diy dave

Thanks Sinbad, I,ll keep an eye on it. We have about 5 days till we get to noumea so it might calm down a bit. That’s a good web sight thanks.

Has anyone heard from friends on board a pacific cruise/ New Caledonia cruise, about sea conditions right now, in light of the cyclone activity up there??we are heading up there on Tuesday. Thanks.

Is the port walkable?

any beach/ snorkel available?

we will be there late January 2018

The Fort and musium are on top of a hill, and bearing in mind the heat and humidity, better get a ride. Swimming, snorkling in crocodile infested waters is not recommended, hence all the signs with Achtung Warning on them.

Shame about the toilet fiasco. We were on Explorer in July, and because of the cold weather, they held most parties in the Atrium. Unfortunately all the gents toilets on all the decks in that area were out of service, that was a problem when lots of people are drinking lots of booze. Despite all that, the ship, dining areas, food, entertainment were all excellent.

Half a job government. Lets hope they do it at All international departure points in the near future.

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I just found out about the scrapping of the nuisance green departure form from tomorrow, 1st July. But only at airports. ?? Or at least thats all i can find out about on the web. Wonder why it doesn't include cruise ship departures.

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Thanks everyone.

Hi, we're off on carnival Spirit next week, and was wondering if they sell ipads in the duty free shops ? Got garandkids going into high school next year and they have to have them.

G'day David, please log me in on carnival Spirit, Nov 22 2016. Only 3 weeks away.

Hi, please add. Carnival Spirit, Nov 22. Pacific islands. Only cos Debsta seams to like this ship. Lol

It seems to me that if it was as simple as not touching things with your hands, and not washing your hands, then gastro would be rife on all the ships sailing out of Australia. I was on voyager of the seas a few decembers ago and she too had a big gastro outbreak, the similarity might be that they have recently come down from cruising around asia and hygene there might differ from ours and bugs might still be lingering in a dormant state. Just waiting for unsuspecting ausies.

It seems to me that if it was as simple as not touching things with your hands, rails, etc, then gastro would be rife on all the ships sailing out of Australia. I was on voyager of the seas a few decembers ago and she too had a big gastro outbreak, the similarity might be that they have recently come down from cruising around asia and hygene there might differ from ours and bugs might still be lingering in a dormant state. Just waiting for unsuspecting ausies.

Hi all, has anyone sailed out of Sydney recently on this ship, does anyone have any comments, good bad or ugly, or any tips.

Thanks, Dave

16th Dec 2014. Carnival legend. Christmas/ pacific

Hi david, please take me off the PNG cruise list on Pacific Dawn 31/Oct.

Dave

Book me in Danno, I,m up for it.

If anyone is confused by this thread, someone has deleted some posts that weren't in the spirit of what cruise critic stands for. Good to see CC is well moderated. Keep up the good work.:)

I didn't realize they had done that, well good for the moderator. I hope now you will keep in touch with all the nice people that use this site.

Another cruise booked for me too. Pacific Dawn 31oct 2013. Papua new guinea.

True Sandy, I'd better shut up now.

Thanks again for your candid post. Your a legend.

I worked directly for Carnival. Carnival runs all of the casinos (for the ships in group of companies it owns), so if I was on HAL or Princess etc, I would be considered a concessionaire, if that makes sense.

 

The dancers have the best job of all!!! They had the same rooms as us, but they worked about 25 hours a week and were always at the crew bar. I wish I was that talented.:)

One last question ,and thanks for your wonderful insight. Have you heard how the princess cruises policy of no tipping works as far as the crew go , on OZ ships???

Big M, we were open everyday. Some countries allowed us to remain open whilst in port. We used to start work before the ship sailed, counting cards, chips etc and would close when the last people left and count the cards and chips once again. We did a charter with Kid Rock on board and didn't close until 7am most mornings. On sea days we started around 9am.

 

Each ship is different, as is the case line. Casino Managers get a commission, so it's in their best interest to keep tables open, it's not like he has to pay overtime!!! Not complaining, it's just is how it is.

 

I wish I could share with you all the stories of my colleagues and friends on board from war torn countries and poverty, but I don't want to guilt people into tipping. Do what feels right for you and what sits well with you.

Did you work for a contracted company like the dancers and they put you on board a ship, or did you work directly for the cruise line?

Hi Everyone,

 

I love my cruises and never agreed with tipping.....until I decided to take a gap year (at 35 years old) and work on a cruise ship. Now my perspective has completely changed. I was paid a base rate of $10us per day. I was in the casino, and the way our tipping worked, was that we only participated in the casino tip pool, but it was also shared amongst all ships in the fleet. I was lucky, we had shorter, party cruises and our ship was the third highest tipping in the fleet, so we got more than most, but did share it with the entire fleet of cainos. We worked hard for it, around 60-65 hours per week and we were not entitled to days off. We were lucky, our manager was a good bloke and gave us 1 day off every 3 weeks. I lasted 4 months out of a 7 month contract.

 

I had a good job, but some of the crew really did it tough. We're talking 14 hour days, no days off and sharing a room with 4 crew and 1 bathroom between 8 people. The workplace bullying is rife, I was abused everyday, I missed my family and it was so tough to come out smiling everyday, but I did. The conditions on the ships would never be allowed under Australian workplace laws.

 

Many staff come to Australia on their final contract. They expect not to earn much money here, but most of them would never be able to afford to come to Australia, so they take the contract.

 

I'm not saying you should or shouldn't tip. It's a conscience call and depends on your financial situation. I look at tipping on ships as a kind of 'charity donation', and feel good about doing it, even if it's not customary here. If it weren't for these people doing what they do, for the price they do it, our cruise fares would probably increase ten fold.

Thanks for your insight as only an employee could do. I see you did it on carnival triumph, $10 a day might be good if you live in a third world country but coming from Oz it's unbelievable, even taking in your food and lodgings.you must have spent that much on your own bar bill , wow one drink a day after working all those hours. So I guess you wouldn't recommend it? Lol

I,m definitely interested. Shame Sutho won't go with P&O

The most divisive subject on cruise critic. Oz vs oz. USA vs oz. etc. each trying to tell the other what they should do. Get over it!

Good comeback thied, everyone else get over it.