siestakeys04 Posted January 29, 2015 #101 Share Posted January 29, 2015 (edited) I was really looking forward to my free drink coupon.:( Dh and I had a nice time during brunch. I still will do brunch. At least when we get off in port we will have water. Sent from my PantechP9070 using Tapatalk 2 Edited January 29, 2015 by siestakeys04 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sahm2alexis Posted January 29, 2015 #102 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Lame!!! Last time we cruises (5 years ago) we got a free drink at the past guests party, now we don't have enough points to be invited to that, but I was still looking forward to my free drink at brunch and now 2 weeks before we sail it's taken away?!? I can drink water out of my sink! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelate Posted January 29, 2015 #103 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Lame!!! Last time we cruises (5 years ago) we got a free drink at the past guests party, now we don't have enough points to be invited to that, but I was still looking forward to my free drink at brunch and now 2 weeks before we sail it's taken away?!? I can drink water out of my sink! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Doesn't that make you feel as if you are a valued guest? Downgraded from Gold to Red, losing your privilege to attend the Past Guest Party and losing your complimentary drink voucher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sahm2alexis Posted January 29, 2015 #104 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Doesn't that make you feel as if you are a valued guest? Downgraded from Gold to Red, losing your privilege to attend the Past Guest Party and losing your complimentary drink voucher. Exactly! Doesn't really make me brand loyal to carnival.... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n6uqqq Posted January 29, 2015 #105 Share Posted January 29, 2015 What a grand deal- trade our drink for a bottle of water that is about 25 cents at Costco. Carnival doing this cutback even after getting a massive break in the cost of fuel is ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonit964 Posted January 29, 2015 #106 Share Posted January 29, 2015 The drink coupon was not difficult to use. It would have been nice to use it at any bar, anytime during the cruise but no big deal to us. So because Carnival decides it was too much of a hassle to use the coupon under their rules and just lifting the restriction of the free drink, they eliminate it all together and give water. That makes no sense at all. I guess this is just one more reason why we only have Princess booked now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keelyhealthnut Posted January 29, 2015 #107 Share Posted January 29, 2015 We are pretty disappointed in this change. We are on a tight budget when we cruise and the comp brunch drink was such a nice luxury for me. I really enjoyed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATHENA3 Posted January 29, 2015 #108 Share Posted January 29, 2015 They will use the cheapest way to give free water maybe a sale on water at Walmart or will use their discolored tap water as bottled water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princess di44 Posted January 29, 2015 #109 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Disappointing.... I can get water on the lido. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATHENA3 Posted January 29, 2015 #110 Share Posted January 29, 2015 (edited) edit Edited January 29, 2015 by ATHENA3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faroozi Posted January 29, 2015 #111 Share Posted January 29, 2015 I am sad, because I was looking forward to the drink this time. We are not alcoholic drinkers, but we are not doing the sodas either and I thought it would be fun for my kids to taste a virgin daiquiri or something. And I will still be bringing at least one water bottle on board. I don't mind drinking "tap" water on the ships, but I need water while on ports and I would hate to think I am getting a bottle of water in the room and find out I don't and I am out of luck. It doesn't make or break our cruise, but it was a bonus perk we were looking forward to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ciardasully Posted January 29, 2015 #112 Share Posted January 29, 2015 (edited) My husband and I are fairly new in the cruising world. We enjoyed our drink coupons on our last cruise. As a level Red cruiser, this does have us questioning whether it is worth it to give this cruise line our loyalty. Like others have stated, we are able to take our dollars elsewhere. Does this mean we will never sail Carnival again? No but we probably would look elsewhere first. We plan our trips based on what makes sense at the time. But if there we were choosing between two similar itineraries and ships between two cruiselines, we would probably go with the one with the better program. Also noting a lot of people saying other lines are twice as much. Not always! Sometimes other lines are comparable to Carnival. Edited January 29, 2015 by Ciardasully Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdfireman Posted January 29, 2015 #113 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Thank you for the free water... One less I have to buy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiotAct Posted January 29, 2015 #114 Share Posted January 29, 2015 They will use the cheapest way to give free water maybe a sale on water at Walmart or will use their discolored tap water as bottled water LOL! Or, they'll be hitting up Costco. Hard to beat their prices for the 40-pack of H2O. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikel24m Posted January 29, 2015 #115 Share Posted January 29, 2015 This is the funniest thread I have read on here in a long time ,thanks for the laugh!!!! People are actually going to cruise other lines because of a $7 free drink If that's all that makes you loyal you are setting yourself up to be disappointed :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomarvin Posted January 29, 2015 Author #116 Share Posted January 29, 2015 My husband and I are fairly new in the cruising world. We enjoyed our drink coupons on our last cruise. As a level Red cruiser, this does have us questioning whether it is worth it to give this cruise line our loyalty. Like others have stated, we are able to take our dollars elsewhere. Does this mean we will never sail Carnival again? No but we probably would look elsewhere first. We plan our trips based on what makes sense at the time. But if there we were choosing between two similar itineraries and ships between two cruiselines, we would probably go with the one with the better program. Also noting a lot of people saying other lines are twice as much. Not always! Sometimes other lines are comparable to Carnival. I would like to know where those cheaper price are as well. I checked into cruising on NCL this summer out of Boston and the prices for a balcony cabin are running at $1800 for the first and second passenger and I think it was $700 for the 3rd. I am paying just over $2000 TOTAL for 3 of us on the Pride. Again, I like the water and am happy with the change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomarvin Posted January 29, 2015 Author #117 Share Posted January 29, 2015 (edited) This is the funniest thread I have read on here in a long time ,thanks for the laugh!!!! People are actually going to cruise other lines because of a $7 free drink If that's all that makes you loyal you are setting yourself up to be disappointed :) I know!! Well if they all go to the other cruise lines because of this then we will be able to get a chair by the pool and not have to worry about " chogs" :D When I started this thread it was to inform people of the change, one that I was happy about. I NEVER thought it would get this kind of attention. Never mind all the negativity about cut backs. I think Carnival is a bargin. When I tell people what I pay for my vacation and what we get they are shocked. With a family of 5 and all boys, 2 being in college, I couldn't afford to vacation any other way. Edited January 29, 2015 by thomarvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ciardasully Posted January 29, 2015 #118 Share Posted January 29, 2015 (edited) Let me know when you find one of those. I paid $1000 more for my Royal Caribbean cruise in the fall than we paid for a cruise on the Carnival Miracle. I'd cancelled a Carnival Miracle cruise because we've been wanting to try new lines and the Jewel was sailing from the west coast in the same time period. We booked the same type of cabin on the Jewel as we did on the Miracle. I'm hoping I'll see some amazing differences on Royal for the price we paid. Princess is closer in price to Carnival and has a lot more to offer. Celebrity is out of sight cost-wise and we're kind of by-passing them at this point. HAL is the same way, though they have some great last-minute deals. I won't look at NCL at this time nor Disney. In any case, I totally get people's annoyance at taking away the free drink. We'll still get it as well as an added bottle of water, so that pleases us. Truthfully, I like the perks I get from Carnival now that we're Platinum. The laundry is so handy. DH is the planner and researcher but when he booked our upcoming FOTS cruise, he said that it was not that much more than the Sunshine out of Port Canaveral. We chose FOTS because RCCL offers a nursery with childcare and we will have a toddler with us. We wanted the option to be able to have a dinner date. But I wouldn't have agreed to pay a lot more and we certainly wouldn't have paid double. I have never done a West Coast cruise (someday!) but maybe the market is different. For $1000 difference, I would definitely expect more. I hope you have a great time on your upcoming cruise. :) Edited January 29, 2015 by Ciardasully Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasl8dy Posted January 29, 2015 #119 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Unhappy with the change. It was a nice perk. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikel24m Posted January 29, 2015 #120 Share Posted January 29, 2015 I know!! Well if they all go to the other cruise lines because of this then we will be able to get a chair by the pool and not have to worry about " chogs" :D When I started this thread it was to inform people of the change, one that I was happy about. I NEVER thought it would get this kind of attention. Never mind all the negativity about cut backs. I think Carnival is a bargin. When I tell people what I pay for my vacation and what we get they are shocked. With a family of 5 and all boys, 2 being in college, I couldn't afford to vacation any other way. For sure cruising is the best bang for the buck ,especially if you don't spend much money on board Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ciardasully Posted January 29, 2015 #121 Share Posted January 29, 2015 I would like to know where those cheaper price are as well. I checked into cruising on NCL this summer out of Boston and the prices for a balcony cabin are running at $1800 for the first and second passenger and I think it was $700 for the 3rd. I am paying just over $2000 TOTAL for 3 of us on the Pride. Again, I like the water and am happy with the change. Yeah the Northeast Market can be rough. We have never been successful at finding a bargain cruise out of the Northeast, except the Cruise to Nowhere we did a year ago. I remember when DH (he's the planner) was looking at cruises out of NYC, the Splendor actually was half as much as NCL Breakaway and RCCL. As I said, we choose our cruise based on what makes sense at the time. BTW, Go Red Sox! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare richstowe Posted January 29, 2015 #122 Share Posted January 29, 2015 People complained about the coupon being to restricted, so Carnival said, we will fix these people that complain about a free item, we will take it awayYup ! Not a big deal and I do like the water substitution however the "free" brunch drinkwas a substitution for the free drinks served at the welcome back party . If down the road they change the large water to a small water will this be a substitution, for a substitution for a substitution ? :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkportersat Posted January 29, 2015 #123 Share Posted January 29, 2015 :D Yeah, I can certainly understand disappointment..but some were getting a tad dramatic. I have more Carnival cruises because of price and availability (Royal/Princess/NCL left Galveston for a while or were not year round), not because I am loyal to them. I like what they have to offer for a good family vacation but I am certainly not hanging around for the perks. This is the funniest thread I have read on here in a long time ,thanks for the laugh!!!! People are actually going to cruise other lines because of a $7 free drink If that's all that makes you loyal you are setting yourself up to be disappointed :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomarvin Posted January 29, 2015 Author #124 Share Posted January 29, 2015 (edited) Yeah the Northeast Market can be rough. We have never been successful at finding a bargain cruise out of the Northeast, except the Cruise to Nowhere we did a year ago. I remember when DH (he's the planner) was looking at cruises out of NYC, the Splendor actually was half as much as NCL Breakaway and RCCL. As I said, we choose our cruise based on what makes sense at the time. BTW, Go Red Sox! :D Yes, we have been limited where we travel from because we have an autistic son who we have not taken on a plane yet (out of consideration of other passengers). Now that he is older and we believe (fingers crossed) that he would do well on a plane, airplane fares are so expensive. We have (so far) only gone out of ports that we can drive to. Maybe after the other 2 are out of college and moved on and we only have to pay for the 3 of us, we will attempt a trip out of Florida. Mark LOVES to cruise so it is not something that we will stop doing anytime soon. He has had a rough couple of years as you can see from my signature but right now he is happy, healthy and ready to cruise again in 121 days :) Go PATRIOTS!! Edited January 29, 2015 by thomarvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warm Breezes Posted January 29, 2015 #125 Share Posted January 29, 2015 :D Yeah, I can certainly understand disappointment..but some were getting a tad dramatic. I have more Carnival cruises because of price and availability (Royal/Princess/NCL left Galveston for a while or were not year round), not because I am loyal to them. I like what they have to offer for a good family vacation but I am certainly not hanging around for the perks. Same here. In the grand scheme of things you are looking a couple of dollars. My last Carnival cruise I received almost $800 OBC from price drops when I thought I was paying a great price to begin with compared to the other ships/lines I had looked at when choosing. I have never received any price drops on the other lines I have sailed. They only go up in price....Then for a plus on top of that they gave me a coupon for a free drink, which I took and appreciated. So far this cruise I haven't seen any price drops...but I booked at $600 less than what the cruise is currently running (a price that I have only seen once so far during their 24 hour sale when I booked it) and it's current price is pretty comparable to other ships that I was looking at for this vacation. So they switched my drink coupon to a bottle of water. Big deal. The difference in cost is probably less than $5. Compared to what I am saving to go on that cruise it is pretty petty thing to get upset over....especially to the point where I would choose not to sail Carnival in the future over it. I just don't get all the drama over a few dollars. Is it really worth it people? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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