Carnival Temporarily Closes Popular Restaurant, Dining Experience

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

19 minutes ago, Djptcp said:

DH and I love, love the Cuchina and eat there at least 3 times on every cruise that has it. We also loved our Chef's Table experience on the Legend a few years ago. I do hope the closings are temporary as Carnival as said.

 

Guy's Burgers? Just a hamburger, nothing special.

Compared to the "old way" (hockey pucks) Carnival used to serve 'em up  - major improvement.

 

Having said that, Big Chicken has displaced Guy's for lunch (when I'm in sandwich/burger mode)!

 

Tom

[pe4all]

4 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

I read elsewhere (not from Carnival) that Diamond guests will receive this since they're temporarily cancelling the Diamond Gathering.

 

It's probably one of these things where you'll have to know that it's a benefit and ASK for it... like going to the photo gallery and asking for trinkets, or getting your free bottle of water at a bar.

 

Tom 

Someone on my Magic sailing on June 28th posted this also.  I am happy - would rather have the $50 obc than go to the party.  When I asked where they saw it, they said it was on John Heald's page.  This is what it said:

The following onboard guest experiences will be *temporarily* modified slightly due to ongoing crew shortages. These changes will be implemented through June 30, 2022 sailings ONLY. If this affects sailings after June 30, an additional announcement will come.

*Diamond Gathering - Will be cancelled fleet-wide through June 30 sailings. $50 OBC will be provided to each Diamond guest in lieu of the gathering.

*Platinum/Diamond Party - Will be cancelled fleet-wide through June 30. Each Platinum and Diamond guest will receive a 2 drink credit/voucher to redeem onboard.

While disappointing, these changes are necessary as Carnival works to rebuild staffing levels.

Please be patient and understanding as Carnival works to improve service levels across the fleet.

[rolloman]

9 minutes ago, HaveWeMetYet said:

I wonder if the staffing issues are because a lot of crew members are getting covid and they are in quarantine?

More likely restrictions of various countries and or a crew members lack of desire to go through the protocols required to work on ship or the same reason unemployment is currently so low in the US...people were furloughed and just never went back to work or decided to retire early.

Edited May 17, 2022 by rolloman
sp

[BlerkOne]

4 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

I read elsewhere (not from Carnival) that Diamond guests will receive this since they're temporarily cancelling the Diamond Gathering.

 

 

Probably a good idea for Carnival to not sponsor super spreader events

 

 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Just now, BlerkOne said:

Probably a good idea for Carnival to not sponsor super spreader events

 

 

 

On some sailings (Mardi Gras last year) it can seem that way!  On our last Liberty sailing - perhaps only 6-8 Diamonds in there. It was more crowded in the hallway!

 

Tom

[ledges1]

There are more people in the cruise terminal than the Diamond party.

Edited May 17, 2022 by ledges1
Spelling

[cruisingguy007]

32 minutes ago, pc_load_letter said:

 

And I will disagree.

 

Carnival announced they are 100% back with all ships returned to the fleet. Splendor was the last one I think.

 

So tell me, why run ships with low staff and cut back on passenger offerings when the could easily take the 1000 or so staff from Splendor, and perhaps even keep Ecstasy in dock.

 

You would then have over 2000 crew members that could be reallocated throughout the fleet.

 

Sure, there may very well be a delay in visa processing, but if that's the case, keep ships offline until there is the staff to adequately man them.

 

What you're saying makes total sense (from a passenger perspective) but isn't the best course of action fiscally speaking. Think of a cruise ship like a limousine, a niche limousine at that, like a super stretch lifted Jeep limo with huge wheels. Sounds great if you're a limo company, it could totally get sales but if you just have it parked, it's not worth more than the sum of it's parts because only another limo company would buy it/maintain it because it's an impractical vehicle for normal folks for business (beyond a limo company)/commute/go shopping/visit grandma etc.

 

Cruise ships are the same, nearly worthless beyond scrap value, or if lucky, resale/reuse, and every other company is hurting right now so good luck getting them to take on more debt, they probably want to sell some ships themselves. A ship in service can use projections (based on bookings and past performance) for the books to increase their value on paper and make the books look better. This can get you more favorable terms, additional loans/investments and increase stock price. Inventories (in this case ships) are the biggest company assets and inventory valuations can make a HUGE difference on the balance ledger. That's only one valuation, there are many that are affected by operational continuum that all help with totality of enterprise value. Non-op ships are bad for the books. The lines need every break they can get right now.            

[ledges1]

The Ecstacy is being scrapped in a few months anyway.

[icft]

26 minutes ago, HaveWeMetYet said:

I wonder if the staffing issues are because a lot of crew members are getting covid and they are in quarantine?

Or payback from the administration for kicking the CDC's butt in court. We'll never know.

[cruisingguy007]

1 minute ago, icft said:

Or payback from the administration for kicking the CDC's butt in court. We'll never know.

 

It's the way the passport scheme is set up in the USA that causes delays. It's supposed to be self funded here, most other countries don't treat it that way and it's a function of government, rather than a contract based agreement that is self-funded. It's outdated and should be fixed. It should be considered a function of government and funded as such. Look how long it took many of us to get passports? The process is broken and underfunded.  

[Guest BasicSailor]

17 hours ago, superrupe said:

Cucina Del Capitano Shut Down

Chef’s Table Reservations Cancelled

 

https://cruiseradio.net/carnival-temporarily-closes-cucina-chefs-table/

 

This is good news to me. The sauce was just so, so and food (noodles) were mostly undercooked.

I'm sure people liked it, but it was never ever really great tasting to me.

[BrianMD]

2 hours ago, cruisingguy007 said:

^^^^^For a "free" cruise (no fare, only grats, taxes, port fees, gas and parking), I'd eat at the buffet the whole cruise lol. Get me on the ship and let the good times roll! 

 

[CarnivalShips480]

1 hour ago, HaveWeMetYet said:

I wonder if the staffing issues are because a lot of crew members are getting covid and they are in quarantine?

That could be it, but they have also said that there are problems getting the visas for the crew

[ashkir]

Cucina was the most well-staffed restaurant I had on Panorama. Almost every table had a dedicated server. That would free up a lot of resources for the main dining room which is having extreme issues or other restaurants. 

[MrMarc]

It seems like more of a publicity stunt than a real attempt to remedy the problem.  How many crew members can this actually free up?  I really don't think it will be enough to make a notifiable difference.  

[keels81]

I don't know that it's so much of a FOH staffing issue as it is a BOH/galley issue. Just taking the line chefs, sous and head chef out of Cucina and Chef's Table for both pre-dinner prep and actual meal service can help a woefully understaffed galley in the MDR where we read daily complaints about slow service/taking forever to get meals.

 

It's still open for lunch service, which honestly can be done just like Mongolian Wok in the buffet with just a couple of line cooks and then after that, they can go down to the galley and start prepping for dinner service versus a specialty that is never sold out/booked to capacity.

[silversneakers]

7 hours ago, ray98 said:

Oh great....here come the Italian food experts to tell us how closing the restaurant is a benefit.

Missing your point??

[WKUTopperFan]

4 hours ago, BasicSailor said:

 Hitting the nail square on the head.

This was my initial thoughts... we'll said. I'll take this a step further. Axing Cucina and Chef's Table eliminates two unprofitable activities.  Both are guest experiences and break even at best. They cost Carnival little in actual dollars, but make use of resources and consumables which come at a cost. Using visa processing time as a advantageous reason, Carnival can easily trim this fat to save money. I'm really mad. As I've previously stated... specialty dining is part of my cruising experience as I find the MDR subpar. This makes cruising Carnival a non option for me. 

[djcass4199]

6 hours ago, pc_load_letter said:

 

And I will disagree.

 

Carnival announced they are 100% back with all ships returned to the fleet. Splendor was the last one I think.

 

So tell me, why run ships with low staff and cut back on passenger offerings when the could easily take the 1000 or so staff from Splendor, and perhaps even keep Ecstasy in dock.

 

You would then have over 2000 crew members that could be reallocated throughout the fleet.

 

Sure, there may very well be a delay in visa processing, but if that's the case, keep ships offline until there is the staff to adequately man them.

Because that means how ever many thousand less cruisers for how ever many cruises spending money. And let’s not forget that CCL seems to care more about their blue and red card holders than the gold and up who won’t either know or care about losing a PGP they can’t go to or eating in Cucina which they’ve never experienced.

[Eli_6]

Meh.  Cucina is no big loss. Not diamond, but I would rather $50 OBC than have to go to the reception.  I just hope they don't shut down the Steakhouse.

[Eli_6]

2 hours ago, WKUTopperFan said:

This was my initial thoughts... we'll said. I'll take this a step further. Axing Cucina and Chef's Table eliminates two unprofitable activities.  Both are guest experiences and break even at best. They cost Carnival little in actual dollars, but make use of resources and consumables which come at a cost. Using visa processing time as a advantageous reason, Carnival can easily trim this fat to save money. I'm really mad. As I've previously stated... specialty dining is part of my cruising experience as I find the MDR subpar. This makes cruising Carnival a non option for me. 

You need to go on the Mardi Gras. 

[oyme]

11 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

I can attest to the fact that the last few weeks of Liberty sailings have been much more "capacity controlled" than previously. Our 4/22 sailing was noticeably less crowded than our 3/25 sailing. One of the officers responded to my question on this topic during the Diamond Gathering, and said it was intentional. While trying to secure a couple more cabins for friends for our sailing this Friday (over the last month+) they will post a couple of dates for (May) 3 night sailings, then they disappear - assuming you can actually book without getting an error. 

 

I didn't find out the actual count/differences between those last two sailings, but: at 6 am on debarkation morning for the 3/25 sailing there were copies of final folio charges in virtually every "mailbox" at cabin doors. On the 4/22 sailing there were dozens and dozens of cabins without them - and I don't think it was a matter of people getting up before 6 am!

 

We'll see on Friday, just how crowded she is!

 

Tom

 

See, I had the fares were going up just because Summer was getting closer, the mailers haven't had such appealing sales, less appealing sales on website, etc. But it may also be d/t them realizing they were going to control the capacity a bit more. Fine by me! I'd love it to be less people-y.

[UpstateCruizer]

7 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

Compared to the "old way" (hockey pucks) Carnival used to serve 'em up  - major improvement.

 

Having said that, Big Chicken has displaced Guy's for lunch (when I'm in sandwich/burger mode)!

 

Tom

I agree that Guys was an improvement over the old burgers but Guys was much better when they first started offering them. Now they tend to be overcooked and thinner. The fries are no longer the fresh cut fries they started out with. Now Big Chicken really impressed me when we sailed the Mardi Gras! Loved their fries as well! 

[oyme]

I am not jazzed about the decision, but also not upset, completely in the middle. I sail in December, anyhow so who knows what will be in place or what won't be in place by then. I went to Disneyland back in September, felt the same way before the trip, felt like everything was up in the air!

[icft]

1 minute ago, UpstateCruizer said:

I agree that Guys was an improvement over the old burgers but Guys was much better when they first started offering them. Now they tend to be overcooked and thinner. The fries are no longer the fresh cut fries they started out with. Now Big Chicken really impressed me when we sailed the Mardi Gras! Loved their fries as well! 

I have noticed that Carnival tends to come out with something new, like Guy's, that is good but then that something new goes down in quality. I remember when the Dream was out of New Orleans and we sailed her often. They came up with a late night snack place that made an outstanding fried chicken bits (best way I can describe it ) sandwich. After some months they cut the amount of chicken in half. No problem, we just ordered two each and made one sandwich each. Then they changed the dressing, then they changed the bread. Then it wasn't very good anymore and they did away with the late night snack place.

 

I am hoping the current Guy's decline is a supply problem and the quality will come back. But it would fit the Carnival pattern if it just continued to decline then disappeared. I think they come up with something, try it and if successful then try to do it as cheaply as possible; cutting costs until it sucks.