DallasGuy75219

That won't fix the problem when a server misunderstands or mistypes someone's cabin number to look up their folio number and charges your folio number instead. See post below. For the life of me I can't understand why some servers do this when they all carry a tablet/modified smartphone/whatever you want to call it. Seems like less work to scan a medallion for the folio number vs. looking up your cabin number to get your folio number.

Not saying it doesn't happen at all, but anecdotally I haven't seen that casino happy hour on day 1 for several years (when Carnival had booths/tables on the Promenade deck, each with something they were trying to sell you sale onboard, like drink packages, and if you got your card stamped by all of them your name got entered in some drawing). The casino bar was so busy you couldn't get a seat or even a drink. That experiment (the booths and casino happy hour) didn't last long from what I recall.

It could, but you hear about the large fights and brawls happening on Carnival more than any other lines. It goes back to the passengers that Carnival (and its price point in particular) cater to.

Not on Carnival, but last fall on Royal Caribbean I bid for and got a ridiculously cheap upgrade (like $240) from a balcony to a 2 bedroom grand suite on Freedom of the Seas out of Nassau. The cruiselines had started basing ships in foreign ports when it looked like the CDC wasn't going to let cruises resume in the US anytime soon. Then when US cruises opened up people started canceling those cruises from foreign ports and rebooking out of the US, which is probably why I got upgraded in the first place. But anyway, slightly past the middle of the cruise the Suite Lounge Concierge said my suite was open the next cruise and asked if I wanted to stay another week. It wasn't an option with my work schedule so I didn't ask how much. But bottom line, if they're desperate enough to fill cabins they may start asking current passengers. Probably not the norm now that most sailings are pretty full, but it happened under those circumstances, and I've also heard of it happening when lots of people cancelled for the next cruise due to a (potential?) hurricane. In any event, if you don't book the second cruise through Guest Services still let them know you just booked the next cruise so they can add you to the list of B2B cruisers. Otherwise they'll be expecting you to do a normal debark at the end of the first cruise.

On Majestic, Regal, and Crown after the restart I've only seen unflavored sugar free liquid sweetener, nothing flavored. If it does exist at the IC coffee bar, it's definitely hit or miss depending on the ship and possibly who does the ordering and what is available (i.e. supply chain issues with Princess' vendors) for any given sailing.

Yes, as soon as I got it I knew the color was too dark/golden. I Googled the name and variety for pics and confirmed it wasn't right. At least I didn't pay for it. I had Carnival try to pawn off a bottle of COVID wine on me in my wine package on my first post-restart cruise with them in February. Nope... first bottle of wine I've sent back my whole life.

I had a door sign on Crown this week, but probably also left over from pre-COVID times like my spoiled wine "gift". Ironically the steward forgot to put it on the door and left it standing up against the table where he set up my wine, glasses, and cards.

This was my birthday "gift" on Crown Princess this week. Pre-COVID wine that was spoiled from being stored improperly in the 2+ years Crown was out of service or just too old. Too spoiled to sell without being sent back, so let's give it away as a disingenuous birthday gift🙄 Two sips and poured it down the drain.

The language of the statute is pretty vague... "any practice which could reasonably be interpreted to allow or encourage overconsumption of alcohol" and "any alcoholic beverages served or sold within Texas territory". The other lines could be construed as violating the law just by serving unlimited drinks, even if the package was paid for before the cruise and they waited to process POS transactions until international waters. I think it all goes back to the cruiselines' interpretation and risk tolerances.

Are you fully vaccinated and your itineraries no longer require testing as of September 6? If you're not required to have a test for the first leg there's no reason to test you for the second leg, unless it goes to a destination that still requires testing.

Departing from what port? I know Carnival doesn't do Fly2Fun for Australia cruises.

If he says $100 lasts him the whole week, he's hittin something alright, and it's not in the casino.

PCR or Antigen test? If you're still testing positive with an antigen test, you're likely still contagious.

This is an "it depends" question. As in it depends whether a particular ship decides to follow policy on a particular day or cruise. It depends on whether they are collecting outside alcohol when you return on from port on any given day. If they are, it depends on whether the security guard who sees you're bringing back liquor makes sure you actually check it in. If your liquor was checked in, it depends on whether the ship staff check to see if you're on a B2B before delivering it to your cabin on the last night. When you buy alcohol from the Fun Shops on the last night, they usually let you bring it back to your cabin. If they do, it depends on whether the Fun Shops staff look or even care whether you're on a B2B. So you can get away with it if the cards fall right, but know it's not guaranteed and you may wind up get your liquor back on the last night of the last cruise.

Clearly you are wrong. https://www.cruzely.com/answered-first-day-drink-packages-and-alcohol-on-galveston-cruises/ “State law and TABC rules prohibit any practice which could reasonably be interpreted to allow or encourage overconsumption of alcohol. This includes “all you can drink” packages or other promotions which allow unlimited alcohol for a buy-in price. These standards would apply to any alcoholic beverages served or sold within Texas territory, including any waters over which Texas claims jurisdiction. Once a vessel is outside of Texas territory, the state’s laws no longer apply.” Why does Royal allow drink packages on day one of Galveston cruises and Carnival doesn't? Probably their own individual risk tolerances for TABC enforcing this law against the cruiselines. Royal's all you can drink package clearly violates the law but maybe they don't think it's probable to be enforced. Carnival's 15 drinks a day, as close as 5 minutes apart, could still be reasonably be interpreted to allow or encourage overconsumption of alcohol, although more of a grey area than Royal's. At the end of the day, Carnival may just have a lower risk tolerance than Royal. And if they don't want to serve Cheers drinks in Texas waters, maybe it's just simpler for them to wait until day 2 for Cheers to be effective.

In New Orleans they cut the length of the 12-pack to make sure you don't have beer hidden in the middle🙄

Let me guess... New Orleans? Carnival agents in ther are absolutely the most ridiculous among every port and cruiseline I've ever embarked. I (legally) brought a bottle of wine aboard. They cut off the plastic wrapper around the cork and neck and were examining it with a flashlight, determined to find that I had filled it with something else, recorked it, and resealed it in plastic🙄

You should check in online for all, but no need to print anything for 2 and 3. Carnival's IT systems are crap and everything may not roll over for 2 and 3. Those check-ins (2 and 3) will probably not recognize you as B2B so will make you select a boarding time. Some people would advise you to pick the latest boarding time for 2 and 3 since you'll already be on the ship, to leave the earlier times for others who are boarding for the first time. Don't get too excited about having the ship to yourself. Almost all venues and services will be closed because just about the whole crew and staff are working to turn the ship around.

Doubtful. The core Carnival customer does not have the interest and/or means to take their family to Europe (or all over the world) for a cruise. If there was a market for this, there would be more Carnival brand ships homeported in Europe, not just when a ship was just built or drydocked there. This is an effort to get more productive use of Carnival Corp. assets in the short term without the expense of completely rebranding a ship.

Please learn how to read. I said nothing about the number of people needed to print cards. But since you went there, the time of the crew printing cards on the ship is a fixed cost. The time of the shoreline contractors who some are saving should print cards at checking is a variable cost. Even when cards were distributed at check-in, they were still printed on the ship at the end of the previous sailing. Notwithstanding the fact that the current process works, the investment required to print cards in the terminals is simply not going to happen with the current operating environment where cruiselines are still struggling to break even and stop the negative cash flows.

Yeah, because Carnival has bankloads of cash right now to spend on "nice to have" investments with no net financial benefits (reducing expenses or increasing revenues)🙄

I've only seen cards printed at check-in where the major cruiselines have exclusive use of specific terminals, e.g. Carnival and Royal in Miami, and that was years ago. Nowadays check-in for the major cruiselines is primarily done on tablets, making the process portable or mobile, not even done on a laptop connected to a card printer.

I found the list of VIFP benefits from the last major change (when Diamond was added). The original benefit was "priority check-in and boarding", no mention of early cabin access, for Platinum/Diamond. FTTF (including early cabin access) became a thing after, at which time Carnival added early cabin access to Platinum/Diamond benefits so that when P/D complained anybody could now buy the benefits P/D had earned, Carnival could say "you're keeping all those benefits PLUS we're now able to give you a new benefit with early cabin access."

1. They can still take your pic at check-in if you're using a birth certificate or if they can't get (or don't like) the pic from your passport. But they do realize time savings from the 90%(ish) of people who use passport. 2. They block or severely limit your ability to charge your S&S until you've made a cash deposit at the kiosks or Guest Services. Then if you charge more than you deposited, they block you from charging until you deposit more.

In some ports CBP will come aboard and process B2B pax. In one port (Jacksonville) we only had to go to guest services on debarkation morning so they could make a copy of our passport and they took care of everything with CBP.