Can't even to tell you how upset I am with our Inspiration cruise.....

[josie1968]

Just returned today from our Oct. 14th sailing, I'll give my full review in a few days. My complaint is not with the service, staff the food and drinks, but with how reservations took care of a group on board.

Not to offened anyone, to each his own and in the end we all have to answer to how we lived our life, with that said...... the Inspiration holds roughly 2100 passengers and it was sold out so were somewhere around that number. I have been told to try and stay away from large groups, so before hand I googled group cruises and found nothing even called Carnival group cruise dept. and was told there were none, great news great......................wrong. Now remember 2100 passengers and then picture a group of somewhere around 450, 25% of the cruise passengers. This was not a hair convention or a firemens convention, but a SWINGERS group. I have since come home and searched for swingers cruises and bamm there it is. If you have not been around swingers on vacation, unless you are one you don't want to be on vacation with them. Even if the clothes weren't a give away they all wore purple wrists bands. Completely took over the Candlelight lounge area, security and all as not to let any of us normal cruiseres in. Not that I would use it but the top deck was standing room only, I know it standing room only because plenty of them were standing up for the whole Lido deck to see. The Rhapsody in Blues lounge was also a popular place for meeting as well as doing oral and hand things in, I personally did not witness this so I will call it hearsay. When complaints were made to Carnival staff we were completly blown off, I guess so with the money they were makning off of the alcohol. Did I mention the door decorations in the Upper Deck, one couple covered there 8 year olds eyes when walking down the hall.

I could go on forever about what I heard and saw, I am interesed in what the others from CC that were on this cruise have to say.

I am not interesed in anything free from Carnival but I do want to voice my opinion to someone about this. There were lots of children on board mine included, couldn't Carnival have sent us parents some type of notice about what we would be traveling with, give us the chioce to change our cruise? Even if you stayed away from their group gatherings, they had free will to go and do anything they wanted whenever, wearing whatever they wanted. I'm sorry but I feel women walking around the Lido deck in a thong and men walking around with a full erect penis is just a little to much for us other travelers to have to deal with.

Anyone know where I can make a complaint to, I could start with my PVP but she's not much help with anything. I did bring home an extra comment card should I just use that?

[D4]

Yikes! I don't blame you for being upset. The details you described in public areas are more than I could handle.

Did you happen to take any digital photos of the door decorations, the naked people standing on the funnel deck, the men walking around *****, and other inappropriate sights? You could use them to illustrate your point to Carnival. (But of course you'd have to be careful not to violate pornography laws!)

I hope someone can post a logical explanation for this happening. Otherwise, I think that is a wrap for me and Carnival. I feel for the OP. I cannot imagine having to deal with something like that. I can tolerate a lot but what you described is unbelievable.

My goodness. How horrid.

Does anyone know anything about this happening?

[FuzzyNolan]

OMG. I am so sorry. Nothing against swingers or anything...but HECK yes, other travelling passengers ESPECIALLY with children should have been forewarned in this type of situation so they would have a choice. I am not impressed with Carnival on this... (our PVP also is fairly ummm not useful...won't use one again). I would write a letter to higher ups for sure.


Now, how do I find out if there is a group on my cruise?

[mrdood]

Originally Posted by josie1968

Anyone know where I can make a complaint to, I could start with my PVP but she's not much help with anything. I did bring home an extra comment card should I just use that?

The comment cards are good, but Carnival will never yield on this, they will never disclose what groups are on board (though some PVP's have been known to let it slip) there would have been too many cancellations. I have never been on board without "groups", but I think the largest group was a singles group on the Liberty of about 400, they mixed in well with the other 3,000 of us... most groups are so small you don't notice them.

What a bummer, not sure what I would have done with my teens, you certainly had the option to debark and invoke Carnival's vacation guarantee, I am pretty sure I would have done the same if I would have had the kids with me. DW and I alone would have just ignored it.

Did you know about the vacation guarantee? Why did you not choose to debark?

Originally Posted by FuzzyNolan

OMG. I am so sorry. Nothing against swingers or anything...but HECK yes, other travelling passengers ESPECIALLY with children should have been forewarned in this type of situation so they would have a choice. I am not impressed with Carnival on this... (our PVP also is fairly ummm not useful...won't use one again). I would write a letter to higher ups for sure.


Now, how do I find out if there is a group on my cruise?

Special interest. In that area is a sub-section called Theme Cruises. Look in there and you will see plenty of examples of this happening. I just found it and will read through the entire section tomorrow.

Luckily, most "theme" cruises are booked way in advance so I think a little bit of internet leg work may disclose any "irregularities".

I will never complaint about anything again.

I am so sorry this happened to you, OP. Carnival owes you a cruise.

[Garv816]

I have since come home and searched for swingers cruises and bamm there it is.

Where did you search for this info? I would like to avoid a situation like this.

[bubbles1209]

wow..........I don't know what to say.........Good luck, let us know how it turns out, and I feel terrible for you guys. I can see where there would be cancellations, I would have been one to re-book on a different ship, or go at a different time(if DD was going), but agree they should have let it be known what you were getting into. Please post back if you hear anything.

[caribbean dreams]

I would contact Carnival ASAP on this one.
I have head alot of complaints but this one is just totally outragous.
I have some friends that are swingers and i have seen videos they have taken at their get togethers so i can personally tell you.. I know exactly what you saw.

[popcorngal]

Originally Posted by CRUZIN' SUZIN

I hope someone can post a logical explanation for this happening. Otherwise, I think that is a wrap for me and Carnival. I feel for the OP. I cannot imagine having to deal with something like that. I can tolerate a lot but what you described is unbelievable.

My goodness. How horrid.

Does anyone know anything about this happening?

I hate to break it to you, but this is not something that only happens on Carnival. It can and does go on with other cruise lines as well. Been there, seen it!

To the OP, I am sorry you had to go through this. It ain't pretty, that's for sure, and I'm no prude. But I think if I had kids along, it would have been especially distasteful.

[Davey Interweb]

Wait...this isn't a typical Carnival cruise?

[GottaLuvCruising]

Personally I would write a scathing letter to Carnival. A group like that has no business being on a family cruise. It may accomplish nothing, but they need to hear from you (and other guests who were likewise offended).

[DMFdavid]

First off, I feel for the OP. That had to be a truely difficult cruise to be on. That said, I would recommend the OP, when complaining to Carnival, alter their tactics a bit. If they remain on their current course of "why did you not notify us of the group." then I feel they will be met with a luke-warm response. Here is my thinking:

There was a cruise recently of a bunch of anti-religous zealots! Why aren't other cruisers being warned? Oh, wait, that is the Saints-and-Sinners CC cruise. Nothing anti-anything there, but the name could be misunderstood.

So how do you know if a group is good or bad? If the group is a bunch of Swingers, but they do not advertise themselves as such, how would you know that "The Knickers" is a swingers group.... or is it a fan club?

Instead, I'd go to Carnival with more of a slant on how they reacted to the situations you encountered on-board. Inappropriate behavior should be handled instantly. Since it seems they did nothing, that is where I would complain the most.

Best of luck to the OP on future cruises, whatever ships they choose...

Just my humble opinion (go easy on me)...

dave

[racegrrl]

Originally Posted by DMFdavid

First off, I feel for the OP. That had to be a truely difficult cruise to be on. That said, I would recommend the OP, when complaining to Carnival, alter their tactics a bit. If they remain on their current course of "why did you not notify us of the group." then I feel they will be met with a luke-warm response. Here is my thinking:

There was a cruise recently of a bunch of anti-religous zealots! Why aren't other cruisers being warned? Oh, wait, that is the Saints-and-Sinners CC cruise. Nothing anti-anything there, but the name could be misunderstood.

So how do you know if a group is good or bad? If the group is a bunch of Swingers, but they do not advertise themselves as such, how would you know that "The Knickers" is a swingers group.... or is it a fan club?

Instead, I'd go to Carnival with more of a slant on how they reacted to the situations you encountered on-board. Inappropriate behavior should be handled instantly. Since it seems they did nothing, that is where I would complain the most.

Best of luck to the OP on future cruises, whatever ships they choose...

Just my humble opinion (go easy on me)...

dave

Ditto. This is exactly what I was thinking.

I am so very sorry you had to endure this. What a terrible shame. I also believe that it is all about how you frame your complaint ~ decide before you send your correspondence what you want that will make you satisfied and send your comments geared that way.

If it's "Carnival needs to give me another cruise so I can have my vacation" or if it's "Carnival needs to be aware their staff didn't handle things properly and I don't want anyone else to go through what I did", then gear your letter appropriately. Or maybe you want to do both ~ I would completely understand and feel the same way.

A group can book and lie about what they are all about, so it's kind of hard for Carnival to do too much about that part of it.

Good luck and keep us posted on your results.

[L2J]

Originally Posted by CRUZIN' SUZIN

Carnival owes you a cruise.

Why would CCL owe them a free cruise. The cruise lines aren't required to disclose ANYTHING about other pax or groups

Did the the pax on the Princess receive a free cruise last year when the "Bears" were sailing? (In case you don't know it was a gay porn cruise from what I understand. I also understand that there was some filming taking place onboard)

Personally, I'd rather be onboard with a group of swingers than a g/l chruch group (who BTW are on the Conquest with the S&Sr's as we speak)...or any chruch group for that matter.

So the OP isn't into the alternate lifestyle and was apparently shocked (hearing) about all sorts of "jobs" in public places, so if it was that bad by all means write a formal letter of complaint but certainly doesn't entitle him/her to a free cruise

Cruizin I hope someday we can sail together and have cabins next door to one another.

[Cruzman]

Happened to be on a Royal Caribbean ship about 5 years ago and after boarding, learned that there was a large group of "gay" (not how I would describe them) folks onboard. They seemed to be largely out of sight for the first couple of days, and then they were everywhere doing all of the things previously described and then some. It was as if they were trying to rub their own sexuality in everyone else's face so to speak. The fact that there were chlildren around observing all of this didn't seem to bother them or the crew. Complaints were merely shrugged off. There used to be a website that tracked large groups that were scheduled for future sailings, but I can no longer find it. Love to see it come back because the cruise lines aren't gonna tell us ahead of time for obvious reasons.

[LHP]

Originally Posted by Cruzman

Happened to be on a Royal Caribbean ship about 5 years ago and after boarding, learned that there was a large group of "gay" (not how I would describe them) folks onboard. They seemed to be largely out of sight for the first couple of days, and then they were everywhere doing all of the things previously described and then some. It was as if they were trying to rub their own sexuality in everyone else's face so to speak. The fact that there were chlildren around observing all of this didn't seem to bother them or the crew. Complaints were merely shrugged off. There used to be a website that tracked large groups that were scheduled for future sailings, but I can no longer find it. Love to see it come back because the cruise lines aren't gonna tell us ahead of time for obvious reasons.

That website was www.groupsahoy.com Sadly it had been out of commission for several years. I guess it was just to info intensive to keep up. It was wonderful to use to not only avoid groups that offend you, but to let you know about groups you may want to join.

I don't think anyone cares what a person does in the privacy of their own stateroom. But this cruise sounds like pornography afloat and the last time I checked...that kind of stuff around children is indeed illegal. Of course, hindsight is 20/20....but for future reference...I would have a digital camera ready and a local TV newstation's phone number on speed dial and watch how fast any cruise line would clean that up!!

[Cruzman]

Originally Posted by LHP

That website was www.groupsahoy.com Sadly it had been out of commission for several years. I guess it was just to info intensive to keep up. It was wonderful to use to not only avoid groups that offend you, but to let you know about groups you may want to join.

I don't think anyone cares what a person does in the privacy of their own stateroom. But this cruise sounds like pornography afloat and the last time I checked...that kind of stuff around children is indeed illegal. Of course, hindsight is 20/20....but for future reference...I would have a digital camera ready and a local TV newstation's phone number on speed dial and watch how fast any cruise line would clean that up!!

I think you are on to something there LHP!

[DqALEX]

Originally Posted by CRUZIN' SUZIN

Special interest. In that area is a sub-section called Theme Cruises. Look in there and you will see plenty of examples of this happening. I just found it and will read through the entire section tomorrow.

Luckily, most "theme" cruises are booked way in advance so I think a little bit of internet leg work may disclose any "irregularities".

I will never complaint about anything again.

I am so sorry this happened to you, OP. Carnival owes you a cruise.

The only way I would be looking for a free cruise is if my cruise diden't go off, or went back to the dock after 2 days of a 7 day cruise. I would want Carnival to change its policy and let me know what groups are on the ship that week so this doesn't happend again. And if carnival is worried about people backing out, than they need to make a dollar and sense decision. You are at sea I would try to make the best of it and turn this into a learning thing for my kids to be very carefull of the wackos and try to point them out. Carnival and my PVP would hear from me when I got back.

[LHP]

Just for a point of clarification...

the OP said "I am not interesed in anything free from Carnival but I do want to voice my opinion to someone about this."

So the OP is in no way trying to get anything free out of this (cruise or otherwise)....they just want to let us know what can happen so we can be prepared if it happens on our cruise.

Thanks for the heads up...