Carnival Cruise Lines ripoff Miami Florida

I can only wish that I had found this site before our honeymoon disaster!!! Being a previous Carnival Cruise passenger, I convinced my (at the time) fiance that a Carnival Cruise was our best option for our honeymoon. Unfortunately I am left with egg on my face.

I should have realized right from the beginning that our voyage aboard the Triumph was going to be a disaster. We arrived at the port early, as advised by the woman who booked our cruise via Carnival's 800#. Unlike my other cruises, apparently arriving early is of no use whatsoever. Neither did filling our fun pass on line, I am still not sure what good it did. We waited in line over two hours, standing. It was quite interesting to see how others like myself managed to keep our children entertained. Luckily my husband has strong shoulders, and had our daughter up there a bulk of the wait. I will also say, that during this long wait we met some very nice people. Once we finally did arrive aboard the Triumph, we were told to proceed to the Lido deck for lunch, as cabins were NOT ready for early arriving passengers.

Oddly enough, after spending almost $3000, we learn their idea of luxurious food is raw hamburgers and greasy french fries. I have had better food from McDonald's dollar menu. Finally, the time came when we could go to our cabin. Being a past guest of Carnival, we received their "past-guest promotional upgrade". I will say, the cabin was on the 10th floor, and am quite grateful for such, as I will explain why later. After paying $20.00 to a baggage handler to bring our luggage, (Carnival's brochure recommends approximately $3 per bag, and does warn you about these handlers, as they are not Carnival employees, and I am not sure why they do not have any employees for this.) we were quite disappointed when our luggage arrived to our cabin at the rate of one bag per each two hours, and one bag was completely destroyed, the plastic lining looked like it had been ripped to shreds, and the pull handle was jammed to where it would no longer extend. Also everything in the other bags had been crushed. We watched the gentleman who took our luggage, and he did not lie anything on top of it, and was cautious. It is my firm belief, although I of course have no proof, the damage was caused by Carnival employees.

At this point, still excited about our honeymoon cruise, we were somewhat oblivious to the calamity of errors occurring all around us. One big sign we missed...the carpet in our stateroom was wet. As was the carpet directly out side of our cabin door. Upon returning to our cabin after looking around the not so "fun ship", we were greeted by a man doing something to a door next to ours, and our room steward who then informed us that our toilet was having problems, and was backing up. Since I did not feel comfortable just hanging around in our room while the tried to repair the problem, I suggested we walk around the ship a bit more. Unfortunately this would have been the time our daughter would normally take her nap. Oh my, I just noticed how long this is, and I am still at parts before the ship has even set sail. I will try to not elaborate as much. As in many other complaints I have read on this site, everything aboard is quite expensive, but as a former guest I knew this. Upon booking this cruise, our agent at Carnival suggested this date, as any time after would be rowdy and filled with "Spring Breakers".

Within as much, even though we had already had booked the hall and what not, we rescheduled our wedding to an earlier date to accommodate the booking date she suggested. Much to our surprise, not only was the ship filled with Spring Breakers, they all seemed to be booked on our floor. Now, I do not mind spring breakers at all. But why let us reschedule our wedding for nothing. And quite honestly seeing drunken college students having sex on a bar stool in front of not only 4 bartenders, two security guards and about 15 children under the age of 10 next to them was very concerning. We never bothered to enter the main dining hall as we were seated with these same party goers. Not to mention the selection of food was rather horrible for the required dress. Who in the heck dresses up to eat at Golden Corral????

So we endured 7 days of undercooked meat and bread hard enough to knock someone out with. The "Las Vegas" style shows were non existent. The "fun days at sea" were anything but. It was beyond obvious that there was more time at sea than at any port so they could make more money while you were literally stuck on board. Being a past guest, I received an invitation to a "private party" being thrown by the captain for past guests. The invitation said the party was from 7:15 PM - 8:00 PM. After getting dressed up, which took over an hour,(mind you my daughter is only 13 months, so it takes time to get us both ready) we arrived at the doors of the lounge where the party was to take place at exactly 7:15 PM.

Once we entered the lounge we were forced to stand all the way in the back as that is where we ended up trying to find a seat. Of course there were no seats available. And after standing there for ten minutes and being ignored by both the servers and bartenders we left. I was crushed. I will say, not all was a total loss, we did meet a nice woman, whom I wish I had thought to get her address and phone number. If by any chance Sheila of Canada is reading this, and was on the Triumph between 3/5/05-3/12/05 please respond. Let me try to jump ahead as this is becoming a novel. The last night of the cruise, and by now we have realized our money was completely wasted, was one of the worst. We were virtually trapped on the pool deck as the employees were mopping the floor, which by the way actually looked dirtier once they had finished. How hard would it have been to inform guests that the floors were going to be cleaned and that the doors to/from the pool would be completely locked??? The next morning, eager to get off of the honeymoon from hell ship, we opted to carry our own luggage. At this point I realized I packed WAY too much! As advised we arrived at the Roma Lounge promptly at 7:30 AM. (Oh by the way, I am a diabetic, and I knew we would not have time to eat the breakfast buffet, so I placed their "continental breakfast" tag on our door, and selected it to be brought to our room at 6 AM in the box that requested a time. When we left our cabin for the Roma lounge at 7 AM, it had still not arrived. It was obvious once at the lounge that people were beyond upset. 90% of the passengers awaiting what the cruise director called "self-assist debarkation" decided to wait out side of the lounge and block the door ways with their luggage. Since there was no where to go, we joined the other passengers in the hallway.

At this point an employee began telling everyone in a loud voice that we all must enter the lounge, and proceed all the way to the front or customs would not let us off the ship. Finally it seemed as if a way had cleared. We then fruitlessly attempted to proceed. Again she loudly repeated herself. I as well as others said we could not make it through due to the other passengers blocking the way, at this point she said these exact words; "Kick them out of your way then, they are so stupid." At this point I was in complete and utter astonishment, so being the smart butt that I am, I picked up the luggage and told my husband lets go and literally climbed through the luggage blocking the way. All the while saying as loud as I could; "If she says kick em our of the way, well then we better do it." The other passengers who were blocking the isle at this point realized my sarcasm and were laughing WITH me. We went in as far as humanly possible, and then proceeded to sit and wait. And wait, and wait. Once off the ship, customs and immigration was a breeze. It is my advice to any one considering a cruise, which ever company you choose, research all complaints against them. And also be advised, Carnival has many "sister" companies. Best I can tell, the only one that is definitely of no relation is Disney.

Elizabeth
dunnellon, Florida
U.S.A.

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