mz-s

The MDR is where the good included food is served on Carnival. Including juice, you can still get bacon and real (at least I think it's real, probably Tropicana but still) orange juice there. The buffet is where you eat if you just need to eat. I'm sure it varies from ship to ship and even cruise to cruise but over the past year or so, the food on the Lido buffet on Carnival has seriously nosedived.

Italian place serves pasta bowls during lunch included, extra cost venue at night. Guy's Burgers is always included and is open most days until around 6PM. Guy's BBQ is open on sea days for lunch and is included. The juice served in the beverage dispensers on Lido is like Hi-C or similar. Not juice.

Correct - don't use them. They should be sent to me instead. I know how to give them a proper burial.

In this economy the $5 bill is the new $2 anyway.

They need to have a "Check back later" on their site for things like this. It's a common point of confusion for people.

It's been a long time since there's been smoking in piano bars on Carnival...

I know the truth and will happily accept your $2 bills.

What's with all these people asking for secrets here lately? There are no secrets, secrets don't make Carnival any money.

Don't get me started on that silliness again please 😇

The Luminosa is shared between Australia and Alaska so they might as well sell the repositioning voyages. Presumably they'll be doing two of these a year.

I guess it's a good sign that ships are being sold to places other than scrapyards again at least?

No. The only indoor smoking area left is the casino slots and table games, only when actively playing in designated areas. There are a few outdoor areas as well. https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3490/~/locations-where-you-can-smoke

The steward can't leave things behind like that. They were thrown away I'm sure.

No, a floater isn't a separate drink. It's like ordering a Jack & Pepsi double. Still only one drink. But floaters are not covered under Cheers so the only way to order that with Cheers is to order the floater as a separate drink. Back to the jack & pepsi example, you can't order a Jack & Pepsi double with Cheers, you'd have to order a Jack & Pepsi and in 5 minutes order a separate shot and that counts as 2 drinks. I hope that makes sense.

Not if you're paying for the drink, think of it like making a drink a double. It is still just one drink. If you want to do it with Cheers though, what you'd have to do is order the drink and then 5 minutes later order a shot of the floater. That would take off your total 15.

I'm sure there are a ton of rooms on hold by TA's.

There are some cruise lines where you have to rush and book all your shows and dining before you even start packing for the cruise. Until now I've appreciated that Carnival has NOT gone down that path. There is a happy medium between long lines in the moment and making people camp out on an app or website before vacation to register for things (as Disney guests are well acquainted with). I think for the most part Carnival does a good job finding that happy medium.

There's so much doublespeak and gaslighting on this thread and people quoting policies of other cruise lines (nothing to do with Carnival) it's impossible to know. I don't believe anything being reported here as gospel. All we can do is what makes sense to us because nobody here truly knows how the tips are distributed no matter how matter of factly the speak, that much is certain. Leaving a good review and mentioning a crew member by name on your comment card is very helpful to them, I know that. And that costs you nothing but a moment of your time when you get home and receive a comment card email from Carnival.

There's nothing special about a cruise line using gratuities to subsidize their substandard wages. It's the same thing that restaurants on land do. Cruise lines didn't invent this business model. Don't kid yourself, Blerk.

Not true for Bubbles, they don't force everybody in the cabin to buy Bubbles.

That's what people are saying on this thread, cash tips are surrendered and put in the pool like nothing ever happened. Regardless, it's not my responsibility to tip people I never come into contact with. If they are tipped out of the pool, fine, but I don't tip the dishwasher at Chili's so I don't feel like I need to tip the dishwasher on Carnival.

Absolutely false. Please stop spreading FUD. JH has gone on record and said that Carnival never holds crew responsible for removed gratuities. You should apologize immediately for spreading this misinformation.

I get it, I see that point for sure. Everyone should do what works for them. I just know I'd rather have cash so that's what I give.

It is not always a great deal. One should always run the numbers and see if booking this rate is cheaper than booking a different rate and buying Cheers separately. It's not always cut-and-dry...

Chapter and verse please, or you're just spreading FUD. Where is this detailed in Carnival's policy, especially since there is no way to correlate a cash tip with removed auto gratuities. What you're saying makes no sense.