tss Festivale - Carnival's Vintage Ships

[bearing]

I see there are quite a few of you who have sailed on the Festivale around, if not in 1989. Well, this is my problem....

 

That was the last time I sailed with CCL till this upcoming cruise (Jan. 27th) on the Ecstasy. I booked my cruise with an outside TA online not CCL. I have not been able to get through my TA or CCL a past guest code cause CCL said that they did not keep records that far back. In fact I talked twice on the phone with CCL and their operators were useless and not at all helpful on this topic. One said I could just tell them at the terminal when I get on the ship that I was a past guest and they would give me a code...then another CCL operator said I would have to send them a copy of my old tickets! I didn't keep those tickets these past 18 years! GEZZZZZZZZZ.:mad:

 

So have any of you been able to get a past guest code if your last cruise with CCL was on the Festivale? If so...how did you do it?

 

I am running out of time and I want to be able to attend the past guest party on board and as of now, I will not receive an invitation to the party. GRRRRRR!:mad:

 

To late now to worry about a past guest discount...I have been upgrade from a 1A (bunk bed) to a 5A 2 twins with 2 portholes, so I am happy with that!

 

Any help would be appreciated!

 

Thanks!

 

I believe you can send them a picture of you on the cruise, and that will get you credit for that cruise. If you have the welcome aboard picture with the date it's a slam dunk. Contact the loyality department for more info on this.

[bearing]

Here I am with my family aboard the Festival in 1986! Gotta love those red pants I'm wearing, LOL. Hey it was the 80's! :D

[NJcruisemom]

our first on festival was in 1984 and our second was in 1989,loved it and really miss it.:( have been on carnival triumph,holiday and destiny plus dawn princess. the best ones were FESTIVAL and HOLIDAY.:)

 

I think I've read this thread before but just noticed the date on your picture. We were on this cruise and have our boarding photo with the same date. It was our honeymoon (played the Honeymooners game), we were upgraded (first and only time) to an outside cabin with a porthole. It was all the way forward and there was a "secret" exit that went right out onto the bow of the ship.

 

I forget which port it was, but we had done the booze cruise...they played Hot, Hot, Hot. Back on board, we were on deck by the pool and they started emptying it (something they don't do anymore) while we were still in it and had to boost each other up to the ladder to climb out. Then at dinner that night the waiters were singing Hot Hot Hot.....everyone from the booze cruise went wild and started singing and dancing with the waiters. We met so many people and had soooooo much fun.

 

Still cruising, but really miss the experience of smaller ships.

[justacruzr]

We cruised on the Carnivale & Mardi Gras back in the early 80's and IMO it was a very different experience vs. today.

 

Dinning - One waiter/bus boy pair per two 6 person tables, Waiter & bus boy became your best friends by the end of the cruise, Waiters would tell adult jokes & do table tricks while waiting for food to be ready. Even today I still miss some of the waiters from my cruises in the 80’s and wonder what they are doing now.

 

Staff - All of the staff went out of they way to make your cruise special. it was like they were out to prove the Carnival was the best and most fun cruise line. One example I remember was when we were in Nassau docked next to a competitors ship Carnival had a loud deck party going on when the Cruise director had all the passengers taunt the other ship to show how much more fun we were having.

 

Environment - Much more of a party atmosphere - not falling down drunks - just every lounge & bar packed with people having a good time. The bars wouldn't shut down until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. We would get up at noon to start the next day.

 

Room steward - Lots of interaction would get anything you wanted - tried to be your best friend.

 

Ship layout - If you look at a layout of the older ships they look like a maze in many ways. Sometimes you had to make several turns down a dead end hallway to get to your room. Much smaller (~20,000 tons) but the ships seemed big at the time. The ships were converted ocean liners so many of the amenities we expect today were nonexistent. The rooms were tiny, no TV, had a central movie theater, small cramped theater with columns that blocked your view.

 

Enjoyment - I have been on 19 cruises (14 on Carnival ships) and remember the cruises I took in the 80's better than the ones I took last year. I would give anything to be able to take a cruise on the Carnivale or Mardi Gras if the staff and attitudes were the way it was back then.

 

In the early 90’s the whole atmosphere started changing to be more mainstream and more like it is today. I asked a waiter in 91 what had caused the change and was told Carnival was getting too many complaints about the waiters being too personal and the adult jokes/tricks offended too many people.

 

I cruise today because I feel it’s a great value. I pay significantly less today for a cruise than I did back in the 80’s & 90’s. I guess that’s why the service is the way it is and why they try to hawk everything they can to get the revenue they need to make a profit. Every time I take a cruise I think back to the 80’s and wish this cruise could be like one of them but of course that’s not possible. I would gladly give up the big ship experience to get the service and staff interaction like it was back then.

 

Here I am, adding to this thread almost 2 years later but I couldn't resist. A friend and I took our 1st and 2nd cruises on the Festivale in 1986. The 2/23/86 cruise and the 4/27/86 cruise. The 1st one was about 2 weeks after the Challenger disaster and I remember thinking, as we sailed out of Miami, that we were in the area of the sea where it went down. Kind of an eerie feeling. I've been reminiscing lately about those first 2 cruises and have been reconnecting with some absolutely awesome friends we made on those cruises with surprisingly good luck. Absolutely correct description and totally agree. I had never had such treatment in my life. They made you feel like Kings and Queens. Far beyond what I had imagined or expected beforehand. Although there were some older people on the cruise, the Festivale had the reputation of being THE ship for young people who were partyers. We were in our late 20's at the time and that's why we booked her. Except for a few hours in the morning (4 AM to 7 AM) that ship never shut down. Nothing has ever compared to those 2 cruises including our 2/21/87 cruise aboard the MS Holiday, although it did come close. I'd say that the 80's were the classic era of cruising. It was sad to see that her life after Carnival owned her went downhill and that she is no more. But she will always live on in our memories. :cool:

[earlethepearl]

I found some videos from the Festivale, Tropicale, Celebration, and when the Sensation did her trans- Atlantic when she was completed. Also there are videos of the old Carlos n Charlies in Cozumel. Back when Carnival stayed late in Cozumel and you could party at night. You can see the basketball court in there too for those that remember!

 

Go to Youtube and search for: marinko novak

 

He has quite a few videos. He was a staff member and even has videos of crew quarters and the crew dining room.

[missmel64]

I took my first cruise on Festivale in April of 90. They had 4 single cabins and I had one of those. We had assigned seating in the dining room then, and I had the best group ever. Single ladies from 2 of the other cabins, from TX and NJ, a couple on their honeymoon that had bunk beds (LOL), a couple of adorably cute brothers in their 20's. The best part was, and all my friends think I'm crazy, but it was fine. I met some people on the airplane from a town near me. A couple of days into the cruise I was talking to one of the single men from that group, and he was complaining that his roommates who were much younger keep bringing girls to their cabin. Well we asked the crew and they brought a mattress to my cabin, stored under my bed during the day. He spent the rest of the cruise sleeping on the floor of my cabin, and paid for a portion of my cruise.

[hawk/hornfan]

I know this an old thread, but first cruise was April 1983 on the TSS Festivale, however my 2nd cruise was not until April 1998. Life, like raising a family got in the way! LOL

 

It was a memorable cruise because on the last night, Friday April 13, just as early dinner seating was ending, a steam pipe blew causing the ship to lose power. We were dead in the water till after midnight. Late getting back into Miami, missed our flight that CCL got rebooked for late that night.

 

Overall was a great time. Been on 7 cruises now, and 1 booked for Sept 2015 to Hawaii.