DallasGuy75219

And separate (limited) menus with only the alcohol they pay Texas taxes on.

Cheers includes "Specialty coffees and hot tea served in the main dining rooms, specialty restaurants and coffee bars" and doesn't specifically exclude Havana Bar coffee (yet). https://www.carnival.com/help?topicid=1106

Or pre-packaged biscuits from the buffet.

Your boarding pass will show FTTF or Priority so the contract employees at the terminal know you have FTTF. Officially, Carnival enforces arrival appointment times. It varies port-to-port, ship-to-ship, and sometimes cruise-to-cruise as to whether they will let you in the terminal to check in before your arrival appointment time. So just be aware if you show up early you may still have to wait until your appointment time (or at least closer to it).

They should be irritated with Princess, not OP, on the ships where they make you order the full dessert instead of just gelato or a simple sundae if you have the Plus or Premium package. Princess is just wasting time, money, and food making a monstrosity of a dessert that most people apparently don't want, when they'll ultimately throw away all the 'extra' ingredients.

Coke (the company) tweaks their beverage formulas, including the sweeteners used, for local tastes in most countries they sell in. It's been a while since I've been to Canada, so I don't recall what a Canadian Diet Coke tastes like, but in most places outside the US Diet Coke/Coke Light tastes more like the Coke Zero than the Diet Coke that we get in the US.

If the ship is sold out and there are no cabins available, what do you expect Princess to be able to do for you? Your original cabin has now been booked by someone else or has filled by an upgrade. Should they kick that person out of that cabin because you didn't cancel your upgrade bid after you were diagnosed with a condition that makes walking painful, at which point you shouldn't have taken a chance on getting assigned a cabin far from an elevator?

"Just" a sandwich is likely going to have meat, cheese, and/or vegetables, all of which are prohibited as fresh/unpackaged/unpreserved food brought ashore. This "just" mentality is the exactly the problem with cruisers today who "just" want to do what's easy, convenient, or pleasing for themselves even when they know it's against the rules. And in doing so they ruin things for everyone else.

5,000 points is roughly the max I earn on a 7 day cruise. I currently have 10 offers for free inside, oceanview, and balcony cabins.

Just be aware that if it was a souvenir stamp (not an official government stamp) it can invalidate your passport, because your passport is only supposed to be used for official government purposes. Overzealous CBP agents have been known to make an issue of it

It's not powdered. All the "juices" in the Lido deck dispensers are from liquid concentrate and are juice cocktails--water, sugar, flavorings, and minimal actual juice.

I seem to remember the same thing on Mardi Gras last September. Carnival had me ready and willing to pay to eat there (which is 99% of the battle in marketing), but it wasn't open when I wanted to eat. So off Shaq's instead for some complimentary chicken.

Nope. There's one Emeril appetizer and one entree on the MDR menu each. That's not going to send people in droves to an a la carte restaurant. The reason why it's not busier has nothing to do with the food itself but rather that there are so many other complimentary food options on the Excel class.

In general, OP needs to drastically reduce expectations for Carnival if the comparison points are Oceania, HAL,and Celebrity.

I don't have an answer, but you at least need to state whether you're asking about the 4 or 5 night itinerary.

"I don't think that noise is a washing machine out of balance."

This is extremely common on tickets booked with all kinds of third-party travel agents, not just EZAir, i.e. boaading pass reads LAST, FIRSTMIDDLE instead of LAST, FIRST MIDDLE. Even happens when booking directly with the airlines sometimes. OP would have been fine leaving the issued as issued. EZAir should have told that to OP rather than changing the name (whether with or without fee).

Right... less experienced cruisers will probably consider a midship cabin on a high deck an upgrade but not think about what's directly above or below that cabin.

I didn't say that's why you (or anyone really) tips. But it is one of the natural consequences of a compensation system where individual compensation is primarily based on tips.

It's not included in the list of complimentary juices on the MDR menu in post #6.

I don't read it that way... "One (1) complimentary specialty coffee, soda or alcoholic beverage with a value no greater than $16.00 + gratuity at Seaday Brunch. On ships where brunch is not available, a complimentary beverage will be offered at Breakfast or Lunch in the Main Dining Room. Redeemable on the last day of the cruise. Alcoholic beverages may only be consumed by adults of applicable legal drinking age." Seems like if they intended it to apply only to breakfast or lunch, they would have said, "On ships where brunch is not available, a complimentary beverage will be offered at Breakfast or Lunch in the Main Dining Room, [comma] redeemable on the last day of the cruise." In any event, I'm not aware of any ships that don't have brunch at all. I know on longer itineraries with multiple consecutive sea days they will do separate breakfast and lunch instead of brunch on some days. But I don't know what the exact criteria are... maybe on longer itineraries with 3 or more consecutive sea days (like transoceanic repositioning cruises). I know that on closed loop US cruises with just 2 consecutive sea days, I've only seen brunch served on those sea days.

Let's get real... tips grease the wheels for any bartender (whether on a cruise or on land) to bend the rules in the tipper's favor.

The VIPF T&Cs have gotten more specific... "One (1) complimentary specialty coffee, soda or alcoholic beverage with a value no greater than $16.00 + gratuity at Seaday Brunch." I don't recall them previously being this specific so as not to mention juices being included, but the intent is probably to exclude fresh-squeezed juices. Also, they've slipped in this new restriction for the free drink at SeaDay Brunch... "Redeemable on the last day of the cruise." I'm certain this was not previously a restriction, because I've definitely gotten my free brunch drink on the first sea day. Carnival is really getting slimy making these benefits more difficult to use. https://www.carnival.com/vifp/terms-and-conditions

Cheers excludes anything sold in a souvenir cup, so those are already off the table as it relates to OP's question. If they will serve an otherwise $23-$24 drink in a regular glass, though, I'd expect that price would be $20 or less.

The steam room?