ryanpatricksmom

Why does the casino host "seek you out"? I'm a big better, always have casino cash and drinks on us card waiting for me but never had the casino host specifically seek me out when I boarded.

Do you play the machines? It's possible if you don't that it would take awhile for them to know that you're there. Once our cards are in the slots we are always visited by at least one, and usually both Casino Hosts on the first night.

It also doesn't hurt that DH likely holds the Carnival record on points accrued in a single cruise. ;)

Doesn't anybody just say "Thank You"?

Of course most people say "Thank You". We thank the Casino Host repeatedly for the complimentary spa treatments, steakhouse dinners, etc. as well. The reason that I find it odd that Carnival isn't more forthcoming with casino cash is that goes right back into their pockets....it doesn't cost them anything. I doubt that there's ever been a passenger that went to the cage, got their cash, and went shopping in the Funshops. On the other hand, when we board and the Casino Host seeks us out (usually immediately), and when we haven't been given any cash I let him/her know. They make up for it with other perks....but those perks often require that we LEAVE the casino...so it seems like someone at Carnival doesn't think this thru very well.

The most successful casino operations know that giving a little sumpin' sumpin' to start with, almost always means more money to the casino.

They're not doing it because we're friends.

I think that they're really starting to promote the Premiere Cruises, which is why I'm getting the shaft on the cruise cash for my next cruises. DH and I don't receive bounceback offers anymore either. The Premiere Cruises definitely encourage more gambling with a higher S&S daily limit for slots and fees waived at tables, plus the different activities that lure you into the casino. If this begins to fail, they'll probably try another strategy.

We get all the gifts and whatnot from the casino hosts whenever we cruise anyway, so I'd still rather pick my dates and forego the Premiere Cruises for the most part.

Things really would be much better if I were chosen to rule the world, but alas, that hasn't happened yet. ;)

We have a B2B and 2 other cruises lined up that were booked thru the Promotions Department using vouchers from a land casino. In each case we upgraded from interior cabins. Now bear in mind that we get the Premier Cruise offers each and every time, and a free cruise is offered to DH. We chose to use the vouchers instead, because we then had our pick of ships and dates. I contacted Michael and was told that neither of us would receive any casino cash because the cruises were initiated via the land casino.....but booked thru Carnival's promotions who cheerfully accepted my $$$ for the upgrades.

Go figure. I can't for the life of me understand why it matters how the cruise came to be, only that DH and I will accumulate large amounts of points that will cause us to receive free offers from Carnival regularly....really, no cruise cash regardless of how much we spend, only because the offer came to us from Carnival indirectly?

I'm thinking anytime that a swimsuit's appropriate "After Labor Day Rules" don't apply. ;)

As others have mentioned, the porter that graciously accepts your water and the tip presented works for the Port, and doesn't give a fig if Carnival ultimately refuses to deliver the water to your cabin. There's absolutely no guarantee that it won't be confiscated or destroyed when moved to the ship. I've seen cases delivered several times, but I'm sure there's been more than a few that never made it.

We're booked on a B2B, and the second leg begins on the 31st. I'm really not sure what to do since Halloween is on an embarkation day. I'm not sure if a lot of people will participate, or even if they will have the typical activities. Anyone sail out on Halloween before?

I guess there were many reasons I felt unsafe. For one, I feared my daughter would be a victim of something unwarranted. For another thing I was really nervous my husband would say something to one of these guys and get into it. I was also worried that they would find out that we complained and do something to us. This was a 4 day cruise.we had been on a 5 day cruise out of Jacksonville and didnt experience anything even remotely close to that. But I definitely would think twice before doing that one again.

Always trust your gut. Too many people wait for a brick wall to fall on them before they react. It's the best way to stay safe.

I recommend the oatmeal with toppings, if you're not totally against a hot version. Between the buffet line toppings and a trip to the fruit bar, you can put something together. There may even be a suitable cold cereal that you could for added crunch...I can't remember.

I don't think that it should be necessary to call security. You would think that with signs on the door and an I-pod in the hallway, at least one senior housekeeping person should come across the situation a few times a day... and put an end to it.

In the casino, if there's any harassment going on, the Cruise Host should be all over that.

As far as the ogling goes....unfortunately sometimes you do have to alert security to other pax behavior. The security staff are focusing on the bigger picture and monitoring club entrances, etc. I assure you, if anything other than a glance was cast towards any 17 y.o. of mine (or if I saw it towards another teen for that matter), I would have contacted security. The looks, I'm afraid, are unavoidable and unenforceable.

I don't mind loud and obnoxious...well I do, but I figure it's none of my business, but when you cross into invading someone's personal space or interfering with another's privacy (i.e. noise invading your cabin), then it's time for Carnival to step in. If it's a bunch of hoopla in a common area, then I would just move on if it were bothering me.

Honestly, I'm not sure if it ever really mattered if they announce the fact that the price could change or not. I would imagine that so long as you are quoted a price before you actually make the purchase, that's all that matters.

I think the fact that they don't allow the purchase prior to sailing has always suggested that they want the ability to adjust the price; I don't think that being out there with it, and offering up that they will adjust seasonally is very smart.

Truth is, we never know until we board what the cost of a drink will be. Could be that you purchase the Cheers package and find out that a lot of drinks are now $10.25 It's a leap of faith, I suppose.

I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and try it in October. I'll watch over the next few months and see how many times they vary from the published price prior to my cruise in March and make my decision for that cruse with the benefit of time.

As I mentioned before, a smart business plan would be to allow cruisers to buy at a fixed rate ahead of time, and only adjust the price based on the sailing for those who have not prepaid. Unfortunately, I don't run the world, so don't hold your breath for that one.

At least it's not a published range of prices like it was morning. :rolleyes: They should just let people pre-pay for the package up until 2 weeks prior to sailing thru the Bon Voyage department and charge whatever price they want to at the door. That way, those of us who know better will be happy and people who cruise uninformed won't be disappointed.

No, you actually pay less if you wait to buy a bottle from BV after sailing...you avoid the taxes, which are around 5 bucks or so per bottle. No gratuity is charged. We have done this for several years now.

Thanks, that's good to know. I thought that I read somewhere that liquor was not available thru Bon Voyage post sailing, only thru room service (including the same gratuity as purchasing a drink via them).

..or they'll charge based on your cabin category or your horoscope sign or whether or not the month has an 'R' in it....

 

It's ridiculous, not customer-friendly, capricious and confusing. Things like this make me cranky! :mad:

The thing that's most ridiculous to me is, they've taken what was a huge positive step towards guaranteed revenue by roping in new customers (many of whom would never drink their money's worth on the program), and now have turned it into a loser. I was all set to use the Cheers program, even though I get free drinks from day one in the casino. I could easily smuggle enough for 5 days. Easy Peasey Lemon Squeezey to quote a former poster. At the price point they were offering, I was willing to buy the program for convenience sake, but.... I want a simple answer to a simple question, "HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?"...before I board.

Now it's become crystal clear why you can't buy this program ahead of time.:rolleyes:

If they don't stop this nonsense soon, I'm gonna tell Mickey Arison that I'll be spending my vacations in Cleveland!;)

If you don't like the price of Cheers once you're on board, you can order your liquor by the bottle from room service. It should be about the same price as BV.

That's true, but I think that you pay the 15% gratuity on top of the already over-priced bottle. I'll just bring my calculator and do a cost benefit analysis in the atrium, lol!

I'm pretty sure your only option is to not allow transactions to the Sign and Sail. If the gambler has the ability to charge to the S&S, they can charge $3,000 per day to the card so long as credit is available.

I don't know how complicated it is to get a credit card advance onboard, but if they have a gambling problem, perhaps their access to credit is already somewhat limited due to credit problems? I bet you can also self impose a restriction to the credit card that disallows cash advances. They should contact their credit card company and ask. That would be prudent for everyday life, not just on the seas.

The ATM has it's own restrictions. At least if they are using ATM machines, the amount per day is limited, and they can't take out more than they have.

Psssst: Then budget $700.

 

If Cheers is less than that, buy it. If it's more than that, don't.

 

Easy Peasey Lemon Squeezy.

 

It does restrict your options though. DH and I usually buy Bon Voyage and have decided to forego that in lieu of Cheers on our next cruise, based on the published prices. If we can't find out until sailing what that price will be, our window to buy thru Bon Voyage will be closed if the price is higher than anticipated. I've seen a number of other pax doing the same math, so knowing the cost ahead of time can make a difference.

It was a one and done for us.

We'll be sailing on the Fantasy in October for a B2B, and that will be our first Fantasy class sailing as well. Up until recently, most of our cruises have been on the Pride because we usually sail to relax and aren't looking for particular ports. Our last cruise we sailed on the Freedom and experienced the 2.0 upgrades, so we won't be heading back to the Pride until after dry dock. Once you've experienced 2.0 it's hard to go back! We'll be sailing the Sunshine in the Spring.

We decided to give the Fantasy a try because DH and I each had a free cruise to use before year end, and we couldn't swing 2 full weeks in the allotted time. We decided to do a B2B, and since we LOVE Charleston, it seemed like a natural choice. After all, that day in the middle will be spent at one of my favorite cities.

We're a little apprehensive because it is 10 days, and now that we've had the bells and whistles, we may feel a bit let down but we cruised for years without them and enjoyed our sailings just fine, so I'm sure we'll re-adapt.

You know During your first leg buy a few bottles of duty free liquor that will be delivered to your cabin the last night of leg 1.

That will be a lot cheaper than Bon voyage.

Even if you had to buy soda you would be way ahead.

But like others have said just buy mixers on shore and carry them back onboard. get the best of both worlds.

Yes, that's what we are counting on for leg 2. In fact, we are planning on buying the last night so that we can actually carry it back ourselves, just in case they hold it because we're B2B.

Just go up to the bar, show your card and ask for the can. That's what my daughter did all the time with Bottomless Bubbles. She then would put them in the ice bucket to get cold so she could drink it out of the can later. Worked on the Ecstacy.

Thanks, I think that we'll try it. It's really so close in price if you factor in everything that we spend including BV, tipping the bartenders in the casino for the "free" drinks, the extra drinks when we don't use BV, and sodas that it's worth it not to have to keep track of the Tervis Tumbler....and that doesn't even count the $$$ spent while we're sitting at a machine waiting for that "free" drink, lol! If it works, it works; if it doesn't, no biggie.

I really am looking forward to having Cheers on the Sunshine though. With all of the assorted bars and their specialty drinks it will be nice to try the variety. We just sailed on the Freedom on a Premiere Cruise and spent way too much time in the casino enjoying those "free" drinks. I want to try the Alchemy and Havana Bars and spend some more time in Red Frog the next cruise. With all of the options, I can easily see us buying 4-5 specialty cocktails each a day...and then it's totally worth it.

OK, I get it now. I never thought BV cost would be that close to Cheers. ;)

It didn't used to be, but our last cruise it was nearly $250.00 including the mixers. Add to that the required frou-frou drinks at embarkation...usually close to $60, and the assorted that you get when you want something different than your BV drink, another $100, the occasional soda....Cheers doesn't looks so bad for a 5 day.

I meant just grabbing a six pack or something similar while in the port of calls.

I'm obviously not doing a very good job of explaining, lol! I was hoping to buy Cheers for the first leg of our B2B and have a continued benefit on the second leg....i.e. using the stocked up mixers, not buying Cheers for both legs.

The point is, we don't quite break even with Cheers vs. Bon Voyage, but we would if I had $20 worth of sodas saved up to use on the second leg with my duty free liquor.

What can I say? I'm trying to get the system to work for me.

The next cruise after this one is on the Sunshine and that's a no-brainer. With the variety of bars and specialty drinks to choose from we'll get our money's worth easily. It's just that on the Fantasy I'm not sure that we won't stick to our tried and true drinks....which we could easily make using BV.