Hunter69

I also are not to fussed on Carnivals obsession on CD's. At least the New CD's where the real stand-outs in the Fun-Squads in The Past. Aka:Checky Charlie.

Hopefully she and the new ones don't get to obsessed with hearing there owe voice over The PA system's Telling us what's happening & whats coming up every 2 hours. Like we cant read The FUNTIMES or use The Carnival APP. 

You, Have to go to The Punchliner Comedy club. Easily the best entertainment at night on-board. Some of the comedians have played in main showrooms on other ships. Also drop by Piano bar very nice way to end night with a cocktail from Alchemy next door to it.

OK, it's no where as good a layout as Spirit, hard to get around as mentioned about going Up & down to get to MDR's. There's the Gold pearl with the set time dining 5:30 & 7:45. Its to the aft of the ship on decks 3 & 4. You also have Breakfast & brunch here. For these you use the Carnival App to book a Table for how many in your party or you can ask for a shared. It gives you a wait time & tells you when your table is read with the table number. There's also The Black Pearl Mid-Ship on the same decks, it's a Nightly anytime dining option. You use the app to get your table the same as mentioned above..

Ok both have Guys burgers, the Deli & Normal Buffet. But The Splendor has Mongolian Wok (Chinese Noodles) & Masala Tiger (Indian), but doesn't have The Mexican Cantina.. Theres just as many popular bars like The Red Frog, The Piano Bar & of Course The Punchliner Comedy Club..

There are a few hidden quite spots, deck 6 & 7 forward out the front of the ship, plus my favourite Deck 12 forward to the sides, theres a hidden bar up there & a good spot to chill during the day.

The quite inside areas would be the red frog pub, until 4 when it fully opens & there's a BBQ up on deck 10 just above the buffet with all the same options...

Yes it has the same decor..

OK, They will take your luggage to your new room, I have always with Carnival had a different room on a different deck, so I have tipped them $20.

For each cruise you will have a different Sail & Sign card.

Normally they ask if you want to get off & go do something & come back at boarding time & re-board as per usually.. Or they get you together at Attrium & have a few little snacks & drinks take a photo of B2B passengers; & then escort you off & reboard first back on..

The Pizza is way better at Pizza Pirate.

But the Hot Dogs, The buns dry out in The Bain Marie sitting there. so dry.

Soup was Great..

Yeah, We just got off last Friday, after 25 cruises & having a Covid addition to the family.

We finally decided on Building a Bear. 

You book & when you get there you are allocated a number, (Plus a Heart) they call numbers & you go up & choose the type of Bear (Theres Dog ones, Bears ones even a Unicorn) there was 6 different ones.

You then choose what you want to have as accessories. We choose a bright Tu Tu & some Thongs.

The bear is $38. The accessories are $8 - $20, theres Bikinis, Sunglasses ETC.

Then you go into a adjoining room & they fill it with stuffing & you put the heart in it.

Then someone else sews up bear. 

Our little girl loved it. There where Teenagers, young hipsters & mainly families getting them.

Have FUN...

Also, I think Carnival has commited to having ships out of Brisbane for a while, they have just signed a 2 year sponsorship with the Brisbane Bullets NBL club. 

Carnival love there Basketball, of course Mickie Anson (Carnival Owner) is owner of the Miami Heat in the NBA.

So expect Luminosa or another to be here for a while, as ARXCARDS said no upgrades for a while..

The Only line that does round Australia.

Plus your age demographic.

Sounds like a Winner. Princess 

Done a few journeys cruises, extra comedians, extra shows. I liked the impresonators. Eg Elton John, Freddie Mercury, Rod Stewart ETC. We have the horse racing on our journey cruises here in Australia & on our Melbourne Cup cruise.. Yes it's great to getaway from everything for 2-3 weeks, no work, phone calls, house work. Only thing is The Bloody Diamonds, here in Australia we have approx 5 diamonds under the age of 60, getting around the ship to get to a show, trivia or a meal can be slow painful effort. side stepping around there scooters, or walkers.. But us Gen X need to be there as FOMO kicks in..

Aussie cruisers are loving & paying for the Java Blue coffee shops which are on-board, Luminosa & Splendor. I have done 2 cruises since resumption here in Australia in October. I was asked most nights after dessert if I needed another drink of anysort. I declined.

ps:The automatic coffee machine on Lido deck never have long lines, as most Australians do like the stuff from coffee shops AKA Jave Blue. Me Its no difference just a Caffiene Hit, so I get Lido deck as it's free..

Yeah, you guys came all the way down to Coffs Harbour & passed Splendor, Hope the wonderful staff looked after you..

The only strange thing was your first destination was Lifou & you guys where 50Nm from Noumea, was suprised they didn't go in to the harbour at Noumea or go on to Lifou & the main island of New Caledonia would have protected you from the Cyclone, until it passed a couple days later.

But better to be safe then sorry...

They where trying to clean the Hull up at Bunderburg, for the whole day; as it is leaving for Nz on Monday..

they couldn't do it as the seas where to rough.

They said since the last cleaning of the hull was 29 days before arriving in Nz they meet the Proticolles of having the hull clean within a month of arrival..At first port...

On 12/27/2022 at 9:22 PM, mum and son said:

Oh, and if you choose Your Time dining that means you book on the Carnival Hub app when you're ready to head to dinner and you'll get a notification when your table is ready. Apparently it usually only takes 10-15mins. You have 10 mins to arrive after you get the notification. 

 

 

it tells you on the App the current ETA. 

most nights had 10-20 mins showing but added up to be around that 10 mins, worse night was Formal had 20-30 mins wait, was around 18 mins. all with Anytime dining..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Willisaway, those Luminosa deals are fantastic, I'm going on her in late Feb for 11 nights. $380 with $250 OBC & when you get a few free bags of laundry. incredible..

We are going to Santo (Carnival itself has only been there 3 times in last 8 years, P&O go there a lot) & Dravuni Island..

Yeah love the reviews from the ship.

The only thing bad is THAT 12 Midday departure from Noumea. What can i do on these days, might go & spend a Hour at Duck is, at most..

Hope you enjoy your cruise..

Did a B2B back in October with Carnival, we had a lot of people doing a B2B on our cruise. Got a letter half way through the cruise asking for me to show up, last sea day in the Comedy Club lounge, at a set time, with mask & practice safe distancing.. This was back when mask wearing was voluntary. When I got there, their was around 20 people in front of me, they called us over individually behind a screen & a doctor gave us a test to do in full view. I got delayed testing for 5 minutes as the doctor had found a positive test & called (Phoned) back those passengers to retest.

It was a in your nose test. Just did the test & was told to go on my way & would be notified if I tested Positive only.. 

I found out the other couple had a false positive. 

I didn't get notified so was able to do next cruise..

Thanx Loz, looking forward to more of your Adventure.

Thank You, for a fantastic Review. Being a loyal Carnival Cruiser was a bit upset about getting Luminosa down here. Plus all the Whining about water parks not being onboard. 

It looks like there winning them with great food options & that Carnival Fun Friendly Staff. Picked up a 7 night real in March, looking forward too it.👍❤️🚢

Carnival Australia where providing masks for free on all cruises since resumption. I took a couple on there first cruises back in early October. I would take enough for your party & length of time.

Carnival will reassess if mask wear will continue after Jan 1..

Yes, have sailed with Carnival Since resumption.

Internet seems much better, especially on the fast plan, 

Yes you can get for just 1 day,they do have a discount if you get it for whole cruise..

You can have it shared in a cabin, but only 1 device can be connected at a time...It was $35 for premium per day..

9 hours ago, CDaze71 said:

From watching all of John H's videos of his walkies around the Carnival Luminosa in Palermo, this is what I discovered:
The current Deck Plan mentions the Limelight Lounge fwd-ish on Deck 3. John said it will actually be the Punchliner Comedy Club.
The Grill will have "available" a delicious burger (not Guy's branded), an addition of Meat Pies. Does available mean included or an upcharge?
Pizzaria Del Capitano and Deli will be there.

Botero's Donna will remain in the Atrium. Problem there is that in Australia you can't pre-book your Shore Excursions like you can in the US. So embarkation day in the Atrium is VERY crazy busy. And the Cruise Director also has large events in the Atrium. For these reasons I think the Botero will be in the way.

No mention of the future of waterslides or waterworks.
With one less pool than the Spirit has and no waterslides or waterworks, can you imagine a Queensland Hot Summer School Holidays heading out to the South Pacific tropics? That lido pool will be PACKED.
Adults will have Serenity Deck, but kids will pack out the lido pool.
 

https://www.carnival.com.au/-/media/4f1f5be57837446a82fd902eeb2aade2.ashx

Yeah Having The Piano Bar where Alchemy was on Spirit Class.

Having the Punchliner where The Piano bar is, Alchemy will be around where the Games Arcade is..

But not having a Red Frog Pub, crazy. It's the right size. But the band entertainment area is going to as big as Fountain cafe area, SportsBar & Red Frog. There supposed to have trivia there during the day, massive dance floor..

14 hours ago, CDaze71 said:

GGrrgggh another one. Not EVERYONE got these emails and amazing deals, trust me I tried. And this is not my first rodeo. I also want to book for the 6th Nov cruise, but solo prices (hubby staying home this time) are making it a bit pricey. 

Yes, no real Single Supplement deals. 

I know with Splendor, the first cruise was 3 nights & was $750 for inside all June/July.. They Add a extra day to make it 4 nights, it stayed the same price for a week.$750 interior for first cruise back. Didn't book it cause it was during school hols & couldn't get time off. Then mid August it went up to $1150, but it started getting full. Had to bite the bullet 10 days ago & paid 1150 single interior, for 2 people extra $65 only..

At least I can say I was on last Cruise before Covid & First..

On 8/29/2022 at 6:23 AM, CDaze71 said:

Yep correct. A couple of weeks ago I looked it up on the Costa website. From memory it finishes 3/4th September. JH is heading to Italy to do a tour on the 7th September and will post photos and videos on his FB. 

I think one of The Dry-Dock options of operators is in Italy. So straight to Dry-Dock next day. John jumps on a couple of days later to say how fabulous it's going to be. Without water works & other Carnival Australia options that we are used to.. We will know in next 10 days.. At least I got Splendor for the First time in 32 days..

Plus if she is One of the 5% unvaccinated that has to declare that, you don't know until 14 days out if you where the successful first 5%. That has declared that. Or NO Cruise & Refund...

On 8/23/2022 at 9:17 AM, ray985 said:

Yesh, I know they're in a rush, but it's so weird to be missing so many Carnival staples. No Guys Burgers on a Carnival Ship? It might be fine for Australian sailings since they don't have much to compare it to in terms of Carnival ships, but Seattle / Alaska cruises have a lot more competition from other cruise ships. 

It's up against 3 Ships. In Brisbane. A princess, Royal & a P&O. If it doesn't have any attactions it's going to be dead in the water.

Us Aussies love The Red Frog Pub, beer, cocktails & live music. So needs that..

On 8/23/2022 at 12:15 PM, arxcards said:

I think they were relying on doing a series of JH fan club cruises, but most won't travel down here when mask, vaxx & testing are still required. Maybe if we all take a book of raffle tickets .....

 

Yeah, I think they will be a hard sell, but tough for them to launch at bottom dollar. There should be a bargain or three to be had out of Brisbane this summer between Coral, Encounter, Luminosa & Quantum.

Couldn't agree more about Luminosa having to be bottom of the Pricing tree. After 2 months when it was announced we where getting a new ship. Checking YouTube videos & seeing that it doesn't have much in comparison to older Carnival ships we have had in the past & the other 3 Brisbane Ships this season. To attract passengers 2 weeks in Drydock won't be enough. Sad as Brisbane has a better balance of cruise schedule for me. 

7 days to islands or GBR. I will probably sail once in March on her, then 1 more cruise on Splendor to make it 25 with Carnival. Then back to RCL, or become a young Princess Cruiser..

PS:CDAZE, hope you liked me tagging you on BookFace at 4 in the Morning.😃😃