Cruise lines typically do a good job of communicating changes to passengers.
Sometimes there isn't much time to communicate, like when the weather forces you to change ports. In such cases, the cruise line will make an announcement and share a printed explanation in your cabin.
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When making a change that is not forced by the weather, but is a choice of the cruise line, each company has different ways of communicating. For anyone who has booked a cruise or is on a cruise line's email list, the changes may be removed.
There's no guarantee that people will read or even open those emails, but there's only so much cruise lines can do.
Cruise lines can also share changes on their social media pages, and many use a variety of channels to let passengers know what's coming. In many cases, for example, when a cruise line increases daily gratuities, it will post that news via email and social media.
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When a fixed price goes up, a cruise line will generally allow booked passengers a period during which they can pay in advance for the new rate. In some cases, everyone will have time to book the above prices.
That's not how Carnival handled the recent increase in the price of its Cheers drink package. The cruise line simply raised the price without warning. Passengers were angry about it and criticized the move to Carnival brand ambassador John Heald.
Now, the cruise line is coming under fire for making another Cheers change, a more subtle one.
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Carnival faces more questions about drinks
Carnival Cruise Line has a strict limit of 15 alcoholic drinks per person per day. Once you hit 15 in a 24 hour period, which runs from 6am to 6am, you are offline.
Once a passenger has had 10 alcoholic drinks, the cruise line traditionally prints the number the passenger has drunk on the beverage receipts. That has two purposes.
First, the passenger won't be surprised when it hits 15 and they turn it off. Additionally, the waiter knows that the passenger has had a hard day, which allows him to examine things a little more thoroughly before serving him.
Carnival may stop a passenger (or slow them down) if they appear to be intoxicated at any time.
A passenger wrote to Heald to point out a policy change the cruise line made without public notice.
“We are currently in Vista and wondering why the drink receipts no longer tell you when you have reached more than 10 drinks.” Barbi and Eddie Mills asked.
“Not having that information program requires a lot of extra time on the part of the bartenders, who are already crazy and busy. When people want to know where their assigned drinks are for the day and they have to keep asking the bar staff, that's just unnecessary extra work for them, in my opinion.”
Other passengers verified that this happened.
“We see/hear people ask almost every time we're at a bar the entire cruise so far,” this passenger wrote. “The number of printed alcoholic beverages once hit 10 on our last cruise in September, so it must be a fairly new change.”
Carnival recognizes the change
Heald responded to the complaint and verified that the change was made. He did not explain why the cruise line made the decision.
“Thank you so much. I will share this once again with my colleagues to see if it is something they would consider returning to. Thank you for letting me know about this and most importantly, I hope you are having an absolutely great time,” he wrote.
Many cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean, do not offer paper receipts for drinks served unless specifically requested by the customer. A passenger can use a printed receipt to add a tip loaded to their card.
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While Carnival has not explained why it no longer displays drink totals after 10, some passengers and staff have theories.
“One of the bartender's assumptions was that Carnival was trying to discourage people from posting their 15-drink receipt as a challenge,” posted Eric Thomas.
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