Bruno Bornino

12 of us traveled on the Pride from Long Beach on Jan 16, 2005 including 4 children ages 9 months to 6 years. The embarkation process was slow and completely disorganized. Long Beach is only used 4 days a week so they do not have a dedicated or competent staff. The cruise began ok. This was my 7th cruise so I knew basically what to expect. Additionally, Passengers are constantly barraged with announcements for Bingo, the art Auction, the Spa, the Casino, and Super Shopper Kathy. You can't even get away from these pitches in the elevators and the restrooms.

The food was Mediocre at best and the waiter felt it was his duty to tell us what foods to avoid because people hated them. The decor, unlike the Coral Princess, the Infinity and the Zuiderdam, was hardly one that fit a family theme with images of unclothed bodies on almost every wall including those in the elevators. The ship was new and clean, but the cabin stewards were slow to react to requests and were very territorial. My friends in the cabin next door had a different steward and he refused to help me with any problem. Often my beds were not turned down until 9pm had long past.

The Midnight Buffets were also disappointing. Just a lot of left over food. Even the Spectacular one featured cold cuts, and warmed over leftovers. My waiter warned us that the food looked much better than it tasted.

The tour to the Sierra Madre Mountains was a joke and was just a shopping jaunt and never got to the Mountains. On the Whale Watching cruise in Cabo, the boat followed a whale and her calf for over an hour. This harassment is not allowed in US waters.

The Dancers and the 10 piece band were very good, the magician was boring ad his humor was lacking. There was a classical trio that included a piano, flute and violin that was quite good, and the Reggae band was uninspiring.

The cruise ends with a small personal injury from the sharp corner of a table in the Mermaid Grill Buffet and a lost suitcase. Because service is the key to a good cruise, I have included my 2 letters which explain the circumstances.

Letter to Carnival

Lost Baggage and injury.
I just completed the 7 day cruise on the Pride with 8 other family members and 3 friends. Somehow, Carnival managed to lose my new Samsonite bag somewhere between the cabin Saturday night and the Dock. I watched the crew member load that bag and 2 others of mine onto his cart Saturday evening. You seem to have no control on the debarkation to ensure that passengers take their own bag.

I was also not amused when I reported to Gene, your agent at the dock, that my Bag was missing, he joked that it was around my neck. This is no way to treat a distressed customer. Because I had elderly family members that needed my attention, I did notice that Gene did not Fill in all the required information on the form such as Voyage #, Folio # , Exact place last seen, Date last seen (1-22/05). Aren't your employees properly trained to take a complete report? Should not the reports be on numbered forms so they can be controlled?

In addition to clothing (shirts, shoes, sox, underwear, Dress coat, Slacks, shorts, Swim Trunks, Tie, Hat, Jacket, leather wallet and pouches, etc) there were also the charger for my new HP DV1000 laptop, the charger for my Pentax Camera battery, 2 sets of 2-way radios, cruise tickets, Computer cables, and 2- 256M SD memory media. Luckily, I did not trust the laptop, my Pentax Camera and my Kyocera 7135 smart phone to your baggage handlers.

I also filed an accident report the previous evening because I suffered an abdominal laceration inflicted by one of the many sharp corners on Mermaid Grill tables.

I reported this to the Information desk and showed the agent my wound and she made no mention that I should visit the Infirmary and file a report. I did anyway and took pictures of the wound and of the tables. It seems that some tables have corners with sharp corners and others of the same material have corners with about a 1" radius. There was never an apology, mention of concern or interest in remediation. In fact, I asked the Nurse for a copy of the report and she said it was for internal use only. This is not good policy. What should I expect from Carnival?

2-2/05

Incident #002023430J
This is a follow up to a letter that I wrote last week. I made at least 5 calls to your Miami Office and they told me last week that they thought they found the bag that Carnival lost and it was being shipped to Miami for Identification. Today I called twice and on the last call I was told that the bag was still in Long Beach and it was identified as mine and it would be shipped to me DHL COD!!! First I was misled then I am forced to pay for the recovery for a bag that Carnival lost. 11 other people traveled with me on my recommendation. This was my second and last cruise with Carnival.

I have not received any contact from Carnival management as of this date. Yes, this was definitely was my last Carnival Cruise.