Ups and downs!

Our experience on Carnival Pride had some ups and downs.  Unfortunately, the downs will cause us to second guess going on another Carnival cruise.  On the bright side, the ups will have us looking into another cruise, but just with a different line.  Carnival's customer service for special assistance fell completely flat.  We had an elderly person traveling with us that required wheelchair assistance on and off the ship when embarking and disembarking.  The entire process was a nightmare.  If you are not an elite cruiser, privileged, or part of the fun package you receive zero accommodations.  We were told our elderly member would board the ship after crew members, entertainment, privileged/priority and fun package members were aboard, but that a carnival staff member must bring the wheelchair to us and then wheel our family member onto the ship.  By the time all of that happened everyone else in our group ended up on the ship almost an hour before our elderly family member.  Then when we tried to get this family member a wheelchair to disembark once we arrived home, a carnival staff member told us that we could not arrange for wheelchair service since our family member could not walk the length of the boat to the designated area for individuals that needed assistance.  What kind of customer service is that?  Obviously our family member could not walk a great distance if a wheelchair was needed to get off the boat, so how could they have been expected to walk to the designated area?  It was very disheartening to see elderly people treated that way.  Our statesman, Heru, was outstanding, as well as the lido deck 9 mid pool manager, John was amazing.  The two of them could not have been more accommodating.  Bar tenders at both of the Red Frog Pub bars & the Blue Iguana bar were great too.  These people are what made our trip memorable.  The islands were great too!  On a whole we had a positive experience when it came to cruising, but we more than likely will not cruise again with Carnival.