WIFI PRICES AND RECOMMENDED GRATUITIES ADJUSTMENTS

[ohioNCLcruiser]

I'll be keeping track of how much time the wifi is offline, especially with the premium level promises, and def ask for a credit at the end of the voyage. 

 

I consider myself to be an above average tipper (handing out decent amount of cash at the end for anyone who went above and beyond) and I believe in the service charge to help a lot of crew to a point.  Especially now that cabin service is once a day a cabin of four is paying almost 40 bucks a day to their cabin steward as a tip. These increases get closer and closer to the BS Las Vegas or resort style service charges. I'm edging closer into the group of these need to be included in the price or reducing them to try to make a point to Carnival. 

 

The other group I feel bad for about this increase is the Guest Services team, which I did for years onboard cruise ships. The amount of additional people that will come to adjust or remove the tips entirely will certainly increase. At NCL we got in trouble if a certain % adjusted their tips even though they were not mandatory. I hope Carnival doesn't put that pressure on the Guest Service agents. 

 

For anyone who does adjust or remove the tips please make sure you write on the page that you are removing them due to Carnival's increased charge policy and not because of the crew.

Edited January 3, 2023 by ohioNCLcruiser
typo

[groundloop]

8 minutes ago, mz-s said:

https://www.carnival.com/cruise-food/steakhouse

 

Steakhouse page says it's $65 per person now too. Insanity!

 

Guess where I'm not eating anymore.  That is f$##ing ridiculous.

 

Despite the crappy wifi and non-existent in-room entertainment options on the TV  I've always been happy enough with Carnival that I haven't really looked into cruising on the other lines.  I have 7 more cruises booked over the next two years, I think some of those will be getting changed to Carnival's competition.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by groundloop

[cruisingguy007]

5 minutes ago, groundloop said:

I'm getting more and more tempted to do without internet for my upcoming cruises.  I'm really kind of surprised that they're raising the price again so soon, especially for such crap service.  

 

I was on Freedom in November and the wifi was totally useless so I had it cancelled on the second day and went without for the rest of the cruise (and somehow survived - it helped that I had phone service for quite a few hours as we sailed past the Bahamas).

 

Maybe this is Carnival's way of improving wifi service, price it so high that a certain percentage of people won't get it and free up bandwidth for those who are willing to pay the exorbitant price.

 

It also keeps you off your phone and wasting time and entertaining yourself. If you're board/restless without internet, you'll have to entertain yourself in other ways that can lead to more OB spending (booze, bingo casino, shopping etc).  

[RoperDK]

6 minutes ago, mz-s said:

https://www.carnival.com/cruise-food/steakhouse

 

Steakhouse page says it's $65 per person now too. Insanity!

That is even more than Royal. Amazing!

[Saint Greg]

12 minutes ago, Lee Cruiser said:

Did you get notified before the cruise or one you tried to login?

I think they sent me an email before the cruise saying premium wifi wouldn't be available and only daily packages would be available. But I remember having to get a refund for it at guest services so maybe it was a notice left in my room on the ship.

[cruisingguy007]

That link shows $48 for me still. I'm not seeing $65. I wouldn't pay $48 so $65 would be nuts. 

[mz-s]

1 minute ago, cruisingguy007 said:

That link shows $48 for me still. I'm not seeing $65. I wouldn't pay $48 so $65 would be nuts. 

 

attaching a screenshot of what I'm seeing with this link.

[snowballs mom]

4 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

That link shows $48 for me still. I'm not seeing $65. I wouldn't pay $48 so $65 would be nuts. 

We went on the Celebration TA and it was disappointing. We had reserved at last spring's rates (can't remember if it was $42 or $38, with all of the price changes), but the food and service was not as good as previous visits on other ships. I would not pay $48, either.

[Eli_6]

I feel like Carnival is turning into Allegiant airlines or one of those other airline that has cheap base fares but then anything extra (which you need) is $$$.  

[cruisingguy007]

7 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

attaching a screenshot of what I'm seeing with this link.

 

Interesting, when I click it it shows $48 and kids $13. I wonder why it's different. I'm not logged in though so maybe that's why? That's crazy though if it is $65 now.  More power to them if they can get folks to bite on this, it seems to work on other lines and folks like to feel exclusive and special, auctioning this off to the highest bidders makes sense. Maybe before people complain now they they will lead with "I'm diamond/platinum, only stay in suites and only eat at the $65 a night steak house....." as a badge of honor😁.

Edited January 3, 2023 by cruisingguy007

[Eli_6]

So, if we used OBC to purchase a wifi package and the cruise sails after the date of the price increase, does that mean that we get the lower rate or will we be charged at the higher rate?

[cruisingguy007]

3 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

So, if we used OBC to purchase a wifi package and the cruise sails after the date of the price increase, does that mean that we get the lower rate or will we be charged at the higher rate?

 

Pre-pay, lower rate, post-pay, higher rate. It's sounding like all the other times, they want you to hurry up and buy before the specified dates. You can use OBC to pre-buy stuff now, most things anyway. If you already purchased, you're good. 

Edited January 3, 2023 by cruisingguy007

[shof515]

anyone having issues accessing the cruise manager? it is very slow for me and sometimes not loading at all. i get a opps error message. i guess the website can not handle everyone purchasing everything

[BlerkOne]

This should help reduce the riffraff.

[Eli_6]

Just now, shof515 said:

anyone having issues accessing the cruise manager? it is very slow for me and sometimes not loading at all. i get a opps error message. i guess the website can not handle everyone purchasing everything

Me, too.

[cruisingguy007]

2 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

This should help reduce the riffraff.

 

The riff-raff is already removing their tips, this will do nothing but have those of us who always pay them (and more in many cases) further subsidize those who don't while increasing the pool of those who remove them. Raising gratuities only incentives the cheapskates to remove their gratuities even more. Making them mandatory or baking them into the fare would be the only way to accomplish reducing riff-raff.    

[mz-s]

Interest free loan for Carnival...considering what they're paying in interest for their debt, that's a huge deal for them.

[mz-s]

Just now, cruisingguy007 said:

 

The riff-raff is already removing their tips, this will do nothing but have those of us who always pay them (and more in many cases) further subsidize those who don't while increasing the pool of those who remove them. Raising gratuities only incentives the cheapskates to remove their gratuities even more. Making them mandatory or baking them into the fare would be the only way to accomplish reducing riff-raff.    

 

Mandatory gratuities are not gratuities, they're more akin to resort fees and have to be disclosed at the time of booking.

[Theosprey247]

If it cuts down on the number of VLOGGERS then I’m all for it. 

[Sailin_Pirate]

23 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

That link shows $48 for me still. I'm not seeing $65. I wouldn't pay $48 so $65 would be nuts. 

I could be wrong probably am , but sometimes you get directed to the .au? Carnival site and the price is wonky. I've had it say 65 then on reload got the 48. It's been on and off for like 5 months for me.

[BlerkOne]

2 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

The riff-raff is already removing their tips, this will do nothing but have those of us who always pay them (and more in many cases) further subsidize those who don't while increasing the pool of those who remove them. Raising gratuities only incentives the cheapskates to remove their gratuities even more. Making them mandatory or baking them into the fare would be the only way to accomplish reducing riff-raff.    

There are cheapskates across the board. Even if you eliminated all riffraff there would still be cheapskates.

[mz-s]

I am in favor of gratuities being actual gratuities and not just a way for the cruise lines to shift the salaries of the workers from their balance sheet to the guest. In other words - move to the Virgin Voyages model for gratuities.

[starstruck05]

50 minutes ago, mz-s said:

https://www.carnival.com/cruise-food/steakhouse

 

Steakhouse page says it's $65 per person now too. Insanity!

It very clearly says $48 

[mz-s]

Just now, starstruck05 said:

It very clearly says $48 

 

I attached a screenshot showing $65 for me. Might be an issue on my end. In Chrome it shows $65 but if I open the same link in Firefox it shows $48...bizarre.

[n6uqqq]

My current steakhouse price for Feb cruise says 48 dollar per but books at 42 per person in cart.