DallasGuy75219

On 5/14/2023 at 12:54 PM, DCThunder said:

But if it weren't for different colors, how are the snobs going to signal that they are better than the great unwashed noobs who only have a white medallion?  After all, those people just "aren't our kind".😉

On 5/14/2023 at 2:07 PM, donaldsc said:

 

Sort of like the HAL Holland America Mariner Award Pins.  I wonder - could you set up a business and/or would Princess ban them if you tried to sell medallion covers or even fake medallion pins showing to to be higher in status than you really are.  Or perhaps interchangeable witty sayings.

 

DON

I don't cruise HAL, but nothing can be worse than the gold Pinnacle name tags on RCCL.

2 hours ago, kwokpot said:

Are you referring to the diamond special meal? Are you saying on some ships it's a Diamond dinner? I'm not understanding what you're referring to in that particular response. 

It doesn't have to be a meal at all.  Part of what determines what the event is is how many Diamonds are onboard.  On 3 of my last 4 cruises the event has been a cocktail party with open bar and nice passed hors d'oeuvre (not the crap they were serving at the Platinum and Diamond party before they stopped serving food altogether).  Unfortunately 2 of those 3 cocktail parties were scheduled before noon.

In my experience, older ships and/or shorter itineraries are more likely to have fewer Diamonds and therefore less likely to have the lunch.

Although the Diamond event can be anything, in 12 cruises as Diamond I've only seen brunch, lunch, or cocktail parties.

And here I am an Elite with 66 days due to double credits on solo bookings 😅

4 minutes ago, dolphinsfan246 said:

True but that free laundry would come in handy on that last extra day 🤣

If it's worth the risk of not getting it back in time.

No exceptions* whatsoever, no matter what documentation you have and even if someone is pregnant, in recovery, or allergic to alcohol.  (Just about every situation has been asked about on here over time.)

* The only exception is that when one person has Drinks on Us Everywhere from the casino, the other person can buy Cheers because DOU Everywhere is essentially the same as Cheers.

3 hours ago, dolphinsfan246 said:

I always wondered when cruises get extended like this, will the extra day go on your VIFP points? What if you were one day short of the next level? Would they bump you up during the cruise? 

Carnival's written policy is that you get VIFP credit for the extra day.  But at the end of the cruise there would be relatively little benefit to having the higher level.  Plus going to Guest Services to request the 'upgrade' might be a little cheeky considering all the other more important issues they are handling under the circumstances. 

Can you at least change guest 3 or 4 in his room to be guest 1, so you're no longer paying for a fourth guest?

As someone else said, buying insurance for the second room after you know he can't go would be insurance fraud.

On 2/24/2024 at 12:47 PM, EllieinNJ said:

My husband ordered the pasta and seafood the last night.  It came with two mussels, two small shrimp and maybe three calamari.  He was very disappointed.

I had the same experience on Valor, essentially a noodle dish designed to fill you up with cheap carbs.

Luckily my roommate and I had just ordered it to split as a second main dish so we could have pasta with our chicken parm.

On 2/12/2024 at 7:24 PM, Butterbean1000 said:

Fun is subjective.

That wasn't the point.  The point was that that for 50+ years, even before all the whiz-bang features of today's ships, Carnival's business model has been to make getting there (and the activities on the ship) just as much a part of the cruse experience as the ports it visits.

10 hours ago, vnyislesv said:

m seeing people write, they LOCK the access door to the rooms til 130? 

They don't lock the access doors; that would be a huge safety issue.  But they are closed and pretty heavy to open.

There is a sign on them saying (I'm  paraphrasing) stay out; rooms will be ready at whatever time (usually 1:30).  If you have priority and are eligible to drop off your bags before then, you should already gotten an email to the effect telling you that you can drop off your bags early.  But the signs themselves no longer mention those exceptions to the rule.

On 2/24/2024 at 8:26 AM, Butterbean1000 said:

We requested the same server for a party of 6 for the entire 7 day cruise.  I think the servers prefer this.  They get to know you.

They prefer it because you're more likely to tip them extra at the end of the cruise vs. if you had different servers every night.

23 hours ago, jagoffee said:

I understand your point. I believe  that approach would be impractical with all the cruise line changes.  You are suggesting that when Princess decided to add a surcharge for Casual dining, add a mandatory gratuity on the speciality dining fee, add a charge for Medallion shipping charge, increased the cost of internet, etc. that Princess should keep track by individual and implement the changes by individual booking dates?  

Except that they already do this for the Plus and Premier packages.  And most changes are announced in groups, like when casual dining, ordering room service by phone or app, and medallion shipping stopped being free with standard fare.  So so every single element that has changed doesn't need to be tracked individually.

2 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

If it is down to 4 or 5 remaining seats, you might be better off by just having one person book it quickly while you can to make sure that you get the seats/time you want.

Booking together won't ensure they get on the same bus/boat/etc, even if they book the same departure time.  They need to check in together on the ship and make sure they get the same color and number sticker. 

2 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

OP, you do know that the "medical evacuation" does not cover the evacuation from the ship?  It is just from whatever shore medical facility you are disembarked to, back to a hospital of your choice in the US.

And some policies only cover exacuation to the US if there's not a suitable facility in the foreign country.  They won't cover evacuation just because you *want* to be treated in the US.

7 hours ago, clojacks said:

IWhat possible logic or reasoning could be at play here?  

They are trying so save cabins that sleep 3 or 4 for people actually booking 3 or 4 people into them. But people booking 2 to room are being forced into guarantees (at least when.boolimg online) because there's apparently no mechanism to release those cabins to people booking 2 to a cabin once all the 2-person cabins are full.

2 hours ago, memoak said:

When you buy any product and the later when the add more features and increase the price I would assume you need to pay the new price to access new features. This would be on anything not just a cruise package. This has not been a secret 

The issue is that @louden booked the cruise and bought the Plus package before the price increase to $60 when at  least some casual meals, like Alfredo's/Gigi's, were complimentary (and unlimited).

2 hours ago, jagoffee said:

Are you saying that you paid $60 a person per day and Princess will not provide all the benefit is the current $60 a day plan?  Or did you pay something less than $60 per day per person.

 

Did you try repricing?

duplicate post

2 hours ago, jagoffee said:

Are you saying that you paid $60 a person per day and Princess will not provide all the benefit is the current $60 a day plan?  Or did you pay something less than $60 per day per person.

 

Did you try repricing?

The "50" in "Plus 50 package" is Princess' indication that @louden bought Plus at the old $50 price.

14 hours ago, MissP22 said:

When were sailing with the same group during Trivia, sharing didn't see to be of any concern to any on the servers. Drinks were being shared with anyone without any concern. 

I was traveling with a group on Sky and ordered a round of maybe 12 shots (one per person), pointing to the group of us sitting next to next to each other at the bar. I was expecting the bartender to charge one (mine) to my package and charge me separately for the other 11, which I we ould have been okay with. But instead he rang up however many shots got me up to 15 drinks for the day on my package and only charged the remainder directly to my account.  So no, the crew often don't care about or try to enforce the no sharing rule.

3 hours ago, T-town Mary said:

When we booked our cruise we wanted a balcony but didn't choose a specific cabin and on my booking confirmation sheet it has listed OC  and upgraded from OF. I don't know what this means. Do I have a balcony or not? Thanks for any information you can give me   Mary

I don't think you have a balcony cabin.  The code for a balcony cabin generally starts with B or D.  An "O" code would be an oceanview.

4 hours ago, SCX22 said:

On Royal Class ships, the sideways interior cabins are for sure bigger.  On the deck plans below from the Princess website, sideways ones are on average 175 sq. ft. and the regular ones are on average only 166 sq ft. 

9 sq ft is not a meaningful difference, only 5% more square footage.

On 3/9/2023 at 8:43 PM, StephPS79 said:

Pretty sure most PVPs don't love casino offers, at least the free* ones because they don't make any money on them. 

On 3/9/2023 at 10:00 PM, Elaine5715 said:

Does not matter to Carnival PVPs what offers you book under, they get the same credit.

@Elaine5715 is correct.  PVPs get credit for the booking regardless of the fare or cabin category.  Nowadsys I'll only sail Carnival on free casino offers, and my PVP will periodically call or email me directly if I haven't booked with him in a while.  So obviously he wouldn't be actively looking for my business if my bookings didn't earn him anything. 

1 hour ago, NewtoCruisewKids said:

It’s Everywhere on the ship and it says For you, but does not mention for a companion. 

It's not required that he purchase Cheers.  If he does buy it, however, he has to do it on the ship because a beverage manager will have to override the transaction because technically (and this is pretty much the only exception to the rule) he'll be the only one in the cabin with Cheers.  The reason for the exception is that you essentially have Cheers already, just called DOU Everywhere instead of Cheers.

45 minutes ago, Warm Breezes said:

We were the first table to go through the buffet after the head table and by the time we got to the fettuccini, I found one small sliver of chicken and the baked ziti's sauce had no meat.  So disappointed.  I haven't come across that on Carnival though.

I've noticed it at the Lido buffet.  For the dishes that combine a protein with a starch and/or vegetables, there's relatively little protein to begin with.  That gets picked out by the people serving themselves first, leaving primarily the starch and/or vegetables. 

7 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

I believe you can get coffees loaded onto your medallion in exchange for the mini bar.

Not anymore.