angelsfort

ditto. I wouldn't be "tempted" - I'd actually do it. and if they asked about "their" table, I'd tell them that I would happily move if they could get a carnival TM to confirm that it was an "officially" reserved table. and then add that I wouldn't be there long... saying it was because I didn't believe in taking up precious space on the lido deck when so many people are looking for places to sit and EAT THEIR FOOD!

I'm glad to hear that they will take into account the CD's preference (when they can) - I wonder if seniority has anything to do with whether or not they actually GET their preference?

I love the idea of giving something that represents your home town/ home state! I would also add a card of some kind that explains the significance of it as well, so that the recipient knows exactly why it was gifted.

Here's something I was thinking about when reading a thread on another platform about Adam, who is the current cruise director on the Liberty. It got me thinking because the Liberty isn't exactly a large ship (not the smallest, by any means but not that big either) - how do the CD's feel about being assigned to the smaller ships with shorter cruises? I would think that the more popular CD's would be assigned to the larger ships, to try to pull the crowds to those larger pricier ships... who determines what CD goes where? is it "the luck of the draw"? or is there some sort of algorithm used to decide who goes where? LOL anyone have any insight?

ya. that definitely didn't happen! there were 4 other couples assigned to our table and pretty much every night we were finishing up our main course by the time any of them arrived. It was disheartening because we choose to eat in the MDR so that we can meet new people and have interesting (if not amusing) conversations with our tablemates. (we've made some good friends this way on past cruises!!!) I didn't know that they were supposed to turn people away if they were more than 15 minutes late - we always try to be on time for dinner (or early). Not because we're afraid of missing dinner but because we don't want to be rude or be an inconvenience to anyone!

If you are not trusting the ships water - you could always bring a water bottle on board that has a built in filtration system / purifier attached. Bring it on board empty and use it all over the ship.

I didn't even know there was such an excursion! I'd definitely be interested on our next cruise!

Unfortunately it doesn't always work out that way... we had Set time dining on our last cruise and were the only ones at our table (of 10 people, 5 couples) that arrived on time every night. You'd think our servers would have remembered our names, at least! They did not - called me "Nicole" for the entire cruise even though I corrected them the first couple of times. They also did not remember that we had the Bottomless bubbles package and that I got a Mug Root beer and that my boyfriend got a Pepsi with every meal - we had to ask for them every night. I know that part of the issue was with our table mates - they showed up 30-45 minutes late every night for dinner, which threw off the servers I'm sure!

I wish I could!!

I would not have known about the collapse if I hadn't seen the thread here on CC. I don't watch the "bad" news and most of my television watching is via streaming channels on my Roku device. I also don't have cable (cut that cord many years ago!) I really don't watch enough TV to justify the price of cable. so it's not out of scope for someone to be completely unaware of the collapse.

well... as I said in my post, that you quoted.. (as you can imagine, I can't afford to cruise often, so I don't get to raise my status very quickly.) and I don't know if you're aware but I can still be "Loyal" to Carnival even if I don't sail often... there's no reason to be a turd about it.

I laugh because I just made Gold status again on my last cruise... and the last time they revamped the loyalty program I had just made Gold then too, but then lost it with the revamp. (even have my Gold S&S card to prove it!) So I'm certain that they'll be changing it again and I'll once again be back to Red... LOL good thing I don't really care about my status or this'd really bug me! (as you can imagine, I can't afford to cruise often, so I don't get to raise my status very quickly.)

totally depends on the REASON why they are now leaving from LA. If it's because they just felt like moving the ship, then yes they absolutely should be on the hook for "giving you the cruise that you booked" because the decision to change ports WAS THEIR IDEA. But for a disaster such as this bridge collapsing, that was in no way a result from anything that Carnival has done - they should not be penalized for it. They are doing the best that they can - they will eat the cost of getting folks who are already on board back to their vehicles safely (and for free!). But it's not their responsibility if you choose not to change your flights or drive to a new location to get the cruise that they ARE STILL OFFERING, with the same ports of call, etc. Especially if you have plenty of advance notice to make any changes needed

what would especially suck is if you're from Norfolk and had driven to the Baltimore port... now you gotta take that bus to the port and then just drive right back to Norfolk

because in my opinion, each guest has a different idea of which perk they look forward to the most. for some it's the priority boarding - for others its the laundry - still others are all about the free drinks available at the party... with a "points" based program, each guest can choose which perk they want from the available perks in their tier / that they can use their points to select this means the cruise line isn't "on the hook" for every perk for every guest in each tier of the program.

Personally, I feel like they should go with a loyalty program like Chick-Fil-A... where you accumulate "points" and when you reach certain levels, you get more perks to choose from and you accumulate points a little differently (such as more points are awarded for each $ spent, etc) you don't automatically get ALL of the perks, you use your points to choose the perks that are the most important to you specifically. Some of the redeemable perks could be VIP ship tours once you reach Diamond or Platinum - or a special dessert in the MDR once you reach Gold status (each available at different point values) each level accumulates - when you reach Diamond status, you have all of the perks from all levels below available to choose from plus a few extra higher point items that sort of thing

If you get the wifi plan while on board the ship, you can use the "WhatsApp" app to communicate with friends and family throughout the cruise. Then we don't have to worry about switching airplane mode on/off - we just turn it off when we get to the terminal at the beginning of the cruise and leave it off until we return back home. that's what we do when we're on board. (or off on a trip to another country)

We live in Orlando and my daughter and her friends booked a cruise out of Miami (about a 4 hour drive) - they left Orlando bright and early, thinking they'd have to sit around and wait at the terminal before being able to get in... (good thing they did!) they got a flat tire about an hour out from the terminal and didn't have a spare tire! And being 3 hours from home, nobody around that could come and get them taken care of. They tried calling around to see if anyone could get a tire to them - but everyone gave them a 3-4 hour window of when they could get out there. they ended up calling an Uber (LOL to pick them up on the side of the interstate!!) and left the car on the interstate (one of the dads was gonna go later that day to retrieve the car, with a spare tire in hand). They had less than an hour before final boarding but they were an hour out... that Uber driver worked a miracle and managed to get them to the terminal literally as they were closing the doors. (LOL she understood the assignment and put the pedal to the medal! she also earned herself a hefty $100 CASH tip for her efforts) I ended up driving down there to pick them back up again and get them home (since they no longer had their own transportation) - LOL was a nice long day of driving but way more exciting in the second half, once my kid and her friends were in the car with me. Talking non-stop and messing around. (until they fell asleep and silence took over the car)

I don't understand how they wouldn't also still work like regular elevators... if the elevator stops on the 4th floor and it's full, why would more people crowd into it? Are you saying that if the party of 6 had pushed the button six times, the elevator would not have stopped, at all, at the other floor for the party of 4? (so they would not have the opportunity to crowd in?) LOL obviously I've not experienced one of these new elevators!

I agree with @Alias47 on this one - it may be best to just have a set time to go for dinner. That way if you are off doing something on your own, you don't need to worry about communicating with everyone else about dinner... everyone already knows what time to head to the dining room and can plan their day accordingly.

we usually get the Bottomless bubbles when we cruise... I make custom tumblers so I've always got a newly designed cup for our cruises. Our cups are 30 oz and we bring them to the bars to get our sodas - even if they fill the tumblers with ice, there's still plenty of room for a full can of soda in the cup - so we ALWAYS got a whole can in each of our cups. (we also didn't have any troubles using our own personal cups - the bartenders were always willing to just take our cups and fill with ice / soda for us) my BF didn't have any troubles bringing both of our cups / S&S cards to the bars to get both of our cups filled, either. having said all of that - I paid attention on our last cruise and realized that we were not drinking enough soda to actually make the bottomless bubbles package worth it for us. We both pretty much got the same drinks every time we went (I got Mug Rootbeer and he got Pepsi)...so I believe that the next cruise we take, we'll just bring on a couple of 12 packs of soda instead of spending the $$ of the soda package

why? She was just a loving grandmother, doting on her granddaughter... and a bit blind to the ways of teenagers. LOL

LOL oh I definitely wasn't judging that young lady! I was just very amused at being able to see both sides of her, while poor gramma was completed fooled! At dinner she would brag about the young lady and what a wonderful example she was to others her age... yada yada yada... it was quite comical.

We always choose a fixed dining time and HOPE that we end up sitting at a table with other couples - and if we don't get along with our tablemates (which honestly, is rare) it becomes a great story to tell to others about the cruise! I just wonder how many times WE'VE been the subject of other folks "great" stories about their cruises!! here's my favorite, so far. We had a very nice older lady on one of our cruises who was sailing with her teenaged granddaughter. (granddaughter was maybe 13 years old) During dinner the young lady was all proper, had manners and spoke very well. During the day, when we'd see her - she had her shirt tied up (so that a lot of skin was showing) and she was galivanting around the ship with 4 boys that were around her age... she was wearing lots of make-up and flirting incessantly with the boys (at one point we saw her grab one of the boys in the nether regions!) She was a COMPLETELY different kid when she wasn't around her grandmother!! And my daughter (who was 15 at the time) and I laughed at the comparison and wondered if the grandmother had any idea of how her granddaughter acted when she was off on her own!

In my opinion, many of the covid cases could have been avoided in the first place by folks just taking responsibility for their own health. learning to wash your hands properly is a great first step! (just rinsing your fingertips is NOT washing!)