angelsfort

On 4/29/2024 at 6:07 PM, luv2kroooz said:

No time to have any letdowns. Plus, why would they let someone else's actions control their feelings. Whether someone tips or doesn't tip extra is out of the control of the server, so no need to fret. They just move on to the next guest with a smile.

I find this comment funny.   We live in a world now where a large portion of the population wants to be offended on other peoples behalf.  Not for something that affects them directly but for something that may or may not affect someone else.

People get upset when someone has an opinion that differs from theirs - so you're question above has extra weight on it for me...  as I don't understand WHY people have to do this.  Too many people get so upset about the actions of others, when it has ZERO direct impact on them or their lives personally.

my opinion on tipping... do it if you want to!  You know that by adding that extra tip to the bill you will make the bartender happy...  but you won't necessarily make them "unhappy" if you don't...  they all know that the gratuity is already included but it doesn't stop them from enjoying that extra bit of $$ when it does come their way! 

Oh please post back in here when you're on board and they've "found" you!  I'd love to hear how it went!!

this is such a fun idea!  🙂 

On 4/24/2024 at 7:19 PM, mamiamjo said:

I have some Protein Powder I use at home, but the container is much bigger than what I want to carry around and don't really want to carry around a couple of ziplock bags with powder in them. I'll see what I can get from the Java Blue

I wouldn't use a ziplock bag, get a tupperware container with a screw on lid and just put it in your luggage (no need to carry it on in your carry-on bag)

you can then have room service deliver directly to your cabin the water/milk or whatever you need to mix it into

8 minutes ago, staceyglow said:

I would be tempted to just pick those up and throw them in the garbage.

 

At a minimum, I would take one off the table I needed and claim ignorance if someone asked about "their" table.

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?

31 minutes ago, Pyxie said:

I've participated a few times. A couple of times we did Goo Goo Clusters candy (we're from Nashville where they are from), though, this one could be iffy due to allergies as they contain nuts.

 

We also once did custom tea-lights with the ship name and date with battery operated candles. These were from Oriental Trading and I really did it because I had a good coupon. Otherwise they probably would have been a little over budget.

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? 

16 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

They shouldn't have been let in in the first place. 15 minutes after assigned dining starts, the hostesses are supposed to close the MDR doors and tell latecomers to go eat elsewhere.

 

So the issue was actually with Carnival not following it's own rules. After it happened the second time, I would have spoken to the Maitre'D.

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!

On 2/28/2024 at 4:11 PM, elcuchio24 said:

We'd been big fans of YTD for years, but after a couple of set time seatings over the last year, we're finding it nicer to have a set time for the kids and the same wait staff every night to know your preferences, etc. 

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!  

1 hour ago, skywalkr2 said:

 

If I was lucky enough to live in florida, I think I would probably do about 10 3 day cruises a year.  They typically are cheaper than a nice night out.

I wish I could!!

20 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Idk what to say. I live in texas and it's been all over the news. Of course I follow stocks and news a lot but cant imagine not having heard about the bridge collapse.

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.

14 hours ago, staceyglow said:

If you just made Gold since the last revamp, you don't cruise on Carnival very often.  It's called a "loyalty program" for a reason. 

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.)

12 minutes ago, SRF said:

They may not be responsible for the situation, but they are responsible for giving you the cruise you booked.  How would it be if you booked a cruise out of Miami and they said, oh, your cruise is now leaving from LA, it is your problem?

 

IMO, they should offer transport to/from Baltimore and Norfolk.

 

Or either let you cancel for a full refund or for say 150% of your fare as a credit to a future cruise.

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

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

That's an over 4 hour bus ride. Not how I'd want to end my vacation but what choice do you have?

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)

3 hours ago, teknoge3k said:

I wouldn't exactly call them "new" as guests have been using them for 6 years now, but they work great when people actually use them properly. The issue comes when a party of 6 gets in and hits the button once. Then the next stop 4 more people crowd in, and hit the button once. If people would use them properly, they work great!

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

2 minutes ago, StephPS79 said:

 

I'd probably be more offended by the grandma.  

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