Go-Bucks!

Besides their target audience are new cruisers who spend much more money on board than experienced ones.[/QUOTE]

 

That's correct , the problem being there not offering any options for the experienced cruiser . Well , we have been there and done that .

So how should Carnival entertain the experience cruiser ?

 

Perhaps a discount on photos ,excursions ? Selective pricing in the shops ?

You would think Carnival would offer a modest 20 percent discount, once you reach a particular level . In the least ?

Guaranteed money flow :).

 

 

Carnival offers few perks for repeat cruisers or those in suites. Check out the great loyalty program on Princess, as well as many nice suite perks. :D

Unfortunately, nearly anything that comes out if the Fincantieri yards is an inferiour product compared to the quality and expert craftmanship from Meyer werf, Chantiers d'atlantique and AKER yards in Turku.

 

Carnival corp. almost exclusively uses Fincantieri as they are the cheapest.

 

From design to finishing, fincantieri is a disaster in my opinion.

If the RCCL and Celebrity ships are so much better than Princess ships, then why don't they have self-serve laundromats so that those on longer cruises don't have to send their clothes to the expensive ship laundry?? That's one design that is fabulous and saves us lots of money!

Will be on Celebrity for the first time in the next 3 months and hope I'll enjoy it, but I love Princess and will be Elite next year. They have the best loyalty program, bar none. Check it out.

You are entitled to your opinion, but I don't agree. And neither do thousands of others. BTW, my Carnival Corp stock is doing great and I get tons of OBC with it. Oh, and virtually all OBC and other perks are combinable on Princess. Not so on Celebrity or NCL. :(

We just did a cruise on HAL where I have no perks, and did I ever miss the internet and laundry!!

My friend and I have been wanting to try other cruiselines just out of curiosity, so we booked a Celebrity and NCL in the next year or so. But we also realized how much more we'll have to spend since we'll have no perks. On Princess we now get Internet and after next year, when we become Elite, we'll also get laundry. We're getting spoiled. :D

Yes, they bring way too much food. I really only want the scones, so we just order them and tea. It is really nice to sit on your balcony and enjoy them.

Good to know. We'll be in a suite next year and would like to have tea on our balcony but really only want the scones, cream, jam and tea. Did you tell them the specific items to bring when you ordered it to be delivered?

The room for the get together is arranged in advance thru the person at headquarters who handles that ship.

I buy a little package of party invites and fill them with the info for it in advance. I add the officer's names when I get on board and drop the invites at the front desk.

That's exactly what I did in July on the Crown, but none showed up nor did I hear anything from them.

As a matter of fact, I've attended all the M&G's for my Princess cruises and no officers/staff members have ever shown up. So, this may be a disappointment but is not unusual.

We're booked on the March 8 sailing of the Reflection for a 7 day Eastern Caribbean in category 1A. We got a good price back in early November, then last week we got an $85pp price drop and were so happy! We also have free gratuities and OBC.

I checked yesterday to see how the new promo looked and our cabin got a $200pp price INCREASE, so obviously they just hiked the price up to cover the new "goodies." Not a deal. And we don't drink alcohol, so definitely no deal for us.

Last week we got an $85pp price drop on our March, 2014 cruise. Today the newest "offer" of the free gratuities (which we already got), OBC (which we also got) or the drink package also came with a $200 pp increase in price for our cabin!!

Makes me think of the old saying "There's no such thing as a free lunch." They hiked up the cabin price to cover the new goodies.

P.S. We don't drink alcohol so the drink package wouldn't be worth the higher room cost, but it might be worth it if you drink enough to make up the added cost.

Heard from Value Trips yesterday, but it wasn't good news. The Hyatt Place doesn't have any of the discounted rooms available on our date. Oh well, maybe on another vacation. :(

One percenters are those with more than enough money, in the case of "bikers' it has a very bad meaning. Those are the only two references that I know of so take your pick on this one. LOL;)

Thanks for bringing me up to speed. I'm definitely NOT in the first classification and hopefully not in the second if it has a bad meaning. But I still don't feel bad for taking the toiletries home.

I was watching the Royal leave today on the Port Everglades webcam and I gave all of you a big wave goodbye!! :p

You were lucky to leave when you did because by the time the Allure of the Seas left, it was POURING rain! Hope you have a wonderful vacation and get to escape completely. :D

My in-laws (on the same ship, different floor) absconded with all the extras. In spite of them being 1 percenters they always strip all such amenities. It's been years since they bought their own shampoo, soap, lotion, shower caps, sewing kits, creamer, sugar, sweeteners, or anything else they can stuff in a purse or pocket.

Not sure what a "1 percenter" is, but I got a good chuckle because I sort of do the same thing. :p I don't take creamer, sugar or sweetener, but I do take hotel room or cruise cabin amenities that are mine because I've paid for them! I like the nice thick round bars of soap from Princess and usually take several of them home with me. They're very long lasting and a nice size.

When on the Crown in July, I took some showers in the women's locker room at the spa. They had dispensers in them with shampoo, conditioner and shower gel. I liked them and, frankly, they smelled better than the eucalyptus bottles. It's fine with me to use a dispenser, but I'll have fewer goodies to take home. ;)

I'm so glad I read about valuetrips here! We had booked the Renaissance ($235 + taxes) and when I checked the Hyatt Place website they wanted $269 + taxes. Valuetrips rate is $179 + taxes! I sent my request today.

Another advantage is that the Hyatt has free breakfast, free shuttle from FLL, free Wifi and an in-room coffee maker. The Renaissance didn't have any of these perks.

Putterdude: Yeh, it's not the Lago Mar but we don't need luxury for a one night stay and don't want to pay a bundle for just a clean comfy bed. These "middle of the pack" hotels are fine with me and I can use the savings for more important things.

I was in my 5th grade class room. Someone came in and whispered in my teacher's ear and she began to cry. The room was silent as we children weren't sure what was happening. The teacher only told us that school was letting out early and our parents would be there soon to pick us up. I was very confused.

My mother arrived and I could tell that she was upset. While driving home she told me that the president had been shot and killed. Even though my parents were diehard Republicans, they were devastated. We spent the entire weekend watching TV and saw Jack Ruby kill Oswald on live TV. That was very disturbing to me and I was worried about why all this killing was happening. Despite being only 10 yrs old in 1963, I still remember all these events vividly.

laundramats on every Princess deck. For those who say they don't want to do laundry on vacation . . . . 7 days (which I figure is about how long I can go without laundry.)

That's something I really love about Princess. We usually take 14 day cruises and it's impossible to bring that much clothing and expensive to have the ship do that much laundry. We usually do laundry on day 6 or 7, then sometimes we'll do more near the end of the cruise so we can take clean clothes home.

A washer load or 20 min. of drying costs $2.00 each. And they have a laundry on each passenger deck. Usually have 2 washers and 2 dryers in each. A nice loyalty perk when becoming Elite or booking a full suite on Princess is unlimited laundry and dry cleaning!! So great for a long cruise.

I'm only considering two lines. Celebrity and Princess. We've never sailed Princess, though I've heard good things about it.

I'm about the opposite of you; I haven't been on Celebrity yet (will be in March, 2014) but have done on 6 Princess cruises. I've heard good things about Celebrity - which is why we're going to try it - and that they and Princess are similar.

I really enjoy Princess - it feels very comfortable in pleasant subtle colors and brass. Most people seem to be in their 30-60's. They have an excellent loyalty program, self serve laundry rooms, the best pizza, 24 hr a day good food, traditional and anytime dining, Movies Under the Stars, fresh water pools, adult only pools, and great suite perks.

No matter which you choose, have a nice cruise! :D

When are you cruising? We booked 7215 for January 25 2014 on Reflection. I would love to see some pics! Hoping its a good choice :-)

March 2014

Because of this helpful thread, we changed our cabin on the Reflection from 8338 to 7219 (at the forward corner of the middle hump). It seemed like a better location - near the mid elevators and the Hideaway - as well as having one of the largest balconies.

Any pictures of the balcony of 7219? I'd love to see it. I think the bed is by the balcony - anyone know for sure? If you've stayed in this cabin, did you like it?

Thanks! :)

"Common" tea items, scones, cream, and jam will be available in the buffet starting around 4:00 p.m. Self service.

You've got to be kidding??!! Afternoon tea in a buffet where you go get the items yourself??? :rolleyes:

On Princess they serve tea everyday in the MDR with white table cloths, china, silverware, waiters serving scones, pastries, finger sandwiches, and tea poured from china pots. Sometimes they have piped in relaxing music or live music. Really classy and makes for a lovely break in the day. I'm really disappointed to hear how Celebrity puts this on. Obviously it's not very important to them or their passengers. On Princess, tea is very well attended by both men and women.

We were in the window suite last year and will be again in September. I never saw the price go down and both cruises were booked more than a year in advance. I don't think they put these on sale.

The price for the WS's vary alot. When we got one for a cruise in 2011 the price was $200pp LESS than a minisuite! We always get a mini or full suite, but decided to save money and try the WS. Wow, we were really happy we did and didn't miss the balcony; the 2 huge windows are so close to the sea that the views are great. We also just went up one deck and sat on the Promenade deck, but mostly it was chilly weather. BTW, we never smelled any smoke from the hallway/cigar bar, but did have some smell of stale smoke IN the cabin. We reported it and they said they would deep clean.

the cabin is very creaky and during the tossing an rolling during rough seas, I thought the suite would fall off the ship.

That is certainly not specific to that room (or other WS's) because we had the very same issue during many days of rough seas when we were sailing on the Crown in cabin D732 - it's the very last (aft) cabin on the port side - so it was in a very different area of the ship than a WS. We also thought the entire back end of the ship might fall off as the creaking and groaning was very loud. I think this is just how ships sound when getting rocked around. :(

Thanks

 

It looks big enough for the 2 of us. We would not of used the desk below the window's and we seem to have an area where we can store/pour drinks from which the larger suites don't seem to have.Getting very excited about our upcoming Xmas/New Year Hawaii cruise on the Grand will definately be using Sabatini's for breakfast along with the samosa's.

You're going to love the WS's!! Especially the bathroom - it's gorgeous! I loved the whirlpool bath. And the room has so much storage - even 2 huge drawers in the bathroom. We stayed in F311 in 2011 and will stay in that same one again next year. Enjoy! (Breakfast in Sabitini's is awesome too). :D

I'm going to be a first time Celebrity cruiser who has been mostly on Princess. I love the free afternoon tea that Princess offers everyday in the MDR and am hoping to find that option on the Reflection.

I'm just wanting a nice tea, scones, cream and jam. Don't drink alcohol so just curious about the "common" afternoon tea. Is this available on the Reflection? If so, where is it held and at what time?

Thanks for any help. :)

Cruisetrail or others: opinions and thoughts on Family Veranda 8108....haven't seen anything on this thread. Many thanks.

Robin

The following info came from the Thread called "S-Class Cabin Information Compilation -PLEASE - DO NOT POST CABIN QUESTIONS HERE!!!":

Deck - Vista

Cabin # - 8108

Class – Family Veranda

Starboard or Port Side - Starboard

Bed near?(balcony or bath) –N/A

Quiet Cabin (With comments on problems. Note if connecting. ) – Quiet Cabin, connecting with 8106

Balcony View - Give comments on view, noting if location of any obstructions was an issue. – Great view no obstructions

Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - Double of a regular size balcony (twice as long)

Was wind a problem? No, also had an area to get out of wind if it was a problem.

If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? N/A

Any specific problems with this cabin? No

Any other comments? Great, extremely large cabin with two bedrooms. It is great for families!

Also, check out post #217 on this same thread - there are pictures of the cabin.

__________________

Anybody have an answer to my question above? Since I'm a Celebrity newbie, I'm hoping someone can help me. Thanks. Here's the original question:

"Just booked 8338 on Reflection. The picture of the balcony on the deckplan looks much larger than other 1A's and not slanted. Is it a good choice (we like large balconies)? If not, what might be a better choice in either a 1A, 1B or 1C? Thanks"