Carnival "Journeys" Throwback Day, Crew Show, Midnight Buffet, Calypso bands

[kteachcruiser52]

I am glad they are "testing the waters" on 2 of the cruises we have booked. it sounds like a lot of fun. We had the midnight buffet only once - on the Tropicale cruise.

[UpstateCruizer]

Not sure why it has to be retro on a longer cruise. The longer cruises tend to attract a predominantly 70 80 and 90 year old crowd.

 

But a retro 7 to 10 day cruise sounds intriguing. All those old inboard experiences just seemed to dry up. So silly yet so fun.

 

I would live for a beard with an imagination see where a retro cruise would have morphed to had they gone that route. There are actually people will to pay for something more than a generic cruising experience.

 

 

This is so NOT true. Longer cruises are not limited to the older aged demographics. I've been on two and the demographics have been surprisingly similar to an off season cruise. We've done the Hawaii 15 day in April and the Dream 9 day repo in April. We typically cruise every April and found the same demographics for all of the cruises.

 

We are already booked on the Glory 14 day cruise so when this announcement was made we were thrilled. We've experienced the gala buffet and captain's cocktail party as it was many years ago. Those experiences don't make or break a cruise for us but to be able to experience them again is exciting. There are other retro experiences that were gone before we started cruising that we missed out on. I am excited to at least have the opportunity to try them.

 

If a Journey Cruise experience sounds appealing then book it and give it a try before deciding it's a geriatric cruise population :) I'm 48 and dh is 50 and I'm not ready to join the geriatric years lol we are cruising with another couple similarly aged. We have a blast regardless of what we are doing.

 

Dh and I both work full time but we save our time off for cruising so the longer cruises are doable and we love them. I hope the people who have complained about all the things they have watched being taken away over the years actually book these Journey cruises! Carnival obviously listened and time will tell just how much these cruise experiences matter to people. Of course I was hoping for lots of price drops so if the cruise I'm booked on becomes popular the drops may not come. It's worth it to experience something new but not so new :)

[soccersharon]

This is so NOT true. Longer cruises are not limited to the older aged demographics.

 

 

So true! We will be 49 and 46 by the time our Vista cruise rolls around. Definitely not geriatric in the least! We have families, with young children, and solos on our roll call as well :). Good mix of people = great cruise

[SoloCroozer]

Hi Yall!

 

we are older cruisers and we have had all these things on previous cruises, not just with Carnival, but with NCL and Princess as well....I am so happy they are bringing some of these things back for us.

The reason you will only see them offered on certain cruises is because they will only be on the new longer cruises 10+ days and repo cruises, since they are just now starting to offer the longer cruises again they want to offer folks an incentive to book them! They don't need to motivate me, LOL....the best news is we have already booked a B2B cruise, Galveston to SanJuan back to the Island in Jan 2016 and it will have these new (old) things offered to us....good deal!

Alice

[SMSACE6]

Me too! Congratulations.

 

Back at you!:)

[SMSACE6]

Not sure why it has to be retro on a longer cruise. The longer cruises tend to attract a predominantly 70 80 and 90 year old crowd.

 

But a retro 7 to 10 day cruise sounds intriguing. All those old inboard experiences just seemed to dry up. So silly yet so fun.

 

I would live for a beard with an imagination see where a retro cruise would have morphed to had they gone that route. There are actually people will to pay for something more than a generic cruising experience.

 

You should embrace your elders! To coin a cliche...lots to be learned from them (I am not there yet in age;) but work in health care, and what I see over and over is that there is still a young spirit inside the aging body. Just because people are older than you, does not mean that they are decrepit, worthless and unable to appreciate or have a good time. So next time you see a person/people from that age group, try and look at them differently. You may see an entirely different perspective of chronologial "age".

[pirate4me2]

I'm excited to see that my 14 day cruise on the Pride in 2016 is included in this! Its round trip as well. I can't wait to experience all this stuff everyone has talked about being gone!

[cruzn buckeye]

I wish they would do this on at least some of their 7 day cruises... due to limitd vacay time, i cant do a longer cruise... but it sounds great!

I am thinking though, that when we thought calypso and steel bands were coming back, because of employment opportunities they were offering, it could be that they need that for this adventure.

I really truly hope they bring this back to some 7 days, and dump Hasbro, and such things as playlist... When i started cruising i was 31... I was not geriatric, and am still not... but that is when i fell in love with cruising... carnival.. the fun ships!

[golfb4cruzing]

Maybe they'll close the slides and annoying big screen. The old days were a lot of fun instead of just trivia. I don't remember trivia in the old days. Are the great steaks coming back to the MDR? No Rap !!

[MrMileStoner]

Didn't passengers provide more of the entertainment and were not cruise prices higher in the good, old, days?

[Lizalico]

All these great things and more are coming back on longer Carnival cruises. I wish they had it for 7 day cruises too, but this is a pretty big deal IMO and brings back a lot of the stuff old timers miss and newbies NEVER know they are missing. Two thumbs up to Carnival.

 

Oh how I miss the days of the really good times onboard Carnival. Now don't get me wrong, I still enjoy being on Carnival but the days of the calypso bands, midnight buffet, deck parties and the entertainers they brought onboard was absolutely wonderful. Really miss those days!! It would be amazing if they brought all that back on all the cruises.

[gkbiiii]

They are bringing back the midnight buffets and traditional dining options, right?

[islandatsea]

Oh how I miss the days of the really good times onboard Carnival. Now don't get me wrong, I still enjoy being on Carnival but the days of the calypso bands, midnight buffet, deck parties and the entertainers they brought onboard was absolutely wonderful. Really miss those days!! It would be amazing if they brought all that back on all the cruises.

 

I remember those days too :) . Hopefully Carnival will bring back these activities on all voyages if these "JOURNEYS" cruises sell out showing the popularity with them. Or at a minimum, different itineraries that is not the usual same old, same old ones.

[cruzn buckeye]

Didn't passengers provide more of the entertainment and were not cruise prices higher in the good, old, days?

 

Actually, the passengers did not provide more entertainment. And it's not really the good old days:rolleyes: Carnival provided shows every night,and they were good. Everyone enjoyed them. The showroom was always packed. And that is the view of an old 31 year old... The entertainment that passengers provided then was one night, they had the talent show... which trust me.. was so much better than the Legends shows they have now... if you weren't there, you really don't know just how much fun you are missing... Carnival started my addiction to cruising... :D:D

[cruzn buckeye]

Oh how I miss the days of the really good times onboard Carnival. Now don't get me wrong, I still enjoy being on Carnival but the days of the calypso bands, midnight buffet, deck parties and the entertainers they brought onboard was absolutely wonderful. Really miss those days!! It would be amazing if they brought all that back on all the cruises.

 

You are so right... new cruisers don't know what they are missing because they didn't get a chance to experience it... I remember a cruise where they brought mariachi bands on board on the cruise to Cozumel and they went around to all the tables and played for all of the tables... so much fun... and they brought some Mexican dancers onboard for showtime...

But.. even better than that... of course remember when this was... 1998 i believe, they had the lead singer of the "Platters"... now that was fun.. of course it was oldies songs but still fun... and it didn't cost us anything when they brought these entertainers onboard...

One time at the passenger talent show, on the imagination, there was a man singing "I got friends in new places" Garth brook song.. He was great.. He changed the wording up a little bit "I got friends in new places, gonna slip on down to the IMAGINATION, oh i got friends in new places":D the showroom was packed... and EVERYONE was singing along! What a great time.. I wish they would change the Legends show back to the Passenger talent show.. I have seen so much great talent and so much fun during these shows...

Edited March 19, 2015 by cruzn buckeye

[stargate fan]

[quote name='MCFTJCH2V']Not sure why it has to be retro on a longer cruise. The longer cruises tend to attract a predominantly 70 80 and 90 year old crowd.

But a retro 7 to 10 day cruise sounds intriguing. All those old inboard experiences just seemed to dry up. So silly yet so fun.

I would live for a beard with an imagination see where a retro cruise would have morphed to had they gone that route. There are actually people will to pay for something more than a generic cruising experience.[/QUOTE]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="DarkOrchid"]Have you sailed a longer cruise yet?

We sailed Legend's 13 day leg of her repo back in August. According to Eli the CD, the average age was indeed 70, but the passengers were the most spry people and there were fewer canes and scooters than we've seen on any of our other seven and eight day cruises. Heck, we often went to bed before the "predominantly 70 80 and 90 year old crowd" and we're in our mid 50's.

I hope we can find a "Journeys" cruise that fits our calendar.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[jkjmt]

[quote name='jimbo5544']Some day you will be happy (in all your personas) with something Carnival does. I just know it will happen.;):)[/QUOTE]


Off topic here...but...I see you're planning a couple cruises on the Sunshine. I'll be curious to hear what you think with all your cruising experience. So many people complaining about public space (especially outside space) vs. people is not good. Too many extra cabins added for the size of the ship.


Back on topic.....We're booked for the 11-day Dream with all the throw backs. Can't wait.

[Sweet Dutch Girl]

Most of the "throw backs" didn't interest me back then and definitely wouldn't interest me today. There are reasons that many of these activities have gone by the wayside.

[LMaxwell]

[quote name='Sweet Dutch Girl']Most of the "throw backs" didn't interest me back then and definitely wouldn't interest me today. There are reasons that many of these activities have gone by the wayside.[/QUOTE]
Yeah for the company to save money and make more profit. Don't rain on our parade. Midnight buffets, pool games, quality entertainment didn't go away because you didn't care for it. And many of us did like those things and have been very vocal in asking for their return. You don't have to participate in anything you don't like

[jimbo5544]

[quote name='jkjmt']Off topic here...but...I see you're planning a couple cruises on the Sunshine. I'll be curious to hear what you think with all your cruising experience. So many people complaining about public space (especially outside space) vs. people is not good. Too many extra cabins added for the size of the ship.


Back on topic.....We're booked for the 11-day Dream with all the throw backs. Can't wait.[/QUOTE]

Two comments (one on topic and one off). Off topic, yes we are sailing the Sunshine twice (August and February). I will do a full review of the August sailing, staying in the Captain's suite:). On topic, I think the Carnival Journey's are one of the best things they have come out with in a while. Hope to get on one soon.

[Sweet Dutch Girl]

[quote name='LMaxwell']Yeah for the company to save money and make more profit. [/QUOTE]

I don't think these things saved money...they just weren't interesting enough to compel new cruisers to come aboard. Personally I think throwbacks are a waste of money and I would rather the cruiselines invest in something else. And I, like you, have a right to be as vocal about that as I would like.

[LMaxwell]

[quote name='Sweet Dutch Girl']I don't think these things saved money...they just weren't interesting enough to compel new cruisers to come aboard. Personally I think throwbacks are a waste of money and I would rather the cruiselines invest in something else. And I, like you, have a right to be as vocal about that as I would like.[/quote]


Please start a thread about the ideas for activities and entertainment that you would find interesting and think would bring people in. I would be interested to read your thoughts on that.

[bettyboop16]

On our last 7 day cruise 2/28/15. Older folks with walkers, canes, & scooters were the majority. On our 10 & 14 day cruises not so much...middle age 50 & 60's were the majority.

I like that Carnival's doing longer cruises & I hope it's successful.....I want to go on one!! Edited March 19, 2015 by bettyboop16

[v3cruiser]

[quote name='Vanessa L']I was THRILLED when I realized my already booked Glory cruise on 2/2/16 was included in this! Of course, prices are up this AM as a result, lol! Glad I booked ES prior to this announcement! We were going for the ports but wow, is this icing on the cake!! :D[/quote]

Well said! We also booked before the Journeys announcement was made. Cant wait for the cruise!

[URL="http://boards.cruisecritic.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/"][/URL]

[SurferJoe57]

[quote name='FSRoberts']I always fly in, but agree. Arranging an open jaws itinerary from a further away second port is a pain and usually costs more.[/quote]
Yes ma'am, but I think most of these Journeys are repositioning - the awkwardly expensive airfare is somewhat offset by the seemingly low daily cruise rate.
I'll note that on the PRIDE Baltimore round-trip in March of 2016 (14 days), the cruise rate is...steep! I haven't booked it only because I'm still looking at repeating a Hawaii cruise as the daily rate is less - just a question of airfare.

I definitely like the concept though. I'm amazed that they're reading all our feedback (or claim they are). I know I've mentioned to Carnival many times that they ought to provide more longer cruises, or I'd defect. My threat noted that since your status doesn't transfer to sister lines like HAL or Princess, there's no incentive not to defect outside the company.