Jason M. Gionet

Age: 26
Occupation: Firefighter/Paramedic
Number of Cruises: First Cruise
Cruise Line: Carnival Cruise Lines
Ship: Carnival Spirit
Sailing Date: April 21st, 2002
Itinerary: Hawaii

This was quite possibly the worst experience of my life. I wouldn't recommend that anyone sail with Carnival cruise lines at any time. The troubles began with a 12 hour wait just to get on a bus from San Diego to go to Ensenada Mexico, which added 2 additional hours to the journey. After arriving in Ensenada it took an additional hour to get onto the ship. At this point we have lost a day on our cruise with carnival Offering a token 200 dollars per passenger to make up for their mistakes. Our five days at sea, or the 4 and a half I should say because we slept most of our first day away went by relatively without incident. I will say that it seemed as though they were making a strong effort to make up the time because the first 2 days were extremely rough at sea. Upon arrival at Hilo, it was supposed to take 2 hours to clear customs with our first tour scheduled at 0900 in the morning. We finally got off of the ship at 1130 am, and were then rushed through our tour of the volcanoes national park. The following morning upon arriving at the island of Kona, I had to wake up at the crack of dawn in order to get a tender number. These tender boat operators I believe received their operator licenses that morning. It was quite possibly the worst small boating experience for my wife and I. The day in Kona went by without a problem. I will say the same snorkeling trip that was 140 dollars per person on the ship, we were able to do for about 60 dollars for 2 with a vehicle rental. Upon getting back to the tender boats, we were rewarded with a two hour wait to get back onto the ship with the novice tender operators. Our next day was to be in Maui for the next two days, and once again we rented a vehicle so as to not have to pay the outrageous prices of the tours, of which I would like to add that they sold out of most of the tours about 2 hours after the tour lecture. On our way to Maui that night, something had happened to the air conditioning system, and were assured that it would be fixed by noon. After spending the day in Maui, and parking the vehicle for the night, we sat down to relax and have a few drinks with friends. Not long after, we met up with another couple who informed us the AC was still broken, and that we would be sailing to Honolulu that night missing our second day in Maui. I now had a vehicle that was difficult to return because the rental agency was closed, and also stood to lose the money for the next days rental. Upon waiting in line for the novice tender operators once again for an hour, we were welcomed back to an incredibly hot ship. It was at this point we were informed that we would be refunded the cost of our cruise minus the airfare. This does not make up for the ruined honeymoon experience lost to my wife and I forever. The next morning we arrived in Honolulu, altogether missing the island of Kauai, which we had anticipated more than any other island. After arriving in Honolulu, we were informed that Carnival would put us up in local hotels for three days until our flights home were ready. We got to Honolulu at nine am, but were unable to disembark the ship until almost five thirty at night. During this time cold drinks were not to be found any where on board. When we finally got off of that ship, we were shuttled to our hotel, which I will say was nice, but no comparison to the suite that we had on the ship. It wasn't until we were off of the ship and settled into our hotel that I was finally able to relax. I will say that our wait staff at dinner and our room steward did an excellent job through out the cruise, but that is were my praise ends.

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