SCREWED....by Carnival Fucking Cruise Lines.

[Bicoastal]

Have you ever been hired for a great job...and then "un-hired" weeks later for bureaucratic reasons?

I just completed a succesful year at NYU, studying for a Master's degree in Composition; my focus is musical theater and I'm doing quite well by anyone's standards. But I needed employment over the summer, and I decided to try to get on a cruise ship. 7 weeks ago (during my Spring Break), I landed an audition for Carnival Cruise's Show Band, as an Alto Sax/Clarinettist/Flautist. And I passed it! I gave them all my vital information and was immediately e-mailed all the necessary forms. I was told "Now all you need is your medical forms approved. Turn those in, and we'll assign you to one our ships this summer." And THAT was the start of my problems.

I turned everything in about a week and a half. A week went by, and then they said "We need more detail." So I scrounged
around and got them more detailed records. Then they said "We're missing some medical tests that weren't done." It took me
a couple days to prove to them that I HAD, in fact, had the tests done--they just weren't reading my doctor's print-out
correctly. "Won't be long now," they said. "Only a couple of days. You're in no danger of losing your slot."

After two WEEKS with no answer, I called, and was told, "We're missing some medical tests that weren't on the original form,
but we need them done anyway." I managed to get them done and turned them in, but STILL heard no word from Carnival.
Finally, I called up the department head, who told me that Carnival's medical dept. was still processing my medical tests, but it
didn't matter because all of the Alto slots for the summer were now full. This, apparently, happens all the time over there--
post-audition, some musicians make it through medical almost immediately, and others, purely due to bad luck, get the shaft. And apparently, some of the lucky ones auditioned after me, somehow passed their medicals in a few days, and are now on their way to the Bahamas without a care in the world.

And this is where I am now: no job for the summer, no HOUSING for the summer, and I must vacate my dorm in three
days. And the worst part? I'm stuck with the medical bills I accrued when I underwent all of their medical tests, as Carnival makes prospective employees pay for everything themselves! If there's a better example of "adding insult to injury," I haven't heard it.

So for all of you on DU looking for vacations this summer--if you find yourself considering a Carnival cruise, take a moment to remember Bicoastal, a homeless and jobless student on the mean streets of New York--and go with Royal Carribbean instead!