I own Carnival stock and have cruised on Carnival in the past, and have one booked for Jan. I belong to a stock message board, and people on that board are saying that they are now charging for drinks at the Captains party. That's not true, is it????

I believe so. There have been a few posts about the captain's parties being changed. They have an open bar and charge for their drinks from what I remember.

Not entirely true.

They changed how they did the Captain's party. In the past they held this on formal night before dinner. Free drinks and appetizers. Now instead of the Captain and officers standing in a line in from of the lounge the party was being held in and shaking hands, they now use the entire promenade deck to have the "party". So the captain and officers are milling about and are more accessible to talk to the guests and have pictures taken etc. They don't have free drinks at this event (they do have discounted drinks available). Then they have a free drink party on the last night of the cruise. (I forget what they call this party). So they still have the free drinks but its no longer at the Captains Gala party.

They also have the past guest party where they offer the free drinks and appetizers. And this has not changed.

It is different, but it does actually work better in my opinion. They don't have everybody trying to cram into the aft lounge before dinner.

That is correct the drinks have a discount but not much. We were on the Valor in December and it was the first cruise that we did not have the traditional party. There were alot of complaints. And alot of people did not dressup because of this. I think it was a mistake on Carnivals part, but thats just me. I hate loosing any part of sailing in the tradional way. It is sad I think.

Sorry about my misspelled words.

I agree, vietvet, formal nights used to mean just that. Everyone and I mean everyone looked so wonderful. The dining room looked so elegant, the wait staff looked superb, and it was such an honor to shake the captain's hand and have your picture taken. Of course, the passenger capacity was about half of what it is now, so I guess it's become more impractical. However, I still think it was a wonderful evening.

The one time I didn't Sail Carnival and bring my tuxedo, is the one time an airline lost my luggage for 3 days.

HERE is a link to another discussion I posted when the changes went fleet wide.

I thought the new "Captain's Celebration" format went pretty well. You had more opportunity to interact with the Captain and Officers. I enjoyed chatting with the Hotel Operations Officer and the Food and Beverage Officer, they really seemed to enjoy it too. Plus they added the "Fun Farewell" celebration with free drinks.

Dwayne

http://bestsmileys.com/lol/21.gif

Sorry, I don't guess that was very funny at the time. The Cosmic Funnel God must not have been happy. http://cruise-chat.com/groupee_commo...on_biggrin.gif

Dwayne

cut backs.. That is what this is. no more midnight grand buffet and now this.. i can live without it. I rather have a nice priced cruise thaan a higher one. they are cutting anywhere they can to make this happen.