Clearly I’m not the only one who’s gotten more than a little frustrated with how the media has been covering the Carnival Triumph incident over the last week, so I was pretty intrigued to come across this interview with a staff member from a popular cruise review site who happened to be on that very cruise and sure enough, most of what was being reported was greatly exaggerated or just blatantly made up.
http://www.cruisemates.com/articles/feature/Carnival-Triumph-Passenger-Interview-130216.cfm
It astounds me that in this technological age of cell phones and iPads that while you’ve got people on the ship who are able to call loved ones and do interviews with the media, nobody ever managed to actually produce pictures of sewage flooding the halls like so many accounts cried about. That one in particular stands out to me because it’s a pretty graphic statement – a hallway FILLED with shit and piss – and yet as much as the Internet loves a grotesque picture … nothing.
We’ve seen photos of less than savory conditions like mattresses out on the open decks and tents made out of towels and red bio-hazard bags for human waste, but bags to dispose of your poop is still a far cry from just shitting right in the middle of the hallway like some have tried to make it sound.
The thing is, I’m sure it hasn’t been fun to experience all that these folks have had to experience over the last 7 days, but let’s keep it in perspective…
- It’s not like the Titanic because the ship didn’t sink to the bottom of the sea and nobody died.
- It’s not like when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans because although they may not have always been as informed as they may have liked, nobody watched their homes get washed away and lost members of their family.
The best quote I read was from a guest in The Huffington Post – “It’s a disastrous vacation – it’s not a disaster.”
At the end of the day I actually have to hand it to Carnival for making the best of a bad situation … they kept everybody fed, they managed to get everyone home safe, the boat didn’t sink, and the compensation that’s being offered essentially gives everyone either a second chance at another Carnival cruise for free and then some (once you consider a full refund for this cruise plus a credit equal to what was paid for the next one plus $500 per passenger) or even another vacation with someone who isn’t Carnival, should passengers choose to walk away. Some people probably think that they’re owed the moon & the stars and no doubt there will be lawsuits that arise from this, as lawyers have already come forward eager to fight for disgruntled passengers, but nobody died and when you go back and read the menus mentioned in that first link that I posted, it really could’ve been a whole lot worse!
P.S. Here’s an interesting Reddit AMA that started while the boat was still at sea and continued answering questions once they all got back to dry land…
…and here are some delicious cookies from the Carnival cruise that I went on last fall…