This is a Potential Death Ship! Don't sail it like I did.

Over the years I have always told you the truth.  I have been hesitant to tell you when I am personally involved in issues, however,  I have thought  about  releasing this email for the past five weeks.   The reason I have been hesitant was that I didn't  want to sound unappreciative for all the wonderful things  that God does for my family and me.  Nor did I wish this email to come across as sour grapes.  I have  decided to go ahead and tell you about multiple incidents that occurred to me several months ago on a Carnival/ Holland America cruise ship.

This cruise was so awful that I really feel that  I needed to warn you about taking ANY Carnival cruises.

As you know, Carnival has been in the news many times with  instances of sickness on the ships.  Plus, several years ago another one of their ships, the Costa Concordia sank off the coast of  Italy.

I was aware of all of these facts when I booked the Cruise aboard the Holland America Veendam,  a Carnival ship.  So I guess I should have used better judgment.

But, enough of my rambling.  I will tell you and warn you about cruise number 666, as I have metaphorically named it.

By the way, while in port at Jamaica our cab driver said the locals were referring to the ship as the "Plague ship'.  Some of the locals because the ships name is the Veendam were calling it the 'Ship of the damned'.  Well after you read this email you can pick which name best suites the cruise.

 The next few pages will be what I wrote from the ship while on the cruise several months ago, but then, the trip gets much worse:

      Today, I am writing you to warn you about the dangers of high fat luncheon mystery meat that is being fed to the unsuspecting population of the world.  Now many of you are asking why today, and why on a topic that has already been covered?.

    My wife and  I are currently on a Carnival/Holland  America cruise on the Veendam, and, I must say it's been an adventure.  Interestingly enough, several days before leaving on this trip, one of my friends asked me, "What are you going to eat on a cruise ship?"

   Quite frankly, I simply did not  think that was going to be a problem.  However, just in case, to be on the safe side, I bought  a good supply of Fit Food and GHI cleanse along with our usual plethora of vitamins from Healthmasters. It turned out that was a smart move.

    So far, on this trip I have lost 7 pounds. But, thankfully due to the supplements I bought with me and my workouts, I haven't lost any strength or muscle mass.

    So here is a recap of my adventure so far.

    The day we boarded we were held at the lifeboat station for almost an hour in the heat.  While waiting there, The captain spoke on the intercom stating that if anyone did not come to the lifeboat drill that person would be disembarked at the next port of call. A polite way of saying, "You will be thrown off the ship." Given Carnival's track record  and the sinking of the Costa Concordia, I understood his concern. However, there were many people on board who did not speak English.  The next day, according to multiple crew members, several folks were disembarked. After I had a personal run in with the captain I referred to him affectionately as Capt Bly, Adolf Hitler, Drummel.  Trust me he deserved this title.

During my time on board I have become increasingly concerned about food quality and cleanliness on board.

    Literally, every time we would go to the Lido, there were only a few clean tables.  There were dirty dishes and dirty  silverware at  almost every table.  This, by the way, is very unsanitary.  Remember all the forks and spoons that have been used probably have saliva on them.  If they are left on the table there will be saliva on the table.

    Finally, I grew concerned about the luncheon meat on board and asked to see the labels. This request was met with great hesitation by the chefs.  Some of the luncheon meat have soy listed as a primary ingredient.  All but one contained sodium nitrite.  I am posting them here for your review.  These are photos  of the actual labels provided to me  by one of the chefs.  You can make up your own mind concerning them, but as far as I am concerned,  they are not fit for human consumption and quite frankly if I had pets, I WOULDN'T FEED  THEM TO MY DOGS OR CATS.

Please  keep reading on next page

    I didn't expect this from Holland America,  but I should have realized that Holland has been owned by Carnival for many years.  It is simply another Carnival ship, in my opinion.

To my dismay, the food in the main dining room has been extremely inconsistent.  Sometimes great, other times awful.

 The only thing at this point that seems to be consistent is hair in the food..  The first time I pulled hair out of my mouth it was disgusting..Then my daughter pulled hair out of her mashed potatoes.  So finally, I had my daughter Alexis sit beside me.  She is 12 and has great vision. Here is the problem:  I did not want any more hair in my mouth and her vision up close is much better than mine...To put it bluntly, my needle threading days without glasses is over...

    This was a good move on my part as several days later Alexis again discovered hair in the bread.  Now it seems that all the waiters are examining my food before it is served even with a flash light.  Maybe I should suggest that they wear hair nets, but apparently that would be too easy. Of course, I guess Carnival could be trying to set a new hair- in -food record...who knows?

    This morning at 6 A.M.,  I was awakened by my wife's screams coming from the bathroom.. The toilet had failed and was overflowing into the bedroom.  Thank God that the contents of the toilet were flushed before the failure.

I jumped out of bed, dialed the ship 911 and began to frantically bail water out of the toilet with the garbage can into the shower. After what seemed around 10 minutes  of frenzied bailing to prevent the water from completely flooding our room, three crew members  appeared and turned the water off.

    As I was sitting, soaked, and in disbelief, it brought back  memories of my life as a boy being the maintenance supervisor at Broer's Cottages. Now, please don't get all caught up in that fancy title.  That simply meant that I had to do the work no one else wanted to do.

    Suddenly,  while the repair men were in the room, I looked at myself standing there in my boxers and started laughing.  This incident reminded me so much of all the sewage repair work and other nasty stuff I had to do as a child.  So here I am at 57 years of age,  on cruise 666, laughing hysterically, and soaking wet in toilet water.  I am sure that the repair crew now at four people,  were wondering why I was laughing. Seeing me laughing,  they all  joined in. I guess I was a sight,  soaking wet from head to toe and standing in my boxers.  Well, at least I was down 7 pounds and was getting pretty lean.

    Here's why I was laughing.  A merry heart doth good, like a medicine.  And quite frankly, I was happy to have only clean water coming out of the toilet.  I am sure that the staff  of four thought that I had gone off the deep end.

    But you know what?  Life is a blast.  You might as well find a way to laugh at yourself in both the good and the challenging times, especially when you are soaking wet in toilet water.

    Well, the toilet was fixed and I took a shower.. It was now Saturday 6:30 A.M.  So being beyond wide awake,  I decided to go downstairs and check my emails on the slowest wireless I have ever experienced.  Sharon is totally stressed out over the carpets being soaking wet, and she has gone back to bed.  This is when I decided to write all of you.

    Upon returning to my room there was a note for me to come to the front desks to get my passports.  So, I went to the front desk and spoke to a highly efficient, very nice, German girl.  I asked her why I had not received the luncheon meat labels that I had requested... She told me that she would check into it for me.  I then informed her that the night before that  we had hair in our food for the third time. She appeared very dismayed.

    I then told her that the restaurant manager had offered us a bottle of desert wine (they didn't know that we do not drink) to make up for the hair in the food.  But that the wine steward failed to tell us which vintage wine went the best with the hair in the food.  She laughed.

I then told her about the incident that had just happened with the toilet.  Again she was concerned.

    But, I did make another suggestion...  The garbage pail in the bathroom with which I had been bailing was around two inches too large to properly fit in the toilet bowl for bailing purposes...That was the reason I had gotten so wet. So my suggestion was to reduce the size of the garbage can to more easily fit in the toilet so a more fluid movement could be maintained while bailing ... She laughed again.

     I returned to the room and literally within minutes the German girl had the luncheon meat  labels for which I  had been waiting sent to the room.  (these are the ones I posted above)

I have told you all of these stories because though disgusting, I found them funny.

    At this point I needed to go to breakfast, but first I needed to find my daughter Alexis  or better yet wear my reading glasses while eating, so I could spot hair.

One more thing!  This is serious!  DON'T SAIL CARNIVAL or Holland or any of their 72 ships...tb

Now, back to today.  That was the letter that I wrote while on board.   The problem is that after that letter, the cruise just got worse. 

     Before the cruise ended so many people were sick with explosive diarrhea and projectile vomiting that the ship had to notify the CDC in Atlanta.  The ship issued a code red lock down which meant hand sanitizers everywhere on the ship and no more passengers served food..etc, etc..

But,  what I found interesting, was that the dirty dishes were still everywhere.

    One morning as we were going on a morning shore leave, we passed a room that was open. Inside, it looked like two men in space suits sterilizing the room. They were literally covered from head to toe wearing haz-mat suits. Every port day, people were being taken off via ambulance with no one but staff knowing if they were dead or alive.

    We stayed healthy with large amounts of Healthmasters Vitamin C,   D3-5000,  Immune support DF and Viragraphis.  I am so thankful that we brought these products with us.

Finally we got to Ft Lauderdale.  Standing at the gangway as we were waiting for the sick to be taken off by the CDC, it seemed like a nightmare that would never end.

     After waiting for over an hour to get off, I had my room card scanned for the last time.  I was told to immediately go back on the ship and report to the front desk.  I immediately thought they had read my official departure review of the cruise and Captain Bly,Adolpf Hitler, Drummel that I had written and given to the front desk. So I reluctantly went back aboard leaving my family standing on the gangway.  When I got to the front desk.  I asked, "Why have you called me back aboard?"  The response was,  "You  have a credit balance of $1.29.  We must give you the money before you leave."  So for a $1.29, I was forced to leave my family, climb multiple flights of stairs, and be booed by fellow escapees (passengers) for blocking the line to get off the ship. That was the cherry on the top of the cruise from perdition... $1.29 

The good news is we survived. But only by the Grace of God, I might add.

    Also we met three really nice couples with whom we have stayed in contact.  We bonded with them probably due to Stockholm Syndrome, being as they were fellow  victims.

I must also add that we did see some beautiful sights. And I thank God for the opportunity and the good times.. I only wish it had not been on a Carnival ship.

 NEVER AGAIN, ON CARNIVAL! NEVER AGAIN, ON HOLLAND AMERICA!

tb