No open bar on welcome back party

[BlerkOne]

I don't see Carnival ever adding a higher level. No loyalty marketing program is sustainable without change in a negative direction.

[starstruck05]

I don't know if half the comments on here missed it but to the Original point of this post, only on TWO ships is there no free drink D/P party. The Mardi Gras and the Celebration for the very specific reason as there is no bar to serve the drinks where the party would need to happen. On those two ships (and possibly the Jubilee as well) they serve a glass of wine and you get the drink voucher loaded on your S & S. Every single other ship the party is as normal and nothing has changed.

[Jamman54]

1 hour ago, starstruck05 said:

I don't know if half the comments on here missed it but to the Original point of this post, only on TWO ships is there no free drink D/P party. The Mardi Gras and the Celebration for the very specific reason as there is no bar to serve the drinks where the party would need to happen. On those two ships (and possibly the Jubilee as well) they serve a glass of wine and you get the drink voucher loaded on your S & S. Every single other ship the party is as normal and nothing has changed.

Yep, I addressed this in post # 11.

[Elaine5715]

2 hours ago, starstruck05 said:

I don't know if half the comments on here missed it but to the Original point of this post, only on TWO ships is there no free drink D/P party. The Mardi Gras and the Celebration for the very specific reason as there is no bar to serve the drinks where the party would need to happen. On those two ships (and possibly the Jubilee as well) they serve a glass of wine and you get the drink voucher loaded on your S & S. Every single other ship the party is as normal and nothing has changed.

Conversation drift?  here?  no way...

[topaz123]

11 hours ago, Rudyard said:

I foresee Platinum cruisers getting the Gold treatment in the future and being dropped from the parties as well.

 

I'm guessing that because there are are so many Plats now since Carnival used to make it so easy to get to Platinum, that when the VIFP system is revamped they'll add another layer above Diamond similar to RCCL's Pinnacle level. They probably make Platinum a bit harder to get like maybe make it 85 to 90 days, and throw the Golds a bone by making a level between Gold and Platinum with some perk added to that level that doesn't really cost Carnival anything. 

Anything is an improvement.....the lounge in Port Canaveral stocked with Platinum was way overloaded...no place to sit, and they still kept packing Platinum in......

[topaz123]

On 8/18/2023 at 3:00 PM, sailingships said:

We dont have vouchers now Everything is on our S/S cards. They used to be in our cabins when we first boarded. You need 75 days to be Platinum. 200 days to be Diamond. 

 

Gold and D/P use to go to the party. The invite would be placed in our cabins the night before by our cabin steward. For the TA from Barcelona in Nov 2013 on the Sunshine there were 200 Diamonds, 700 Platinums and 1,200 Golds. (Those numbers were unusually high back then)

 

They had 4 parties the day of the party. 1pm, 2pm, 3pm 4pm with no break between and no clearing out of the previous passengers. So quite a few went at 1pm and just stayed on till the end of the last one about 5pm They had a great time. In those days we had wonderful appetizers and got to order whichever drink we wanted all we could drink. 

 

Not long after that Carnival dropped the Gold from the party. As a Platinum I argued with Carnival that the Gold should be grandfathered in. Those who were already Gold had been to the parties and now they were cut off. Unfortunately, that never happened. The Gold were no longer part of the Elite parties.

 

Dont matter if you are red, gold or first ever cruise....just walk in the Welcome Back party...no challenge at all....

[topaz123]

On 8/18/2023 at 9:11 AM, wemjam said:

Sadly it is the world we live in.  Everyone is entitled and cares little for those around them.

 

How many times do we see it on here.... people ask a question and others jump in and tell them what they "can" do not what the proper, orderly rules are.

 

Can I go to my room early.... "Sure I do it all the time and they let me"

And... "Here are fifteen ways to smuggle stuff on"

Can I arrive early to the terminal... "Sure I do it all the time and they let me"

 

And the one that frosts my cookie the worst when actually on board - "They are doing it, therefore I am entitled to also and you can't stop me" (like going to the Plat/Diamond party)

 

Two cruises back we were in the diamond area out in the main lobby bar area waiting for the ship to clear to disembark and of course sometimes random people would decide to sit down and join us.   A carnival agent would come along and explain they had to wait somewhere else.  I kid you not -  This one couple (and they were older not some young kids) came over and decided to stand there by us.  An agent came along and explained they had to wait somewhere else.  They just stood there.  The agent came back again and explained again why they needed to find somewhere else to wait.  Then a few minutes later I saw the agent speaking to our cruise director, who then came over and politely tried to explain again why they had to move and stood there trying to get them to do it.  This woman literally went off on him screaming - "THESE PEOPLE SITTING HERE ARE NO BETTER THEN ME, and I am going to wait right here and get off this ship when they do!"

 

I've been in the Diamond line at guest services and had some guy step out of the regular line and literally push his way in front of me and start screaming at the desk agent that he was in line before me and they were going to wait on him first.  My husband (who is normally very quiet and easy going, but I am sure took offense to the guy literally bumping me as he went by and then screaming like that) actually stepped up on that one.  All he did was hold up his sign and sail card (didn't say a word at first) and showed him his sail and sign card (the color) and pointed to the sign over the desk that says "Diamond/FTTF..."  The guy looked confused for a second and then my husband said, when you decide to pay for FTTF or Cruise 40 cruises like I have, then you get to use this line!"

 

Right on the money....customer service area packed with cruisers....we are diamond, entered the Plat and Diamond line....two people from the other line, yelled at us to go to the back of the line..I explained we were Diamond, and he said.." Expletive, you, wait like the rest of us"...carny guy came out escorted us to the desk.  I am constantly amazed at the typical Carnival cruiser these days...simply amazing.

[mz-s]

13 hours ago, topaz123 said:

Dont matter if you are red, gold or first ever cruise....just walk in the Welcome Back party...no challenge at all....

 

They could easily start by requiring cruisers bring the invitation with them again if that proves to be a problem.

[mz-s]

13 hours ago, topaz123 said:

Right on the money....customer service area packed with cruisers....we are diamond, entered the Plat and Diamond line....two people from the other line, yelled at us to go to the back of the line..I explained we were Diamond, and he said.." Expletive, you, wait like the rest of us"...carny guy came out escorted us to the desk.  I am constantly amazed at the typical Carnival cruiser these days...simply amazing.

 

Best to just ignore them when in public. Nothing good comes from engaging with them.

[wemjam]

35 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

They could easily start by requiring cruisers bring the invitation with them again if that proves to be a problem.

Exactly.  Back in the day, they had someone by the door and they would just ask to see the invite and how many people were actually walking through the door.  Would curb the excessive misuse of the intended purpose of these events.

 

[BlerkOne]

9 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

They could easily start by requiring cruisers bring the invitation with them again if that proves to be a problem.

Better to just load onto the S&S card and save a tree. Also keeps people from giving their invitation away.

[n6uqqq]

On 8/20/2023 at 1:10 PM, starstruck05 said:

I don't know if half the comments on here missed it but to the Original point of this post, only on TWO ships is there no free drink D/P party. The Mardi Gras and the Celebration for the very specific reason as there is no bar to serve the drinks where the party would need to happen. On those two ships (and possibly the Jubilee as well) they serve a glass of wine and you get the drink voucher loaded on your S & S. Every single other ship the party is as normal and nothing has changed.

Kind of ironic that the newest ships of the fleet cannot accomodate a party with drinks and don't seem to have enough regular dining capacity. Back to the drawing board! And yes it is only on these ships for now, but the water is being tested. 

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, n6uqqq said:

Kind of ironic that the newest ships of the fleet cannot accomodate a party with drinks and don't seem to have enough regular dining capacity. Back to the drawing board! And yes it is only on these ships for now, but the water is being tested. 

I haven't heard any complaints from people insisting they pay for included venues that cost extra on other ships.

 

When the entire ship is priority, no venue is big enough.

[n6uqqq]

11 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

I haven't heard any complaints from people insisting they pay for included venues that cost extra on other ships.

 

When the entire ship is priority, no venue is big enough.

Time for Carnival to either up the bar to reach the different levels or move away from perks that are limited by capacity. I would consider it a win win for Carnival and I if they just gave me an anytime beverage of my choice and canned the party. They could save manpower money by not holding these events. I don't think anyone goes to watch the video and cheer for their favorite ships they have been on. It has been reduced to an alcohol free for all. This won't help plats/diamonds that have cheers but then again the parties don't either. 

[mz-s]

2 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Better to just load onto the S&S card and save a tree. Also keeps people from giving their invitation away.

 

So swipe in at the door, similar to the process for e-Muster? Sounds fine to me. 

[Elaine5715]

4 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Better to just load onto the S&S card and save a tree. Also keeps people from giving their invitation away.

 

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

 

So swipe in at the door, similar to the process for e-Muster? Sounds fine to me. 

Great idea.  I am going to steal for future surveys.

[BlerkOne]

3 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

Time for Carnival to either up the bar to reach the different levels or move away from perks that are limited by capacity. 

So basically eliminate the program? Fine with me. 

 

Laundry is a fine example that is limited by capacity. Is it better to eliminate or to let the turnaround time grow? If people can't get same day service will they send less out? The issue solved itself 

[rolloman]

Typically they have the wine and beer on a table prior to walking into the theater. I was told, you have two hands so take two drinks. Secondly there was no one stopping you if you wanted to go back to the table and grab another round. I witnessed multiple folks doing just that. Keep in mind they do remove the table of drinks rather quickly once they feel everyone has shown up. 

[nascartim]

16 minutes ago, rolloman said:

Typically they have the wine and beer on a table prior to walking into the theater. I was told, you have two hands so take two drinks. Secondly there was no one stopping you if you wanted to go back to the table and grab another round. I witnessed multiple folks doing just that. Keep in mind they do remove the table of drinks rather quickly once they feel everyone has shown up. 

Yes, they had pints of beer, rum punch, and wine on a table, you just grabbed the one you wanted and went in. I had my invitation with me, but no one was checking them. You could walk back out and grab another drink if you wanted to. At the conclusion of the presentation, as you were walking out, if there was anything left, and there was both times I was on MG, they were just handing out everything til it was gone.

Edited August 22, 2023 by nascartim

[Elaine5715]

1 hour ago, rolloman said:

Typically they have the wine and beer on a table prior to walking into the theater. I was told, you have two hands so take two drinks. Secondly there was no one stopping you if you wanted to go back to the table and grab another round. I witnessed multiple folks doing just that. Keep in mind they do remove the table of drinks rather quickly once they feel everyone has shown up. 

That is only on certain ships.  Most have roving waiters who also don't check.  

[MagnoliaBlossom]

On 8/18/2023 at 2:23 PM, sailingships said:

I know NCL does that but when did Carnival start giving veterans a party with booze ? They didnt on the Magic in June.

They have really beefed up their veterans party in the past year.   We attended in May and February and both had very free flowing beverages.  It also helps if you tip your waiter.

[DANCING GRANDMOMMY]

On 8/17/2023 at 11:13 AM, BlerkOne said:

$12.50? That's up from $10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

So are the prices for the drinks😉

[DANCING GRANDMOMMY]

On 8/17/2023 at 10:00 AM, topaz123 said:

Now that we have a glut of diamond/platinum members.....we noted the welcome back party only served cheap wine, beer and HI C with Rum. You do get a card that says you are entitled to one drink , one hour from any bar on ship...must not exceed $12.50....that's it.

How do you get a drink 1 hour before the event, if you get the voucher at the event. I must have missed something.

[DANCING GRANDMOMMY]

On 8/17/2023 at 11:24 AM, Colorado Beach Bum said:

On xcel class ships the showroom is not set up for servers to walk around handing out drinks.  I don’t think it’s fleet wide as after we saw this on MG we went in other ships and had the traditional drinks during party. 

I'm guessing they walk around and serve drinks during the shows!

[topaz123]

7 hours ago, DANCING GRANDMOMMY said:

How do you get a drink 1 hour before the event, if you get the voucher at the event. I must have missed something.

The voucher letter is in the room the day before the party. You go to any bar and order a drink and it is comped on your s and s card. You get a receipt for the drink showing $0 charge.