Every time a cruise line makes a change it runs the risk of angering as many people as it delights. That's because cruisers, at least frequent cruisers, tend be creatures of habit.
That's not to say that every change will be rejected, but if a cruise ship gets new beds or updates its pillows there will be at least some passengers lamenting the loss of the old, broken-down beds and fluff-free pillows.
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If Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian, or any other cruise line with a loyal customer base changed a policy for the better, it still faces feedback. Royal Caribbean experienced that when it eliminated the nightly all-you-can-drink happy hour in its Crown Lounge for Diamond and higher members.
The cruise line replaced that program by giving its top-tier loyalty program members, 4, 5, or 6 drink vouchers each day that can be used anywhere on the ship or at Coco Cay (depending upon their Crown & Anchor level). It's hard to argue that the vouchers aren't better, as few passengers would drink more then 4 alcoholic beverages during the old happy hour, but some people still want the old system back.
Cruise lines, in some cases, have to simply tune out that noise. That's often the position Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald gets put in as he serves as the public face of his cruise line.
Image source: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Carnival faces pushback over in-cabin addition
Heald answers thousands of questions each week and often shares emails he receives to solicit feedback from his followers. He recently received an angry email from a passenger.
"Our past Carnival Legend cruise was ruined because of this infernal motion sensor lights that come on at night and are very stupidly bright. It was like a prison searchlight. My husband tried stuffing towels along the crack so if one of us needed to use the bathroom it would not disturb the other. We told the cabin steward to unplug them but she refused to do this," the writer shared.
Carnival has slowly been adding motion sensor nightlights to the bathrooms in its cruise ship cabins. That is a request many passengers have made given that they don't want to turn on the bathroom light and wake themselves up fully or startle their cabin mates.
Heald first defended the crew member.
"Thank you and let me start by protecting your cabin attendant. She didn’t 'refuse,' she just could not unplug or turn it off. There are sensors built in and it would mean a lot of work to do this," he posted.
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Carnival asks for nightlight thoughts
Heald did not, however, dismiss the complaint outright.
"We have these on many ships now and will be adding more. I was going to comment on the 'prison searchlight' point but instead, I asked the Housekeeping Manager to send me a video of how they work and how bright these lights are," he shared.
Heald posted the video which showed the light come to life when a person walks by the bathroom door.
"Here it is and I ask everyone to take a look and let me know your thoughts after. Remember they only come on if you walk to the bathroom or get up out of bed and they are designed to stop you from tripping or falling in the dark," he wrote.
The post, which didn't seem that controversial, generated over 3,000 comments.
Some were offering practical solutions for those who think the lights are too bright.
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"Wear an eye mask! Problem solved. I think for safety sake, I prefer them," wrote Colleen Halleran Coon.
Some did think the lights might be too bright.
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"From experience in lighting design, the brightness is a little excessive and a dark blue color should be used which helps at night. I would suggest a simple solution would be adding a blue gel over the LED strip diffuser," wrote Norman Blaine Echelberry.
Many were pleased with the addition of the nightlights.
"I'll take this light over 5 mins of fumbling around, tripping over the bathroom step, and crashing into God knows in the bathroom. This is a great idea and if you can't handle that much light while sleeping then," added Stephen Phillip Hawker.
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