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What is one thing you wish Carnival did differently?

talkorpi

By talkorpi,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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audcc77

audcc77

Posted
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I wish Carnival would give little free cups of munchies like pretzels, gold fish  or Chex mix type snacks at the bars. They could make it spicy.  It might be something that could make people more thirsty and sell more alcohol. It would me, at least.
 

And yes I realize potato chips and pretzels are available at room service and yes I realize pizza is available but I’m talking about small cups served with drinks. Or even a self serve thing like self serve cereal at hotels. 

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Scubadoobie2

Scubadoobie2

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If Carnival wants more of MY money then I have a suggestion for how they may be able to do it:  Give us the option to buy a "mini-Cheers" drink package.  It should be something around half the price (or less) of the current Cheers package.  That would be more appealing to me because, as a moderate/social drinker, there is no way I could ever drink enough to make the current package a good deal.  At the same time, when in VACATION mode I'm more inclined to enjoy a few more drinks than usual.   

 

So, a moderately priced, "mini-Cheers" package would be REALLY great.  I think that for moderate and social drinkers like me an ideal package would allow for, say, a 6-7 alcoholic drinks per day maximum and include juices and specialty coffees. 

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Denverdonkeys

Denverdonkeys

Posted
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1 hour ago, Scubadoobie2 said:

If Carnival wants more of MY money then I have a suggestion for how they may be able to do it:  Give us the option to buy a "mini-Cheers" drink package.  It should be something around half the price (or less) of the current Cheers package.  That would be more appealing to me because, as a moderate/social drinker, there is no way I could ever drink enough to make the current package a good deal.  At the same time, when in VACATION mode I'm more inclined to enjoy a few more drinks than usual.   

 

So, a moderately priced, "mini-Cheers" package would be REALLY great.  I think that for moderate and social drinkers like me an ideal package would allow for, say, a 6-7 alcoholic drinks per day maximum and include juices and specialty coffees. 

If you get all the non-alcoholic benefits of cheers, plus 1/2 the alcoholic drinks (I realize your number was a little under half), it will cost more than 1/2 of cheers. and people will complain and it won't sell.

 

I think the same is true for how much a non-alcoholic package that included everything else would cost. people wouldn't buy it.

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AK2CA

AK2CA

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5 hours ago, Scubadoobie2 said:

So, a moderately priced, "mini-Cheers" package would be REALLY great.  I think that for moderate and social drinkers like me an ideal package would allow for, say, a 6-7 alcoholic drinks per day maximum and include juices and specialty coffees. 

I agree.  It used to be that the package that includes sodas also included the non-alcoholic (virgin) version of the blended drinks.  I used to buy the package back then but won't now because it only includes soda and some juices that I don't drink.  I won't drink 15 drinks of any kind in a day so would love a package that was half the price of cheers and half the number of allowed drinks of all kinds.

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mz-s

mz-s

Posted
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5 hours ago, Scubadoobie2 said:

If Carnival wants more of MY money then I have a suggestion for how they may be able to do it:  Give us the option to buy a "mini-Cheers" drink package.  It should be something around half the price (or less) of the current Cheers package.  That would be more appealing to me because, as a moderate/social drinker, there is no way I could ever drink enough to make the current package a good deal.  At the same time, when in VACATION mode I'm more inclined to enjoy a few more drinks than usual.   

 

So, a moderately priced, "mini-Cheers" package would be REALLY great.  I think that for moderate and social drinkers like me an ideal package would allow for, say, a 6-7 alcoholic drinks per day maximum and include juices and specialty coffees. 

 

You still come out ahead with Cheers assuming 6-7 alcoholic drinks per day, not even including the specialty coffee, juices, and sodas. So what you're saying is you want Carnival to charge you less for a package that already exists. Forgive me for not holding my breath.

 

The take home that is driven into the ground with every Cheers thread is this: just because Cheers includes 15 alcoholic beverages a day does not mean you must drink all 15. You can get your money's worth with much less.

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SNJCruisers

SNJCruisers

Posted
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5 hours ago, Denverdonkeys said:

 

I think the same is true for how much a non-alcoholic package that included everything else would cost. people wouldn't buy it.

Well, you're mistaken.  Royal has a non alcoholic package that includes fresh squeezed juice for breakfast, soda, water, espresso based coffee drinks, coffee, smoothies and non alcoholic drinks at the bar.  Celebrity takes it one step further and has two tiers of a similar package (classic & premium)

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SNJCruisers

SNJCruisers

Posted
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6 hours ago, Scubadoobie2 said:

 

So, a moderately priced, "mini-Cheers" package would be REALLY great.  I think that for moderate and social drinkers like me an ideal package would allow for, say, a 6-7 alcoholic drinks per day maximum and include juices and specialty coffees. 

This package is available on a daily basis in Fantasyland.

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nwcruiselover

nwcruiselover

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3 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Well, you're mistaken.  Royal has a non alcoholic package that includes fresh squeezed juice for breakfast, soda, water, espresso based coffee drinks, coffee, smoothies and non alcoholic drinks at the bar.  Celebrity takes it one step further and has two tiers of a similar package (classic & premium)

That is something I would definitely buy.  I’m a non drinker of alcohol, but I love the specialty coffees and mocktails.  Also fresh squeezed juice.

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SNJCruisers

SNJCruisers

Posted
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37 minutes ago, nwcruiselover said:

That is something I would definitely buy.  I’m a non drinker of alcohol, but I love the specialty coffees and mocktails.  Also fresh squeezed juice.

They charge 34 per day, but you need to look for 20-30+% sales.  Snagged it @50% off on Cyber Monday for our 12 day B2B on Oasis.  

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brilliantseas

brilliantseas

Posted
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I've been thinking about the topic and a few things came to mind:

 

-Solo rooms/rates

-Better quality theater shows

-Stop the slippage in food quality in the MDR

 

The one that stands out the most to me when comparing Carnival to other cruise lines is: 

 

Take better care of the ships over their lifespan. 

 

One thing that I've noted with Carnival is that the experience is not the same across the fleet. The new ships are beautiful, modern, and well-kept, but the older ships don't seem to get the same level of love and care during their regular drydocks. I'm not looking for a complete re-theme of the ship as was done with the Destiny/Triumph class, I'm just talking about basic hotel maintenance items like fixing broken balcony lights, replacing worn wallpaper, repairing tile in the pools and hot tubs, and keeping up with paint and corrosion control. It seems like the only things that happen in a Carnival drydock are hull paint, fresh carpet in the public areas, and maybe a new arcade, bar re-theme, or new food concept on the Lido Deck. They seem to miss the extra layer of care when it comes to refreshing the public areas and amenities, and replacing worn fixtures in the cabins. 

 

A new Carnival ship is a very nice experience, but I compare the old Carnival ships to a stay at the Holiday Inn. It'll hopefully be clean and you'll probably enjoy yourself, so long as you are okay with the hotel/ship being just a little past its prime and you don't set your expectations too high. 

 

I still love the Fantasy and Spirit class ships, and I'd be happy to sail on them for another 20 years if Carnival would just give them a little TLC.

 

Just my two cents...

 

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icft

icft

Posted
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1 hour ago, brilliantseas said:

I've been thinking about the topic and a few things came to mind:

 

-Solo rooms/rates

-Better quality theater shows

-Stop the slippage in food quality in the MDR

 

The one that stands out the most to me when comparing Carnival to other cruise lines is: 

 

Take better care of the ships over their lifespan. 

 

One thing that I've noted with Carnival is that the experience is not the same across the fleet. The new ships are beautiful, modern, and well-kept, but the older ships don't seem to get the same level of love and care during their regular drydocks. I'm not looking for a complete re-theme of the ship as was done with the Destiny/Triumph class, I'm just talking about basic hotel maintenance items like fixing broken balcony lights, replacing worn wallpaper, repairing tile in the pools and hot tubs, and keeping up with paint and corrosion control. It seems like the only things that happen in a Carnival drydock are hull paint, fresh carpet in the public areas, and maybe a new arcade, bar re-theme, or new food concept on the Lido Deck. They seem to miss the extra layer of care when it comes to refreshing the public areas and amenities, and replacing worn fixtures in the cabins. 

 

A new Carnival ship is a very nice experience, but I compare the old Carnival ships to a stay at the Holiday Inn. It'll hopefully be clean and you'll probably enjoy yourself, so long as you are okay with the hotel/ship being just a little past its prime and you don't set your expectations too high. 

 

I still love the Fantasy and Spirit class ships, and I'd be happy to sail on them for another 20 years if Carnival would just give them a little TLC.

 

Just my two cents...

 

I totally agree. I have thought the same thing many times but I have to assume it is a dollar and cents thing where they maintain ships to a level folks almost but don't quite stop cruising on them. That is the sweet spot for the bean counters.

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brilliantseas

brilliantseas

Posted
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29 minutes ago, icft said:

I totally agree. I have thought the same thing many times but I have to assume it is a dollar and cents thing where they maintain ships to a level folks almost but don't quite stop cruising on them. That is the sweet spot for the bean counters.

 

I'd be curious to know what Carnival (the brand, not the whole corporation) earns in onboard revenue vs. cruise fares? I'd suspect their onboard earnings from some of the ships are nearly as high, if not higher, than the cruise fare itself. This allows them to play the game of discounting the older ships to fill the berths while continuing to collect the onboard spend from a paid for and nearly fully depreciated asset. 

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