Could you make the best out of the Carnival Cruise from Hell?

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

I'd be fine.
Using the bathroom in bags is nothing new to most fisherman. Department of Conservation dictates that you have a bathroom on your vessel, most smaller boats use a bucket. Although its usually just a couple of friends not 4,000+ strangers.
A hypothetical question; but how long would some of you stay calm before you would begin to BREAKDOWN, and question whether you needed to find your own way home.

 

[Wendy31]

I'd like to think I'd stay pretty calm. But I'm sure I'd have my own personal little breakdown "moments" too - times where I'd just go off by myself somewhere & cry! LOL! Like another poster mentioned, I also have a tendency to feed off other people's emotions, so I'd need to stay away from the overly dramatic people.

I'm a germaphobe, but I think I'd deal w/ it all better if it were just DH & I. If our kids were w/ us, I'd be a nervous wreck worrying about the germs, & I'm pretty sure I'd be having some panic attacks. I just know I'd be able to handle everything much better if I didn't also have to worry about our kids. When the cruise ship sunk off the coast of Italy, DH & I talked about how much easier we would handle that w/o also having to worry about our kids' survival. Honestly, while this hasn't made me rethink going on a cruise, it has made me rethink bringing our kids w/ us. I know I would be a complete mess worried about them - especially our younger son.

And I'd be a lot better if DH were w/ me instead of just being w/ some friends. When I tend to worry or get overly anxious about things, he's good at talking me off the ledge, so I'd definitely need him w/ me to keep me centered.

The smells would be pretty bad for me too, so I'd also deal w/ everything better if we had our own balcony - which would be my "escape". Fresh air would be a must for me, so, if we didn't have our own balcony, we'd be in the tent cities on deck.

I'd have a hard time eating anything because I'd be worried about germs & how the food was staying clean.

And I'm sure there would be times where I'd be giggly too! I'd rather be around the people who were optimistic & funny & were turning the whole thing into a big adventure.

We've had a couple of weather situations where we were out w/o power and/or water for a few days, but I haven't been in a situation where I've been stranded w/ a bunch of people. This is NOTHING like being stuck on an listing, drifting cruise ship for 5 days, but our two older kids & I were once stuck on Splash Mountain at the top in the hot sun for over two hours. When it shut down, they were able to evacuate the whole ride except for our log & 2 logs behind us due to where we were on the ride. The people in the log behind us were starting to panic & were yelling at the castmembers who constantly kept coming to check on us & hand out water bottles. In our log were two boys, my older 2 kids, me, & an older couple, & we all stayed calm. The two boys were younger than my kids & were w/o their parents (their parents did not ride & were supposed to be waiting for them at the end of the ride), & even they were fine. I was worried about getting a migraine from being in the sun & worried about one of the kids having to use the bathroom, but I wasn't panicking or anything. Our whole log stayed polite & cooperative w/ the castmembers while the people in the log behind us were getting very disgruntled. I don't know... is that indicative of how I would act in the cruise ship situation? I'd like to think so, but, again, stuck on Splash for 2 hours is nothing like being stuck on an inoperable cruise ship for 5 days.

 

[EMom]

An acute sense of smell and a strong gag reflex would keep me out of the laid back camp, but I don't get hysterical.

I'm guessing that whether you had an interior or balcony cabin would have an effect on your reaction.

I am a member of the Frequent Barfer's Club and smells set me off. I'd be barfing my guts out, gritching up a storm, but I would not get hysterical. But if I saw the president of Carnival Cruise Lines, I'd snap his neck like a twig.

A refund? Duh. Of course. The offer of a second cruise? No thank. $500 as compensation? Are you kidding me? You couldn't pay me $500 to have endured that crap.......literally.

 

[Minnesota!]

I don't know... never been on a cruise. But DH & I are both pessimists, though we're pretty tough under pressure & stress. Miraculously, we tend to band together and work as a team when under a lot of stress instead of bickering with each other.

However, knowing DH, we'd be in an inside room because he's el cheapo & I'm fairly claustrophobic. And warm blooded. So the heat, the lack of power & the enclosed place would wear on my nerves in a BIG way (and I've already got anxiety issues). So I think the only way I'd be able to sanely ride it out is if we pitched a tent up on deck.

Though I can guarantee you that DH & I would make it sound much worse and dramatic than it ACTUALLY was. A shameful personality trait that we both possess, lol.

well, at least you admit it! You sound a lot like my BFF!

I'd certainly make the best of the free cruise in the future!

However, I tend to get punchy/silly when extremely stressed. So Dh and I would probably be joking and laughing hysterically the whole time.

This is me and DH. We just get a little crazy....giggly, (more) sarcastic, etc. I am sure people would be annoyed by us but...whatever

 

[LisaR]

I'd be fine.
Using the bathroom in bags is nothing new to most fisherman. Department of Conservation dictates that you have a bathroom on your vessel, most smaller boats use a bucket. Although its usually just a couple of friends not 4,000+ strangers.
A hypothetical question; but how long would some of you stay calm before you would begin to BREAKDOWN, and question whether you needed to find your own way home.

I read that as, "using the bathroom in bags is nothing new to most FRESHMAN." I wondered where the heck you went to college!

I don't think one can predict where/when they would breakdown. There are so many different factors. As many mentioned, taking care of themselves isn't an issue, but add in kids, especially kids with issues, and you have a whole different ballgame. The disgusting factor would weigh on me but I think I could keep it together. If I felt we were in danger of sinking, I would completely panic and jump!

 

[Disney Ella]

I would be fine for the first day or two and would have a "these things happen" attitude. After that, I would turn into a big whiner, but I wouldn't get hysterical. The lack of working toilets would be the biggest problem. I probably wouldn't have brought enough Dramamine or seasickness patches to get me through those four extra days at sea, so I'd probably be feeling pretty rotten by the time I got off that ship.

 

[Tuffcookie]

Plus the passengers were all made financially whole...[/QUOTE]

But they weren't.

What about lost wages because the ship did not return on time?


TC

 

[anniemae]

I would try deal with it well, but inside I would be hysterical. I would have to be calm for my kids though. I would be terribly worried about sanitation and food prep, although with onion sandwiches I would probably skip the food line until I was starving!

One thing I noticed when the news showed the people getting off the boat, they all had the cruise ship robes on! I don't know why that amused me, but it was like they were saying, "darn it all, I AM TAKING THIS ROBE!"

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

I would try deal with it well, but inside I would be hysterical. I would have to be calm for my kids though. I would be terribly worried about sanitation and food prep, although with onion sandwiches I would probably skip the food line until I was starving!

One thing I noticed when the news showed the people getting off the boat, they all had the cruise ship robes on! I don't know why that amused me, but it was like they were saying, "darn it all, I AM TAKING THIS ROBE!"

They took the robes because it was cold hear, and most only had warm weather clothing.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Does anyone know were the stoves and ovens working at all? Were they able to serve hot food?

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

My first thought was that I'm pretty laid back, so I'd deal with it. Then someone mentioned the stabilizers being out and I realized I'd be too sick to care what was going on.

My husband, on the other hand, would have been hysterical. Major OCD issues with cleanliness and potty functions. Pooping in a bag would have had him curled in a fetal position sucking his thumb.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Would anyone be surprised if I said I'd probably be a lunatic? We were without power for 8 days during Superstorm Sandy. And it was cold. But the one thing I kept saying was "thankfully we have food and water/flushing toilets. Without that I'd lose my mind." I had a mini meltdown one night for about an hour and then I was good again. But stuck on a ship in the middle of the ocean, listing? Nope, not going to be pretty at all. Need I say more?

And my DD also has a serious gag reflect triggered by smells.

My thought was can you imagine the cell phone bills these people are going to get from calling the news agencies, their families, etc.? That $500 is not going to cover even that. And wondering what the airlines are doing (or not doing) for these people.

I can deal with a lot but raw sewerage coming out of the showers and toilets? Nope, not for me. Think I'll stay on land or fly where I'm going. It's probably a good assumption I would have begun throwing the captain and crew overboard by about day 3.

 

[DeaverTex]

Smells wouldn't particularly bother me or Mrs. Tex, since we've both been exposed to some pretty horrendous examples of that sort of thing. (She's a farm girl, and we spent a lot of time in Germany wandering through the farm country -- where they use what has to be activated hog manure for fertilizer, and spray it onto the fields.) Not having a working toilet would be pretty bad, but we'd cope since we've both spent a lot of time in the field in the Army.

The only serious issue would be food, since from what I've heard about this event, food was beginning to spoil and some of the staples were vegetable sandwiches. Including onion.

We'd have been grousing after the first day or so, of course, but I think that we'd be able to keep things in perspective. The ship wasn't sinking, or in any danger, so we'd have known that we were going to live through the experience. I'd have made a lot of jokes that would probably not be in good taste, or sensitive to our plight or that of others, and she'd have laughed in spite of herself.

And OMG, the stories we'd have to tell later, embroidering them more elaborately every time we told them. Great conversation material on our next cruise.

 

[deserrai]

I think I would manage to stay pretty calm, but if my child was with me having to deal with those conditions I'd probably be more upset/angry.

 

[Sgt Mickey]

I don't know I think I would freak without a bathroom.

 

[FergieTCat]

I have no idea but, I'm not prone to out and out hysterics. I probably wouldn't be too nice as time wore on (worded for the Disboards). I hope I would have enough reading materials so I could sit in a corner and distract myself.

 

[WDSearcher]

Plus the passengers were all made financially whole...[/QUOTE]

But they weren't.

What about lost wages because the ship did not return on time?


TC

I don't know that the cruise line is on the hook for that, though. There has to be a limit to how much liability they have. I mean, it's not like they just hung out and decided to come back late, or that they held up the return on purpose.

But I suppose if someone felt strongly enough about the wages they lost, they could sue. Thereby risking additional funds and time off work for court appearances.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

I also think it had to be far worse at night with no power, particularly if you were in the corridors, not near any windows. I'd be afraid that some unsavory characters would be roaming around freely, basically unchecked.

 

[WDSearcher]

I think this would be a negative for us. DH and I would want to fix it and there wasn't anything we would be able to fix in this situation. They wouldn't let DH in the engine room and they wouldn't let me in the kitchen. It seems like it would be a lot of time sitting around doing nothing. Put me to work making the situation right and I would be fine. Let me sit and wallow and the situation would be so much worse. I hate when there is a problem and I can't do anything to fix it.

But there are problems, and then there are problems.

No, they're not going to let your DH into the engine room, but I'll bet there are probably a whole bunch of people who are going to be totally at a loss as to how to handle a night without electricity, so maybe your DH could start helping them figure that out. Or maybe you -- instead of heading to the kitchen to reorganize the menues -- could gather up some like-minded folks and see if there were some activities or something that could be set up.

Just because you can't fix the ship doesn't mean there aren't any other problems you could tackle.

 

[java]

I'm thinking if I had a balcony- I might be ok- having a place to get away for it all.

But trapped in an inside room with no window and no toilets. Um yeah I wouldn't be happy.

We survived Hurricane Sandy's 12 days without power or water(4 kids 2 dogs!). While it sucked , we didn't turn into animals. We powered through.

I don't understand why they couldn't have another ship out there for those people to board? To get back? The tug boat thing would have maybe made me go nuts too.