Posted on 03/29/2006 4:00:13 AM PST by Sam's Army
That's a pretty good scenario.
My Mother went on one of the Alaskan Cruise's (Texans tend to go vacation in the cooler climates) She said it was heavenly and enjoyed every minute. Food atmosphere everyone was marvelous...blah blah blah. She cant wait to go on another one.
Having said that...I'll never go on a cruise...ever. It sounds as appealing to me as getting an enima administered by Rosanne Bahr.
An Alaskan Cruise is actually the only one I'd even consider.
I loved the way the fed us. Cafeteria style in a line instead of putting out food islands. Really good crowd control. /s
The answer is in the article. For the sake of argument, lets agree that both sides are telling the truth since we know that journalists are highly trained in ferreting out the truth. We have "there was no yelling or cursing", and we have "extremely, extremely verbally aggressive and abusive." In light of political correctness and plenty of empirical evidence, we can harmonize these statements by agreeing that what probably was said was a series of racial slurs, questions of ancestry, sexual orientation and promiscuity, and other derogatory language.
This alone is not sufficient to expel customers from the ship since we understand that this is regular conversation by liberals, pro athletes and those in the hip-hop community. What Carnal Cruise Lines was probably concerned about is that the couples would bitch and gripe to anyone who would listen, spoiling the trip for everyone (small concern for Carnal Cruise Lines); would demoralize the crew; and in conjunction with the fact that this ship was previously occupied by New Orleans deadbeats who undoubtably left permanent disgusting artifacts of their stay, would put an indelible mark of dissatisfaction in the passengers who would most likely, if they would ever cruise again, take their business elsewhere.
Basically we are looking at a business decision with an eye towards damage control. That, and if you were the captain of a "superliner" that was still suffering from the New Orleans Pestilance (talk about trying to restore the morale of the crew, that depends on tips, after months of non-paying Katrina types), a Coast Guard with a lengthy list of infractions, a bunch of passengers, many who have spent thousands on this trip, who were imprisoned in a hot, sweaty terminal (no food or water) for the most of the day (with no end in sight), and a need to make endless refunds and apologies - I think the captain's patience was way beyond exhausted.
Did the Alaskan Inner Passage cruise on Holland America. First Class outfit. Wonderful trip. Would not do it again until I get another chance. :^D
And I felt like a 1980 Soviet citizen while in the queue for Terminal 4 in Heathrow. I got over it.
Was food and water not available or did they just not want to pay for it?
We're taking our first cruise (in the Baltics) this summer; friends who are experienced warned us away from cheap lines like Royal Caribbean and Carnival. The article says this couple paid $800 for the cruise; we're paying nearly ten times that on a much smaller ship, so hopefully our experience will be a little better!
Freeps Ahoy Damage Control Ping!
Good advice: Stay off cruise ships.
My parents went to Alaska twice on Holland America and loved it. :)
I have been on two wonderful cruises (Holland America) and would take another in a heartbeat, but never on Carnivore, their parent company.
Things didn't go right on their cruise! They didn't get to go on their excusion. Wah, Wah. The same thing happened to us on a cruise due to weather and rough seas. It was disappointing, but certainly not anything to come unglued about.
That was both good and amusing. Thanks.
If the food makes me sick, I am going to let them know about it. I guess that would make me rude too.
That part I believe.
"A guest's behavior has to be quite extreme to be ejected from the vessel," she said.
That part I also believe.
"I feared for my life," Leslie said, because he was in an unfamiliar city. "I feared for my wife's life."
In the Bahamas? After returning from Iraq? That part I definately do not believe.
I'm reminded of an experience I had just yesterday in the Charlotte airport. Everyone in the gate area heard the haranguing before they actually saw her. She was a lovely and gracious (sic) retiree getting a ride to the gate on one of those shuttle carts and was utterly convinced the driver did not know where he was going. He was stupid! Incompetent! Her tickets *clearly* said gate 25 but *that* is gate 22. The patient driver pointed to gate 25 which, if she had bothered to turn her head, she would have seen.
Her flight was, in fact, boarding and the marquee was alternating between the boarding flight and the next one. All she saw was the name of the next flight. "THAT'S NOT MY FLIGHT. THIS IS THE WRONG GATE!" She was screeching. It was insane. She rolled herself off the cart, stormed over to the counter, and demanded to know where her flight was. As the cart driver made his getaway he acknowledged all of the sympathetic "Sheesh!" expressions we gave him with a smile. (she didn't tip him)
Turns out the lady was flying standby and there were no seats available. That was news to her! And she's gonna sue! Someone's gonna be fired! Someone's gonna pay! The patient employees at the counter pointed her to the customer service desk and she toddled off fuming with rage.
I'm sure in that lady's (sic) mind she was being perfectly reasonable about not having the service experience she felt she was entitled to have.
"we know that journalists are highly trained in ferreting out the truth."
I am sure you must be saying that "tongue in cheek"
Wow...two cruises with Carnival and I thought they were the best vacations I ever took! If Carnival is bottom of the barrel the others must be outrageously fantastic!
I wouldn't hesitate to take another cruise, even on Carnival.
IMO, cruises are a great value. Drinks are what you'd expect to pay in any tourist location and what you lose in the casino is totally up to you.
Even the shore excursions were good. Sorry, but I can't complain!
But if the others are that much better maybe I'll give them a shot.
Your faith in an individual you have never met, and who is not even quoted in the article (unless I missed it) is astonishing.
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