Carnival increasing gratuity rates and prices of onboard services

[FruitStandaficionado]

42 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

There is a hack but it costs too

 

https://satellitephonestore.com/ 

I don’t think I’d be cruising carnival if I Could afford the prices on that site! Lol

[Matco]

8 minutes ago, Yankeegirl49 said:

Unless they are also raising the prices of the individual drinks.

Say they raise drinks 15% that's $1.50 on a $10 cocktail, or $2.40 on a $16 cocktail at the alchemy bar. So you would be paying $11.50 and $18.50 respectfully.  Now this also brings up a good point where the Cheers lets you get a drink up to $20 I wonder if they will raise that limit to accommodate the rise in base pricing of the drinks

Edited April 4, 2022 by Matco

[thekidsandi]

Since some of you have insight into how much these price increases will be, do you know what the steakhouse will be raised to?  Also, I have never booked the steakhouse in advance, so if I book and pay for it in advance it for a particular night and then once onboard that date doesn't work, can I change it without charge to another night/time that is available?

[fozzy1975]

34 minutes ago, Matco said:

Say they raise drinks 15% that's $1.50 on a $10 cocktail, or $2.40 on a $16 cocktail at the alchemy bar. So you would be paying $11.50 and $18.50 respectfully.  Now this also brings up a good point where the Cheers lets you get a drink up to $20 I wonder if they will raise that limit to accommodate the rise in base pricing of the drinks

$16 for a drink at the alchemy bar? I have looked at all the menus and see $10.50 are they really $16 now? I don’t remember paying that much!

[maluhia87]

1 minute ago, fozzy1975 said:

$16 for a drink at the alchemy bar? I have looked at all the menus and see $10.50 are they really $16 now? I don’t remember paying that much!

No, that was a hypothetical scenario. 

[Matco]

3 minutes ago, fozzy1975 said:

$16 for a drink at the alchemy bar? I have looked at all the menus and see $10.50 are they really $16 now? I don’t remember paying that much!

Last picture I have of the menu shows $10.95 that was Nov 2017, but yes $16 was just a hypothetical number

[shof515]

19 minutes ago, thekidsandi said:

Since some of you have insight into how much these price increases will be, do you know what the steakhouse will be raised to?  Also, I have never booked the steakhouse in advance, so if I book and pay for it in advance it for a particular night and then once onboard that date doesn't work, can I change it without charge to another night/time that is available?

from what ive been reading on other sites, Cucina del Capitano is being raised by a few bucks from 15 dollars to 18 dollars. With this in mind, i think the steakhouse will be going up a few bucks too. mostly likely from 38 dollars to around 42 dollars or so

[Laurab23]

1 hour ago, Yankeegirl49 said:

Unless they are also raising the prices of the individual drinks.

I would bet they will.

 

Laura

[bucfan2]

3 hours ago, AtSeaWithChris said:

Pizza purchase in the app went to $6 from $5 on the March 5th Mardi Gras sailing vs the Halloween cruise. Wings went from $5 to $7 in the same period.

What's the big deal lol??  Only a 20% and 40% increase, respectively.  Stay tuned for more of the same....we'll get what we asked for in time.

Edited April 4, 2022 by bucfan2

[natefish95]

3 hours ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

There is a hack but it costs too

 

https://satellitephonestore.com/ 

I'm taking a $300 Carnival cruise to Mexico, not deploying to Mogadishu. Who needs a sat phone on a cruise? 

[cruisingguy007]

2 minutes ago, natefish95 said:

I'm taking a $300 Carnival cruise to Mexico, not deploying to Mogadishu. Who needs a sat phone on a cruise? 

 

Shot callers who need to stay connected to call shots. 😁

[pc_load_letter]

15 minutes ago, natefish95 said:

I'm taking a $300 Carnival cruise to Mexico, not deploying to Mogadishu. Who needs a sat phone on a cruise? 

 

Not much difference between the two really

[CookieShip]

Is there a summary of all the increases on May 1st somewhere? I see the amounts for the Cheers, but what about Bottomless Bubbles? 

[maluhia87]

5 minutes ago, CookieShip said:

Is there a summary of all the increases on May 1st somewhere? I see the amounts for the Cheers, but what about Bottomless Bubbles? 

Increasing $1/day/person.  Can be found in the Carnival FAQ section. 

[lexyblack]

7 hours ago, soremekun said:

I have OBC.  Please let me know the process to pay for my gratuities online using my OBC.  If that's not possible, should I call in?

I tried, no option to use OBC for pre-paid gratuities, but you can use to pay for other stuffs like WiFi, drinks, etc.

[BlerkOne]

3 hours ago, shof515 said:

from what ive been reading on other sites, Cucina del Capitano is being raised by a few bucks from 15 dollars to 18 dollars. With this in mind, i think the steakhouse will be going up a few bucks too. mostly likely from 38 dollars to around 42 dollars or so

All the more reason to cruise on Mardi Gras!

[cruisingguy007]

3 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

All the more reason to cruise on Mardi Gras!

 

The real question is, if they can do it there, as an included, why not other ships? Increasing the cruise fare a bit and making it line wide makes more sense. This is the exact reason I dislike the ship within a ship concept. It lowers the expectations of all, if it's so good, include it and adjust the price for all accordingly and make it standard. They are slowly easing people into non-included and à la carte for a reason. Third class inbound for simple transport is a problem that any cruiser should reject. The ship should be the destination.   

[Laplayaperson]

IF you do pre-pay and these cost(s) raise prior to us sailing, do you think we would have to pay the difference once we get onboard?  Will they put this on your folio as an outstanding balance (We have pre-paid our grats, shore excursions, steak house, and cheers package)?

 

Also, just my two cents...on a tight budget, although some may consider this "cheap" it's easier for us to budget, be worry free on the cruise, and walk away knowing we paid for everything in advance. 

 

If anyone has any ideas if the additional cost will be due, we would appreciate it. 

[BlerkOne]

32 minutes ago, Laplayaperson said:

IF you do pre-pay and these cost(s) raise prior to us sailing, do you think we would have to pay the difference once we get onboard?  Will they put this on your folio as an outstanding balance (We have pre-paid our grats, shore excursions, steak house, and cheers package)?

 

 

No.

[SNJCruisers]

11 hours ago, AtSeaWithChris said:

Pizza purchase in the app went to $6 from $5 on the March 5th Mardi Gras sailing vs the Halloween cruise. Wings went from $5 to $7 in the same period.

Pizza is free if you're not too lazy to wait in line.

[SNJCruisers]

11 hours ago, avenger71 said:

Wonder if it will still be the lousy 15 drink per day limit, still, also?  I was just on RCL and there wasn't a limit on the amount of drinks you can buy.  I prefer to cruise Carnival, though, but wish they didn't have that limit, it stinks!

Drink 15 LIT's.

[SNJCruisers]

10 hours ago, skridge said:

I have sat by the pool with someone who actively campaigned for me to remove my gratuities.  I think there are enough of these types of people on a cruise to warrant a change in the ability of people to be able to remove gratuities.  

And the removal of the gratuities nonsense is not just on Carnival.  My lone cruise 4 years ago on the MSC Seaside had the same long line snaking around the deck multiple times at guest services on the last sea day with people all removing their gratuities.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

And the removal of the gratuities nonsense is not just on Carnival.  My lone cruise 4 years ago on the MSC Seaside had the same long line snaking around the deck multiple times at guest services on the last sea day with people all removing their gratuities.

Truly a shame as those crew members work so hard.

 

Recently, there was a thread on Ask a Cruise Question that was very long before being closed that was started by a cruiser who maintained (and a few who agreed with him) that it was being done for the benefit of the crew members. Luckily, most argued the opposite position that removing the auto-tip or not tipping was not going to lead to higher wages, and that it was elitist to argue that you knew what was better for the crew even if they were in favor of the present system.

 

Much of the anti-tipping arguments came from people who lived in countries without a tipping culture, but there were some from those countries who did say that you should go with the flow of the culture you are visiting,

[pe4all]

2 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

And the removal of the gratuities nonsense is not just on Carnival.  My lone cruise 4 years ago on the MSC Seaside had the same long line snaking around the deck multiple times at guest services on the last sea day with people all removing their gratuities.

I find that disgusting.  It just punishes everyone included in the grat "pool." 

[bamaone]

53 minutes ago, pe4all said:

I find that disgusting.  It just punishes everyone included in the grat "pool." 

I remember my first cruise in the early 80's on the Dolphin Cruise Line. We had to put cash in envelops for each individual and the cabin steward  picked them up on the last night. The next day at breakfast our entire waiter crew were completely different individuals. Very unfriendly. It didn't occur to me until later that the people at my table (8 others) probably didn't tip appropriately. I still feel bad thinking about that day.