Carnival Inconsistent in Cheers Package

[sparks1093]

54 minutes ago, Stick93 said:

Carnival - only because this is the thread I will use them, should promote to people fairly especially if they are traveling together so that they don’t feel this way after shelling out thousands of dollars to be a sardine in a tin can for 3,4,6,7,8 days. Once people feel they have been taken advantage of (yes even a rich man problem such as vacation) they feel like the OP that they need to get even. Carnival doesn’t care and they won’t punish 99.9% of the people who steal drinks or remove tips.  
 

We can agree this is not right and it should not be done - but it is and all the threats people write here are empty about what will happen if you get “caught” doing these things. 

If they are promoting something to a similar group of people then they are promoting fairly, even though the promotion will exclude others. Marketing to a target audience is nothing new in business and certainly not in the travel industry. What about promotions to folks who live in a certain area? Excludes those who aren't from that area. I've already discussed promotions for gamblers, which exclude non-gamblers. If they have a promotion for a target audience and you are part of that audience and didn't get the promotion then that would be unfair.

 

I personally don't care if someone wants to share drinks, the consequence is on them if they get caught (and yes, they do hold people accountable regardless of your view, although they obviously don't catch anyone). Removing tips doesn't affect Carnival at all and only hurts the front line worker who has absolutely nothing to do with what ticked the passenger off in the first place. Let's kick the little guy. I learned a long time ago that cruising is simply another business arrangement and letting one's emotions get in the way only clouds that fact. I cruise with Carnival because the price is right and I have no qualms about booking with others if I benefit from it. Ultimately my loyalty lies with myself and my family, not to some corporation (in any industry).

[Earthworm Jim]

Being platinum has nothing to do with it. Carnival has enough data on you and your friends to decide whether offering either one of you a Cheers promotion is likely to be profitable for them. Maybe your friends never spend $200 on drinks so getting them to drop $200 on Cheers is a win for Carnival. And maybe they know you do spend over $200 on drinks, so no go. Or, more likely, they know that you always pay for Cheers at full price, so why should they offer you a discount and take less money?

[ProgRockCruiser]

2 minutes ago, Earthworm Jim said:

Being platinum has nothing to do with it. Carnival has enough data on you and your friends to decide whether offering either one of you a Cheers promotion is likely to be profitable for them. Maybe your friends never spend $200 on drinks so getting them to drop $200 on Cheers is a win for Carnival. And maybe they know you do spend over $200 on drinks, so no go. Or, more likely, they know that you always pay for Cheers at full price, so why should they offer you a discount and take less money?

I explained that already, and OP is still feeling slighted, and I don't think anything we say is going to change that.

[Stick93]

7 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

If they are promoting something to a similar group of people then they are promoting fairly, even though the promotion will exclude others. Marketing to a target audience is nothing new in business and certainly not in the travel industry. What about promotions to folks who live in a certain area? Excludes those who aren't from that area. I've already discussed promotions for gamblers, which exclude non-gamblers. If they have a promotion for a target audience and you are part of that audience and didn't get the promotion then that would be unfair.

 

I personally don't care if someone wants to share drinks, the consequence is on them if they get caught (and yes, they do hold people accountable regardless of your view, although they obviously don't catch anyone). Removing tips doesn't affect Carnival at all and only hurts the front line worker who has absolutely nothing to do with what ticked the passenger off in the first place. Let's kick the little guy. I learned a long time ago that cruising is simply another business arrangement and letting one's emotions get in the way only clouds that fact. I cruise with Carnival because the price is right and I have no qualms about booking with others if I benefit from it. Ultimately my loyalty lies with myself and my family, not to some corporation (in any industry).

Well said and I agree with you - but that doesn’t mean people don’t feel otherwise and act otherwise. 

It’s like rum running. They catch many people and they take it away. Some people get it past them and know that. But just about nobody gets thrown off for it. 

 

[Elaine5715]

57 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

I explained that already, and OP is still feeling slighted, and I don't think anything we say is going to change that.

How you think they would react if we mentioned different zip codes get different targets? Or that their friends use a high value credit card?  People take marketing demographics personal and then wonder why businesses don't share them.  Marketing demographics is why my region doesn't have a Trader Joes but we do have an Aldi. 

[serene56]

is there two people in each cabin?   I have three cabins booked   Only one cabin was offered the RUI promotion 

[bafinegan]

2 hours ago, Stick93 said:

Well said and I agree with you - but that doesn’t mean people don’t feel otherwise and act otherwise. 

It’s like rum running. They catch many people and they take it away. Some people get it past them and know that. But just about nobody gets thrown off for it. 

 

I have actually had a bartender suggest we do it.  I had DOU everywhere and hubbs had DOU while in the casino.  We were at another bar ( not in the casino) and the bartender said if we wait 5 min she could make/charge hubbs drink to my DOU everywhere account.  We said that it was ok, just go ahead and charge his card ( we had plenty of OBC to use up anyway).  

[notscb]

6 minutes ago, bafinegan said:

I have actually had a bartender suggest we do it.  I had DOU everywhere and hubbs had DOU while in the casino

Is this not a different case, though? If you both had a package already, it's not like Carnival isn't already covering both of you.

 

The situation being described in this thread is someone not paying for a service someone else payed for.

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

19 hours ago, Many Time Cruiser said:

But they got the same cabin as us. I just think it so wrong.  They are on same cruise, same room and paying 400 more dollars than us with the cheers package. We booked at the same time, same salesman.

Airlines have been doing this for decades.  Same flight, same class of seats, all different prices.

[bafinegan]

49 minutes ago, notscb said:

Is this not a different case, though? If you both had a package already, it's not like Carnival isn't already covering both of you.

 

The situation being described in this thread is someone not paying for a service someone else payed for.

No.  We had different packages.  Hubbs was while playing in the casino ONLY.  We were at a bar NOT at the casino, so he would be charged for those drinks.

[notscb]

55 minutes ago, bafinegan said:

We had different packages. 

Right, but both of those packages covered drinks, it just depended on where you were on the ship. It's still drinks.

 

The OP is complaining about not getting the same deal and is planning on borrowing from their friends package without paying for or having it included in their fare. In your case, you both had drinks already included (just in different ways).

[Purvis1231]

Maybe the friends over paid for the cruise to make up the difference. 

[ronkeykong]

22 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

Look around at other cruise lines. I've been on 22 cruises. All Carnival. They don't offer me a darn thing Joe Schmo blue card can't get. And my next cruise is on NCL.

 

We just did our first Alaska and first NCL in May.  My wife and I have 15-18 Carnival cruises or something like that.  NCL / Alaska was a nice change.  Our usual port is Galveston, and a few times New Orleans.

[ProgRockCruiser]

50 minutes ago, Purvis1231 said:

Maybe the friends over paid for the cruise to make up the difference. 

The dearth of actual facts in the OP's tale has made for much speculation.

 

But it doesn't really matter:

 

The OP (or anyone) could offered the exact same cruise package as their friend/neighbor with identical backgrounds, VIFP points, Zip Code, and history of drinking habits, except one of them might get offered a low-price drink package, and one of them might not.  

 

Sometimes it is targeted marketing, sometimes it is just a random selection of possible customers.  Like how you can get a free t-shirt tossed out to you at a concert - not everyone gets one, and maybe it goes to the newbie who has never seen the band before, while the guy/gal in the next seat has been a loyal fan for years and clearly deserves the t-shirt more.

 

Sometimes it's just a lottery, not a rewards program.

Edited June 28, 2023 by ProgRockCruiser

[Saint Greg]

2 minutes ago, ronkeykong said:

We just did our first Alaska and first NCL in May.  My wife and I have 15-18 Carnival cruises or something like that.  NCL / Alaska was a nice change.  Our usual port is Galveston, and a few times New Orleans.

 

My first 10 cruises were out of New Orleans/Galveston. It definitely gets old. Since then only 3 of my past 12 have been out of New Orleans or Galveston. I will be going out of Galveston twice next year only because of Jubilee.

[ronkeykong]

1 minute ago, Saint Greg said:

 

My first 10 cruises were out of New Orleans/Galveston. It definitely gets old. Since then only 3 of my past 12 have been out of New Orleans or Galveston. I will be going out of Galveston twice next year only because of Jubilee.

We don't mind it too much since it's close (4 hours) and the price is right.   We are also going on Jubilee next year (February, I think) since the transatlantic was cancelled.  Also the 2 week southern Caribbean in October.  

[aborgman]

20 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

The dearth of actual facts in the OP's tale has made for much speculation.

 

But it doesn't really matter:

 

The OP (or anyone) could offered the exact same cruise package as their friend/neighbor with identical backgrounds, VIFP points, Zip Code, and history of drinking habits, except one of them might get offered a low-price drink package, and one of them might not.  

 

Sometimes it is targeted marketing, sometimes it is just a random selection of possible customers.  Like how you can get a free t-shirt tossed out to you at a concert - not everyone gets one, and maybe it goes to the newbie who has never seen the band before, while the guy/gal in the next seat has been a loyal fan for years and clearly deserves the t-shirt more.

 

Sometimes it's just a lottery, not a rewards program.

 

Just for a note - it IS possible for targeted marketing to be illegally discriminatory (in both directions - see: predatory inclusion).

 

Most differences involved in targeted marketing are legal - but intent doesn't matter legally, only impact.

 

Facebook paid out a goodly sum of money for discriminatory targeted advertising.

[Joebucks]

On 6/27/2023 at 1:38 PM, dallasdan said:

Did you also factor in the rate of the cruise itself.  When I have been offered cheers at a discount, the cost of the cruise was higher than If I just booked it and bought cheers.  

 

For the majority of people, it's about "ME" and "FREE". Nothing else matters. 

[Elaine5715]

49 minutes ago, aborgman said:

 

Just for a note - it IS possible for targeted marketing to be illegally discriminatory (in both directions - see: predatory inclusion).

 

Most differences involved in targeted marketing are legal - but intent doesn't matter legally, only impact.

 

Facebook paid out a goodly sum of money for discriminatory targeted advertising.

Oversees marketing dept  is not concerned with US thinking. FaceBerg is US