CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES AIDA Cruises, Germany ATTITUDE WITH AN ARROGANT FLARE miami, Florida

First of all I want to say you get what you pay for. When one scores a cruise with a balcony for a family of 3 for just under $2600 after tax your heart starts racing because you feel like you beat the other deal seekers, right? WRONG!!!!! From the moment I got on the ship I knew the service was like the type you would receive if you were staying somewhere in a 3rd world country. I cut my toe on the corner of the cabin door where the metal plate that protects the door is and the insensitive staff in Guest Services who claimed the ship had been late due to a emergency even off the cost of Cozumel refused to give a stinking band aid. I was going to report it to security but it seemed to stop bleeding and I felt like it was something I could deal with. I kept being told that I had to buy the bandaid for $1.50.  Apparently they will only get you one for free out of their first aid kit if you press the issue.

Secondly, I specifically requested on the Carnival site to pay for the gratuities after the cruise was over. I do not prepay gratuities if the service is bad. Tips need to be earned not just forked over. They gladly took my credit card # and charged me the $200 after I requested on the Carnival site to let me pay at the end of the trip. Obviously the Guest Services Representative did not comprehend my reservation.  I believe that this explains the reason why Carnival hires 97% foreigners from countries where if they walk away with $2400 in gratuities they can live like a king from whatever 3rd world nation they come from. I can't believe there are not any regulations saying they have to pay a minimum liveable salary to these employees that survive only off of tips. I have friends that worked in this industry and they said that if there was an empty cruise they had no choice but to wait until the next cruise to try and make money to live off of.

Thirdly, my first port in Nassau I was exiting off of the ship with my family and Carnival required the sail and sign card to be in hand of you could not exit. We somehow misplaced our sons card and the whole ship had the elevators shut off and the stairwells were full of somewhere of 300 people. Brian the very lackadaisical employee who was directing all the guests to have their sail and sign card in their had was incredibly aloof to the fact I had a child with a stroller and it was a incredibly dangerous to walk the opposite direction against 300 people coming down the stairs. He had a radio and a mouth to call for a manager to unlock an elevator to allow me up or to bring me a new card for my son. They asked for a passport so all they had to do was bend over backwards for someone who is paying their salary to allow them off at the port by bringing a new card. It is obvious that this management team is ridiculously out of touch with creating a fond and memorable experience. I had to really get on his case to see if he would get someone to bring a key down. I said to him out of frustration and that he will be complained to guest services by me. I did that and also said I will go online to put a review on tripadvisor.com about this experience. This is obviously an example of Customer No Service! I will not be taking my family on another Carnival cruise.