Sunday, June 27, 2010

Carnival Cruise Lines are Not Safe - Here's Why:

The following letter represents my FIFTH attempt to have someone from Carnival contact me regarding an incident that happened to me while I was on board the Carnival Miracle. Please help me spread the word that Carnival is not a safe vacation choice for you or your family.

I'd also like to add that I am not launching this anti-Carnival crusade to get anything for free. I will never travel with this company again. It's just not worth it.



Hi there,

My name is Kimberley Williamson and I sailed aboard the Carnival Miracle out of New York city on the 8th of June 2010.

I waited over a week and a half to write this letter because I wanted to make sure that I wasn't being overly reactionary and angry. I had a safety issue on board that I feel Carnival corporate should know about and address.

On the 4th day of our cruise, during a shore excursion on Half Moon Cay, my husband and I were severely threatened by another guest of the ship - to the extent that we felt unsafe and were compelled to report the incident to security. Initially we spoke with a lifeguard, second we spoke with security on the boat, next we explained our situation to guest services and again we tried to talk to someone in security. We were very concerned for our well-being as this individual who had attacked us confessed that he was mentally unstable and was blowing his nose on us. Yes, blowing his nose on us. The attacker was only convinced to leave our area when another guest on the ship (an ex-marine) got involved.

Each time we tried to have this issue reported in some official capacity we were told that we were in the wrong area or that security was unavailable or there wasn't anything they could do because we didn't get our attackers name. After getting the official runaround for ages, we gave up.

It is my impression that no one we spoke to knew what to do. There were no systems in place for dealing with persons who are behaving in a threatening manner.

For the remainder of our time on the ship, we were taunted by this individual making it impossible to relax and enjoy the rest of our vacation. We felt incredibly unsafe and angry at the lack of protection that Carnival offered.

Finally, in our stateroom on the last day, we filled out the customer comment card and I asked to have someone contact me so that I could discuss this incident with someone.

Well, it has been over a week and a half and I have yet to hear from anyone. I no longer wish to be contacted. Let it be known that Carnival had a chance to make this right.

As a repeat customer, I say loudly to anyone listening that I will never travel with your company again, under any circumstances and I will be spreading this message as widely as possible.

Thanks so much for ruining what should have been a wonderful vacation.

Kimberley Williamson

15 comments:

  1. I guess carnival messed with the wrong momma...

    If i was in your shoes, i will be spending time in the ship security bcs i would send the belligerent back in an ambulance together with the entire lot...not to mention we have 2 aggressive boys who would not take kindly to anyone taunting or threatning their mom.

    Security onboard is an issue..obviously Carnival thought it would just go away. Good for you and bad PR for them.

    We are planning a cruise...and this is useful information. Good luck

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  2. What kind of person blows their nose into the water in the first place? I guess the same kind that would be aggressive and threatening and inappropriate, and continues this kind of behavior for days on end. You never really know what kind of persona you are dealing with. In hindsight it's easy to say it would have been better not to confront this person and move, but really my reaction would have probably been to call him on it too. I would definitely not be interested in taking a cruise on Carnival after hearing how they handled this situation.

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  3. It is obvious the person who blew their nose in the pool has mental issues. You stated it very clearly an older gentleman placed a towel on his head and started rocking him to calm him down and he stated he did not take his medication. How can you possibly hold a cruise ship responsible to contain a psychiatric patient. When we have people walking the streets of every major city daily that did not take their medications should we hold these cities responsible. Containing a psychiatric patient needs professinal skills. When we see adults exhibiting non-adult behavior we should stop to think their might be something wrong with that person and not approach them. Their "id" failed to develop. We should look at them with pity. Psychiatric illness are not worn on their sleeves. Shame on you for not acting like an adult and minding your own business and went on enjoying your vacation. Remember you provoked a man with a psychiatric illness. If your young child blew his or her nose in the water how would you feel if someone came over to you and started?

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  4. Drama mama
    so don't cruise again
    You ran into a mentally ill person and you
    couldn't keep your big New Yawk mouth shut right?

    If you had half a brain you would have moved away from the guy when he blew his nose instead of confronting him.

    Carnival cruise lines is not unsafe, you sound like a fool. You love the attention....you claim you don't want to sue but you probably will

    Stay in New York and confront people there..tell us how it goes. Drama queen

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  5. It's fairly well known that Carnival attracts a fairly low end clientel. That was your first mistake, going on that cruise line in the first place. Do yourself a favor, when cruising in the future stick with the higher end cruise lines, like Holland America.

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  6. We took a carnival cruise last February. We booked a penthouse suite on the Inspiration with our 2 teenage boys. Our 5 days on the ship were TERRIBLE, from beginning to end. The first day on the ship, automatic doors slammed on me while I was carrying coffee. There were MULTIPLE cruise ship employees who saw and did nothing to help! I actually had to suggest they clean the spilled coffee before someone else slipped on it. My hands were burned and shoulder was sore for weeks. Our "penthouse suite" did not have an operable shower. We complained every day but they couldn't seem to make it work and didn't have another cabin to switch us to. There were 2 babies in the cabin next door who screamed morning, noon and night, literally. We got NO REST! Security did nothing. 2 of us had food poisoning and when reported to guest services, they didn't even want to know what we ate, or in what dining room.
    Carnival didn't want to hear anything. I received the same type of letter from my many letters of complaint. We have been on 9 cruises and have never had such an awful experience as on a Carnival cruise. Never again for Carnival and I tell as many people that I can every day!
    Sorry you had a trip ruined by Carnival. DO TRY Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Celebrity or Princess. Different class of passengers and administration for sure!

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  7. HI I JUST READ YOUR STORY ONLINE, AND SAY I GO WITH ROYAL CARIBBEAN. THEY SEEM TO REALLY CARE BOUT WHAT GOES ON WITH THERE PASSENGERS. SORRY YOUR TRIP WAS A WASH. TRY THEM THEY REALLY KNOW HOW TO TREAT THEIR GUEST. AND I ALWAYS SEE SOMEONE CLEANING SOMETHIHG SOMEWHERE.

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  8. Please don't let one bad cruise on Carnival prevent you from trying again. I have taken 11 cruises on Carnival and with the exception of a ship with a mechanical failure - all the crusies were great.

    I would suggest that if you are running into problems and you can't get satisfaction on the ship, write to Carnival when you get home. Don't threaten - tell them like it is. I have found they respond better if you don't theaten. Be forceful though.

    If you need them to take immediate action and you can't find anyone else to take you seriously - ask to speak to the cruise director - it may not be his/her job but you can bet, they don't want to have to deal with unhappy passengers and they will find a way to resolve the issue.

    Sr Cruise director John Heald has a blog that you can access from the Carnival Web site. You can post to this and if you ask him to reply to your post he will. He does get a lot of post so it could take a day or 2 but he will help circumvent your issue.

    Of course you are free to cruise on any line you choose but remember one bad cruise does not mean all of the employees or all of the ships on that line will treat you the same.

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  9. Very useful information. Thanks. I have heard that Carnival is low end also. One of friends works for Carnical offices in Miami and he says the building is full of inept employees. I will never use Carnival. Trying to plan a 50th anniversary cruise for my parents and God forbid they went through service like that. You get what you pay for, I guess.

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  10. Not surprised at all. Two of my friends worked for over a year on the Carnival line as entertainers. The HORROR stories they would tell after each cruise were unreal. (Incidents that are swept under the carpet and never make the news) Including deaths, attacks, robberies, multiple food poisonings, drugs, stow-aways, etc. Most of them due to negligence and lot of them avoidable with proper management. You are lucky if you go without incident there. One now works in Las Vegas but the other went to Royal Carib and she said the difference is amazing.

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  11. seriously what do you expect when you sail with Carnival, there is a reason they have cheap cruises; they are full of losers-go on a decent cruise line
    you get what you pay for

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  12. I'm sorry, but this was really your own fault. I'm not saying what he did was right at all, but clearly, someone who does something like that in public has something wrong with them. Honestly, use common sense. I would have just walked away and found another place to go rather than getting in the man's face about it. That would have been so much easier, and you could have enjoyed your vacation. You're from New York, so that gives you the right to be obnoxious, get in other people's business, and provoke a mental patient? I agree with what Stacy said, I'm not sure I understand what you wanted the cruise people to do about a PSYCHIATRIC patient. Lock him up on the cruise until it was over? HE was on vacation too, and he deserved to have a good time as well. Mind your own business next time a stranger does something unusual. You could have enjoyed your trip. I don't feel sorry for you, you brought this whole situation on yourself.

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  13. I don't know anyone who personally works for Carnival so I can't speak to that end of the business.
    But I know a number of people who have cruise a number of cruise lines and have not had a problem on Carnival or any other line.
    There are a number of cruise lines which are owned by Carnival Corp. They are just more upscale depending on which line they are. So, if you have a problem with the management of Carnival you just may have a problem with the other lines which are owned by the Corp also.
    I personally don't said Royal Carb. because I don't want to pay extra for all the things they have added to the ship that I won't use (i.e. skating rink, rock climbing, etc). And in the long run you are paying for those. I am sure that people on these other lines also have complaints similar to those on carnival, it's just we haven't heard about them. People go missing off other lines, that I've heard about before.
    I believe a vacation, no matter what type is what you make of it. If you don't like it, you need to speak up and if that doesn't work, scream louder. Go right to the top if you have to. You have a right to enjoy the vacation you paid for.
    One would hope you wouldn't have to be so diligent on a crusie ship as you would walking around a city but you still need to look out for yourself. Just be careful.

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  14. I totally agree with Stacy and AngelinaDee! The guy was crude for doing this but atleast he has an excuse for his behavior. What exactly do you expect the cruise line to do??? Maybe you need medication too or perhaps this dose of "the world doesn't revolve around me" will help. For goodness sakes, get over yourself!!! And why was it that your husband and yourself required "rescuing" from a BIGGER stranger, could it be that your husband is used to your mouth getting you into trouble and is just tired of having to take up for you??? Try a staycation next time!

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  15. Kimberley Williamson, you are a moron! First of all…no matter how appallingly this man behaved, you should not have gotten in his face to confront him. You knew absolutely nothing about this man, and it turned out that he had serious problems and was potentially dangerous. If you had kept to yourself, none of this would have happened. It would have been completely different if he started harassing you for no reason, but he didn't. You started it, without knowing what problems this person might have. You put your own safety at risk. Idiot.

    I, like a few of the other people who commented, am confused about what exactly you wanted the cruise people to do about a man who was so severely mentally ill. I think you should write another post explaining precisely what you wanted them to do about him. I'm also confused at why you arrogantly expected the cruise workers to diffuse a situation that YOU instigated.

    Maybe this will teach you to keep your mouth shut from now on.

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