CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE FURTHER SALUTES MILITARY GUESTS WITH NEW MILITARY APPRECIATION DAY

[BlerkOne]

https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/carnival-cruise-line-further-salutes-military-guests-new

 

 

[Rollin Tide]

This is cool.  As Veterans ourselves, my wife and I have always felt honored enough during just the Military event that's held once a cruise for about an hour.  Always cool to sit and chat it up with fellow Veterans.  Wasn't expecting them to beef it up, but very cool that they did.  Good looking out Carnival.  

[sunonfire]

Ditto to Rollin Tide. He said what I was thinking.

[kctwinmommy]

Nice! We also have always enjoyed the event they do in the lounge. It's amazing to hear some of the personal stories. And the last one, we had a WWII Veteran in the group and it was awesome. He spoke for about 5 minutes, sharp as a tack too. And then every single person walked by him to shake his hand when we left, as well as his wife!

[MagnoliaBlossom]

We always attend the veterans gatherings, and I’ve got to say Carnival does them better than any other line we sail.  Looking forward to seeing how they can make it even better.

[sparks1093]

Bravo Zulu Carnival! (For those that don't know, in the Navy signal flags are used to communicate between ships and certain groupings of flags are in "the book", to convey specific messages without having to spell everything out. The two flags BZ, Bravo Zulu, mean well done.)

[A1stMarine]

Ooorah, I always bring tissues to the gatherings. Some of the stories move us to tears and bring back old memories but I wouldn’t miss a minute and honor those who came before me. Can’t wait sailing to Alaska out of Long Beach in 27 days.

[sailingships]

Ten years ago during the TA for the Sunshine, veterans asked the Cruise Director Jamie if they could have a special event for Veterans Day. She agreed and designed that first Military Appreciation for the day, November 11, 2013, and went on to spread the same gathering throughout all the Carnival ships. It took her years due to the resistance for the cruise line higher ups. Finally, all the ships were included. What Jamie started has endured. unchanged, and is wonderful. 

 

There has also been a special Tea Time for veterans with well labeled tables but some ships dont participate unless they are reminded. (Magic for one.)

 

Last year for Veterans Day NCL announced that starting on January 1, 2023, they would give veterans 10% off the price of every cruise and also the other promotions too. Veterans at NCL had designed a wonderful program for veterans which included a party (free booze) with the captain of the ship and other officers.  Veterans left Carnival and RC etc and moved over to NCL. They have been welcomed and treated very well. I know, I'm one of those veterans.

 

Now the higher ups at Carnival thinks they are forced to enlarge on the attractions for veterans to plug the hole. One way they could immediately help themselves is require much lower deposits for their infrequent military specials. Also it's nice to have a 'Heroes" bar but Carnival benefits from the money those Heroes spend to drink there. Why not a lower price for drinks for those who can show their military ID, VA card etc or who used the military promotion to book the cruise? When I first read of the Heroes lounge, I thought that there would be free or inexpensive drinks but no, it's just another way for Carnival to enlarge their coffers.

 

[BlerkOne]

SMH

[THL1313]

2 hours ago, sailingships said:

Ten years ago during the TA for the Sunshine, veterans asked the Cruise Director Jamie if they could have a special event for Veterans Day. She agreed and designed that first Military Appreciation for the day, November 11, 2013, and went on to spread the same gathering throughout all the Carnival ships. It took her years due to the resistance for the cruise line higher ups. Finally, all the ships were included. What Jamie started has endured. unchanged, and is wonderful. 

 

There has also been a special Tea Time for veterans with well labeled tables but some ships dont participate unless they are reminded. (Magic for one.)

 

Last year for Veterans Day NCL announced that starting on January 1, 2023, they would give veterans 10% off the price of every cruise and also the other promotions too. Veterans at NCL had designed a wonderful program for veterans which included a party (free booze) with the captain of the ship and other officers.  Veterans left Carnival and RC etc and moved over to NCL. They have been welcomed and treated very well. I know, I'm one of those veterans.

 

Now the higher ups at Carnival thinks they are forced to enlarge on the attractions for veterans to plug the hole. One way they could immediately help themselves is require much lower deposits for their infrequent military specials. Also it's nice to have a 'Heroes" bar but Carnival benefits from the money those Heroes spend to drink there. Why not a lower price for drinks for those who can show their military ID, VA card etc or who used the military promotion to book the cruise? When I first read of the Heroes lounge, I thought that there would be free or inexpensive drinks but no, it's just another way for Carnival to enlarge their coffers.

 

Yes!  I was not on the first cruise she started this, but our first cruise was with Jamie Dee, CD, on the Dream back in 2014 and it was a held in the piano bar.  it was standing room only, packed!!  I remember talking to her, and she was trying to get in started on other ships.  She really started a lasting, very respected appreciation event.

[sailingships]

2 minutes ago, THL1313 said:

Yes!  I was not on the first cruise she started this, but our first cruise was with Jamie Dee, CD, on the Dream back in 2014 and it was a held in the piano bar.  it was standing room only, packed!!  I remember talking to her, and she was trying to get in started on other ships.  She really started a lasting, very respected appreciation event.

Before Jamie started these, we used to meet in the library bar at 10 the first sea day. The meeting would be listed in the daily that morning but usually only a handful of veterans would read it and turn up. That last time during the Sunshine TA cruise there were 3 veterans and 2 wives. That would have been about Nov 2. We never had to meet in the library bar after that due to Jamie's endeavors. She was on the Sunshine for years. She told me once that she would retire when she managed to have the event held on every Carnival ship.