talkorpi

Bored on a slow monday morning at work where 90% of the employees are off for the holiday, so here we are. There have been some rumors of Carnival planning to overhaul the VIFP program sometime in the near future, and so I was wondering what everyone's ideas were if this were to happen. What do YOU want to see? What do you expect to see? What tweaks should be made? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Personally, I think that there should be a system that considers cabin category and assigns different value to that. Someone paying for an inside and a suite should not get the same number of VIFP points, for example. Maybe it can be something like Interior x1, OV x1.5, Balcony x2, and Suite x3? Also think there needs to be a tweak in the upper levels. Maybe something in between Gold and Diamond (Emerald ???), and then the slots for loyalty can be adjusted accordingly. Maybe something like: Blue: First Sailing Red: 1-24 Points Gold: 25-69 Points Emerald: 70-149 Points Platinum: 150-249 Points Diamond: 250+ Points Of course if we combine both of these ideas then the point thresholds would likely be higher. Finally, there need to be better perks for the higher levels. I think starting with Gold and moving up things should be bulked up. Maybe give the Gold + the free laundry perk. Emerald starts to get the appreciation parties. Platinum starts to get a free speciality dining credit per cruise. Maybe Diamond can get a set amount of OBC per sailing - $25 - $100 depending on length? Would love to hear everyone's ideas. This is meant to be a fun discussion about your ideas for changes. Chat away!

Probably not. Galveston seven day itineraries are pretty much limited to some combination of Cozumel, Costa Maya, Belize, Roatan, Grand Cayman, and/or Jamaica. It's the furthest-away Caribbean port from the eastern Caribbean. Sometimes there are eight-day cruises from Galveston to the Bahamas, but I have never seen something shorter than 10 days from here that goes to the eastern/southern Caribbean. Oh well. We usually cruise for the ship anyways. With Carnival prices getting out of control, I hope to see MSC come to Galveston soon to give them a try.

Which is fine for them. I understand how bad their financial situation is. However, I am also sensitive to the economy, and unfortunately if they do decide to keep jacking up prices, I will be forced to look elsewhere. I can already barely afford the current prices anyways. I imagine many are in this same situation.

I’ve only gotten a great VIFP deal one time, which was my most recent Vista sailing. I was not in a place financially to book during the low COVID rates and the rates I see today already seem higher than pre-Covid pricing. With further increases on the way but no improvement to service looking likely, I just fail to see this working out.

Galveston is primarily a drive-to port. Most people coming here drive. Since Texas is such a fast growing state and they’re already so many major places within driving distance of Galveston, it is just becoming the hub for people who don’t want to fly to Florida, but who live in the midwest or south. That’s the primary offering it has, and lines are capitalizing on the explosive demand. MSC has likely been trying to break into this market for quite some time but there’s simply not the capacity right now to do so. Sounds like they finally have a chance to create their own capacity.

I think it is because Galveston is cannibalizing all of the traffic from New Orleans. Galveston ships can get out to sea faster = casinos and bars open faster. Both of these ports are drive-to ports and it seems Galveston is the lines' go-to for the future. I, too, wish NOLA would get a better ship. Can we swap Dream for Valor, please?!!

https://www.thestreet.com/travel/royal-caribbean-carnival-have-bad-pricing-news-for-cruise-fans Weinstein commented on the matter during the cruise line's third-quarter-earnings call. "The issue is we are way too much of a value. We should not be priced at a significant discount to land, which is exactly the case today, anywhere from 25% to 50% based on itineraries," he said. Sounds like prices won't be coming down anytime soon. I undertstand what Weinstein is saying, but doesn't this seem a little strange? The whole value proposition of cruising is that is is "cheaper" than land and it is (mostly) inclusive of everything you can get on land at a lower cost. If you change that, how can you expect to sustain your existing customer base or attract new ones? With this new strategy I guess I will cruise less and less often. I totally understand that the industry was hit hard and CCL is still in the red with mutliple factors, but with higher prices for both base fares and onboard experiences, coupled with all the cutbacks and generally worse experience, it really puts budget-concious brand loyalists in a pinch. I expected prices to drop during a recession, not rise.

I read somewhere today that Carnival is planning on raising prices. The new CEO said in the most recent earnings call that their pricing offered "too good of a value." Maybe this is reflective of their new pricing strategy. If so... YIKES!

https://www.cruzely.com/is-msc-coming-to-galveston-port-approves-talks-with-cruise-line-for-fourth-terminal/ In a Port of Galveston Board Meeting on November 30th, there was a brief mention of a memorandom of understanding between the port and MSC to discuss development of a fourth cruise terminal. It sounds like MSC has plans to not only come to the Galveston market but potentially own their own building. I have never been on an MSC cruise but since Galveston is my homeport I might give them a try if this ends up happening. Quite the exciting news that seems to be going under the radar. Of course nothing is confirmed yet but this does show that MSC is planning to enter the market and in a big way.

I would jump on that ASAP if that's the case

According to the article, they sent out notices this morning. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news 😞

Was not particularly impressed on Vista in May. The food was good but not worth the price imo. The free wine was a nice touch. However, despite paying a premium for service, our MDR service was somehow ten times better than in the steakhouse. Our steakhouse host was extremely rude and the service was very lackluster across the board - very slow, very inattentive, wouldn't discuss food allergies (we basically had to guess and thought that was BIZARRE as our MDR waiter was super accommodating). I guess we just hit them on an off night? We probably won't do steakhouse out of pocket anymore but to each their own. Hoping you have a nice experience.

NOLA deserves a better ship. TBH should send Magic or Breeze over there.

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2022/12/new-carnival-jubilee-delivery-delayed/ Well this stinks. Delivery delayed to Dec. 2023. First six cruises cancelled (TA + first 5 Western Caribbean), will now sail directly from Germany to Galveston w/o PAX, maiden voyage will be a regular 7-day Caribbean from Galveston departing Dec. 23.

Oh, sorry. I work full time (not even close to retirement) and typically only cruise once every couple of years so that is the most recent update I had. Hopefully someone with more recent experience can respond to the OP.

Another fan of JiJi here. We ate there for the first time on our Vista cruise in May and it is the best meal I have ever had on Carnival. My mom, who strongly dislikes Asian food and was skeptical of paying for specialty dining when MDR is included, even loved it and said it is the only Asian food she would ever eat! So if it can convert those who dislike the entire cuisine, that speaks for itself! It really is that good and well worth the cost in my opinion. We loved the duck appetizer, pepper steak, short ribs, and all the sides are also delicious, especially the Chinese broccoli and Hakka noodles. Seriously so good and worth every penny! Have not had the chance to cruise on an E-class ship yet so cannot compare to Chibang. Chibang menu looks more pedestrian and it makes sense that the quality would be lower since it's basically just another MDR and has no upcharge.

They had it in May on the Vista. I think ours was barefoot and I'm pretty sure the only wine they offered was Rose, as we didn't get a choice. Also, my dining partner didn't drink, so I may or may not have had the whole bottle... oops!

Our cruise on Vista in May gave us the chance to try out most of the dining options, specialty included. We were onboard during the closure of Cucina so didn't get to try that, but I don't think we would've gone there anyways since we aren't huge Italian food fans. The steakhouse was really good food, but would I pay $48 a person for it? No. Maybe it was just an off night, but the service was not very good - the host at check-in was honestly extremely rude and while our waitress was polite the service was far from personable. I really don't think our experience was worth $38, much less the new $48 price since our cruise. I probably won't eat at the Steakhouse again unless I'm really trying to burn through OBC. Doesn't provide a great value in my opinion (especially with bad service) when I can make a great NY Strip at home for around $40 less. Jiji's was FANTASTIC. This was probably some of the best food I have ever had and it's a shame that Carnival doesn't seem to be continuing this concept. I think that this is totally worth the extra cost. My mom can't stand Asian food but even she really enjoyed our dinner at Jiji. Definitely go, and deifnitely order the duck appetizer when you do. You won't be disappointed. Unfortunately, our experience at Bonsai Sushi was not good at all. The service here was even worse than the Steakhouse. They never brought us water or soy sauce - they literally handed us our menu cards when seating us, picked them up about 15 minutes later without saying a word, and broguht us our food and walked off before we even had the chance to ask. The sushi was just ok but honestly I prefer the sushi from HEB which is also less expensive, lol. The ramen was terrible - overcooked mushy noodles, flavorless broth, and literally one cube of chicken. We will not be eating at Bonsai on any future cruises. Vista did not have Rudi's, Emeril's, Pig & Anchor Smokehouse. We did not go to the Chef's Table. Ultimately, I'm one of those that thinks Carnival provides more than enough free dining to be content not spending at specialty restaurants. I love the MDR and will eat there every night of the cruise, unless we get the chance to go to Jiji. It's really just a matter of personal preference, but in my view, unless I am going to be completely blown away by an upcharge restaurant, I don't see the point in spending even more when I have already spent thousand(s) of dollars just to be onboard and there is already pretty decent included food in the MDR.

Always book starboard for whatever reason. I guess it's because my brain usually defaults to the right when looking at things for the first time? Not really sure. Don't have a particular reason for picking starboard but we just always have.

I like the current number. I enjoy getting dressed up and making dinner into more of an "experience." That being said, even though I'm in my early twenties, I have much older taste for my age. I prefer a lot of "old-style" cruise experiences and habits that I realize are probably on their way out. I'm honestly more a Princess type of person but alas I am bound to Carnival for budgetary reasons 😆

I guess I will be the first dissenter. We recently did a 7 day western Caribbean in May on the Vista that included a stop in Belize. As we had already been to the port before and were traveling with a group of cruisers that had some health issues that ruled out nearly all of the excursion options in the port, we opted to stay on the ship. It was our first time on the Vista class so we assumed that we would be able to do things like activities, ropes course, skyride, mini golf, etc. while staying onboard... Unfortunately, there were literally NO ACTIVITIES UNTIL 2:00 PM. No trivias, no games, no movies, literally nothing on the fun times until 2:00 PM. We docked at 8 AM so it was six hours of nothing. Even worse, all of the activities like skyride, the ropes course, waterslides, sports square, etc. wouldn't be opening until 2:30. What?!? We aren't pool people so we played one round of mini golf and that was literally all there was to do. I was shocked by the lack of activities - I completely understand that port days usually aren't as busy as sea days, but Belize is a pretty common stay-on-the-ship port and there was literally nothing planned until well in the afternoon. While I expected less activity, I didn't expect nearly none of it. Needless to say, we felt disappointed. I am never one to get bored on a ship as I get amused by sitting and staring at the ocean, but everyone else in my traveling party was quite the opposite and we honestly wished we had gotten off the ship if nothing else but for a little excitement. Not sure if this was just due to the staffing shortages from earlier in the year, but I would recommend checking your funtimes as soon as possible. If it's still anything like this and if you aren't one to just sit in the pool and drink all day then you'll likely get bored very quickly and it might be worth just trying to go ashore anyways.

Yes.

Seems like she has arrived in Aliaga today. Farewell old friend...

Here we go again...

Following! Not booked but looking forward to seeing the new ship.