Confused Troubled Disappointed

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 40

Review summary

Our cruise didn't start out so great once we were on the boat because we were traveling through the tail of hurricane Barry. The captain did his best to get us through over night which made for a rough ride which is okay with me to make sure we could even take the cruise. Our problem is with the way a situation was handled that happened the first night. Our twelve year old daughter and four of her friends were riding the elevator and because of rough seas the elevator was jostled and the sensors thrown off which caused the elevator to stop between floors. The girls were afraid and tried to use the emergency phone but the phone didn't work which caused them to be on the elevators for thirty or more minutes in the heat. The girls attempted to use the phone three times to no avail. My daughter Taylor Henry begin to have a panic attack which then led to an Asthma attack. They began to scream to get help when another set of parents heard them and alerted the gathering room staff that something was wrong. My disappointment and discomfort came from the fact that the phones were inoperable and then that the maintenance worker after pulling the girls from the elevator did not alert the proper staff or get the young ladies information for the parents to be notified. The only reason that I found out about the incident was because the Gathering room staff called our room to let us know that our daughter was having an asthma attack. The phones failed and then the maintenance worker dropped the ball which could have been a serious problem and my daughter could have died because he did not get her to medical team for the issues she was having. There was absolutely to much time that elapsed for five young ladies who were hysterical and full of fear. My immediate response was to the phone call that I received then connecting with the other parents to speak with guest services about the failure to follow protocol or procedure in a situation like this. My wife and I were extremely upset to the point that we were in tears and my wife so angry that she had to walk away before she said things that she could not take back or that were beneath us as parents. We are saddened that Collis Campbell as the shift supervisor was not more informed about how to deal with issues that arise onboard of this nature. He was totally dismissive and condescending towards us as parents. All that he kept saying was that he understood which really he did not because his children weren't trapped on a hot elevator for over 30 minutes. He would not even attempt to reach Harrison Findlay to alert him to what had happened. He never followed protocol even though Harrison could have been reached by phone and he was only steps away we found out. Collis as well as Na-il were completely unhelpful in getting us answers and finding a solution. Flavio was really the only one that seemed remotely concerned with being helpful. Collis never took a note down or made any attempt to let us know he was apologetic for what had happened. He even tried to suggest that another call that came in from an elevator with kids playing and laughing were our kids. We informed him that our children would not do such a thing and that they were terrified and would not ride another elevator the rest of our trip. Collis told us that night that Harrison would be available in the AM around 8 which when we showed up he again told us Harrison was not available and told us to come back. Once again later on we found out that Harrison was only steps away in the auditorium setting up for a Celebrity event. I am not sure how carnival does training, but Collis and Na-il need to go back to the beginning to find out how to do customer service and how to deal with people. Collis was beyond unprofessional and helpful to the point that he got frustrated and raised his voice. This is not good because 1. He should be a professional in that position and 2. I don't need to get beside myself and loose my temper. Once we were finally introduced to Harrison he was very apologetic and helpful and explaining the process of how things were supposed to have happened. We later spoke again after Harrison had done some investigating to find out that the phones indeed were not functional and that his guest services staff the night before as well as the maintenance person dropped the ball, His words. He then ask Drew the director of Celebrity to be a part of the meeting because he ask to be informed of any issues involving families onboard involving celebrity, Drew felt bad for us that it had happened. We then after receiving a letter from Harrison were ask into a meeting with Niksa Pelic the Hotel Director for him to tell us how bad he felt for us. If what we were told the next day could have happened the night before, I probably would not be typing this letter, but because this incident was handled so poorly. I had to let someone else know that we would most likely never step foot on another Carnival Cruise Ship. Collis Campbell and Na-il get an F for customer service and Harrison Findlay and Niksa Pelic get a much better grade for them explaining what should have happened. I hope that this never happens to another family and that the necessary training or retraining will take place to make sure that this troubling/disappointing/upsetting incident never has to be experienced by any other family.

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Ports of call

Galveston, Texas

Cozumel, Mexico

Progreso (Merida), Mexico

Disembarkation

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