No open bar on welcome back party

[staceyglow]

There is certainly open bar at the Plat/Diamond party on the Pride. I sat next to a couple who managed to order 5 drinks each within the first 20 minutes of the party. 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Meh

[glrounds]

On 8/17/2023 at 1:16 PM, jimbo5544 said:

Imagine that, 20+ billion in the hole for being shut down against their will for 19 months, and we do not get an hour to shovel down as many free drinks as we can.  That stinks.🫠

So well put, Jimbo . . . . I bet there is a zillion cruisers that look upon this "change" as Carnival beating up on us cruisers SMH.

[jamon]

Just looked at the listed perks at each level and there is one for diamonds only  that says "Special event invitation from the captain on each sailing." What does this perk include??????

[burnsrod1]

Just got off the Vista and the Platinum and Diamond party did feature the free drinks.  Just like always. 

[jam19872016]

22 hours ago, jamon said:

Just looked at the listed perks at each level and there is one for diamonds only  that says "Special event invitation from the captain on each sailing." What does this perk include??????

It's varies based on how many diamonds are omboard.

 

If there are a lot it is a lunch with a special menu and open bar. The officers make the rounds but may not hit every table. The menu is usually very nice and it's a nice break from the normal options.

 

For smaller groups, I think 50 or less diamonds onboard, a cocktail party with open bar and trays of small bites are served. The food is nice but more snacky than a full meal but the tradeoff is more personal interaction with the officers.

 

The lounge will depend on the size of the group. Smallest I have seen was held in the piano bar with about as many diamonds as officers which allowed them to sit and chat for a while with each of us.

 

I have heard very small groups, like less than 10, get unique experiences including bridge tours but I have not experienced that personally. 

 

The type of event is at the discretion of the Hotel Director but follows a general guideline based on number of diamonds onboard.

[rj59]

I kind of like the idea. HAL has gone to a similar setup, where you can only get a flute of sparkling wine at the reception but then get a cocktail coupon to get when you want, when you want it, without the stress it puts on bartenders and servers and agoraphobes like me at such receptions, which I can now just skip. 

[CruizinSusan70]

On 8/17/2023 at 2:24 PM, VentureMan_2000 said:

Wonder if that free drink counts towards your CHEERS...  

 

Yup.

[CruizinSusan70]

On 8/18/2023 at 7:11 AM, jimbo5544 said:

 raise the bar in terms of who qualifies. 

New Platinum Plus level at 140 or 150?

[CruizinSusan70]

On 8/20/2023 at 8:28 AM, Rudyard said:

I foresee Platinum cruisers getting the Gold treatment in the future and being dropped from the parties as well.

 

I'm guessing that because there are are so many Plats now since Carnival used to make it so easy to get to Platinum, that when the VIFP system is revamped they'll add another layer above Diamond similar to RCCL's Pinnacle level. They probably make Platinum a bit harder to get like maybe make it 85 to 90 days, and throw the Golds a bone by making a level between Gold and Platinum with some perk added to that level that doesn't really cost Carnival anything. 

The problem isn't the number of cruisers that have reached Diamond at 200, it's the number of cruisers that have reached Platinum at 75.  A new Platinum Plus level at 140 or 150 would help solve the problem.  Those at Platinum get cut out similar to how Gold got cut previously.  Make the party Platinum Plus and Diamonds only, with a plus one and invitation needed for entrance.

[CruizinSusan70]

On 8/20/2023 at 4:10 PM, starstruck05 said:

. Every single other ship the party is as normal and nothing has changed.

LOL.  Everything has changed.  Back in the day the party used to be earlier in the week, lasted for an hour and you could get what you wished to drink.  Now, it's 45 minutes long on the last sea day around 400 pm when many are packing.  

If you go back even farther, the captains cocktail party was a separate hour long party for early and main sitting guests, many just grabbed drinks from the trays, but the overflow venues (bars) in the aft of the older Conquest Class ships were available to get whatever you wished to drink.  These two hours were the best before Cheers came along.

[nancy1031]

i can remember my 1st captains party back in 1982- hostess asked my name and personnaly said my name as she introduced me to the captain- saw him throughout the cruise and he remembered my name and would stop and chat with me-made me feel special- i think if they'd have a few welcome back parties and split the crowds up- it would work

[skywalkr2]

High C with Rum works for me 🙂

[skywalkr2]

10 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

The problem isn't the number of cruisers that have reached Diamond at 200, it's the number of cruisers that have reached Platinum at 75.  A new Platinum Plus level at 140 or 150 would help solve the problem.  Those at Platinum get cut out similar to how Gold got cut previously.  Make the party Platinum Plus and Diamonds only, with a plus one and invitation needed for entrance.

This is true, but they also don't want to have to deal with the fallout from existing platinum customers who spent a lot of time getting to that level.  So it's really not something they would realistically remove.  This is honestly cheap for them in the grand scheme of things.

[CruizinSusan70]

6 hours ago, skywalkr2 said:

This is true, but they also don't want to have to deal with the fallout from existing platinum customers who spent a lot of time getting to that level.  So it's really not something they would realistically remove.  This is honestly cheap for them in the grand scheme of things.

But they need to grow a pair and actually confront people that don't belong.  Blues, reds and golds should not be able to crash the party.  

Really doesn't matter to us either way, we have not been to one for over 10 years since the implementation of Cheers.  One of the main reasons of these parties are the imbibing aspects of them.  When you're paying for Cheers, why bother going to a crowded party for 45 minutes at 400 on the last sea day.

[BlerkOne]

People cheat at Cheers; People crash parties. Carnival knows it. It's all good.

 

Attending the party is one way for the Cheers people to go over their limit. Make them earn it.

[Rudyard]

10 hours ago, skywalkr2 said:

This is true, but they also don't want to have to deal with the fallout from existing platinum customers who spent a lot of time getting to that level.

 

Not necessarily. They took a lot of flak from golds, especially those that were only one or two cruises from platinum, when they kicked the golds out of the party. I doubt they'd lose very many platinums if (when) they change things. 

[CruizinSusan70]

30 minutes ago, Rudyard said:

 

Not necessarily. They took a lot of flak from golds, especially those that were only one or two cruises from platinum, when they kicked the golds out of the party. I doubt they'd lose very many platinums if (when) they change things. 

They would lose a ton of platinums that were between 75 and 140 or 150 needed to be platinum plus.   But they would also need to monitor the situation at the door and actually instead of a paper invitation that could be given away, just use the swipe system similar to muster drill to verify the status of the people.  

It probably wouldn't happen anyway since Carnival does not like to rock the boat.

[BlerkOne]

56 minutes ago, Rudyard said:

 

Not necessarily. They took a lot of flak from golds, especially those that were only one or two cruises from platinum, when they kicked the golds out of the party. I doubt they'd lose very many platinums if (when) they change things. 

With well over a million Platinum cruisers, I doubt anyone would notice. The only constant is change.

[xDisconnections]

On 8/17/2023 at 4:03 PM, n6uqqq said:

Degrade the party until people stop showing up for it, then cancel it due to lack of attendance/interest. This sounds vaguely familiar! 

 

On 8/17/2023 at 4:18 PM, jimbo5544 said:

Have so many qualify to attend it degrades the experience sounds vaguely familiar also.  

Ah, yes. The Fun Farewell. 

😉 

[hurricane0226]

On 9/3/2023 at 9:57 AM, jam19872016 said:

It's varies based on how many diamonds are omboard.

 

If there are a lot it is a lunch with a special menu and open bar. The officers make the rounds but may not hit every table. The menu is usually very nice and it's a nice break from the normal options.

 

For smaller groups, I think 50 or less diamonds onboard, a cocktail party with open bar and trays of small bites are served. The food is nice but more snacky than a full meal but the tradeoff is more personal interaction with the officers.

 

The lounge will depend on the size of the group. Smallest I have seen was held in the piano bar with about as many diamonds as officers which allowed them to sit and chat for a while with each of us.

 

I have heard very small groups, like less than 10, get unique experiences including bridge tours but I have not experienced that personally. 

 

The type of event is at the discretion of the Hotel Director but follows a general guideline based on number of diamonds onboard.

Was on the Magic in April, did the Diamond Captains lunch, really nice lunch, sit down, with open bar waiters walked around and took our orders, always made sure we had drinks, still had one in hand

and would give me another.

[Qchell]

On 8/20/2023 at 4:10 PM, starstruck05 said:

I don't know if half the comments on here missed it but to the Original point of this post, only on TWO ships is there no free drink D/P party. The Mardi Gras and the Celebration for the very specific reason as there is no bar to serve the drinks where the party would need to happen. On those two ships (and possibly the Jubilee as well) they serve a glass of wine and you get the drink voucher loaded on your S & S. Every single other ship the party is as normal and nothing has changed.

There may be some validity to this (and someone may have pointed this out already) as there is no bar service in the main theatre on Mardi Gras during the shows like you usually find on board.  It actually surprised me the first show that I attended because I didn't grab a drink on the way as I expected there to be waiters taking drink orders in the theatre.  

I was not Platinum yet on my Mardi Gras cruise, so I can't speak to the Platinum party then.  On Magic in April, there were waiters with trays of drinks during the Platinum party.

[glrounds]

On 9/4/2023 at 10:03 PM, CruizinSusan70 said:

The problem isn't the number of cruisers that have reached Diamond at 200, it's the number of cruisers that have reached Platinum at 75.  A new Platinum Plus level at 140 or 150 would help solve the problem.  Those at Platinum get cut out similar to how Gold got cut previously.  Make the party Platinum Plus and Diamonds only, with a plus one and invitation needed for entrance.

This is exacerbated even further in that, "in my era" one achieved PLATINUM by merely taking 10 cruises ! I didn't but many PLATINUM crazy guests were jumping on 3 and 4 day cruises to "speed" up this process for them. One can easily see that with this method, a first time enthusiastic cruiser could go from blue card to PLATINUM in 5 weeks !

 

Incidentally, my FIRST PAST GUEST  PARTY was held in the entrance to the aft showroom with a 4X8 table setup with finger sandwiches, cookies and lemonade. A large galvanized bin sat along side with cokes, 7ups and beer in ice. There were maybe 12-15 guests attending ! ! ! We were all so grateful. 😊