BlerkOne

Given the instability in the world there are no slam dunks.

Other Carnival brands have drink packages, but they are not new. I'm not aware of other Carnival brands with bundles or recent controversy?

At the bar, yes.

I think Carnival Cruise Lines contributes more to Carnival Corp than Princess cruise lines. Not sure the packages are more than a blip.

Steakhouse on Miracle Blanton’s Bourbon 16.00 Woodford Reserve 11.50 Sazerac Rye 12.00 Buffalo Trace 11.00 Gentleman Jack 11.00 Teeling ‘Small Batch’ 10.50 Jack Daniel’s Rye 10.50 Jack Daniel’s 9.50 Jack Daniel’s Honey 9.50 Jameson 9.50 The same in the steakhouse on Carnival Miracle

Given the yo-yo nature of oil prices, world affairs, and the fact that nobody would hedge 100% it is never a slam dunk.

It took about 2 days for them to accept my low bid for an upgrade to a mini-suite from a regular balcony for Oct 21 sailing.

Carnival is paying down debt faster than expected. No fuel hedging needed - which is overrated anyway.

All good to know.

How does Princess handle the wine allowance on B2B cruises? Can you carry on 2 bottles of wine pp on the first cruise without being subject to the corkage fee on the second bottle?

Just off Carnival Miracle. Other cruises just this year include Carnival Dream and Carnival Venezia. Since cruising restarted: Carnival Horizon, Glory, Valor, Mardi Gras, Ecstasy, Celebration, Dream, Venezia, Miracle We have not tried the new menus yet, but are looking forward to trying.

A TA typically will lump extra stuff under taxes - anything they don't get a commission on. Port fees and taxes themselves could have changed for everyone and can be passed on.

If you buy Princess insurance, I believe the cost increases with pre-cruise purchases. If you wait until on the ship, there is no impact.

Sometimes they have posted. Sometimes they need fodder for John.

Carnival already has the mother of all loads to wade through on social media via John Heald's pages, along with other Carnival pages.

If there is such a position, I'm sure not enough to wade through the flotsam.

Price protection only works for rates available to the general public.

Produce an a la carte menu and sell people the perks they want. FTTF proves it works.

I doubt it. Southwest still offers 2 bags fly free that other airlines ignore. Spirit doesn't even give 1 bag free for cheap tickets. Not that airlines or airline loyalty programs have anything in common with cruise line marketing programs. I also doubt Carnival will drop the program, although there is no reason for them to throw more money away on it.

Easiest to just dump the program. The noise will die out and money will be saved. Better to modify the shareholder obc starting with enforcing the no obc for discounted cabins like gamblers and travel agents receive. Then give progressively more obc for the more frequent, paying customers.

They compete with each other to some degree, but have different target markets. Loyalty programs, all of them, are marketing programs and none are sustainable without change, and not for the better. John is doing exactly what he is paid to do, which is to diplomatically cram a pacifier into the mouths of noise makers. Carnival clearly gets enough repeat business or they would make changes.

As someone who receives casino offers, I am surprised at how little mine cost, all things considered, and how many I receive. And they just keep coming. No, I don't have offers for free suites with a zillion dollars of OBC. Even better is I have received offers from cruise lines I have never sailed on, or haven't sailed in a while. I don't accept very many of them.

Think about the children who are years away from affording their own cruises. There would be disincentive for them to look at Carnival.

To really add fuel to the fire, terminate the program and lower cruise prices across the board. Carnival is a family cruise line and if you expire points, you penalize families who can only afford to cruise every few years. Who would benefit? Live aboard gamblers who don't pay for cruises to begin with.

It isn't a competition and there is no need for Carnival to change. Carnival doesn't want cruisers who cruise for perks/bribes. They want cruisers who like the brand.