Fredette

From my reckoning, I'm up to seven.

We did the repositioning cruise in 2022 and it was awful. Too many passengers on board were given the free casino package, so the entertainment was substandard as Carnival knew that a huge percentage of passengers didn't need any. Every day was like Groundhog Day (and with so many sea days - that really matters). Before you book a cruise like this with so many sea days - consider what you will do if it is a really, really bad cruise. While I enjoy sitting on the balcony watching the sea go past just as much as the next person, you don't want to be doing that for the entire cruise.

So the food has improved over the last twelve months?

This is just my take - but we had an unhappy experience with a Brisbane-Seattle cruise last year. The ship was stacked with people who got the cheapie/free casino offer, so that really skewed the demographic. Carnival cheaped out on entertainment because they knew a fair percentage of the passengers would spend their time in the casinos anyway, so if you weren't a gambler, it was quite a boring cruise. (Have you seen Groundhog Day? The cruise was like that, every day was the same as the day before). Add to that lots of sea days, plus a lot of covid on the ship (no effort to check coughing guests before boarding) and it was not a fun cruise at all. Our dinner companions had already booked the same cruise for this year, and after a couple of days they went to guest services to cancel, being so disappointed with the cruise they didn't want to repeat it. We had done transpacific crossings before with other cruise lines, so knew that there were lots of sea days between ports, but the other cruises had a very different vibe to them and were far more enjoyable (and they actually had entertainment for the passengers!). Because of this, we are now only at the "dipping our toe in the water" stage with Carnival now (it has taken us nearly twelve months to decide to cruise again with them) - we have booked a very short cruise to see if they have lifted their game from this unpleasant experience. Fingers crossed they have. To answer your question - I don't know if Carnival will give you info such as how many "giveaway cruises" they have promised for your sailing - if there's a lot, don't go. You want to be on a ship filled with people who want the holiday, not just people who are going because they got a free cruise and they will only venture out of the casino to eat, then go back in again.

I have a tiny bag that is basically big enough for my phone and little else - just a cloth bag so it is lightweight. It has an over-the-body cord so that I hardly know I am wearing it, and I can wrap the cord around the bag and pop it on the table when I'm eating, it's barely bigger than putting a phone on the table so it's not so intrusive (plus you can't see the phone so it doesn't appear so antisocial). Now that everything is on the carnival app, you really need to carry a phone, unfortunately. I have a little stick on pocket on my phone that I can put my room key in.

I love pineapple on a pizza!

I've just got off a cruise, so my memory is fresh. No, the app didn't give any detailed description, only a title of what the event was.

Aaargh - the app. What you end up doing is ordering your food from the menu on your app instead of a paper menu given to you when you sit down. While it might save paper, it is very antisocial if everyone at the table has their nose buried in their phone instead of talking to each other. Plus the daily planner is very sketchy - eg: it tells you what time the show is on, but not what the show IS. To find that out, you have to go and get - wait for it - the paper printout.

If everyone in your party has an iphone - you can text without paying for access. It's a feature Iphones have - but don't ask me how - a friend adjusted the setting on my phone and hubby's phone so we could message each other. That said - sometimes the message came through straight away, sometimes it took a few minutes.

Don't do it.

I had trouble in New York (City) getting someone to understand my Aussie accent, and I am not "ocker". I was asking the guy if Ninth Street was in that direction or the other one (pointing) after coming up out of the subway and getting disoriented. I had to listen to a lecture on how avenues ran one way, and streets the other (confused as to why he was telling me all of that) and then asked him again where Ninth Street was. He then told me there was no NORTH Street. LOL. I then said, "no, I need Ninth Street, you know, eight, nine, ten...." he then pointed me in the correct direction. What a hoot.

The Grand Prix runs from March 30th to April 2nd. It's not a national holiday - but if you are anywhere near Albert Park lake, or are staying in the CBD you are right, there will be lots of people around. It will be noisy too - when races are running the sound travels across the lake and the nearby bay, you will hear the noise from a fair distance away (think dozens of very loud angry mosquitoes). If you survive the encounter, you can try but the folks at Quarantine might stop you....

I wouldn't be worrying about the roos, it's the deadly drop bears you need to watch out for!

I'm pretty sure the email from Carnival said that the policy has to specifically mention covid cover on a cruise. I can't help you out with the companies to approach, as I haven't done it myself yet (I was leaving it for a month or so, hoping the policies would change before the cruise).

Both P&O and Holland America are doing the drill this way now. I guess they want to avoid packing crowds into one area like they used to (and having people handle the life jackets).