Truly, what are the odds that this would be happening on only one cruise line? Is Carnival really THAT bad an operation?

The industry better get a handle on this....and QUICK.

I cruise a lot and always avoid Carnival. They are more like a cheap hotel that is made to look pretty with a coat of paint and a bit of trim work. What's underneath is still cheap. Give me Royal Caribbean or Princess cruise lines any day.

Those boats are huge tho and theres alot that can break. It's just like airplanes if you think about it. They are always have something wrong. I want to go on vacation on a train or a huge sailing yacht. But those big boats seem kind of boring like a fancy hotel but with a mall and a restrant attached to it.

"Those boats are huge tho and theres alot that can break."

Carnival's woes are due to the fact that they bid for a barely sufficient ship - their boats would NEVER be allowed to do an Atlantic run - they simply don't have any redundancy built into them.

They made the poor choice to buy boats that could barely do their job on a good day, so they could pack as many sheep on board as possible - and when they run into mechanical difficulties, instead of steaming home at reduced speed they have crippled boats.

I'd NEVER cruise on Carnival after seeing how few reserves they have in case of emergency.

Can you say, "Going out of Business Sale"?

Most Special, No thank god they are not just like airplanes!

The solution for Carnival is simple: stop building cheap, ugly floating pieces of junk.

Not " boats " they are ships. POS ships but ships none the less.

I been a merchant marine officer for 20 years and Im a 3rd generation sailor. These cruise lines hire foreigners to crew their ships for cheap labor. You will not get the quality sailor such as myself. American sailors have to be certified as a lifeboatman, firefighter, first aid and cpr and survival training at sea. Your cruise line will hire a foreiner that holds the same license I do from a country that doesnt have the same standards as the U.S. They do this so they can afford to give you a cruise at a cheap price, so go ahead and cruise at your own risk.

Maintenance? What Maintenance? These ships have to be turned around for the next cruise so fast that there is no time for proper maintenance on the major ships systems (i.e. propulsion, electrical, fresh water, plumbing,etc.) If the ship is not underway full of people, then it doesn't make money! I can't remember the TV show, but they can turn one of these ships around for the next cruise in 72 hours or less.

That is what you get when you cut maintenance budget during hard times. This is not just bad luck, it is happening with carnival ships all around the globe. Maintenance of their ships should be first priority. Bad management from the top down.

It's time for the US Parks Service to run a counter TV advertisement to Carnival's Grizzly Bear/ Mountain Lion attack on the two screaming idiots in the car. Let me write and direct it. Now that would be fun!!!

chouse,

Cruise ships were never designed to go across the Atlantic but I understand what you are trying to say.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-75WaIO3mg

Funny sh.it..

Needaplan

Will be interesting to see how they handle this on the PR front.

"Carnival cruises. You'll spend what the others charge for a weekend, but you'll enjoy two weeks on the water."

Stuck at sea with 2,000 of your close friends without services isn't worth the savings to me. I'm amazed people still buy their tickets.

Sorry, but there is not enough money on earth to get me to go on a Carnival Cruise.

I wonder why the US government allows their ships into port and allows Carnival to put US citizens at such terrible risk. The CEO of Carnival lives in Miami and is listed as one of the wealthiest people in the world. Too bad his greed prevents him from properly maintaining his ships. Somebody needs to sue this jerk for all he's worth over this. It sounds like it is only a matter of time before one of these ships sinks in the Gulf of Mexico and kills most to all on board.

I bet you'll think twice before reaching for a spoonful of the goulash, next time your standing in front of a buffet table on a Carnival cruise, eh?

The US Park Service commercial could open with the ship's Captain telling the passengers the engine malfunctioned and they will have to switch to emergency power. The next scene is now the same passengers at the oars like in "Ben-Hur"... "Battle Speed, Hortator!"

6079......That's FUNNY!!!

When it rains it pours. Carnival sure does have a black cloud following them right now, though some of it maybe their own doing. Whatever it is they better figure it out. Seems it continues to be with engine issues, may want to start there. I will say though I posted the other day about this and aside from these events, IMO I would still take a cruise and they still seem to be a really good deal. Me and my wife took a Carnival cruise, sailed on the Legend in fact (not an old ship either so this is a surprise), and had a wonderful time. Heck now is probably the best time to take a cruise as prices should get really good. By no means am I a cruise expert, went one time, but sharing my experience and it was a good one. Hope they figure it out and can right the ship (pun yes). Anyone taking a cruise or wants to, I say don't get put off by this and do your homework before you say yes or no. Remember news is more about headlines and hype then fact reporting these days.

It is time

LMAO!

Carnival is screwed with all this bad press- so close to vacation time for many.

Micky Arison, the Jesus of Carnival, is apparrently so obsessed with the Miami Heat and tight-fisted and greedy, that he has become incompetent to run Carnival, and everyone in Miami knows it. He'll take your money and promise a cruise, but won't spend the necessary amount on ship maintenance. Carnival scrapes the bottom on cleanliness and safety. Guess who owns the Costa Concordia, by the way? AVOID Carnival to stay safe and healthy.

Carnival also owns Cunard, Holland America, Princess, Costa and Seabourn Cruise Lines. Their ships are not made with deep hulls to cross the Atlantic because most cruise in the Caribbean and Mexico. The ports there have shallow ports and their ships are built for such. BTW the Legend does have a TransAtlantic cruise to Europe and back scheduled for this year. Perhaps some of you that have no freaking idea what you are talking about would like to book one of them.

OMG, Rocko!! they have a TransAtlantic cruise to Europe and back via Legend?!? I gotta admit I laughed when I saw the headlines of this article this morning. But THAT would be absolutely horrible and tragic!

Let me see what I am going to do with that extra $2000 I have in Federal Reserve notes, I know go on a ship. With 4000 other peeps, maned by a crew of dopes from some 3rd world shixhole, to visit even more 3rd world shix holes islands. Hey if you want to do that, come to NY I will give you a self guide tours of NYC, or Yonkers, Albany, all loaded with 3rd world peeps, and you can enjoy the sights, sound and smells of them.

My husband thinks it would be fun to be caught in one of these "disasters"- sort of a high seas adventure if you will. I'm thinking "Oh Great" .

If this continues I might have to lean towards sabotage. Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is a saboteur. As a rule, saboteurs try to conceal their identities because of the consequences of their actions. For example, whereas an environmental pressure group might be happy to be identified with an act of sabotage, it would not want the individual identities of the perpetrators known.

Time for a new CEO but as with any major corporation, he will still get his huge, over the top bonus and salary. It is like being a weatherperson...failure is rewarded. The big difference between a weatherperson and a CEO...you cannot accurately predict Mother Nature.

Cost-cutting is a major factor is this cruiseline's recent headlines, no doubt. You get what you pay for. If it is true that non-US Citizens trained or certified in foreign countries with lower standards & regulations than required in the United States then it is proof that it is all about PROFITS before the safety and well-being of its customers. That is CAPITALISM at its finest, folks. I say the fines should target these companies' profits...public and private companies. Investors will think twice...it should be about long-term stability, not short-term with high risks for the sake of profits ahead of safety of the people with whom the expense is laid upon unsuspectingly.

Oh...and these fines should not be exempt from taxation. Get them where it its most...in the wallet.

Train Guy....

You said you thought they turn these ships around in 72 hours? Try less than 12 hours. I took a Carnival cruse 2 years ago out of Galveston. We arrived in port at 8:00 a.m. Sunday morning. The ship was scheduled to pull out around 4:30 p.m. that same day! One thing I can say is that it is amazing how quickly the longshoremen off load the baggage and trash and reload the food, supplies and baggage. But because of this quick turnaround, maintenance has to be neglected. Regarding the cruse....terrible. We had a fire in the kitchen that cancelled the one coat and tie meal we were scheduled for. Picture more than 2000 in the hamburger and pizza lines. Ship looked cheaply built. If not for my winnings in the casino, the trip would have been a total loss!

the merchant marine sailor above hit the nail on the head; a American flag vessel, must be maned by a crew of a minimum of 65% American certified ab or z card seaman, paid a living wage and be real seaman; that is why there are no, zero, American flag cruise ships, except in Hawaii, the inner island small cruise ships are American flag vessels, clean, in good shape and safe.

If you enjoy boozing, mindless entertainment, gluttony, and other vices, cruise ships are "fun." However cruise ships are floating poop factories, dumping millions of tons of raw sewage into open ocean and illegally into near-shore areas. They also generate massive amounts of air pollution. These decadent extravagances are a sign of the rise of Idiocracy, and I hope all the cruise lines fail or are outlawed.

After two cruises with Carnival, both on newer ships a few years ago I told my husband NEVER AGAIN...our last cruise was with Royal Caribbean last year and the difference between the two cruise lines is huge. Royal Caribbean is a class act from beginning to end, it was by far the best vacation we have ever had. The food on RC compared to Carnival is like Lobster vs. horsemeat. You couldn't pay me to take a Carnival cruise, even before all of their recent problems were aired...

Ya know, I've never been much of a conspiracy theorist, but... I am seriously wondering if some group is targeting Carnival with sabotage. Otherwise, this is one HELL of a big coincidence!

@Juliann

“failure is rewarded”

No. That only occurs in Government, not in the free market.

Instead of going on a diatribe against your imagined CEO with his imagined bonuses lighting up his imagined cigars with imagined $100 bills while flicking his imagined ashes on his imagined slave workers--how about dropping back into the real world?

In the real world, this guy is toast. The company’s reputation is in the gutter which will cause the company to lose customers. Profits will be down and the shareholders and Board of Directors will kick him out (I’m betting they’ve got him halfway out the door already.)

Beyond that, if Carnival’s problems don’t get fixed in the near future, they’ll go out of business and some other cruise line will come in, provide better service and pick up the slack.

That’s the beauty of Capitalism. You only make money if you provide something that customers want at a reasonable price.

I think the only 'sabotage' occurring is that Carnival's owners and executives are shooting themselves in the foot through lack of proper maintenance of their ships. Sure, employee sabotage is always a possibility. But with the very small turnaround time, it's pretty obvious that there is not enough time to do proper maintenance between cruises. Add to that the fact that maintenance personnel are from third world countries and not trained as well, and it's obvious that unwise choices made by Carnival owners and executives are catching up with them.

I was going on a Carnival Cruise for my vacation but now I think I will just go somewhere close by and get a high colonic, and for a little excitement I can just hang around a local dive bar and pick fights. It's going to be a lot cheaper and the results will be pretty much the same.

KarlStevens: "However cruise ships are floating poop factories, dumping millions of tons of raw sewage into open ocean and illegally into near-shore areas."

Thanks a lot for that image. Now, whenever I see a Carnival commercial I will be looking at the fantail to see if there is a brown stain. However, what with thousands of whales, millions of porpoises, dolphins and other marine mammals, and many billions of fish, crustaceans and plankton all using the oceans as a toilet, I don't think that a few dozen cruise ships are going to make much of an impact on the marine sanitary facilities.

I wish I knew it was ok to poop in the creek by my house... I could have saved thousands on a septic system....

I remember as a kid seeing the toilet paper and brown objects floating in the inhabited stream areas, now with the laws the sewage plants have replaced open dumping, and that is a good thing...The billion dollar cruise business just goes to international waters and does what ever the want.

As far as the sea creatures pooping in the water WOW 4 Corners does that mean we can poop on the sidewalk at the mall

Rocko-417349

Carnival also owns Cunard, Holland America, Princess, Costa and Seabourn Cruise Lines. Their ships are not made with deep hulls to cross the Atlantic because most cruise in the Caribbean and Mexico

Actually, all of Cunard's ships, the Queen Mary 2, the Queen Victoria and the Queen Elizabeth are built according to NWA (North Winter Atlantic) standards, as were all ocean liners of the past. Cunard is a subsidiary of Carnival but is left pretty much on its own. Carnival pays to have Cunard's ships built according to WNA standards. It won't do it for its own ships and then this sh*t happens.

Because Cunard insists that its ships be built to the highest standards of safety and maintenance and luxury (and Carnival, owning it, has to foot the bill), its ships are ranked as the highest rated in the world. Yes, one pays a bit more for it, but one gets what one pays for but it shows that putting some more effort can be highly profitable. I've sailed on the Queen Mary 2 which, at 150,000 tons, averages 2,000 passengers and lived in the lap of luxury and knowing I was safe. There was, indeed, luxury and room to move around and the best food I've ever eaten. I've sailed on Carnival ships of 100,000 tons with 4,000 passengers and was crowded, feeling like I was in steerage and the food was barely edible. I "help out" at a local travel agency because of my cruising experience and I always tell prospective clients to stay away from Carnival, unless they want to pay cheap and get a cheap and miserable experience.

Check out this 16FEB2013 Boston Globe article, which tells how Carnival CEO Micky Arison chose to attend a Miami Heat-Boston Celtics game (he also owns the Heat) rather than meet the crippled Triumph of the Seas and its 3,200 stranded passengers in Mobile.

Do you think he'll do anything different now?

A salient article quote:

In Japan, such a disaster is an occasion for the CEO to step down in a demonstration of shame and accountability. In the United States, apparently, it’s an occasion for the CEO to push his senior VP out in front of the cameras, as Arison did. (Does the annual bonus cover the cost of humiliation?)

Apparently, the maintenance, health and safety of Heat stars like LeBron James is more important to Arison than that of Carnival Corporation's passengers and crew.

The attitudes and actions taken at the top tend to percolate down to the lowest level. Something to remember when you're booking your next cruise.

Some of you guys know a lot about seamen.

4corners.....years ago...back in the late 80's, we took a cruise that started in San Juan, Puerto Rico and ended in Miami, Florida and it was common to see huge amounts of flotsam. I'm sure it didn't come from dolphins and whales.

Diogenes22

That's the beauty of Capitalism. You only make money if you provide something that customers want at a reasonable price.

That's rather naive. If you're selling hamburgers, yes, you're right. If you're in the cruise line business, the barrier to entry is too high for much competition. The fundamental problem with capitalism is that you inevitably end up with monopolies.

There's only two major cruise lines that i know of - royal caribbbean and carnival (carnival owns many of the other cruise lines like Princess).

If this continues I might have to lean towards sabotage.

Sabotage? I doubt that, but it might make a good name for their next piece of crap ship!

They offer 50% off a future cruise? lol I hope it is on a competitor's ship.

Kevin in post 1.14 said about the comedian steve harvey; "Funny sh.it.."

Indeed. I roared.

re wf in post 1.34 wrote; "Ya know, I've never been much of a conspiracy theorist, but... I am seriously wondering if some group is targeting Carnival with sabotage. Otherwise, this is one HELL of a big coincidence!"

The cheapest maintenance is planned maintenance. The USN learned that back in the 30's and 40's. As an example, ship service turbo generator maintenance was scheduled on a monthly basis (unless at sea, of course). A final step was to pull a cover off the back of the engine and inspect the journal bearing bolts which were about a half inch or five eights. I touched them and lifted them free. I torqued the bolts back down.

If the maintenance hadn't been done the bolts could have come undone during operation and caused catastrophic damage. The ship could have been out of commission for months with a heavy financial cost.

The only thing thats not fun tho is your kind of stuck on the boat if theres a problem. And you also like slave labor cause the people that work there pretend to be happy but they work all the time and don't get paid. Didn't you ever notice they arent even American. They are always from someplace like Africa or other poor islands somewhere.

@Most, Then that is some slave labor place huh. Either be on a ship or sit in the sand swatting flies and starving.

Denver Bill 2

I agree. I have always used Royal Carribean and have always had first rate service and first rate accomodations. I took my 71 year old mother on her dream of a lifetime on an Alaska Cruise. She was treated like royalty. She could walk a little but was a little unsteady and was on occasional oxegen and we took a wheelchair to make it easier to get around. Well they did everything to make it easier on her including people to take her up and down the gangplank in her wheelchair. They were constantly making her feel welcome. One evening they had a picture with the Captain night and I wanted her to have a picture. When it was her turn to stand and walk up to get her picture, the Captain walked down to her wheelchair and escorted her up to the stand to get her picture and then back to her wheelchair. The picture turned out great and it really made her day. That is customer service to the max degree. People may talk about foreigners that are used in order to save money, but a lot of foreigners know a lot more about customer service and how to make you feel great being on their cruise lines.

If I had paid for a cruise to include Grand Cayman and they skipped Grand Cayman, I would expect more than a $100. credit. That's one of the best stops. These people deserved far more than they got and Carnival seems to need to take a really close look at the maintenance of their ships.

Agree on Royal Caribbean. We've sailed Royal Caribbean four times and Disney once. Both cruise lines were great. As an aside, people from the Costa Concordia said they had not even done the safety drills. Both Royal Caribbean and Disney do them right at the beginning of the cruise and Royal Caribbean will hunt you down if you are not at your station when they do the practice drill.

They are basing the credit on the average amount each passenger paid for the cruise, which is about $600-$700, so basically $100 per person per day. I'm certainly no fan of Carnival...or cruising in general. Carnival is like the Wal Mart of cruise ships. Even NCL looks better than they do now.

Most, I don't go on Carnival anymore due to the cheapness and people of "Your Kind". We all tip well and I am sure those from different nations make more there than any other opportunities they would have had. You should stop judging others in an overall sense and point your finger back at yourself.

Tom, not DenverBill but good stuff on Royal Carribean. That's excatly the service I have seen. Grand Caymon is nothing more than a gas stop and a row of bars. The Stingray City trip is cool but I would not shed tears to pass that rock by.......

If NCL is better than Carnival, that tells me all I need to know.

They are huge boats tho. And each one has like 4000 toilets so if 2 overflow and a elevator doesnt work its not that bad. But the people that work there don't get paid much. I hope all the rich people that go on cruises hook them up with huge tips but I bet you they dont.

Typically, rich people don't cruise on Carnival. Actually, I think it's great that they can offer a low-priced cruise for people who aren't rich - but not if the savings compromise safety.

People have mentioned that these ships are cheaply built with no margin for error, certainly seems right to me. Funny thing is, this is the perfect example of pay me now or pay me later. In the last year Carnival has one ship still on it's side in Italy with 32? dead passengers, two others, dead in the water, that had to be towed and now one stuck in port and another slowly limping home. Now let them talk at their next board meeting on how much money they saved in building those ships cheaper. It's either that or hiring incompetant mechanics and ship captains...or all of these things.

They (Carnival) made over $5 billion dollars last year.

I do believe after these latest incidents that Carnival needs to dry dock all their ships and have them thoroughly inspected and maintained. I wouldn't set foot on another Carnival Cruise line! My one and only cruise was on an old Carnival ship 2 years ago. In my opinion, it was not clean, did not have enough entertainment due to it's age, and needed a good scrub and upgrading. I think it is the smallest and oldest of their ships and moved from Galveston to Florida sometime later that year. I would not recommend that ship or their cruise line to anyone. The music was too loud on deck, very stupid contests that only drunks would particiate in. The only thing good about the ship was the nighttime dining. During the day, the lido deck buffets - tables were at a premium and weren't cleaned fast enough to handle the number of people moving in and out.

My wife and I are experienced cruisers and have noticed the recent decline in service aboard Carnival. We agreed that it appeared to be the cruise line’s response to the troubled economy. However, it’s one thing to cut the service and downgrade the value of cruising but it looks like they have now gone to far and it is affecting the safety and welfare of the passengers. We have decided to forgo cruising and revert back to land based vacationing.

I still dont get how boats that big even float. I think I would be scared going on one of them.

Why on earth would you be scared.?Do you fly, or does a big plane scare you too? Live a little. life is to short. Cruiser for Life:)

They float because of basic physics... boyancy and water displacement. I feel safer on a cruise ship than crossing the street. <Royal Caribbean Diamond member>

Most special - You'd just LOVE submarines.

There's no better place in the ocean to be than on a submerged submarine in a hurricane. I wonder if that would be a way to help out with the budget? Convert some of the retired boats into cruise ships.

lol, I have known a few guys who did tours on subs....you would not get me on one for nothing. I like the sun too much.

MostSpecial and Sir Edmund Burke are on to something... boats float but submarines sink. Amazing.

Actually, submarines don't sink unless they're damaged or disabled. Subs "submerge" and are able to maintain a specific depth and maneuver in the water with a specific buoyancy via ballast and propulsion under it's own control (something like an airship does in its "ocean" of air). A sub or (or a ship) sinks when it's unable to do that and eventually hits bottom.

They should get new ones and sell the old ones to rich people in Saudi Arabia. Theres tons of rich people there.

No the ships aren't worn out - they buy crappy ones to begin with... without any real level of backups in case they run into problems with their primary systems. Queen Mary 2 is a stately machine compared to these junk piles that Carnival drives around.

They figured that since they only went on short cruises to the Caribbean, they didn't need as much redundancy - and THEY WERE WRONG!

You get what you pay for. Cheap prices Cheap products Cheap service.

Wow, look at all the experts on large ships! maybe you guys should run this company. I'm SURE you could do a much better job. The wife and I have been on most of the major cruise lines and Carnival is one of our favorites. These ships ALL have the same basic backup safety systems, weather it be R.C,Princess,Disney,Celebrity,Norwegian, etc. Now maybe it IS an internal labor issue or even worse, God forbid. But, kick em when they're down? Put yourself in the position, and think twice. I tend to think it may be a bizarre coincidence, maybe, maybe not. They(Carnival) have some obvious issues, mechanical as well as PR. Try and give em a break, they are sweating bullets I'm sure.

Don't fool yourself. The ocean is dangerous when it's not respected. Safety at sea has to be even more important than making sure that there's enough lobster on board. That safety involves daily maintenance, and strict adherence to operating procedures. I can't forgive a company that risks the health and lives of people when it chooses to take people into harm's way without safety being the first priority.

@Christian--All the same? That's like comparing casino barges as being as well built as our Aircraft carriers. Carnival does not have adequate back up systems, obviously. The quality lines, i.e. Royal C. Have advanced, not basic backups. I have marine operations experience and would not want to step onto a carnival ship in dry dock.

Thats funny. The way you said that.

I bet the workers on the ships know something.

I think it might be sabotage by disgrutled employees, Regardless I am a huge fan of Carnival Cruise Lines. I've been on 27 Carnival Cruises with no issues. I plan on going on 27 more if I live long enough. If you take into consideration the amount of ships Carnival and its sister companies control, this is a small percentage of problems they are facing. It's just that they are bunched together, which is very unfortunate for the people on board. Lets get these Ships squared away and get back to the best vacation ever.

Didn't you know the workers are from forign countries and they never get paid. They get like $1 each hour. But they kind of get a free cruise.

That is not true!!! Goofy!

Puke bucket.

Note to self: Avoid Carnival Cruse Lines for the foreseeable future......

Is that the bucket for a #1 or a #2?

I bet you the company is international already. They don't even register the boats in USA cause it costs to much.

Most Special....I doubt it costs too much......they just want to pay less! There's a big difference!

Very very few cruise ships are registered in the US. If you register in the US the ships are required to follow US labor laws and their fore could not afford to pay their workers US minimum wage. (well they could but then the cruise would be like $2000 pp inside cabin/week) The officers, engineers and critical mechanics make decent enough money, it's all the others that live for the tips or get shafeted. (wait staff, cabin stewart, cooks, general maintenance) I've also read on several of these comment boards that there is no loyalty from the crew to the curise line, but every crew member I have ever talked to has been with their respective company for many years. (5-10-25) I've even run into a few crew members on different ships years apart. All that being said I would never cruise Carnival, but I do cruise Princess which is owned by Carnival and they are fine. Of course they are more expensive, which might have something to do with it.

Yeah. They should of put emergency supplies on a cargo plane and air dropped it to the cruise boat. Its not rocket science. But they are lazy and just wait until it gets back somewhere to fix it.

mystyou: Carnival was an airline. It was a Miami based small 727 operator. Purchased a couple ex Eastern aircraft during it's bankruptcy. Despite the efforts of some fine employes, the airline failed due to an inept CEO and a drug / booze habit of it's president. Airline merged with a failing Pan Am ll and both failed also.

Take emergncy equipment just in case. The last one they had to sleep outside so take camping stuff. A tent and plenty of camping food. Theres things they have tons of you wont need like blankets. And they have food but if the kitchens dont work they cant cook it so take a camping stove. And a fishing rod that way you can catch fish if you need to.

Pack some MREs and water. Not to mention toilet paper and trash bags to hold the.. you know.. when your toilet fails. Come to think of it, you may want to pack your own life raft. Just in case.....

Gneisenau......you may have shown Carnival's next idea to create more profit (in their illogical way of thinking , of course) As you're probably aware, cruise companies do not allow bringing your own drinks aboard...be it booze, beer or soda, because it's a huge source of profits. I think I can see their logic in adding bottled water to the banned items also, with all the problems they've been having.

We're going on the Ecstacy in two weeks...definetley sneaking on some MREs!

pacratt

You will not be sorry for going Royal Carribean. Once you go with them, you wil never go back to Carnival.

My first and all cruises since have been on Royal. A travel ageny friend set me up with my wifes and mine first cruise and insisted I pay a little extra for Royal Carribean. We have never been disapppointed. I thanks my agent friend everytime we cruise on Royal.

I hope you walk everywhere you go. After all those greedy Republican business owners that make land transportation vehicles make more and more of them to feed their greedy little pockets. And bikes, cars, trains, buses, motor cycles, etc also kill and hurt people. And let's not forget horses. They also have a potential to hurt someone also. I'm sure all those greedy pocket lining horse owners have your worst interest in mind.

The problem is PMS - don't get excited folks, PMS stands for Preventive Maintenance System. It's a program that requires routine checks of all systems on a regular basis. As equipment ages or shows itself to be unreliable, the checks become more frequent. It doesn't catch everything but it's much better than waiting until a wheel squeaks before giving it some grease.

As for the offer of half price tickets to the stranded/affected passengers - that seems to be a little poorly thought out.

I went to sea on submarines that were built by the lowest bidder, so I don't blame the shipbuilder. The crew has to be responsible for keeping the ship in working order and if they aren't paid to do that, then why are they going to sea? Clogged toilets, hot staterooms, and cold food affect them too.

Wanna compare military budgets to Carnival's?

Mario--

People that view everything as a political problem due to a specific party are absolutely terrifying. Get some help! No doubt there is an expensive Democratic program out there to fund your expenses. ;)

its that superior ship design they are talking about. I could see if it was a policy that they could not go to sea with the backup working, totally understand that. BUT they appear to be having issues with elevators and other systems related to the failure of a backup generator.

Granted the news story is not all complete, but it does not seem like they have a great design at all if the story is correct.

I was wondering the same thing. How can a backup emergency generator that's only used for emergencies be causing so many unrelated problems from plumbing to an elevator? I believe that they are unrelated, but what I found really troublesome is the fact that these ships do not seem to have any maintenance crews that know how to repair these systems.

They've probably been running on the back-up generator!

I think people are starting to examine these explanations a little more closely. It should be common practice with just about everthing these days. Madison Avenue has been very skillful at selling people things, but there's a limit to what even they can do.