Complaint Review: Carnival Cruise Lines

My name is Jordan D, and I'm writing you regarding a shocking and nightmarish story that my mother and I have lived through for the past 3 days.  We decided to spend our Christmas money on taking a cruise together this holiday season, instead of the usual exchange of gifts.  We boarded a Carnival cruise ship on Dec. 10th in Jacksonville, FL for what we thought would be an amazing time.  Within the first day of being on board, my mother's room was burglarized.  We obtained door key card documents showing that someone had been going in and out of my mother's room without
authorization, both when she was out of the room and attempting to get in when she was sleeping in the room.  I myself witnessed an employee attempting to over ride the deadbolt on my mother's door and enter while she was asleep.

Despite of the blatant evidence, the ship's crew covered for all of their coworkers, and we were ultimately blamed for everything.  My mom was moved to place a chair in front of her door to feel somewhat safe at night.  When she voluntarily told this to the second in command of the ship - the captain's right hand man - she was told that she was in
violation of the ship's rules, and she was chastised in front of crew and passengers.  We also asked to speak with Bahamian police when docked in Nassau which made the security personnel extremely angry.The Nassau police came on board, but upon the initiation of filing a report, the second in command told us that we were being thrown off of the ship, and put an end to the police interview.  It was obvious to us that we were not given the opportunity to exercise ourrights in filing a police report.  We were forced off of the ship in a different country with nowhere to stay, no way to get home, and no information to go about doing so.  When we asked the ship's senior security officer who delivered the news to us that we were being thrown off the ship,  how we were to  get back to the U.S., the second in command simply responded by saying "that's not my problem." This egregious abuse of authority on board was quite frankly
intimidating and scary. 

 On multiple occasions, the same 5 or 6 security personnel laughed about our circumstances and then going as far as to
cut off my mother's on board purchasing card with no notice.  She and I were stuck on a ship with no allies, no justice, and no way to purchase something as simple as tylenol or water, all because the people in authority on the ship seemed to rule the vessel in an iron fisted manner. It was not until we went to the Nassau police station to file a police report regarding the theft, that we learned from the police captain that since Carnival asked us to leave the ship, they were responsible fortaking care of us in Nassau and arranging flights for us to return to our home in U.S.In fact, upon hearing of our circumstances, the police captain contactedthe ship's agent in Nassau and demanded they provide proper services to us.In addition to the police report, we were encouraged to contact the Nassau Ministry of Tourism to file a complaint of the treatment we received from Carnival personnel.  The representative was appalled and assured us that our case would be elevated to the highest authorities overseeing cruise line operations in the Bahamas.

We are currently in Nassau and will be returning to the states tomorrow 12/16. We are bringing this story to the attention of many news and media sources because we want to expose the reality of traveling on this company's ships.  With the holidays upon us, we know many Americans are taking vacations on this cruise line, and we'd hate to see another person victimized, humiliated, and thrown off of a ship in a different country with no help and no recourse.