered the terminal only find out we would be walking back down stairs to take buses over to another dock. At a capacity of 42 people to a bus, loading two buses at a time, you can only imagine how long this process took. We were lucky, we got on the second bus, as we crowded in early. I estimate many people didn'€™t get into their cabins until after 3 AM without dinner. We got to ours after eating dinner around 2 AM.

(Monday the 21st) We finally departed and were informed by loud speaker that there would be no ports of call. We sailed South for perhaps two hundred to two hundred fifty miles never really reaching warm weather or completely clear skies. We returned Wednesday night and waited outside the Port during the night, reaching port around 10 AM the next morning.

In conclusion: This was not brief after all. I apologize. The Carnival employees we encountered on the ground at the Port of Galveston never missed an opportunity to offend and mishandle the situation. They were uninformed or unwilling to inform. They evaded all responsibility to their passengers in every way. They disappeared and deferred to security officers after antagonizing the crowd. In short they were more than incompetent; they were nearly criminal in their handling of the crowd.

Carnival (on the phone) was evasive, misinforming, and at times lied outright, for which it required infinite patience and cell batteries just to reach. The cruise itself had pleasant staff, but no acknowledgement or effort was made to ameliorate the inconvenience and abuse the passengers had endured (Except we didn'€™t see our room steward for the first 30 hours and had to call repeatedly to get our room made up the second evening). The lame 250 mile South track merely illustrated how little concern Carnival had for their passenger/clients.

While the 50% credit for a future cruise and 50% rebate is appreciated, it begs the question; who in their right mind would ever book another cruise with Carnival again after having gone through this sort of mistreatment and inconvenience. After all, a vacation is something people strive to save for and make time for, and once frittered away in miserable experience, cannot simply be retrieved with a concession to offer a future discount. Your company seriously abused the passengers who were trying to take their vacations. In fact it was appalling.

I myself am a stock trader and Real-estate investor and can be more flexible. I also avoided some of the catastrophic waits by simply ignoring what Carnival was telling me on the phone. Otherwise I might well have spent all of Sunday either sitting around at the Galveston Convention Center or on a cold sidewalk at the dock. We might have well been standing around awaiting a bus to the ship for two more hours had we been more gullible.

I feel sympathy for the ones who had to give up altogether or drive even further for a hotel, who could not afford all the added expenses of waiting around for essentially two days, and especially for those silly enough to listen to Carnival and actually arrived back in the morning on Sunday or sat on sidewalks many more hours than we did. Your company and CEO, and especially you supervisory staff should be ashamed of themselves. In fact your supervisors at Galveston should all be summarily fired.

I look forward to a meaningful response. I am an active user of social network outlets such as Face book and Linked-in. I frequently write reviews to Trip Advisor, and to my local newspaper. I am also a contributor to the Seeking Alpha stock market portal. In other words I blog research commentary and reviews frequently. Quite honestly I cannot comprehend how your company can succeed after the experience my wife and I and our companions had.