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The ease of getting drinks in the casino has always been a cruise-by-cruise thing. We've done about a half dozen cruises since covid and the drink service on all but our last cruise has been better than it was before covid. On our last cruise one of the bartenders told us the first day of the cruise they had new people working the casino floor and it was the only cruise since covid where we had a problem. I'm hoping it was just a learning curve thing. This thread did make me realize that since covid one thing has been better - the drinks service in the casino. I hope it is not the first "change" that gets reversed.

Having been to many of the Caribbean ports numerous times we usually stay on the ship at at least one port each cruise. We use those days to sleep late and take a vacation from the booze till late afternoon. We find those days very refreshing and it increases our enjoyment of the other days. Drinking seven days straight will wear you down. At other ports we have previously visited and "toured out" we just get up when we want then stroll around the port. Key West, Nassau and Cozumel are good for that. When we visit a port the first times we will take excursions if they look interesting and just suffer through getting up early. But after we have done the interesting excursions we prefer to not get up early for excursions on future visits. We don't go on vacation to get up early and stand in lines. Of course we are old farts and retired. Younger folks can catch up on sleep at work when they get back; while we can't as we are off on our next adventure.

Many moons ago I commented on how Guy should be concerned that "Guy's Franchise Rights" will be moving from the intangible asset category to the "Intangible Liability" category on balance sheets. Apparently he doesn't care (as someone else noted) as long as he gets a check. So my opinion of Guy the person has gone way down.

So they haven't told him why either...

What is with all the talk about Carnival doing this to cut down on bad behavior? Did Carnival say that, or is it just folks making up the best excuse for Carnival they can think of?

What they said... including the coffee...

It is the Carnival way. New cruisers don't know it was any different. Experienced cruisers who say anything about the changes are called "entitled." Gaslighting is a corporate strategy in my opinion.

More cutbacks, err... sorry about that, CHANGES. (I have been guaranteed by "experts" that all these disappearing things are just changes.) They make more from on board by-the-drink purchases than on bottle sales. Same reason they take your bottle purchases from port calls and deliver them to you the last night.

Our favorite is the Dream class with the Conquest class a very close second. We strongly dislike the Vista class - sailed Vista once but never again. We find the Dream and Conquest class ships do not feel crowded and have an open feeling. Sure, there are some crowded places at times but you can always find lots of open space and great views off the ship (the sea or whatever land you are near). The Dream edges the Conquest class because of the covered (covered by the Spa deck) tables and chairs on the Panorama deck overlooking the Lido pool area on one side and the sea on the other. Sitting in the shade with the wind blowing through with great views gives Dream class the edge. The Vista class makes you feel like a rat in a maze. In addition everything seems to be laid-out to be as inconvenient as possible (example: closest bathroom to the casino? - bring your hiking boots), though it does have a well designed Lido buffet area.

If you are talking about the Carnival Vacation Protection plan I don't think you can cancel it once you buy it. They figure you have been using it ever since you bought it because if something came up to cause you to cancel your cruise you would have been able to file a claim. If I am wrong someone please speak up. I haven't been able to cancel mine.

The short answer is that Carnival does not care about Diamond members very much. They figure Diamond members are about the most likely to sail come hell or high water and least likely to jump to another cruise line. What Carnival wants these days in new cruisers. They are trying to fill ships and get demand up enough to raise prices. That means new demand, not old demand. They consider Diamond cruisers to essentially be locked in to cruising and Carnival for the most part.

I should also mention that most cruises I have been on have the 10 to 10:30 time as the earliest check-in time. If that time is full then the earliest time you will see on the arrival time screen will be 10:30.

It is a question of how many people checked in for the earliest time before you. Check-in starts at midnight eastern time. A number of folks start sign-in immediately at that time. Some go so far as to skip to the arrival time section and fill it in before doing the rest of the check-in steps. The key is when you complete the arrival time section, not when you complete the entire check-in. Also, it depends on how many they have in each boarding group. I have been in A2 at times there have only been about ten folks in A1. But I have also been in A2 when there were quite a few in A1. I haven't seen rhyme or reason for how many are in each group.

You have encountered the new normal for Carnival. We sail Glory often and eat Sea Day Brunch and MDR as much as possible. The Lido omelet station is still good also. Knowing about the portion size issue we order accordingly. They are happy to bring you two or three of anything. The key to avoiding sitting waiting for additional portions is to order additional up front. That is our new normal.

Just my opinion... I think the announcement of the $500 fine is a small net negative for Carnival. Those who have sailed carnival will know Carnival does not enforce many of its rules. So this announcement will mean little to them, though it may raise some hope and keep some on the verge of leaving waiting to see if this rule is enforced. I doubt it will be enforced with the result being the announcement just delayed customer loss. For some who have not sailed Carnival this will be the first they have heard that there is a problem. The announcement will be a negative with those folks as they are now aware of a problem they did not previously know about. Most of those who have not sailed Carnival will never see the announcement. Unless Carnival publicizes cases where the fine, or worse, was imposed they will have only kept a few current customers staying a bit longer and warned off some potential new customers. If they actually intend to enforce the penalty they would have been better off just changing the cruise contract and enforcing the threats.

You are probably both right. Different names for different times and ships. I vaguely remember as a child sailing when men wore suits to dinner EVERY night. But those were the days sailing was a means of transportation rather than a vacation.

There is absolutely no need for Verifly. Just bring your boarding pass, passport and vaccine record, as they tell you to do even if you use Verifly. But, if you are a masochist, the solution to your problem is to delete Verifly then reinstall the latest version

We sailed the Vista once and decided that was just too big. Strangely we are fine with the Dream class. We mostly sail Conquest class. But the mega ships have no appeal for us.

That's what we have done on four cruises this year, the latest in September.

I suspect you are correct. The recipe and what they actually use in these days of cutbacks can be different things.

We currently avoid B2B these days because of covid. Covid is not that big a deal these days. We have taken six cruises since reopening with several of them last year. But on our September cruise we both came down with covid for the first time within a day or two of getting off the ship. Essentially we had a high fever for a day then felt tired for a couple of days and that was it. But lots of folks are coming back from cruises with covid and we would not want a hunk of our last leg of the B2B to be a drag or spent in quarantine. If you catch it on the ship chances are you won't show symptoms until the very end of the first week or shortly thereafter. So one week is fine, but you risk a rotten second leg on a B2B.

Ours always come about three days after returning. They send them to whatever email you have on file with them. So just wait a bit at this point and write down the names you want to recognize before you forget them.

You had rain in New Orleans? You lucky dog. That is probably the only rain in the state for days. It rained every day all summer then went completely dry.

Well and concisely put chengkp75.

When we get on the ship I generally put our keys in the safe and leave them there until the end of the cruise when I put them in my pants pocket. One time I put the keys in my backpack to go through security getting on the ship and apparently forgot to put them in the safe. When we left I was sitting in one of the waiting areas waiting for our zone to be called and suddenly realized I didn't have the car keys in my pocket. Moment of panic. I was sure the safe was empty. Scramble to look through everything. Found them in my backpack. Perhaps the same thing with them? But why they didn't immediately put them in their pocket I can only imagine. I'm sure a spouse is to blame.