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If you were carnival what would you cut?


geckoaz
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Every day i read about cuts carnival has made that upsets someone, e.g. tablecloths, chocolates, automatic 2 room cleaning.  But i have cruised since the 1990s and have seen many changes. I know there are things i dont use like art auctions but it is hard for me to think of something i would cut to keep cost down. Any ideas?

 

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I would imagine the art auction drives income to Carnival from Park West.   I am fascinated by the auctions and the amount of pieces certain individuals purchase.  I go at least once a cruise. 

 

I know many hotels offer discounts for days housekeeping isn't requested, but I doubt cruise lines will adopt that practice due to the size of the cabins.   I know I appreciate when the cabin is tidied up!

 

one of the more wasteful things onboard is plastic water bottles. I do love them, however.   I wonder if someone will adopt the cardboard packaging ive seen at some grocery stores for "bottled" water. 

 

 

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16 minutes ago, bury me at sea said:

I would stop cutting crew and services and instead cut shareholder returns.

 

 

This makes sense to me. You just have to sell the Board of Directors, THEN the stockholders on this idea, which would be a hard sell, IMO. 

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I would hire a Lean Six Sigma Specialist (like  me) for Carnival team members and loyal passengers to identify sources of waste to eliminate.   That would help balance work loads, improve value and continuously improve operations. 

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35 minutes ago, Saturngrl said:

I would hire a Lean Six Sigma Specialist (like  me) for Carnival team members and loyal passengers to identify sources of waste to eliminate.   That would help balance work loads, improve value and continuously improve operations. 

Apply for the job -

I am sure a large corporation they have in house and consultants doing this all the time. They don't make cuts on a whim - they have analyst who tell that what would be best for profits and not take away from the experience. I am not saying they do a good job or that I agree with the cuts,  but they for sure do this.

I would be interested what they feel they could still cut and get away with for profits. You seem to have ideas as this is your field so I would love to hear what you say.

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Carnival's biggest cost is labor, food and all the other things they've cut back on are far secondary to labor. Labor is the most expensive thing in the world, even at the low wages that cruise lines pay.

 

I'm not sure we will see many more cuts, more likely we will see more surcharges (like the recently instituted charges for room service and delivery fees for Fun Shop purchases). I don't see where they can cut much more without fundamentally altering the cruise experience.

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46 minutes ago, Stick93 said:

Apply for the job -

I am sure a large corporation they have in house and consultants doing this all the time. They don't make cuts on a whim - they have analyst who tell that what would be best for profits and not take away from the experience. I am not saying they do a good job or that I agree with the cuts,  but they for sure do this.

I would be interested what they feel they could still cut and get away with for profits. You seem to have ideas as this is your field so I would love to hear what you say.

How do you not take away from the experience?every change they have made has affected my Cruise experience.thats why I went in search of a better cruise experience after the third carnival cruise.yes the other lines are cutting back to in places but carnival has taken it the farthest.we retired in our 50's so we can go anytime so we can get comparable fares from other Cruise lines.i can sail celebrity for a hair more than carnival and they are a premium cruise .where as carnival is carnival.we are taking one more carnival just to be able to cruise from our home state it's cheaper for us to cruise out of Florida and spend a night in a hotel then to cruise from charleston.if I had a way to cash in my carnival gift cards.i would probably try a norwegian.our first two carnival cruises were great.we had an issue with the mdr with seating arrangements but the cutbacks ruined it for us.rant over.happy sailing.

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2 hours ago, havanadaydreaming said:

one of the more wasteful things onboard is plastic water bottles. I do love them, however.   I wonder if someone will adopt the cardboard packaging ive seen at some grocery stores for "bottled" water. 

I read somewhere that canned water is coming to the more general market (not just Southwest airlines). Can are more easily recycled than bottles (plastic or glass) or those cardboard containers. Maybe that will be coming?

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4 minutes ago, scpirate said:

How do you not take away from the experience?every change they have made has affected my Cruise experience.thats why I went in search of a better cruise experience after the third carnival cruise.yes the other lines are cutting back to in places but carnival has taken it the farthest.we retired in our 50's so we can go anytime so we can get comparable fares from other Cruise lines.i can sail celebrity for a hair more than carnival and they are a premium cruise .where as carnival is carnival.we are taking one more carnival just to be able to cruise from our home state it's cheaper for us to cruise out of Florida and spend a night in a hotel then to cruise from charleston.if I had a way to cash in my carnival gift cards.i would probably try a norwegian.our first two carnival cruises were great.we had an issue with the mdr with seating arrangements but the cutbacks ruined it for us.rant over.happy sailing.

I agree with you but the I was responding to someone who seems to be at a job that does company analysis and waste management. I would love to hear what else she can think of as I think the cutbacks have had an effect on the product and cannot imagine anymore that would be accepted with open arms.

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In order to stretch labor, you need to make it more efficient.  For bartenders, I would eliminate the cans of soda and go to a fountain system. Also, a self service station for sodas for those with a prepaid package. The cans are a huge waste of time and take up way too much space.  I would have the stewards clean the rooms once a day, and make it a premium (suite guest or add-on) for an additional room cleaning per day or butler services, etc.  I would look to update the antiquated ordering system in the main dining room, possibly with an electronic system. Eliminate the assistant waiter position and use food runners to hustle the food out of the kitchen. Turn the MDR into more of a family style restaurant atmosphere with less "service".  Add an additional restaurant where folks can pay a premium to experience a "full-service" restaurant.  Increase the English-fluency of the staff at Guest Services, or just hire native speakers.  Empower staff to be able to fix problems, or if not be straightforward with the guests.

 

And a whole bunch of other stuff that may or may not work.

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2 hours ago, bury me at sea said:

I would stop cutting crew and services and instead cut shareholder returns.

 

 

Well, seeing as how it's we, the shareholders, that make those decisions...

Some people seem to have a hard time comprehending that businesses exist to make money for the owners...

 

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4 minutes ago, jcearth said:

. . .I would have the stewards clean the rooms once a day, and make it a premium (suite guest or add-on) for an additional room cleaning per day or butler services, etc. 

 

Eliminate the assistant waiter position and use food runners to hustle the food out of the kitchen. Turn the MDR into more of a family style restaurant atmosphere with less "service".  Add an additional restaurant where folks can pay a premium to experience a "full-service" restaurant. 

 

Either of these options would be a deal breaker.

 

 

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6 minutes ago, FSHLOT said:

Untalented live music

paper/sugar straws

overpaid spokeperson/ambassador

 

I second all of these. Especially that last one.

I don't necessarily hate the Playlist shows, but many of those performers just aren't talented singers, in my opinion. This became real obvious last year when the ship was rocking a bit too much for one of the late shows and they just sat on stools and sang. They were terrible without the big stage production and we left after 2 1/2 songs. The shows could be so much more enjoyable if they hired better singers.

 

I'd also like to cut obnoxious kids who run ragged onboard and break the rules without consequence.

 

In regards to the whole cutting out plastics debate, someone in another thread said they recently returned from a Princess cruise (owned by Carnival Corp.) and they still have things like plastic pens in the cabins, they don't set out community containers of butter, and they have single-serve cereal boxes. It just doesn't make much sense to me for one cruise line to eliminate some of these items and use the excuse that it's "for the environment" when another cruise line (probably multiple lines) under their own Carnival Corp. umbrella still use the very same plastic products Carnival eliminated. The biggest reason plastics from Carnival were ending up in the ocean was because THEY were dumping them there. They were supposed to be separating plastic waste from food waste, but some ships weren't. Hence, their recent legal troubles. I think eliminating some of the plastic items was done more to make their jobs easier than it was for the environment.

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3 minutes ago, bury me at sea said:

 

I fully comprehend that.

 

It doesn't seem like it sometimes when I hear people say "XXX company should cut it's dividends or executive salaries to benefit ME!" - as if we're in business to make money for you.  Yes, there is such a thing as taking too much profit, thus weakening the product and reducing profit, but the art of business is finding the equilibrium that maximizes profit.  It would be nice if you could simultaneously maximize profit AND guest experience, but if you can only maximize one, it will always be profit in a public, for-profit business.

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16 minutes ago, jcearth said:

I would look to update the antiquated ordering system in the main dining room, possibly with an electronic system.

 

Are you talking about waiters still taking the orders, then entering them into a POS system, or those dumb touchscreen ordering devices some restaurants have to order things straight from the table?

 

Because I definitely wouldn't want the latter. I'd prefer to interact with an actual human being. Not to mention, if we have to use one of those self-ordering devices, essentially doing some of the wait staff's job for them, then we shouldn't have to pay the same in tips.

 

19 minutes ago, jcearth said:

Eliminate the assistant waiter position and use food runners to hustle the food out of the kitchen.

 

I would like to see them integrate a faster method for MDR service. Some nights are painfully slow.

 

21 minutes ago, jcearth said:

Turn the MDR into more of a family style restaurant atmosphere with less "service".

 

I'd definitely be against this. We can get that anywhere and everywhere on our land-based vacations. The MDR experience is one of the highlights of the cruise. Not just for us, but for many.

 

They already have pay-for restaurant options onboard to get a more high-end experience compared to the MDR. I'd hate to have to pay just to get the current MDR experience.

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6 minutes ago, ParrotRob said:

 

It doesn't seem like it sometimes when I hear people say "XXX company should cut it's dividends or executive salaries to benefit ME!" - as if we're in business to make money for you.  Yes, there is such a thing as taking too much profit, thus weakening the product and reducing profit, but the art of business is finding the equilibrium that maximizes profit.  It would be nice if you could simultaneously maximize profit AND guest experience, but if you can only maximize one, it will always be profit in a public, for-profit business.

 

It seems it is always profit now but thank goodness the Morgans, Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Fords, Carnegies, etc. could see a larger picture, and still manage to generate mass profits.

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