sensation blues

:( First time cruisers party of 15. Never again on this ship!!! First we never left N.O. on time. We had first seating for dinner and embarked after meal was finished. Never told reason for this. Subsequently very late to arrive in Cozumel by at least 3 hours which made us too late to go on shore excursion we had booked for the morning and lost our deposit. We were very disappointed that we had such little time there. Again no explanation as to why we were so late. Two nights in a row one of the cabins' toilets overflowed and soiled clothing and luggage. Sensation said they would wash the clothes and return them cleaned. We were handed back in plastic bags dirty clothes that had to be dry cleaned only still reeking and told that we would be reimbursed but as yet that hasn't happened. Two of the days the stewards didn't even service one of our rooms until very late at night so trash was overflowing and beds unkempt. We had three rooms in all but were spread out on Riviera deck so different stewards. The icing on the cake is two pieces of luggage disappeared from outside one of the rooms and the crew couldn't find them. They admitted that they searched our rooms while we were in Cozumel because they thought we were pulling some type of scam on them to get new luggage. They thought we were hiding the missing luggage. I find this extremely insulting . They belongings that were in those two pieces of luggage we had to carry off in garbage bags because they wouldn't give us replacement luggage never mind the replacement of the luggage abd clothes saturated from the backed up toilet!!!

The highlight of the cruise was the waitstaff in the Fantasy dining room. Our waiter Dennis was the best and every night entertained our children with magic tricks and song and dance plus he was extremely attentive and courteous. When we ask the kids what the best part of the whole trip was they always say Dennis!!

There was very little to keep my 9 and 13 year old busy. The camp carnival was too juvenile for them. They enjoyed the pools and thank heavens there was a lone basketball net in the back for them. They did try to go to movie night but no one else showed and they had already seen the movie. They wanted to do the Fear Factor challenge but had to be 18. Too bad they didn't have games for the young preteens/teens to do. I felt there were just groups of kids janging out at night wandering the ship with nothing fun to do.

We will cruise again but definitely not on this ship or with Carnival again!!:( :(

It's too bad you didn't have a good time. What happened with the toilet? Are the toilets on Sensation the kind that have a high pressured suction, like on an airplane? It seems odd to me that the toilet would overflow twice.... there's really not enough water per flush to overflow, unless you kept trying to flush it repeatedly. How much water came out and where were your bags and clothes that it flooded the entire room?

Sorry it happened to you. It sucks. But I'm not really sure if I would blame Carnival for that one... accidents happen, and it's not like they have a luggage store on board to provide you with replacement luggage, do they?

Our toilet didn't seem to flush properly once; I immediately told the cabin steward and by the time we got back to the room, it was all fixed.

I hope you don't judge Carnival on the basis of one malfunctioning toilet. :( As evidenced by this board, plenty of people have cruised Carnival many times and love it!

I'm so sorry you didn't enjoy the Sensation.... she is my favorite :( Perhaps you can check the roll call board and see if others on the same sailing could tell you the reason for being late. I know there have been some weather issues in the Carib lately, hopefully you can find out for your own peace of mind.

As for the luggage, I know you had mentioned that your friends put their luggage outside their door so that Carnival would store the bags? Carnival doesn't offer this, there is storage under the bed. I'm sorry your friends/families clothing got icky... and I wish the luggage could have been found... Good luck on your next cruise!!

:( Two nights in a row one of the cabins' toilets overflowed and soiled clothing and luggage. :( :(

That really sucks!!

:( But I do have to ask. Where were you keeping your clothing?

I flooded our bathroom while in the shower and it didn't go outside the bathroom due to the large lip at the door.

Sounds like you had a bad time, but I don't understand the part about the "missing luggage". So, you had the things that were packed IN the bags, but were you storing the bags outside the room? :confused:

How did the overflowing toilet soak clothing and luggage? If clothes were in drawers and the closet, I'm curious to know how this happened? :confused:

Wwakla, This thread might help, it is a little more detailed...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=3620302#post3620302

I do have a similar question though... and maybe it just isn't being explained right... I am also confused about storing the bags in the bathroom, but to each his/her own... but if the toilet overflowed, wouldn't it just get the bottom of the suitcase wet (the wheel area?)... Just a guess, but since the bags were soaked and smelled like a toilet, and placed outside the cabin, do you think someone threw them away? Not that it would be right, just a thought... soaking wet sewage smelling luggage in the hallway, I would assume would be moved to be fair to other guests...

Read the other thread, and it does explain a bit more. But how much luggage do you have that you have to store some in the BATHROOM? Those bathrooms are tiny as it is. I'd rather lean the bag against the wall near the bed than put it in the bathroom.

Also, it sucks that the friends of yours left the luggage outside their room, but honestly, if you were under the impression that this was a service that Carnival provided, I would have confirmed it first. What happens on Celebrity doesn't necessarily happen on Carnival. Most likely, they left the bags in the hall, and someone (i.e., another guest) stole them. It sucks. But I don't understand how that is Carnival's fault. It's just like if you left your camera in the hall, someone steals it, and then you blame Carnival.

I also agree that if the cabin steward was aware of the toilet problem, and you left the bags outside because you thought they reeked of sewage, that it's quite possible they were thrown away. Whether by the cabin stewards, or another guest, who knows. But if I noticed a suitcase supposedly smelling like sewage and toilet in the hall right across from my cabin, I'd probably call the stewards to remove the stink.

QUOTE=martha5944:( Again no explanation as to why we were so late.

Did you ask anyone for an explanation?

Two of the days the stewards didn't even service one of our rooms until very late at night so trash was overflowing and beds unkempt.

Very unusual. Surely, the people occupying that cabin called Housekeeping or the Purser's desk? I'm sure they would have sent someone immediately.

The icing on the cake is two pieces of luggage disappeared from outside one of the rooms and the crew couldn't find them.

I'm not sure why you placed the luggage outside your cabin door; there's ample storage for luggage under the beds or in the bottom of the closets.

The highlight of the cruise was the waitstaff in the Fantasy dining room. Our waiter Dennis was the best and every night entertained our children with magic tricks and song and dance plus he was extremely attentive and courteous. When we ask the kids what the best part of the whole trip was they always say Dennis!!

Glad to hear you enjoyed something about the cruise.

We will cruise again but definitely not on this ship or with Carnival again!!:( :(

If you get a bad apple in a bushel, do you never buy apples again? I'm not being sassy, just saying that you can't judge an entire cruise line from your experiences on this cruise. Sorry it wasn't pleasant for you, but I do hope you enjoyed some things. Food? Entertainment? Excursions?

O.K. as for luggage that was in bathroom the first night two bags arrived at 11 p.m. to the room so instead of unpacking we just placed them inside of bathroom to get them out of the way and deal with them in the a.m Boy did we have to deal with them!! The bathrooms backed up ON THEIR OWN during the night and that is what we had to wake up to. We think we should have been reimbursed or given replacement luggage. They did have luggage in gift shop. As for the missing luggage also the first night the bags were left outside to be stored as they do on celebrity which we now know carnival doesn't provide---bad advice to us from previous cruisers.... But we certainly weren't pulling any type of scam as we were ACCUSED of. I take offense to having our rooms searched and then they didn't find the luggage. Would anyone of you be upset if your room was searched and you weren't told of it until after???

The bathrooms backed up ON THEIR OWN

 

I'm having a hard time getting a visual on this. Aren't the potties on CCL just like other cruise lines...meaning a suction type?

Sorry you had a bad cruise.

Martha, I'm so sorry you had an awful cruise on Sensation.

We were on her the week prior and had a completely wonderful experience. I just posted my review here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=174399

It's amazing to me how cruisers always seem to have widely different experiences on the same ship. I'm so sorry that your vacation wasn't as wonderful as I'm sure you'd hoped. :(

15 people in 3 rooms?

I've been on Celebrity a couple of times and I wouldn't suggest putting your luggage outside the door there either. Maybe years ago??

Martha, as with others, I'm having a hard time picturing this as well. You say the "bathrooms" backed up. Did this happen in more than one room, or just the one with the luggage? You say that it was late and you didn't want to unpack, so you put the luggage in the bathroom. What if you had to use the bathroom at night? Wouldn't it have been a lot easier just to bring the luggage inside the room and rest it against the door? Seems to me it'd be easier to do that than to put it in the bathroom.

So I'm trying to picture how this all happened. Did you actually hear water overflowing in the middle of the night? Or did you wake up in the morning and see a toilet filled to the brim with sewage and toilet water? Where was all the toilet water? All over the bathroom floor? How many inches? Did it spill over to the cabin?

I'm not saying I don't believe you, or that I'm trying to be difficult. As I said, I have a hard time picturing exactly what happened.

You also said this happened two nights in a row. Did you ask to move rooms? Especially if, as you say, it was people's poop and urine all over your things. That's disgusting. I'd imagine the bathroom (and the room) itself would smell. I'd have asked to move the first time. The second night, I'd demand to be moved. Assuming everything happened the way it sounds.

O.K. as for luggage that was in bathroom the first night two bags arrived at 11 p.m. to the room so instead of unpacking we just placed them inside of bathroom to get them out of the way and deal with them in the a.m Boy did we have to deal with them!! The bathrooms backed up ON THEIR OWN during the night and that is what we had to wake up to. We think we should have been reimbursed or given replacement luggage. They did have luggage in gift shop. As for the missing luggage also the first night the bags were left outside to be stored as they do on celebrity which we now know carnival doesn't provide---bad advice to us from previous cruisers.... But we certainly weren't pulling any type of scam as we were ACCUSED of. I take offense to having our rooms searched and then they didn't find the luggage. Would anyone of you be upset if your room was searched and you weren't told of it until after???

Martha, I know you are upset... and you might want to let this settle in a bit and then perhaps there will be more clarity :( I'm getting confused!!! LOL! Not your fault, things get jumbled when you are upset... I know in the other thread, you mentioned the last of the bags got to your friends/families room at 10PM (as you referred to them, the bad luck people... :( ), which are the same people that had their toilet overflow and ruin their luggage, which are the same people that had their luggage stolen... but you said they put their luggage outside the door the first night, yet that was the night that the toilet overflowed and ruined the luggage... did they just dump their clothes on the bathroom floor and put the bags outside the door? Not that there is anything wrong with that, it just seems odd.

As for the bad advice... you took the advice of people that cruised on Celebrity... and things are done differently on different lines. I'm sorry they mislead you into thinking it would be the same on Carnival...

I have had my cabin searched, on our second cruise... they were searching for someone's luggage and I imagine it was difficult to find everyone in their cabins to ask, so the stewards looked around for the suitcase to see if anyone had accidentally grabbed it. Are you saying that they TOLD you that they thought your friends were running a scam on them???? If that is the case, then yes, I would be upset if those are the words they used... that is uncalled for. As for the cabins, the stewards have access to your cabin... which I am sure is who was looking for the bags. Are you sure they did not check all the cabins in an effort to assist your friends in finding the bags?

It sounds like there was enough water to affect the luggage, which would have spilled into the room... did they clean this up?

I'm also very, very confused. If the commode overflowed, not once but twice, why did you not ask to be moved? I would have insisted....even if it meant moving the captain out of his cabin. The medical ramifications )of standing raw sewage should have sent you screaming for new accomodations. If it was deep enough to soil clothing how could it not have awakened you? We're talking cramped quarters here....not a 3000 sq ft home....

Did all of this happen to only one of the cabins or were these problems spread out amongst you? Was the luggage, that went missing, the same luggage that was left in the malfunctioning bathroom? If that's the case then perhaps a steward thought it was meant for the trash...or perhaps that was the thought either way.

In fairness, to Carnival, some of the problems seemed to occur due to your lack of knowledge, not their ineptness.

I think Camp Carnival is a great thing...unfortunately teenagers (even 13) are soooooo much more mature then we were, at that age, everything seems infantile.

I'm sorry that you found the entire cruise unsatisfactory better luck next time.

ok! Last time I'll reply.... We are talking about two separate groups of luggage. The luggage outside was unpacked earlier as it was delivered earlier and they were larger pieces we put out for storage. As for the bathroom again, it backed up while we were sleeping. I don't know how and there was enough to seep into the two bags on the floor but we're not talking about seeping into the room itself! I'm sorry people can't get a visual on this but it wasn't like a continuous running faucet.

And as for 15 people in three rooms it was three sets of parents and their children aged 9 through 18 and we all fit in three cabins for 5 very comfortably as far as sleeping went. No the room did not smell after it was cleaned and the second night it backed up it didn't back up as much. They spent a long time fixing the toilet and ours wasn't the only room it happened to as we found out later.

I have been on the sensation 4 times had a blast everytime. I am still lost on the bathroom thing. I did some research and it looks like the toilets have a one way check valve on them so they can't back fill. I am lost but happy times to all

JD NJ

Thanks Martha for clearing some of it up, people were getting confused about the various sets of bags.

So one set of bags was left in the hallway, and someone took them. This is hardly Carnival's fault. In the OP, you said "The icing on the cake is two pieces of luggage disappeared from outside one of the rooms and the crew couldn't find them." Well, that's because someone probably stole them. I don't see how you can blame Carnival for this. It sucks that it happened, and it sucks that they searched your room. If they accused you of making a false claim, well that sucks as well. Maybe this kind of scam happens to them all the time. Or maybe people sometimes tend to be forgetful. The wife put the bags under the bed, and the husband thought he put them outside, and he thinks they are lost and calls security.

As far as the other set, the ones that were soiled, apparently the soil was enough to destroy the bags and the clothes. That sucks. I still would have asked to move rooms. You say the room didn't smell after they cleaned it, but still. There was fecal matter all over your bathroom, if it happened as you say it did. I would not have walked in my bare feet or in the shower after that, no matter how well they think they cleaned it. I would have asked to have moved rooms, most definitely.

So one set of bags was left in the hallway, and someone took them. This is hardly Carnival's fault. In the OP, you said "The icing on the cake is two pieces of luggage disappeared from outside one of the rooms and the crew couldn't find them." Well, that's because someone probably stole them. I don't see how you can blame Carnival for this. It sucks that it happened, and it sucks that they searched your room.

Why on earth would someone steal empty luggage? When they could wait until the last night and take the filled luggage that is left out.

This story is still confusing to me.:confused: