Carnival threw my Husband in a Mexican Prison on our honeymoon!
18 family and friends boarded the Carnival Glory on October 8. The ship was dirty, the food was terrible and the staff members were all very unhappy. These were the small things. However, everything fell apart in Belize and Carnival did everything in their power to keep us in the dark from the life threatening situation my husband was going to face.
We disembarked in Belize and booked a cave tubing excursion with a local guide. At the end of the excursion, the guide handed my husband a pack of cigarettes as a "souvenir from Belize". Not wanting to offend the guide, my husband thanked him and planned on throwing the pack of cigarettes away once we were out of sight. But the guide followed us to the tender and the next thing we knew, we were in line for security. As we were herded through security, my husband was pulled over, as if he was a marked target, and searched. The guards pulled out the pack of cigarettes and revealed a small amount of marijuana. We were shocked. They explained what happened but the security officers are not fluent English speakers and even if they were many cultural nuances can not be translated.
One statement my husband made crossed the language barrier: "We are on our honeymoon." The security guard told him: "Since you are on your honeymoon, the Captain has decided to make an exception." We were told that he would not be in any more trouble. Had we known what Carnival had up there sleeve, we would have been able to prepare. We would have called our attorney and collected phone numbers. We would have had our spanish speaking friend translate for us.instead, we were led to believe that all was well and that Carnival understood it was an honest mistake.
When we ported in Cozumel, we learned otherwise. The head of security told my husband that he needed to file a report with Mexican officials. We were told that worst case scenario, we would not be allowed to disembark in Cozumel. This was not the worst case scenario. My husband was put in a room, alone with Mexican Police. The ship provided a translator but he did not translate.instead he made small talk with the police, pretending to translate. When my husband emerged from the interrogation, he was pale. He said "I am going to jail." My heart sank. I looked at the head of security, who had be placating us the whole time with lies of "worst case scenario" and asked what was happening. Again, he said it was no big deal. He told us that Carnival's goal was to have us back on the ship.
We went to the police station. After trying to communicate that the incident happened in Belize, no Mexico and failing miserably to break the language barrier, my husband was put in prison.
I raced back to the ship and arranged to disembark. I asked my best friend, who speaks fluent Spanish to disembark with me. He called the pursers desk and they told him that the port was closed and he was not allowed to disembark (perhaps his 3,000 ship tab had something to do with this - they didn't want a big spender to leave the ship...) Ten minutes later, my father called and was allowed to disembark - with out incident.
My mother asked the pursers desk who we should contact in Cozumel to help my husband. She said that she had no idea. A woman in line overheard and told her to contact the American Consulate and the Embassy. My mother turned to the purser and asked if she had the number. She said that she did not. My mom asked if she was willing to put that in writing. Seconds later, the purser handed her the name and phone number of the Consulate.
Mexican Prison: My husband was taken to a prison with criminals, not the solitary holding cell that he was told he would have. He was harassed for his shoes and threatened. He felt that he was in extreme danger and expected to be killed for being a gringo and for his sneakers. The alpha male of the prison cell took my husband's shirt and gave him the shirt he had been wearing indicating that the T-shirt that My husband had on now belonged to him. The cell was concrete with no lighting or air conditioning. Roaches and rats scurried around. The drinking water was brown At meal time, they brought in a metal pail filled with some meat - stew product and each prisoner was given two tortillas that had fruit flies swarming them. The food was not refrigerated and any remaining food on the prisoners' plates was put back into the bucket and served at the next meal. At the end of the day, this food bucket was emptied onto the floor on top of the hole that prisoners used as a toilet. The food sat there along with feces, fruit flies and urine until it was hosed down in the morning.By morning, it was crawling with maggots. The smell was noxious.
For 48 hours, I did not know what was going to happen to my husband. The best week of my life quickly became the worst. Then we received the bill. Carnival added gratuities for the entire week on our sign and sail account - we were only on the ship for 4 of the 7 days! He was released with out any charges and we flew back to Orlando and met our families when they got off the boat.
I have written letters to Carnival, called and emailed. I have yet to receive a response. I have learned that their policy is; "Ignore it and it will go away." This could happen to anyone. I urge everyone to be careful of what you bring back on the ship. Check your bags before you get on at each port otherwise; you could easily end up an innocent in Mexican prison, or worse...
Meredith
Palm Harbor, Florida
U.S.A.
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