Red-Sol Posted July 5 #101 Share Posted July 5 19 hours ago, Beach Life 1 said: That's how I always felt, but our friends told us as long as you go on a seven days or more cruise, they're fine. My husband refuses to on Carnival. So this may be a moot point, anyway. lol I felt exactly the same as your husband until a couple months ago when NCL started hosing it's casino players. Not cruising Carnival until October but looking forward to trying it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red-Sol Posted July 5 #102 Share Posted July 5 11 hours ago, luvcruzing said: Have you ever taken one? I had thirteen cruises with NCL. Then NCL cancelled one of my cruises two days before sailing (unavoidable), so I booked a Carnival cruise with the same date and embarkation port because of my flight. Carnival offers started arriving shortly after. Haven’t looked back. 1 hour ago, Beach Life 1 said: That's interesting, because that's exactly what our friends said too. They said they probably will not sail NCL again, they will stick with Carnival. Their comps are unbelievable compared to NCL. Thank you for both of these posts..they have helped reassure me that Carnival is nowhere near as bad as some people make it out to be. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beach Life 1 Posted July 5 #103 Share Posted July 5 19 minutes ago, Red-Sol said: I felt exactly the same as your husband until a couple months ago when NCL started hosing it's casino players. Not cruising Carnival until October but looking forward to trying it. Please let us know about your cruise in October. I would love to hear your feedback. Thanks 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red-Sol Posted July 5 #104 Share Posted July 5 12 minutes ago, Beach Life 1 said: Please let us know about your cruise in October. I would love to hear your feedback. Thanks Will do.....The ship we are sailing on out of NYC is the Venezia...there's many videos out there about the ship and I encourage people to take a look. Here's a somewhat brief 3 minute one if anyone is interested. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hachtely Posted July 5 #105 Share Posted July 5 We are Diamond with NCL - with 378 days/points so obviously have done a lot of cruising with them. Several years ago we took a 5 day Carnival cruise to Bermuda out of NY and it was the most horrible experience - the ship was filthy (rusty, cob webs), staff’s uniforms were soiled/stained, nowhere to sit in buffet area, dirty dishes stacked everywhere, food ice cold, etc, etc. Said to ourselves “Never again”…. But then last fall a friend convinced me to try Carnival again on a Greenland/Canada trip. Completely different experience. Had a wonderful time. Since then we’ve booked 3 more Carnival trips. Great itineraries, long days in ports, we have a fabulous agent - he answers the phone when you call (amazing) and answers emails! I typically get $1,000 free play. NCL’s prices have increased dramatically - much harder to get comped on anything. Admin fee they add to comps on top of port fees and taxes drives the prices up…. Took 9 cruises in 2023 - only 1 on NCL….this year we will do another 9 cruises total and only 2 will be with NCL. We’re also getting great deals from Princess & HAL. Going to Japan next May on Princess for 10 days for $330 pp with $200 of that coming back as OBC. $13/pp/day!!!!! Can’t get a Big Mac combo for that. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbrown84 Posted July 7 #106 Share Posted July 7 On 7/5/2024 at 6:56 AM, Beach Life 1 said: That's interesting, because that's exactly what our friends said too. They said they probably will not sail NCL again, they will stick with Carnival. Their comps are unbelievable compared to NCL. This is a very interesting conversation. Given the changes with ncl, I'm venturing out. I've just tried msc and wasn't impressed. I'm now looking at carnival. I did the fun match, so I have a comped cruise on the books. I was looking at a 4 day thanksgiving cruise though to try them out. Maybe I'll wait until next summer and do Bermuda 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbrown84 Posted July 7 #107 Share Posted July 7 4 minutes ago, dbrown84 said: This is a very interesting conversation. Given the changes with ncl, I'm venturing out. I've just tried msc and wasn't impressed. I'm now looking at carnival. I did the fun match, so I have a comped cruise on the books. I was looking at a 4 day thanksgiving cruise though to try them out. Maybe I'll wait until next summer and do Bermuda My biggest concern/issue is carnival limits you to just 15 drinks a day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hachtely Posted July 7 #108 Share Posted July 7 Just one caveat - I have no idea how old you are or what kind of atmosphere you look for on a cruise but in my experience, and from what I’ve heard - the shorter (less than 7 days), “island” cruises (Caribbean, Bermuda) and Mexico - particularly over holidays or school/college breaks - tend to be very rowdy on Carnival. What we’re finding is that the longer, more exotic, cruises when schools are in session, tend to be tamer on Carnival - less of a “party” vibe. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbrown84 Posted July 7 #109 Share Posted July 7 8 hours ago, hachtely said: Just one caveat - I have no idea how old you are or what kind of atmosphere you look for on a cruise but in my experience, and from what I’ve heard - the shorter (less than 7 days), “island” cruises (Caribbean, Bermuda) and Mexico - particularly over holidays or school/college breaks - tend to be very rowdy on Carnival. What we’re finding is that the longer, more exotic, cruises when schools are in session, tend to be tamer on Carnival - less of a “party” vibe. I've heard the same. That doesn't worry me. Let people have their fun. As long as they don't split tens at the blackjack table, we'll be fine 😅 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbrown84 Posted July 7 #110 Share Posted July 7 4 minutes ago, dbrown84 said: I've heard the same. That doesn't worry me. Let people have their fun. As long as they don't split tens at the blackjack table, we'll be fine 😅 Btw, I'm in my fifties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare JGmf Posted July 8 #111 Share Posted July 8 Just one man's real-life experience: even though I've pivoted to Princess for most of my cruising, I contacted the casino booking folks in NCL to do a Bermuda trip next year out of Boston. Whereas, I used to get a comped balcony (I'm CAS Sapphire), now it's only 20% off rack rate. I was just on the NCL Joy in June and played the same levels, so expecting worst case, I'd get OV. Nope. Wow! Good for them, they don't need casino bookings anymore. Gotta stay away from NCL... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sand and Seas Posted July 8 #112 Share Posted July 8 1 hour ago, JGmf said: Whereas, I used to get a comped balcony (I'm CAS Sapphire), now it's only 20% off rack rate. I was just on the NCL Joy in June and played the same levels, so expecting worst case, I'd get OV. Nope. Wow! Good for them, they don't need casino bookings anymore. Gotta stay away from NCL... Wow! That doesn't sound right. I hope you try calling back and getting a different agent with some brains to look up your play. I called once and was offered an OV for a 12 day cruise. I said 'no thanks', then called back later that week and got a more experienced agent. On that next call call, I was booked a Club Balcony for the same 12 day cruise. (Balcony would have made me happy!) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red-Sol Posted July 9 #113 Share Posted July 9 16 hours ago, JGmf said: Whereas, I used to get a comped balcony (I'm CAS Sapphire), now it's only 20% off rack rate. I was just on the NCL Joy in June and played the same levels, so expecting worst case, I'd get OV. Nope. Wow! Good for them, they don't need casino bookings anymore. Gotta stay away from NCL... My experience was very similar to yours. We certainly don't cruise as often as many folks do (usually twice a year)...but when we do we have always made a sizeable donation in the casino among the many hours we would spend there. The last cruise we tried to book I almost felt sorry for the CAS rep. He was one of the experienced ones (that were left as most of them are now gone) and what he offered to us was a joke...and I could tell by his voice that he wasn't happy about what he could offer either. The taking away of the comped drinks isn't as much of a problem for us as the reduced (dramatically) offers are for cabins. We have always enjoyed and been loyal to NCL and will miss cruising with them. But loyalty should be two ways...when they no longer feel they can give some type of realistic comp offers to their casino players it sadly means it is time to move on. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sand and Seas Posted July 9 #114 Share Posted July 9 5 hours ago, Red-Sol said: My experience was very similar to yours. We certainly don't cruise as often as many folks do (usually twice a year)...but when we do we have always made a sizeable donation in the casino among the many hours we would spend there. The last cruise we tried to book I almost felt sorry for the CAS rep. He was one of the experienced ones (that were left as most of them are now gone) and what he offered to us was a joke...and I could tell by his voice that he wasn't happy about what he could offer either. The taking away of the comped drinks isn't as much of a problem for us as the reduced (dramatically) offers are for cabins. We have always enjoyed and been loyal to NCL and will miss cruising with them. But loyalty should be two ways...when they no longer feel they can give some type of realistic comp offers to their casino players it sadly means it is time to move on. Well stated. It is sad with the changes they have made at CAS. For us, since we retired, we have been fortunate to be able to cruise about 4 times a year. During those four cruises during their Tier year, it has been easy enough for us to make Ruby in the casino. With the new CAS tier benefits, Ruby level is indeed the 'sweet spot' for benefits. I truly feel sorry for those that earn several thousand tier points per cruise but can't reach a decent level in their club during their tier year and no longer receive decent comp offers.🙁 It is truly short-sighted on their part to not induce you to cruise with them again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red-Sol Posted July 9 #115 Share Posted July 9 3 hours ago, Sand and Seas said: It is truly short-sighted on their part to not induce you to cruise with them again. Absolutely!!! This is a great summary statement. It is heart breaking what they are doing to people...the only thing I can think of as to why CAS is doing this along with NCL now reducing or eliminating many sailings out of NYC is that perhaps they are in more trouble financially than they are letting on. MSC, Carnival, Royal, and I'm sure others have started to fill the NYC area void. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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