The Carnival Triumph experienced a fire on board February 10, 2013 which left the ship with no power. The cause of the engine fire was a leak in a fuel oil return line that sprayed onto a hot surface, the Coast Guard announced Monday. The ship being without power meant having to be towed back to port with no power other than what was provided by the generators. Reports from passengers state conditions were not very "vacation like".

Reportedly, many of the over  3,000 passengers have slept on deck in the absence of air-conditioning, and a lack of plumbing. Some have said they have had to use showers, sinks and plastic bags instead of bathrooms. Food was in a very limited supply and water had to start being rationed. Mnay of the lower decks were deemed unusable due to sewage from the over flows along with no lights. This caused many to build tents on higher outdoor decks out of sheets and robes.

Carnival has refunded all cruise fares, plus offered a future cruise credit equal to cruise fare paid and an additional compensation of $500. I originally was leaning toward thinking this is completely fair and just. But what about people missing work? Did anyone lose their job because of being unable to return to work on time? Even with that being said, this is something you agree to based on the cruise contract. By being a passenger on a cruise ship, you agree that the cruise line at their discretion can adjust your itinerary as they see fit. This is definitely not an ideal situation but it appears the crew did a phenominal job making the best out of a tough situation. I think the compensation seems fair. Now there is talk about law suits. I amjust not sure why this needs to even happen. As a passenger who has had issues on past cruises, it is very simple to contact the customer relations department and speak to them making a request for additional compensation. the worst they can say is no. In all fairness, I wasn't on that ship, maybe things truly were that horrible to constiute legal action.

What do you think??? Any thoughts are welcome. 

If you are traveling to the Disney parks with your family, I highly recommend purchasing the Disney Dining packages. While the cost may seem a bit overwhelming, think about trying to feed your family of four at the parks just one time per day along with doing character dining. Character dining is pretty pricey but very much worth it.

We recently went to Disney and stayed on property along with doing the dining package for the first time. While I still like staying off property and renting a house for more privacy if you are only doing Disney parks for a short portion of your stay, being on Disney property when the entire trip that was the only thing you had plannned  for the length of your stay was very much worth it. Having the dining package which meant only having to pay for tips at sit down meals was such a nice change and much simpler than always carrying cash or credit card. All you need is your room key and everything can be charged to the room.

Food quality, while completely subjective, I felt was very good to good just depending on what we ordered. Sometimes we ordered well, others not so much. In hindsight, we ate dinner at the Rainforest cafe one night when we visited Downtown Disney. In hindsight, we would have preferred to do another character dining. Food was great but I would have liked to see the characters. Also, the quick dine meals, kids don't have to choose a kids meal even though they are available. Some places the kids choices made no sense. At the pool restaurant at the Grand Floridian for example. The kids choice was a chicken wrap with cabbage and veggies but on the regular menu there were chicken fingers. We just swapped meals since this was before we realized the kids could order any meal for their quick dining choice, not just a kids selection.

Overall there is so much value in the dining plan, especially when they run specials on it. I highly recommend it.