Carnival Introduces New Way to Inform Guests of Routine Maintenance

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If youโ€™ve ever woken up to be startled by a crew member working right outside your balcony or porthole, youโ€™re not alone. Itโ€™s not overly uncommon for guests to get an surprise wake-up call from a squeegee-armed crew member cleaning your window, especially on longer sailings.

Of course, the cruise lines do typically notify their guests of the impending cleaning service. In the past Carnival Cruise Line has done so by leaving a letter in all impacted staterooms. 

But the 27-ship fleet has changed things up by rolling out a new system utilizing labeled door cards instead of paper memos, which read โ€œwindow cleaning tomorrowโ€ or โ€œbalcony cleaning tomorrow.โ€

Carnival Cruise Line Door Hangers
Carnival Cruise Line Door Hangers

โ€œI wanted to show you the new door cards that have already been placed across the fleet. These are for balcony cabins and for Oceanview cabins,โ€ John Heald, Carnivalโ€™s brand ambassador, wrote on his Facebook page

โ€œRemember, we used to put a letter in your cabin to let you know when the wonderful crew were going to wash the balconies or clean the windows and portholes? These have been replaced now with these door hangers,โ€ continued the post. 

Heald did not specify why the change – which was implemented fleet-wide – was made. Although, it wouldnโ€™t be surprising if the popular cruise brand made this call due to environmental impact and pricing. 

The biggest Carnival ship, Carnival Jubilee, has 2,687 cabins onboard, while the smallest operational ship, Carnival Paradise, still offers more than 950 staterooms. 

Considering hundreds to thousands of letters are needed every time there is a window or balcony cleaning fleet-wide, which can happen weekly (or even daily) depending on the cruise line, that is a LOT of paper. 

Switching to reusable door hangers is both a greener and more cost efficient alternative. 

How Do Cruisers Feel About the New Notifications?

In less than a week, John Healdโ€™s Facebook post earned over 900 likes and more than 100 comments. 

Generally, the reception to the new door handles were quite positive, with some avid cruisers already spotting the hangers on their recent 2024 sailings. 

โ€œI like these more than the letters. These I won’t miss!,โ€ commented one person.

โ€œLess paper, reusable, and easily noticed – a good change,โ€ wrote another fan. 

โ€œJust saw this on last cruise. Canโ€™t miss it! Just have to remember to close curtains if weโ€™re planning to sleep in a bit,โ€ added a recent passenger. 

That said, some other recent Carnival guests suggested that this system may still have a few kinks to work out. 

โ€œI think they should be placed on our cabin doors. I had one placed on my balcony door last night. If I hadn’t opened the curtains, I wouldn’t have known about the cleaning today,โ€ commented a current cruiser. 

โ€œSometimes these get knocked to the ground, especially if the seas are rough,โ€ advised another. 

As the new system is still young, this is certainly good feedback for Heald to take back to the crew members. 

Read Also: What to Expect When You Go on a Carnival Cruise

So, how much maintenance truly takes place during a cruise? Aside from window washing, crew members are constantly busy making sure the ship is operating at peak performance. 

In addition to window washing, this includes ongoing inspections, applying fresh coats of paint, keeping all common areas clean and sanitized, engine oil changes, and standard pool maintenance, which often means draining and deep cleaning the pools overnight. 

Oftentimes, guests wonโ€™t even know that these tasks are being completed – and bigger overhauls take place in dry dock every three years outside of revenue sailings, so no guests would be onboard. 

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Catie Kovelman
Catie Kovelman
Catie is an award-winning journalist and researcher. By day, she helps market new movies and TV shows as a senior research manager. But by night, she loves writing cruise news. In addition to Cruise Hive, Catie has contributed to a variety of newspapers, magazines, and other online publications, such as The Plaid Horse, Unwritten, YourTango, Fangirl Nation Magazine, Chapman Magazine, the Orange County Register, and Voice of OC.

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