Future with Carnival????

[Star1]

I am just wondering were is Carnival going with all of these changes? I have only been on 6 Carnival crusies in the past few years. I now see so many changes and I don't really understand where they are headed. I do understand it is for the money. What image is Carnival going for??? They have the image of theCheap Party ship-Is that the image they want to keep??? You can smoke on the balcony( I am a non smoker) and buy a drink package( I am a non drinker), buy your way on the ship early (F2F package), no need to cruise 10 or more times anymore.Changes with the menu and No more FCC now too. Change in music and shows that are more bar type. I am not sure what the future is going to be on Carnival. Do they just want the young party type????? The ones who only cruise once or twice with Carnival or cruise only on short type crusies??? I have enjoyed all of my cruises with Carnival. Why do you like Carnival??? Cheap fares????? Any other reasons??

How are all of these changes helping Carnival if many people are changing to other cruise lines????

Thanks.

[firefly333]

I think the image and what is true is they are the cheap way to cruise. Its been said that they are moving the way of the airlines, think spirit airlines.. where you pay for what you want.

 

Low prices, they cant afford to keep dishing out FCC, OBC, so its been stopped.

 

Lots of people on here say its what they want, a affordable way to cruise. Pay for what you want to do.

[golfadj]

FCC might have been the straw that broke the camels back for us.

 

Not going to book onboard so we just effectively got a $ 100 price increase.

[MrPatches]

I only cruise out of NY (can almost walk to the port) so Carnival is one of the few lines I'll go on.

 

I don't care about FCC. If $100 "makes or breaks" my ability to cruise, I'll just stay home.

 

I don't smoke. As long as people are restricted to their own balcony and very few other areas, I'm fine with that.

 

The F2F package is just a waste of money, but if others find it "good", then that's fine with me.

 

As to the music...it really depends on what they are playing. I didn't like those calypso bands on the lido. Let's just say....no opinion.

 

However, what really bothers me is the drinking package. My dear mayor, Mike Bloomberg says it like it is....people will "consume" whatever is put in front of them. So, if they are entitled to 15 drinks...it's 15 drinks they will have. What this means is lots of drunks.

 

I'm not a drinker (2 glasses of wine a year). I've never bought a drink on a cruise. If there is a "noticeable difference" on my next cruise, then that will be my last Carnival cruise.

[Jeffy294]

FCC might have been the straw that broke the camels back for us.

 

Not going to book onboard so we just effectively got a $ 100 price increase.

I gotta agree with ya Stu. I would never book onboard, that type of planning doesn't work for me. I am not sure what my future with Carnival is past January, but its not really because of the changes. I have been interested in NCL for a while. I do like the prices of Carnival, but I am willing to pay for what I want. My wife and I have also been looking at other vacation alternatives.

[Sh1035]

The kind that don't complain, bring along 30 newbies for the family reunion, drink, buy rounds, gamble, pictures,spa, excursions,etc. have a great time and will come back.

 

Not those that complain if they don't get chocolate on thier pillow, butter instead of margarine, a duvet cover and not a blanket, had to wait 12 minutes to board, always wanted something for free,etc....

 

It's not a charity. I for one am looking forward to trying the new 2.0! Plenty of other lines and I sail them. So if you don't like it move on and stop complaining here, it is what it is! Enough already!

[LHP]

I am just wondering were is Carnival going with all of these changes? I have only been on 6 Carnival crusies in the past few years. I now see so many changes and I don't really understand where they are headed. I do understand it is for the money. What image is Carnival going for??? They have the image of theCheap Party ship-Is that the image they want to keep??? You can smoke on the balcony( I am a non smoker) and buy a drink package( I am a non drinker), buy your way on the ship early (F2F package), no need to cruise 10 or more times anymore.Changes with the menu and No more FCC now too. Change in music and shows that are more bar type. I am not sure what the future is going to be on Carnival. Do they just want the young party type????? The ones who only cruise once or twice with Carnival or cruise only on short type crusies??? I have enjoyed all of my cruises with Carnival. Why do you like Carnival??? Cheap fares????? Any other reasons??

How are all of these changes helping Carnival if many people are changing to other cruise lines????

Thanks.

 

 

 

It is interesting that Carnival supposedly worked "so hard" for years to get rid of that "tacky cheap booze and booty cruise" image....

 

now seems to be embracing it....

 

Btw, it does not matter if all the loyals go to another cruise line...there are more than enough newbies (who do not know what they are missing) to take our place....

 

and the newbies do not cost Carnival money....like we do...

 

(and yes, it has altered our cruising pattern...we do not cruise during the summer and we avoid 3/4 day cruises)

[firefly333]

For every cruiser who says ok, this time this cut back bothers me enough I might look around, 5 more post to shout them down and say .. "just get me on the boat, I dont care what is cut back"

[Almost Packed]

if everyone's nickels and dimes keep the overall price down, i'm good. If i don't want it, I don't have to buy it. Just don't start charging me for something that was once included/free. Then I'll really be upset.

 

If other people's fountain cards, bingo, casinos, excursions, foo foo coffee, photos, art auctions, cocktails etc. keep the price of my cruise down, I'm happy. That gives me more $'s to spend where I like it-usually in the casino :D

 

Yes, when the time comes that there are more annoying drunks than sober persons, I'll be shopping for a new cruise line.

 

I see it as CCL is trying to survive in a tough economy.

 

If your cheese moves, you better be willing to move too or die just sitting there waiting.

[cruiseguyforever]

Carnival is the cheapest cruise going out of MIA,FLL. I live in south florida so if I can get it cheap we go on more cruises. I don't except alot from Carnival so whatever I get is OK. Hell we sometimes don't even get off the ship in port. Go on enough of them and you kinda know what is good and what is not. Most of the time we have a blast the other cruise guests are what make it fun for us!!

[cathyz]

It is interesting that Carnival supposedly worked "so hard" for years to get rid of that "tacky cheap booze and booty cruise" image....

 

now seems to be embracing it....

 

Celebrity has a 'bar package' also, so I guess it must be a "tacky cheap booze and booty cruise" too? :confused:

[cruzeluver]

I concur with a lot of the assertions being made on this thread, however, Celebrity has been offering drink packages for a couple of years now (sailed with them twice since the packages became available) and I have not seen anymore drunks behaving badly type of behavior since.

[golfb4cruzing]

We went on Princess and really enjoyed. But somehow felt like we we're "cheating" on our first cruiseline. With all this going on, I'm sure the breakup will be final. I'll let you know after Halloween Destiny cruise.

[coevan]

let's get real, most cruisers are not on Cruise Critic and have clue as to any cuts at all. Our roll call and FB page has maybe 70 people on it, out of what? 4000. BTW F2F and VIP are not exactly the same a few more perks with VIP

[ccruisequeen]

We don't like to fly to catch a cruise (I'm disabled and travel with elderly parents developing their own health issues), so we're stuck with cruiselines close to home, including Carnival. Price is decent and shorter cruises work better.

 

Hate the price on these new drink packages plus the idea that everyone is forced to participate. Sister is coming with us in Nov and doesn't drink Coke products so I advised her to bring her own supply.

[Georgiagolfer]

We went on Princess and really enjoyed. But somehow felt like we we're "cheating" on our first cruiseline. With all this going on, I'm sure the breakup will be final. I'll let you know after Halloween Destiny cruise.

 

This comment is about as ridiculous as the ones where we are told to cruise another line. Why would anyone feel guilty about cruising any line, unless you really had an awful cruise?:confused:

[Georgiagolfer]

if everyone's nickels and dimes keep the overall price down, i'm good. If i don't want it, I don't have to buy it. Just don't start charging me for something that was once included/free. Then I'll really be upset.

 

If other people's fountain cards, bingo, casinos, excursions, foo foo coffee, photos, art auctions, cocktails etc. keep the price of my cruise down, I'm happy. That gives me more $'s to spend where I like it-usually in the casino :D

 

Yes, when the time comes that there are more annoying drunks than sober persons, I'll be shopping for a new cruise line.

 

I see it as CCL is trying to survive in a tough economy.

 

If your cheese moves, you better be willing to move too or die just sitting there waiting.

 

They are charging me for something that was included/free. As Platinum, DW and I received entry into either the Slot or Black Jack Tournament. Now it is BOGO.

 

It is a tough economy, but other lines don't appear to be watering down their cruises yet.

[Acklander]

The changes don't bother me, because I don't pick a cruise based on loyalty rewards or if they sell FCC certificates or not. I pretty much book between 30-60 days out, and just pick it based on what's available at a fair price and what happens to grab my interest at the time. I'm much too flighty to just stick with one line. This time I chose To look at carnival solely because out son had a lot of fun in the tween club on our last cruise so that was where his vote went. From there I looked to see which boats left out of Florida (since we live here and won't have to deal with airfare) and then started looking at the prices. We settled on the dream because they're adding The 2.0 upgrades and the tequila bar looks like fun, it leaves out of the port an hour from home, and it has a nice price.

Done deal. Loyalty points or FFC didn't come into play and probably never will, but if they offer the awesome bar program that would be a big fat bonus.

I guess we're the type of cruiser carnival is hoping to market to, since the new changes have been great - we work hard, play hard, spend a fair amount of money on board, have never found a reason to complain about anything and aren't looking to be tied down with any one line.

[CoCoNut Willie]

I really don't know what to think of Carnival's future. No new ships for the foreseeable future, just stack more cabins on the old ones, new paint and call it 2.0. I can't see them competing with the other cruise lines for anything other than bargain basement vacations.

[golfb4cruzing]

The cheating statement was made because I don't jump products. I research and tend to stick with one. Your ridiculous is my norm. Click on brother.

[riffatsea]

We also like to cruise from ports close to home!

Carnival has left San Diego and has cut out all the interesting Mexican ports we used to enjoy.

We thought we'd not be cruising this year but DH was missing his "cruise fix" so we'll be going on a shorter cruise from Long Beach even if the ports are not our favorites! We are willing to pay more and to cruise other lines but we really enjoy the informal atmosphere(no jacket/tie required) on Carnival! We don't smoke and we drink moderately(1 or so per day).

None of the changes bother us and the so called "party atmosphere" has not affected us either!!

IF you don't like something you can always choose to spend your money elsewhere!

[finsupcruiser]

FCC might have been the straw that broke the camels back for us.

 

Not going to book onboard so we just effectively got a $ 100 price increase.

 

I agree!!! We have many on several Carnival cruises and have 3 more booked(all with FCC).

 

After those we are gone. We have enjoyed our cruises with Carnival in the past. The changes CCL has chosen to make no longer encourage me to book with CCL.

 

Most of my cruise choices with CCL have been because they are less expensive and FCC.

 

Now there is nothing to draw me to CCL so it will be NCL and HAL for us.

[Fla Mike]

Carnival is the cheapest cruise going out of MIA,FLL. I live in south florida so if I can get it cheap we go on more cruises. I don't except alot from Carnival so whatever I get is OK. Hell we sometimes don't even get off the ship in port. Go on enough of them and you kinda know what is good and what is not. Most of the time we have a blast the other cruise guests are what make it fun for us!!

 

Could not agree more.

 

Living in South Florida, Carnival, has a decent enough product and a heck of a price.

 

But we have no brand Loyalty.

 

As stated above, price to us means moer cruises and since there is no airfare involved, cheap is good.

 

We are hopping on the Imagination next month, 4 day'er, with an OV on Empress Deck for a whopping $55.00 pp, per night. If we wanted to stay on Riviera in would go down to $44.00.

 

Honestly, for $55 per night, I do not expect a 5 star cruise experience.

They are feeding me, giving me a comedy and a stage show, and taking me to Mexico!

 

If we want to "do it up" we go on another line.

 

We took Celebrity to Alaska this year, and to be honest, we both liked the food on Carnival better. To Celebrity's credit the ship and service was far better.

 

We are planning a deep Southern Caribbean for 2013 and right now it is between Carnival and Princess, but Princess is only about $100pp more, but Carnival is an 8 not 7 day. Still up in the air on that one.

 

I think Carnival has figured out their market very well.

[Havingfun2010]

I see this as being very simple. YOu can stay in Motel 6, or you can stay in a 5 star hotel. If you want a quality food, and entertainment than you will pay for it on another cruise line, but if you want some cheesy shows, with unlimited drinking than Carnival is it. That's what Carnival wants. I guess they figured they already had that image, so might as well just go with it.

[pmcubed]

As our upcoming cruise will only be our 3rd and our first with Carnival the changes you talk about mean nothing to me. The reason I chose Carnival for our upcoming cruise is the itinerary - no other reason.

 

Our first two cruises were on HAL and we loved them. We don't need to be entertained on a cruise. We have booked balcony rooms each time and I am perfectly happy to sit on my balcony and read. What we did enjoy is buying a drink card for $50 or $100. That is not an option on CCL and our upcoming cruise is on a ship that the new "drink" program has not been expanded to. I doubt either DH or I would purchase it as it is a port intensive cruise and I know I cannot drink enough to make it worthwhile.

 

But for me - it's the itinerary alone that has me choosing which cruise line.