Derelyn Kahler

Age: 44
Occupation: musician
Number of Cruises: 5
Cruise Line: Carnival
Ship: Glory
Sailing Date: February 19th, 2005
Itinerary: Eastern Caribbean

This cruise was the most disappointing one ever. The main talk aboard ship amongst the 3,000 passengers was about how Carnival could care less about it's customers. In addition to the poor treatment we received from Carnival on its botched cruise, we also had to endure dealing with its extremely rude customer service department. It is clear that Carnival does not care whether or not they lost future business from the passengers aboard the ill-fated Glory cruise of February 19, 2005. It all began with a late departure from Port Canaveral. Our suspicions began at the early seating in the Platinum dining room. We immediately noticed the ship seemed to be vibrating excessively and bucking. We inquired about the noise level and the vibrating. Clearly, the dining staff were reluctant to tell us anything and they appeared to be uncomfortable about it.

We arrived in Nassau and upon returning to the ship we were delivered the big bomb - the rest of the ports of call were cancelled! The excuse given was that the ships engines (propulsion system) were not working properly. No one aboard that ship could understand how Carnival could be so deceitful with its passengers. How could they depart Port Canaveral, possibly put the passengers at risk, and say that they didn't know there was a problem of this magnitude? Come on! Does this mean that Carnival does not properly maintain its ships and perform basic maintenance on its engines before and after each cruise? What bothers all of the passengers on that cruise the most is that Carnival made sure they got us all to Nassau so that they could use their loophole in the "vacation guarantee". Getting us to Nassau got them off the hook! At the very least, Carnival should have been honest and informed the passengers upon check-in that there was a major problem and offered the option to not take the cruise with a full refund. In our own case, why would we want to pay nearly $6,000 for a cruise that we have already taken in a long weekend cruise for less than half that amount? Carnival did not offer us any options at all - they merely threw us a bone of $100 ship credit (no loss to them).

Also, another major problem happened when they decided to take us to Key West. We were given a printed revised itinerary that said we would have a full day in Key West until departure at 8PM. When we went to disembark at Key West, a sign next to the exit ramp informed us that we had to be back on ship by 4:30! Once again, we were being shortchanged on our cruise! Needless to say, everyone on board discussed at dinner, at the bars, at the pool, at the shows, at the casino and at disembarkation back at Port Canaveral how badly Carnival treats its passengers and how we had been ripped off. Carnival should right its wrongs by offering refunds or something substantial for all the disappointment and aggravation they caused their passengers on the Carnival Glory. To date, Carnival's attitude about this cruise disaster has been "too darn bad". They are not even willing to discuss this. We will continue to pursue this through our attorney, booking agent and credit card company.

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