ToriB

My name is Angela Burt and 42 of my family and friends  sailed on the “Carnival Sensation Ship” from April 29th to May 4th and we had the worst cruise experience ever.    We booked the cruise with the anticipation of meeting other family members in Ocho Rios, Jamaica because my aunt and uncle were going to renew their vows.    My family spent a lot of money and time preparing for this trip.  The cruise director did not even announce that we did a detour until the next morning so were in the dark and confused about the situation.  We were hearing rumors that a passenger died then we heard that the passenger fell ill, so we didn’t know what was going on with the whole situation which added to our frustration.  While being at sea the extra day Carnival made a lot more money from my family, because we spent more money in their Casino, shopping onboard, and bingo. Not to mention, most of us spent $40 on Bingo to try to win a $5,000jackpot, but because the winner numbers were not called within 49 numbers the jackpot went from $5,000 to $400. The bottom line is that we booked this trip because it was stopping in Jamaica and we never got there. 
 
In addition to the situation that is listed above we experienced more problems that I have tried to list below:
 
1.      We had a few family members to experience really bad motion sickness because the rate of speed the ship was moving, which caused them to have to be in their cabin for a few days.
2.      My family members that were in cabin E64 did not have adequate sleeping accommodations for this cruise, because their son  is 6’2  feet tall and around 220 lbs  and they even went to the customer service before our ship sailed to try and get switched to another cabin.  The customer service rep stated that they would try to move them to another room, but they never did so my cousin wasn’t able to sleep properly during this whole cruise.  My cousin filed a complaint with Carnival and was given the following Reference Number: #### but the problem was not taken care of.
3.      We were only able to stop at one port instead of two
4.      Internet Packages or the carnival hub did not work most of the time, so we were not able to communicate properly as a family.  So, the money we spent on those packages were wasted.
5.      We were told that we would be able to sit together at dinner (we all signed up for “My Time Dining”), but it was frustrating and long waits to sit us for dinner because our parties were so long which we understood, but we would tell them at the dinner check-in process that we don’t care how long we have to wait we just want to be able to sit together as a family.  Even after the long waits we were always scattered a different tables.    
6.      A few cabins experienced minor plumbing issues meaning the sinks were clogged up and toilets were not flushing properly.   Unfortunately, my cabin was one that had  a clogged sink (U27 , E64, and two more cabins)
7. My luggage was lost and later returned to me after it was delivered to the wrong cabin.  This caused me to have to spend almost 2 hours at guest services.
 
In addition to the financial loss that we experienced we also were disappointed that Carnival would try to compensate us with 20% off of a future cruise.  I’m not sure that Carnival realizes how much money, time, and planning went into this trip to offer us 20% off a future cruise is a slap in the face and unfair compensation.  Most of us flew in a day early and booked hotel rooms, rental cars, and our family in Jamaica spent money trying to meet up with us.  Our heart goes out to the family of the injured (or deceased) passenger, but Carnival needs to better compensate us for all of the wasted money and time that we can never get back as a family.
 
Sincerely Yours,
Angela Burt (group of 42)