During spring break, many make their annual southbound journey to warmer climates to tan, take a break from stressful classes and party with other student spring breakers. Whether it be in a condo, beach house or Caribbean-bound cruise, the getaway is meant to be a weeklong respite.
As of late, Carnival Caribbean cruises have been a much talked about subject among news outlets.
First, and perhaps most notorious is Carnival's Triumph, which left from Galveston, Texas, in February and was crippled out at sea due to a fire in the engine room. There was no power and no running water, creating a nightmare with overflowing sewage and spoiled food for the thousands of passengers on board.
Then there was the Dream, which departed from Port Canaveral, Fla. and broke down on the Caribbean island St. Maarten mid-trip, forcing the company to fly passengers home from the island.
Sara Parrish, junior in political science, embarked on a 7-day cruise out of Tampa, Fla. on Carnival's Legend on Sunday, March 10 for what was supposed to be an enjoyable trip with friends.
Despite the flurry of controversy amid Carnival's fleet, Parrish said she wasn't concerned that the nightmare on the Triumph would happen to their ship.
"We all thought since that had happened that all the ships would be up to date and they would be really, really careful," Parrish said. "So no one was nervous at all."
As soon as they boarded the cruise, Parrish said she noticed something was off.
"You could tell that something was wrong, because it vibrated and rocked the whole week," Parrish said. "This was my fourth cruise, and usually you can't tell you're on one. At dinner, it was hard to eat, everything was shaking. You couldn't walk straight."
The plan was to dock at ports in Cozumel, Belize, Honduras and Grand Cayman, but Parrish said the experience didn't exactly go as such. After spending Tuesday as planned in Cozumel, the mishaps began.
"Then it happened," Parrish said. "They gave us letters to our staterooms, and when we woke up Wednesday morning, they said we were having a minor malfunction problem and that it was being taken care of, repairs were being made and the only thing it was going to affect was that we couldn't make it to Belize."
Wednesday morning, the passengers aboard the Legend were supposed to be in Belize, however, they found themselves making an emergency stop in Costa Maya, Mexico, where Parrish said there wasn't much to do. The ship made it to Honduras on Thursday as scheduled, but were told that night by ship management that they couldn't make it to their final destination at Grand Cayman due to inclement weather. But Parrish and her friends had their suspicions.
"We knew some people that were there and they said the weather was beautiful, so we think it was just a cover-up because they couldn't get us there," she said. "So they told us there was 'bad weather' in Grand Cayman, and they were going to take us to Belize since we missed it."
The ship never made it to Belize. Parrish said after apparent fixes were made to the ship's system, it broke again, and the crew announced they wouldn't be going anywhere else except straight back to Tampa at minimum speed.
"We all couldn't believe it, because of everything that happened a few weeks ago," Parrish said, referring to the Triumph. "We started to hear that it was all over the news, and it was almost a joke to us, that we were on the ship that was making the news. The most frustrating thing was they wouldn't tell us what was wrong."
According to Parrish, it's still unclear exactly what happened to the ship and why their port stops were canceled.
"They never really told us, other than there was a propulsion issue, so basically one of our engines wasn't working was what we assumed," Parrish said. "They never were up front with us about what happened."
Parrish said the problem didn't lie in the experience itself, but the way she, her friends and even her family were treated.
"They actually lied about most of it," Parrish said. "My dad called Carnival Wednesday morning, after I emailed him to tell him the ship wasn't working. We were in Costa Maya, and Carnival told him I was lying to him, that we were in Belize and we were never in Costa Maya, and that our ship was not broken. I think they were just trying to cover it up, from everything that has happened."
As far as compensation goes for their unfortunate experience, passengers received a $100 refund, a refund for the day-trip plans they missed in Belize and Grand Cayman and 50 percent off a future 5-7 day Carnival Caribbean cruise.
"We missed half of our ports," Parrish said. "There were tons of stipulations. It didn't compensate for what we paid to go."
In light of such public catastrophe and criticism, Carnival CEO Gerry Cahill released a written statement that the company is going to do a "comprehensive review of our entire fleet."
However, Parrish said this statement was not enough to remedy her negative feelings about the company.
"I'm sure I'll go on more cruises, because I've been on so many before and they've worked out fine, but I won't go back on Carnival," Parrish said. "Especially, the way we were treated during the whole thing. They didn't treat us poorly on the ship, they just wouldn't tell us anything, which was frustrating."
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