By Gene Sloan, USA TODAY  Some already are calling it the Spam cruise. And the four-day ordeal for passengers this week on the fire-damaged Carnival Splendor even appears to have resulted in the coining of a new word, "Spamcation."  But Carnival now is disputing the notion that Spam ever was served on the disabled vessel after it lost power Monday off the coast of Mexico.  "Despite media reports to the contrary, Carnival Splendor guests were never served Spam!" the line said in a terse tweet sent out today from its official Twitter account at 2:44 pm ET.  Reminded that the U.S. Navy had sent news outlets photos of its personnel delivering Spam to the ship on Tuesday, a spokesman for Carnival contacted by USA TODAY acknowledged that Spam was taken aboard the ship but says it never was passed on to passengers.  RELATED: Splendor passengers share tales of voyagePHOTOS: Stricken Carnival ship reaches San DiegoPOLL: Does Splendor incident change your view of cruising?  A U.S. Navy spokesperson Wednesday told USA TODAY that Carnival had purchased the food (including the Spam) that the Navy delivered to the ship.  The U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard mounted a relief effort to bring the food to the ship after provisions ran low on the vessel due to a lack of refrigeration. In addition to Spam, the Navy delivered Pop Tarts, croissants and other easy-to-transport goods.  Cruise Loggers, share your thoughts below.  UPDATE, 3:59 PM ET: Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen tells USA TODAY that while Carnival ordered the food items sent to the ship, it didn't intend to get Spam. "We gave our food order to a supplier, not the Navy. The Navy kindly delivered the goods, (and) Spam was not on the list," he says. "However, we told the supplier to substitute as necessary if they had difficulty getting everything we were requesting on very short notice and so that's how the Spam ended up within the supplies that were delivered."  Posted Nov 11 2010 3:20PM
The line is disputing widespread media reports that it served Spam to passengers on the disabled Carnival Splendor.