Key Aspects:
- One guest has complained about long PA announcements for sales and spending onboard Carnival ships.
- John Heald offered insights into making the onboard announcements and why they are necessary.
- Carnival Cruise Line is a business and onboard spending helps keep cruise fare prices affordable.
It’s unfortunate that poor behavior often makes headlines, and Carnival Cruise Line has acquired quite the reputation for poor behavior in recent months.
The cruise line is taking proactive steps to curb such poor behavior, but there is one type of behavior many guests don’t like that won’t be stopped anytime soon.
In fact, the behavior is encouraged, and it is Carnival cruise directors who are doing it: lengthy sales-job announcements.
Every guest has heard the reminders over the ship’s public address system about sales, jewelry specials, spa offers, pay-to-play games, and more. But not every guest appreciates the daily “just buy more” rundown.
One frustrated guest was so upset recently that they reached out to John Heald, Carnival Cruise Line’s brand ambassador, about the practice.
“Our cruise director was really, really nickel and diming us on our sailing. Overhead announcements 3x a day at minimum. Loud and long, morning, noon, and night,” the guest described.
“He was basically saying Good Morning hope you having a awesome time on your cruise. Don’t forget to bring your wallet to bingo, the shops & art auction so you can donate!”
The guest noted that “every passenger” they spoke to said the same, that the announcements were too long and lost listeners’ attention.
“Why is this allowed?” they asked.
Heald spent many years of his Carnival career as a cruise director on various ships. He shared his insights while explaining why the announcements are the way they are, and why they won’t be stopping.
First, he noted that the volume of the intercom can be difficult to gauge. Some cruise directors might come across as overly loud when they don’t mean to be yelling.
Worth Reading: Carnival Will Provide In-Cabin Announcement Guests Want
“Nobody gives you any training in the use of the PA system and trust me, it’s harder to use than you might imagine,” he said.
“You can’t hear yourself so it’s hard to judge the volume and finding the right time to make announcements and, even more importantly, the right length is also very difficult.”
But what about the content of the announcements? The spiels for sales, buy this, buy that, spend here, just a few more dollars… Heald reminds the guest that Carnival Cruise Line is, after all, a business.
“How sodding dare we try and make money, what would our shareholders say?” he quipped.
“It is the Cruise Director’s responsibility to promote the revenue and it is that onboard revenue that has always been the foundation on which Carnival Cruise Line can keep the cost of your cruises the most affordable in the entire industry.”
To be fair, no Carnival guest is ever forced to spend more than they might wish, no matter what the announcements say.
Don’t want to pay for a formal night portrait? Take a selfie instead. Not interested in a bingo game or Deal Or No Deal? It’s free to watch. Don’t care for the art auction? You don’t have to go.
Read Also: 12 Smart Tricks to Stop Wasting Money on Cruises
Cruise directors often try to inject their personality into announcements to make them funny and interesting.
Singing, catch phrases, or bad jokes can all be part of the announcements. Some of the most memorable Carnival cruise directors I have heard used exaggerated accents or stage whispers to keep guests listening.
More Ways to Get Announcements
Not every guest may appreciate the intercom announcements, but there are other ways to learn what is going on around a Carnival cruise ship.
Reading the paper copy of the FunTimes newsletter is one option. These copies are delivered to guests’ staterooms every evening, or they can be picked up at the Guest Services desk.
The Carnival Hub app also has each day’s activities, including special sales, deals, and offers for guests to consider.
Different members of the activities team, what Carnival calls the “Fun Squad,” may also give reminders about upcoming activities and events at trivia contests or other games.
Ultimately, what guests need to consider is that yes, Carnival Cruise Line is still a business. Overall, even 2-3 minutes of PA announcements several times a day is just a tiny percentage of the fun time guests can have onboard.
