Carnival Cruise Lines HELD HOSTAGE, LIED TOO, AND TREATED NASTY BY CARNIVAL Miami, Florida

To whom it may concern,

Re: 709CK9 Carnival Valor room #9199

This email is to document our numerous conversations with carnival employee's complaining about the horrendous accommodations and other issues in room 9199 on the carnival Valor. 

In march of 2011, I spoke with a carnival representative via telephone and booked the new scenic ocean view cabin. Since we were traveling with our family of four the representative assured me that the room had the following features: 

unobstructed ocean view
floor to ceiling window
handicapped accessible door
a diabetic sharpie container
an unlocked fridge/ cooler
ice bought to the room several times to keep insulin cool
a clean and sanitized stateroom

Before our sailing, I called and spoke with several different carnival representatives on numerous occasions to verify the stateroom had the above amenities I was promised.

We arrived at the ship early.  We were instructed to go to the Lido deck until our room was ready.  At approximately 2:30pm we entered our room and were taken aback by the room's deplorable condition. The first thing that we noticed was that the door was not handicapped accessible, and that the window was not from floor to ceiling as promised. It slanted at such a sever angle that you hit your head when trying to approach it. Both my mother and I did hit our heads, which left us with head aches for several hours.

In addition,  "The scenic ocean view' was marred by an enormous black "C" in the middle of it and a rope directly in front of the window which extended from the front of the ship to the top of the ship. There was a message on the window blind control switch that said, window blinds must be closed at night due to navigation. Immediately the floor started vibrating, the glasses started hitting against each other,the trash can shook, and kept hitting the wall. The television started shaking uncontrollably and there was a loud high pitched noise. When the vibration continued we became alarmed and called guest services to file a complaint.

The floor supervisor came to our room and felt the vibration. We asked him how to open the pull out sofa and said he said " I have no idea".  We figured out how to open the bed in his presence and could could not believe that there were filthy sheets jumbled up on the bed. It had not been changed despite the staff having ample time to clean and sanitize the room. He advised us that the cabin steward would not begin working until 3:00pm, and to file our complainant with guest services about the vibration. We inquired about the absence of the sharpie container, ice receptacle and locked cooler. Again he instructed us condescendingly to go to guest services.

We immediately went to guest service and spoke with a guest services representative, who said that she was going to go get her supervisor. At that point, Amanda introduced herself as the guest services supervisor and listened to our complaints. She told us to go to our room to wait for her arrival. After several minutes the mandatory safety drill began. We continued to wait in our room per her instructions. Several announcements later she called to say she would come to the room right after the drill.  We could not believe she was the reason we missed the mandatory safety briefing.

Eventually she came to the room and told us that the vibration would only occur while we were in port.  We advised her about all the complaints about the room and reiterated that there was still no ice or sharpie container. The cooler was still locked nor have the sheets been changed. We asked her to change the room since we were totally mislead about this room as well as thoroughly frustrated by the deplorable conditions, vibration, and noise.  She said that " there was no other room available, the ship was booked and that there was nothing she could do". We asked to speak to her supervisor she said " I am the supervisor and I do no report to anyone". 

After amanda returned to guest services we called and demanded to speak with her supervisor. While waiting for a response from guest services, we called the 1-800 carnival number and were told that there was another room avalible on the tenth floor. Aprroxitmetly fifteen minutes later by the time Clinton, "Housekeeping Manager" and Peter "Guest Services Manager" came to our room we had left port, but the vibration and noise continued. After listening to our complaints Clinton and Peter ackowledged the vibration and noise but told us that " it was only because of the ships manovers". 

Again we asked to go to another room and our request was denied. Peter told us he would contact us by 12 pm the next day to see if there was anything he could do to accommodate us.  Clinton supervised housekeeping removing the soiled sheets and making the bed appropriately he also instructed housekeeping to open the cooler, bring ice, and the sharpie container. Upon opening the cooler it was discovered to be full. There was some confusion on their part as to wether it could be emptied.  A broken piece of extra furniture had been placed in the room. We asked for it to be moved Clinton apologized for the housekeepings incompetence, and not cleaning the room. 

After being subjected to such horrible and stressful conditions we went to the main dining room.  After ordering our food we waited over 40 minutes for it to arrive. The food was presented to our table cold, the waiter was very nasty and did not return to check on us at any point.  This poor treatment promted us to leave abuptly and request a new seating assignment.  We were left with no choice but to order room service. This was when we again realized that the room was not partically handicapped acessable because the room service tray had to be turned to the side to enter the room. We did not rest comfortably due to the continued noise and shaking.

The next morning Peter came to the room and gave us conflicting information. On the one hand he said that "the ship was full" but on the other he said that there " was a room availble but only for two people". Then he said that " someone was scheduled to board the ship in the caymans, however if they did not we would be able to get there room". We asked if another carnival ship was avalible that we could board in the Caymans.  We were told American Airlines could fly us back to the United States. He knew that wasn't possible because only one person in our party had a passport, we brought this to his attention and all he did was smirk. The vibration and noise continued in Peters presence but this time he said "every room shook "uncontrollably". 

Had we not been lied to, we would have disembarked at Miami before the ship left port. Some bodywash was spilled in the bathroom and even though the room and bathroom were to be cleaned they were not. After requesting the room be cleaned and towels be brought several times our trashcan was taken and never returned. Peter never apologized and appreared bothered by us. During this entire trip only Clinton apologized. It should be noted that when we returned from one of our shore excursions someone had entered our room other than housekeeping and attempted to remove the black "C", in the window.  They left large finger prints all over the window which alerted us to this fact.  

After arriving home after Hurricane Irene, I called Carnival and spoke with Jackie. She took our complaint and said a representative would be in contact with us.  Later that week, we received a call from Caterina.  She was very unprofessional in her demeanor.  She evaded my questions and already had a programed response to the ones answered.  We asked to speak with her Supervisor and she told us she did not have one.  She said their was no one above her, or additional appeal process.  She said she was the ultimate Carnival Authority.  Subsequently a few days later we called and after holding for 30 minutes spoke with Mrs. Wilcox her supervisor.  

We are utterly disappointed and throughly frustrated by the horrendous treatment we received by Carnival's booking representatives, Valor personnel, and Carnival Feedback representative. The only reason this cruise was booked for my family through Carnival, was because my mother sailed on the Glory last year. She highly recommend Carnival because of the spectacular experience she had on the Carnival Glory.  We would have never booked this trip had we anticipated that our accommodations were not as promised, and our complaints would fall on deaf ears and literally be ignored.  In this regard, and in view of the above we are appalled by Carnivals behavior at every level and expect immediate reimbursement for all the issues we experienced during this trip.  

We have pictures of the window obstruction