[Travelandtourism] Costa Cruises issues over the weekend in Italy

[cheryl echevarria]

The excuse I was given, when they had travel agent ship tours here in NY, is that they are getting ready to sail and have to ready for the cruise on that day (FYI, so are everyone of them, including the ship tour, I took the NFB on here in NY in October), and they didn't want the dog on board.  Again, I have tried to reach there access department with no eval.
I know Mr. Shackelford, my 1st Vice President, has sailed on Carnival, and has had no issues that I can tell, but again, that is what I have been told.

Leading the Way in Independent Travel!

Cheryl Echevarria
http://www.echevarriatravel.com
631-456-5394
reservations at echevarriatravel.com

For daily updates read our blog at
http://www.echevarriatravel.wordpress.com

> From: cindy425 at verizon.net
> To: travelandtourism at nfbnet.org
> Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:04:37 -0500
> Subject: Re: [Travelandtourism] Costa Cruises issues over the weekend in	Italy
> 
> Cheryl,
> 
> Why won't Carnival allow you to tour their ships with your guide dog? We've 
> been on two Carnival cruises, and my husband has a guide dog. There was no 
> problem.
> 
> Cindy
> 
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: cheryl echevarria
> Sent: Monday, January 16, 2012 10:56 AM
> To: travelandtourism ; Echevarria Travelblog
> Subject: [Travelandtourism] Costa Cruises issues over the weekend in Italy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you haven't already heard about this disaster in Italy, I will let you 
> all know, and this also should deter anyone from cruising in the future.
> Many of what I am saying are my own opinions plus, what happened as well.
> I am not a big fan of Carnival Cruise Lines, and over the last 2 years there 
> has been many issues with the ships, such as the same week last year when I 
> was on the Norwegian Epic, one of Carnival's ships was off the coast of 
> California adrift due to fire in one of the engine rooms ,and other issues 
> with the company as well.
> Why am I mentioning this, Well Carnival Cruise Lines is the parent Company 
> of Costa Cruise Lines.
> I don't advertise any of there sales on my website or on my blog as 
> postings, only because in the past, they have not allowed me as a travel 
> partner come on the ships to do a ship inspection with my guide dog, all the 
> other ones will.
> The also do not belong to many of the Cruise Lines Organizations, I belong 
> to both CLIA (which is the Cruise Lines International Association), which I 
> am part of and I have taken all of there training courses, when I first 
> started with my agency.
> They are not associated or come to the trade shows of the organizations that 
> I belong to when they do have supplier trade shows such as ASTA (American 
> Society of Travel Agents) and TASC (Travel Agents of Suffolk County).
> I have mentioned in the past, if I am not allowed to do the other things 
> that all other travel professionals are allowed to do and go, then I will 
> not advertise it, unless my clients want to go on there cruise lines, and 
> then the client comes first.
> I am not saying if in the past you have had no issues with Carnival, and 
> they are your favorite cruise lines, we all have our favorites.
> Getting back to Costa Cruise Lines.
> On January 13, 2012. the ship came a ground in shallow waters, and hit a 
> rock, and made a gash in the side of the vessel, of the coast of 
> Civitavecchia (Rome) on a 7 day cruise, carrying over 3200 passengers and 
> 1000 crew members.
> At this point in time, the authorities in Rome have arrested the Captain, 
> for violating orders and going off course.
> I was watching Good Morning America this morning, and a couple who was 
> celebrating their honeymoon, stated that none of the crew came and helped, 
> in fact, about an hour after the ship hit, they were saying it was 
> electrical problems, which by this time, the ship was already on her side. 
> Also, the Captain and some crew members had abandoned ship.
> The passengers were at the mercy of there own devices until people came to 
> rescue.  Mostly everyone was rescued there were about 6 casualties as of 
> now.
> I am still cruising myself, I love cruising and will always tell people it 
> is the best vacation ever.
> But I don't trust this cruise lines at all, the staff that was there, were 
> not trained properly in evacuations, etc.
> I will keep everyone up to date on this.  But my own feelings on Carnival as 
> a whole I do not like.
> My own opinions, and my own experiences.
> 
> 
> Leading the Way in Independent Travel!
> 
> Cheryl Echevarria
> http://www.echevarriatravel.com
> 631-456-5394
> reservations at echevarriatravel.com
> 
> For daily updates read our blog at
> http://www.echevarriatravel.wordpress.com
> 
> 
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