Just had to share this

[HeidiHo]

I have always wished that I had saved an old Carnival brochure from the time I started cruising in the mid 80's. Today I was going through some old boxes and found my wedding planner. We did a cruise for our honeymoon and in there I found 2 Carnival brochures. One from 1986 and the other 1986/1987. I was so excited. LOL. My first cruise was one the Festivale in 1985 with my girlfriends and then our honeymoon on the Holiday in 1987.

[geovet]

Nice!

[emoorehead]

What a great find! I am sure that brought back a lot of fond memories for you.

I am also a saver. I love little mementos like that.

[HeidiHo]

The pricing for the cabins back then was actually mostly higher than it is now, for the most part. I think now though, Carnival does more nickel and dining than it did back then. 

[HeidiHo]

Edited March 19, 2019 by HeidiHo

[HeidiHo]

4 minutes ago, HeidiHo said:

These prices are for a 7 night cruise on the Holiday. They include air but according to the brochure you would deduct $200.00 pp for cruise only prices.

Edited March 19, 2019 by HeidiHo

[Aplmac]

11 hours ago, HeidiHo said:

Today I was going through some old boxes and found my wedding planner.

We did a cruise for our honeymoon and in there I found 2 Carnival brochures.

One from 1986 and the other 1986/1987. I was so excited. LOL.

My first cruise was one the Festivale in 1985 with my girlfriends

and then our honeymoon on the Holiday in 1987. ===> Lucky you!

.

If you also found any old cruise cards, I collect those things

and would greatly appreciate them to add to my extensive collection

- IF you would part with them (or just one?) Pleeease?

 

This sort of thing...

.

[JaniceB]

My oldest one looks like the last picture you have.  

 

What a cool find Heidi.

[Anyislandwilldo]

Wow, nice nostalgia to look back on.

 

[ProgRockCruiser]

10 hours ago, HeidiHo said:

 

I can't tell if that includes all applicable taxes and gratuities or not (did Carnival do any kind of auto-grat back then?).

 

But even if it did:

 

Today the cheapest 7-day Carnival cruise I can book out of Miami is $1230 for two people in one cabin, including taxes, port fees, and gratuities.

 

So if the cheapest fare in 1987 was $775 per person with no airfare (based on previous comment)...the cabin total would be $1550.  That's over $3400 in 2019 dollars!

 

Hmm, not such a bad deal to be cruising today, hey?

Edited March 19, 2019 by ProgRockCruiser

[sw33twif3]

My first was cruise was at the age of 18 in 1982. It was my senior trip.

All my mementos have since been lost (many moves ago).

But I remember that I saved and raised money for 2 years to go. 

And I was so drunk for most of it, that I barely remember it now.

[chipperberg]

if I remember correctly, those base prices did not include tax, fees or port charges.  As far as the gratuities, they handed out envelopes close to the last night.  And I remember the dining room being half empty on the last night.  I remember those envelopes and if you ask for them, they still have them.   I like to use them for additional tips when people go above and beyond.  My first cruise was in 1991 on the Holiday. I turned 17 on that cruise.  I remember it well. My mother and I shared a riviera interior, upper and lower.  I can't remember the last time we didn't have a balcony at this point.  I still think the best family vacation value you can have is a cruise.  there are opportunities to nickel and dime, but you don't have to take them.  We sure didn't and typically don't, other than Cheers.  And to be honest, I feel their drink prices are pretty much on par with what we pay anyplace we go out to where we live, actually the beer on the ship is cheaper than some of the places we go, so I even think the drink prices are on target.  Just my opinion, but I think it is still a great value overall and I am happy that I am able to now share this with my own children.

[schazzy]

59 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

 

I can't tell if that includes all applicable taxes and gratuities or not (did Carnival do any kind of auto-grat back then?).

 

But even if it did:

 

Today the cheapest 7-day Carnival cruise I can book out of Miami is $1230 for two people in one cabin, including taxes, port fees, and gratuities.

 

So if the cheapest fare in 1987 was $775 per person with no airfare (based on previous comment)...the cabin total would be $1550.  That's over $3400 in 2019 dollars! 

 

Hmm, not such a bad deal to be cruising today, hey?

 

Nope, not a bad deal at all, that $3400 is around what we're paying for an 8 day cruise along with prepaid gratuities, Cheers and the 10% off $500 gift card we're using for our S&S account.

[HeidiHo]

According to the brochure, all the 7 night cruises back then had a flat, $25.00 fee for port charges. No mention of taxes, just the port charges and they were not included in the prices listed. Gratuities were not included either. As someone already mentioned, you paid them in cash to the individuals back then.

 

Edited March 19, 2019 by HeidiHo

[HeidiHo]

6 hours ago, Aplmac said:

.

If you also found any old cruise cards, I collect those things

and would greatly appreciate them to add to my extensive collection

- IF you would part with them (or just one?) Pleeease?

 

This sort of thing...

.

My oldest card looks just like your top and and sorry, but I won't part with any of my cards. That card was from my 2nd cruise. That was in 1987. I don't recall having a card at all on my first cruise in 1985 on the Festivale. Does anyone recall if back then we paid cash at the bars? I really don't remember.

 

My first cruise was on the Festivale with 3 of my girlfriends. I don't remember what type of cabin we booked but I know it wasn't a suite. It was either and inside or ocean view quad. A few days before the cruise the Upgrade Fairy called and we were upgraded to one of only 10 balcony suites on the entire ship. Everyone we met on the ship was so jealous. LOL. We even threw a party one night. The funny thing is, that balcony suite was only about the same size as a standard balcony on today's ships. The balcony and the bathroom were a bit bigger but the cabin itself was not. No one had to sleep on an upper bunk though. The cabin had twin beds a sofa that turned into a single bed and a roll away.

[Aplmac]

3 hours ago, HeidiHo said:

My oldest card looks just like your top and and sorry, but

I won't part with any of my cards. That card was from my 2nd cruise.

That was in 1987.

.

Thank you for sharing the memories and recollections!

I'm happy to hear that you value your card enough to keep it
as you have now, for 30+ years! Many other ppl just threw them out!!

[pghsteelerfan]

I found our old Carnival brochure too.  Was from 1991 for our honeymoon in 1992 - on Carnival Festivale.  I have the pages with our itinerary scanned.  I also have the front part of our deck plans scanned, the side with a picture of Festivale.  I need to get that other side scanned and I may try to scan the whole brochure.  I'll attach those pictures and also the scan of the post card.  Also attaching our cruise packet that our tickets came in.  Just love seeing these kinds of posts and hope others will contribute. 

 

I know I have my old cruise card in this house somewhere, probably in a box in the basement from when we moved from our apartment that we had when first married to our house.  It is not something I'd throw away.  I do have the cards for our six other cruises, including the Royal Caribbean Rhapsody of the Seas from Jan. 2000 that had been MIA until 2014. 

 

 

[Aplmac]

 

.

Thank you for these wonderful images of yore!

 

Of particular interest to me is the Festivale itinerary

that shows Barbados on a Thursday.

For a long long time now, Carnival Day in Barbados has been Wednesdays

-and some time coming in mid-May 2019 it's due to change to Friday.

But I never knew about Thursday visits!!

 

I hope you don't mind my using these historic images

in my Album of Those First Few Carnival Ships

but they really do belong in there, to preserve for posterity.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/gallery/album/185-aplmac-those-first-few-carnival-ships/

.

 

 

 

[ray98]

Cool find!

[ray98]

On 3/19/2019 at 12:30 AM, HeidiHo said:

The pricing for the cabins back then was actually mostly higher than it is now, for the most part. I think now though, Carnival does more nickel and dining than it did back then. 

 

 

....but when you factor in inflation a cruise is remarkably cheap these days.  That fare from '85 would have to be nearly double today to keep up with inflation.

[JaniceB]

Thanks for sharing the Festivale brochure too.

[pghsteelerfan]

17 hours ago, Aplmac said:

 

.

Thank you for these wonderful images of yore!

 

Of particular interest to me is the Festivale itinerary

that shows Barbados on a Thursday.

For a long long time now, Carnival Day in Barbados has been Wednesdays

-and some time coming in mid-May 2019 it's due to change to Friday.

But I never knew about Thursday visits!!

 

I hope you don't mind my using these historic images

in my Album of Those First Few Carnival Ships

but they really do belong in there, to preserve for posterity.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/gallery/album/185-aplmac-those-first-few-carnival-ships/

.

 

 

 

Hey there Aplmac! 

 

Yes, on our cruise, which was the June 14, 1992 sailing out of San Juan, we were in Barbados on a Thursday and we had a much longer day in port too, 9AM - 10PM, which was nice.  Since we were in our 20's, we had to go for the "booze cruise" excursion that day, on the "Bajan Queen" which was a lot of fun now but I don't think we'd get our money's worth now.  Since we were back in the afternoon and still had plenty of time left, we walked over to Brandon's Beach and got some sunset pictures and got back on the ship after that for dinner.  As you know, we've been on the southern itinerary out of San Juan on both Valor and Liberty on the current itinerary.  I did see where they are changing the ports around and that Barbados will now be on Friday's.  Will there still be boarding in Barbados?  I know the sea day on the new itinerary for those boarding in San Juan will be the last day, a Saturday, which is what it was on our Festivale cruise.  That made it nice for packing.  I've also noticed that they will be leaving San Juan at 6PM instead of 10PM.  I don't know the reasoning behind that. 

What was also interesting on our Festivale cruise was where in San Juan we actually boarded...across the bay in the industrial area.  The reason we didn't board at the regular pier in Old San Juan was because they had the 500th Christopher Columbus celebration and the replica ships were at the piers in Old San Juan.  RCI's Monarch of the Seas was with us (right in front of us) and way at the other end was another cruise ship, but we weren't close enough to see which one, so we didn't get to experience Old San Juan until years later.  That was probably the one that was in Barbados with us the day we were there.  We're going to get that video transferred to DVD and watch it again, it's been a while.  We have the other ship in video, closeup in Barbados getting off the "booze cruise" and we'll freeze it so I can see which ship that was. 

Again, please feel free use any of these pictures to the other site - they do need preserved.  I have several of Festivale's interior that I snagged from the internet and I did find several post cards on Ebay several years ago that I'll be happy to share so you can add.  I wish I had my own pics of the interior but the camera I had at the time didn't do well with interior lighting.  It was an automatic 35mm. 

[Aplmac]

1 hour ago, pghsteelerfan said:

I did see where they are changing the ports around

and that Barbados will now be on Friday's. 

 

Will there still be boarding in Barbados? ===> Yes.

Again, please feel free use any of these pictures to the other site

- they do need to be preserved.  ===> Thank you.

.

Yes there will still be boarding at Barbados.

 

Hope they never change that, because it's so easy for us on the island

to just get down to the Port, and get on board. No airports, no flying anywhere.

It's the perfect one week cruise holiday.

[Haagendawgs]

Haha. Great topic that brings back memories of thicker hair and a smaller waistline. Mardi Gras Summer of 1993 just before heading to college. Back then you could drink at age 18 in International Waters. Still remember getting that first warm Red Stripe and the bartender telling me that they drink it that way on the islands.

 

Ah, to be young and naive.

[ProgRockCruiser]

23 hours ago, ray98 said:

 

 

....but when you factor in inflation a cruise is remarkably cheap these days.  That fare from '85 would have to be nearly double today to keep up with inflation.

 

Over double: $1 in 1985 is worth $2.35 today.