mz-s

It's possible they have them at guest services onboard (I haven't asked), but they no longer have them at the check-in desk at the pier.

People so often just assume that to get a better experience than Carnival, you have to spend 3x as much or whatever. Absolutely not true. You can spend that much obviously - there are cruises at every price point all the way up to a chartered yacht. But you don't need to. If you miss the special touches of Carnival, you can get them - not from Carnival, but from other lines. Yes you will pay more but you will not need to pay that much more. It's all what you want. Sometimes I want a cheap cruise with zero niceties or special touches (or even food with bones in it), I still cruise Carnival for my boneless cruising.

Isn't this like the fifth time they've said they're taking it seriously? Actions speak louder than words.

My last cruise, not on Carnival - the assistant waiter used a crumb sweeper between courses - also had table cloths every night, and no it wasn't 3x the price as the Carnival cruise.

speak for yourself

The assistant waiter used the crumb butler to clean the tablecloth of crumbs between courses.

well that’s obviously true, but not in the form of gratuities. I was all for gratuities believing they helped ensure good service. But in the past few years the service on Carnival has declined yet the gratuities have increased. So I am no longer in favor of them. It’s essentially corporate welfare for Carnival. I don’t support it.

You never choose your boarding time. That depends on Customs, etc. You pick your port arrival time (the time you expect to arrive to the pier) when you complete online checkin.

It's just open times and a list of activities. Not the fun times of times past.

Nowhere on Carnival's site can you reserve a boarding time. You are selecting your port arrival appointment, but as a suite guest you can ignore that anyway. Typically the port opens around 10AM for arriving guests, at least at most ports. Some of the smaller ports, like Charleston, don't even let guests start parking until around 9:30 or 10

Number one, you know nothing about me. Number two, I'm not the one that hires out of the third world and pays them such low wages that the customers have to subsidize it...

I'd say as long as the candy is individually sealed it should be fine. But candies that are just wrapped, like peppermints or mini reese's pieces, should be avoided. But that's just my personal opinion. I doubt Carnival gets that specific.

Even Disney has a late night snacks buffet, and they roll up the sidewalks on a Disney ship by 11PM. Carnival being the fun ships, standing in a 45-minute line to get a slice of pizza after the comedy club closes isn't fun to me. Yes I agree the late night snacks buffet going away is one that stings the most of all. That and losing room service altogether. Sorry, but I'm not paying $5 for a PB&J from room service - the prices of the menu now are punitive. It used to be Carnival's extra price food was cheap for the quality but that's not as true anymore.

It did, yes. They ended it during the staffing crunch they had for a while. I expected it to be gone for good, but thankfully they did bring it back after a short hiatus. It is a nice event, I go as often as I can.

Just since COVID: The dinner buffet is full of dried out rice and potatoes, and they cut the chicken thighs into three pieces. They give you half a baked potato and 3 salad-size shrimp in your shrimp cocktail in the dining room. The breakfast buffet is absolutely disgusting. Sea day brunch menu dramatically cut, hours cut. 24/7 pizza is no more. If you order pepperoni pizza you might get 3 pepperonis on your entire serving. Thats if your legs don't give out from standing in the 45 minute line. No more late night snacks buffet. Instead, the pizza place that already has a tremendous line sits out a tray of Stouffer's lasagna on some nights maybe. Ocean plaza buffet/drinks gone. Deli menu cut, hours cut. No more included room service, except coffee and dry danishes/cereal/milk during breakfast hours. You have to call that morning and order it. No more leaving a hanger out. No more twice-daily cabin service. Before COVID it was unofficially gone, you could ask for it if you knew you could and they'd do it - but now it's not an option anymore. They now serve Ore Ida fries at Guy's instead of fresh cut. The ongoing severe bacon crisis. No more port of call themed nights in the dining room. I'm sure I'm forgetting things. Now does one "need" any of these things? No. But then again, nobody "needs" to go on a cruise. We aren't talking about a pharmacy or oxygen here, we're talking about a cruise. And before someone pipes up to champion it - yes, I know they brought back ketchup soup during sea day brunch. I don't particularly care if you say none of these things matter to you or not - I didn't take advantage of all of these things either - but they're still cutbacks in the experience. "Special touches" gone, if you will. Carnival can still be a good value and I still like their product for what it is - but people should know what they're getting. It's no longer the special vacation it once was in my opinion.

I am sure the ships are as fully staffed as they are going to be forever more. Carnival has proven the ships can run along with this level of staffing, even when the ships are over 100% capacity. So why would they add more crew? Many crew I've talked to, especially in the more difficult jobs like steward, say they do the job for a few years to save up a nice nest egg for their family and then go back home. The job is too hard to do for too long. Carnival can replace them with a fresh batch as often as is necessary. Externalities like slow visa processing of last year may throw a wrench in the works...but for the most part the system works, for good or bad.

And the 3 “bellhops” in the world that fit your crazy qualifications somehow changes that?

what in the world does that I have to do with the price of rice in china

Bellhops are typically not paid via automatic 'gratuities' so forgive me for being slow on the uptake here. I simply don't see the connection.

The BBQ is the best kept secret all cruise - every time I've been on a ship with it - very low traffic vs. Lido buffet for sure... it helps that I love BBQ anyway...

Only on the Spirit so far...

A panama canal cruise is not your traditional cruise...I recommend this video so you can sort of understand what makes it different. Watching this video helped me decide a panama canal cruise is not for me - YET. But I plan to do one someday.

Some people set out towels at like 7AM... Just move the towels that have obviously been set there just to save a seat...it's not rocket science.

that roof has looked like that since 2014 at least. That was my first cruise out of Charleston. They have never fixed it.

If it's any consolation, you're not missing much on Bimini. Personally I'd rather go there than Nassau any day (though like all stops I'm sure many disagree with me!) Carnival usually does carry ship-specific magnets etc, maybe they were just out of them for your cruise. As far as stop-specific memorabilia, that is less common but sometimes you'll see it. Though probably only for the more popular stops like Nassau or Half Moon Cay. Carnival really hasn't been stopping at Bimini for that long. I don't recall ever seeing it on a Carnival cruise itinerary until COVID. I think it's just until the construction in Nassau and Freeport is done, personally.