MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) — Believe it or not, Carnival cruises are popular in Memphis. In fact, travel agencies say sales are up but when we hit the streets to ask people if they would sail after Carnival's catastrophe we got mixed reviews. Families say Carnival cruises are convenient because they drive to New Orleans to board the ship and it's affordable. Others have canceled their cruise with Carnival in fear of what could happen like in Texas.
Many Memphians will never sail with Carnival after watching what happened to more than 4,000 passengers left stranded in the Gulf of Mexico.
"No, I would not sail with them - that's a disastrous vacation right there,” said Ronnie Green of Memphis.
"It can happen again so I would be scared,” said another Memphian, Angela Ham. “We were thinking about taking a cruise this summer and now we’re not going anymore.”
The Carnival ship didn't "triumph" anything during a Caribbean tour from Galveston, Texas. An engine room caught on fire and knocked out the power last week. There was no air conditioning, water and food supplies were running low, and bathrooms didn't work. People used red hazardous bags to dispose their waste and left them in the hallways. Despite Carnival's PR nightmare, travel agencies in Memphis say people continue to book cruises.
"It's been normal, steady, and positive,” said a travel agent from Travelennium, Rebecca Dawson.
"Things happen. If there's ever a problem they always take real good care of their customers so I'm going with them again,” said previous Carnival traveler, Moses Daniel.
Daniel and his family booked their Carnival cruise Thursday. They plan to sail in September.
"I’m not going to worry about it. Things can always be worse than they really are,” said Daniel.
“It's still the safest form of recreational transportation out there,” said Travel Leaders’ General Manager Jonbeth Atib.
The two travel agencies we spoke with say combined, they've booked almost 20 cruises this week and the majority of them are with Carnival. They say now is the peak season for booking cruises.
