Cruise Ship Law

Andrew and Emily Pidgeon, of Palm Bay, were expecting a sensation of a wedding aboard the Carnival Sensation.

"It was just so exciting, such a happy moment, and all that was just taken away," Emily said.

The Pidgeons had booked a wedding package with Carnival Cruise Lines for March 28. They'd invited family and friends, many of whom had flown in from out of state.

The first sign of trouble, however, came at 7 a.m. on the day of their wedding. The Port Authority informed the couple that a bomb threat had been called into the Sensation and the wedding would be delayed.

Multiple calls to Carnival, however, were met by assurances that the wedding would go on completely as planned.

"I was totally calm, because I had complete trust that Carnival was telling the truth," Emily said.

But despite the cruise line's promises, the wedding turned out to be a not-so-funny comedy of errors. The ceremony was supposed to begin at 1:30 p.m. After being shuttled around to different waiting areas at the port, and after several more delays, the wedding party did not board the ship until 4:30 p.m.

The Pidgeons had paid for a pre-ceremony buffet, but amid the chaos they found non-invited cruise passengers wandering in and out of their dining area. The buffet was not to be.

"As soon as we sit down and I started to eat, the wedding coordinator comes up and said we need to get to the chapel, now, saying the captain wanted us off the ship in half an hour," Andrew explained.

And then things got worse.

Just minutes before Emily walked down the aisle, the ship's wedding coordinator told her that the reception would have to be canceled; there simply wasn't enough time.

"I was just in shock," Emily said. "I didn't know what to say."

Andrew and Emily exchanged their vows in less than six minutes. The cruise staff then swept them into the reception room for a quick cake-cutting and toast. A beautiful reception buffet had been set up, but no one would be able to take a bite.

Emily sister's started to offer a toast, "I just want to say congratulations to my only beautiful sister ..."

But she was interrupted by an announcement on the ship's public address system, "Your attention please. All crew members please report to your stations at this time."

And so the toast ended as the ship's muster drill began. It was the traditional drill where passengers were called to their muster stations for safety instructions.

Unfortunately for the Pidgeons, the cake-cutting and toast was taking place at a muster station. To the couple's shock, in came the passengers donning life jackets.

"And people are coming in," Emily said, "And they're like, 'Look a buffet!' And they're coming in and making up their plates, and they're eating all of our food."

While passengers were picking at the Pidgeons buffet, the cruise staff was warning the wedding guests to leave.

"We're just watching in disbelief as people are just escorting our family off the ship," Emily said.

No first dance. No reception. No wedding photos.

When Emily asked to call Carnival's headquarters in Miami, she was told a per minute charge would apply.

"All you can think of is, 'Oh my gosh, what an awful day,'" she said.

That awful day cost the couple more than $2,500, not including the cost of the cruise.

In a letter to Local 6, Carnival stated, "It is most unfortunate that the cruise line was a victim of (the bomb hoax) and that, in turn, impacted our guests and we certainly recognized the disappointment the shortened time frame for the Pidgeons' wedding activities caused them."

The cruise line offered the couple a reimbursement of $1,093.60.

The couple was not satisfied. They itemized all the services they paid for but never received, including the pre-ceremony brunch, a full ceremony, a full post-ceremony reception, and an open bar that never opened.

With the itemized list, Local 6 contacted Carnival Cruise Lines again, and had a lengthy discussion about the incident. A cruise line spokeswoman told Local 6 that the company would review the matter further.