My wife and I love cruising. This was our sixth cruise in five years, our second with Carnival. Same ship (Spirit) and even the same mini-suite! The itinerary we booked with Carnival (Mexican Riviera, 9 days, sailing 10/18/2008) showed our first destination as Acapulco, arriving at 12:00PM and departing at the end of the following day at 1:00AM. Acapulco was unquestionably the highlight of this tour that also included stops at Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo, and Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa. Unfortunately the cruise line changed their plans with no reason given. Acapulco became our last, not first, stop and our day at Acapulco was shortened from only 7:00AM to 3:00PM- hardly any time there at all given the time debarkation/ re-embarkation requires. This alone should have resulted in substantial reimbursements to all passengers, but to date nothing has been offered. If this bait and switch had been the only problem with this cruise, I probably wouldn't be writing this review, however, Carnival's poor treatment of their passengers towards the end of this cruise was just beginning. Carnival clearly neglected to check out their shore excursions. Ours at Manzanillo, was not as represented. Shopping times were half of what was advertised. This trip was to include a beach stop, but the resort owner of that beach would not let our bus on his streets (He felt it was too heavy and would crack the concrete.) He did agree however- after 30+ minutes of negotiations- to let the bus' passengers walk the 3 blocks to the beach. The tour operators did their best to make up for this by offering additional drinks once we got to the beach. In Acapulco, our disappointingly short shorex left a number of stops dropped or abbreviated-though we paid full price for that tour as well. Make no mistake, the tour guides and some of the locations they stop at, work in collusion. Our tour guide took us to a B&B jewelry store (a Carnival approved store) where all passengers in our group were immediately brought a margarita in a disposable plastic cup. My wife and I began to negotiate with the salesman over a ring with a $12,000 list price. Naturally, he made multiple offers, decreasing his price every time. Our tour guide even stepped up and asked if they couldn't do even better for us. At his suggestion, they did. The tour guide then went back to the bar, bringing me a full sized margarita- this time-in an appropriate glass with a salted rim. (Not bad for someone 'unassociated' with B&B) We did end up buying that ring, and my only complaint here is that an appraisal was to be included. Carnival really should do a better job in this regard. The appraisal WAS included, but it was completely worthless and unacceptable to any insurance company as there was no definitive description of the diamond/s, nothing about cut, quality etc. and the "appraisal" was exactly what we paid for it. Another customer buying the exact same ring could get an entirely different "appraisal" based on his negotiated price. Carnival needs to address this through their 'shopping specialists' on board. The rest of the cruise was pleasant. The food and service in the main dining room was consistently good. The buffets were well stocked, though they closed early, leaving passengers with only pizza, ice cream or room service later in the evenings. The theatrical entertainment, with the exception of one show, was regretfully second rate. In fact, the shows were identical to our first cruise in April to Hawaii on this ship. Somewhat more polished perhaps, but clearly not at the level we had come to expect from previous cruises. Our room steward's were terrific! We even had one of the same stewards as on our previous trip. Our room, bathroom and balcony were kept spotlessly clean. We never lacked for clean towels, and a scrubbed bathroom. Ice and beverages were always stocked in our refrigerator. Our real complaints came towards the end of our cruise. On our return trip, I was awoken by startling, heavy vibrations and noise. A few moments later our ship came to a stop. Mechanical failure required our ship to lose hours off of the planned itinerary. These problems were dealt with to the best of the crew's ability, leaving only minor vibrations above the norm for a ship of this size. The passengers were alerted that we would be late into port, but were repeatedly assured of Carnival's ability to get us off of the ship in time to make our airline departures. Carnival even announced that passengers with early flights would be able to carry their own luggage out with them to expedite this disembarkation. At a disembarkation meeting in the theater, this was all re-explained and we were assured that we would make our flights. As usual they asked that passengers fill out comment cards giving the crew the highest possible scores regardless of how we may have really felt-this was to help the hard-working crew receive any possible raises/promotions. To that point on our cruise, we were happy with the staff and gave excellent marks across the board. On the last morning an announcer requested all passengers be out of their rooms at 9:00AM and wanted us to gather in public areas. I found our room stewards and dining room servers and gave them well deserved additional cash tips. We left our rooms as asked, but many of us were asked to move again as some particular area- with no signage or direction from crew- was suddenly designated for handicapped passengers. No problem. Wanting to cooperate with their wishes and hopefully get off of this ship ASAP, many passengers began to gather one floor below where we would actually walk off the ship. This area began to fill quickly as passengers realized that Carnival had screwed up in a serious manner. Carnival had not made arrangements for non-residents to gather and register as required for Customs. Repeatedly they called out these passengers names, holding everyone else captive while the search for these non-residents commenced. We were in port, the gangway was in place, but no American citizen could leave. More and more passengers crowded into this area, still clinging to a belief that they might make their flights. And we waited. The ships speakers called out again and again for these non-residents and more and more passengers realized that Carnival's failures were going to result in barely made or missed flights. By this time, so many people had gathered in these hopes that even the elevators to this area were unable to move. Had an emergency developed, no one could have arrived or been evacuated by elevator. The last passengers coming down on these were unable to get off of the elevators as those in the hallways were no longer able to make additional room. The elevators were full of passengers, and they were stuck. Temperatures and tempers rose concurrently, and Carnival continued to beseech the non-residents to report. I pulled out my video camera and recorded the conditions. Elderly passengers were becoming ashen-faced from the heat, the air became stale. Many were sitting on their suit cases as their legs were not up to standing for prolonged periods. After two hours held as virtual prisoners in now sweltering conditions, armed Customs agents came aboard to find those they sought. An additional 45 minutes passed under these abominable conditions until the doors were opened we were finally freed at 11:45. These final hours ruined this cruise. Most of the captives agreed they would NEVER sail with Carnival again. My wife and I had a flight scheduled for 12:00. The trip from the ship's port to the airport only requires about 10 minutes, but we knew with certainty that we would miss our flight. Carnival's itinerary, when we purchased our cruise, had us getting into port at 7:00 AM, leaving us 5 hours to make this short trip to the airport and await our flight. My wife and I looked forward to this down-time at the airport. After past cruises, we entertained our selves while awaiting our flights by reviewing our photos and videos, and shopping at the airport malls. Once in the cab we called Carnival to see if they had made arrangements for their passengers. (They require flight in/out information in advance when booking a cruise-presumably for a reason.) Largely unaware of their passenger's plight they had done nothing and could only suggest re-scheduling a flight and getting a room in San Diego until the next day if necessary. We missed our scheduled flight and immediately tried to book another. Nothing was available on Northwest (where we had booked RT tickets) and they had nothing available until the next day. Other passengers from the cruise ship were now arriving at the airport in throngs. All were upset at their last hours of treatment and many had reported that they had contacted Carnival and that Carnival was directing their customers to make whatever arrangements they could, and that they would be reimbursed. We managed to get tickets on American, and as you would expect, paid an exorbitant sum for a last minute, one-way flight. The return trip, with long layovers, lasted through the night and finally returned us to our home airport at 9:00AM the following day. 26 hours of travel time from San Diego to Des Moines. I called Carnival and visited with their representative "Ivette" upon our return and was cheerfully asked to fax our ticket stubs etc. to show our actual additional expenses. No indication was given that they would not reimburse the expenses Carnival caused. I did as asked, and later faxed the credit card expense sheet showing ticket costs, baggage costs, non-internet booking fees etc. These totaled $1186.00 dollars not including meals along our route. Carnival has only written a check for $400.00 explaining this was their limit, apologizing for our "inconvenience", explaining it all away as a matter of "health and safety" and expressing their desire for us to sail with them again. If Carnival wants my future business, I expect them to cover the costs for my flight home-expenses. I had already paid for air travel in advance but was forced by Carnival's actions to pay again. "Health and safety" is nonsense. The failures were ALL Carnival's. None had to do with any concern for the passengers and a reimbursement for the full amount is the least they should do for all the passengers they so terribly treated and inconvenienced. Would they have reimbursed us for the rooms they suggested we get in San Diego? They passed out lists of hotels with phone numbers, airline phone numbers etc. as we exited the ship. This suggests a willingness on their part to cover the additional expenses they created for us. A substantial amount should be reimbursed for the change to our itinerary in Acapulco, and reimbursement should be made to those unfortunate enough to book our particular shorex with its inaccurate itinerary and irresponsible coordination with those at the beach/resort. I am fairly certain that a class action suit will follow if Carnival chooses to act as irresponsibly as they have to date. I am still astonished that Carnival has not written checks to their passengers for these expenses, nor made any effort to reimburse passengers for the changed itinerary. No one is asking for anything they didn't pay for or agree to, but all should be reimbursed for air expenses resulting from Carnival's failure to return to port on/near time and for non-delivery of shorex agreements. Certainly something should be offered to passengers that paid for one trip, but were given another.

I called Carnival again over a week ago to pursue this with their representatives. Ivette told me a supervisor would get back to me. No one has bothered to call in the interim.