I was on The Carnival Breeze out of Galveston w/ my 11 & 14 year old sons. When we got to our room, it was clear that the A/C & cooler weren’t working. It was extremely hot, as we were in 105* heat. Day-1- I immediately went to guest services to let them know that we have many issues w/ the room & it was extremely hot in there. They assured me it would be handled immediately. That was my 1st 1.5 hr. wait in the guest services line. It was not handled & I was told later it never was put in the system.
Day 2, I went again & waited in line, at this point, I’ve realized the A/C & TV do not work. We barely slept because it was so hot & muggy. While I’m talking to the Guest service rep., someone from maintenance walked INTO OUR ROOM, while my youngest was in the shower, w/ the bathroom door open, due to how hot it got when you showered w/ the door shut & my older son was in bed, in a towel, waiting to shower. I have always told my boys not to ever open the door for anyone. The GS rep claimed that my children let them in & their staff would never go into a room, w/ unattended minors, due to corporate policy. So, I was then, in a panic because I did not know who was in our room, if it wasn’t maintenance . I was telling the GS that I didn’t want them discussing issues w/ a minor. I wanted to speak w/ maintenance about the condition of the room. The GS contacted maintenance & it was, in fact, their staff & they were not let in. They had used a key & just walked in without warning. They left the 1st time & 10 min. Later, while I’m still with GS rep, my son calls me, asking for me to please hurry, bc another man just came in and said the A/C did work (it was 83*) & my son tried to tell him how hot it was, he told him he would be fine. Then proceeded to hand him a bucket of ice. The cooler was not addressed. The Tv wasn’t addressed. The 2nd time they entered the room, they handed my oldest a bucket of ice in place of a cooler. It was clear my boys were showering & it wasn’t appropriate for Carnival staff to put my children in such a vulnerable & adult position. There’s no valid reason to be in a room w/ minors and even more disturbing, they saw my child was showering. They saw my other child was in a towel but never offered to leave & wait on me. Even though I asked my son to tell them that I would contact them when I got there & to please speak with me. The staff should’ve left immediately. They said “it’s ok.” & continued. They checked room temp, by my sons admission, 3x & then opened the hall door, w/ fan pulling in hall air, put the temp in front of fan and got a lower degree bc their policy range is 68-74, as normal. That’s the temp they showed my 14 yr. old as proof the room was acceptable but it was right @ 74 & by the hallway, then he proceeded to put it on the bed, as if that was the reading location. The couple times prior, showed almost 80* & that wouldn’t show my son. His brother was able to see it as he got out. Why would they be discussing this w/ a child?! My child was in a towel! I never would have ok’d anyone being in a room w/ my child, much less them naked & after being asked to leave. The whole time, GS is listening & they could’ve called & has them leave, but wouldn’t. As a mother, to have your child call you panicked, the employe adamantly saying that it’s NOT one of their employees bc that’s strictly not allowed & against their policy. It’s Terrifying. Yet, it WAS MULTIPLE Carnival employees. We still didn’t have A/C & it was the end of 7/12. We had no working fb & no cooler. At this point, my boys wanted off the ship. We were taking showers or walking the halls in the middle of the night to just get air. I felt horrible & the staff truly didn’t care. The TV didn’t work. It didn’t have sound & it would turn off @ random. So, our room was unbearable & we were just stuck on this boat. I’ve never been treated so poorly & stuck.
Day 2 Dinner- Later in the evening, I go into Sapphire & tell the hostess we have reservations for dinner @ 555 (that I pre-paid for!) @ 9:30 but I wanted to check out the restaurant, to show the kids that we had options. She ask for my phone, clicks my hub & checks me in. Which in turn, cancelled my reservation @ 555, which my boys were really looking forward to. She calls someone, shrugged & said the reservation is no longer valid. I paid for this reservation prior to even getting on this boat. I go to guest services, again, I am told they’ll refund my dinner (that we wanted!!) & offered another bucket of ice. The refund could take up to 30 days. There were no more availabilities for the remainder of the trip.
Day 3- Nothing was changing but we were able to get off the boat. We were told we would all receive mask to go off the boat & they would be in our cabin. They were not & we never got them. We also didn’t receive our tickets for dolphinaris until the following day. Fortunately the man allowed us togo but he wasn’t going to until I showed him the HUB. Again, I felt ridiculous & scared we weren’t going to be able to go. We were so tired, we ended up coming back early. We had pushed to the limit. The boys didn’t want to get on the ship but finally agreed, as there was no other choice. Again, I was heartbroken. This was their 1st cruise. I wanted this to be a trip they would remember, as a great time. They asked everyday about being able to have a cold drink in the room, they were sleeping on the balcony bc it was so muggy & hot in the room. Which kept me up, as I was nervous about them sleeping out there but it was too much. We took cool showers bc heat would have been awful & it make the room even worse. Even the cooler water wasn’t cold enough, not to raise the temp as well as you would get out pouring sweat. But that’s all we could do. My kids wanted off! My children wanted off, by the second day. Again, as a mother, I felt helpless & cried multiple times in the bathroom bc I felt like I couldn’t help them & we were all so exhausted. I had spoken to guest services & I had been patient because I was stuck there & I wanted them to have empathy & help us. I also understood it was a tough position to be in & there were many passengers. I had gone to a neighbors room & felt the A/C, Cooler & checked their TV. It all worked and their room was so comfortable. They offered to let us nap in there. I didn’t want to put them in that position. I went back to GS & I asked GS for another room, they said none were available, as it was a full ship. I cried bc it was so overwhelming & no one cared. My boys asked about going to the steakhouse or if we could buy more fans. My oldest begged to look at flights but we had no passport, to even try.
Day 3- The refrigerator was replaced & the new one leaked water, everywhere. I had enough and I contacted home office as well as any email I could find. I needed help. I was desperately trying to salvage any part that I could, of this situation. A few hours later, around 6pm, I get a call asking me to come down to the guest services to talk. We go in this office & a woman named Milaria & a man names Anders asked me what was going on. At this point I truly couldn’t hold back the tears & I bawled throughout a 20 min conversation. They offered me a meal that night & to get me reservations @ the steakhouse the following night @ 6:30 & that my A/C would be fixed while we ate, as well as the TV. They asked me about going to a show & also teach my youngest to make towel animals. My kids honestly didn’t trust them & they really wanted to just get good sleep. They didn’t believe that we would actually receive the accommodations I paid for & the definitively didn’t believe we would actually get anything extra. But, we went to Bonsai & ate Sushi. The only thing I did ask for was that we were able to be off the boat first. They said absolutely & would be done! I was really happy to tell the boys. We went to dinner, hopeful. It was a relief when we could laugh and enjoy the time bc we believed the A/C was being fixed. We went back to our room, after walking around, only to find it, just as hot, as before. I prayed it would kick on but again, we spent another night without A/C, a broken cooler, but we had a TV. We turned it on & then the lights started flickering randomly. As well as I went to unplug my straighter and the plugs were extremely overheated. So, we kept as much off once we realized there was electrical issues & at that point I was concerned about a fire, possibly occurring. My kids quit doing things on the ship that required showers. I.E. the pool, the basketball, anything that could make them sweat was no longer an option. They had quit showering on the 2nd day bc it was too hot & made us nauseous & dizzy. They used the one’s around the boat & just rinsed off. I couldn’t blame them. I was pretty much doing the same thing except I would shave & rinse my hair, at the sink. We felt disgusting but we were out of viable options & had to just make it thru. The boys set a countdown to debarking. Again, disheartening. A man named Filip came by & looked at the fridge and said it shouldn’t be doing that & it was broke. Which I was adamantly told that it was in perfect condition by anyone that I spoke to.
Day 4- My sons AirPods were charging on the ground and the water from the fridge damaged one of them & the case no longer charges, from them sitting in it, all night. I went back down to Mr. Anders office. I had no sleep and I had cried all night bc my kids were sweating horribly. The AirPods that my son worked all summer for, were no longer working & that was the one thing that help him relax. His music. The muggy air had taken everything out of us and it was hard to take a deep breath bc it was so humid and hot. On top of that, none of our phones were hooking up to the premium internet, we paid for. It was just another blow & I couldn’t email my work, I couldn’t pay bills, they couldn’t watch a show etc.. I told them all of this and Milaria tried and failed at gaining access. IT was called in & they also tried, again, nothing. I was promised that they were looking into the situation & would resolve it & give me a call. That never happened. I wanted to just be home. I wanted to get my kids to their beds, in the A/C. So, I am in the office & I am honestly upset to a point that I just wanted a refund & take my kids somewhere for maybe a weekend. SOMETHING that would give them something to look forward to. They asked if I possibly wanted another cruise! No! Why would I put myself or my kids in this situation, ever again?! My children have repeatedly said they wouldn’t ever go on a carnival ship, ever again. Possibly no ship. I couldn’t blame them. I didn’t show my anger & spoke nicely but I truly wanted to scream. I was FINALLY offered another room. We’re on day FOUR!! I had spent over 10 hours dealing w/ issues & waiting in lines or having back room meetings. Now, there were other rooms, one being 2 floors below us. They had told me there were no other rooms! Then, they gave me a choice of multiple! The last & final day. I spent 3 hours of it, packing & moving to the other room. I had truly had it. I couldn’t process how they could do this, as we’re about to debark. It was like a cruel joke. Honestly! The new room had A/C & a functional Tv. The cooler didn’t work & our internet was still not working. The cooler was slightly cool but not even remotely cool. I just left it alone. I couldn’t take another visit to the desk & I couldn’t take another back & forth. We were almost going to be able to get off this ship. My boys slept the day away bc they were so exhausted. We got ready for dinner & showed up 10 min. Early. Only to find out that our dinner time was 6 & they weren’t sure if they could seat us. Our card said 6:30, I was told 6:30 & no one alerted us to the change. I was humiliated & the people behind us we’re happy bc they assumed I had failed to show up on time & I was taking a table away from them. I wanted to just leave but we went ahead to eat bc my boys wanted to eat there from prior to the trip. So, I had to just swallow my embarrassment, apologize to the guest behind us and we were seated. Just one more thing that was on par for the entire experience. I get a call that evening that they’re offering $300 bucks back. $200 of which was gratuities. They claimed that the room was only a small portion of the experience. If I had been told that my room wouldn’t be functioning & we would be so tired & trying to not need to shower, if at all possible, and that we would return home w/ me barely able to drive bc I could barely keep my eyes open & the boys slept the entire way home. I WOULD HAVE ABSOLUTELY NEVER BOOKED THIS CRUISE. To tell me that a comfortable room was only a small portion & we could do other stuff, I would not have even remotely considered going. Ever! I help up my end. Yet, Carnival truly failed to hold up their end. I was argued w/ about every single issue. I was treated like I was annoying them. All I wanted was them to hear me & help us. We were never given that courtesy. I was truly insulted by how gaslighting the experience was, each time I attempted to reason w/ them.
This is by far, one of the disappointing & uncomfortable vacations I have ever experienced. We were stuck. We couldn’t anything that would need showers & we desperately wanted to actually experience the pool. I never got in bc I knew it wasn’t a good idea. I wanted to do many things w/ my boys but it wasn’t an option. We had to weigh the pros & cons. Our summer vacation is gone & it was exhausting. I came home upset & stressing. Covid took 2020, then recovering from the financial impact of Covid, took 2021. Carnival Breeze took 2022 & they took it in a way that was patronizing & condescending. I can’t get that week back, with my children. I can’t fix it. Truly, I want an explanation as to how this is possible. How did this happen? I would do anything to get this last week back. I’ve work really hard to ensure my kids have experiences. We deserved decency & we deserved to be acknowledged. They now tell everyone that has asked, how awful Carnival is, when asked. They told people on the boat when asked if they were having fun. I can’t blame them. They were excited to go. Now, they only have a story about getting stuck on a ship & living a 5 day nightmare. It’s sad. To end the trip, we weren’t ever contacted & we didn’t get to get off near the front. As well as, being stuck for a 2 additional hours. I need this resolved as quickly as possible, as we deserve to close this chapter.
The letter I asked for, for 2 days, that I had to go down & request the evening of the 13th
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Reservation that was cancelled by Sapphire staff, w/ no reimbursement & no clue when I’ll get it.
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The steakhouse meal given with the wrong time. Yet I wasn’t able to rebook ours, that we paid for & have not been refunded.
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Room change information on 7/13 @ 3pm
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The Mask found in 2nd room on final day.
Room # 7462
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Our tickets that we received in the evening, after the excursion.
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1st cooler that didn’t work
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The temp taken on Tuesday that they said passed the test. But it was taken almost at the hall, with fan pulling cold air from the hall & it was still above 74*. I was also told it passed. He wouldn’t show me the ones taken in the middle of the room or the ones by the A/C. Just said they passed.
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Video of TV not having barely any volume.
Thank you,
Raleigh Deen
