The following contains portions of our letter to Carnival and some additional commentary:

On June 6, 2006 we departed the Port of New York on the Legend of the Seas. This was our eight day honeymoon vacation and we were needless to say very excited about the trip. We had purchased our cruise through our Carnival Vacation Club membership and were also looking forward to the extra care we were promised due to our membership. After a swift embarkation (which saved us what appeared to be at least an hour to an hour and a half of waiting in line) we were on our way.

We arrived at our stateroom and noticed immediately that we were not greeted by the sign on the door welcoming us as VIP's. (Trust me, the sign is really not a big deal but it was the first of many expectations that were not met) We placed our carryon items in the stateroom and began exploring the ship. As we went from public area to public area we were astounded at the number of empty/dirty coffee cups and drink cups sitting on window ledges, the floor and blowing across the outside deck areas. Trash cans were overflowing and there wasn't a single crew member to be seen either to clean up this mess or to offer us a drink. Read more