Carnival has announced some benefit changes on a few cruises.

Ok, ok, I'll replace the word "justification" with "excuse".

As to your other points, I wholeheartedly agree.

Since when do they need a justification to mere passengers? clearly those were popular ships, on certain kinds of cruises..to a certain kind of traveler...instead of figuring a way to "make it work", the message is...bend over.............

I find it interesting that these benefits have been cut on the Pride & Spirit, two of the smallest ships in the CCL fleet.

Perhaps Carnival has amassed so many Diamond & Platinum level members that they now can overwhelm the smaller ships. The corporate suits will probably look at that as another justification to phase them out and replace them with more behemoths like Mardi-Gras & Celebration.

Please stop sugar-coating and just tell us how you REALLY feel.

And round up the usual suspects.

And furthermore, to do it on cruises they KNOW attract top tier cruisers is incredibly stupid...I just read HEALDS take on this...Seems hes shocked, shocked (shades of CASABLANCA) of the anger and viciousness this generated...well...he's just another corporate flak.hack....defending the screwing...if he was really good, he'd get people to like it...5000-6000 passenger mega ships, 1000+ diamond and platinum cruisers? sorry doesn't mean squat....you go with everyone else...we'd rather have 5000-6000 first time cruisers...charge em top $$ and don't have give em ANYTHING....they don't know any better...

Sorry, can't go to any rationalization of this by being "overbooked"...its a screwing, a ROYAL screwing, plain an simple..first ATTRACT folks who are top tier, then cut back on the perks...its a world full of corporate liars and devious beancounters...

That is good to hear

Carnival has done this for a long time and it isn’t a surprise. When more than half of the ship is Platinum/Diamond card holders, they can’t accommodate early boarding or debarkation. It’s sort of standard thing for longer cruises. They send a “letter” to avoid the “I didn’t know” complaints. This was true before Covid as well. There isn’t any FTTF available on these sailings either. They also usually have two “repeater parties” for them to accommodate the larger crowds. In short: nothing new here.

The Carnival Journeys cruises has had this problem for a long time. These cruises are longer than a normal cruise that people fairly new to cruising are not booking. People with children at home and folks that can't or don't want to take two weeks off work for a vacation tend to not be Platinum or Diamond. These cruises tend to have a lot of the upper tier VIFP levels so it makes since these particular benefits could get overwhelmed.

I am never surprised by changes regarding reduction in services by any corporation since Covid has landed.

The cost of these perks, while maybe minor to you can affect the bottom line of any company, any where.

AND the better to bottom line...the better the bonuses for the top tier suits.