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<p>I think they were already doing this. From a few pics that I saw there were a few buckets and green square plastic containers (normally used for recyclables) filled with urine and - *?&^> dunno what - on the stair landing. So if you were to go up and down the stairs you would be staring at the buckets of waste.</p>
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Definitely true. I dunno what it is and I wondered about this too.</p>
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<p>I’m not seeing how this would be a big improvement on using red biohazard bags.</p>
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<p>OK, I view this as a “teachable moment.” In fact, the fine print in the tickets is enforceable, and it doesn’t matter if the passengers ever saw it or not. And the first thing the fine print does is to require any lawsuits against Carnival to be brought in Florida. And that clause will be enforced. How can I be so sure? Because the United States Supreme Court said so in 1991 in Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc. v. Shute 499 U.S. 585.</p>
<p>So to start, to bring a lawsuit you’d have to get a lawyer in Florida. And since the cash value of any one passenger’s claim is small in legal terms (whether we’re talking $1,000 or $10,000) it’s not enough to financially justify an attorney bringing a lawsuit on a contingent fee basis. The time needed to file and process the case - let alone bring it to trial - doesn’t pencil out for anyone. </p>
<p>So basically the passengers actually have no leverage, no matter what anyone here thinks is a “fair” settlement. What Carnival is offering is what Carnival things is good for PR - period. Passengers have no actual enforceable legal rights. That’s the reality of how our court system now works.</p>
<p>I’ve taken a variety of cruises - West Coast, Caribbean, trans-Atlantic - on various lines. I don’t read the contracts. I don’t read any of the consumer contracts I sign. Why should I? I’ve been a lawyer for almost 40 years. I know what the contracts say - I’m giving up all my rights, reasonable or otherwise. Why should I subject myself to the aggravation of reading how little recourse I have for whatever the company might choose to do or not do? It’s not a negotiation - it’s always “take it or go home.”</p>
<p>The trend in law for the past 30 years has been “might makes right.” The party with superior power in the transaction has the right to dictate terms, and virtually anything they put in there will be enforced. Your “consent” is strictly pro forma and will be presumed whether you’ve actually seen the terms or not. All you folks who think otherwise are living in the past.</p>
<p>These guys make an awful lot of money for losing all their cases:</p>
<p>[Carnival</a> Cruises Injury Lawsuits Archives: Maritime & Boating Accident Lawyer News](<a href=“http://news.braislaw.com/carnival-cruises-injury-lawsuits/]Carnival”>http://news.braislaw.com/carnival-cruises-injury-lawsuits/)</p>
<p>Mini, that’s a Florida lawfirm touting cases filed in Florida involving tangible injuries - blinding, burns, other injuries requiring surgery, etc. Those case “pencil out” because you’ve got substantial medical bills to recover - that’s “hard damages.” Personal Injury lawyers fight over cases with permanent physical injuries or tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills because the recovery (if any) will reflect those numbers.</p>
<p>“I had to smell poop for three days” doesn’t equate to a specific dollar figure; there’s really not much in the way of “hard damages” in the Triumph situation.</p>
<p>And you’ll note they don’t cite any verdicts or settlement numbers. It’s hard to say what kind of return they’re getting; but a local Florida lawfirm is who you need to sign up with if you want to sue Carnival; they’re smart to advertise their cases.</p>
<p>We took a Carnival cruise from February 9 through yesterday morning and had a great time. If our cruise had been just one week later, it would have been canceled!! I wonder what happens to all those people who had already booked airline flights and hotels?? Yikes.</p>
<p>I read a couple of negative comments about Carnival cruises earlier in the thread, so I want to reiterate that we thought the company did a wonderful job. And when we wanted peace and quiet, we could sit on our balcony and not hear a sound except for the waves and the wind. The food was excellent, and I loved the spa - splurged on a massage and a pedicure.</p>
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<p>MaineLonghorn,</p>
<p>I wonder if you’ve sailed on Carnival before and/or other mass cruise-line. Carnival went downhill in the last several year. For me to the point where their cheap fairs are not enough to entice me to come back. I would much rather pay more Celebrity or Royal Caribbean than go on Carnival again. Unless of course they make a change to where they were once were: live bands, decent entertainment and no meatloaf and hamburgers on the dinner menu for adults.</p>
<p>As far as Triumph is concerned, I am not sure if anyone mentioned it yet, but Triumph had its problems for quite some time before the fire. I am a member of cruisecritic, and there is a thread there titled something like that “Stay away from Triumph”. This thread details the problems they had with propulsion system on voyage prior to the one with fire. </p>
<p>With that being said, I don’t think anyone can win a law suit against Carnival. They are going above and beyond the contract terms they had with passengers. The passengers are much better off starting a social media campaign to pressure Carnival to pony up more money, if they feel they are entitled to more.</p>
<p>While what happened should have been prevented in the first place, and probably should have been managed differently/better…</p>
<p>Cruisers got a refund, a voucher and $500. Not sure what else one can expect really. Hopefully no one loses a job over the lost time. Anytime you travel you have to figure everything may not go as planned (flights cancelled, etc.)</p>
<p>I think I would have been EXTREMELY glad to get back on dry land, but I think I would have been satisfied with the compensation. And I’d book on one of their newer vessels next time.</p>
<p>lerkin, we sailed on a Carnival ship in October, 2011 and liked it so much that we signed up for this cruise. We’ll probably try a different cruise company next time, but not because we had any issues with Carnival - we just like to do different things.</p>
<p>I was not there, so I am not sure how I would feel about the situation.</p>
<p>All I am saying is that it is pretty useless to sue Carnival. On the other hand, I think people lost more than $500 on that vacation. I suspect the cell phone fees are outrageous for those who tried to call home from the sip. Add to this, how Carnival mis-managed the situation and I might feel like I am entitled to more. </p>
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<p>Be careful what you book, some of their newer vessels might be the old vessels (I am looking at you future Carnival Sunshine, currently Carnival Destiny).</p>
<p>You can call the US from your cabin for $1.99 per minute. Not cheap, but not exorbitant. I was also happy that now there is WiFi in the cabins. Not cheap, but much more convenient than going to the computer room as we had to a year and a half ago. My husband charged the expense to his company.</p>
<p>MainLonghorn,</p>
<p>Try Celebrity. You will be amazed by the difference. </p>
<p>I prefer Royal Caribbean, but I am not the type to sit on the balcony and enjoy it (although I know many people are). I am into activities. I think you will enjoy Celebrity. The experience is very elegant and the attention you get from the crew is amazing.</p>
<p>Thanks, lerkin, I will keep that in mind!</p>
<p>I have sailed with many different cruise lines, and Carnival is very nice. It has more to do with what boat you’re on. If you sail on one of the really old boats, with a college party crowd…not so impressive. If you’re on one of their newer boats, they are fairly upscale and there’s nothing to complain about. Carnival may still have a reputation of having the old party boats, but I find that it’s more important to be on a newer, bigger boat than a specific cruise line. RCCL, Princess, Carnival, NCL…very similar. I have not sailed on Celebrity, but since we are always with the kids, I’m not sure they’d have as many activities that they’d enjoy. Maybe if it was just us.</p>
<p>Glad you escaped the northeast, and got onboard your cruise, MaineLonghorn!</p>
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<p>This is what everyone thinks, but it is not true. Both Celebrity and Royal Caribbean do amazing job with the kids. In my opinion, much better than Carnival. My kids loved Celebrity. My son was a teenager and my daughter was 4 or 5 when we sailed Celebrity (to give you a point of reference). Of course both prefer Royal Caribbean (skating rink and climbing wall are cool), but my son told me that Celebrity is much better than Carnival.</p>
<p>Celebrity needs to keep kids occupied so that they don’t run interference with their core customers. As a result they do a great job.</p>
<p>The RCCL cruises we went on, we weren’t that impressed with the entertainment, felt Carnival was better. Of course, NCL kicks butt when it comes to entertainment, they were far and away the best for my kids (college age). But I’ll definitely look into Celebrity next time, we get good discounts on them. I really want to try Windstar (without the kids), as it’s an entirely different experience on a small, upscale, no kids for the most part boat. Some great deals, and unusual ports too.</p>
<p>Interesting, how we have difference perception. </p>
<p>I felt like Carnival had little to offer in the evening, while there was so much choice on Royal. Celebrity did not have as much, but because there were not that many people participating in activities, we got to know CD and entertainers and the experience was very personal. Plus, we had the dance floor at night almost all to ourselves, which we liked.</p>
<p>My husband absolutely refuses to go on Carnival again, no matter how cheap they are. I am afraid to try NCL, because of the reviews of the dining experience that is included. I am not opposed to pay extra for my husband and I, but don’t feel like paying extra for the kids.</p>
<p>lerkin, it’s all a matter of personal preference. I sailed NCL last year, and the food was more than tolerable in the main dining room and buffets, and I never went to a specialty restaurant.</p>
<p>I also enjoyed our Princess cruises, and we’ll be going again.</p>
<p>Somehow, Carnival has never really appealed to me. (Yes, I know that Carnival Corp owns both Carnival Cruise Line and Princess. But they are managed differently.)</p>
<p>Honestly, I wouldn’t let a couple of reviews throw me. If a boat is rated very poorly overall, sure, forget it. There are always people who are furious because one day they had wrinkled sheets or a dish they disliked. We had a couple of cruises on the Norwegian Epic, what a great time. Fantastic, fantastic entertainment. Dueling pianos, second city comedy, singers, Blue Man group. The food was probably the best I’ve had on a cruise. Plenty of variety, and we only went to a specialty restaurant once. Sometimes we were too lazy to have dinner in the dining room and just went to the buffet, because it was that good. I would never avoid NCL for food. My favorite was that they always had a huge variety of tasty, healthy, cooked vegetable dishes and good fish on the buffet. And they even have a coffee bar that serves (hear the angels singing)…Segefredo coffee! One of my huge complaints about cruise lines is the lack of really great coffee.</p>
<p>The couple of times I went on RCCL, I was bored with the food because of the lack of variety, but both times it was on an old boat, Vision of the Seas. We are going on a RCCL cruise this May, on a newer boat, so I have high hopes.</p>