sparks1093

What does that have to do with anything I said in the post you quoted?

We've sailed with Carnival since 2012 and have not seen a deterioration in the things that matter to us. They still give us a good return on our vacation dollar. Sure, there have been changes but I don't think that is a "deterioration". We sailed on Pride in 2012 for around $1700. Our cruise on Celebration next year is $2100.

If people only cruised with a certain line only for the status that they get then this would matter.

It's not a policy that I'm a fan of, but it's not the end of the world, either.

Kool Aid? Yes, Royal does things right but that doesn't mean that Carnival is wrong. (And I don't believe that I ever claimed that Carnival is "better", just that typically one can spend less with them.)

The renderings show a pier, so no tendering.

So what? Dollar for dollar the typical cruiser will spend less overall on Carnival even with heftier charges at Celebration Key. Sure, I could pay $2k more to sail on an older ship just to spend less at one port, but I don't see the point. (And of course I don't have to spend a dime at Celebration Key and will probably just do an off site excursion, just as I would have if we called on Freeport.)

No, it is a property on Grand Bahama Island (you can book the same excursion if you call at Freeport).

Carnival (typically) charges a lower fare and then has a higher price for onshore offerings. Royal (typically) charges a higher fare and then has a lower price for onshore offerings. The Kool Aid is consumed both ways.

Since the daybed only gives you the daybed I would choose Fortuna Resort. Even if we were considering Pearl Cove, Fortuna offers a better value.

I am not at all saying that it is a Celebration Key thing, but we are discussing Celebration Key (I just used cabanas as an example because it's the only thing I could remember from the list). But it's not sitting in a little room on Celebration Key, it's an open air gazebo with curtains. Not even sure they qualify as a cabana. But there are a lot of other things there that they are charging money for and none of it is attractive to us. We'll either use it as a beach day and use whatever space/loungers are available or we'll do the all inclusive Fortuna Resort excursion off site ($130 per person, unlimited food and drinks included along with beach chairs and umbrella).

It is something that they offer. Free will is still in effect.

There's a lot there so it'll take many reviews to get a sense of it.

Color me old fashioned but when I was in the lower levels of the economic strata I still had manners and knew how to behave in public. Just because someone doesn't have a lot of money doesn't mean that they can't be well mannered. It may just be a matter of I'll behave on Lake Shore Drive but when I go to the speak easy I'll let it all hang out. I recall meeting a gentleman on one of our NCL cruises (back when NCL had a similar reputation for low fares) and he said that he boarded right after disembarking a Royal cruise. He was wearing gym shorts and a "wife beater". I doubt he wore that on Royal except maybe to the gym.

We've sailed with Carnival since 2012 and their fares have always been lower than the competition as a rule. That is not new.

No spin doctoring here, whenever we've looked at Royal it's never been closer than $600. Royal is a bit better than Carnival in some areas but it's not $600 better. Of course there are many that would disagree which is fine, that's what choice is all about. It's easy to call any business racist but I've not seen a claim that would have a snowballs chance of surviving a court challenge. And the other things to will blow over and only impact a small percentage of people. There are a lot of excursions that leave Celebration Key completely so it's not like visitors are captive.

I don't like holding the past up to today's standards. Even 20 years ago was a completely different world. In any event the incident could have, did and does happen everywhere, cruises aren't exempt.

Big difference between "at fault" and "partially at fault". Of course they could have done better but they can't control everything and they are trying to do better now.

If someone is paying $2k more to sail on Royal one would hope things would be cheaper. Unlimited food sounds great but in reality most people will have one meal. But with that price difference I could buy a meal at Celebration Key and still be ahead of the game. (And I recognize that deals can be had and it's not always a $2k difference but Royal tends to have higher fares overall compared to Carnival. )

Even if it was smuggled booze or being provided to them by an adult in the party? Horrendous experience for sure, too many variables and unknowns though for definitive statements. Security's response was certainly underwhelming.

I've seen security out and about on every cruise.

When I can sail with Carnival for $2k less than Royal I won't care. If I happen to grab a great deal (like I did on Anthem) then I'll enjoy those amenities. But the overarching premise of having a private island is to increase profits to the cruise line in one fashion or another.

I don't recall seeing them. All I saw was a kid's snorkel package for $19.99.

I was just able to access the page you linked and yes, it does say that BC/photo ID is acceptable. That's the beauty of CC, always the opportunity to learn something new.

I think other cruise lines will continue to call there. If we do an excursion then we'll probably pick one that we could do if we were ported in Freeport so we do get out and about on the island. And since teach is part of your name it doesn't surprise me at all that you had workmanship tips for them. 🤭