Aplmac

12 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

Right now it’s quite frequent that cards are peeling

and you have to go to guest services and get them replaced.

Solution to the peeling problem:

Get away from the cost-cutting on laminate/glue

and watch the peeling stop dead in its tracks.

Get back to what was in use 5-7 years ago
when peeling simply was not a problem!

People have no idea
the silly extremes to which Corporations are going
to save 6.4 cents on every 100 cards issued.

18 minutes ago, Number12 said:

I use a small cross body purse to carry my phone and card,

or a slightly larger one that holds my kindle too. 

And you're probably

going to carry that purse anyway -card or no card!

They're always trying to build a better mousetrap,

even though it's been perfect already, and for ages now!

IS the card system broken?

NO it isn't. Leave it alone.

On 6/16/2022 at 1:04 PM, sthrnbll said:

See, I'm petty AF.

I would get up early and beat on their door and walls!

No no no, you're an amateur.

SO much more effective to take note of their cabin number

and ring them with a cheerful wake-up call. Several times.
Anonymous AF too!

31 minutes ago, Lee Cruiser said:

Prefer the card.  We keep them as souvenirs.

Have them from all of our cruises.

Don't want to have to wear something on my wrist all the time.

CARD for me: I collect the stupid things
and have a collection worthy of note. Seriously.

I'm trying to figure out

how my future collection of wrist-bands
will be stored in an album. lol

Card goes in wallet.

Wallet goes in left hand pants pocket.
OH the sheer burden of it all!
It's scary -and breaks me out in a sweat every time
I have to exert all that energy and burn calories to get it out!

'First World Problem' I reckon.........

2 hours ago, abby1257 said:

How do they get away with smoking weed?????

 

Agreed.

Especially as everyone knows that activity

risks immediate ejection from the ship for doing "drugs" on board!

I found this on fb social media somewhere..

-------------------

7 hours ago, tallnthensome said:

When you wake up at 7AM be sure to make as much noise as you can when they just got to sleep and bang on their walls and talk loudly. Dial their room number from your desk phone (accidentally) and ring them then hang up.. Be sure to knock loudly on their door in the morning to wake them up for nothing as you head out.

This is the advice Carnival guest services gave me.

Works well ......

Yep, ring their cabin tel.number
at 0610 hrs.  and again at 0625 hrs.

just as they getting back down nicely
and again at 0700 hrs.

Had to do that one cruise.   It works

and they are usually less loud the next nite

- or you do it again.

Thanks for the many and various warnings!

We'll be cautious next time we cruise.

Carnival needs to get her back in service and earning money!

Just remember Carnival is still in recovery mode
after 2 years of Covid Crap, bleeding money out!

This is a quick practical solution!

She'll get the new whale tail at her next scheduled dry dock.

26 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

What year was this picture taken😉? 😇

13th. April 2011, at 12:59 p.m.

34 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

I used to leave the TV on the front ship cam, so when it turned daylight, it would light up the room and wake me up.

👍 Free Tip people 😉

That is a handy tip, but..
we always found that our natural body clock woke us up
and when we checked the time on our watches,
it was the usual minutes before 6 a.m.!

Time to go up on Lido, to fetch Her some juice and a nibble.

1 hour ago, Essiesmom said:

 

 

A practical solution

unique to Carnival Cruises history!

1. It's nowhere nearly as bad as others make out!

2. The pitch black is an asset to sleep, particularly after-lunch nap.

3. Cost cost cost -in that order.

4. You're on the same cruise/same ship as His Lordship

     in the Captain's Suite on Deck 600!

5. You might try an Ocean View cabin next time.

6. This is Cabin 2314 on Carnival Victory...now Radiance.

2 hours ago, cfreas said:

does everyone involved need to be there ?  

Yes, so everyone involved is cool

with the arrangement being made.

4 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

The hassle is waiting in line at Guest Services.

Do it next morning before 0630 hrs (oh the horror!)
and you'll wait behind 1 person - if that!........
but I'm an early bird type when I'm on a cruise.
I get there around 6!!

Here are a few pics of Carnival Elation

docking at Barbados a few years ago....2016.

On 5/25/2022 at 8:47 PM, vacruizer said:

I saw one young bartender cry at one point.

They all look exhausted. Outside the venues I mentioned, it was a sling drinks as fast as you can and the heck with quality..they didn’t have time.

One told me he had worked a 17 hour day.

Another said he was being asked to extend his contract

and shorten vacation.

Two more said last contract -and they won’t be back.

This staff shortage is killing them. They are tired and stressed.

I actually poured out several pool bar drinks they were so bad

- I was glad I had cheers. This was an packed cruise with lots of college graduation parties so the bars were slammed on top of being short staffed. Having been a bartender myself it was hard for me to watch them struggle so much.

Dirty glasses piled up, Bars not wiped down,

recipes not followed, wrong drinks served…

many seemed defeated and were beyond caring about customer service. They were too busy to provide it even if they wanted to.

SEE what I mean? This is not good.

On 5/24/2022 at 10:42 PM, vacruizer said:

Dining - food is always subjective. I should also add that I have some background in hospitality and restaurants and might notice things differently than others. You might love something I hate.
 

We had dinner in the steakhouse night 1 and it was amazing. Lots of new menu items since my last Carnival sailing.  We had a great waitress but obvious they are stretched thin and running hard to keep up  Little things like not clearing plates, no butter with bread, crumbs everywhere… the theme here is no one has time. 
 

We ate at JiJi one night and LOVED the food. We also had probably the best service of all our meals there. 
 

We ate two dinners and two sea day brunches in the main dining room and had anytime dining for dinner. The first elegant night was a mess. Food was nearly inedible, cold, dry like it had been under a heat lamp for a while….all tossed on the table with no waiter to ever return. I ordered a glass of wine and got the wrong one. Couldn’t even flag down a waiter. We were seated right by the kitchen door and these folks are working HARD.  One gentleman was limping and still hauling heavy trays. Dirty dishes piled up on the service station next to us. I truly feel bad for these guys.  I know they don’t want to provide that kind of service, but can’t help it. 
 

Our other dinner was much better and the two brunches weren’t bad. It wasn’t the Carnival I remember but adequate. All the waitstaff is rushed. And tired. Notice a theme here?

 

Guys burgers was good although the fries have changed to standard frozen ones. Pizza still great but hours reduced to 10am-3am. Had great pasta for lunch at Cucina but a 30 minute wait for it. They are now closed for dinner due to the staffing issues. Blue Iguana is still fantastic and rarely had much line. The main buffet looked ok but the only time I grabbed a few items they had been sitting there too long. Ice cream mix seems to have changed and tasted very artificial. My only cruise I never ate a full ice cream cone!

 

We rolled with all of this and never went hungry. Our biggest issue was lack of anyone cleaning tables. I hoped for better considering all the Covid protocols. Sometimes dishes sat for hours. We watched dining tables be reset without being cleaned in the main dining room.  When they were cleared, tables were not wiped. I’m not at all a germaphobe, but almost wished I had some wipes with me. Yuck.

THIS is Cost-cutting Run Amok!!

Something I've been griping about (product-wise) for years now.

When you've cut all the corners you possibly can,

right down to the bone, and you finally have

the inferior product you deserve (but your customers don't)...

whatcha gonna do next? Call Ghost Busters?

Where do you go from here?

Oh sure you've saved a few bucks along the way

but you now have a crap product on your hands.

Where do you go from here?

You have NOT beat inflation (like you thought you were)

and you now have a crap product to deal with!!

Quite frankly, after reading this, this Carnival fan-boy

is disinclined to choose my favourite cruise line again!
I haven't cruised since April 2015 (7 yrs. now)

and the differences will be obvious, I fear.

It would grind my butt

to watch obvious intentional understaffing on a constant basis!

This is a matter that affects my conscience.

This is getting close to human rights abuse

and it is disconcerting. Enough said.

52 minutes ago, quattrohead said:

I think it will be back in service late June,

possibly in a couple of weeks with a short straight stack.

OMG that is going to look so weird -almost unthinkable! lol

I would ask your cabin steward - he must know.

WHEN she emerges

she should be sporting that neat new dark-blue hull livery

up at the bow! 

Would love to see that, if anyone gets pics

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

A wet berth would cost around $20k/day just for the berth. 

A drydock runs around $400k/day or more

- just for the dock time. 

Unless a drydock is required by statute,

or by the need to repair underwater equipment,

it ain't gonna happen, certainly not in the present fiscal environment.

Makes a ton of sense!

Now we need a webcam
showing the shipyard at Freeport
so we can see what's going on!

4 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

Bon Voyage!

 

 

 

 

 

Oh cool. She's come and gone.
Nice work. Quick turnaround!

Just now, lazydayz said:

I hope some Freedom now-Conquest cruisers
update us on the transfer.  

Give it an hour or two   for folks to settle in and have some dinner.
Posts should come soon.