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Advice for returning Carnival Cruiser?


Methosage
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My wife, daughter, and I will be sailing Carnival Breeze - Aug 3rd-10th, 2019 - Port Canaveral-Cozumel-Belize-Roatan-Costa Maya. 

This will be the 6th Carnival cruise my wife and I are taking; however, it will be a 3 and a half year break since our last cruise (last cruise was March 2016).

Any changes to Carnival that have happened over the last 3 years that I should be aware of?

Thank you in advance!

 

 

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You're at a good site to catch up. I suggest reading the forums at your leisure.  I think Carnival changes things more often then Granny bakes a pie.   Just too many changes to list ,anything particular  you have in mind ?

No more table cloths. Menu change , Guys burgers and so forth. 

 

OH ! Welcome back !

Edited by BoDidly
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4 minutes ago, BoDidly said:

You're at a good site to catch up. I suggest reading the forums at your leisure.  I think Carnival changes things more often then Granny bakes a pie.   Just too many changes to list ,anything particular  you have in mind ?

No more table cloths. Menu change , Guys burgers and so forth. 

 

OH ! Welcome back !

Nothing in particular...just any significant changes.  For example, I have been lurking this forum the last couple of days and noticed that they now ask if you want morning or evening room cleaning (as oppose to the default in the past being both) but you can still get both if you want. Any tips like that. 🙂 Thanks in Advance!

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9 minutes ago, BoDidly said:

You're at a good site to catch up. I suggest reading the forums at your leisure.  I think Carnival changes things more often then Granny bakes a pie.   Just too many changes to list ,anything particular  you have in mind ?

No more table cloths. Menu change , Guys burgers and so forth. 

 

OH ! Welcome back !

 

Second the advice to read the forum for a couple days, won't take long to see what people are talking about and how that is different from a few years ago.  We last sailed Carnival awhile ago, and since booking our next one, I've been catching up...

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2 hours ago, Methosage said:

My wife, daughter, and I will be sailing Carnival Breeze - Aug 3rd-10th, 2019 - Port Canaveral-Cozumel-Belize-Roatan-Costa Maya. 

This will be the 6th Carnival cruise my wife and I are taking; however, it will be a 3 and a half year break since our last cruise (last cruise was March 2016).

Any changes to Carnival that have happened over the last 3 years that I should be aware of?

Thank you in advance!

 

 

Cliché 

 

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We just returned from a Carnival cruise after being absent for almost a decade. Here’s what I noticed:

 

- Check in process was expedited tremendously. We walked up to an agent with a handled device who scanned our boarding passes, verified passports, and that was it! We proceeded onboard and got our Sail and Sign cards in our room. Very easy. 

 

- Stage entertainment: Absolutely sucked. Between playlist productions, Hasbro games, and things like the Newlywed game posing as the headliner for the night, I believe that Carnival’s stage entertainment is at an all time low.

 

- Bye bye Fun Ship Freddy, hello Dr. Seuss: Carnival has developed a partnership with Dr. Seuss so a lot of kid activities are themed after this. There are parades, read alongs, and themed breakfasts. My kids really enjoyed all of it.

 

- Dining Experience: Definitely more casual but still enjoyable. Yes, tablecloths are gone (and to be honest, I would’ve never noticed about this change unless people hadn’t created such an uproar about it here on the message boards. Truly not a big deal). Entree selection seems to be more limited and “dumbed down”. but in all fairness, it’s adequate for the casual and budget minded experience that Carnival delivers. We still enjoyed the MDR. 

 

- Stateroom Service: As others mentioned, you will now be approached by your cabin steward, and if yours is like ours, they’ll ask if you would like service in the morning OR evening. In reality you can ask for BOTH, which we did. He didn’t object. 

 

- Guy’s Burgers and Blue Iguana Cantina are nice additions to the casual over the counter fare. A definite improvement over the previous burgers, although in my opinion they are overhyped. Blue Iguana Cantina was mouth watering though. 

 

- Partnership with Michael’s for arts and crafts activities: A return to the basics of cruising when part of your daytime entertainment consisted of spending mind numbing hours creating a craft. We actually attended two of these sessions. My kids really enjoyed them. A surprisingly welcome change. 

 

- Past guest party now only for Diamonds and Platinums. If you were used to attending the past guest party as a gold member, you don’t get to attend now. The positive though (at least for those who qualify)  is that the party is now more intimate and personal with better drinks selection. I actually got to chat with the Captain and the Cruise Director.

 

- Ditch the paper Fun Times in favor of the Hub App. Many cruise lines have created a free app to use onboard and Carnival has done the same. You can check the daily activities, your shipboard account among other things. You can also “chat” with other fellow cruisers for a small $5 / per cruise fee. Good way to stay in touch with family members and friends traveling with you. 

 

Overall Carnival still feels like Carnival even after a decade. I thought that I was going to feel like a fish out of water having been gone that long, but it felt like it hadn’t been that long. None of the changes were earth shattering. 

Edited by Tapi
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15 minutes ago, Tapi said:

- Ditch the paper Fun Times in favor of the Hub App. ===> Nooooo!

Many cruise lines have created a free app to use onboard

and Carnival has done the same.

You can check the daily activities, your shipboard account among other things.

 

Overall Carnival still feels like Carnival even after a decade.

I thought that I was going to feel like a fish out of water having been gone that long,

but it felt like it hadn’t been that long.

None of the changes were earth shattering. 

.

I'm hoping I can still get a paper hard-copy of the daily Fun Times

at Guest Services??

.

DSC_5423.JPG

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If they didn't have the Alchemy Bar on your last cruise, check it out.  My husband and I think it's the best bar concept at sea.  The mixologists are fun, they have good bar snacks (I think you might have to ask for these), they gave us charms shaped like martini glasses on our last cruise, it's just a fun place to hang out and get excellent drinks.

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27 minutes ago, Aplmac said:

.

I'm hoping I can still get a paper hard-copy of the daily Fun Times

at Guest Services??

.

DSC_5423.JPG

They’ll still deliver a printed copy of the Fun Times to your stateroom. I just used the app 95% most of the time to find out what was going on onboard. For me, it was more practical. The paper Fun Times went unread most of the time, straight to the trash bin sometimes.

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12 minutes ago, CruisingViper said:

Oh, that's very fascinating to me. I read a lot myself

I read a lot too, but I haven’t purchased a paper book in years. Kindle is what I’ve been using. Probably a big reason why the Hub App was more practical to me than the paper Fun Times.

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7 minutes ago, Tapi said:

They’ll still deliver a printed copy of the Fun Times to your stateroom. ===> Love!

 

The paper Fun Times went unread most of the time,

straight to the trash bin sometimes. ===> Oh no no nooo!

.

My wife will go thru the Fun Times and highlight what she's into, the next day

It won't be wasted!

 

Perhaps this should be a request/not item?

 

I sometimes accumulate them, and take them with me when we disembark.
I have a small collection per cruise, as mementos

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22 minutes ago, Aplmac said:

I sometimes accumulate them, and take them with me when we disembark.
I have a small collection per cruise, as mementos

I can relate. There was a time when I considered throwing Fun Times away in the trash sacrilegious. I also used to collect and take them home. And if the Fun Times for that day got even the slightest wrinkle, I’d rush to Guest Services to get a new, unwrinkled copy to take home that nobody could touch! 😂

 

I stopped doing this years ago. Now the only “paper” thing that I bring home from every single cruise is the boarding photo. Even if we look like crap, I buy it. They aren’t displayed anywhere. I just have them stacked in a drawer at home.

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18 minutes ago, Aplmac said:

.

My wife will go thru the Fun Times and highlight what she's into, the next day

 

I know that the highlighter and paper habit is a hard one to break, but the Hub App allows you to go through the list of daily activities, click on the ones you like, and then you can reference only those activities that you highlighted in your favorites tab. The app will also alert you 15 minutes or so before the start of any activities in the favorites section. Pretty nifty. 

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Oh I forgot to mention. The #1 change that I sorely missed was the “bing” noise that the old card scanners would make upon boarding the ship. It used to get me all giddy, knowing that I was officially on the ship! No more 😢

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You now have to select/be assigned a time to arrive for check in.  If you arrive early, you will have to wait until your assigned time to enter the terminal.  (Unless you are diamond, platinum, or bought FTTF).  No more big crowd at the entrance at 1000.  EM

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1 hour ago, Tapi said:

I read a lot too, but I haven’t purchased a paper book in years. Kindle is what I’ve been using. Probably a big reason why the Hub App was more practical to me than the paper Fun Times.

tumblr_mnhzoe000v1qfr6udo1_400.gif

23 minutes ago, scpirate said:

They quit printing on paper.millenials  can't read. everything they need to know is on YouTube.

giphy.gif

 

1 hour ago, elcuchio24 said:

 

WINNER! 1000000 points for you

giphy.gif

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1 hour ago, Tapi said:

I know that the highlighter and paper habit is a hard one to break,

but the Hub App allows you to go through the list of daily activities,

click on the ones you like, and then you can reference

only those activities that you highlighted in your favorites tab.

 

The app will also alert you 15 minutes or so

before the start of any activities in the favorites section. Pretty nifty. 

.

I shall have my private secretary (wife) download said App to her phone.

She's in charge of the cell-phone, not me.

 

HUB sounds good! I'm sure we'll use both Hub and paper.

Where to download Hub from? -the Carnival website??

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15 minutes ago, Aplmac said:

 

Now I need cruise details to submit - LOL!

You’ll get full functionality of the app once you board the ship and enter your folio number. Enjoy! 

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