The Cruise and Travel Guy

On January 14th, Crown sails from BNE return - stopping at Airlie Beach, Townsville, Yorkeys Knob, Port Douglas and then the usual pass-by of Willis Island on the way back down to BNE where she docks on January 22nd.

Well, look at that. Eagle-eyed spotting. It may be safe to assume that Splendor will remain in Australia for a long time to come.

Hey guys! Great news today, as I can see has been reflected here in the community forum. Yes, the two year exemption extension is just that - it is not the end of the story. It's important to put this decision in context - one that takes into account that the government is reviewing the Coastal Trading Act (2012) in its entirety. This "promised" review is so overdue, that the extension was basically guaranteed to occur one way or another. The advantage this year, is that the extension was granted in August instead of late December as was the case in 2023. It's a small, albeit still positive, step for local cruisers. I've been promised a response from Minister King herself, and while I anticipate it will merely be confirmation that the exemptions have been extended for 2 years in light of an ongoing review, I'm quite happy with the fact that the voices of almost 1,300 cruisers (!) has landed on the desk of the Minister in charge. Well done all, and of course I will continue to follow this up. I truly believe Australia requires one unified body to oversee much of this, something the country currently lacks. Thanks again!

50 🙂 very much exceeded!

Thank you @arxcards for sharing the petition. It was also just featured in a Travel Weekly article so hopefully it gets in front of a few more eye balls. It's certainly not a one-and-done fix, and government may well respond with a, "thanks for your concern, but that's just the way it is" once the petition reaches parliament, but I'm really hoping we can show strength in numbers. Thanks again to everyone for supporting and sharing.

My concern with this changeover is mostly to do with the customer experience in the short term. Come April 2025, we’re being told that travellers cruising on Carnival Adventure will have a completely different experience to those cruising on Carnival Splendor. Far from this information coming just from PR departments however, I later found an interview with CCL President, Christine Duffy from June 5th in which she says: “…but I want to assure everyone that while there is going to be a change for the brand name, we are going to continue operating the P&O Cruises Australia ships post the conversion in March the way that we do today.” I had missed this piece (I’ll blame the fact that I was travelling at the time the news broke 😅) but you can read the entire article on the KarryOn website under cruise industry news. I can’t seem to paste in the link, perhaps my account is too new! I’m incredibly interested (intrigued?) to see how this develops over the next 9-12 months.

Of course - that’s what I understood this topic was about: Carnival Adventure and Carnival Encounter. Voyages on both ships will, according to P&O and Carnival, be consistent with the existing onboard experience as it is currently (with P&O branding) to at least June 2026.

Hi CC team, The information was released by me this morning, and was provided by Carnival's local media and PR team. It reads: "There is no plan to change the pricing structure on Adventure and Encounter after March 2025." Earlier, and in response to clarification I was seeking surrounding the onboard guest experience post March 2025, I received the following statement from P&O's PR team: "Guest experience on board, including the crew, entertainment, dining, as well as including Byron Beach Club & P&O Edge Adventure Park, will remain the same." I hope that helps provide clarity around some of your questions. I had many of the same.