Special perks for 10th cruise w/Carnival

[twoharts2]

Has anyone gotten perks w/Carnival on 10th cruise like upgrade to balony in the last 6 months?

[crusinpsychRN]

I've been platinum for a while and never ever got an upgrade. Priority boarding is nice. Once I was first on the ship! The goodies in the cabin are nice and the best is the laundry.

Priority debarkation stinks. Traveling solo 3 bags is too hard to manage. They let ALL the passengers with their luggage off before priority for those without. You can be waiting until 9:30 or 9:45 to debark. And solo you really can't even go to the restroom and leave all your stuff but I've done it!

[cruisin*tigger]

They let ALL the passengers with their luggage off before priority for those without

Are you sure about that? My last cruise, I was waiting in line with my platinum card in view in my hand and one of the entertainment dudes walked by, saw my card and stopped. Grabbed my hand and said you don't have to wait - and walked me right past everyone to 'ding' off the ship. And I saw some of those folks had their full size luggage with them; I only had my backpack - my luggage had been put out the night before.

[maureencruiser]

Originally Posted by twoharts2

Has anyone gotten perks w/Carnival on 10th cruise like upgrade to balony in the last 6 months?

Upgrade to balony?? I prefer filet mignon and lobster when I cruise

[cruisin*tigger]

Originally Posted by twoharts2
Has anyone gotten perks w/Carnival on 10th cruise like upgrade to balony in the last 6 months?
Upgrade to balony?? I prefer filet mignon and lobster when I cruise

Lol Good catch! I had to read it twice before I realized the typo. Love funny ones like that.

[estebofarr]

Originally Posted by cruisin*tigger

Are you sure about that? My last cruise, I was waiting in line with my platinum card in view in my hand and one of the entertainment dudes walked by, saw my card and stopped. Grabbed my hand and said you don't have to wait - and walked me right past everyone to 'ding' off the ship. And I saw some of those folks had their full size luggage with them; I only had my backpack - my luggage had been put out the night before.

You were extremely lucky. Priority does have to wait until after carry off with luggage.

[cruisin*tigger]

You were extremely lucky. Priority does have to wait until after carry off with luggage.

Nope. Just did it again on the Imagination. Was off with the first group of self assist; just had my backpack. Asked when I dinged out and was told I can leave whenever I want.

[zgwortz]

There's nothing preventing a platinum cruiser from going out with self-assist (and as Platinum, you go out first before the other self-assist debarkation people...) even if you put out your bags the night before. You may, however, have to wait before customs for your bags to appear on the belt, but that shouldn't be long because your bags should come out on the belt first as well anyway.

Me, I'm used to shlepping about two suitcases and a backpack anyway, so it's pretty easy for me to do the whole thing self-assist, assuming I actually manage to get up and ready early enough. (I *hate* getting up early debarkation morning -- why can't we dock at 10 AM instead? :P )

It *does*, however, seem a bit unusual for them to let someone jump the line as a Platinum.

[Jana60]

Originally Posted by twoharts2

Has anyone gotten perks w/Carnival on 10th cruise like upgrade to balony in the last 6 months?

No, cabin upgrades are not a platinum perk. I went on my 10th and 11th Carnival cruise back to back in December. They let me bring on the allowed wine and soda for both weeks at the beginning. They gave me champagn and chochalate covered strawberries as an appollogy for late debarkation, and chochalate covered strawberries two other times as standard platinum perk. They also gave a fruit basket and bottle of champagn on the second debark as a thankyou for cruising B2B. In addition I received priority boarding, and tenders, 2 for 1 Casino tournament entry, free laundry, priority line on the phone and at the info desk, past guest party, and a Turvis mug for each of the weeks. And separate from all of that I got the affordable prices of CCL. I cruised to 8 different ports for a total cruise of 14 days for about $1800 and had a total of $600 OBC due to price drops that occured after final payment of that $1800.

[crusinpsychRN]

Originally Posted by cruisin*tigger

Are you sure about that? My last cruise, I was waiting in line with my platinum card in view in my hand and one of the entertainment dudes walked by, saw my card and stopped. Grabbed my hand and said you don't have to wait - and walked me right past everyone to 'ding' off the ship. And I saw some of those folks had their full size luggage with them; I only had my backpack - my luggage had been put out the night before.

I decided it was too stupid on the last cruise so I sneaked off with the ones who had all their luggage. Baggage area was not open yet and custom's and a Carnival employee forced me to leave the building. They said to come back in I couldn't have anything at all including a purse. So I put my carry on, purse and assorted stuff in my car and went back to the terminal.

I was standing with 11 other poor folks who did the same thing. We were forced to wait an hour and 45 minutes before they started letting one of us in at a time. We were told we were being punished for being smart a$$es. The Carnival lady threatened not to let me in at all b/c I kept asking her if I could get the bags.

I wrote an email to Carnival and they were appalled. Gave me $50 OBC for next cruise...I won't do that again!

This was in Tampa. That Carnival lady was a piece of work!

[crusinpsychRN]

Originally Posted by Jana60

No, cabin upgrades are not a platinum perk. I went on my 10th and 11th Carnival cruise back to back in December. They let me bring on the allowed wine and soda for both weeks at the beginning. They gave me champagn and chochalate covered strawberries as an appollogy for late debarkation, and chochalate covered strawberries two other times as standard platinum perk. They also gave a fruit basket and bottle of champagn on the second debark as a thankyou for cruising B2B. In addition I received priority boarding, and tenders, 2 for 1 Casino tournament entry, free laundry, priority line on the phone and at the info desk, past guest party, and a Turvis mug for each of the weeks. And separate from all of that I got the affordable prices of CCL. I cruised to 8 different ports for a total cruise of 14 days for about $1800 and had a total of $600 OBC due to price drops that occured after final payment of that $1800.

Wow! What ship was this on?

[Jana60]

Originally Posted by crusinpsychRN

Wow! What ship was this on?

Other than the apology gift all of the perks were standard for platinum and back to back cruises. The ship was Carnival Glory. I cruised solo in a porthole room first week, OV second week. The first week a large group of drag queens joined the cruise and alot of homophobes cancelled their cruise. Due to this the price droped from $778 + port charges to only $428 + port charges giving me $350 OBC. Mastercard had a promotion giving $50 per cruise if you use your Master Card for your Sail and sign account, giving me another $50 per cruise ($100 total). I had used a future cruise certificate to purchase each of the cruises which cost $100 each but gave $100 toward the cruise + $100 in OBC. (Future Cruise Certificates no longer exist unless you already bought these in the past). So thats $350+ $100+ $200= $650 OBC (OOPS, I THINK I ORIGINALLY SAID I GOT ONLY $600 OBC!) The folks in the Rue Paul Drag Queen group were very nice and no problem to me (Other than a little jealousy at the thought that those men were thiner and possibly prettier than me).

[crusinpsychRN]

Jana60 that is amazing!

[Jana60]

Originally Posted by crusinpsychRN

Jana60 that is amazing!

Yes!!! Some people come here to cruise critic and seem to be very proud of spending big bucks on a cruise. I on the other hand LOVE to get a good deal. I enjoy finding the best price for somthing almost as much as cruising. I would probably enjoy being a travel agent.