The Cruise Ship and Cruise Line Discussion Thread!

[Meteornotes]

Not pleased with the sucky restrictions on the Flowrider, but am very impressed that RCCL got back to you quickly and took your concerns seriously. A lot of companies just ignore people if they can. Another sign that RCCL is a class act.

 

dt

[stellaclose]

Here we go again - Carnival Dream....nightmare!

 

CNN is reporting that the Port Canaveral-based cruise ship Carnival Dream is experiencing power outages and overflowing toilets while in port in Philipsburg, St. Maarten.

 

According to CNN, several passengers have contacted them complaining about the situation and saying that they are not being allowed off the ship at the Caribbean port.

 

The seriousness of the situation is unknown at this time, and Carnival Cruise Line has not released any statements.

 

The Dream, which is one of the largest ships in Carnival's fleet, departed Port Canaveral on Saturday.

 

In February, an engine fire crippled the Carnival Triumph in the Gulf of Mexico, stranding more than 4,000 passengers for days.

 

www.floridatoday.com/article/20130314/NEWS01/130314003/Report-Carnival-Dream-having-problems-Caribbean-port?nclick_check=1

[SharkTums]

^Woke up and saw the tweets and news stories...LOL! Love it!

 

Oh Karnival!

[DougMJr]

Funny, I was just thinking... "Wow, nothing serious happened on Karnival in a week or two."

 

Good thing they are back to the quality of service we have come to know and love.

 

Stay Klassy my friends.

[cedarpointfangirl]

Really???? Think I'll just stick to RCCL.

[BeemerBoy]

The sad thing is that if this had been a particular airline with this many consistent problems, it'd be grounded by now.

[cfc]

I really think Carnival should consider hiring Yosemite Sam as a captain:

 

 

"Great horny toads! Suck it up, you varmints! This here be Carnival!"

[OISU8P]

Got to love this quote.

 

"We are not allowed off of the boat despite the fact that we have no way to use the restrooms on board," Jonathan Evans of Reidsville, N.C., said in an email early Thursday. "The cruise director is giving passengers very limited information and tons of empty promises. What was supposed to take an hour has turned into seven-plus hours."

 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/03/14/power-outages-overflowing-toilets-reportedly-plague-another-carnival-cruise/#ixzz2NWs92TkB

[Meteornotes]

I remember many people yelling at us after the Klassy Kruise last year, telling us the Dream was such a great ship and we really needed to take a cruise on it to get "the real Carnival experience".

 

I guess they were right.

 

Carnival continues to be one of the worst companies on Earth.

 

dt

[Hotlanta]

Karnival is now flying home the passengers and obviously the next sailing is cancelled. No matter how cheap they are i don't get why people want to throw away their hard earned money with this shitty company. Now their precious vacation and dollars are ruined.

 

Yet again more tone dead stuff from Carnival management:

Guests on the current voyage will receive a refund equivalent to three days of the voyage and 50 percent off a future cruise.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/14/travel/cruise-ship-trouble/index.html

[paiging_jen]

Sadly, these people will probably be ecstatic over a discounted future cruise. I'm sorry but you couldn't pay me to get on one of those ships.

[DougMJr]

^^ To their credit, for once they didn't choose to handle this the worst way possible. If they can successfully get everyone and their luggage back to Florida in a timely manner that would be very impressive considering their past track record.

 

Doesn't make up for the fact that their ships keep failing left and right, but after their last disaster it appears that they are at least trying with this one.

[DJeXeL]

Oh Karnival!

[SharkTums]

I'm trying to be fair here, really I am. I fully understand that Carnival has more ships than the other companies but let's fix that...

 

Carnival - 23 currently operating ships (counting the two right now that technically aren't operating!! LOL!)

 

Royal Caribbean - 22 currently operating ships (about to send one to a lower line)

 

Celebrity - 11 ships

 

Norwegian - 11 ships (one in a long dry dock)

 

Princess - 16 ships

 

and so on...

 

First off, I didn't realize how close Royal Caribbean was to Carnival, and how many issues have they had the last few years!?!?!?

 

Secondly, why don't we even put ALL these other lines together and still Carnival has way more issues then they should statistically.

 

Oh dear...

[larrygator]

I'm trying to be fair here, really I am. I fully understand that Carnival has more ships than the other companies but let's fix that...

 

Carnival - 23 currently operating ships (counting the two right now that technically aren't operating!! LOL!)

 

Royal Caribbean - 22 currently operating ships (about to send one to a lower line)

 

Celebrity - 11 ships

 

Norwegian - 11 ships (one in a long dry dock)

 

Princess - 16 ships

 

and so on...

 

First off, I didn't realize how close Royal Caribbean was to Carnival, and how many issues have they had the last few years!?!?!?

 

Secondly, why don't we even put ALL these other lines together and still Carnival has way more issues then they should statistically.

 

Oh dear...

 

Thanks for posting these numbers. I've only been on one cruise and don't really following the cruise lines, but was wondering if the volume of Carnival ships contributed to Carnival's bad repuation. Question answered.

[Jew]

"We just want A+++ treatment because we're here, and other people aren't," said Bobbie Mace, of Macedon, N.Y. "This is our first Carnival cruise and hopefully not our last."

 

[Hhappy]

Looks like the Carnival Legend is having issues at this time as well..

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57574490/mechanical-woes-hit-two-more-carnival-cruise-ships/

[Mr Stratosphere]

^ haha well Klassy Karnival keeps DREAMing to be LEGENDary!

 

When I cruised with Royal Carribean on Liberty of The Seas in 2007, the Carnival Dream was supposed to depart before us but was having engine problems, we heard it got stranded for about 12 hours after she finally set sail. She returned back to Miami some 14 hours late the last day of the cruise. People were not too pleased when they returned to Miami, I wonder how many times this has been happening to Carnival and it just didn't hit the media waves.

[OISU8P]

"We just want A+++ treatment because we're here, and other people aren't," said Bobbie Mace, of Macedon, N.Y. "This is our first Carnival cruise and hopefully not our last."

 

 

HaHa. Talk about getting kicked in the nuts and then being willing to stand up for another kicking....

[SharkTums]

Looks like the Carnival Legend is having issues at this time as well..

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57574490/mechanical-woes-hit-two-more-carnival-cruise-ships/

 

Best. Birthday. Ever!

[Zingoman]

Well, to address the idea of an air fleet being grounded, a ship doesn't sink from an engine malfuntion. A plane will crash from that scenario though. I think that's apples and oranges. Seems to me that poor maintenance and a watered down training regimine for the vast amount of employees are huge contributors to all these occurances.

 

If you've got thousands of passengers boarding your ships aren't you kind of obligated to know what kind of shape all your critical systems are in?? The fact is yes, these ships are machines and much like an amusement ride, they can break down from time to time, however in this day and age a ship is pretty much as reliable as the people who are taking care of it. If roller coasters could leave people stranded in the ocean I suspect they'd break down a lot less. Perhaps Carnival is the best name for the company. They must have hired Carney's to maintain the ships. "Grab the electrical tape Cletus! I bet I can just stick this here green wire with the red one and get her another hour before she shuts down!"

[BeemerBoy]

Well, to address the idea of an air fleet being grounded, a ship doesn't sink from an engine malfuntion. A plane will crash from that scenario though. I think that's apples and oranges.

Counterpoint: Ships operate in hurricane season ALL the time, and it's not uncommon for many of them to make last minute course changes to avoid potentially deadly seas. So, technically speaking, a ship could certainly sink if were caught stranded in the middle of the Atlantic or Caribbean with no power during an oncoming hurricane. That was pretty much the basis for my original point.

[WFChris]

www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-carnival-investigation-20130315,0,6099487.story

 

Coast Guard investigating Carnival Legend

 

Carnival's woes bring scrutiny

 

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske

March 15, 2013, 3:15 p.m.

HOUSTON -- Recent mechanical problems with three Carnival Cruise ships have not triggered an overall investigation, although the U.S. Coast Guard does plan to investigate problems aboard one of the ships that sailed out of Florida's Tampa Bay, officials said.

 

The nation’s largest cruise company announced Friday that the Carnival Legend was unable to sail at optimal speed off the coast of Honduras, bringing an early end to the seven-day Caribbean cruise for 2,500 passengers and 930 crew who set sail last Sunday.

 

Carnival officials said in a statement emailed to The Los Angeles Times that the ship was having technical issues with its Azipod units, used to propel and steer.

 

Guests on the Legend will receive a $100-per-person credit, a refund on pre-purchased shore excursions for Grand Cayman and half off a future Carnival cruise, the statement said. The Coast Guard says it will inspect the ship when it returns to port.

 

Also on Friday, the 4,363 passengers on the Carnival Dream were being flown home from the Caribbean on 50 chartered flights after their week-long cruise from Port Canaveral, Fla., stalled in St. Maarten with a backup generator problem Wednesday. Carnival officials said the Dream never lost power, but acknowledged there where problems with elevators and toilets.

 

“Guests began disembarking the ship this morning to board flights scheduled for today, and will continue to do so throughout the weekend. We are working to try to accommodate special requests from guests, including those who asked to remain on board longer,” Carnival officials said in a Friday statement.

 

Coast Guard officials do not plan to investigate the Dream because the incident is not considered a marine casualty, Petty Officer 3rd Class Sabrina Laberdesque in Miami told The Times.

 

The Carnival Elation also ran into problems last Saturday with its backup Azipod unit and had to be escorted back to port by a tugboat as it began its voyage from New Orleans, Carnival officials said. Coast Guard Cmdr. Paul Dittman in New Orleans said no investigation is planned.

 

“There was a problem with one of the redundant systems, however the vessel was compliant with all national and international standards,” Dittman told The Times.

 

The latest problems are a reminder of the drama that played out last month, when the Carnival Triumph was crippled by an engine fire in the Gulf of Mexico during a four-day cruise, stranding more than 4,200 passengers and crew. The U.S. Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board are still investigating.

 

The NTSB does not plan a broader investigation of Carnival’s fleet, including the three ships that suffered recent mechanical problems, spokesman Keith Holloway told The Times, because, “The others at this point don’t look to be NTSB-warranted investigations.”

 

Tampa-based Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Eric Allen, chief of inspections for the St. Petersburg division, said the Legend will be investigated when it returns to port, likely Sunday.

 

He told The Times that the ship’s mechanical failure was a “reportable marine casualty” under federal regulations that requires investigation.

 

Marine casualties include “an equipment failure, a grounding, a strike — anything like that,” Allen said.

 

He said there have been no problems with passengers or passenger conditions aboard the Legend. “The elevators work, the toilets are working, everything’s working,” he said.

 

He said the cruise ship has a certificate of compliance good for two years and is routinely inspected by the Coast Guard every six months.

 

“Because they carry U.S. passengers and embark from a U.S. port, we’re bound to inspect the vessel,” he said.

 

He cautioned that the investigation will focus on the Legend, not the other two Carnival ships.

 

“Each one of these casualties or equipment failures are independent. There has been nothing to link them together,” he said.“Granted, there has been a great number of incidents and ironically they have all happen to be Carnival vessels, but we treat them as independent incidents, unrelated.”

 

“Down the road, there is probably going to be a deeper investigation,” into all of the ships by the company and foreign countries or “flag states” they’re based out of, “to try to prevent these problems from happening again,” he said.

 

Some of the smaller foreign countries where the cruise ships are based authorize private classification societies to conduct such investigations, Allen said. “There’s no one entity that’s responsible for connecting all those dots” although the Coast Guard will likely follow up months from now “to see if there’s any connectivity,” between the problems on all three ships, he said.

 

“We have an obligation to be very proactive in eliminating these problems,” Allen said, adding that the latest string of problems aboard Carnival ships do not necessarily indicate deeper problems with the fleet or the industry.

 

“Cruise ships are heavily scrutinized” by regulators, Allen said. “Is Carnival unsafe? No. They’re just having a bad run right now.”

[RaptorBoyASU]

I thought this article was amusing. Especially the table down below.

 

http://qz.com/63678/one-of-the-secrets-to-carnival-cruises-unsinkable-business-model-free-coast-guard-rescues/

[SharkTums]

^Very interesting, thanks for posting!