I ran across this little story posted on “The Consumerist”. The letter is from a couple who were subjected to an unsupervised search of their cabin. While the story is lacking in some details I thought it would be worth passing along. If anyone else has ever encountered similar treatment and would like to share their story I would love to hear about it.
The letter quoted from “The Consumerist”
We would like to make you aware of an experience we had with Carnival Cruise Lines. In June 2009, we took our very first cruise in celebration of our 30th wedding anniversary. The very first evening, we visited the gift shop and made two separate purchases of alcohol, we were advised that the goods would be held and delivered to our cabin the very last evening prior to debarkation.
That last evening, when we returned to our cabin, we noticed a box had been left inside the cabin. We proceeded to open it and found that only one of the purchases had been delivered so we immediately called the service desk to inquire about the second purchase; we were then told that the gift shop was closed for the evening and to contact them again the next morning prior to debarking.
Early next morning first thing we did was to visit the service desk, after a very long wait and many phone calls conducted by their representative; we received our two bottles of Amarula. We then hurried back to our cabin to get our belongings so that we could proceed to debark. As we approached our cabin, we found one of the cruise employees inside our cabin going through our belongings — when asked why she was there, she proceeded to say that it was procedure and that she needed to find the two bottles of Amarula claimed to have never been received.
Being extremely upset a letter was sent to Mr. Cahill, Carnival’s CEO, a very short reply to our letter was received a few weeks later from one of their Guest Care representatives. We do not feel our concerns were addressed; we have tried contacting Carnival through e-mails and have been completely ignored. As we mention in our letter, we understand they cater to people from all walks of life; however, we are not accustomed to having our honesty questioned and feel our privacy was totally violated.
The situation could have been handled professionally by communicating with us, we would have had no problem agreeing to the cabin search had an explanation been provided. We also wonder if this practice is legal – what was to be a wonderful experience left us feeling totally violated. Thank you.
While I am in no way opposed to Carnival making a search for the missing bottles (people do try to scam them), in no way is it appropriate for any member of the crew to conduct a search of a passengers personal belongings without the passenger being present. The problem is we are unsure of the extent of the search from the contents of the letter. Even so, I have a hard time believing there was not a more professional way to go about attempting to locate the missing hooch. I only wish the author of the letter had posted more details such as: if the crew member was actually searching their packed belongings, the title of the investigator, whether or not there was any indication of an effort to contact the passengers so they may be present for the search.
My mother used to say there are three sides to every story and I am sure this one also has two more sides. The problem is we probably won’t ever hear those sides. However, I thought the letter was worth posting in case any one out there has ever experienced a similar situation.
