Regular cruisers of a certain age often have a nostalgic attachment to the way things used to be.
For some, they miss people dressing up for dinner. That used to be a key part of cruising. Some ships even had tuxedo-rental shops for formal night.
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On family-friendly cruise lines, including Carnival and Royal Caribbean, formal dress slowly fell out of favor. Neither cruise line did away with it. Instead, they relaxed dress-code standards as their passengers demanded it.
In other cases, both cruise lines have had to make changes that passengers did not dictate. The classic midnight buffet has disappeared, for example, because while it was a staple of cruising, it was also really wasteful.
Passengers liked to visit the buffet, take pictures of the ice sculptures, and maybe eat a little something, but they did not eat much food at that hour. That led to tremendous waste, which made offering the buffet a poor economic proposition for the cruise lines.
Waste and environmental concerns have also led to other changes in the main dining rooms. These include menu changes, charging for anyone who orders a third entree (and for every entree after that), and a controversial change that Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald addressed on his Facebook page.
Image source: Carnival
Carnival doesn't apologize for change in main dining room
Technically, Carnival does not use the term "main dining room" anymore. Management, which Heald calls "the Beards," wants it referred to as a "restaurant."
Heald responded to people posting on various cruise message boards about a change Carnival years ago made to what most people still think of as the main dining room.
"There are many people posting on the cruise boards that they will stop sailing Carnival unless tablecloths come back to the MDR. 'We all will move to other cruise lines John,' read the headline on a post to me this week. This was presented to me as some very bad news — something I should worry about over my bowl of breakfast grits," he wrote.
Heald made clear, however, that he had a hard time taking the threat seriously.
"I wanted to reply 'we didn’t mean to upset you. We didn’t realize how important a piece of cloth was to you and how you felt about all this. We are all very sorry,' he posted.
"Except I couldn’t lie because I didn’t feel sorry. I’m afraid my first reaction was a ummmm, OK, cheerio. You do what is best for you and we will manage without you I am sure."
The brand ambassador does not feel bad because Carnival had a very good reason for stopping the use of tablecloths.
"OK, so actually I didn’t write that and responded with the explanation of the massive environmental impact the washing of thousands of tablecloths has on each ship each day and hoped that he would reconsider and base his return on the affordability, the fun, and the brilliant crew," he added.
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Some Carnival passengers are not happy
Some of the more than 400 responses to Heald's post took issue with him being dismissive of the passenger's issue.
"I always wake up amazed you still have a job. I could care less about tablecloths, but you really appear to be burnt out and it shows. Your humor used to be fun, but now it’s always directed at someone. I miss the old you," shared Kimberly Brooks.
Tracey Beck Chandler wants Heald to see the bigger point being made.
"I feel the same way. The passive-aggressive way he presents anyone’s view that doesn’t agree with him or Carnival is annoying at best. I also could care less about tablecloths but for some people, they represent the many cutbacks that have come in the last few years," she wrote.
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Many people, however, jumped to Heald's defense.
"Wow, he’s only saying what the majority (obviously not you) of us are thinking. He makes me smile every morning," posted Peggy T. Ricouard.
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Katherine Anne offered a similar defense.
"I think he is brilliant and says what needs to be said instead of sugarcoating everything for you sensitive people. He does not call out any specific person by name. Put yourself in his shoes and get so much hate daily, if you don't add humor to life you will be miserable. Also, there is an unfollow button. Use it if you don't like the way he talks," she wrote.
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