poobears

We haven't sailed with Carnival for a couple of years. Is this something new? If you show up before your scheduled time, do they make you wait to board?

Yes they won't even let you inside the building anymore if you are at one of the ports with staggered boarding if you get there prior to boarding time. You have to stand around outside no matter what the weather is. Or wait in your car, whatever.

I'd definitely keep an eye out for FTTF, if you can grab it, you can show up whatever time you want.

10/10-10/15 on the Ecstasy my room steward had the card and filled it out for me. Twice he asked if I wanted morning or even service. When I hesitated, he then offered both, but I chose evening service and it worked out fine. However i didn't feel that I received that extravagant pampered service level that I expect on a cruise. I had friends in 2 other cabins and they were not asked to choose and they never saw the card. I'm not sure if that's because they are platinum or because I was only on deck 5 (kind of in the cheap seats) or if it was purely coincidence.

 

 

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So did your friends get twice a day service from their steward? Wonder if the other guests on their floor did too? Could have been because they were Platinum, they may have been told not to ask the elite guests lol. It doesn't have anything to do with the level you stay on for sure. They are even asking suite guests which is ridiculous, suites are already paying more in gratuities so they should be automatically twice a day no matter what.

Ninja stewards are the best kind IMO.

I think robes are only in suites now but if you ask your steward they can usually round you up a couple if you want. I've heard others have asked and they were put in their room for them.

Now you need to do faster to the fun, be booked into a suite, be platinum or diamond to have your luggage delivered to your room faster.

You may or may not be asked if you want room cleaning once or twice a day. You are suppose to still have a choice of twice a day service but some stewards are insisting you choose one or the other. If you press you can get both since that is Carnivals policy. No more chocolates on the pillows, no more turn down service at night. No more lobster or steak (think steak was cut) on cruises less than 7 days unless you want to pay for it.

You still have free room service but you also have a extra pay for options on the room service menu like hot wings, fries etc.

You can no long carry on water or any other beverages in bottles other than 2 bottles of wine. Only 12-12oz or smaller cans of soda per person are allowed to be carried on.

That's all I can think of, most of those you probably already know about.

I'll be on next week and plan to have a great time no matter what attitude my room steward has. A grumpy or a perky room steward won't change my cruise any. Honestly I rarely see our stewards just a quick hi here or there and that's perfect for me, probably them too.

That's a fantastic deal, you don't hear of those coming around very often, they must have really wanted your room.

It states in all of the materials for Coz that you can take off snacks as long as they are factory sealed yet you still have people taking off sandwiches with lettuce from the deli, fruit etc. That is what the dogs are trying to sniff out. One little bug is all it takes to start an infestation on an island to wipe out their crops. All sealed items are allowed unless there have been recent changes.

I have seen zero evidence of room stewards jumping ship, it sounds like we have lost track on reality here......

 

 

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I said it was a guess only and it makes as much or more sense than good stewards are suddenly going rogue and risking their jobs by going against policy and telling guests they will only clean rooms once a day and being rude towards guests.

Of course at the rate it's spreading maybe someone needs to check them for a defiant pupil, there's another theory for ya (some will get it) :D

I use these deals to put down on a cruise just in case I want to take one. Like mentioned if I cancel it's not a big deal. I'm not losing much, only cancelled one so far. Has nothing to do with not having the money, I could pay it in full if I wanted. It has to do with a cheap place holder until I confirm if I can or can't sail. No reason to have a full deposit sitting there in limbo.

Our cruise was promoted as a Coz+ cruise and I think we are in port from 8-5 so yours probably is too. Think they consider anything over 5 or 6 hours a plus lol

I cruised on the Splendor in May and again in September and the cabin stewards on those cruises couldn't be more different. The steward in May tried to tell me one or the other and I told him that is not the policy and I can have both if I want and I'm willing to go to Guest Services to prove it. He then backed down but I had problems with him the rest of the cruise where I had to go to Guest Services anyway about him. The other steward in September was exceptional, he went over the card and offered both services. This tells me either the stewards are going "rogue" or it is a training problem which is what I told Guest Services.

I'm wondering if Carnival hasn't lost a lot of their good stewards already and not able to get more signed up due to a bad rep among them (just a guess) and that is why we are seeing more and more of these "rogue" stewards they are having to dip lower in the pool to find people to work for them. They are no longer getting the cream of the crop. People assume everyone is so desperate for money they will jump for a chance to work for carnival, from talking to a few people that work on the cruises I think it's a bit more competitive than that for the good workers after they get established in the industry. They can choose between several lines and if you could get on with a line that had better work conditions and treated their employees better wouldn't you?

For those that had issues, did any of you report it Carnival? Did you send a letter, a note, go to GS, anything other that post here? I'm guessing no. Seems like pretty much no one actually complains to Carnival themselves about how they feel about these new cutbacks and the way the stewards and handling them. Of course Carnival is going to leave things as is when everyone keeps quiet about it and as far as they are concerned everyone is happy.

If they start getting 5, 10, 20 or more after each cruise and they will start taking notice. No reason to be over the top with threats to cruise other lines or anything simply let them know you don't like their idea of raising prices while cutting services and any issues you had with your attendant.

Speak up or accept it because if you don't say anything to Carnival you are telling them that it's ok with you.

Is your cruise one of the Cozumel plus ones where they have an extended day there? Mine is and I got the same email a while back. Our hours didn't change from what they already were. Guess they just wanted everyone to notice it was an extended day vs a regular Coz day. Pretty sure everyone knew that when they booked lol

Yay that's awesome! I had to check and check to get it for our April cruise but like you finally got lucky and yes I paid more than if I would have gotten it when it first came out. Didn't matter to me, I was just happy to get it. Glad you got it, hope the others waiting for it can snag one.

Also people will threaten I'll never sail Carnival again IF, how many times have we seen that over and over. A LOT but we and Carnival know it's not more than hot air and bravado for 99.9% of them. People always freak out when anything changes, puff their chest out and threaten to take their toys and sail another line and when the find out it was no big deal from other cruisers they get right back on the ship. I doubt if Carnival is putting much stock in the blustering going on JHs board, they will see how it plays out on the actual ships, that's where the real info will come from.

I have always wondered why when you check in that they didn't have separate lines by the alphabet. That way, they could have the cards lets say for A-D behind the first check in person. E-G for the second, etc. That way it would eliminate the person having to go back to the middle of the check in stations to find the card like they do now. I swear, the "Beards" can't see the forest for the trees. They always make it harder rather than easier.

The problem I see with this is it would break up boarding parties. A lot of parents and kids have different last names. What are you going to do then have little kid and parents stand in different lines? That wont' work so you still have people having to run from line to line to get cards. You could possibly say well divide them #'s like boarding # 123 stand here and loading # 456 stand here but that won't work because you don't know who will be checking in, line 456 could be out the door while line 123 is almost empty.

In theory these options work but in reality they don't. Having lots of lines to funnel everyone into is the most efficient way to keep things moving so the cards need to be kept together.

Yep us too, excited and freaked out all at the same time. DH isn't going on this trip so I have to be adult all alone on this road trip and cruise. Oh no! LOL

They are typically very strict with the ages rules and no do not expect an exception. I have seen them block people outside of the ages by a week. My girls are 15 & 17 on this cruise and will be 16 and 17 on our April cruise. I am going to try to squeeze at least one or two more in before oldest DD turns 18 in July I know that will be the last time they get to spend time in O2, if they even want to by then.

OMG all the what ifs and imaginary scenarios. You can make up all the scary extremes all you want, fact is the chances any of them will happen is extremely slim. Not sure how anyone sets foot on a cruise with all those what ifs going through their head. I refuse to let imaginary worries ruin my cruise.

Fast forward a year or so from now and this will be a non issue, everyone will use to it just like they are on other cruiselines that miraculously have not be fraught with thieves and hallway ninjas waiting to steal your card to hit the bar and charge drinks lol

Not absurd. If you get a drink from the roving servers they do not swipe your card just write your folio number down. No photo verification in that instance.

 

I also do not have any faith in mankind and their a$$hole kids who like to wreak havoc up and down the halls.

 

 

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How are these kids going to get into the hallways unseen by all the employees keeping people out of the halls without proper access and all the early guests entering so they can steal all these cards? That also puts you back at, if your card is missing or been opened/tampered with you know it immediately so again no worry about charges you won't know about.

These scenarios just aren't realistic.

If your card is missing it's as simple as going to GS and getting a new card, at that point any charges on your account made with the card would be disputed and wiped clean and you'd get a new card with a new access code. Seriously it wouldn't be a big deal, it would be the same as losing your card. You would not have to watch your account all week because the other card would not work all week. The theft would be instantly known because your card would be gone from your slot. I think everyone is freaking out over nothing. With all the cameras around the ship the thief would be reported, caught and arrested/put off before the ship ever left port.

Plus your photo would still pop up when the card was scanned, what are the odds the thief would look like you? How is he going know who's card he's taking, if it's some 80 yr old guys or some 20 yr old guys just by reading the name? Also how will he access the hall and get all these cards without any stewards seeing him? He'd have to be checked and prove he had FTTF or something because they stop you at the entrance so now we have a thief who has FTTF, is platinum or diamond gaining early access to the hallways, dodging all other early guest and room stewards, finding cards that only match his description and hitting the bars to run up bills? Ok now do you see how absurd this scenario is?

It can be ice tea, it can be soda, it can be kool aid or even juice as long as it's in a can and under 12 oz. and less than 12 per person.

I figure we will take on a size pack for the girls to make a few floats with.

Define "use".

 

I can't imagine that when you dry your hands after washing them in the loo, that you throw them to the laundry each time? Do you also use a fresh towel for every single shower/bath? I thought I was being cautious by washing my towels after every 3-4 showers.

No we don't change hand towels out after each use but do usually change them out at the end of the day along with kitchen towels. Bath towels yes they get changed out after each bath/shower. Whatever works for you, everyone does it differently.

We had our April cruise narrowed down to one on Sunshine and Magic. I will say all the bad reviews on the Sunshine did effect our decision to go with the Magic sailing. DH didn't want to take that big of a chance with what would probably be his one cruise of the year.

Glad to hear it's not that bad, we might try it again later when it's not such an important cruise. Maybe the girls and I will try it, I do like it's itineraries a bit better.

We left tips in an envelope with a thank-you note written on it every other day of the cruise. I am always concerned that if we don't leave our tip until the last day that the room steward will get concerned that we are going to stiff them and I don't want them worrying about that.

Did you remove your tips at the beginning of the cruise at guest services? I don't understand why they would think you were going to stiff them otherwise. If you didn't remove them they were charged to you S&S account automatically at the end of the cruise.