Tom-n-Cheryl

Hopeful that a new actual post (yours, thank you!) will set things straight 😁

In the last hour I've received perhaps five notifications of new posts to this thread, but there's nothing new. Anyone else experiencing the same issue?

We sailed on the Reflection for a B2B (7+7) a couple years ago - and that was a time stretch for us (not so much $, as the casino gave us a GREAT deal). Online another person reached out to me before the sailing to see if I could bring him some supplies (bandages, Neosporin, etc). He was onboard for TEN sailings. Something about their own condo they come down to stay at was rented for a couple of months, and they had "nowhere to go". I thought that was interesting. 🙂 Tom

Slightly different ends of the spectrum there (I know some people who have fishing boats, air boats, bass boats, but no yachts), but I get your point. For all of us here on CC - we like to cruise, and would all pretty much cruise more if we could. First world "problems" to be sure. Tom

Forgive me Father, for I have... vacationed

I wonder if such a thing could be considered board (cruise line) specific? Tom

Ok - I'm just accustomed to assuming that when someone calls you an elitist, the intent is usually not positive. Also, not sure where you get the idea that I have "unlimited funds and availability to travel". I'm still employed (I have no choice - didn't get into my career until nearly 40 years of age, and can't retire). I do have control of my work schedule, and travel when we can, but it's way less than we'd like to. I try to take about a week off every 2-3 months or so. Rarely am I able to get away for much longer - which means many travel options (Europe, etc) are off the table for now. I hope you have a good time on the Firenze - I haven't really followed the (new to Carnival ships), but it looks interesting. Tom

Have I offended you in some way? Actually, our office cruise this year was on MSC. We had a nice time, and all of the staff had a beverage package included with their booking. From their perspective, a much better value - as with the Mardi Gras, they're going to have to either pony up for CHEERS or pay as they go. Tom

My offers are much better from Carnival, perhaps you're on to something! 😄 I guess they MUST be giving it all away... since Covid, the share price of CCL is about a THIRD of what it was before (Covid). RCL has fully recovered, and then some. FIVE YEAR PERFORMANCE : I wish Carnival would stop giving it all away. Even more, I wish I had bought into RCL instead of CCL. I keep waiting for CCL to pull out of the slump... I'm hanging in there - and just booked 9 cabins for our office cruise next year on the Mardi Gras. It's a great product, and we'll have a blast. Tom

I'm guessing (hoping!) Carnival has it figured out just how much to "give away" in order to come out ahead.

Yeppers. At least two of three worked through the process.

Though, some have casinos have gone bankrupt... That takes work!

The casino always wins

They probably play more than the average Joe, when they don't think others are looking...

That's true - at one point they were giving either OBC or Freeplay up to $2,000 along with the room. Now most seem to max out at about $500. Tom

Eat your cake and have it too... or have your cake and eat it too ? Tom

Ah - you're right. I'm clouded by my booking history... usually paying a few thousand to upgrade to Excel suites (aft corner or presidential) !

I'm confused a bit. I've booked several of the low deposit casino offers and, if memory serves, I must pay in full by the final payment date (a couple months prior to sailing) or the booking is cancelled. How are people making it to embarkation day with only a deposit at risk ?? Tom

Carnival is, by far, the most generous of the lines we've sailed in terms of casino/cruise offers. Since COVID, they've really upped their "game". Other lines, have pulled back. I used to get 60% off suites on Celebrity (sailing of my choice), now I'm getting something like 5% off... rather pathetic. Tom

Agreed - though I'll add that there's some "special feeling" when you take the $25 they give you (well, $50 - Cheryl gives me hers) and run it up to $500-$1,000+ at BJ. Now, if one could just walk away at that point... if only... Tom

Just saw this thread - not reading 8 pages on the topic (or sub-topics, lol). My $0.02 though --- I was thrilled to have that benefit while it lasted, and was surprised that it held on as long as it did... replacing the BOGO tournament entries, which replaced the FREE tournament entry. Change is the constant Tom

Well, they had my booking number. So, in this case at least, that's sufficient for me. 🙂 But yep... there are all kinds of scams going on. For our home we sold recently, a Canadian bank/cashiers check arrived at a local title company (for $200k earnest money) from people we had never heard of. It was a scam - intending for the title company to deposit the funds, then the person who sent the check would request a refund (to get out of the deal, of which there was none)... receiving real $ before the foreign check was determined to be fake. Tom

Perhaps nobody took the bull by the horns, or was "allowed" to ! Tom

Pennies from Heaven 🙂

I was rather surprised to open my mailbox yesterday and find a check from Carnival... from a cancelled sailing on the Liberty in December of '21 !!! I can't wait to check the mail again today, and the next, and the next --- as, you never know ! LOL Tom