Carnival Splendor and rodents

[Goldshep]

Carnival has hit an all time low in my book. 
 

We sailed on the Splendor out of Seattle at the end of May. We paid a pretty penny for this cruise as we stayed in a Suite. 
 

Alaska didn’t disappoint, but Carnival sure did. From not having enough staff to support the passengers, no food available at prime times ie 11:30am (except pizza & ice cream), no decent entertainment etc. etc., when we got home we found gnawed holes in our clothes. 
 

Background:

Upon boarding and checking out our suite my spouse noted a vent that was not covered, it looked like a return a/c vent. The vent was rectangular and the galvanized tube on the other side was round, the rectangular vent was maybe 16x8, and the tube 6x6 so there was a significant amount of open space around it. The vent was about 4” from the floor on the wall. It appeared to be going to the outside. My spouse closed the vent to prevent air from escaping (and for privacy). Done, we didn’t think anymore about it. Fast forward through a miserable week of missing  amenities, we fly home only to find that the dirty clothes we’d piled on the floor in our cabin now had gnawed holes in them. Apparently mice or rats had chewed our clothes for nesting materials. 
 

As suggested we contacted Carnival Guest Services. We waited weeks for them to respond. Carnivals response was simply we’re going to notify the ship of your reports and as a gesture of good will we’ll give you $25 pp to use on your next cruise. What a joke!

 

Take Away-

Beware of sailing on Carnival, they were always a more budget friendly cruise line but this has taken them to a new level. 

Edited August 12, 2022 by Goldshep

[StolidCruiser]

Fascinating story.  

[ColeThornton]

If this was a Disney cruise I would have blamed Mickey.

[cruisingguy007]

If this is true, that is horrible/disgusting. Rats and roaches are a line too far, time to cancel the next sailing or push it back and fumigate the ship. Not saying it isn't true but your post count isn't compelling.  

[sanmarcosman]

EcoLab products for businesses ran an article with their cruise line customers in mind recently, after the re-start of cruising. There is a Carnival connection if you look at the cover photo here but all mass market lines are required to practice rodent prevention.

https://www.ecoclearproducts.com/blogs/news/rats-on-your-cruise-ship

[Goldshep]

32 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

If this is true, that is horrible/disgusting. Rats and roaches are a line too far, time to cancel the next sailing or push it back and fumigate the ship. Not saying it isn't true but your post count isn't compelling.  

Not sure what post count has to do with this. If your asking if I’m a regular on CC I am not, long time member though. We take a cruise every few years, so I don’t float around on these pages often. I come to this site mostly for research when planning.  This most recent experience is worthy of sharing as a warning to others. I agree disgusting. 

[chengkp75]

23 minutes ago, sanmarcosman said:

EcoLab products for businesses ran an article with their cruise line customers in mind recently, after the re-start of cruising. There is a Carnival connection if you look at the cover photo here but all mass market lines are required to practice rodent prevention.

https://www.ecoclearproducts.com/blogs/news/rats-on-your-cruise-ship

Each cruise ship is required to have a pest control officer, whose only duty is the pest control program.  This goes beyond rodents to roaches and fruit flies.  The rodents would not be in the cabin areas, they would be in the food prep and storage areas.  And, if there were rodents in the passenger cabin areas, this would have been a long term problem, and this would have been found by USPH inspectors long ago.

 

Not sure what a "disconnected" vent (between the rectangular and round) would be (not an AC return), they are never near the floor, and they don't go "outside".

[Goldshep]

28 minutes ago, sanmarcosman said:

EcoLab products for businesses ran an article with their cruise line customers in mind recently, after the re-start of cruising. There is a Carnival connection if you look at the cover photo here but all mass market lines are required to practice rodent prevention.

https://www.ecoclearproducts.com/blogs/news/rats-on-your-cruise-ship

Interesting for sure. This makes sense too since the Splendor had recently arrived in the states from Australia specifically for the Alaskan season. I think Carnival was trying to capitalize and put all their ships back in service  while the Australian ports were still closed to cruises. 

[sanmarcosman]

1 minute ago, chengkp75 said:

Each cruise ship is required to have a pest control officer, whose only duty is the pest control program.  This goes beyond rodents to roaches and fruit flies.  The rodents would not be in the cabin areas, they would be in the food prep and storage areas.  And, if there were rodents in the passenger cabin areas, this would have been a long term problem, and this would have been found by USPH inspectors long ago.

 

Not sure what a "disconnected" vent (between the rectangular and round) would be (not an AC return), they are never near the floor, and they don't go "outside".

I only posted the article LOL! 

[JT1962]

Thanks for the information. I sailed on the first sailing in over two years on the Splendor in May and had a great time with no issues. 

[Goldshep]

3 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Each cruise ship is required to have a pest control officer, whose only duty is the pest control program.  This goes beyond rodents to roaches and fruit flies.  The rodents would not be in the cabin areas, they would be in the food prep and storage areas.  And, if there were rodents in the passenger cabin areas, this would have been a long term problem, and this would have been found by USPH inspectors long ago.

 

Not sure what a "disconnected" vent (between the rectangular and round) would be (not an AC return), they are never near the floor, and they don't go "outside".

I am not sure what this vent thing was. I can tell you it was next to the cabins small refrigerator. We were in the CS 9202. Exhaust for the fridge? I’d don’t know, but I can tell you sunlight was coming through and it was slightly above floor level. Behind the vent it did not look like a “finished area” the passengers would see. 

[Goldshep]

3 minutes ago, Goldshep said:

I am not sure what this vent thing was. I can tell you it was next to the cabins small refrigerator. We were in the CS 9202. Exhaust for the fridge? I’d don’t know, but I can tell you sunlight was coming through and it was slightly above floor level. Behind the vent it did not look like a “finished area” the passengers would see. 

 

[LTCruzer]

“the dirty clothes we’d piled on the floor in our cabin”

 

Who piles dirty clothes on the floor for a week except teens / college kids?

[mz-s]

3 minutes ago, LTCruzer said:

“the dirty clothes we’d piled on the floor in our cabin”

 

Who piles dirty clothes on the floor for a week except teens / college kids?

 

There are only so many places to put dirty clothes as they accumulate in your cabin...anyway who cares.

[Goldshep]

3 minutes ago, LTCruzer said:

“the dirty clothes we’d piled on the floor in our cabin”

 

Who piles dirty clothes on the floor for a week except teens / college kids?

I do, my clothes are piled in a hamper which is on the floor at home too. What do you do?  Maybe I should bring a portable hamper next time? That would’ve prevented it….

[sanmarcosman]

Just now, Goldshep said:

I do, my clothes are piled in a hamper which is on the floor at home too. What do you do?  Maybe I should bring a portable hamper next time? That would’ve prevented it….

They'd have gnawed through a hamper. You can't win with them. 

[Goldshep]

5 minutes ago, sanmarcosman said:

They'd have gnawed through a hamper. You can't win with them. 

Very true! I was being facetious to the person that felt clothes on the floor somehow justified it. 

[sanmarcosman]

6 minutes ago, Goldshep said:

Very true! I was being facetious to the person that felt clothes on the floor somehow justified it. 

Yes, and I was joking to carry your facetiousness along for effect.

[DallasGuy75219]

51 minutes ago, LTCruzer said:

“the dirty clothes we’d piled on the floor in our cabin”

 

Who piles dirty clothes on the floor for a week except teens / college kids?

I do, on ships/cruiselines where 'closets'/clothing rods have no shelf on the floor, just the same carpet as the rest of the cabin. I roll up my dirty clothes to fly home, so I wait until the last night of the cruise to do that and put the rolled clothes in plastic bags directly into my luggage.

 

Not that putting dirty clothes on the floor justifies having rodents chew them up, if indeed that's what happened🙄

[pc_load_letter]

Did you find any evidence of mouse poop?

[txcruiser1234]

38 minutes ago, Goldshep said:

What do you do?

My wife saw this tip on a packing video once and it works for us...

 

We pack two of those scented kitchen trash can liners, one for her and one for me. Takes up no packing space and easy to fill with clothes as needed, close the top and store in a drawer, wardrobe or under the bed whenever clothes are taken out of service during the cruise. Just need to make sure the clothes are dry before putting into bag (swimwear/work out clothes/etc.). Also keeps any unused or laundered clothes fresh during trip back home.

 

Not sure about rodents...never thought about that one before...maybe the scented plastic would turn them off?

[BlerkOne]

Did you use cheese scented fabric softener?

[DrSea]

Can you post a pic of your cloths? Just wondering what it looks like. 

[JT1962]

Rodents are a problem around most docks / piers, whether it is a small local marina or cruise ship pier. That is why you will see rat / rodent guards (circular discs) on most ropes used to tie the ship to the dock. They keep most, but not all, from getting past them. Look for the discs next time you cruise.
 

Rodents also get onboard when the ships are being loaded with pallets and crates of food and supplies. They do their best to control them, but it’s impossible to stop them all. 
 

Here is a photo of rodent guards on ropes at the pier: 

[BlerkOne]

16 minutes ago, DrSea said:

Can you post a pic of your cloths? Just wondering what it looks like. 

Yes. Lots of things eat clothes.