Fact Or Fiction | TheIntelligentCruiser.com Cruise Blog

You are here: Home » Fact or Fiction

Carnival Crewmember Rifles Through Passengers Belongings

Written by T.I. Cruiser on October 1, 2009 · 4 Comments

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.

Dolphins Thwart Pirates

Written by T.I. Cruiser on July 7, 2009 · 1 Comment

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past year or so, you probably heard about the increasing number of pirate attacks on ships in certain parts of the world. Most often the targets are freighters but occasionally the pirates will set their sights on cruise ships. More often than not the ships are able to avoid being taken through the use of various defenses as well as evasive maneuvers. While these methods have been fairly successful in the past, it looks like there is another method that is 100 percent effective in staving off a pirate attack, dolphins.

dolphins stop pirates 300x205 Dolphins Thwart Pirates

Apparently off the coast of China a pod of dolphins interfered in an would be pirate attack. You can read the full story here.

China Radio International reported the Chinese merchant ships escorted by a China’s fleet sailed on the Gulf of Aden when they met some suspected pirate ships. Thousands of dolphins suddenly leaped out of water between pirates and merchants when the pirate ships headed for the China’s.

Maybe the cruise lines can get together and get these guys to protect their ships.

The Intelligent Cruiser Examines: Cruise Line Alcohol Policies

Written by T.I. Cruiser on December 14, 2008 · Leave a Comment

Am I allowed to bring alcohol onboard the cruise ship?

This has to be one of the most asked questions in all of Cruisedom. Additionally it is one of the most difficult questions to answer. The problem is most cruise lines aren’t consistent in their enforcement of the rules. These inconsistencies lead to stories being passed around about how Joe Cruiser carried two kegs of beer onboard a ship while security held the door for him. While some of these stories are true, many are false, and most lie somewhere in between.

There are obvious dangers to allowing consumption of alcohol by passengers to go unchecked. These dangers range from simple acts of carelessness such as tripping and falling to more serious acts such as falling overboard. Even without anything major happening over consumption of alcohol often leads to poor judgment which in turn leads to infringing on the rights of others to enjoy their vacations.

While I will admit safety may be one of the major motivation to implementing an alcohol policy, one would have to be braindead to ignore the financial implications of restricting what a passenger can bring on board. The truth is almost all cruise lines would prefer you buy their booze instead of bringing your own. The question is how much do they actually care. During this weeklong look into the Alcohol Policies of six of the largest cruise lines, we will take a look at what the cruise line alcohol policies really say. Over the course of “The Intelligent Cruiser” will examine the alcohol polices of: