If Carnival drastically reduced fares but...

[astroboy99]

Yes, I would still cruise. As I have said before as long as it is cheaper than a land vacation for me, I will cruise.

 

Frankly, I cannot think of any land vacation that meets the price point of a Carnival cruise right now. I cannot get a room at the Holiday Inn and feed my family at McDonalds for the price of a well shopped cruise.

 

I would miss all inclusive, but I would still cruise.

 

The ONLY reason it is cheaper than a land vacation is BECAUSE it includes all meals, otherwise, I don't see a significant savings.

[skyeman27]

No way. I would start doing all inclusives at my favorite Caribbean islands that I discovered while cruising, instead of 4 or 5 cruises that we do in a year, I would do 3 or 4 AIs to different islands. Having no sea days would be a plus for me...

[txgranny]

Grand riveria princess

[jimbo5544]

Grand riveria princess

 

 

That was cheaper than a cruise fare?

[txgranny]

Cheaper all together when you added in parking gas and alcohol then cabs and such at ports. Go to cheap Caribbean dot com put in your airport and see what's there we got a great deal at grand riveria princess platinum room w had its seperate pool and bar plus concierge for all dinner reservations plus free transport into town for the day. All this was total of $1500 for two of us cruise cost us 469pp then another $200 for ports $175 gas and parking and $400 in alcohol on the ship...you do the math, plus no overcrowded pools and morning coffee on the beach

[arby70]

Absolutely not. Love the pretty much all inclusive features of cruising.

[txgranny]

Excuse me but the cruise is not all inclusive as you have to pay for alcohol with AI its all inclusive tips food alcohol. So tell me how a cruise is all inclusive

[bakersdozen12]

Excuse me but the cruise is not all inclusive as you have to pay for alcohol with AI its all inclusive tips food alcohol. So tell me how a cruise is all inclusive

 

 

Drinking alcohol is a personal choice and I'm glad that they don't include it in the fare price. Otherwise my husband and I, who don't drink, would be paying for something that we wouldn't be consuming. I would hate that.

[HollandAvery]

No, I absolutely would not.

[A2Mich]

Hmmm......interesting replies......I wouldn't cruise either under the given conditions.

[Lenliner]

My son and i did an AI at riveria maya we each had our own suite overlooking the ocean w jacuzzi on balcony and in the room, 13 restaurant 13 bars 5 pools plus adult only area and beach w butler service w air for 5 nights all for LESS than an overcrowded cruise. I hate having to rush back to a ship that's so freaking overcrowded plus the costs of cabs and such AI is the best vacation value

 

 

 

IMHO, 5 nights is too short, especially when you have to travel as far as we do [YVR - CUN], for example. We've done AI's for 2 weeks every year for the last 6 years. We don't cruise as often, and would cruise even less, or not at all if it became a floating collection of chain restaurants. Airlines have really made flying something we no longer look forward to. I hope the Cruise lines don't follow suit. 👀

[theriac]

If this happened they would have to restructure the daily gratuity that is added in as well. They would also have to have multiple different pricing options for food. I wouldn't say I would be opposed to trying it, but it would depend on the cruise fare and dining costs. Also food quality would need to be raised as well.

 

Lets say cruise fares on average are $60 pp pd now they would need to drop that to about $20-$25 a day, offer multiple dining venues at varying prices, only charge for room steward and the behind the scene people. If looking at the prices of dining before I cruised and I saw it would be pretty close to what's paid now I think I could get on board with this idea.

 

Having said that though, this will never happen. That $35-$40 pp pd I mentioned before is a lot more then it costs Carnival or any CL to feed me per day. Add to that Carnival would be only renting those areas out to other companies it would bring down revenue, but Carnival would be the ones taking all the heat for when those restaurants mess up and it wouldn't be worth it to them.

 

They know all of this and that's why they give us options on upgrading our dining experience for a fee, which is fair, but in no way what they want to make all dining on their ships anytime soon.

 

NCL has been taking a lot of criticism for trying to force people into for fee dining by substantially downgrading the quality of most included food. If it wasn't for current promotions of the UDP & UDE included and their high quality of entertainment I think they would be having problems filling their ships.

 

Sorry if I rambled just wanted to share my thoughts.

[DirtyDawg]

This scenario was already tried by another cruise line in Europe (EasyCruise). They are no longer in business.

 

Their concept was to deliver a completely unbundled product (you had to pay extra for meals and even housekeeping). No professional entertainment and only a a bar/night club to keep people entertained at night.

 

Even though their rates were ridiculously low (if I recall, starting at $19 a night), they failed to develop enough interest and they finally shut down.

 

Not sure if the OP's idea would 'fly' (think ryanair or Spirit) but if it did it sure would change the types of threads we get here at CC. No more whining about cut backs threads.(:D just kidding)

But along with those smuggling booze threads we all love we'll have the;

Smuggling burgers/hot dogs/cereal threads,

Smuggling gas BBQ threads,

Smuggling live animals and butcher knife threads.

And, of course, the my darn neighbours keep hanging their wet sheets over the balcony threads.:eek:

 

Sounds like paradise on the sea doesn't it?

 

More like Motel 3 on the sea.;)

Edited April 6, 2015 by DirtyDawg
3 rhymed better than 6

[PurdueChefAmber]

Yes. My vista experience will include very little time in the mdr.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[LMaxwell]

No. I cruise to have a mostly-inclusive experience. That includes food, entertainment, amenities and ports of call. Of course drinks, spa, have always been add ons, fine with that. But I like cruising because the core product contains so much and doesn't require you to constantly think about additional costs or decisions. It also makes it easy to budget for the overall costs.

[evandbob]

On the NCL Epic this January I had a single fare total of $650 in a studio cabin and dining in a different specialty restaurant every night added on gratis.

 

If Carnival could offer a similar deal, I would book it in a heartbeat.

[sandij]

I would hate to stop cruising but I think of the food as part of the experience and as included in the price, so I wouldn't go on a trip like that.

[mzloolue]

One of the things I enjoy about cruising is not having to think about food.

 

The more variables the less I like it.

[Maraprince]

Amen!

 

 

Maraprince

[gh1088]

This scenario was already tried by another cruise line in Europe (EasyCruise). They are no longer in business.

 

Their concept was to deliver a completely unbundled product (you had to pay extra for meals and even housekeeping). No professional entertainment and only a a bar/night club to keep people entertained at night.

 

Even though their rates were ridiculously low (if I recall, starting at $19 a night), they failed to develop enough interest and they finally shut down.

 

 

Oh my gosh...I did an Easy Cruise and LOVED IT! Yes, it was priced way too low...I think we paid $21/night, but we could experience the food at the ports then, such as in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Brussels, etc.

[skywalkr2]

Eliminated all free food, no more MDR, but just a new assortment of pay as-you- go buffets and restaurants, would you still cruise?

 

This sounds awful to me.

[winddawn]

Eliminated all free food, no more MDR, but just a new assortment of pay as-you- go buffets and restaurants, would you still cruise?

This wouldn't work. People would start smuggling food onboard along with their booze, or eat more of their meals in ports of call.

[mzloolue]

This wouldn't work. People would start smuggling food onboard along with their booze, or eat more of their meals in ports of call.

 

And prices would be high.

 

Think Disney World high or higher.

[lbow2006]

If the reduction in costs was enough to offset what I would have to pay for meals, then I don't see why not.

 

This! Plus maybe I wouldn't overeat and gain weight on vacation if all the food wasn't free, lol. ;)

[cruzeluver]

Yeah, I have no interest in being on a ship with folks who paid $20.00 per day and are sneaking on their own food to keep additional costs down. Yikes.