stingau

South Pacific from Sydney

08 March 2016

 

9 Nights

Pacific Jewel

 

Up To $100 Onboard Credit & Premium Drinks Package worth $79 a day

 

 

Twin From $678.03 pp

If that pricing is right the cruise is free.... Half the credit plus the value of the drinks package is worth more than the cruise price

I agree the gaurantee lottery does seem a good thing, when we booked they were offering free upgrades... Pay for an oceanview, get an upgrade to balcony. So we paid oceanview prices to get an extended balcony at the upper end of the balcony category as well as 600 dollars onboard credit.

Wether this s usual or not I don't know. Murphy's law might bite me on the arse next time I try it lol

We are thinking of pre organising cards and having them posted to Qld before we leave. I am also a DVA card holder and as we are staying a couple of days in Sydney after the cruise in the CBD with planned trips to Bondi Beach and Taronga Zoo the card is worth it. I have gone to their website, calculated the fares rounded it up a bit to allow for increases and I still way in front if I left a couple of dollars on it at the end. This is for me , one adult and one child, both who intend on swimming at Bondi ....which presents new problems lol.... Water temp in early April and sourcing towels. I follow the 7P principal

We usually get the non alcoholic package seep if cruising from the states. Tossing up tho about our next cruise as Carnival Australia only includes soft drinks, no water or mocktails or coffee. So not sure if we would get value for money we would need to drink at least 4 soft drinks a day every day. Possible on full sea days but not the first or last days nor while in port. Not sure why carnival doesn't have the same packages acres it's sister lines, would be so much easier to understand lol

I'm more than happy with my first gaurantee lottery, sailing at the end of March and got our allocation a couple of weeks ago gaurantee balcony got us an aft extended balcony so definately not complaining.

I selected our boarding time roughly 6 months prior...we sail at the end of March. Unable to print boarding pass as our daughters passport expires in sept next year, about a week short of the required six months. We are waiting till closer to the cruise to renew to gain maximum usage. It doesn't make sense to renew a 5 yr passport a yr early.

Love this class of ship, sailed on her sister ship Ruby on a two week Caribbean cruise. We had a spa balcony cabin up on a part deck that had about ten cabins on it and the spa

Our cruise isn't till March Easter time so just over four months away

We just got our cabin allocation on carnival spirit aft view extended balcony on deck 5. If anyone has had this prior please post your opinion or even better pics

Hi Folks

 

Yes! we can do without another old girl down here , Built in 1988 makes her 27 years old , my thoughts are that the average life of a ship is about 30 years so she unfortunately does not have long to go.

 

And P &O are I believe trying to cast off their reputation of sailing "hand me downs"

 

It would be nice too see P&O with a brand new "Canberra" ..... but I'm sure that they would call her "Pacific Polly" instead

 

 

Regards

 

John

John don't forget this ship isn't coming here till 2017 which will make it 29 yrs old. P&O have already confirmed that the Dawn Princess will be the next ship to join. She will be a young 20 yr old LOL so if Prisendam is slated to join after the dawn princess it will not be until 2018 or later making her over 30 yrs old. To me not an economically viable decision.

Sorry to spoil your rumour but the "new" ship to be named pacific explorer and be joining in early 2017 is the old dawn princess.

While the Prisendam conforms with past practices, she is almost 30 yrs old, has sailed under three previous owners and names she is only 38000 tonnes. These small ships are no longer economical to run given passenger numbers age and fuel costs. The trend seems tobe towards 50000+ ships to maximise passenger numbers.

As to my statement regarding the old dawn princess that is taken direct from P&O own website.

Cruises out of Australia don't offer this yet but if your cruising from the states look for an offer called ...best price gaurantee... Usually offered not long after the cruise is available, what that does and the onus is on you to notify them is that if the price drops after you book and prior to final payment your price also drops, if it drops after final payment the difference is given to you as onboard credit. If cruising from an Australian port or any cruise for that matter their is a travel agency group which I can't name so go research that for 49 dollars per person offers this insurance deal as well as a few other benefits, but again the onus is on you to advise them.

Being off shore I wonder. My understanding is that AU private health insurance doesn't cover medical costs when O'S (thus the need for travel insurance).

My health insurance provider is not a normal one that most can join also have DVA cover for specific injuries but I have to pay then claim back the cost when overseas

Please add us

Carnival Spirit to Fiji sailing 27 March 16 .....Easter cruise

I wonder if they are qualified. If so We can claim the costs our health insurance?

I'm not aware that Carnival have a ship called Legacy ?

There is no Legacy but they do have Liberty and Valor....

Would hate to see any stolen Valor down under

Lucky you, my stuff from 20 years ago is about 5 sizes too small.:D

Didn't say anywhere in my post that it still fits me lmao. Actually I have recently rejoined a gym, I have a policy of losing weight for about 3 months before a cruise so I don't feel bad about putting on weight on the cruise lol.

Havejustfound out who the CD will be on our Easter cruise on Spirit. Carnival is introducing a new hierarchy a cruise director ...Jaime Dee and instead of an assistant CD there will be an Entertainment Director.... Brittany Boyd. Both of these will be coming down under from USA based Carnival ships, has anyone cruised with either of them

I'm showing my age here, but how about the don Johnstone look...I have white linen pants white sports coat with an electric blue shirt lol

Have not worn it for twenty yrs waiting for it to come back in fashion

Not sure if it is available on all ships but you can hire a suit onboard, some you had to preorder before the cruise others you can order onboard if weight is an issue it may be cheaper to hire than pay excess luggage

Please correct if wrong but it seems from the replies the later the allocation the better the cabin. If this is correct please gives my cabin number as I step aboard the ship lol. Seriously tho can someone confirm what the agent told us when booking...... Obstructed view cabins on Carnival spirit are only obstructed to rail height. We booked this cruise at a cruise expo so didn't use our regular agent and having never cruised on this class before have had to take the agents word.lets face it carnivals promo pics of obstructed views are going to be taken in the least obstructed cabin, commercial sense dictates this.

Went for a drive out to pinkenba yesterday, if it's to be built directly across the river it will anoin the sewerage treatment plant and the stench was unbelievable, it will be worse on cloudy humid days. It maybe built a bit further downriver just past the petroleum port at myrtle town, a lot of empty land and a wide area to turn ships around

On a further note technically the onboard duty free shops can only sell duty free while outside Willis island otherwise you legally should pay the gist then claim it back when you return. By passing the eastern side of the island allows you to utilise the TRS scheme on purchases made within a month of your travel.

Passport not needed, but photo ID is, drivers lisence.

 

Willis island visit somehow qualifies for them to sell duty free.

Willis Island is in international waters just.... To access duty free you much leave Australia or its surrounding territorial waters, if memory serves me correctly Aust Waters ends just this side of Willis, by passing around the eastern side of the Island you are deemed to have left Australia. Much like daylight saving at tweed heads, one side of the street is on Qld time...cross the road and you have to change your watch.

The second link is to the same story.

 

I have asked Carnival if they're next... You'd think so!

 

PS. Carnival Cruise Line isn't the parent company, it's on the same 'sister brand' level as P&O - Carnival Australia is the parent.

Carnival Australia is in turn owned by carnival Corp the US based cruise line which also owns 70% of the cruise ships around the world.

It gets confusing when looking at cruises sometimes you see carnival listed once and spirit isn't in the list..us ships only, other times it is listed twice so you have to select both to find out which is which..... Why they didn't just give it a new name.....marketing and branding I suppose. Carnival Corp USA talk about having ships based down under

As for carnival being next to included the drinks package I have seem they have a short video on their Facebook page with the cheers drinks prominently displayed which is the USA based ships alcohol package name..... Maybe a teaser of things to come. ATM they are the only cruise line in the world just about that does have a drink package