Tell me about Past Guest Party

[Dixie24]

I recently turned Platinum on Carnival but have not been to the past guest party in years. Looking forward to checking it out on my upcoming Triumph cruise. So tell me about what I can expect and your thoughts on it. How long is it?, what drinks can you order?, etc. Also, does anyone know what day it is on the Triumph?

[Sparky2]

I recently turned Platinum on Carnival but have not been to the past guest party in years. Looking forward to checking it out on my upcoming Triumph cruise. So tell me about what I can expect and your thoughts on it. How long is it?, what drinks can you order?, etc. Also, does anyone know what day it is on the Triumph?

 

They show a video of all the ships in the fleet - from the 1st to last. People clap or yell if they've been on that ship.

 

The appetizers are much better than the ones they had in the past. The barstaff bring around trays of drinks - funship special - but you can request something else. If you tip a $ when you take a drink and order something special, they make sure they keep your choice coming to you.

 

I ordered Chocolate Mocha Getaway and had 3 of them at the last party. They are not in the fancy glasses but smaller water-type glasses.

[Dixie24]

Thanks. Anyone else have an opinion on the party one way or the other?

[shof515]

i find it overall a waste of time and i dont attend to them any more

[midwestcruiser2001]

It's definitely worth going it. Free drinks and food, some "canned" jokes,f and some music! What else is free on the cruise:D?

 

We found your best friend at the "Past Guest Party" is the $1 bill. We tipped each time they brought a drink and we had more drinks than anyone else seated. I asked for a bottled beer and they brought that to me with no questions.

 

We haven't cruised since the new tiers, but look forward to attending next month.

[jimicaj]

If you're a past Holland America guest will you be invited to the party?

 

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[bluejay555]

They show a video of all the ships in the fleet - from the 1st to last. People clap or yell if they've been on that ship.

 

The appetizers are much better than the ones they had in the past. The barstaff bring around trays of drinks - funship special - but you can request something else. If you tip a $ when you take a drink and order something special, they make sure they keep your choice coming to you.

 

I ordered Chocolate Mocha Getaway and had 3 of them at the last party. They are not in the fancy glasses but smaller water-type glasses.

 

I didn't know you could request something different! In my opinion, the party has gone way downhill. Just a few years ago, they were serving champagne, mixed drinks, trays of different finger-food type appetizers that you could just grab as servers walked by with platters.... now you get a funship drink (there might be a splash of alcohol in there, but you'd never know it) and you get two appetizers. We were served a bite size piece of beef inside a spoonful of mashed potatoes ?? and a fancy schmancy tiny piece of pizza. The captain spoke and took some questions from the guests, and the dj played music and invited everyone up to dance. It was nice, everyone was friendly, and i was able to take my mom and daughters, who weren't technically invited, so I guess I shouldn't complain ;)

[Doug910]

...After all these cruises, it's starting getting to get a little hokey, but I still love it. Enjoy clapping for all the ships we've been on.

 

But, the previous poster who says that the $1 bill is your friend isn't kidding! Ordered two rum & diet cokes for myself and a Kaluha and cream for the wife and quietly placed $4 on his tray. He quickly returned with two drinks for both of us. Later on, as I was exiting the theater empty handed, he was standing at the exit with two more! He said" I wait for you. Thank you again!" Don't forget to take care of your waiters and waitresses...

Edited February 17, 2014 by Doug910
spelling

[ShakyBeef]

The party has definitely improved since they limited it to Gold and up - less people, smaller venue, more lively entertainment and dancing - it feels more like a party and less like a huge crowd of people packed into stadium seats, desperate to get a free drink.:rolleyes::p

 

Speaking of the free drinks... I'm echoing what others have already said: if you remember to tip your server with the first one (and each subsequent), you'll always have a fresh one (or 2) waiting on your table for you before you're finished with your last.;)

 

The hors d'oeuvres are small, but nice. We don't go there hungry, looking for a meal.:rolleyes: They are just tasty little bites of food to go with the 'party feel' of the event.

 

Although, since we tip our servers (yes, even our hors d'oeuvre servers), we did have more than enough brought to us. If we hadn't started turning them away, the servers would probably have tried to give us a full meal's worth of them!:eek: So, if you are hungry when you go to the Past Guest Party, try tipping your server.;)

[ShakyBeef]

If you're a past Holland America guest will you be invited to the party?

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Forums mobile app

 

Sorry, but no, not unless you are Gold level or higher in the VIFP Club (Carnival's loyalty program).:o

[CJinFLA00]

...After all these cruises, it's starting getting to get a little hokey, but I still love it. Enjoy clapping for all the ships we've been on.

 

But, the previous poster who says that the $1 bill is your friend isn't kidding! Ordered two rum & diet cokes for myself and a Kaluha and cream for the wife and quietly placed $4 on his tray. He quickly returned with two drinks for both of us. Later on, as I was exiting the theater empty handed, he was standing at the exit with two more! He said" I wait for you. Thank you again!" Don't forget to take care of your waiters and waitresses...

 

Great advice and works great. We've often left the party with drinks in both hands!

[Shaded Lady]

I know that the Past Guest party they used to have was pretty lame- watered down drinks and hors d'oeuvres were almost non-existent. But since they changed it to the VIFP party, I've heard it's quite different- the drinks are definitely not watered down and there are lots of finger foods wandering around.

 

I also heard the same thing that was mentioned here- you can order pretty much any drink, but a small tip of a couple of bucks will reap huge benefits!

 

This next cruise will be our first at the new party and I'm looking forward to it.

[JohnSpo]

The past guest party is always pleasant but predictable. The best part for me is talking to guests at the party. I have met a few guests that cruise many times a year and it is interesting to hear a sea warriors impression of Carnival. So far they have always been positive about Carnival.

 

I have never seen people tipping at the part but I will do it next time to get beer on tap instead of the sweet drinks.:cool:

[crusinpsychRN]

Lasts about 45 min. Starts promptly. Hors d's are different than before, but I still don't care for them...drinks have alcohol in them now! Order anything you want. Didn't take too long to get either. They collect invite at the door or walk around to get them.

[Velvetwater]

When does your invite turn up and when is the party?

 

 

If there is free drinks Im there although we will be the most newbie people there having done 1 cruise beforehand and that was on the same ship wed currently be on. LOL

[Fedic]

When does your invite turn up and when is the party?

 

 

If there is free drinks Im there although we will be the most newbie people there having done 1 cruise beforehand and that was on the same ship wed currently be on. LOL

 

It's not really the "Past Guest Party" any more. You now have to be Gold or higher in VIFP to get the invite...

[Velvetwater]

It's not really the "Past Guest Party" any more. You now have to be Gold or higher in VIFP to get the invite...

 

Yes I know...

 

We did our first cruise last summer which was 12 days round the Baltics.

 

We are doing the 13 day Panama this August which takes us up to day 25 and gold on our last day and has made our documents gold...thus our entire cruise as gold.

 

Lucky huh?

[Fedic]

Yes I know...

 

We did our first cruise last summer which was 12 days round the Baltics.

 

We are doing the 13 day Panama this August which takes us up to day 25 and gold on our last day and has made our documents gold...thus our entire cruise as gold.

 

Lucky huh?

 

Nice! Well, in that case, I have no idea when the party will be on a 13-day cruise, but your room steward will deliver the invite to you. The last couple of cruises, our towel animal was holding it.

[MicksMom]

We didn't make it to dinner after our last 2 parties. Too many drinks. :D. Definitely think it has improved.

 

Don't think this has been addressed, parties are only held on 5+ day cruises. No party on the Triumphs 4 day ones.

[GRANNYOFSIX]

We absolutely look forward to the new and improved party!!! Won't repeat what many have already said about the drinks and d'oeuvres (soooo improved). The only thing about the party that we don't like is the time the party is scheduled for - around 4:00pm or so - hard to get ready to "go to a party" - but we manage:D

[ccruisequeen]

I didn't know you could request something different! In my opinion, the party has gone way downhill. Just a few years ago, they were serving champagne, mixed drinks, trays of different finger-food type appetizers that you could just grab as servers walked by with platters.... now you get a funship drink (there might be a splash of alcohol in there, but you'd never know it) and you get two appetizers. We were served a bite size piece of beef inside a spoonful of mashed potatoes ?? and a fancy schmancy tiny piece of pizza. The captain spoke and took some questions from the guests, and the dj played music and invited everyone up to dance. It was nice, everyone was friendly, and i was able to take my mom and daughters, who weren't technically invited, so I guess I shouldn't complain ;)

 

I ordered a virgin pina colada and they got it to me asap

 

Codes

 

 

 

[sjcruiser]

I think with the new levels the VIFP parties are better than before. More drinks and food, and more staff to serve them so you don't have to wait long before they come back around. There's usually a set/group of servers for a particular area who are constantly on the look out for empty glasses, or those needing service.

[Jadehenry]

Does anyone know what day and time they're usually on? I'm wondering about 7 day Glory specifically.

[GeorgiaMomof4]

We were just on the Fascination last week and that was the first one we had got to attend (Gold on this sailing).

 

I wasn't sure about going, but I'm really glad we did. Ours was at 5:00 p.m. on the last sea day for a 5 day sailing. We had early dinner so it wasn't too much of a problem to be ready by 5. Some of the drinks offered were the funship special, martini, champagne, whiskey sour, etc. We asked for some different ones and they were brought without any questions.

 

Our CD got up and talked some and we actually had a live band for a while, then the DJ started playing music for us.

 

They did play the slide/movie of all the ships and that was really neat to me. Maybe if I had been several times before I would have been bored with it, but we both (DH and I) enjoyed it. I was really surprised he liked it - he isn't usually into that kind of stuff.

 

I didn't tip my wait staff (shame on me) because in all honesty I didn't even think about it but I wish I had. I'll know next time from all the other posts here. I'm always good about doing it - don't know why it didn't even occur to me this time. Even so, we still had way more drinks than we needed!

 

Go check it out if you can. If you don't like it you can always leave or just not go next time. It's probably a little different from ship to ship depending on the CD.

[Crusin Karen]

We've always had pretty good "service" at the past guest party, but the last one on the Splendor in May we almost had to tackle a waiter to get a drink. I think I am going to bring some $ bills and take everyone's advice. But I don't know how you do this...does he come to you and you order a drink and put the $ on his tray, hand it to him outright, or palm it to him?