mz-s

Nonprofits still have to make profit or they won't exist for long 😉

What I would do is just speak to the maitre'd on embarkation day and see how best to arrange what you are asking for.

You will only see this if you booked with Carnival directly. If you booked with a TA you will need to contact your TA to get this information.

Go to the left hand side of the entrance to check-in or speak to the check-in desk. The right hand side of the entrance is for when you have an assigned table.

On my last cruise in September, they had several hostesses standing out front of the restaurant with tablets able to help check in.

Oh that's good! Thanks for the update.

I think you have to go to the dining room to get cooked-to-order fresh eggs now.

Wage laws in the US vs UK have nothing to do with tipping onboard because these are foreign ships not subject to either country's labor laws. Cruise lines in the US do tipping because they can get away with it in American culture. That said if you do prepaid gratuities you don't need to tip additional except in very specific circumstances such as when you call room service for continental breakfast delivery (a few dollars tip is customary). I think this thread was started because the OP was unhappy with the cost of prepaid gratuities in the face of the declining standard of service on Carnival of late. I honestly believe that some people think that tipping more makes them a better person, so they like to brag about how much they tip and how much better they are than the people who remove automatic gratuities.

You certainly can. Or you can just check-in at the front of the restaurant to begin with if you prefer.

They don't even bother to put out the "sorry, bacon is on vacation" sign anymore.

I think the "people are ruder now" mantra is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy to be honest.

Do you understand what you're buying? What is covered, what isn't, pre-existing health conditions, etc?

Don't look forward to anything in particular - everything can change especially assuming the cruise director and fun squad will be different. Just use these to get an idea.

Ask the insurance agent but typically it's whatever you paid out that you won't get back if you have to cancel. So fare+mandatory fees. Prepaid gratuities are refundable. Also there is an insurance board on here for questions like this that have nothing to do with Carnival.

Hah probably so! I'd expect to pay over rack rate if that's the case though 😉 I don't complain onboard unless something is really wrong - like the deli sandwich I got that was still frozen inside. I know the crew work very hard and for the most part do their very best every minute of the day.

That was certainly the strategy before COVID and during the restart, but I and many others have seen the free room offers slowly dry up over the past year. My gambling habit hasn't changed so my guess is Carnival has throttled that lever back down a bit.

It was recently discussed here.

yeah pretty sure you'll get kicked off the ship if you try to sell the cookies onboard. Only Carnival gets to sell things onboard. Read your cruise contract.

Part of the frustration is you don't really know what to expect all the time because new cutbacks and reductions in service happen all the time and with zero warning. The only way we would know about many of them is from people talking about it on here. You can't really go into a cruise looking forward to anything in particular because it's all subject to change at any time.

https://www.saintgregtravel.com/fun-times/

While we are making gratuities mandatory fees, all mandatory fees should be included in the price shown on carnival.com and in advertising - as is required for airlines.

If they did that, they would have to disclose it during booking and it would show in the bottom line price. NCL weasels out of that by making their "service charge" optional by allowing you to remove it, at least on paper.

Good to know! A shame

Those coolers are also available in the fun shops online for delivery in your stateroom, and I believe they are also available in the fun shops on the ship as well.

Yes but everywhere else I am not stuck on a cruise ship with them.