Anniversary/Birthday Cruise - Do you get anything?

[Joe817]

Thank you vol3820 & Shaded Lady for the kind words! 

[mets123]

I tried to use use it on the Sunrise this past June. Believe me when I say it was highly restricted. Fifty dollars off a very expensive treatment is still twice what I would pay on land for the same service.

[kaycee711]

For our anniversary, we ate at the Steakhouse and we ordered the dessert called “Art at your Table”. They created the dessert at our table and wrote Happy Anniversary and gave us champagne to toast. It was so special! And they even took our picture for us. 

You can email the Steakhouse for the reservation ahead of time and put in the notes that you’re celebrating a birthday. 

Have a wonderful cruise!

[travelling_txgal]

For my birthday this year I received a complementary bottle of wine, spa passes, and cake in the MDR. It was actually pretty nice. This was on the Freedom. 

[Out of Iowa]

Beware the spa gift card:  ours had plenty of restrictions on when it could be used.  Look at it right when you receive it because it just might expire before you get around to judging its merit to you.

[RobinCruiser]

Wow! I totally got ripped off on Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas... I sailed on my birthday last year and all I got were "Happy Birthday" wishes from various people who swiped my card. No Cake, no Singing, no decorations, no spa GC.. not even a comp drink. 

[dara90210]

DH and I celebrated our 20th anniversary on the Grand Princess in March 2019.  We received a coupon for the Princess chocolate cake, a gift card for a specialty restaurant cover charge, and a platinum photo studio coupon.  The only thing we didn't utilize was the photo studio coupon.  We'll be on the Carnival Miracle this coming November shortly after my birthday and I've advised them of it, so we'll see what, if anything, we get!

[Rawswife]

On 7/25/2019 at 3:38 PM, dara90210 said:

DH and I celebrated our 20th anniversary on the Grand Princess in March 2019.  We received a coupon for the Princess chocolate cake, a gift card for a specialty restaurant cover charge, and a platinum photo studio coupon.  The only thing we didn't utilize was the photo studio coupon.  We'll be on the Carnival Miracle this coming November shortly after my birthday and I've advised them of it, so we'll see what, if anything, we get!

DH and I will be on the Miracle in November as well. Sailing the 9th. 

We will be celebrating our 25th anniversary. I plan to order the room decorations and the cake as a surprise for DH. 

[xDisconnections]

On 7/25/2019 at 2:52 PM, RobinCruiser said:

Wow! I totally got ripped off on Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas... I sailed on my birthday last year and all I got were "Happy Birthday" wishes from various people who swiped my card. No Cake, no Singing, no decorations, no spa GC.. not even a comp drink. 

Why would you expect anything different and feel ripped off? You get what you pay for and freebies shouldn't be expected.

[TruckerDave]

15 hours ago, xDisconnections said:

Why would you expect anything different and feel ripped off? You get what you pay for and freebies shouldn't be expected.

I'm guessing her reply was a little "tongue in cheek".  🙄

[xDisconnections]

5 hours ago, TruckerDave said:

I'm guessing her reply was a little "tongue in cheek".  🙄

With the age of entitlement and seeing how people expect and demand these things when immersing themselves within the hospitality industry, it's entirely possible.

[RobinCruiser]

 

On 7/26/2019 at 10:55 PM, xDisconnections said:

Why would you expect anything different and feel ripped off? You get what you pay for and freebies shouldn't be expected.

 

20 hours ago, TruckerDave said:

I'm guessing her reply was a little "tongue in cheek".  🙄

 

Of course. I was lucky enough to cruise on my birthday! I got wished a happy birthday by every crew member who scanned my card (with deluxe drink package - so all the drinks I could handle),  and even during check in, boarding etc. It was memorable for sure. And if memory serves, we dined in the Windjammer on embarkation night so I had more than enough cake and pastries. 

[CarnivalCruiser32]

What about for kids? We'll be at sea the day of my niece's birthday, do you think they might do anything special? like if you had to give it a percentage - what percentage do you think it is that they might surprise her with like a special slice of cake at dinner or something?

 

We've cruised for birthdays before but never on the actual day of any of our birthdays (usually after) so this is a new one for us : )

 

Edited July 28, 2019 by CarnivalCruiser32
*cruised

[mferris77]

I suppose you could pull your waiter aside or mention to the Maitre'D that it's a child's birthday - I'm sure they'd go out of their way to do something for you.  (Or I'd like to think they would.)  Better to make sure they're aware than just hoping they'd get some kind of alert or something.  Who knows what info is available to them when they're putting in your food order.

[Shaded Lady]

Just now, mferris77 said:

Who knows what info is available to them when they're putting in your food order.

 

On the Vista last month we checked in on deck 5 for YTD- they give you a slip of paper to give to the hostess... on it was printed 'please sing Happy Birthday to Mr. K'... I'd mentioned his birthday in the online checkin.

[TruckerDave]

On 7/27/2019 at 11:25 PM, xDisconnections said:

With the age of entitlement and seeing how people expect and demand these things when immersing themselves within the hospitality industry, it's entirely possible.

if you haven't....you should take a trip to FlyerTalk dot com.   The level of people wanting compensation for every little thing over there  is almost mind numbing. 

[Lottacruises]

Free ice cream and pizza. Free cake at lunch.

[Joe817]

We just got back from our incredible 5 day on the Dream out of Galveston. Our first cruise and our 50th wedding  anniversary. What a great trip. The staff on the Dream treated us like royalty. From our steward, to our servers in the Scarlet Dining Room, to Guest Services. It started with me telling the lady in G.S. about our anniversary, first cruise. The supervisor came up to and gave me 2 free drink coupons(Funship Special, of course). The night of embarkation at dinner, the servers sang us their version of happy anniversary, then presented us one of those yummy chocolate hearts with a candle on it. When we got back to our stateroom, we found a bottle of champagne(or sparkling wine), and a plate of chocolate covered cherries. We had a great time downing those...all of them. We also got the Spa discount coupons, but we didn't partake of that.

 

 Thank you Carnival for a most memorable cruising experience!

 

Mrs Joe817 & I are already talking about our next cruise. And thank  you Cruise Critic forum members for providing me with a wealth of  information that I found invaluable for the cruise.

 

 

[patrice1]

First, we love Carnival.

But... I was disappointed when, as Platinum cruisers, I told the CCL rep before we cruised that it was a special cruise, our 25th wedding anniversary. I thought we might get a bottle of champagne or something similar. It was the night we attended Chef's Table and they wrote Happy Anniversary on our dessert plates. The next night in the dining room, we got our heart cake. I guess I just thought that as long time CCL cruisers, they would give us something a little special. Not so much. This was in 2015.

[Atlanta07]

On 7/21/2019 at 12:47 AM, Chervil said:

We usually take a cruise for our anniversary.
They give us a very small, but very rich, cake with a candle.
They sing Happy Anniversary and had us kiss each time they said Happy Anniversary.
It was silly but fun.

 

Thanks for the heads-up. This just made me delete the special occasions celebration in our profile. Awesome that they celebrated you all but we'd likely leave (run) if we saw them coming in a group singing. 

[crusinpsychRN]

They make very, very good cakes.

[xitappers2bx]

We only book with a TA... and every single time we have cruised during my our birthdays she has sent a cake, berries, and other goodies, and then usually the ship will send the same.  With another line it almost got comical the sheer volume of cake they sent me for my birthday over the course of the week.  It was unreal.  And quite hilarious.  

[MT_Sea_Cruisers]

We got a $100 photo gift card that was left by our room steward (this past April) 🙂

[mrpayroll]

Last three cruises we received the spa gift card from our room steward and we weren't celebrating anything. Go figure.

 

[PhillyFan33579]

On 7/27/2019 at 1:55 AM, xDisconnections said:

Why would you expect anything different and feel ripped off? You get what you pay for and freebies shouldn't be expected.

 

I agree 100%. I don’t understand the mindset so many people have these days that they are entitled to something because it is their birthday or anniversary or some other occasion.