Passenger from disabled ship files lawsuit over 'floating hell' cruise

In 2009 I was standing in the lobby of the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco.  For those of you who don't know that hotel, it is one of the iconic old hotels on the west coast. The rooms are immaculate as is the service.  As I stood there a woman walked up to the desk and began screaming and berating the desk clerk about the service. The longer this went on the louder it got. It seems the maid had not left a mint on her pillow the night before.  But to hear her tell it, the "Mark" was worse than the filthiest Motel 6.

What was the real problem?  In one word,  "Expectations."  This woman book into this expensive hotel expecting to be treated like a queen.  Instead, in her mind, she was treated like a common strumpet. But was she really?

Now turning to the Carnival Triumph  and taking a hard look I see much the same situation.  People booked "the cruise of the lifetime" and ended up on the short end.  I can understand that. But was it really as bad as these people claim?  Did anyone die? Did anyone become sick? I realize there was one elderly woman who was taken away in an ambulance, but was her problem related to the accident?  Another was removed a day earlier from the ship and taken to a hospital with an apparent stroke. Should either of these people even belonged on that cruise ship?

Two Texas mothers made prominent appearances in the media claiming their daughters (10 and 12) had phoned and cried wanting to come home "because the conditions were so awful."  I have to ask:  Who would be stupid enough to send two children on a cruise to Mexico by themselves? Oh, these two women. Sorry, I must not have been paying attention.

So now the law suits begin.  Was there any real damage? Did Carnival Cruises do the best they could in an unfortunate situation? Or is this really a case of unfulfilled expectations as much as the incontinence?