If you’re a regular cruiser you’ve probably experienced this before. You’re in your cabin getting ready for the day when the ship’s PA system kicks on with an announcement. But since the speakers are in the hallway, you strain to hear what’s being said.
You can either open the door, half dressed, and try to hear the tail of the announcement, or remain motionless and pretend you have the ears of a jack rabbit to get the gist of the audio.
Carnival Cruise Line’s Brand Ambassador, John Heald, addressed passenger concerns regarding this very issue of onboard announcements a Facebook Live video this morning.
Heald mentioned the complaints, particularly from passengers on Carnival Pride, who reported difficulty hearing general announcements from inside their cabins.
“Somebody wrote to me from the Carnival Pride this morning saying they couldn’t hear the announcements inside of the cabin,” Heald stated. He clarified that the announcements in question were primarily “general ones with the cruise director saying what’s happening around the ship.”
Heald then reassured passengers that critical announcements would always be relayed directly to cabins.
“If there is anything on any ship, not just Carnival Pride, but on any ship that you need to know, those announcements will be made inside the cabin, whether it’s an emergency announcement and need to know announcement. Those will come in.”
Heald also mentioned wanting announcements to be shown right within the Carnival Hub app, explaining the current issues with that idea.
“It’s not possible to do this at the moment because when the cruise directors make their announcements, they’re ad lib. It’s not written down, so we can’t just take one announcement and put it on the app.”
So, there’s no need to get too worked up if you happen to miss one of these announcements, beyond the possible FOMO of hearing about the day’s events.
It should be noted that sometimes the ship’s captain will give important information or reminders about a port of call or scheduling issue. While not an emergency, these are announcements most passengers would want to hear.
But Heald emphasized, in his own humorous way, that passengers should bot fly into a panic over missing an announcement.
“If you do not hear an announcement in the cabin, please do not worry. It is not an emergency. It’s not a need-to-know announcement. You don’t have to fling open the door and forget you’re not wearing anything to hear the announcement of the corridor. It’s just the general what’s happening around the ship type of announcement,” Heald stated.
He also gave a humorous look back at cruise director PA announcements from his time at sea. “When I think about the things that I used to do as a cruise director of the PA system, ohh my goodness, you could not do it today. Ohh no. There would be many people who would not appreciate it.”
Beyond the PA system concerns, Heald also addressed website login issues, assuring viewers that Carnival’s technical team was actively working on a resolution.
“If you’re still getting that error message, please stand by, and we will get that repaired. I’m sorry, so sorry for the frustration this is causing you, and I promise we’re working so hard on this.”
He also mentioned that the Easter menu was posted and that Passover service information will be shared soon.
On cruise ships, the PA system is an important tool for communication, used for everything from daily activity announcements and entertainment updates to safety drills and emergency notifications.
While general announcements are often broadcast throughout public areas, cabins will receive priority alerts for critical information.
