My husband and I just returned from a cruise on your ship Holiday which departed Mobile, AL, on November 18, and sailed to Cozumel, Mexico. Since this was our 20th Anniversary, we wanted to have a memorable occasion, one to look back on in the years to come.
What we experienced on our cruise was the exact opposite, a terrible experience that I hope will be forgotten quickly. We expected to be pampered and have the best of accommodations which never happened. We paid a total of $1,632.84 for Veranda 6, top of the line accommodations with all the amenities. Let me tell you what we received for this amount:
The room was filthy not just dirty, but filthy. I personally wiped down the windows inside and outside so we could see out of them. The balcony furniture (cheap K-Mart plastic chairs with no cushions) were caked with dirt and grime. Not to mention the cigar butts in the balcony gutter during our whole stay. The carpet in the room was unbelievable, totally filthy and had a moldy odor to it that permeated the room.
The bathroom was not much better. The water out of the faucet was brown and gritty. The shower stall had mold growing in the grout (see photo). The shower head kept falling off the hook.in order to take a shower, I had to wrap a washcloth around the plastic hose leading up to the shower head and wedge it between the shampoo and soap dispenser so the hose would not kink and the water could flow through.
We tried for two hours to get our steward by pushing the steward light and then calling room service. They told us to call the steward and we informed them he didn't respond. After two hours, he came to the room and told us to push the button. When he pushed the button, the light was burned out. This was not fixed the entire time of our cruise.
We had one working electric outlet. The outlet in the bathroom did not work during the cruise.
We were lead to believe we could order anything we wanted for breakfast which would be served in our stateroom so we could enjoy the morning in privacy. Cold cereal and Danish is not what we expected.
After paying the amount we paid for our room, please explain to me why we would be charged for water in our room? If the cruise line is that hard up for money, I can see charging us for the cokes, but water? Give me a break!
I was always told how fantastic the food was on a cruise and couldn't wait to enjoy the dinners and the midnight buffet. During the entire cruise the food was served cold not warm cold! Cold eggs, toast, lunch, dinner, everything cold. When we said how bad the food was, the response was we can bring you something else. That was not the point it was all bland, cold and totally unappetizing. I saw more waste of food during this cruise than I have in my life. We tried the Lido deck once thinking the food would be hot there and it was the same mass produced cold, bland food. Coffee was bitter and foul we sent back more pots and cups of coffee then you could imagine.
We called our Maitre D over the first night and complained. We got a very good sir, they will bring you something else routine nothing changed.
My idea of a midnight buffet is not hot dogs and hamburgers.
Where was the daily entertainment? I do not mean a hairy chest contest or bingo, but entertainment music, stage acts, etc. The only activities scheduled were on the Lido deck where it was nothing but watching fellow drunk passengers make idiots out of themselves, drunks being loud and obnoxious, kids running around screaming, and smokers everywhere.
Where was the daily entertainment for the people who expected to be entertained by the cruise line, not drunk passengers?
Where were the lounge acts, entertainment and music during the day? The shows we saw were very good, but only two shows in four days and they lasted about an hour, made for a very long cruise. Thankfully, there was satellite TV to watch, but I could have stayed home to watch TV and saved a lot of money.
We decided to carry our own luggage off the ship so we could leave as quickly as possible and try to put this horrible experience behind us. Why would they not let the two rooms of guests on the Veranda deck leave first? Why would they start calling other levels first with a lot of people and make us wait one hour before two rooms could leave? Totally unacceptable.
We will ABSOLUTELY NOT take another cruise on Carnival Cruise Lines nor will we ever recommend to anyone Carnival Cruise Lines. The accommodations, food, quality, cleanliness of the ship was unacceptable. Our 20th Anniversary was ruined thanks to Carnival Cruise Lines and even though I feel we should be reimbursed (which I know will never happen) and this letter will not make one bit of difference to your company, I just wanted to express my opinion. I complained so much on the cruise that I got tired of hearing myself complain for what we paid, we should not have to tell your employees that the food is cold, the room is filthy, etc. YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THE OBVIOUS!
I am one very unsatisfied customer!
The City of Mobile built a beautiful new terminal in order to do business with your cruise line and for your company to send a ship in that condition is unacceptable not only to us, but it should be to the City of Mobile as well. You may be fully booked now, but the local people are the ones who will keep the cruise line going in this area and once word of mouth spreads with unacceptable comments, the terminal will be just another empty building in Mobile.
Dorothy
Gulf Shores, Alabama
U.S.A.
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