Carnival Cruise Line listened to its customer and made a major change that few expected, and now its rival may have to do the same.
When the major cruise lines started sailing again after their 15-month covid-related shutdown, they embraced all sorts of measures designed to limit touch points and support social distancing.
Royal Caribbean Group (RCL) – Get a free reportCarnival Cruise Lines (CCL) – Get a free reportand the other major players in the cruise industry tried to keep people further apart and ensure that fewer people touched the same items, surfaces and objects before cleaning.
One handy way companies did this was by marking a table in a common area as “Used” after a passenger got up and flipping the card to “Available” after a quick clean. RCL and CCL also limited the availability of printed menus, pushing people to use their apps instead (menus have always been available on demand).
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Not all changes made during the pandemic period were based on health and safety protocols. Some were based on cost reduction and/or environmental concerns.
Both Carnival and Royal Caribbean were aiming to cut costs even before covid. The two cruise lines were looking at waste from things like plastic straws and water bottles, and both made some changes.
Another area where waste and environmental concerns have been taken into account (along with cost reduction) is the daily cruise schedule that both cruise lines used to deliver evenly to passenger cabins each night.
Carnival calls its print schedule Funtimes, while Royal Caribbean uses the name “Cruise Compass,” but both are essentially the same thing and both companies stopped delivering them to passenger cabins after their return from the pandemic.
Now, Carnival has made a major change to that policy, which the cruise line’s loyalty ambassador John Heald outlined on his Facebook page.
Image Source: Carnival Cruise Line
Carnival brings back the fun times
Heald serves as a sort of go-between for passengers and management. He often points out that he has taken ideas derived from comments on his Facebook posts and interactions with passengers and passed them on to what he calls the “barbas”: upper management.
In this case, he had good news to report to his massive social media following.
Many, many, many, many of you have written to me over the past few months saying how much you miss having your Funtimes delivered to your booth.
So I have to say a huge thank you to the bearded ones for listening to the feedback I sent them, so over the next few days and weeks we will be providing a print version of Funtimes in the cabin mailbox the night before.
Obviously I have to mention that the brilliant Hubb app continues to provide this and much more.
That’s a big donation from the cruise line because it’s a lot of work to produce a printed daily schedule, which then has to be delivered to each cabin. But it’s also likely very popular due to the 1000+ comments on Heald’s post.
“Yeah! I’ll be sure to bring my highlighter back!” shared Andrea Fowler Ireland.
That was a popular sentiment, as many cruise ships like to bookmark their schedules to plan what activities they plan to attend.
But the most widely shared sentiment was clearly variations on what Sara Root said.
“I prefer the old Funtimes! The app is good, but you always have to have your phone. I used to read the Funtimes every night when we got back to the cabin.”
Printed schedules have been a fixture of cruise ships
Many Carnival and Royal Caribbean passengers simply don’t want to carry their phones with them at all times. In some cases, they may not want to take their phones into the pool or are concerned about battery life. But for others, it’s simply a case of not wanting to use electronics while on vacation.
Royal Caribbean has generally gotten rid of its printed Cruise Compass, but in some cases it has been available on demand for delivery to your cabin. On other ships, a limited number of copies are available from guest services.
Lacking a printed schedule, Royal Caribbean, like Carnival, offers a variation of the Cruise Compass on its app. Riders do not need to purchase internet access to access the daily schedule on the app.
Royal Caribbean did not respond to a request for comment on whether it plans to follow Carnival and bring back a print version of its Cruise Compass.
