Carnival Cruise Line rejects controversial policy

Cruise lines communicate with their passengers more than land-based resorts. At Disney World, you may receive a few messages when you check in, such as that a pool is closed or a certain restaurant has limited hours, but communication is limited after that.

Some resorts may have daily hours, but when you visit a theme park or the Las Vegas Strip, activities are generally not scheduled by where you are staying. A boutique hotel may have happy hours, Caesars Palace or Park MGM do not plan events for their guests.

Related: Carnival Cruise Offers Important Port News for All Passengers

Cruises, however, are a very different thing. Your cruise line needs to communicate with you about important things like safety and less important things like when bingo cards are sold or the time for the destination show in port in the main theater.

When you board a cruise ship – at least a Carnival or Royal Caribbean ship – is that the captain will make repeated announcements about the muster drill. Both cruise lines use a virtual muster where passengers have to watch a few videos on their phone and then check in at a muster station (where they would go in a real emergency).

However, exactly when the captain or cruise director should use the ship’s public address system is actually quite controversial, as it can wake you up or interrupt whatever you might be doing.

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Only emergency announcements are played directly in your cabin.

Image source: Dan Kline/Come Cruise With Me

Carnival takes a stand on ship announcements

On Royal Caribbean and Carnival ships, only safety and emergency announcements are pumped into the passenger cabins. They are, however, played in common areas adjacent to booths and noise leakage can be a problem.

Carnival brand ambassador John Heald recently answered a question about the announcements.

“Question! Do we really need the cruise director to come over the loudspeaker 3 or 4 times each day to READ us the daily schedule of events? Bingo was, what the stores were selling and the information that is in the app and in the paper copy of the program. We don’t listen because we have meticulously read the daily schedule. The only announcement I want to make here on sea days is the captain is speaking at lunch,” the anonymous person wrote.

Heald tried to be kind in his response.

“Thank you for your input and I hope that maybe if you don’t want to listen to the ads, well please don’t. Saying that “less than 5% of the ship” you’re on doesn’t like listening to announcements is also an opinion and unless you asked every single one of the 6,000 people on board then obviously that figure she’s a bit dumb,” he wrote.

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Carnival’s brand ambassador explains its policy

Heald, a former cruise director (CD), explained that each person who owns this has something they think is “their most important event, something that sets the stage for their cruise.”

“For me, it was the Welcome Aboard show. This show with an overweight British CD, a spoon and two pieces of string allowed me to sell myself to you… If I could sell myself as someone fun, then the next morning when I asked the guests to come into the lounge to listen to me talk about ports and excursions, hopefully because the guest thinks, “Oh, that’s the fat man who made us laugh last night, let’s go and see what he’s doing.” , he wrote.

Heald felt it was important to build credibility with passengers.

“And that was the same thinking when I used the PA system with a description of the day’s events. I always hoped that the guests would listen, because once again they recognize my voice and I know they have to listen,” he added.

The brand ambassador made it clear that the cruise line always tries to be respectful to its passengers.

“In the end, you’re always going to bother someone. I don’t mean the cabins, because we only make announcements inside the cabins when we feel something the whole ship needs to hear. What I mean is, with the speakers in the guest corridors, you can disturb someone who’s still sleeping at 10:30, or disturb someone who was sleeping in the sun, or just disturb someone who’s looking for some peace and quiet.” , he said.

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Heald also rejected a common passenger complaint about sales-boosting ads.

“‘You’re just nickel and diming us,'” they say. I have to admit that phrase makes me want to do naughty things with a nipple clamp,” he posted. “How dare we try to make money, what would our shareholders say? It is the cruise director’s responsibility to drive revenue, and onboard revenue has always been the reason why Carnival Cruise Line can keep the cost of your cruises as affordable as possible.”

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