sparks1093

I've read many threads for Royal and Celebrity of the oh the humanity type especially regarding Celebrity. According to many they are sinking to the bottom by being less exclusive. Fortunately there is a cruise line for everyone.

You snipped the most important part.

After reflecting on it our last two sailings were over 100% capacity (Glory this year, Legend last). I didn't do the math so I don't know how close they were to 110%.

Other cruise lines charge much more than Carnival does and it doesn't seem to slow them down, but I seriously doubt they are making that much on water sales. The target for sailings industry wide is 110% so it would stand to reason that is Carnival's goal as well.

As far as I'm concerned the bacon can stay on bacation if it means a solvent company that keeps fares low and offers a good product.

Um, everyone is raising prices on everything, in case you've not noticed. Carnival is raising the prices on everything to prevent from having to raise fares too much. I am totally fine with that.

You can call insuremytrip as well, but typically 100% of your non-refundable fare is covered (look at trip cancellation and it should give an amount per traveler which is half of what you put in for trip cost).

Not sure about the wine but they do have some that are pricey by the glass that probably moves wine into your third paragraph. Drinking solely beer might be a challenge though to make Cheers worth it. We tend to mix it up throughout each day and get a variety of drinks. First time we had a package I tried every drink I'd ever heard of and found a few new favorites.

They wouldn't need to bring the wine and they wouldn't have to schlep liqour from their room either. We used to do the exact same thing until I actually did the math, but we both drink and that does make a difference. But according to the calculator 3 wines, 2 cocktails and 2 coffees save $95 per person.

From any bar as well.

"I won't benefit from having the drink package because I don't drink that much". Maybe. Maybe not. There are drink calculators that one can use to determine whether or not this one is true for each individual, such as Drink Package Calculator - Cruise Spotlight. Many drink packages offer things to drink other than alcohol and it can all add up.

You said that your wife doesn't drink much, but the Woodford is $165 from Fun Shops, that's almost a fifth the cost of Cheers (no pun intended). Have you used a drink calculator (like this one https://cruisespotlight.com/drink-package-calculator/ ) to actually see if you would save? If you each drink 3 glasses of wine, 2 cocktails and 2 gourmet coffees per day (average over the course of the cruise) then you could save money. You'll have 22 shots in your liter, which is 3 cocktails per day right there for you alone. (And of course Cheers covers mocktails, frozen cocktails, soda and bottled water as well so adding any of those in just makes it better.)

I can also fully understand her position. I can also understand the position of a business owner who has suffered smash and grab robberies with no consequences to the perpetrators. Or the car owner who suffered a hit and run and has been without their vehicle for months with no consequences to the perpetrator (our personal situation, FWIW). Unfortunately this is our society today, no consequences for personal behavior no matter how egregious it is.

I used a hip flask. Ordered a soda and poured a shot in multiple venues.

The answer won't help you, but perhaps it might help someone else. That's one good thing about posts like yours- we can figure out how to react in a similar situation.

DW and I actually like the new Starry, both regular and diet and feel it is a huge improvement over Sierra Mist. We also still like Sprite, both regular and diet. Neither of us care for 7 Up.

Unless its use is restricted in some way OBC can used for anything on your account (you don't get to choose, really, it is applied as a credit). So if you have $500 in obc and your final bill is $600 you would owe $100.

I would expect brunch to be better, absolutely.

Yes, overall I would rate Carnival's buffet as "consistently good". That doesn't mean that I necessarily like everything offered. That's the beauty of a buffet, you can try a small taste of something and if you like it you can go back for more. If you don't you move on. I would expect that they would remove some foods and add other foods as time goes on.

I was going to say this, Carnival's buffet bacon has always been overdone and I stopped taking any a long time ago.

I have always found Carnival's buffet to be consistently good. It may not be as robust in offerings that other lines give, but everything that I've tried is very good (for what it is, which is buffet food). I know that I've never left hungry. 🤣

Well, typically only $50 of your deposit per person is not refundable, the remaining deposit is available as a future cruise credit. If you use the CFAR provision of the cruise line insurance you get 75% of the fare back, but only as a future cruise credit. So I would say spending money is just an extra, unnecessary step.

Read and fully understand the terms they are using. The way they define things may not be the way that we would define them.

Plus many other plans are also secondary.

If a plan offers cancel for any reason and you buy the plan to cancel for any reason, where is the fraud?