Old Fart Cruisers

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18 hours ago, MadManOfBethesda said:

The food may not be disgusting, but the behavior of the clientele is. I am currently on Glory and what I witnessed in the buffet line yesterday was almost beyond belief. Yesterday was a port day in Bermuda and my wife and I returned just after 3pm, so we went upstairs to get a bite to eat and we happened to grab a table right next to the serving line. As the buffet hit its scheduled closing time of 3:30pm, staff placed signs all along the cafeteria-style line stating that the buffet was now closed. Additionally, they removed all the ladles and serving spoons from the food items.  Did that stop the late-arriving passengers from getting food? Absolutely not! In fact, it became almost a feeding frenzy as passengers were doing whatever they could to get some food. This included using their own little forks and spoons and dipping them into the food items, and then handing them to other passengers who arrived at the line without their own utensils. Some were using their hands to grab at the cakes and other dessert items. I even saw one man use his hands to tear off a couple of hunks of turkey from what remained of the bird. I was absolutely appalled. 

 

I finally went up to a Carnival employee who was standing there watching all this and asked why she didn't try to put a stop to this clearly unsanitary customer behavior. Her response was that they were just going to throw all the food away anyway so it didn't matter.

 

Needless to say, I won't be going back to the buffet for the remainder of this cruise. But then again, the food in the MDR hasn't been great on this cruise either, so that only leaves me with pizza, the deli, and room service, lol. BTW, I don't want this to come across as a general Carnival-bashing comment. This is my 4th Carnival cruise in the last 12 months encompassing 53 days of sailing, and the first 3 cruises were great. We also have a 25-night transpacific cruise coming up this October on Panorama, so I'm hoping that this has just been a one off, and that we'll have better food and better passengers on that cruise.

 

If not, it is going to be a very looong 25 days. 

17 hours ago, MadManOfBethesda said:

Yes! I'd expect such behavior from twentysomethings on a Spring Break Caribbean cruise, but not so-called mature adults on a longer Journeys cruise. On second thought, I wouldn't even expect such behavior from them either.

 

I even saw one fifty-something woman get up from her table and walk up to the serving line carrying her fork and just pluck out a meatball [or some other round meat object] and walk back to her table with it. I even made direct eye contact with her and said loud enough for her to hear: "Are you f'n kidding me?!" Didn't faze her at all.  That was actually the point at which I had had enough and got up from my table and approached the Carnival employee to ask why they permitted this ridiculously unsanitary food frenzy when the buffet was supposed to be closed.

I love taking pictures of people doing these types of behaviors, while making sure that they are well aware of what I am doing.  If they question me about why I am taking pictures, I just say something like "I need proof, because nobody would believe me if I told them about the slob I saw in the buffet". 

Their form says "No overweight baggage fees if you sign up on line"

I can just imagine how much that will be abused😆.

Yes they are.  The notice was delivered to our mailbox yesterday. 

20 minutes ago, screwsmcernst said:

What does that mean?  😃

That's an old reference even for me.

Jack Benny always claimed to be 39 years old and holding. 

On Board now.  Finished with muster.  Ready to cruise!

In many countries now nobody looks at your passport, or even touches it.  You hold your own passport on a scanner, look into a facial recognition camera, and if everything checks out the gate swings open.  There are agents overseeing the process, but in many cases you might not interact with an agent at all.  So unlikely you will get very many stamps in the future. 

25 minutes ago, George C said:

Sounds fantastic, what ship ?

Carnival Spirit 

Our flight to Seattle is just 3 1/2 hours from now. 

We leave tomorrow on a 14-day Alaskan cruise.

6 minutes ago, aborgman said:

 

No, it isn't.

 

Bingo is gambling.

Carnival runs Bingo outside the casino.

Bingo is run by the Casino department even though it isn't in a room that says Casino over the door.  And don't say it's run by the cruise director because although they my be moderating the game and calling the numbers, the casino department is still in charge of the game. 

2 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

I have never had anyone collect or hold any of  our bottles.  Just keep all four bottles in your cabin on the first cruise.  They do all have to be carried on, not put in your checked luggage. 

22 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

One benefit of the smoke-free casino annex on Carnival is you're more likely to get a drink from a server if you have DOU (and maybe even get it faster).

23 minutes ago, Frank12 said:

You would think, but this was not the case on the Vista last month.

Servers didn't come into the smoke-free annex very often on the Venezia in October.

I just got another survey email today.  The button doesn't work so I can't take the survey.  I tried it in two different browsers.

This is an Alaskan cruise (NOT an Australian cruise)  on Carnival Spirit, but the email refers to it as Carnival Spirit-Aus.

4 hours ago, SHIP_ME_OFF said:

What cruiseline?  In 2008 I did a Med cruise on Royal Caribbean and we were able to get our passports stamped at each port.  From what I remember, the cruise line held onto the passports and when we got them back at the end of the trip they were stamped.  I am hoping that the same can be done on my upcoming Med cruise on NCL.

Back in 2008 almost every port stamped passports.  Now very few stamp anymore.

2 hours ago, Anyislandwilldo said:

Going on a Mediterranean cruise.  Does anyone know if the Greece ports have a place to get your passport stamped?  Santorini, Athens, Turkey

Just be sure that any stamps are done ONLY by authorized officials of the United States or a foreign country, not a novelty tourist stamp.   I had one done at the Yukon Suspension Bridge while on an excursion into Canada on an Alaskan Cruise.  About a year later a friendly United States Customs and Border Protection pointed out the stamp and told me (with a smile), that it technically makes my passport invalid.  Luckily, he just let it go and I have gotten a new passport since then.  

15 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

That's a tough one.  Is that a CaseIH165? or maybe Puma 195?

Just now, Crusin Karen said:

Ok thank you! I actually just booked it on my own on CCL website about a month ago. Always cruise in May from my home port and I saw my favorite OV was available so booked. Didn’t even realize there was an OBC. Recently saw that balcony is not much more and thought I might switch. 

Even if you you booked it on your own, you can still call Carnival's 1-800 sales number.  They will be able to give you some upgrade options, possibly better than what you can get online.  If you don't like the options they offer, you aren't out anything other than the time it took for the phone call.