Mycruiseobsession

Hi I am from the Australian side 😁 we have been discussing this on a long thread too. P&O Australia is a casual more family focused experience on smaller ships, loaded with water slides, flying foxes and very laid back dress standards. Certainly the short 3-4 day trips can be full of younger party ragers in a rush and forget to bring their manners but the longer itineraries are more civil. P&O Au in my opinion just can't afford to keep running, they are competing with themselves Carnival "The fun ship" Princess Cruises and the USA Royal Caribbean. Let's say they cater to a beer budget experience. It's still a decent holiday if you like cruises / the ocean in general. Now that P&O Au is being absorbed by Carnival we will most likely see an increase in fares and less itineraries. I think Princess Australia still remains a popular choice for the over 50's crowd, whilst P&O Au was marketed to the budget family holiday. Interesting times ahead!

Somewhere in WA?

I don't find Townsville all that interesting. It seems dry, and spread out. I wouldn't book a cruise for the port like I would for say Eden or Cairns. I haven't been there for many years, maybe it's changed? I just found it mostly a uni student and defence force town with a mix of country. I have frequented Cairns though, but I have family there so there's incentives.

"...water leaks, unusable toilets and broken air conditioning affecting many cabins." This sounds exactly like the last Explorer cruise 😝

All jokes aside I find this interesting, definitely not my style, but there is clearly a market for this crowd on land. I would prefer that crowd to be on a ship they enjoy rather than being on one I enjoy and hearing them moan about how boring it is.

Reminds me of Port Hedland

In my post, I had the comment "unless the Pacific Explorer is no longer offering lunch on embarkation day. Otherwise the hours seem to be the same." What other changes have there been? I am not sure what you're asking? I have already confirmed twice that the MDR was not open on the Explorer on Embarkation days (I did back to back cruises) And @SinbadThePorter stated the same. Not here to debate. Just stated my most recent observations. You don't have to agree with them. Have a great rest of the day. Cheers!

Yes OP asked about Explorer and my 2 most recent cruises were literally a couple of weeks ago on Pacific Explorer. MDR was not open for lunch on Embarkation day however the Pantry had extended hours. Same with all Port days. P&O Goodtimes Tuesday 28th May 2024 Port day Rabaul

Yes of course. Lot's of ifs. If you bought today and it jumped next year to pre-covid values then sold them... $$ If you use the 100 shares to make you feel better about booking more cruises 🥕 💡 If, If, if....

I think P&O Au have just had to make as many budget cuts as they could to stay afloat. I saw a lot of cuts post covid and I noticed even more between a cruise we took in Aug 2023 vs May 2024 The hours MDR's and The Pantry are shorter. There appears to be less staff on board overall even though the recent cruises were fully booked. Even things like the drink mixers for cocktails e.g. Strawberry Daiquiris, have changed in quality, so much so that they were now pale pink and sour 😝 And the chocolates on the pillows are long gone, myth status actually. Old Colour Strawberry New Colour I completely understand why they're making cuts, everyone is affected by the increase in the costs of living etc and P&O Au fares haven't really gone up too much. Just my opinion.

Ok seriously thanks for everyone's insights. I have toyed with the idea a few times and imo whilst OBC perk is available it has the potential to pay for itself if you are already a regular cruiser. I always wondered how people claimed the perk and if they use an app etc so this has been an informative thread all FOMO jokes aside!

I Love it! Now I have FOMO because I want to be like you! 😉 Cheers!

All this talk about stock OBC perks has given me FOMO 🤣 I always think about buying shares but that's where it stays. Usually I end up just spending on another cruise

Oh yes that's why I haven't found the right booking yet. But I do love to have something booked, even if it is ages away - it's that little reward you know is coming! 🥕

I am with you on this!

On the last 2 I went on last month the MDR was never open on port days for lunch including Embarkation day. Both those times departure was from Cairns. One International - to PNG One Domestic - One way to Brisbane The pig pen oops I mean the pantry was open until 3pm P&O's included dining hours appear to be the most restricted of all the brands.

Yes in some respects, but I feel like this "Cruising Boom" and "End of P&O" seem to be more FOMO based than usual 🫠 I am currently looking for a new cruise to book, it's my carrot, but my FOMO factor is non existent so I have not been able to book yet. 🤣

Yes my opinion is that we are currently experiencing an advertising technique that is based on FOMO (Fear of missing out) "Everyone's booking and it's so popular!!" OR "Closing down, last chance!" Either way it's catering to the impulsive urge to either be in with the crowd or not wanting to miss out on that last opportunity.

I am just throwing out the collected papers from the cruise. For some reason I save everything until I get home and then kick myself for not throwing them out on board 🤷‍♀️ Anyway for those of you that want to see what the Domestic disembarkation at Brisbane International cruise terminal process was, here's what they gave us:

OK I cheated and googled 🤭 So I will just say NSW as a hint.

Maybe it will never happen and it is just an advertising stunt like a certain rug store that is always having a closing down sale 🤣

And that's where I think it's referring to those cruises listed on P&O Au but with the "operated by Carnival" comes in. When someone books one of these cruises via the P&O Cruise conditions /contract that's what would be different to booking a cruise on the current Carnival bookings conditions for their respective ships.

I am going to guess they are talking about the current P&O cruises that are listed on the P&O website as "Operated by Carnival"

@arxcards I was thinking it was just an over nighter between the one way legs - had some spare rooms and are offering them? Time will tell!

Western Australia?