martini_guy

This was a separate trivia thing that was pub/drink related questions only and only held in the Red Frog pub.

I remember on previous cruises going to a daily pub quiz that was cumulative. I was looking at some recent Fun Times and I don't see them listed on any. Does anyone know?

On 11/19/2019 at 5:55 PM, soonernstlouis said:

My wife & I have both been on keto for over a year and both took a break from keto on our recent 7 day sailing (8 days including extra day in port).  Both only gained about 3-4 pounds not following keto but felt really sluggish with the high carb foods every day.  
 

Planning on following a modified diet next October for our next cruise; eat 1-2 keto meals and 1 cheat meal each day.  Just going to be more picky about eating unnecessary carbs (Guys burger buns, maybe no pizza since I’m not a fan) and hope for net zero gain with the amount of walking we do.

I basically did this last January. Had 2 cruises in the span of 5 weeks. I avoided unnecessary carbs like burger buns, picked the meat out of my deli sandwiches and just scraped the toppings off my pizza. I had a couple of cheat meals but nothing that was pure carbs like pasta or rice. I also had the drink package and limited myself to light beers and bourbon/diet. Ended up gaining around 2 lbs. Was worth it as it didn't take long to get back to where I was.

2 minutes ago, amyhphoto said:

 The reason most of us will never sail Carnival. Once was enough for me, what a huge mistake. 

The Carnival ship in your signature is a very old ship. You also seem to like old person ships based on the ones you took before that so I don't doubt that you weren't happy.

3 minutes ago, gatour said:

Think like a business owner.

You have one or perhaps two customers at your bar 1 am in the morning and you are paying the bartender and perhaps one other person.  Said customers are only ordering a drink every 30 minutes.  Do the math, is it cost effective to keep the bar open?

 

Do you vacation in Florida?  Bars stop serving drinks at 2am.  If you vacation in Florida what do you do in regards to drinks between 2 and 4am?

On Carnival there's always a dozen people at least hanging around the pool aft deck bar at 3am.

Yes in Florida everyone orders a couple of drinks right before 2 to take them to 2:30 at least.

28 minutes ago, littletraveler8 said:

What do you mean by old. I am 55 and like to stay up late, but if you  need to start drinking early and still need drinks later than 1 a.m. maybe you have a problem. I consume maybe 5 at most after 2 p.m. I really would like to remember my cruise after I spent lots of money on it and don't fancy making a fool of myself. Just something to think about.

When I'm on vacation I like to go to bed at 3-4am. I prefer to save going to bed at 1am for when I'm back at home and have to work the next day.

I didn't once mention getting drunk or drinking early in the day.  I just prefer to wait until evening to drink and not start at 1-2pm like half the ship does.

5 hours ago, xxHadleyxx said:

 

OP---you seem unreasonably angry and upset at many posters who made perfectly valid suggestions and points

Most of them lied about what the bar hours or are making suggestions like stockpiling drinks in my room, or going to the casino bar that still closes at 3am or earlier and is full of smoke. Do you consider those to be valid suggestions?

1 hour ago, Sitzmark said:

Funny, when we were on the Carnival Dream, the only bar I recall being open late was the lobby bar.  Because it was the only thing open late it would get so crowded that it was very difficult to get a drink  there also.  the Red frog bar would close around 5ish as I recall and the Blue Iguana shortly after.  The sunset bar would stay open a little later but definitely not into the night and there was no alcohol service at the pizzeria.  We never went into the Casino so I couldn't speak to the hours there.  I don't recall any of them being open real early, but I would say the pool bars typically opened by around 10:00.  Doesn't seem that different than what RCI does.

 

 

On the Dream that bar at the back of the ship by the Pizza is open until 3am. I know because I would usually go to bed right when it closed.

6 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Then why do you care if the pool bar didn't open until 9 AM?

I don't care.. someone was just lying that the pool bar was open at 7am.

1 hour ago, HBE4 said:

Being a night owl, I like to enjoy a late night drink or three. Never really had a issue on any ship as the casino bar and night club bars are usually open until 2:00 am, sometimes 3:00 am on a good night. And if the smoke is bothersome or the music too loud, just take your drinks to go and find a quiet spot.

 

I used to stock pile beer in my cabin fridge for a night cap on the balcony. But honestly, I'm usually too tired at 3:00 am from being up early in the morning that I'd fall sleep before it was finished.

 

Having said all that, there have been a few times where Schooner & the English pub closed early, around midnight. I could see where some people might be put off having to be forced to trek through the ship looking for a drink.

 

EDIT: I forgot to mention, last cruise on Liberty, I noticed that Sorrento's has a limited bar. They are always open until 2-3 am. Never noticed that before so I'm not sure if it's a new thing or if all ships have that.

 

Yeah it's just too much work if I have stockpile drinks in my cabin fridge or to go to the smokey casino just to enjoy a drink after midnight-1am. I'll just go back to cruising with Carnival so I can go to any bar that I want until late.

2 minutes ago, frank808 said:

According to OP you are cherry picking to prove a point.  I wonder what BWW charges for a Bud Light in San Francisco?

 

 

I actually work in Daly City for Tesla just outside SF 1 week out of every 8 (SF doesn't actually have a BWW). It's $3 from 4-6pm. Glad you helped me prove my point.

1 minute ago, John&LaLa said:

Why all the talk of beer. 🤔

Are you not a martini drinker. 😉

Good point! A martini is $13 on the ship.. unfortunately I had 5+ occasions this week where I either had a bartender that didn't know how to make a proper martini, or claimed they didn't have the "ingredients". Insane when I ask for a basic martini and I see both vodka and vermouth on the shelf.

4 minutes ago, frank808 said:

I am not cherry picking as you call it.  I live in Honolulu.  You did quote

 

 

You are the one being so defensive and I was asking an honest question.

I'm in Canada and could say a head of lettuce is $2 in Canada but in arctic Canada one would be $20. You're doing the same thing since you choose to live in a remote area.

39 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

Every cruise line that I have sailed on since 1986 usually do not have pool bars open late unless there is an activity on deck. By closing these bars early passengers are forced to head to the inside venue where they will pass the casino, shops and tables full of merchandise that they are selling. 

Every modern Carnival ship has the back deck bar open till 4am or so. I'm not sure about your point with shops. Royal Caribbean shops all close very early usually 11pm or so. 

13 minutes ago, frank808 said:

In the major city of Honolulu, Buffalo Wild Wings charges $8 for a draft Bud Light non happy hour.  Even happy hour is it $5.  

 

Just asking what Buffalo Wild Wings location charges $3 for a bud light non happy hour?

So you chose the most expensive market in the US. Congrats on cherry picking extremes to try and prove something.

9 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Maybe you should look at Carnival. I guess I’m one of those people that like to cruise to relax, not burn the midnight oil. 

Yeah Carnival is better for sure including for food quality. How is being forced to go to bed early because nothing else is open relaxing? It's more frustrating and infuriating than anything else. 

9 minutes ago, FrannyK said:

We experienced a similar experience on the Anthem a couple of years ago.  The cruise actually started off with one bartender to 200 people in Two70.  It didn't get much better from there.  We are not night owls these days and enjoy a drink or two during the day and it was difficult to find a bar that was open inside the ship.  We ended up going outside to the pool to get drinks most of the time.  Since the advent of the drink package we have never been asked if we'd like a drink anywhere on any RCCL ship except in the MDR or specialty restaurants.  And there are scant bartenders when the bars are open.  We never purchase the drink package.  The difficulty getting a drink and the lessening food quality really has us rethinking our decision to stick with RCCL.  We are sailing on the Indy this coming weekend and giving it another try.

That's too bad that you had issues as well. Not to be a Carnival schill, but I was on a Carnival cruise 3 weeks before this cruise and only saw one bar at the back of the ship that was closed at night and I go to bed after 2am most nights on cruises. Carnival's 24 hour pizza stand also serves beer.

5 hours ago, Joseph2017China said:

I went to a bar the other night, and the price of a beer was about the same as on the ship.  Since the overpriced drinks are about the same on the ship as on the land in many places, I would wonder how you plan on doing a class action lawsuit and under what grounds?  Too expensive?  Than why did you pay for it?   Takes too long to get a drink?  I never walked up to a bar, ask for a drink, and have it take 20 minutes.  Table service is what yo wanted than maybe the 10 feet to the bar was too far to walk?  There is always at least one bar open to 3am, and you can find drinks before 12 noon, so I'm thinking bars are open 17 hours out of 24. 

Even a cheap beer like Bud light is $7.99 on the ship. You can get them for $3 at any bar in the US, or $2 if there's a special.

The issue here is that they're intentionally shortening the hours to be unreasonably short. There should be more than the casino (cancer) bar open until 3am. Not one bar is open 17 hours. Most bars open at either 11am or 3pm. Boleros is often 3pm-1am.

You should like you work for Royal if you're making up all these facts.

2 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

I'm curious..did you bring this to the attention of the Food and Beverage Manger on board or any other supervisor?  

I complained to one of the head bartenders at the Trellis bar. He said the hours are set. 

4 hours ago, kam2718 said:

Did all bars close at midnight?  I would assume less traveled areas where a bar is would close early but I bet the casino bars were open late....

 

Seems kind if silly to file a lawsuit about wait times to get a drink.  

The Trellis and Schooner bars closed at midnight the night before every port day. The pool bars closed incredibly early. Usually they were close by after dinner. The English pub was never open much later than 1am. Boleros was open past 1am once. Casino bar was open until 2am but I don't like hanging out in a smoke filled room.

I guess this ship is more geared towards old people that don't like to stay up and enjoy life.

First off, I really liked most aspects of the ship in general. Booking on the newest/largest ship in the fleet I did expect it to be at least be to a certain standard. Eventually I would've settled for even an average standard. My first experience on the ship was going to the English pub to get a drink. My total wait was over 20 mins even though less than 10 people were in the bar. Other people in the bar told me they had to wait similar or longer. Throughout the whole trip bar service was extremely slow, and most bars closed at midnight or earlier which I've almost never heard of. Bartenders refused to tell me when they were closing and some bars just seemed to close at whim. After 3 nights I asked to get my drink package cancelled as it's clearly a scam as drinks are only available for 9-12 hours at best and they refused. I would like to start a class action suit against them. I will NEVER go on a Royal cruise again. The food is sub-par anyways but why have to deal with this $70/day drink scam when I have to spend 10 hours of waiting time per cruise just lining up for overpriced drinks?

Same here had a later flight once and left from breakfast to leave the ship at after 10am.

About one night per cruise we get the cheese plate on the dessert menu "to go". We then enjoy it later in the room or on the balcony with one of the bottles of wine that we brought onboard.

I'm not sure if they still do this, but I used to go to the customer service desk and ask for one. They would either give me one, or my room steward would leave one in the room. I have a few Carnival branded ones that I carry with me on other trips.

The Paradise did get an overhaul in dry dock this year though. I do know that on the newer ships that they can 100% change the channels.