Island Dog

"Starting in January 2020, Carnival Cruises will replace Coke products with PepsiCo products."

I'm old. 2020 is recent to me. 🤣

We have done Maya Chan and Blue Kay. Maya Chan was our favorite but seaweed was horrible when we there, and it was in winter (Feb.).

"However, when Holland America ships visit Half Moon Cay, they usually offer the opportunity to buy a 15-drink beverage package for $24.95 (not including gratuities) that is good only on Half Moon Cay"-Cruise Radio

I wish Carnival would do this, but I guess they figure there are a lot more drunks on Carnival than HAL....

2 minutes ago, smilejesuslovesu said:

Just wondering if they serve Coke or Pepsi, I can't remember LOL

Thank you

Recently switched to Pepsi, I believe. 🤮

Thanks everyone! "Explore and Plan" was the ticket. Took a little to find on the mobile site. Got reservations for us and all our friends. We are all set! 😁

4 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Log on to NCL.com and it will be under explore and plan. Or… gasp…. Call the general reservations phone number and talk to a live agent. 

Gasp?

1 hour ago, Indiansbaseball said:

Just off Spirit…

They put a sign up for the Jalapeño hush puppies, I got excited, then they pulled the sign. 8 day cruise and never saw them. 
Favorites were : Chicken Parm in MDR, Salmon, Pizza, Guys Burger, Melting cake and Funfetti cheesecake. I loved Chopsticks !! Hours are so short ! Banana cream pie at brunch. 
Disappointments: On sea day brunch, I ordered scrambled eggs, was shocked to get the same nasty eggs from Lido ! First time ordering brunch potatoes …gross ! Plus I ordered the meat lasagna in MDR and it tasted like Chef Boyardi ! 

Dammit! Going on Spirit soon and the Jalapeño Hush Puppies were on my "to-do" list. Hopefully they were just on Jalape-cation. 😄

38 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

Very much a YMMV thing as the bartenders are specifically instructed to open all drinks served under the Cheers program to discourage hoarding.

A few Washingtons might improve your mileage....

18 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

The truth is there is ZERO excuse for not allowing cheers on HMC. Claim is they can't keep track. Yeah right. They do fine job keeping track for all the per diem purchases. IF you somehow managed to go over the 15 limit they could just bill you at the regular purchase price for the additional drinks.

There's a very valid excuse for this. Lost revenue. They've never honored Cheers! at HMC,  and definitely won't be doing this with their current financial condition. 

I'd be happy if they'd just do what HAL does on the SAME ISLAND and offer a HMC only drink package. I think that would generate more revenue instead of people with Cheers! rushing back to the ship to go drink after getting the sticker shock from the cost of a round at the Captain Morgan Pirate Ship bar.

My planner says 120 days but I can't find where to make reservations on ncl.com. Will I need to wait until midnight tonight or need to use the app for this? My check in box is not highlighted. Any help appreciated!

11 minutes ago, 1kaper said:

This is my biggest pet peeve about Carnival.  Some people are angry about bacon, I am angry about this.  I burns me that I'm paying for Cheers and I have to pay for drinks on the island with the same card I use to get my drinks with Cheers. 

What's even more frustrating is that Holland America passengers can pay around $25 for a HMC drink package only good on the island whether you have a package on the ship or not. Princess drink package is good on Princess Cays. MSC and NCL drink packages are good on their Bahamian "Private Islands" as well. Not sure about RCCL because I'm not paying for their outrageous $85 a day drink package. 

I noticed on the Liberty in September that the ice cream machine that is usually back by the rear pool behind the Seafood Shack on that class of ships was gone completely. 

Here's a great idea that will never happen. Lol.

Make one dining room "always elegant" and one "come as you are". As there are two schools of thought on dress codes, this would seemingly satisfy everyone.

Yeah, right. Lol.

On 11/2/2022 at 3:04 PM, illinoisfive said:

we are Platinum and our luggage tags for our upcoming cruise say Platinum not Proirity

hopefully luggage will be delivered as Priority as stated in letter

I just checked in for my cruise in two weeks this a.m. and was disappointed to see my luggage tags just say "Platinum" and not "Priority" like the Suite guests are getting. 

Maybe they haven't updated the system yet to include Platinum. Maybe I'll just try to cram my stuff in two bags and just carry it all on directly to my stateroom. Lol.

31 minutes ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

I think the reason they don't like to serve main dish only is they want you to fill up on sides. Sides are generally cheaper. 

 

We went to an all you can eat Japanese restaurant where you order as much as you like from a menu, but they charge extra for unfinished dishes to avoid waste.  Towards the end we ordered a shrimp hibachi no rice, as we knew it wouldn't be eaten, and that is how they served it. We got the bill, and they charged us for the uneaten rice we didn't get. 

What a self-destructive business practice. Willing to lose a customer over $2. 

I get that they want you to fill up on sides. But if I'm ordering a 2nd entrée and don't want sides then serving them to me is Carnival blatantly choosing to waste food. Kind of goes against the spirit of the purpose of the "culinary changes".

Unless the line is the only one offering the excursion, we always book independent tours or explore on our own. Much cheaper and almost always a better experience. 

I don't think "elegant nights" or whatever you want to call them are going away anytime soon. I think there were at least 4 extra photographer setups with the fake backgrounds (so cheesy) set up last time I sailed. There was no shortage of "posers". These nights don't really cost the line anything but are a steady source of revenue. 

In addition, we will see how much they care about food waste when you order your 2nd or more entrée and request main dish only.

24 minutes ago, shof515 said:

they can still eliminate the first elegant night and then just have one elegant night

And eliminate the revenue from the photo ops?

20 minutes ago, Schoifmom said:

 

I think that is because they were already higher priced and had restriction in place.  For example, Chops Grille on RC is already $65 and they only offer ice cream from 11:00 - 7:00.  I think that Carnival's generously low prices and attempts to appeal to those who want 24 hour items make this seem like extreme measures; however, they are still lower priced than their competitors.

You get what you pay for.

I do my part to control photo paper and chemical waste by politely declining the photographers "photo ops" in the terminal, by the pool, in the dining room, in the hallways, on the gangway, etc,etc,etc.....

53 minutes ago, mz-s said:

30 billion plus in debt and no sign of profitablity yet…expect more of this until they’re the Spirit Airlines of the cruise industry. 

Fights, roaches, nickel and diming....I think they already have become Spirit. But hey, "keeping fares low".

56 minutes ago, Schoifmom said:

I have to wonder if other lines are simply making those changes and not providing announcements that effect.  TBH, I think that on most other lines there were already some of these restrictions (if you choose to call them that) in place and higher prices for their alternative dining venues.  It was Carnival's efforts to maintain the low price point that caused them to have to raise it now.  Their margins on these items were just too low to absorb the increased sourcing costs.

I highly doubt this since I am booked on three other lines and have received no emails and as I frequent the other message boards nobody is complaining of cutbacks when they come back from their cruises.

I abhor food waste and honestly see most of the waste in the buffet. If I order extra entrées I always try to clean my plate. I was an unwilling member of "The clean plate club" and reminded of the "poor starving children" when I resisted.

However, I am not seeing emails or announcements of this nature from any other line and it is starting to make me worried about Carnival's solvency moving forward as it seems we are getting notifications on "changes" near every other day. I'm gonna sit on the sidelines after this next cruise and see how it all pans out. Wouldn't want to see my hard earned money disappear in the name of bankruptcy.

16 minutes ago, da_v said:

after eating at his Fish and Chip outlet this guy doesn't care about using frozen junk in his own locations.

Dass cuz he's worth 10 Guy Fieri's. 🤣

1 minute ago, da_v said:

That is a steep increase. I remember when they added water as an option it was to stop people bringing water on as a carry on, the lower price was to compete with buying a case of water from the store. 

When they stopped allowing water the policy was announced with the statement "but you can buy a 12 pack of water for only $4.95" or something similar.

Carnival appears to be in much worse financial condition than other lines and the measures they are taking are very telling of this.