mz-s

I agree it’s insane. Drink the free water out of the spigot…

I don't even drink and even I would buy that deal.

It really isn't in your favor to book a Carnival cruise far in advance anymore. Get to your sail date and realize you have to bring your own sheets or toilet paper but you paid expecting those items to be included. Might as well just stay at the La Quinta by the airport and eat at the Golden Corral at this point.

They will often write your folio on paper in the MDR on the ship too, especially if you buy the shots in the souvenir shot glass (or the drink of the day on Lido). It's just faster for them at that instant. When you purchase in the gift shops or at the bars on the island, all the orders are uploaded at the end of the day before the ship debarks. It isn't realtime communication with the shipboard S&S systems. So it is possible, horror of horrors, if they did do Cheers on the island they could serve you more than 15 drinks!

Honestly, I didn't read half the post. I usually just skim posts because generally they're all asking the same basic questions. A bad habit of mine perhaps.

I guess a year plus too late is still early for the government...some things don't change no matter which government you're talking about folks.

I always try to catch at least one show every cruise even if I've seen it before. Even though the show is the same, the performers can make a big difference in either direction.

Very much a YMMV thing as the bartenders are specifically instructed to open all drinks served under the Cheers program to discourage hoarding.

The island and ship aren't connected. They could be with a satellite or point-to-point wireless connection or something. It is possible for sure. But that's expensive and when the alternative is more revenue with guests paying per drink, where is Carnival's incentive?

They now ring up what you order in the MDR (I notice the $0.00 charges on my S&S statement) so it's certainly feasible they could charge you for extra visits.

Too bad.

Call your travel insurance and see what options you have if you are unable to go for a covered reason.

I would say that Carnival has cut their product so much they can't raise prices because their product is not worth higher prices anymore.

Unless Carnival is increasing their commission rate - which is believable but would probably be relatively equal across the board with all excursions - it's just as likely that these are price hikes instituted by the tour operators and Carnival is just passing that on to the consumer.

What's most surprising to me is there are people who willingly go to restaurants that charge them extra for the food they didn't eat and in your case didn't even order.

I will recommend Sunshine since you can drive there. That is worth a lot these days with as expensive as flights are! If I was flying to Miami I'd go on a newer ship/longer cruise to make the flights worth it.

Optional dress up night is what Disney calls it. Granted that's pretty much what Carnival's is these days too. They have long lines for photos every night with or without optional dress up however. An easy way to decrease waste without affecting the cruise experience at all for guests is to not print 10,000 pictures every cruise that are largely thrown away.

My mistake, thank you.

Disney doesn’t do elegant nights and they sell plenty of photos. There are ways to do it.

They make a lot of money selling the photos from elegant evenings.

Carnival hasn't served lobster on 5 day cruises for years now. You can order it for a price but you won't get it included on elegant night.

Those of us who have cruised Carnival for years can recognize the marked decline in their food quality, especially in the past few months and years. The buffet serves more and more rice and other cheap foods. The "sausage" on the breakfast buffet is often just cut up hot dogs, but that's not new (I experienced that on the Fantasy in 2014 as well). The shrimp in the MDR shrimp cocktail are smaller and you get fewer of them. They've shortened hours and cut out some meals out completely. Nothing is available 24/7 included in your cruise fare anymore for example.

https://www.carnival.com/vifp/benefits

Carnival's current MDR food is not worth a $5 upcharge. I have been on 4 Carnival cruises since the restart and I can unequivocally say I get a better meal at the local Golden Corral. It's a matter of time before Carnival outsources their MDR food to Denny's or TGI Friday's.

On a 5 day cruise you'll typically have two cruise elegant nights, one will offer prime rib the other will offer jumbo shrimp and often times beef tenderloin. My advice - if you still have OBC and have prepaid tips, cancel that for a refund and let Carnival pay for your tips with OBC.