Long time Carnival Cruisers: Changes

[ShanteS]

Couldn't agree more about the bands. Not sure why they changed this. I could be very wrong, but t doesn't seem like it's about cutting costs. When considering the overall costs for putting on a cruise, it seems like the $ diff. would not be significant between a DJ & the bands. I could see switching to a DJ for non-Caribbean cruises, but Calypso/Reggae music captures the essence of the Caribbean. This just doesn't make sense to me. I used to go to the Lido deck specifically to hear this music. Now I'm hardly ever there. :(

 

I too used to love going on the lido to hear the live bands. It was one of my favorite things about cruising. The bands were always great.

 

We left CCL mostly because of the lack of live music and it also seemed like there suddenly was less entertainment in general, but we still never had a bad CCL cruise. To us, the live music was important enough a cut to start cruising other lines.

 

Carnival isn't bad by any means but the changes they made weren't ones that we liked, so we now cruise other lines. At first I felt sad to leave CCL as well, (very sad) but you get over it quickly, trust me ;)

 

Well some changes/cuts I can deal with but the live music is a big enough one for me to want to try other lines now. My grandparents swear by Carnival and aside from sailing RCI some years ago and not liking it, they refuse to try any other lines. I'll go on the Valor with an open mind but I'm trying RCI and NCL next year and I'm looking forward to trying something different.

 

Which other cruiselines have you sailed since leaving Carnival? In your opinion which cruiseline has the best live calypso/reggae bands and entertainment/shows?

[halos]

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Which other cruiselines have you sailed since leaving Carnival? In your opinion which cruiseline has the best live calypso/reggae bands and entertainment/shows?

 

I should say that we cruised RCI and Celebrity only once each. I would like to give RCI another go, but right now we are loving NCL in a big way.

There is a lot of live music...by the pool and all over the ship. Lots of deck parties (which we really love). The only DJ I have seen on NCL was in the club and at the white hot party, where they are totally appropriate and enjoyable.

The 'party' feel that we used to experience on Carnival is very much alive on NCL, so right now, that is what makes us happy and why we choose that line...well, that and a lot of other reasons. Most of which their attention to small detail and their obvious excellence in listening to passenger feedback and responding IMMEDIATELY. I also love their ability to go with the flow during a sailing. Nothing is written in stone and anything is possible.

For us, at this point in time, they are the best. :)

[scottydog123]

No more guest talent show, (some of them were so good) and no more employee talent show (also some very talented people).

 

No horse racing, which was a fun deck game. I think they also did away with the red and blue contest, not very fun.

 

I remember they use to have If I were not on the sea Id Be, and the cruise staff would come out in different costumes, very entertaining.

[cruzinlisa]

***They do the muster drill alittle differently. You don't have to stand out on the deck the whole time & try to listen to the staff - on the last cruise I was on, we initially met & sat down in the auditorium or dining room then after all the instructions were given, we proceeded to the muster station.

.

 

This varies by ship actually, every cruise I have been on (including in April), we had to stand at the muster station. I have heard other people say they have not had to.

 

OP-

As far as other changes:

 

No free drinks at the Captains party. Its not really a party anymore either. Just $1 off drinks at certain bars and a gathering of people. The captains party was replaced with the fun farewell party but that also was cancelled.

 

You are not gold on your second cruise anymore. You have to have 25 days to be gold. The level in between Blue ( new) and Gold is red.

 

Past Guest party is now Gold, Platinum and Diamond. They have bigger drinks. They also have appetizers. I only ate one of the apps, because I was getting full and we had reservations at the steakhouse later. I left after about 20-25 minutes because I started feeling full. I probably drank 3 drinks and took a full one with me. The party is better IMO, but I would have preferred it if DH had been able to go (he was red and so was DD so they stayed behind).

 

Red and above get a coupon for a free drink. But it has limitations on where to use it. Breakfast, Lunch, or Brunch in the MDR. I have heard people say they got their drink "to go" at the stand outside the MDR.

 

Many ships have 2.0 upgrades. It is mostly just some upgraded food stations and bars, but its an improvement IMO. Not all agree.

 

People say the entertainment has been cutback. I haven't watched the slows the last couple of cruises really, because I have a 2 year old DD. Also, I am not that big on live theater, etc, so I am not the best person to judge that issue.

[cruzinlisa]

Great summaries above, but one major change is in the food (and we LOVE to EAT and have always really liked CCL food).

 

The quality is still fairly good, but they have downgraded the menus and options offered. They have added "comfort foods" such as meatloaf (yuck) and fried chicken (we don't cruise to eat KFC).

 

We also noticed that they offer all the more expensive gourmet foods on the same night (like an "elegant nite" aka in the past as "formal nite"). They bunch up the expensive/gourmet foods all on one nite (cost cutting as they are obviously serving less of them all....not fooling us CCL). For example: They will offer lobster, prime rib, duck, rack of lamb all on one nite??? Then on other nites there was truly nothing special that was appealing (ordered salmon 3x on the Breeze - it is a nightly offering as nothing else was appealing at all)....and that used to NEVER happen!!

 

Aside from the changes in entertainment (re-running the same shows, reducing the entertainment staff and band ), getting rid of live reggae band on lido etc....the food was the biggest and most noticeable to us....very disappointed.

 

I agree with this. last cruise I noticed that even more. On night 3 we went to the steakhouse but I did not feel I missed much in the MDR based upon the menu. Nights 4 and 5 (in the MDR) were not all that impressive either.

[kruise runner]

Cruisers

After our Carnival Glory cruise in Feb. We decide to try some other lines . The Glory was a great ship , the service excellent.in all it was an okay cruise just quiet. The cut backs in Entertainment and live bands just didn't give us WOW !! factor . In all there just wasn't much to do at night but karaoke. And this is not our thing. We had very good cruises with Carnival. But time has come to consider other islands or different cruise line.We will probably be back to Carnival our favourite is the Freedom. Just doesn't go to the islands of interest. Hopefully Carnival hears the cruisers and finds away to address the situation. We're still addicted to cruising.:D

kruise kat:),kruise runner:cool: