Carnival Cruise Line Crew
Come Forward To Tell Their Side Of The Story
Never Before Heard Stories Right From The Crew
October 31, 2007
Yes, today is Halloween in America. But, this is no trick and it certainly is no treat.
Carnival Cruise Line crew members have come forward to tell their side of the story, and for the most part, it is not a pretty picture. Much of the story is disturbing, and I am sure all of the story will be disputed by Carnival Cruise Lines and their advocates.
There is no way to prove if any of it is true, we have to just take it at face value. But, to some degree none of this is new news, as it fits the final pieces into the horror puzzle that passengers have been sharing pieces of in recent years.
The crew members who seem to have the largest base of complaints are kitchen, bar staff and waiters. For the most part, what we heard was they loath Americans and their relentless demands. The list of complaints was wide.
ALCOHOL DRINK QUOTAS
They say there is a problem with passengers becoming angry because they they are having alcoholic drinks pushed on them by Carnival crew. According to several crew members, they are forced to push alcohol on passengers and push it hard.
They are given target sales goals ,"quotas" by their supervisors according to their reports and if they are not reached, the crew member is terminated. Those targets are high, and if true, show a basis for the drunken antics onboard ships that have ended tragically for many.
We have heard this same charge by passengers and even some journalists who say alcohol sales and the sales of goods onboard cruse ships from various lines are a high prority. Liquor is used to prime people into compliant states of mind in preparation for sales pitches including excursions, artwork, jewelry and health products.
Alcohol excess has also been identifed as major cause of excessive gambling losses in casinos around the world where alcohol is permitted. This is why some casinos with an ounce of ethics prohibit drinking in their casinos. The cruise line has a captive audience during most of the cruise, and the cheap cruise booking is only an appetizer on the plate of industry profits.
Numerous crew say when they took the job they had no idea it was a sales job, with sales background a very important asset. They say they have seen co-workers terminated for not meeting sales goals on the alcohol, simply because they had no idea how to "sell" the product quickly and move onto the next sale.
If they are too friendly with the passengers they waste valuable time to sell booze to other passengers. But, making friends can go a long way in selling the drinks. They say the pressure is unbearable to meet quotas at the end of a long day, especially the last night of the cruise when they are exhausted.
THE LAST NIGHT OF THE CRUISE IS THE MOST DANGEROUS
This information of excessive alcohol pushiness coincides, perhaps coincidentally with many Cruise Bruise missing passenger cases that begin with " . . . it was the last night of the cruise . . . ". It may explain numerous missing persons cases onboard where the alcohol may have contributed to boldness of a crime.
Such cases might be Jill Begora, Christopher Caldwell, Annette Mizener, Roberta Muzquiz Pagan, Sabin L, Mia Yokoyama McDonald, Mandy Pierce, Amy Lynn Bradley, Randall Gary, David T Pincus, Andrew Gready, Glenn Sheridan, Vonnie Ales, Karleen Pang, Tammy Grogan Un-named Carnival Passenger.
All the above passengers went missing on the last night of their cruise and remain as unsolved mysteries. There were no witnesses. They comprise about 80% of the missing person cases in our data base where the passenger was not seen falling overboard, jumping overboard or are known to have gone overboard after leaving a suicide note. This makes the last day and night of the cruise the most dangerous day for a passenger in the unsolved mystery category.
If we add in Karen Roston, who we know was murdered by being thrown overboard on the last night of her cruise, by her husband (later convicted) and Paige Washington who was also murdered by her mother on the last day of the cruise (later convicted) the percentage of last day possible murders rises.
One crew member poses a general question to all guests. Where do you think your luggage goes after you set it out the night before the ship comes back home? He explains that it goes to the crew area of course where they go through it to take what they want. It is not hard to decide which bags to go through from which cabins, because the guests are flaunting their electronics throughout the cruise and a mental note is made of which bags to target. We have had passengers come to Cruise Bruise who cruised on other lines and tell us this exact scenario, on more than one occassion, so it comes as no surprise.
But, it is not just guests targeted for theft, other crew members say their paychecks (cashed) were taken right after their bags were packed for disembarking. They left the ship with no pay at all.
Since it is the last night of the cruise that luggage is left out in the hall and thefts take place, it also coincides with those mysterious passenger disappearances. Can it be that the last night of the cruise is well-known to criminals, both crew and passengers alike, as the time to commit the perfect unpunishable crime?
