[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

There was raw sewage in some areas. Lack of AC in cabins without a balcony made those cabins impossible to live in. At least one person broke her leg while trying to go to the bathroom in the dark.

Then you sleep outside on deck. It's not a jungle. There are no wild animals that will eat you. Didn't you see the photos of all the people sleeping out on the deck during the day? The night is no different, only darker. People sleep outside all the time, even on vacations. Just not usually on cruise ships. Yes, it's not what they paid for. But it's not hell on earth. It's an inconvenience. Nothing more.

In days gone by, sailing ships didn't even HAVE bathrooms. It would have taken just a few hours to jury rig toilets with privacy, venting out into the ocean. The only reason there was raw sewerage running out was because people kept using the toilets even though they wouldn't flush. To my way of thinking, that is pretty damn dumb!

It is more then just a crap vacation. There is no way that I would take a cruise with Carnival after being on that ship.

Does this mean that you would never go anywhere that had an accidental fire? Unless the fire was due to negligence, I hardly think the cruise line is at fault. If it WAS due to negligence, then I'd agree with with you completely, but as yet, we don't know any such thing.

I get that you don't like cruises because of the amount that staff are paid and how they are treated but the conditions were worse then you are acknowledging.

I fully acknowledge that the conditions were as primitive as most Third World Countries! No air conditioning, no electricity, no flushing toilets, raw sewerage on the decks...And for a whole FIVE DAYS! But instead of a population that have learned to make the best of a bad situation, in this case the population was a bunch of spoiled children who could only cry about how bad it all was.

Most campers and backpackers manage to live without air conditioning, flushing toilets, or running water, and seem to enjoy it, look forward to it, and afterwards, even do it again. What the passengers on that ship did was sit down and cry instead of figuring out a way to make themselves as comfortable as conditions allowed.

In 1987 I taught at a private boarding school in rural northern New England that experienced a major blizzard that knocked out all power. The school dorms were old wooden buildings with no insulation. So the kids (not the teachers, the kids,) got together and made tents inside their rooms out of blankets. The built fires to melt snow for water. They marked off an area to use as a latrine, one for the boys and one for the girls, and blocked it off for privacy. The kids did this. They did it for themselves. Most of them. But there were a couple that just sat down and cried at how horrible it all was. The other kids tried to make them comfortable, but they didn't want any part of that. They just wanted to go home. For four days the school hunkered down, making the best of a bad situation, playing music and singing because they didn't have electricity to play their cassette tapes.

Parents were frantic. Several managed to get within a few miles of the school and hiked in to 'rescue' their children. The kids invited them into their tents, offered them hot cocoa and tea, then sent the parents home. And the parents, after seeing how well the kids were getting on, didn't mind going, leaving their kids to continue to learn how to deal with life's unexpected events.

Face it and make the best of it, and don't cry about it. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. And that's what the passengers did NOT do. They just cried.


Stitchawl