Platinums/Diamonds- WWYD?

I'm not platinum but I am AMAZED anyone would believe Carnival would take this perk away. What a joke. Seriously...

This is it in a nutshell. Remenber back when you were NOT Platinum. If you arrived to the port early, you sat and waited to you got on the ship. Then you would sit with your luggage until you could get to your cabin. And you were happy to do it because you were excited about going on a cruise. There was something to eat, a place to sit in the sun, if you were smart, you brought your siut with you and changed in the bathroom and got in the pool. It wasn't so bad. You survived.

 

Now everybody is so spoiled, don't want to wait their turn. Get over it people. If you can't, move on to another cruise line that makes you feel special.

 

And yes, I am a platinum. If this even becomes true and is taken away, I will just find something to do before arriving to the ship. It's only about 3 hours. Everybody gets to their cabin by 1:30. Leave my bags at my hotel, see the city, come back for the bags and go to the port.

I remember it completely and hated it! I only go to my room to drop of my luggage which is all carry ons. I will not lug my luggage all over the eating areas trying to find a place to put my luggage and a place to sit. Answer for me if they do this, everything but backpack goes with porter to put on ship. Now someone else has to do extra work to deliver the luggage we would have placed in our closet.

I am AMAZED anyone would believe Carnival would take this perk away...

With all due respect, I’m not sure if you’re being sarcastic. [emoji23]

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Can we please get a poll to see who wants more polls?

Where is Steveaaaaaaa when you need him

We turn Platinum on our May cruise. I have held off booking another Carnival cruise. I will wait to see what happens in the next few months before I make up my mind. We already have have 3 cruises on Royal and will go with them if Carnival takes any perks away.

Probably not a good idea to wait, when Carnival changes a policy, they usually grandfather already booked passengers

This is it in a nutshell. Remenber back when you were NOT Platinum. If you arrived to the port early, you sat and waited to you got on the ship. Then you would sit with your luggage until you could get to your cabin. And you were happy to do it because you were excited about going on a cruise. There was something to eat, a place to sit in the sun, if you were smart, you brought your siut with you and changed in the bathroom and got in the pool. It wasn't so bad. You survived.

 

Now everybody is so spoiled, don't want to wait their turn. Get over it people. If you can't, move on to another cruise line that makes you feel special.

 

And yes, I am a platinum. If this even becomes true and is taken away, I will just find something to do before arriving to the ship. It's only about 3 hours. Everybody gets to their cabin by 1:30. Leave my bags at my hotel, see the city, come back for the bags and go to the port.

We have been Diamond for past 8-10 cruises and enjoy the perks. Who wants to carry their stuff around with them. Our vacation starts when we board the ship and we like the time to have a nice leisurely lunch, often make some new friends over lunch and than explore the ship.

As a result would be annoyed at yet another thing taken from us.

For me, the platinum perks that mean the most are free laundry and skipping the line at Guest services. If they take away early cabin access, I'll do what I did in my pre-platinum life - get lunch on Lido with my carryon sitting on the chair next to me.

First World Problems.......

Losing early cabin access wouldn’t bother me one bit. Even though it’s a Platinum perk, I’ve never taken advantage of it. So if Carnival ever takes it away, I won’t even notice.

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I remember it completely and hated it! I only go to my room to drop of my luggage which is all carry ons. I will not lug my luggage all over the eating areas trying to find a place to put my luggage and a place to sit. Answer for me if they do this, everything but backpack goes with porter to put on ship. Now someone else has to do extra work to deliver the luggage we would have placed in our closet.

By all means, yes. This is what I do even now. And still will if the perk is taken away.

We have been Diamond for past 8-10 cruises and enjoy the perks. Who wants to carry their stuff around with them. Our vacation starts when we board the ship and we like the time to have a nice leisurely lunch' date=' often make some new friends over lunch and than explore the ship.

 

As a result would be annoyed at yet another thing taken from us.[/quote']

No one said you had to carry all your luggage around the ship. As above, drop them with the Porters and take just a small bag with you on the ship.

 

It's not that hard or such a big deal people.

We have been Diamond for past 8-10 cruises and enjoy the perks. Who wants to carry their stuff around with them. Our vacation starts when we board the ship and we like the time to have a nice leisurely lunch' date=' often make some new friends over lunch and than explore the ship[/color'].

As a result would be annoyed at yet another thing taken from us.

This!

For me, the platinum perks that mean the most are free laundry and skipping the line at Guest services. If they take away early cabin access, I'll do what I did in my pre-platinum life - get lunch on Lido with my carryon sitting on the chair next to me.

And this! It will not stop me from sailing Carnival, but it would greatly annoy me to lug around my backpack for 1 1/2 - 2 hours until my cabin was ready.

Here we go again! :D I'll preface this by saying that I respect everyone's opinion and their right to have that opinion. Here is mine. As a Platinum, now Diamond, we never had early access to our cabins until FTTF was created. Because of this I could never understand why some P/D's were so up in arms concerning FTTF. If early access is taken away, and I don't believe it will be, I would certainly be disappointed, but would just do what we did before FTTF was created. If I jump over to RCCL or NCL will I get early cabin access? What level do I have to become to get early access on those lines? Can you even get early cabin access on those lines? I really don't know. So no, I will not be switching lines if this perk is eliminated. JMHO. Happy Sails Everybody! :cool:

I didn't realize this was a new thing either, and guaranteed access to the cabin is one of the main reasons we get FTTF. On our first cruise (Carnival Glory, 2012) I remember being able to get to our room right away, but we also waited forever to board. It was disappointing on later cruises to have to keep carry-ons with us (especially Princess where we heard rooms are always available on boarding).

We also like to carry everything on with us now, and will probably wait until later boarding - with hopefully later lines - if we sail without early access.

Platinums and Diamonds: If Carnival ever took early cabin access away from your list of perks, what would you do?

 

Poll included

Better question,,,Why would they do this as it costs them nothing?:confused:

Better question,,,Why would they do this as it costs them nothing?:confused:

Because they have cut Room Stewards forcing them to have more cabins. So now between Diamonds, Platinums, and FTTF, the amount of cabins they need to have done early is more than likely becoming too much. It also makes them more money by hoping those who no longer get it for free will pay. That’s my take on it anyway.

Better question,,,Why would they do this as it costs them nothing?:confused:

I can see a couple ways that keeping this perk costs Carnival, either through direct cost or lost revenue:

1. Having high numbers of P/D might require more staff to ensure rooms ready - direct labor cost

2. To guarantee the availability to P/D they limit the number of FTTF sales - lost revenue

Just because you are not buying a tangible good (food, drink, fun shop items, etc) doesn't mean their isn't a cost associated.

Another option is for enough people to complain to Carnival. There have been a couple of times Carnival has reversed a decision based on outcry.

Shrimp cocktails in the MDR, and use of the aft pools are two instances that come to mind.

Another option is for enough people to complain to Carnival. There have been a couple of times Carnival has reversed a decision based on outcry.

 

 

 

Shrimp cocktails in the MDR, and use of the aft pools are two instances that come to mind.

That’s what I mentioned on the other thread too. Hopefully people start doing it.

I can see a couple ways that keeping this perk costs Carnival, either through direct cost or lost revenue:

 

1. Having high numbers of P/D might require more staff to ensure rooms ready - direct labor cost

2. To guarantee the availability to P/D they limit the number of FTTF sales - lost revenue

 

Just because you are not buying a tangible good (food, drink, fun shop items, etc) doesn't mean their isn't a cost associated.

Correct and there would be no issue now except 2 years ago Carnival cut deeply into their housekeeping labor and nearly doubled the number of rooms their stewarding staff service per day.

I think Carnival is greedy.

This horse has been beaten to death enough. IF, and only if, early access to the cabins is taken away from anyone other than those that purchase FTTF, I suspect it will be because the head (or heads) of the Housekeeping Dept. for Carnival has filed a complaint with the "Beards" that, because of the reduction in the number of cabin stewards on each ship, the cabin stewards are struggling to get all of the Priority cabins ready by the time Embarkation begins. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point Carnival simply does away with early access to the cabins for everyone, and sells a limited number of FTTF's (at a lower cost) for the other perks that Platinum and Diamond cruisers now get for free.

I agree that if it's taken away, it will have everything to do with the problems it's causing for Housekeeping. I'm Platinum and I must admit that early access is the number one thing I like, but I'm also realistic. Lately, I've seen just how many Platinum cruisers there are - way more than I would have thought.

It would be nice if there was some way of knowing how many of the Platinum/Diamond really want the early access - rather then having to have all of the cabins ready. I would actually be happy if I could just get to the cabin to drop off my luggage - I don't need total access. As many of us older cruisers learn - I don't take half as many clothes as I use to, so I'm able to carry on my luggage now. If the early access is taken away, I'd just have to check my luggage or try to arrive later to the port. Not a deal breaker either way.

Here is my take. After 6 cruises (yes lowly ignorant Gold here) and being a person who travels with carry on and personal item only, I have refined my preferences to the point where this question is completely a non issue for me. We pick a 1 PM check in time. The changes to the boarding procedures make it so we walk right on the ship after we check in. By the time we get a Guys Burger, the room is ready. We unpack (because we have our luggage with us) and the fun begins. I don't care if they give this perk to Blues only. It does not affect me.

Judging by the reaction, you would think that Carnival has done something massive like no longer including food in the fare

Judging by the reaction, you would think that Carnival has done something massive like no longer including food in the fare

:D and it really is moot, because when the whole ship is Plat/Dia, the only option will be to delay boarding until all the cabins are available. What Princess does (or did).

Just 1 cruise shy of Diamond and I have to say I will move most of my cruises to Celebrity and build my loyalty from elite plus. I will still sail with carnival but won't go out of my way to book. I am getting tired of the experience being constantly reduced with cutbacks, reduction of staff and the new ships aren't anything special just more of the same.

If this is a reason to leave Carnival, then you're just looking for a reason. What did everyone do before FTTF and before you all were a Platinum or Diamond?

So, if you're looking for a reason to leave Carnival, just go.

Why do you think mods merged those two threads? Because it's silly to have a board full of separate threads talking about the same things. Your poll might be a little different, but the discussion that ends up below it in this thread will be the same as in the other one. In fact, it pretty much already is. People saying the same thing here that they have there. More than just "bantering and speculating," there are plenty of people in that thread who have said what they, as P/D's, would do. You just have to take the time to read it.

 

Can we please get a poll to see who wants more polls?

How about the two threads that ask how many days until your next Carnival cruise. Every posting on there is wrong the day after they post it.