2-13 Cruise Update

Here is what I know after my 2 conversations with Carnival today:


All passengers were given the option of getting on a bus that goes straight to Galveston or Houston OR to get on a bus for a roughly 2.5(!) hour drive to New Orleans where 1,500 hotel rooms have been reserved for Thursday night so they can eat, shower, and rest before taking chartered flights to Houston on Friday. Wouldn’t you choose option 2? Then all of our Marshall ladies would get on another bus from Houston to Galveston to get their cars and make the drive back to Marshall. Whew! According to Carnival, there were not enough hotel rooms in Mobile. All passengers have already made their choice but the Carnival care people said they don’t have that information yet and couldn’t tell me what my mom chose, but should tomorrow morning. They said the ship should be close enough to shore tonight where you might be able to get a cell signal if their phones are turned on. I doubt that but maybe.

Other tidbits:

• Partial power
• Working toilets in 70% of ship, less likely to have working toilets in the back, but those people are being offered toilets in other areas.
• Technical teams have been working and the ship now has running water. Cold showers are available.
• Weather – There is a front moving in so the temperature will drop a little bit.
• Reports of urine soaked carpets and sewage on the walls may be true. Guests that used the toilets in their cabins may have had issues with overflow but the sanitation crew would have been called immediately to clean that up. “That is certainly not the situation everywhere."
• Enough food, not typical cruise ship amount but meals are scheduled and everyone knows when they’re getting food. Another ship (not a cruise ship) may be delivering food today.
• When get to Mobile (ETA Thursday afternoon), it will take several hours to get through channels, which it does even for fully operational cruise ships. They won’t know the exact time that the ship will arrive until mid-morning tomorrow.
• Triage area will be available if needed.
• They will have to go through customs so it will take some time before they will be able to board the busses.
• Will have a way for guests to call family if their cell phones are dead or they don’t have cell phones.
• A third tugboat has been dispatched to help with towing due to challenging conditions.

Are you kidding me?

My first thought when they said they were towing the ship to Mexico was, "Does everyone on the ship have a passport?"  Clearly, clearly, no one at Carnival thought of this and now that you find out that 900 passengers DON'T have passports, you expect everyone to believe that the primary reason for going to Mobile is because of the strong currents?  Such crap.

And this statement from http://www.carnival.com/Core/FAQ.aspx?faq=update - "Currently, public and cabin toilets are operational in certain sections of the ship" - Which parts?  None that my mom was aware of when I talked to her 5 hours ago.  Thanks for communicating this out to the passengers.  And now she gets to continue to experience this for another day, which apparently is "roughly the same time the ship would have arrived in Progreso."  24 hours is not "roughly" when there's no (or "limited" according to Carnival) power or toilets.  Don't use the word "roughly" to try to convince me that it's a good thing that you have no idea what you're doing.

 I am thankful that I got to talk with my mom today around 3:45.  She was able to pick up a signal from the 2 cruise ships that stopped by to give them food and take a passenger that needed dialysis.  She confirmed that some people were sleeping in tents in public spaces but that her and her friends were able to sleep in their beds, that it wasn't THAT hot.  Thank goodness for that.  A bed can make all the difference.  Obviously, she's ready to get home but she couldn't be with a better group of women who are no doubt supporting each other, laughing, and praying their way through this "vacation."

Don't get me wrong, it makes us all feel better that the ship will be coming to the US and not going to Progreso, where they then would've had to take a bus/ferry to Cancun, fly from Cancun to Houston, and then take a bus to Houston (the original plan), but how can an experienced cruise line who has been through this emergency situation before not be more aware of the currents and passport requirements and be better prepared to deal with this?  I guess the same one that let this ship that has known engine problems go out into sea in the first place.  Can't wait to ask my mom whether she ever intends to use her future cruise credit....