Permanent Cutbacks on Carnival

[UPNYGuy]

this is what the cabana area looks like. we got good use out of this patio, much more than a balcony. imo 5207 is the ideal cabana room. you can see out with nothing blocking, (see the reflection), and it is far enough up that you don't hear the bandstand, but far enough back that you dont hear ocean plaza.

[BlerkOne]

8 minutes ago, UPNYGuy said:

 

I have 2 Havana bookings pending on Celebration. right there with you 🙂

The Havana area on Excel ships is different from Vista class.

[UPNYGuy]

32 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

The Havana area on Excel ships is different from Vista class.

 

I am aware of this. They are vastly different.

[DallasGuy75219]

14 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Been cruising on Carnival since 1986 and the line has never been luxurious.

For some of the market that Carnival caters to (blue collar to lower white collar, lower-middle class to mid-middle class families that scrimp and save for a family vacation), the Carnival experience of 20 years ago was luxurious.  Twice-daily housekeeping with mint-on-your-pillow turndown service , four-course meals, 24-hour room service, steak every night if you wanted, and lobster dinners are things my parents could have never afforded on any kind other kind of vacation, much less in our day-to-day lives.  Hell, I had never even seen a crumb scraper until my first cruise.  

 

But Carnival was luxurious to us based on our own personal experience and norms. Think of Kathie Lee Gifford singing to those lower-middle class to mid-middle class people about what their lower-middle class to mid-middle class friends at home would think if they could see them living it up (based on their everyday standard of living at home) on a Carnival cruise.

 

But to those same people, today's Carnival experience might as well be a family trip staying at Holiday Inn Express and eating at Golden Corral or living their lower-middle or mid-middle class lives at home.

Edited August 13, 2022 by DallasGuy75219

[CruizinSusan70]

4 hours ago, MsTabbyKats said:

Not to sound stupid....but how are they more upscale?  Different population?  Do they keep "non Havana" clientele out?

Different population....yes, zero unruly rug rats. And yes, non Havana clientele are not allowed in.  It's Carnivals version of the ship within a ship.  A cheaper, scaled down version of the Haven on NCL, the Yacht Club on MSC and the Retreat on Celebrity.

Spent 8 nights in the Havana twice on the Horizon and had a great time.  

[CruizinSusan70]

58 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

For some of the market that Carnival caters to (blue collar to lower white collar, lower-middle class to mid-middle class families that scrimp and save for a family vacation), the Carnival experience of 20 years ago was luxurious.  Twice-daily housekeeping with mint-on-your-pillow turndown service , four-course meals, 24-hour room service, steak every night if you wanted, and lobster dinners are things my parents could have never afforded on any kind other kind of vacation, much less in our day-to-day lives.  Hell, I had never even seen a crumb scraper until my first cruise.  

 

But Carnival was luxurious to us based on our own personal experience and norms. Think of Kathie Lee Gifford singing to those lower-middle class to mid-middle class people about what their lower-middle class to mid-middle class friends at home would think if they could see them living it up (based on their everyday standard of living at home) on a Carnival cruise.

 

But to those same people, today's Carnival experience might as well be a family trip staying at Holiday Inn Express and eating at Golden Corral or living their lower-middle or mid-middle class lives at home.

I guess that what constitutes luxury is all determined by your point of comparison.  Even back in the day of skeet shooting and hitting golf balls off the aft deck,  horse racing poolside and pillow fights across the pool, none of these activities would constitute luxury to me.

If your definition of luxury is having someone cook for you and make your bed, then that's your interpretation.  Even though I was raised with far from a silver spoon, I will stick with my view of what is and isn't luxurious.  I've seen the Carnival of old and I will stick to my interpretation as to what constitutes luxury. But there is no right or wrong answer, it's all a matter of perspective.

[cruisingguy007]

26 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

I guess that what constitutes luxury is all determined by your point of comparison.  Even back in the day of skeet shooting and hitting golf balls off the aft deck,  horse racing poolside and pillow fights across the pool, none of these activities would constitute luxury to me.

If your definition of luxury is having someone cook for you and make your bed, then that's your interpretation.  Even though I was raised with far from a silver spoon, I will stick with my view of what is and isn't luxurious.  I've seen the Carnival of old and I will stick to my interpretation as to what constitutes luxury. But there is no right or wrong answer, it's all a matter of perspective.

 

I was born in the wrong time because I would love that, and I'd do it with a Mossberg (RIP fella) and a cheap set of golf clubs and rock it! 

Edited August 13, 2022 by cruisingguy007

[sanmarcosman]

7 hours ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

I was born in the wrong time because I would love that, and I'd do it with a Mossberg (RIP fella) and a cheap set of golf clubs and rock it! 

The skeet shooting on Carnival was more fun than hitting a ball over the side, or worse, against a net. Not boujie at all. 

Edited August 13, 2022 by sanmarcosman

[wemjam]

2 hours ago, sanmarcosman said:

The skeet shooting on Carnival was more fun than hitting a ball over the side, or worse, against a net. Not boujie at all. 

Oh my God that is too funny.  My husband was just saying something about Skeet Shooting on a cruise ship (he cruised for the first time back in the eighties).  He was saying, "Can you imagine that today, handing a loaded gun to all these random passengers."😂

 

He also said back then you HAD to wear a jacket and tie to dinner.  And if you didn't have one, they had a table with ties and rack with jackets off to the side where you could borrow one to wear

Edited August 13, 2022 by wemjam

[BlerkOne]

4 hours ago, wemjam said:

  He was saying, "Can you imagine that today, handing a loaded gun to all these random passengers."😂

 

 

Even back then, there was one shell at a time, loaded by a crew member, who I suspect had some training.

 

When I did it, it was off the side, but it was also a different cruise line.

[ray98]

On 8/13/2022 at 12:31 AM, DallasGuy75219 said:

For some of the market that Carnival caters to (blue collar to lower white collar, lower-middle class to mid-middle class families that scrimp and save for a family vacation), the Carnival experience of 20 years ago was luxurious.  Twice-daily housekeeping with mint-on-your-pillow turndown service , four-course meals, 24-hour room service, steak every night if you wanted, and lobster dinners are things my parents could have never afforded on any kind other kind of vacation, much less in our day-to-day lives.  Hell, I had never even seen a crumb scraper until my first cruise.  

 

But Carnival was luxurious to us based on our own personal experience and norms. Think of Kathie Lee Gifford singing to those lower-middle class to mid-middle class people about what their lower-middle class to mid-middle class friends at home would think if they could see them living it up (based on their everyday standard of living at home) on a Carnival cruise.

 

But to those same people, today's Carnival experience might as well be a family trip staying at Holiday Inn Express and eating at Golden Corral or living their lower-middle or mid-middle class lives at home.

 

Very good summation.

[MsTabbyKats]

On 8/13/2022 at 1:17 AM, CruizinSusan70 said:

Different population....yes, zero unruly rug rats. And yes, non Havana clientele are not allowed in.  It's Carnivals version of the ship within a ship.  A cheaper, scaled down version of the Haven on NCL, the Yacht Club on MSC and the Retreat on Celebrity.

Spent 8 nights in the Havana twice on the Horizon and had a great time.  

Hmmm....I'll look into it.

 

Thanks........

[KmomChicago]

On 8/13/2022 at 10:49 AM, wemjam said:

Oh my God that is too funny.  My husband was just saying something about Skeet Shooting on a cruise ship (he cruised for the first time back in the eighties).  He was saying, "Can you imagine that today, handing a loaded gun to all these random passengers."😂

 

He also said back then you HAD to wear a jacket and tie to dinner.  And if you didn't have one, they had a table with ties and rack with jackets off to the side where you could borrow one to wear

 

I was just thinking we should start a new thread somewhere on Friends of Cruise Critic that is only for nostalgic stories of cruises at least 30 years ago on ships that no longer exist. 

 

[Lane Hog]

On 8/13/2022 at 10:49 AM, wemjam said:

He also said back then you HAD to wear a jacket and tie to dinner.  And if you didn't have one, they had a table with ties and rack with jackets off to the side where you could borrow one to wear

Certainly for Formal Night, even on Carnival.  I remember half the men in the dining room in tuxes for the formal nights on our honeymoon (Carnival Jubilee v1.0).

[sanmarcosman]

12 minutes ago, Lane Hog said:

Certainly for Formal Night, even on Carnival.  I remember half the men in the dining room in tuxes for the formal nights on our honeymoon (Carnival Jubilee v1.0).

There's another permanent change. Time was you could rent a tux and shoes on Carnival. I wore my own tux on the Jubilee in '91 on both formal nights, as they were then known. I don't miss it and my luggage and the restrictive/costly airline rules get along better when I keep things simple. 

Edited August 14, 2022 by sanmarcosman

[CruizinSusan70]

6 hours ago, MsTabbyKats said:

Hmmm....I'll look into it.

 

Thanks........

It's a much larger area with more amenities on the 3 Vista Class ships as opposed to the Excel Class where it's a smaller version on the starboard side of deck 8 with a small pool that is smaller than the hot tubs in the Havana area on the Vista Class ships.  On the Vista Class there are two hot tubs, two tiki huts and a pool, besides padded loungers and a few clamshells.

[BlerkOne]

51 minutes ago, sanmarcosman said:

There's another permanent change. Time was you could rent a tux and shoes on Carnival. I wore my own tux on the Jubilee in '91 on both formal nights, as they were then known. I don't miss it and my luggage and the restrictive/costly airline rules get along better when I keep things simple. 

Once I'm certain nobody is wearing tuxedos anymore, I may start wearing one every night and hold my hand out for tips. 😁

[DrSea]

53 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Once I'm certain nobody is wearing tuxedos anymore, I may start wearing one every night and hold my hand out for tips. 😁

I know that you are saying this in jest. But I get mistaken for crew and it gets old fast.

[BlerkOne]

Just now, DrSea said:

I know that you are saying this in jest. But I get mistaken for crew and it gets old fast.

only about the tips

[DrSea]

4 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

only about the tips

When people ask me for help, I would ask them to tip me first. 

 

I get a lot of confused looks but no one has ever tipped me (yet). When I eventually tell them that I don't work for the cruise line, some people still ask me to help them out. When I say no, some get offended like they are entitled to my help. Most Americans, regardless of age, are very entitled. 

 

Some get very embarrassed, profusely apologize, and walk away blushing. 

Edited August 14, 2022 by DrSea

[BlerkOne]

4 minutes ago, DrSea said:

When people ask me for help, I would ask them to tip me first. 

 

I get a lot of confused looks but no one has ever tipped me (yet). When I eventually tell them that I don't work for the cruise line, some people still ask me to help them out. When I say no, some get offended like they are entitled to my help. Most Americans, regardless of age, are very entitled. 

 

Some get very embarrassed, profusely apologize, and walk away blushing. 

I know some who don't work for the cruise line, but have gone so far as to get similar looking name tags and they stand around waiting for someone to ask them something. I wonder about those.

[KmomChicago]

1 hour ago, DrSea said:

When people ask me for help, I would ask them to tip me first. 

 

I get a lot of confused looks but no one has ever tipped me (yet). When I eventually tell them that I don't work for the cruise line, some people still ask me to help them out. When I say no, some get offended like they are entitled to my help. Most Americans, regardless of age, are very entitled. 

 

Some get very embarrassed, profusely apologize, and walk away blushing. 

 

Even with my generally low expectations of humanity - all humanity, not just Carnival passengers, they continue to amaze me.

 

[CruizinSusan70]

1 hour ago, DrSea said:

I know that you are saying this in jest. But I get mistaken for crew and it gets old fast.

My DH made the mistake of wearing a red shirt and beige khakis to Target about 9 months ago and he got mistook for an employee twice within the 10 minutes he was in the store.

[2wheelin]

On 8/12/2022 at 4:06 PM, cruisingguy007 said:

 

Plenty luxurious for me, not many other vacation options like cruising IMO. Sure, you can pay for glamorous versions of each aspect but I certainly can't afford that. Cruising still makes me feel rich and pampered, I think many are simply too focused on the glass being half empty. When you've had a completely empty glass before, even half glasses look pretty dang full. Food seems to be the biggest complain but my food was fine last cruise and I should have taken more pictures because it is was nothing like people complain about. I'll be taking plenty on upcoming cruises to see if it's as bad as many make it out to be.     

Great corollary for a lot of the threads on CC. Your perspective all depends on your original glass. Many on here came to cruising as children and I imagine would have a hard time identifying with an empty glass when they speak of their 100 days a year on the water.

[cruisingguy007]

41 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

Great corollary for a lot of the threads on CC. Your perspective all depends on your original glass. Many on here came to cruising as children and I imagine would have a hard time identifying with an empty glass when they speak of their 100 days a year on the water.

 

No doubt, silver spoons vs empty glasses will certainly skew ones perspective, no one is wrong, just different.