Carnival Cruise Line Crew
Come Forward To Tell Their Side Of The Story
Never Before Heard Stories Right From The Crew
ALCOHOL BRAND DECEPTION
One bartender says that when a passenger orders a premium brand of liquor such as Grey Goose vodka often an inferior budget house brand is substituted if the passenger is not watching. This is done to protect the inventory levels of the high priced brands when too much of the premium brand is measured into drinks. He too says the cleanliness procedures he would love to follow but it is "nearly impossible" because of shortage of cleaning chemicals. Chemical shortages for barware and place settings could explain quick spread of illness.
THE UNLIMITED FOUNTAIN CARD
This complaint intermixes with the complaint of the endless soda pop drink card "fountain card" for kids and adults. Crew members say that many passengers feel they should have an endless amount of soda pop and as a result are constantly demanding their free pops so they can get their money's worth. This slows down the selling of alcohol and places additional pressure on the crew to hustle those paid drinks. The worst down side is not being tipped for all those free beverages they are serving . As a result, in the diningrooms they try to avoid the tables with families and children because they consume the most amount of the non-quota drinks.
CREW KEEP THEIR MOUTH SHUT
One crew member defends Carnival Cruise Lines, saying that if you close your eyes to all that goes on, you can realize your dreams and see ports that guests see. If you open your eyes to the reality of life on a Carnival ship, it will "destroy you" and you will just "keep on dreaming".
AMERICANS TARGETED
Still more troubling is the comments by several crew that many of those who work onboard are from countries that hate Americans, and they wonder aloud why the Americans do not realize this and not cruise.
They say crew from India many who hate Americans frequently sabotage the food and the drinks. One galley cook says that the Indians (from India) control the kitchen and they never wash their hands after using the restroom. Nobody checks to see that the cooks are wearing their gloves in the galley. It is no wonder the people get sick.
This fact is supported on a consumer watchdog site by a passenger who became ill on a Carnival cruise.
"My family was on a four day cruise [aboard Carnival] to Mexico and all of us became sick on the last day of the cruise. All the symptoms were consistant with a Novovirus. This was not suprising due to some of the sanitation practices we witnessed on the ship. Those practices included crew members not washing their hands after using the head or following sneezing or coughing." Kirk of Trabuco Canyon
They claim that if food is sent back by the passenger, it is thrown in the trash, contaminated with filth and spit, then re-served. This is not a problem limited to cruise ships, as you will see in that video. Two employees are being sued by A & P for what is shown in their video.
They also say that food that hits the floor, goes right onto the plate, and nobody says a word for fear of retaliation. Then, there is the room service delivery, don't bother to complain about that because the beverages are tampered with spit or a "potion" says one waiter.
A crew member we call Rau says he works in the casino and hates his job as the passengers who lose money are extremely mean sometimes. He says that cabin stewards who are unhappy with the passengers collect bodily fluids passengers have left behind and put them onto the drinking glasses in the cabin.
DOING THE RIGHT THING "NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE"
You would think that the food is at least served on a clean plate, think again. One crew member who says he is a galley supervisor says that dishes are washed quite often with water alone, as the "chemicals" to clean the dishes are not in supply. If they run out at sea, they have no more until they are back in port, and it is a frequent problem.
One crew member, a waiter from the Philippines says that on CDC inspection date, it is a joke. The ship is ship shape for two days a year, both of them the CDC inspection date, which they have advance notice of.
DISGRUNTLED WORKERS
What we heard from a dozen crew members was they are unhappy. They are unhappy because they are underpaid and over-worked, often working several hours a day of overtime, they are never paid for. They are also unhappy because the passengers do not treat them well and tip very lightly, if at all.
They are unhappy because Americans tell them if they do not like it, quit and go home. Some say they would love to quit but there are no jobs in their third world country and they have a family counting on them to bring home that little bit they do make. Also, once on the cruise, they are trapped. If they want to leave or get terminated they are forced off in port right where they are, and have to find their own way home.
Yet, another says they never tell the guests how they feel, they have to smile no matter what and tell guests when they ask, that "yes, we love the job". One crew member posed the question, "Do they really think I can tell them that I hate my job? I would lose my job!"
