Afternoon Tea Time is No More

[VaTech8912]

On 6/1/2022 at 10:50 PM, leen50 said:

Going on a 6 day cruise in 3 weeks. Our recent 7 day had Tea Time. Any idea if a 6 day will have it?

My 6 day Magic May 15th cruise had Tea Time on sea days.  

[leen50]

10 minutes ago, VaTech8912 said:

My 6 day Magic May 15th cruise had Tea Time on sea days.  

Thanks, I'm hoping to take some of the family. If not, iced tea on the Lido!

[Guest BasicSailor]

I've always had a problem when drinking hot tea out of a cup / coffee. I tend to hold my little Pinkey out. Then I catch it out of the corner of my eye and take my other hand to close it. People look at you weird when you do that.

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, leen50 said:

Thanks, I'm hoping to take some of the family. If not, iced tea on the Lido!

You can get hot water on Lido and have your own tea party!

[leen50]

15 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

You can get hot water on Lido and have your own tea party!

Yes, we could, but if we all wind up in the buffet, Hot Chocolate will be in order. I love their H.C.!

[Cuckoo7]

Just off a 7-day on Vista.  No tea time.  Daughters were bummed.

[leen50]

20 minutes ago, Cuckoo7 said:

Just off a 7-day on Vista.  No tea time.  Daughters were bummed.

I really thought they had it on 7 day sailings.

Hope they at least had the Gelato at the lunch buffet.

[sanmarcosman]

4 hours ago, leen50 said:

Hope they at least had the Gelato at the lunch buffet.

" I didn't want a Tea Time thread to be Hijacked "  Gelato is now served at tea? Wonderful news 🙂 

[AlexTheman]

Came back today from 7 days cruise on the Vista. No afternoon tea. I went to guest services to confirm and the first clerk said we sure have it and pulled the activities schedule to find it, then when she couldn't, she went back to her supervisor who confirmed that we do not have it any more.  CD blamed it on staff shortage.

[mz-s]

How many cutbacks Carnival has blamed on COVID already. Now they're cutting even deeper and blaming it on the staffing shortage.

[LibratPDX]

I was on the Mardi Gras May 14-21 and there was still tea time, I was surprised since it had been announced it was being discontinued.  

[Froufie]

15 minutes ago, LibratPDX said:

I was on the Mardi Gras May 14-21 and there was still tea time, I was surprised since it had been announced it was being discontinued.  

But there was only one 😞    on the last sea day - not on all seadays as per the usual schedule.  Hoping they eventually are able to staff up enough to offer this again!

 

[Imalismom]

On 4/14/2022 at 8:15 AM, wesorbeth said:

I asked John that question and this was his response to me.  

Thank you for this as I was just about to ask him myself.

[Imalismom]

On 6/14/2022 at 4:45 PM, Froufie said:

But there was only one 😞    on the last sea day - not on all seadays as per the usual schedule.  Hoping they eventually are able to staff up enough to offer this again!

 

Mardi Gras has only had Afternoon Tea on Friday since it started sailing.  Plus, it never has had the nice things I have seen in some of the pictures in this post.

 

[timbom]

They keep on reducing things like this and blame it on staffing shortage but never reduce tips that pay for this staff. 

 

Think all of us should reduce our tips due to staff shortage,

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, timbom said:

Think all of us should reduce our tips due to staff shortage,

Think not. The crew isn't to blame.

[Ellaleah]

1 hour ago, timbom said:

They keep on reducing things like this and blame it on staffing shortage but never reduce tips that pay for this staff. 

 

Think all of us should reduce our tips due to staff shortage,

No, sounds like a bad plan!

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

I did not see afternoon tea offered on my nine night Carnival Pride cruise. We had two sea days.  I looked in the app and printed daily programmes.  I would have like to try it.

 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

[JimmyTheSaint]

20 hours ago, stephen@stoneyard.co.uk said:

I did not see afternoon tea offered on my nine night Carnival Pride cruise. We had two sea days.  I looked in the app and printed daily programmes.  I would have like to try it.

 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

Did you try their tea? Absolute muck, undrinkable. Their coffee isn't much better.

[MsTabbyKats]

5 minutes ago, JimmyTheSaint said:

Did you try their tea? Absolute muck, undrinkable. Their coffee isn't much better.

As I recall, they use teabags.  How can that bed "muck"?

[JimmyTheSaint]

Because they use Lipton tea bags which produce a drink that looks like dishwater, probably tastes like dishwater. I've never tasted dishwater but I did try Carnival afternoon tea with the fancy wooden box full of Lipton's tea and it's what I imagine dishwater tastes like.

 

Proper British tea tastes nothing like that, looks nothing like that. Luckily for some fellow Brits that we met onboard we had a good supply with us and handed them out. The look of relief and gratification from them was very rewarding.

[sanmarcosman]

54 minutes ago, JimmyTheSaint said:

Because they use Lipton tea bags which produce a drink that looks like dishwater, probably tastes like dishwater.

Premium teas are offered for $2.95 each. These include teas grown in former British colonies. If you had been a big spender you could have upgraded your tea experience. You did not. 

[JimmyTheSaint]

Is that now a Carnival upsell tactic? Offer rubbish tea and coffee so they can upsell.

 

We always travel with our own tea bags as Americans and Europeans can't make tea. 

[MsTabbyKats]

1 hour ago, JimmyTheSaint said:

Because they use Lipton tea bags which produce a drink that looks like dishwater, probably tastes like dishwater. I've never tasted dishwater but I did try Carnival afternoon tea with the fancy wooden box full of Lipton's tea and it's what I imagine dishwater tastes like.

 

Proper British tea tastes nothing like that, looks nothing like that. Luckily for some fellow Brits that we met onboard we had a good supply with us and handed them out. The look of relief and gratification from them was very rewarding.

When I go "anywhere else" I don't expect them to cater to my NYC taste buds!  I do as the Romans...and appreciate the differences.  Otherwise, I might as well stay home!

I really hope they have Tea Time when I'm on the Magic.  I remember the original tea times, in the lounges, with relaxing music.

[maryann2]

I always bring my own teabags. Yorkshire tea.

Problem solved.

I did ask them to change the tepid water in the pre-filled teapots to boiling and for milk not cream and they were happy to oblige.