Ok, Lets hear it. Your horror cruise story.

[LA_CA_GAL]

I was in the casino, and the casino bar ran out of Coors Light:eek:. I had to go into the disco club to get a couple.

[gooch47]

I can honestly say that we've never experienced a horrible experience. Some were not great like the rogue wave that hit in the middle of the night, or missing a whole day due to fog, and some horrendous waves in the north sea.

 

But I don't think we would ever stop taking cruises as long as our health holds out.

[gooch47]

My husband just reminded me about the time our New Orleans NCL ship didn't arrive for debarkation until 5:00 pm and we had been standing in line since around 1:00pm. We didn't make it to our cabin until after midnight.

 

The worst part was that when they finally started registering the embarking passengers, most people totally ignored the lines and made a mad rush for the doors. Because we either didn't react quickly enough LOL or because we were too courteous we were actually the last passengers to board.

 

There was no where to get anything to drink, eat or sit down. They finally brought out some sandwiches and water. If you had to go inside the building to use the restroom you had to give them your passport until you came back out.

 

The ship was late because a medical emergency required a change in course so medical help could get there from Key West.

[sail7seas]

It's a long story I have posted in the past:

 

 

We had never considered cruising Carnival as we did not think it would be a "good fit" for us. Very dear friends of ours have a tight budget and have very much wanted to cruise. They heard about the then brand new Carnival Destiny coming to Boston to do some 4-5 day cruises and very much wanted us to book and cruise with them. We live near Boston so no air fare and the short cruises were reasonable (by comparison) prices. We resisted; they kept asking; we agreed.

 

We had four "real cruises" booked on HAL and this would be a nice getaway with good friends.

 

Cruise day arrived. Our TA called and told us to not hurry into Boston as the ship would be late arriving. Our documents said boarding at 7 P.M. That was already a late hour but...whatever.

 

We went to Boston;, had a nice dinner and made our way to the dock. No ship. We checked in and asked the same questions everyone else asked. No responses. We saw the check in people moving their mouths and a sound was coming out but it was clear they were not going to honestly answer our questions and they mumbled some gibberish.

 

Not enough seats for people. No food. No water. Restrooms backed up and were unusable and still no info. It is now 11 P.M. We are getting disgusted with the lack of info and the way we are being treated.

 

Midnight ...no Ship. 2 A.M.....no ship. Finally, after 3 A.M. the ship arrived. Embarkation was pushing and shoving and no order or direction by Carnival employees.

 

We get to our Suite. DH goes to sleep. I wait for suitcase to arrive.

It came about 4 A.M.

 

We got a little sleep and awoke to find the ship had not moved during the night. Met our friends for breakfast. Observed there were no Officers or Cruise Staff persons in sight. Only stewards/chefs/servers.

 

Finally about 11 A.M. a loudspeaker announcement the ship would sail late. No kidding!! Anyone who wished to leave now would get a full refund. Many folks left. We wanted to. Our friends had very sad faces and asked us to please wait it out as the announcement said we would sail about 4 P.M. Okay, we'll stay.

 

We walk around the ship and then go to a lounge. Have a drink or two and hopefully will enjoy sailaway.

 

We order another round and are told the bar is closed. Public announcement now comes on and says cruise cancelled. They would have given free drinks to everyone but Massachusetts won't allow. Ya....sure!!!

 

They say to stay aboard and they will serve formal night dinner. Stay overnight and have breakfast and then leave. Full refund for everyone and some small shipboard credit. What use is that? The stores are closed and the BARS ARE ONLY OPEN FOR SOFT DRINIKS.

 

We are ready to leave. Friends are really unhappy and ask us to at least have dinner and then we'll leave.

 

We have still not seen any Officer. Never heard from a Captain. Did we have one aboard?

 

We go down for early dinner. We had been assigned late. At least 70% of the passengers have left the ship. The dining room is almost empty.

Maitre d' cops an attitude and tells us we are not having dinner....we are assigned to late and this was early sitting. He is clearly looking for a tip!!! Is he out of his mind???

 

My DH said nothing but got "in his face" with an expression that clearly said, We will be seated and we will be seated NOW!!! Any questions?

 

This jerk takes us to the table immediately beside the bandstand where the band is playing music so inappropriately loud for a dining room. Obviously, when there is an empty dining room, this A%^$#*@ thinks he is going to "make a point" (that being we have not yet tipped him).

This time I gave him the "are you out of your mind" look and he quickly reconsidered and decided to find us another table.

 

End of Part I

Edited April 23, 2014 by sail7seas

[sail7seas]

Here is the rest of the story. :)

 

Part II

 

 

 

Outside the dining room, we had seen the Photographers snapping formal portraits. These were of a very senior couple dressed in her gown and his tuxedo. This was to have been their 50th Anniversary Celebration cruise with their family. She had clearly been crying.

 

Then there was the honeymoon couple. She was almost hysterical.

 

Then there was the young family.....she had clearly bought the kids new clothes special for the cruise. They were all dolled up for this miserable dinner.

 

You get the picture. For DH and me, this was to be a getaway. For many others, they had paid alot in airfare to get to the ship. Others had hired babysitters to take care of their children. Pets at kennels. Vacation time now wasted and not any more left for folks to enjoy.

 

Bars are closed so we order club sodas and diet cokes. We get billed for them. But REMEMBER, the announcement said Carnival would have opened the bar but Massachusetts wouldn't let them. I don't think so. If that were the case, soft drinks certainly would have been complimentary.

 

Dinner was so awful it was inedible. Servers were perfuntory and as close to rude as they thought they could get away with. They knew there would be no tips from any of us who were left. They have just lost five days of income. Hey, Mr. Steward......not my fault!! How about a smile?

 

We have had it. We return to our cabins; pick up our suitcases. Good thing we do not have a ton to carry as there is no one to help. Senior folks with canes are trying to drag their suitcases off the ship with no offer of assistance.

 

We get to the gangway and there is absolutely no Carnival person there. We have yet to see anyone on this entire ship aside from stewards/servers. They had no way of knowing who was still aboard the ship and who had left. No one took names or cabin numbers. No one there to say....Bye, Sorry. Try us again. No one to get taxis. Folks who needed help rebooking air got absolutely no help at all. There was NO ONE to help them. Never saw a cruise staff person.

 

We enter the darkened terminal where the lights have been turned way down and can barely find our way through it to the street. What a pleasant way to leave a ship....through a nearly fully dark terminal.

 

A lady sat alone in a wheelchair with no clue how she was going to get the help she obviously needed.

 

DH wrote to Carnival. We had no interest in anything from them except a refund which we knew would be issued. We simply did not want Carnival to think they could treat people in this manner and blithely dismiss all of us as a mere inconvenience.

 

None of us blamed Carnival for having engine problems they were unable to repair in order for us to sail. Machines break. While all would have been disappointed, most would have understood that "stuff" happens sometimes. What was not acceptible was to be so badly mistreated. For a Captain to not once speak to all of these "customers". For no one to be on a gangway to say Good-bye....do you need assistance? DH and I would be sailing on four real cruises during upcoming months. Many folks who left that ship in tears might never have the chance to sail again.

 

We received a prompt response which offered us a free cruise of our choice. We never used the enclosed coupons. Subsequent to this event, I have been invited on THREE FREE introductory cruises on Carnival ships. I have refused all three invitations for cruises that were for two and three days each. For free, I am not interested.

 

 

 

Thanks for listening/reading. :)

[Cruise_Christy]

Not had any bad cruises yet. Worst horror story was my own fault - left some very important medication behind, didn't realise till we'd set sail and I was getting ready for bed, reached for the medication. Nope. Not there. I'm not entirely sure what I would have done if there were a number of sea days following it since even missing one night was quite serious, but since the next day was a port day I had to cancel an excursion to find a doctor first thing in the morning, and managed to get a short-term prescription to cover the holiday. But that was my own silly fault

[Starlight Durban Cruising]

Having ordered a NICE bottle of Champ', it was in a wine bucket serving multiple tables. Adjacent table, a travel agent was trying to impress members of a group he was with and grabbed our bottle to fill the glasses of his group - he'd bought cheap stuff. Wine stew' saw it happening and slapped his hand and scolded him - his customers all averted their eyes ....

LOL, too funny.

[akeasley]

 

Thanks for listening/reading. :)

 

 

If I'm ever tempted to try Carnival (highly unlikley) I'll just reread your story :-)

[vacation luvver]

My worst cruise was a 14 night cruise on Celebrity Summit. The waiters at breakfast in the MDR were so awful that I went there only twice. It took forever to get my food (meaning that the eight of us at the table placed our orders at the same time, and my order of waffles was brought to me after six of the other seven people had finished eating), and after that, I had breakfast at the buffet. I had Celebrity Select Dining. My friend and I always ordered only a main course, not soup or salad or dessert, so that we could get out of there quickly, but every single night, the waiter treated our table for two and the nearby tables for two as if all of us were at one big table, meaning that he brought us our food only after he served everyone else their soups and salads. We mentioned this several times to the maître d, but it never did any good. So on my comment card, I gave the MDR waitstaff the lowest possible rating and explained why.

 

We had to take tenders for some of our shore excursions, and the tender service was dreadful. We had to wait literally hours to get on a tender, even though we had booked ship's shore excursions, and the excursion desk people finally admitted that some tours were being canceled, since there was no way for people to get to shore in time to take them.

 

What further annoyed me was that at places where the ship docked, we had to meet in the theatre and wait to be herded onto buses, instead of being told to go to the pier and look for the bus. So there were ten tours leaving at the same time, and the excursion people took out one tour at a time, and of course, my tour was the last one, and by the time we all got on the bus, we were very late, and the tour director told us that since we were so late, we were going to miss some of the tour that we had already paid for. (Yes, I complained afterwards and got some money back, but when I book a tour, it's because I want to see the sights. I do not book a tour and say, "Maybe there will be a way I can get some money back!" I asked the excursion desk people why we couldn't just go look for the bus ourselves (which we did at one port), and they said that it was because they love helping people. That was why they had us all meet in the theatre and wait and wait and wait until they were able to lead us out of there (and make us miss our sightseeing).

 

But the worst part of the cruise when my friend and I were on a tender going from Bar Harbor, Maine back to the ship, when it crashed into some rocks and there was a gas leak and the air filled with fumes. That might not sound so bad to you, but it was bad enough to Celebrity that a few days after the cruise, they called my friend and me to offer us enough cruise credit to cover a cruise to Bermuda, including port charges and the prepaid gratuities.

 

I was just sorry that this hadn't been offered to us during the cruise, because people kept bringing the subject up (it had been broadcast over the ship's loudspeaker that a tender had crashed into the rocks), and when I said that I was on that tender, I was asked if I had been offered any compensation, and I always said, "Not one penny!" Those of us on the tender had had a meeting with the captain, and he didn't say a single word about us getting any compensation. It was nice of them to offer it after the cruise, especially since my friend and I never called them - they went out of their way to call us and offer us the compensation, but it would have been better if they could have said something to us on the cruise, or else we wouldn't have told everyone that Celebrity didn't think that we deserved even one penny.

 

We had a good time on the Bermuda cruise because there weren't any tenders. And I think my comment card about the horrible service in the MDR did some good, because the service on the Bermuda cruise was excellent.

[Floridastorm]

my first cruise was with my EX-husband. Nuff said.

 

Great sense of humor. A lady after my heart. :D

[harleychic1200]

At the time this happened I was really embarrassed but then I couldn't stop laughing about it and thought it was so funny. I'm sure the steward was embarrassed too :) My husband and I got married on the Carnival Breeze last year and we just got done getting picture taken so we decided to go back to the room to have some alone time :) we must have really been in the moment because we didn't hear the room attendant knocking on the door trying to deliver a fruit basket saying congrats!! Well he decided no one was in the room and came in! Of course I screamed because it scared me and my husband was trying to find something to cover up with while the attendant was like omg I'm so sry and kept saying I'm sry then left. I couldn't help but laugh that this happen. Lesson learned always put the do not disturb on the door :) We will never forget that moment lol

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[vacation luvver]

A couple of people here have said "Now I know to always put out the Do Not Disturb card," but it doesn't always work. On one cruise, I had the Do Not Disturb card out, but it didn't keep my room steward out, because he decided to come in anyway and he found me sitting on the toilet. So I learned that the Do Not Disturb card doesn't mean anything, and I always locked the bathroom door when I went into the bathroom, even though I was a solo cruiser.

[Harooni]

I was in the casino, and the casino bar ran out of Coors Light:eek:. I had to go into the disco club to get a couple.

 

lol the horror

[Sue Do-Over]

Thought we were going on a romantic vacation, but my partner thought he'd rather play poker. He'd watched a lot of tournaments on TV, and he had it all figured out. You know the type.

 

He joined a group of buddies/brothers playing Hold 'em... and they cleaned him out. HOW he thought he could win against their table talk and inside comments, I have no idea. He got more and more frustrated.

 

The brothers were high-fiving one another as they took turns raking in the pot. Literally, they went around the table! (I was playing another game nearby) They let him take a pot occasionally, to keep him in the game, obviously... if he raised early (like the novice he was) they'd all fold and let him take the ante.

 

My guy thought his luck would turn, and wouldn't/couldn't admit that he was being fleeced. He hid his S&S statement, but I found it... more than $5k in 4 days. He was so frustrated and moped around, made our trip NOT the romantic get away I'd hoped for!

 

Not a horror story of real magnitude, but it does remind me that he only had a bad trip because HE made it bad.

[nybumpkin]

This isn't exactly a "horror" story, because we really enjoyed the cruise. However, it sure didn't turn out the way we planned....

 

We planned a cruise on Carnival Conquest for early July 2005, figuring that was early enough in hurricane season that we wouldn't run into bad weather. Since neither DH nor I had ever been to New Orleans, we planned to fly in on Friday, arriving around lunchtime, tour the city Friday and Saturday, and board the ship on Sunday. We flew out of Albany early with a change at O'Hare for the flight to New Orleans. The weather was great, the flight was on time, we arrived at O'Hare, and saw that awful word on the board for our next leg of the journey: CANCELLED. It seems they didn't have a crew for the flight. The airline couldn't book us on another flight until 3:30 on Saturday. So much for New Orleans. Now we were stuck in a hotel near O'Hare with only our carry-ons.:( (We've traveled enough, however, to make sure we always pack a change of clothes in our carry-ons.)

 

Now what? I sulked for a while - but then we realized that we were not far from a Blue Line station. We ended up taking the El to the Loop, then went over to Navy Pier, and then took one of the architectural boat tours on the Chicago River. It actually ended up being a fun day. Next day, back over to O'Hare, where we headed for security.

 

We are a family of five - parents and three boys. We all have one-way tickets and no checked bags. That just screamed "trouble" to security - so all five of us, including the 5 YO, got the heightened searches.:eek: At any rate, we finally made it to New Orleans. At least we had a chance to see a little of the city.

 

On to the cruise. Remember that we booked early July for a lower risk of hurricanes. However, this is 2005. By the time we cruised, the "C" storm had already formed. And after we sailed, the "D" storm formed: Hurricane Dennis. By the time we reached Jamaica it was already a Category 4 and heading toward Cuba. We did manage to get our shore excursions in, but the islanders were boarding up and shutting down a lot of tourist operations.

 

The next day we were scheduled for Grand Cayman. Definitely not happening. However, we were told that since there was an open pier in Cozumel we could sail directly there and do an overnight. It was disappointing to miss GC (although we've been there twice since and are booked this summer for a third visit), but the extra time in Cozumel was nice.

 

Now before we reached Cozumel, the Captain told the passengers that given the projected path of the storm there was a good chance that the ship would not be able to return to New Orleans on time and that passengers who needed to be back should consider flying home from Cozumel. I don't think anyone did so. Sure enough, on the following sea day the Captain announced that the Mississippi River was closed and we would have an additional sea day. That extra day was very rough; while the eye of the storm was not nearby (it made landfall on the Florida panhandle), the entire Gulf of Mexico was stirred up. I've never seen so many "do not disturb" signs on cabin doors. DH stood up on one of the highest decks to get a cell phone signal so he could change our flights home. Once they re-opened the river, we returned to New Orleans. The next cruise was shortened from 7 days to 6. To add insult to injury, our flight home was bumpy - thanks to the remnants of Dennis.:p

 

We're limited to sailing in July and August, thanks to DH's teaching schedule, the boys' school schedules, and my work schedule. We just have to take the risk of bad weather. I'm not anticipating any hurricanes on our upcoming Alaska trip, though.:D

[mapsmith]

Mine had the potential to turn out badly, but was able to save the day through a small additional expense.

 

We had booked a cruise on MSC (about the third year that they were sailing out of Florida.

Of course I booked airfare separately from Phoenix to Fort Lauderdale the day before.

 

Drove from Tucson to Phoenix. At the Phoenix airport about an hour before the flight I realized that we did not have our passports (we only cruise with passports). Fortunately we can fly with Driver's licenses.

Called MSC to see if there would be any problem sailing with just Driver's licenses since we were past passengers and they had our passport numbers on file. Nope.

Fortunately, I have a couple of employees that I felt I could trust. Sent one to the house to open the safe and get the passports to have them FEDEXed to our hotel in Fort Lauderdale.

 

Next morning at the Hotel. Waiting for the FEDEX guy. 10AM, 11AM. Went to lunch with the In-Laws. Came back to the hotel. No FEDEX package. My employee said that he took it to FEDEX at TUS and they were sending it. The Hotel desk said to check with the Bellman. He contacted the shipping desk at the hotel (not the main desk) and there was the package.

 

Got our passports and made it to the ship about 1:30. Had a great time.

[vsgnorwich]

My husband and I, 2 English passengers, had all of our luggage stolen from a Hurtigruten ship March 2014 after embarking in Bergen for the 12 day round trip. We feel we must highlight the incident and dangers to other current and future international passengers, who will naturally expect in 2014 a certain level of security. Global passengers do not expect when sold a cruise that anyone off the street can board a ship, steal passengers’ suitcases that Hurtigruten have left unsafe in corridors or in unlocked luggage stores and walk off the ship with the suitcases completely unchallenged. There is no security.

Hurtigruten are refusing to replace our stolen possessions, even after admitting that the suitcases were in their care and it is therefore their responsibility to put the situation right, as they were negligent by allowing a visitor to steal the 2 big suitcases and walk past the staff completely unchallenged.

 

If you want to read the full story and about the rest of the awful voyage

 

http://cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=254129

 

This horror cruise story still goes on months after the voyage and remains unresolved.

[lady_cruiser]

Our one and only horror story was way back in September 2005, our first cruise. We were suppose to leave New Orleans on the Conquest but the port of embarkation was changed to Galveston when Hurricane Katrina destroyed the Port of New Orleans the month before.

 

Fast forward to our last sea day when we are heading back to Galveston after 7-fun filled days in the Caribbean. The Captain came on and told us that we were going to spend two extra days at sea because Hurricane Rita hit the Louisiana/Texas coast and the Port of Galveston was closed. If we couldn't docked in two days we were headed to Miami where Carnival would fly everyone home. :eek: This is where my horror comes in. I am very afraid of flying and I went into a panic mode.

 

But everything worked out. Costa Maya contacted the ship and opened their port to us. This was an extra island that wasn't on our original itinerary and it turned out to be the best island we visited that week.

 

We were able to dock in Galveston two days later and headed home. My sister and I are use to hurricanes but our cousins from Arizona that was with us could not get over the devastation they witnessed on the way home. But the horror we were feeling on the way home is one I don't want to repeat. We didn't even know if our house was still standing back home in Louisiana and had no had to call anyone. Back then we didn't have cell phones and came on a tour bus with a group sponsored by a local radio station. But, thank GOD that our house was OK and still standing. The yard was littered with debris and branches but that we could live with.

 

That was our first cruise and it was the one that hooked us on cruising. Every vacation we now take is a cruise except for one land-base vacation in 2014 when we took a tour bus trip from Louisiana to Canada and back. And I should say this was my first and "last" bus trip.