Bellicheck Brain Trust

I am surprised a forum has not already been started regarding the change to the future cruise program but I wanted to get everyones thoughts. I am honestly very upset by the change and I have written the following to both John Heald and Arlene Marichal, Senior Director, Guest Services. See below for my note. I am hoping I was not wrong that many people are upset by these actions. I also implore those that agree write John, Arlene, and the rest of the senior beards and see if we can start change.

John,

I wanted to let you know how disappointed we are with thechanges to the future cruise program. We have been loyal to carnival since westarted cruising. Since 2011 we have sailed with you 17 times for a total of113 days and we also have three cruises booked over the next year. That said wehave seen budget cuts every year we have sailed with you. Some of these items have already been beatento death on an individual basis but in the aggregate it paints a differentstory. Items we have seen changed sincewe started cruising include, (i) the old change to the future cruise program(previously you could buy the certificates that had to be used within at leasta year I believe), (ii) changes in the MDR (removal of table cloths), (iii) theloss of the chocolates at night, (iv) changes to the loyalty program, (v)changes to the servicing of the staterooms, (vi) the loss of the everyday freesushi to the taste bar, (vii) major changes to the Players Club andtransparency around comps, and these are just a few that come to mind. I havewritten you and the beards in the past to voice my displeasure with some ofthese changes but this time I really have to express how saddened I am with therecent change. The future cruise program is something offered by all yourcompetitors and for the most part I believe every one of them offer a greateramount of OBC (dependent on sailing duration) and offer refundable fares asplans change. The biggest key being that plans change so it’s always nice toknow we can book under a refundable fare and if life events occur I am notlocked into a cruise that if I have to change I will either (i) incur changefees or (ii) risk the loss of my deposit. Obviously I can chose not to bookunder the future cruise program and still be protected, but then I lose a privilegeI have always loved and taken advantage of. Secondly, if the cruise price wereto change and I take advantage of my early saver it’s a shame that you willtake away the OBC that I earned by booking so early in the first place. In myentire cruise history (unless I was on a bounce back) I have gotten a pricedrop on every single one of my cruises. That said going off history why would Iever book under the new program knowing I will lose the OBC. I am sure I am notthe only one who feels this way. I beg you please reconsider this new program.Talk to your customers – I can’t imagine anyone is really happy about thischange.

Everyone that mentions asking for the hotel director or evoking the great vacation guarentee forgets that most first time cruisers (or relativley new cruisers) such as the OP as her profile seems like only two total cruisers do not know how to navigate the carnival waters.

That said - I think their offer is relatively poor if the situation was as bad as you claim. I would reach out to either Heald or email Christine Duffy. If you have the photos you are referring too attach the photos to your email. Only once did I have to take this step regarding my bachelor party and we ended up getting an excursion for 18 people free and private. Carnival is great you just need to know what levers to pull and when to pull them.

How are you guys booking?? I can't get it on the website

Our PVP contacted us to ensure we got in right away. I would recommend reaching out to yours ASAP for either Inaugural or TA

We just booked the inaugural! Even though we did not love the itineraries or date were super excited about this booking and seeing some new destinations! Also hoping Heald will be joining as well.

Hello, I just came across your posting while going through the Carnival postings. Your title - November 12, 2016,do I gather you mean 2015??

 

A couple questions, as we are doing the Glory in March.

 

You said they had the Newlywed, and "not" so Newlywed show. Were these two different shows, or are you saying there were couples who had just got married, and others that had been married a long time?

 

The Rock show? What is that about, and is it the last day of the cruise?

Epic rock is one of their playlist production shows - definitely one of the best in our opinion. The love and marriage show is typically a staple for my wife and I, however if you get a crappy cruise director (like jase in our opinion) the show can be quite boring. CD's like Matt do a phenomenal job with the show. Never cruised with the current Glory CD so crossing our fingers the show will be entertaining - would be nice if they could mix the questions up by CD.

It will likely be doing the med first which is consistent with prior releases (Magic, Breeze, Vista).

Personally, I am hoping they mix up the traditional med with either a baltic, norway, or something more exotic.

I have always spent time and money in the casinos on our 22 cruises. I see people posting all the time about special deals for cruises and comps on the ships. Can anyone tell me how you sign up for this program or what kind of money you have to play to get invites to specials? I receive comps like free rooms and specials in Vegas all the time but nothing from the ship.

 

John

Make sure you give them your S&S everytime you sit down at a table or place your S&S in the slot machines. Check in with the hosts every now and then and make sure you email the casino department when you go home. Its all about time and average bet per hand

Thank you!!! Just got two :) Made me use different paypal accounts to get it!

My opinion- only- it SHOULD be difficult to get Diamond, to keep the percentages of people low and the perks what they are. You start lowering qualifications- it waters down the "specialness" of the achievement. It's interesting the complainers, that think there should be some short cuts for them to get Diamond, since they have cruises booked, it took them years to get what they currently have, they are so loyal etc etc. Then cruise MORE, the only way to get the numbers. Ok, here come the, I don't live near a port, I don't have the money, I don't get the vacation time , we do land vacations etc etc.

 

Doesn't matter- if you don't meet the standards, why would you think, you should get it?

 

Add to the mix, the reports of just booking any old cruise to get the numbers up?? You've got to be kidding? Settling for a so so cruise, that isn't really what you want- costs time and money. Why not just plan cruises you want? All over the boards are money complaints and those looking for reduced deposits, (which is beyond me), claims, they have to "save" a long time, more etc.

 

Flame away.

I agree in terms of the money complaints. So sick of hearing it. I dont live near a port and need to travel to every cruise I take. Thats part of choosing a cruise vacation. The point of loyalty programs are exclusive rewards should not come easy. It should only come to those who spent a lot of time and MONEY with a company. That said, I disagree on keeping diamond perks as is. I am not close (after the vista I will have around 110 days) but I started cruising in 2011 and will get Diamond in the next five or so years. That said, when I do get it I expect a lot more than the current perks. Will I change lines due to a lack of perks, hell no, but for my loyalty and dollar spend compared to competition it would be nice to be treated equally. Changing the current perks (as they are minimal) should not be on the table. Adding some additional levels and improving diamond is what should be done. But this is Carnival so I am expecting a devaluation.

They really need to change from a nights based point system to cost. Not only would that let them merge the programs with their other lines, but it makes it more fair. You now get more airline miles if you fly first class rather than economy, why not give more points to those in a balcony cabin than interior?

 

I think this way makes the most sense, even though I always get interior and would get less points

I agree but I think it will be tough to implement. You would either have to grandfather in an already large group of people or takeaway from those who have become accustomed to this. I think they should add new levels in and then change the program based on dollar spend and nights. They also need to provide better perks to platinum and diamond because their perks are below industry standard.

I would like to see a Carnival Corp plan. All of your days on any Carnival Corporation ship would count. Still maintain the individual cruise line's on board benefits, but maybe some of the perks would be used on all cruise lines. Like boarding early, priority tender service, priority spa reservations, you know basic stuff.

That would be great! We are sailing on princess in March and its so wierd going from status to being considered a first time cruiser. Would be nice to have some sort of acknowledgment.

I've said this for a long time, but I think they will have another tier such as "Platinum Plus" for those that reached Platinum "the hard way" by hitting 75 days instead of 10 potentially shorter cruises.

 

I predict that regular Platinum will have some of their perks taken away. Not sure what, but it could be anything due to the sheer number of guests that have reached that status. PP will then become kind of like Platinum is now. I could be way off, though. I guess time will tell.

I agree, I think this is the most likely "improvement". It may be tough to take things away from the current platinum members as those are their most "loyal" but it is possible they look at how Royal boards their passengers and would have Diamond and new platinum boarding first and then platinum and then gold (hopefully remove faster to the fun). They can than look at a platinum plus/diamond event and then something like free specialty dining to all diamond (1 per cruise on cruises longer than 5 days). Would love for them to do some sort of happy hour, but I think that is way too much to hope for.

I am going to guess here just to see if I am right. My guess they are going to increase the number of cruise days to get out of the "blue cat" to 24 and increase all other cats by that number. Just a guess based on past "improvements/changes".

Wouldn't surprise me, but then my guess is they will add additional perks to platinum and diamond which wouldn't be the worst thing. Currently there are too many platinum and way too many gold.

I can only imagine it will not make many of us happy, however I still have slight hopes they will mirror Royal and Norwegian and provide platinum and Diamond members with much better benefits as right now there benefits lag behind the other cruise lines. It would also be nice to add levels between gold and platinum and platinum to diamond.

Has anyone tried this excursion? We are on the fence whether to do this excursion, go to Capri, or make a sea day out of Naples. We have been here a few times already and have done Pompeii and the Almafi coast so we are trying to do something special. Any help would be appreciated!

I agree with other posters, bringing Carnival back to Boston would be great as I live about 5 minutes from the cruise port! That said, I really hope they look into the Bermuda route from here as I do not have interest in doing Canada/New England. I think in order to sell well in Boston, Bermuda would be great and they should consider some Caribbean from here as well.

Thanks for the review!

 

Though, I'm not a fan of seeing the "slow drink service" complaint more and more lately. I'm wondering if they cut back on the number of bar staff, similar to the proposed cutback of housekeeping staff? It's been mentioned that room stewards have or will have 30 -35 rooms, as opposed to 20.

 

Oh, cutbacks, how we hate that word!

I know on our cruise my steward still had 20 rooms, but it could be because he also had two captain suites. We definitely did not notice any cutbacks with house keeping, but like I said the bar and dining room service was clearly lacking. Either way luckily none of that ruins a vacation, but it certainly makes hitting 15 harder!

We leave on the Valor on Sunday. Do you remember who the mixologists were in the Alchemy Bar?

I don't remember there name, but the male bartender was the same one who opened each of the prior alchemy bars. He was amazing, very creative and very personable.

I have heard this a lot on many ships and experienced it first hand on the Inspiration. Not sure why but I sure hope it is not like this on the Miracle in August!!

We were thinking it may have to do with the updated cheers program. More people having access to more drinks than they normally would have gotten without cheers. Either way, if this is becoming a Carnival issue rather than just a Valor issue I hope they fix it soon as it does become frustrating to waste a lot of your vacation waiting around for a drink.

Hey all,

Never did a review before, and I promised myself I would do one for the Vista, so I am going to use the Valor as a warm up to what will be a longer review. We just got back from the Valor on the May 26th sailing which was a 4 day voyage to Nassau and Freeport. This cruise was my bachelor party cruise and I had 8 of my closest friends join me. I was able to get the captains suite for free from the casino and I had my buddies with me on lido. Overall the cruise was great (for obvious reasons) but this was the first time I left Carnival a bit disappointed (which I will describe later). I will break my review into four buckets; (i) the ship, (ii) the crew, (iii) the ports, (iv) the entertainment

The Ship: This was my fourth time on the Valor and first since dry dock. All of the upgrades were amazing. Thoroughly enjoyed the red frog pub (shuffleboard and games), Alchemy (best drinks at sea) and Guys Burger. I was glad they still kept areas such as fish and chips as we love going there when the ship has it. The ship looked to be in very good condition as well. My stateroom was beautifully kept.

The Crew: This is where I have to say I was most disappointed. Not necessarily with individuals, but the service on the ship was terrible. On average I would say it took 20 plus minutes to get a drink. Whether it be at the red frog pub, casino, alchemy, dinner, the bar service was terrible. There weren’t enough servers and bartenders to keep up with the demand. Not sure if this was a mix of Memorial Day cruise, new cheers, etc. but it was extremely disappointing. Even if I went to the bar myself to get a drink the line was always extremely long. Secondly, wait service in the main dining room was slow. Night 1 we went to the steakhouse, which always has great service. Night 2 in the main dining room for formal night, dinner took close to two hours. We got in sharp at six and didn’t get out until 7:45. After that dinner we asked them to speed service the next night, and same result. I like a nice drawn out dinner, but this was way too long for even my liking. On a good note, the casino staff were incredible per usual but overall we were not happy with the service.

The Ports: I may be spoiled due to my cruising frequency but Nassau and Freeport are just plain terrible. Nassau always has tons of boats in port and the main attraction (Atlantis) is extremely expensive. This was my first time to Freeport and I thought excursion options were limited and didn’t offer anything new/interesting. The port itself also has minimal shopping and seemed quite boring. To put it mildly I don’t think I will visit these ports again.

Entertainment: Very happy to be back to the old school Carnival shows with the live band and lots of dancers. For a four day cruise (with one being the welcome aboard show) we found ourselves fully entertained between the comedy, two main shows, and love and marriage show. As much as we love the playlist shows, I think I prefer the older shows as they seem more lively and definitely had more action.

Overall the cruise was great and we were happy to be back on the Valor, but the service was a definite setback. Hoping this isn’t becoming the new norm for Carnival as we have extremely high expectations for the Vista in a few weeks. If there’s any questions or explanations people want please feel free to post and Ill try and get back to them

Does anyone have the rules/drink sheet they pass out when you enter the contest. My fiance and I are making a scrapbook from our last cruise that we did this and we wanted to put a picture of the rules next to the photos of our drinks etc.

For those just on the Valor who was the cruise director?

 

Which one? We were in 9203 the week before dry dock. It was wonderful and we received several unexpected things. Loved the room and the room steward was absolutely the best! Tell Gede hello from the Walters bunch.

I am in the same room! Any chance you wanna divulge what those unexpected things were? Also, how big was the balcony? Is it big enough to fit a bunch of people on it? Can people see down onto it?

OP- something similar happened to me. Make sure you speak to a guest supervisor-lead. They ended up getting me back on my excursion and 50% off for the headache.

To add to the scotch list they have Macallan 18. That is my go to in the casino. I had DOU but I think the price is relatively inexpensive (maybe $8 on the rocks)