Carnival to fly passengers home after another cruise failure
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/14/travel/cruise-ship-trouble/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1The experience on the Carnival Dream became something of a nightmare for some passengers Wednesday when power went off, some toilets stopped working, and no one was allowed to get off the vessel even though the ship was docked at Philipsburg, St. Maarten, in the eastern Caribbean.
Although power had been restored and facilities were functioning again, the ship still couldn't leave port.
Cruise passengers received a letter from the captain, according to a passenger who e-mailed a photo of the correspondence to CNN.
Captain Massimo Marino told passengers they will be booked on flights to Orlando or another destination. Passengers with cars at Port Canaveral will be bused from Orlando to the facility about an hour away.
The letter also offers passengers a three-day refund and a half-price cruise in the future.
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Just one week but plenty of cities/countries, so it's great if you don't have a ton of time, and they had super nice staff, great food, and very good tour guides. It's nice, when I see their ads at the beginning of "Masterpiece Theatre," to have positive thoughts instead of thinking "aw, they aren't really all that." I think the Rhine cruise was one of the more affordable cruises they offer. Personally I wouldn't necessarily recommend the add-on days at the beginning or end; they added disproportionately to the cost and because we were on our own it just wasn't the same as cruising down a river being spoiled. 
On the other hand, once you've paid to get over to Europe, you might as well spend a few extra dollars to get the most out of your plane tickets. So I'm not un-recommending the add-on days, just saying that if you're on a budget, don't sweat passing them up.
So, for whatever that's worth....
