New (items) On Valor

[klfrodo]

May be new info. Not sure.

 

Just returned from the 6/21 to 6/28 sailing.

 

CD Tex announced a new excursion if you will.

Can only be purchased on board and only 16 slots available and Tex said only available on Valor.

 

The new excursion???

A behind the scenes tour of the ship to include bridge, crew quarters, crew lounge, galley, and engine room.

 

Also new was the Captains Welcome Aboard Happy Hour. No longer the welcome aboard party with comp drinks but now it's a happy hour with reduced drink prices. Past Guest party hasn't changed

[giftcard]

How much was it? Did you go on the tour?

[falkcor]

May be new info. Not sure.

 

if not brand new with this sailing - i'd venture to say this is definitely one of the first of these...

 

john heald was talking about this on his blog a few weeks ago...

 

looks like they're giving it a shot, and valor is their current guinea pig...

 

thanks for the news :)

[falkcor]

Also new was the Captains Welcome Aboard Happy Hour. No longer the welcome aboard party with comp drinks but now it's a happy hour with reduced drink prices. Past Guest party hasn't changed

 

i've got a follow-up question for you :)

 

cc member dclark posted about the captain's party in their review earlier:

 

Here's a big, big, big change- there is NO Captains Party!!! The first formal night has a three hour period where all drinks are $1 off! Nothing free! So, what did they do? They now offer a "Farewell party" with free drinks from 5:00-6:30pm on the last day at sea. I talked to a crew member who told me that she didn't like this cahnge as it broke from tradition. They did this because with people having to pack up that night, they hope they will serve up less drinks and save money that way. Boo! She told me that the Valor is the first ship to this as a pilot, started doing it three weeks ago.

 

so, they observed the same happy hour - did you hear about / read in the capers, or go to the 'farewell party' by chance?

[klfrodo]

i've got a follow-up question for you :)

 

cc member dclark posted about the captain's party in their review earlier:

 

 

 

so, they observed the same happy hour - did you hear about / read in the capers, or go to the 'farewell party' by chance?

 

The "Happy Hour" was announced AND it was it the capers. No verbal message about a "change" in place, just the happy hour with reduced drink prices.

Yes, did hear about the "Farewell" party but didn't attend. Too bust trying to recoup my losses in the casino :eek: THAT didn't go so well. (Wife did very well though. She was actually provided a W2G form on the last night along with our S&S statement)

[falkcor]

Yes, did hear about the "Farewell" party but didn't attend. Too bust trying to recoup my losses in the casino :eek: THAT didn't go so well. (Wife did very well though. She was actually provided a W2G form on the last night along with our S&S statement)

 

eh, well as long as there's still a 'party' of some sort with free drinks - i don't see it to be much of a material change. in fact, at 1.5 hrs on that last night - that's 0.5 hr longer than the captain's party...

 

i'll trade an extra half hour of free drinks, for an appearance by the captain :rolleyes:

 

maybe they're right - that timing as such - last night around dinner time - they'll have less people show up and save $...

 

thanks for the info - and congrats to your wife :)

[klfrodo]

Learned some of the "Behind the house" items of interest also.

 

Our dinner mate was a gentleman originally from Italy. He used to be a MDR waiter for RCCL.

He was telling us that prior to auto tipping coming into effect, as a head waiter he would be in charge of (let's say) 5 tables. He would receive the tips from 5 tables at the end of the week for a job well done. Of course he was also rated by amount of tips plus comment cards.

If the tips went down and the comment cards were less than exceptional, then he was reduced to being in charge of 3 tables. Bad week,,,2 tables.

 

You can see by the number of tables, the amount of money he was loosing. Therefore, in his words, you worked very very hard to make your customers happy.

Once again, in his words, after auto tipping went into affect, the stress of wowing your customers went down.

 

BTW: he is now a private chef for a gentleman who owns his own yacht. He'll be in the Med next month.

[klfrodo]

Just thought of another thing.

 

Remember back in the day and when you made a dining time request, it was just that,,, a request?

 

Then Carnival recently changed things (or so I thought) on ther web site to show a dining time "Confirmed"?

 

The web site "Confirmed" does not mean "Confirmed". We had confirmed late seating. At check in, we were assigned Early seating. The Maitre 'D was able to make the change for us but not until the 2nd evening.

 

No big deal, just suprised regarding the "Confirmed" thingy

[salty dingo]

I'd definitely pay to go on that "inside tour"! I do worry that it would be considered a security risk, though.

 

Regarding the party changes - frankly, the parties were more trouble than they were worth. Very crowded, very lame drinks. Not fun at all. If they want to do away with it, I don't care, because I have all the free drinks I can stand in my cabin.

 

Maybe if they exclude smugglers, it would not be so crowded! :D

[pjtulsa]

How much was it? Did you go on the tour?

 

We were on the May 31st sailing and they were offering this tour for $95!

 

Needless to say I did not take the tour but think it would be interesting, I was able to arrange a private tour of the bridge and officers area in Oct on the Legend and really enjoyed it.