Cut backs i noticed on breeze.

[seaman11]

1 minute ago, mz-s said:

 

Right now it seems that Carnival's strategy is to replace their seasoned customers that leave with a new less refined clientele. That's why the email I got for my cruise next week reminded me that marijuana is not allowed, teenagers have a 1AM curfew, and fighting will result in being banned from future cruises.

Yes i noticed that. Clientele is declining. Shame they were getting ppl from other lines to come and now it seems going backwards.  I may go back to Royal next year if this keeps up. 

[seaman11]

3 minutes ago, pc_load_letter said:

 

10am? Get to breakfast earlier. Easy fix.

So i taylor it around their times? Btw still long lines i had breakfast yesterday at 9am 

[sparks1093]

17 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

Right now it seems that Carnival's strategy is to replace their seasoned customers that leave with a new less refined clientele. That's why the email I got for my cruise next week reminded me that marijuana is not allowed, teenagers have a 1AM curfew, and fighting will result in being banned from future cruises.

That could be, only time will tell. But as has been pointed out all cruise lines are experiencing similar problems with each cruise line making different decisions on how to deal with it. I wouldn't read too much into a canned email.

[seaman11]

21 hours ago, Schoifmom said:

In your room you will find (usually on the wall near the phone) a QR code.  This is for the room service menu where you will see that there are still no charge items (at least until the beginning of October).  The "free" items do not appear in the HUB app.

 

Are they out of ice cream?  They have not discontinued it.

Ill check that out. But i dont use it.  Thx. No ice cream served at lunch at all. Not even first day. I assume a cut back.   Only the frozen yogurt machines are there in buffet area. 

[cruisinqt]

4 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

They lost tens of billions of burn money while forced to shut down by the CDC. Started at 1.3 billion a month in the beginning down to 585 million the last month.  This is not lost revenue, but the cost to keep ships idling.  Actual money out the door, you could add lost revenue on top of that.   During their startup, they are still loosing money (the slow resume to the sea).  It is going to-be a while before the Carnival we all knew is back, until then, my view is I am perfectly fine with being able to cruise.

I completely agree with you on this. Very few businesses can be completely shutdown for a couple years and still make it. It still remains to be seen who makes it and who goes under. Some cruise lines will make it while others will not. I’m fine with whatever they have to do to stay afloat. I’m just happy to be back on a ship. 

[VictorWI]

Looking forward to my time on the Breeze over Halloween. We paid $100pp so I won't complain.

[seaman11]

10 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

That could be, only time will tell. But as has been pointed out all cruise lines are experiencing similar problems with each cruise line making different decisions on how to deal with it. I wouldn't read too much into a canned email.

It could be also connected to letting unvaxx onboard but yes lower brow clients are noticable. 

[sparks1093]

1 minute ago, seaman11 said:

It could be also connected to letting unvaxx onboard but yes lower brow clients are noticable. 

Which has been an observation about CCL since we started sailing with them 10 years ago. 

[seaman11]

1 minute ago, VictorWI said:

Looking forward to my time on the Breeze over Halloween. We paid $100pp so I won't complain.

Its not complianing so much as  noticable cut backs. That low price will attract a different client and also lower quality /exp.   Now if someone is a first timer they may not notice these changes. Though long lines im sure everyone is noticing. 

 

Still having a good time. 

[sanmarcosman]

21 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

That could be, only time will tell. But as has been pointed out all cruise lines are experiencing similar problems with each cruise line making different decisions on how to deal with it. I wouldn't read too much into a canned email.

FYI, this is from no canned email. It is the new language on the passenger contract we are required to sign. I started a topic on this about 10 days ago here. 

[sanmarcosman]

20 minutes ago, seaman11 said:

 No ice cream served at lunch at all. Not even first day. I assume a cut back.   Only the frozen yogurt machines are there in buffet area. 

Have you been on a Vista Class ship and may be thinking of the frozen churned gelato served in the lido buffet at lunch each day? 

[LHARTWICK]

46 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

Right now it seems that Carnival's strategy is to replace their seasoned customers that leave with a new less refined clientele. That's why the email I got for my cruise next week reminded me that marijuana is not allowed, teenagers have a 1AM curfew, and fighting will result in being banned from future cruises.

Funny how they remind people that marijuana isn't allowed, but fail to enforce it.  We smelled it on open decks and balconies near us.

[seaman11]

9 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

Which has been an observation about CCL since we started sailing with them 10 years ago. 

Correct, but it had gotten better and attracted others from other lines over the years , such as myself. So im saying it seems like its going back to that and not trying to capture clients from other lines. 

[sanmarcosman]

Seaman11 - Gelato or ice cream, please? If there are no swirl soft serve ice cream machines and only yogurt dispensing machines that would be an odd cutback.

Edited September 15, 2022 by sanmarcosman

[DallasGuy75219]

1 hour ago, sparks1093 said:

And if it gets to the point where they actually start losing customers they would need to make adjustments to attract new customers. I haven't seen a cutback yet (temporary or permanent) that would cause me to pay more for a cruise with a competitor. Might happen. But probably not.

They are losing customers, like some on this board. The "adjustments" are to keep lowering prices (especially on older ships) to sail full, which attracts riff-raff passengers, some of whom have no business cruising in the first place, which in turn loses more customers.  Meanwhile they're continuously cutting anything they can to make a profit at the lower fares.

 

Both are a downward, never-ending spiral.

[dallasdan]

Staffing issues are not just Carnival.  My local bank branch, national bank that has been around over 100 years, closed the drive thru lanes due to lack of staffing.  I was shocked.

[DallasGuy75219]

32 minutes ago, sanmarcosman said:

Seaman11 - Gelato or ice cream, please? If there are no swirl soft serve ice cream machines and only yogurt dispensing machines that would be an odd cutback.

This is not a change or a recent cutback, but just pointing out that they can't even call what's in the soft serve machines "ice cream".  The first 3 ingredients are water,  sugar, and oil.

[sparks1093]

8 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

They are losing customers, like some on this board. The "adjustments" are to keep lowering prices (especially on older ships) to sail full, which attracts riff-raff passengers, some of whom have no business cruising in the first place, which in turn loses more customers.  Meanwhile they're continuously cutting anything they can to make a profit at the lower fares.

 

Both are a downward, never-ending spiral.

Then eventually it will bite them. Until then people can continue to complain about the cutbacks and continue to sail with them or they complain about the cutbacks after they've moved on to another line (or better yet, ignore Carnival completely after moving on to another line).

[mz-s]

7 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

This is not a change or a recent cutback, but just pointing out that they can't even call what's in the soft serve machines "ice cream".  The first 3 ingredients are water,  sugar, and oil.

 

I don't know of any soft serve that is actually ice cream actually. It's all an emulsion of things that we aren't meant to eat!

[Joe817]

14 minutes ago, dallasdan said:

Staffing issues are not just Carnival.  My local bank branch, national bank that has been around over 100 years, closed the drive thru lanes due to lack of staffing.  I was shocked.

Same here. About 8 months after Covid hit, my local Chase bank closed all of it's drive thru lanes, and removed all of the equipment. I hope they bring it back. 

[DallasGuy75219]

1 hour ago, dallasdan said:

Staffing issues are not just Carnival.  My local bank branch, national bank that has been around over 100 years, closed the drive thru lanes due to lack of staffing.  I was shocked.

 

45 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

Same here. About 8 months after Covid hit, my local Chase bank closed all of it's drive thru lanes, and removed all of the equipment. I hope they bring it back. 

Banks were closing drive-thrus and branches even before COVID due to more  transactions being conducted electronically and at ATMs and less need for tellers.  But with a cruiseline it's harder to automate most functions.

[fuddrules]

2 hours ago, seaman11 said:

It could be also connected to letting unvaxx onboard but yes lower brow clients are noticable. 

 

This is what the uneducated believe.

[Itried4498]

8 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

I know many businesses ashore that even now are short staffed. This isn't something that just affects the cruise lines. The cruise lines can't just go get anyone off the street to fill positions, either. There are visas and background checks that need to be passed and that is in addition to finding someone that wants to earn their living by going to sea in the first place. And if some of the so called cut backs are designed to save money then I see that as sound business practice. Carnival has all of the data that none of us have and they know more precisely how many people are affected by a certain change versus how much they can potentially save by said change. I don't make my decision to cruise with a certain line by what amenities they have, or what late night eating options are available. My decision is made by what it costs to get onboard and anything that can be done to keep that figure low is a good thing. 

 

Similar comments were echoed in numerous posts that followed yours, but let’s clear something up: there’s a global jobs shortage, not a labor shortage.  Domestically, most of the vacant positions are of menial/low-wage variety.  There are numerous reasons for this – a huge drop in the birth rate in the early 2000s (yielding fewer high school/college-aged students that would traditionally work these positions), low wages that haven’t kept pace with inflation (a housewife that use to take on a PT job with Target, isn’t going to work when she makes less than what she’s spending on childcare, etc.), a conversion of skilled jobs that once paid living wages converted to low-wages (e.g. school bus drivers), new gig jobs that are low wages, but better paying and enable people to work on their own schedule (Uber driver, OnlyFans models, etc.), etc.  We could easily solve the domestic labor shortage if we did one of two things – give profits back to employees in the form of higher wages (as opposed to hiking prices, which just creates inflation) OR welcoming more legal immigrants into the country (something highly opposed).

 

Cruiselines don’t hire domestic employees – they tap into the international market, largely from undeveloped nations.  They have high standards (applicants need to be somewhat educated / speak English), but there’s still an incredibly large pool to swim in.  The notion (as repeated in this thread) that large numbers of people who worked for cruiselines prior to COVID found higher paying jobs in their home countries is ridiculous.  If you’re from Columbia, India, etc., you’d make more working for Carnival than you would most doctors in the big city.  These are coveted jobs – let’s not pretend they’re not.  The crew shortage was caused by overburdening an already overburdened bureaucracy, as the industry tried to restart at once.  But it’s mid-September, and much of the situation has resolved.

 

Reality is, it’s probable that most crew shortages today are caused by Carnival working with bare minimum crews as a cost savings measure.

[thunderingherd11]

23 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

The frustrating thing to me is it's a surprise when you board what will be the latest cutback. The only way people find out a lot of these is they're reported here.

Whats frustrating to me is the use of the word cutback.  I work in a business.  It is our job to always look at doing things better and saving money where money can be saved.  Sometimes it isn't a cutback, its a change.  Yes, I like pizza late, but my guess is that the usage during some of these hours is not worth the extra cost.  That is good business.  A lot of people complain about things they never use.  Carnival knows who and how many use these things.  I think its crazy that they charge for room service.  And then I realize, that in 9 cruises, I have never ordered room service.  And the room service cutback started way before the pandemic.  They actually enhanced it during the return from the pandemic.  

[thunderingherd11]

8 hours ago, mz-s said:

Me personally, the "I'm just happy to be able to cruise again" isn't good enough anymore. Things are as close to back to normal on land as they will ever be. Prices are up but I can buy all the bacon I want. Flight prices are high but I can fly wherever I want. Etc. So I want a normal experience from my cruise. Charge us more if you must. But telling me "well we can't get enough visas" or "well there is a bacon shortage" or whatever just don't cut it after a year of the excuses to me.

So because you can get a pound of bacon at piggly wiggly, they should be able to to get 20,000 pound of bacon every five days.  Got it.  And if you don't think getting visas is an issue, then you aren't in any business who deals with people who need businesses.  There are excuses, and there are reasons.  You can believe its an excuse.  I would rather not have bacon, than to pay 500 dollars more for my cruise.  Just me.