ORIGINAL: Kwik E Mart
...i was on a Carnival cruise last year in which one of our engines quit half way to Jamaica...we diverted to Cozumel and you would have thought the passengers were about to mutiny...we were credited a couple hundred bucks for each ticket, which i thought was fair...maybe not so fair for the wedding party on board that was supposed to meet family and friends in Jamaica for their wedding [X(]...IMO, the kind of people that go on these type cruises (for the most part) are exactly the ones you don't want to be around for an extended period of time in a situation like the one that occurred recently...
The one and only Carnival cruise I went on (the trip was free due to Marriott points) I got so gassed out by the smoking the trip was pretty much a bust. I know they price for a somewhat downscale crowd, but come on. No-smoking areas aren't a new concept.
We had an elderly gent have a cardiac event which needed a medevac when we were near San Juan. The captian didn't want to go all the way in due to the schedule, so he tried to hover on the thrusters off-shore as the USCG sent a 32-footer out to take the litter with the gent strapped in. Seas were about four feet and they were haivng trouble getting near enough. Passengers on the rail, 6-8 stories up. (This was about 2130; it was dark, with a lot of lights from our ship on the attempt.) I look up the railing and I see this boozy redneck flick a butt over the rail, RIGHT ONTO THE COASTIES.
Some people don't deserve to live.
Never got the man off that way. We ended up hurtling into the pier near midnight at a full bell, the captain hovered there, put across a brow, never tied up so never had to clear customs. Stretcher, nurse go across to waiting ambulance. We spun on the thrusters and skedaddled. Made up the time overnight. Masterful seamanship. The guy lived.
