Carnival cruise passengers outraged by long list of price cuts and price increases

When a cruise line takes something away, they usually try to view it as a positive.

However, people are not stupid and they understand that having their room cleaned once a day instead of twice a day is not convenient; it is a cut. The reality, however, is that most cruise lines currently have pricing power.

RELATED: Carnival Cruise Line passengers express outrage over drink package price increases

As long as the room is sold out – and Carnival (copper clad laminate) and royal caribbean (RCL) It’s basically sold out – the cruise lines have leverage. This does not mean that they will push every price up to a level that the current market can support; this could lead to long-term customer hostility. However, both companies will not hesitate to pass on increased costs or maximize profits.

Royal Caribbean makes it harder for passengers to track this because the cruise line uses dynamic pricing for many of the services it sells on its ships and on its private islands. Hideaway Beach, the adults-only area of ​​Perfect Day at CocoCay, now regularly sells for more than $50 per visit.

That’s almost double what it was a few months ago, but prices vary from cruise to cruise, so it’s easier to hide this. The same goes for drink packages, meal packages and other add-ons. There is no fixed price, so all increases are relative and not easy to spot.

Carnival Cruise Line recently increased the prices of its Cheers beverage packages and WiFi packages without any warning. This angered many passengers, and Lisa Dawson decided to send a message to Carnival brand ambassador John Heard listing all the negative changes she felt Carnival had made over the past few years.

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Angry Carnival passenger shares why she’s angry

If you read the comments on Heard’s page carefully, Dawson appears to speak for many Fiesta customers. She was polite but seemed angry with the cruise line.

“Good morning, John. Please throw in my two cents regarding the controversy over the silent drink package price increase. Carnival won’t care. Please note that I’m not taking this personally, I know you’re always doing the company’s thing Things want you to do this,” she wrote.

Instead, she made clear her anger was directed at the “beard family,” which is Heard’s term for the company’s leadership.

“But if anyone from The Beard does read this, I want to express my sadness at all the changes that have occurred over the past few years,” she added.

Dawson then listed the changes:

• Room service twice a day canceled
• chest hair removal competition
• Removed tablecloth
• Free room service canceled. (Promises “higher quality” items at lower prices. But it’s the same old ham and cheese I used to get for free).
• Casino “Free Play” Funding Removed for Platinum Card Customers
• Removed ability to get “customized” omelets
• Piano bars on most ships will be open from 10pm to 2am.
• Pizza hours changed. again. Now, it closes at midnight. But we were told we could still have pizza in the late night buffet. no the same.
• Cheers and Wi-Fi prices are increasing (again!) without notice. (They always gave notices in the past)..
• Water prices have skyrocketed in recent years.

Dawson also expressed her outrage over comments made by CEO Josh Weinstein during Carnival’s third-quarter earnings call.

“Our capacity is barely growing. So all the increased demand just results in who is willing to pay the most to be on our ships, and that’s what we’re after,” Weinstein said.

Dawson had a big question for Carnival’s CEO, noting that the company’s goal is to maximize profits.

“Gee, thank you Carnival. As a long time loyal customer, it feels really valuable now,” she wrote.

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Carnival’s Heard dismisses complaints

Hilde politely answered every point Dawson made, and to be fair, his views differed from hers.

“Thank you very much, we do care. I definitely care. Some of these things have nothing to do with cuts. They’re just changes. For example, the hairy boobs, which were replaced, had been there for many, many years, and something called “The Legend of the Lido” happened new events,” he wrote.

Heard also noted that some of the “cuts” were for reasons other than cruise lines’ profits.

“Tablecloths, they were changed many years ago, not recently, but at least 10 years ago. They were changed because washing thousands of tablecloths would have a huge impact on the environment, and I’m sure you’ll support that, And it has absolutely no impact on the environment.

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Brand Ambassadors also addressed many of the other concerns raised by Dawson.

“We are not changing the opening hours of the piano bar each night on each ship. There may be a few nights, on a few ships we do offer service at the times you mention, and that is to complement other things we are doing. Also offering , by the way, the feedback from the piano bar entertainers is that the piano bar is completely packed as usual,” he wrote.

In a previous post, Heard talked about the pizza counter closing early, noting that the new midnight buffet has a wider variety of food. He also defended rising water prices.

Also read: Top travel agents share how to get the best cruise prices

“Yes, the amount of water has increased, but that’s also because of inflation, which I’m sure you’ve experienced on land as well. The price of water is still a little over a dollar a bottle, compared to every other cruise line, and Definitely ridiculously more expensive than places like hotels and airports, but it’s still a good deal, but what makes that irrelevant is the fact that we have refill water on board 24 hours a day.

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