It’s truly one of the greatest battles of the ages, Coke or Pepsi? It seems that Carnival Cruise Line has chosen their favorite and its Pepsi products.
Cruise Radio is reporting, “Beginning in January of 2020, Carnival Cruise Line will be ditching Coca-Cola products in favor of that company’s longtime rival, Pepsi-Cola. This change will impact all of Carnival’s ships across their North American fleet.”
In addition to Pepsi and Diet Pepsi, you can enjoy other Pepsi products including Pure Leaf teas, Naked Juice, Gatorade, Sierra Mist, bubly (their line of sparkling waters) and Starbucks ready-to-drink coffees.
As you may recall, several years ago Carnival mandated that soda drinkers were prohibited from bringing unlimited amounts soda on board. The current policy is that each guest can only bring 1 (12 pack cans) in your carry-on luggage. For those of us who love Dr. Pepper, we will still have to bring our nectar of choice with us!
Show me the money
I have not heard the reason why this change has been made. One can speculate that Carnival made the change because it would be beneficial to the companies bottom line.
It seems to me that Carnival is not only focused on bringing more ships to market, but more importantly, cutting costs. The recent outcry from longtime Carnival cruisers regarding clear lanyards and Dollar Store type luggage tags for Platinum and Diamond VIFP guests is but one example of cutbacks. In addition, reports have surfaced that Carnival is now charging for “fresh-squeezed” orange juice during the sea day brunch.
Carnival has never been know as a cruise line known for “nickel and diming” (NCL owns that title!).
I am concerned that if Carnival continues down this path of cost cutting, they will force their guests to try other cruise lines, MSC being one of them, and will ultimately regret their cutbacks.
Click on the link for the full Cruise Radio story: https://cruiseradio.net/carnival-cruise-line-ditches-coke-for-pepsi/
