airmj2123

Here is the updated information:

 

http://www.freep.com/article/20140305/FEATURES07/303050148/Carnival-Cruise-nightmare-cruise-fire-lawsuit

Pine Bluff is accurate... but it is still a ton of money:

"They want the money in lump sums based on government tables estimating their life expectancies. Poret, for example, would get about $115,000 and his daughter, who is much younger, an estimated $345,000."

so, carnival doesn't owe anyone anything. any first year law student can tell you that.

 

when you go on the cruise, you're basically saying anything that happens, whether or not it's carnivals fault, they are not liable and can't be sued. i don't know what carnival has given to the passengers who had to go through that horrible ordeal, but it's really damming when people think they're owed something when something bad happens. and carnival has great lawyers who have written a pretty airtight contract that we all agree to when we board that boat, so as awful as what happened on the Triumph was, anything Carnival gave them is more than they were "owed" since they weren't "owed" anything. and filing suits is really a sad waste of the plaintiff's money, since chances are, unless Carnival settles out of court to shut them up and end the ordeal, a judge will likely not give them relief.

This judge said that CCL was at fault but there would be no punitive damages... If any of the people have actual medical expenses, they should be compensated for them (the lady who broke her leg for example). Other than that, the offer of $500, free cruise, refund of what they paid, and travel refund seemed pretty fair.

I'll be interested when it gets back down to $11 a share.

You might be waiting a while... considering the last time it was $11 a share was 1995

One or 2 days added on doesn't create much of an impact, but 4 days makes a significant impact. If my husband, daughter, and I had been on this trip, the extra days at sea would have additional costs (1) time away from work for 2 people - we would burn vacation time thus preventing a future trip ($2500), (2) the cost of kenneling our dogs ($200), (3) paying the housesitter ($100), (4) paying for child care (we pay for scheduled time even if we don't use it) ($100), and (5) extra parking fees at my home airport ($40). These extra costs total $2,940 so the $1,500 paid to the three of us would not come close to covering these expenses. The extra cruise is nice but having lost 4 vacation days to an extended trip would make vacation planning over the next year difficult. $5,000/month for life is ridiculous, but I do think a one time payment of $5,000 would be reasonable.

You would have been closer to making even on this. With refunds for the cruise/travel and the $1500, you would have been out very little actual dollars. The big thing is vacation time which is difficult to put a price on because it really depends on the individuals situation.

I am unsure the price I would put on this. CCL had previously stated they would work with anyone who suffered a physical injury and compensate them separately... Something between $500-$2000 per person seems reasonable to me.

Please help me win this battle:).....my daughter who is 19 would like to go with some of her college friends on a cruise. The other girls are 21, I told her that I am pretty sure she would not be able to go because of her age.... am I right in this argument??

There is good and bad news... She can't go on CCL without someone 25 going with them. She can go on RCL with a 21 year old.

The only thing that I would criticize Carnival about is that Mobile was NOT the closest port that the Triumph could be towed to. The selection of Mobile was made as it would be the port where the ship would be repaired thus negating the time and expense needed for a paid second tow from a closer port to the engine fire where they could have more quickly disembarked guests. (Remember, at the time Carnival wasn't planning on paying back the Coast Guard for the original tow, as per naval tradition, but changed their minds after a public outcry). Also, as they initially believed the Triumph could be quickly repaired, by taking her to Mobile it would shorten the repair process and get her back into service quicker. Only after the initial inspections and the decision to implement much more stringent safety protocols was the Triumph taken out of service for a considerable length of time. Consequently, financial circumstances partially dictated the decision making process which led to additional hardships for those on-board.

Based on what the coast guard advised, Mobile was actually the quickest port to travel to. Also, it was the easiest access port.... This was talked about for a very long time during the disaster and the coast guard talked about why Mobile was a better option.

IMO, a company as worried about profits as CCL, would realize the cost per each additional hour of having news coverage of your broken ship outweighs the potential revenue of 3-5 extra days of sailing.

thanks for the detail info and replies. I was wandering who all is included in the 'automatic' gratuity...but I am the kind of person that believes a tip is earned based on service given; not just assumed....I tip well for any dining, housekeeping, etc, whenever we go on vacation - so a cruise will be no exception/service first. I don't like when it's considered automatic - it's 'earned' for GOOD service. :)

If you eat breakfast or lunch in any venue, you will likely receive some service (and most of the time very good). I prefer not to carry cash, so it is pretty hard to tip all these people.

In the end, this will end up being a service charge down the line at some point (2+ years). In some countries and on other lines, it already is a service charge.

While Triumph was broken down, then? Very cool!!

It is a picture from the maneuver they did to try to minimize the waves in the water during the transfer of goods between ships.

Can watch part of it here

Can anyone tell me if there are basketball courts on the Dream? Thx! :)

There is a court on the sun deck.

I disembarked from the Liberty on Feb 15th. Immediately after disembarking the ship, I realized that I left my wallet in the safe. Despite, waiting at the terminal for 1.5 hrs, they informed me that my wallet "wasn't there" and handed me a guest services card.

 

Here is the previous thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1991316

 

As of today, I haven't heard anything from Carnival, so I called Guest services for a status update. I was told that they will not even know if my wallet was found or not until they receive the "lost/found" shipment from the ship and that usually takes 2 to 2 1/2 weeks from debarkation!

 

So, here is an simple way to improve Customer Service....how about the lost & found department on the ship communicate with guest services on land REALTIME.........that little bit of effort would go a long way with this cruiser! It would say, "I realize this is an important issue to you, and therefore, it is important to Carnival as well".

 

I am amazed that after 9 days that can't even tell me if my wallet was turned in or not. I would feel so much better just knowing that it has been turned in and they are just waiting for it to be returned. In this day and age.....communication can be almost instant, even on a cruise ship.

This is very similar across a lot of the major lines. I left something on a RCL ship and was told 4 weeks later that it was found. Received the item 2 months after disembark.

wait , you are still flying home right? Thats why you are shipping the car back, so you can fly home.

 

so you drove there (add gas), you shipped your car home and you are flying back... how is this less expensive? not sure I get it

Their flight was likely to be delayed/canceled because of inclement weather. Rather than chance it, they drove... So the drive down isn't really a factor in how it is cheaper...

The thing of concern is which is cheaper between shipping car home and flying home (flight already paid for) or driving home... Driving likely requires additional parking, gas, and the big one Time.

The four weeks in March are the best spring break weeks... Any 3,4, or 5 day trip on CCL will have tons of drinking and people your age... On a spring break trip there were 350 spring breakers on the CCL Dream and they had deck parties for the spring breakers with beer pong and such...

Find a week with a lot of spring breakers and you will have plenty of fun.

True but a constant barrage of PA announcements for a pitchman

One of the reasons I like Celebrity, less announcements

I did that once.

A line to a table where a bored looking guy gave me a thimble full of something.

It was embarrassing truthfully.

 

I wish that Carnival would come up a bit in their estimation of passenger intelligence.

The spa silliness, the art ripoffs, the BIG SALE of fake watches, the liquor tasting all leave a bad impression of the whole line.

 

And the watches really tick me off.

My son proudly presented me and his father with the watch things.

He believed their lies and was so tickled to give us something nice.

I could not tell him that he got ripped off, but it really made me resent Carnival for promoting this lie.

He figured out that the watches were junk when he took his to the jeweler to get the band adjusted and found out that all the dials were fake.

 

After I catch someone in a lie I never really believe anything they say.

And I have a really long memory.

 

I am just there for the boat ride.

They can keep all their bs. :)

I wish I could tell you that other lines don't do the same thing but on Celebrity:

Same junk watches

Same spa raffle

Same junk art auction

Same thimble of free booze

RCL has at least one American captain.