7 Things Carnival Has Quietly Taken Away

Even the largest and grandest cruise strains, resembling Carnival, have restricted house on board and stringent budgets to satisfy.

That’s the reason, in lots of instances, including new options and onboard facilities can imply letting go of previous ones.

Should you’re a loyal Carnival cruiser, you will have observed a number of silent adjustments to some perks, providers, and services you’ve loved through the years. 

Whereas some is usually a nice enchancment to the general high quality of your trip, there could be a number of previous favorites that you simply’ll be shocked are not being supplied in your subsequent journey.

On this article, we’ll uncover seven issues that Carnival Cruise Line has quietly taken away. So, preserve studying earlier than you set sail to keep away from any disagreeable surprises!

1. A Chapel on Each Ship

Not too way back, virtually all Carnival Cruise Line ships had a fantastic onboard chapel.

The sacred house supplied friends a quiet place to hope or meditate, organize weddings and vow renewals, or participate in non secular celebrations on Christmas, Easter, and Hanukkah.

Sadly, Carnival has silently eliminated most of its chapels, changing them into arcades and different leisure areas. The ships’ libraries are slowly disappearing as effectively.

Whereas some cruisers don’t thoughts the change, many others expressed disappointment on social media.

Carnival’s Model Ambassador, John Heald, not too long ago responded to an offended visitor who posted, “You’ve taken away time spent with God and changed it with video games within the arcade.”

2. Web Lounges and Enterprise Facilities

Whether or not it’s for work emails or Facetiming household and mates again house, web connectivity is essential to passengers on each cruise ship.

That’s why all Carnival ships now present satellite tv for pc web entry from bow-to-stern. Visitors should purchase Wi-Fi plans for his or her smartphone or laptop computer and visit cyberspace wherever on the ship!

Prior to now, you’d need to go to the enterprise middle, the place passengers might pay to borrow a pc and use the web, normally charged on a pricey per-minute foundation.

There would even be printers for individuals who want a duplicate of their boarding passes and baggage tags.

These days, since most individuals have their very own units, these areas are being eradicated and repurposed into extra onboard buying, and new specialty eating choices.

This was the touch upon this variation:

Maybe we do must have a take into consideration this. Now I work when I’m on board. I work within the dinning room or in one of many lounges or in my cabin however the attract of the mattress normally implies that I get sod all finished there.

Maybe we’re within the mindset that persons are too busy having Enjoyable to work and that the aim of trip is to overlook about work. Maybe these concepts should not a part of right now’s world though I really hope that’s not the case.

3. On line casino Program Perks

Carnival Cruise Line is known for its engaging on line casino choices, the place gamers typically earn perks like free cruises, suites, drink packages, and even transportation to and from the cruise port!

There are three totally different ranges of on line casino gives to select from: Premier, Extremely, and Elite. Every degree has higher perks, with Elite providing free web and shore excursions, amongst others.

Nonetheless, current passengers have observed that Carnival is providing fewer and fewer enticing perks for rooms and drinks below its on line casino choices.

What was once free balcony rooms or suites have develop into inside rooms, and perks like “drinks on us, wherever on the ship” are restricted or gone.

The cruise line launched an announcement, saying, “We adjusted the way in which Premier works earlier this 12 months,” however didn’t focus on their downgraded perks and pulling again on their as soon as beneficiant gives.

4. Loyalty Program Privileges

The VIFP Membership, which stands for Very Necessary Enjoyable Particular person Membership, is Carnival’s loyalty program. You earn one VIFP level for every day of your cruise—and extra factors means extra advantages!

Carnival reserves the fitting to vary advantages at any time, and one quiet change that upset many VIFP passengers is the removing of the favored $25 FunPlay credit score for the ship’s on line casino.

The cruise line’s model ambassador, John Heald, confirmed this variation on his Fb web page, saying, “Sure, the on line casino has determined to take away the $25.”

He additionally wrote, “The $25 FunPlay on line casino credit score was one among our non permanent gives to our top-tier VIFP friends.”

5. Late-Evening Pizza Counters

If there was one factor Carnival passengers cherished, was late-night pizza.

The cruise line used to supply freshly made pizza by way of its devoted pizza counters, Pizza Pirate and Pizzeria del Capitano, up till 4 a.m., with excessive demand and lengthy strains even at late hours.

Most cruisers had been shocked when Carnival immediately determined to shut their two fashionable pizza counters at midnight whereas providing a totally totally different pizza on its newly launched late-night buffet, which is simply open till 2:30 a.m.

As a substitute of the contemporary New York-style pizza that friends had been used to, the brand new buffet solely offers premade sheet pizzas.

A number of passengers have requested to rethink the choice, however to date, nothing appears to have modified.

6. Paper Menus and Plastic Straws

For a lot of Carnival passengers, cruises are a time to disconnect from the digital world and spend time away from smartphones.

That’s why the cruise line’s silent determination to eradicate paper menus and change them with QR codes for his or her app made a whole lot of friends sad.

Carnival Model Ambassador John Heald assured passengers that whereas they’re encouraging everybody to make use of their Hubb app for comfort, printed menus will nonetheless be obtainable upon request.

One other factor that the cruise line has taken away is the usage of plastic straws. Whereas it could look like a small change, analysis reveals that the common cruiser makes use of 5 straws per day, and with 420,000 individuals cruising at any given time, that quantities to 2 million straws used each day!

7. Cruises to Nowhere

Do you know that Carnival used to supply a “cruise to nowhere” within the not-so-distant previous?

It’s a brief cruise the place the ship sails to worldwide waters and returns—no stopping at different ports! 

Throughout this cheap however enjoyable trip, cruisers absolutely loved the ship’s facilities and meals. Sadly, these particular cruises are not obtainable right now.

The rationale? Authorized hurdles. US laws, particularly the Jones Act, now ban foreign-flagged cruise ships from working roundtrip voyages from American ports with out having at the very least one cease out of the country.

So, Carnival and different main strains needed to cease providing this explicit sort of cruises.