Carnival wants suggestions to Aussify their Spirit!

[Aus Traveller]

Just lets get back on topic...I would like to see in no particular order...

Some of our fantastic entertainers given a chance to showcase their talents..not geriatric "comedians" with a marginally funny routine. We do see some now...but more please.

Aussie style ham, bacon, prawns, and more deck BBQ's.

Australian wines in the dining room.

Music from our country particularly on entering and leaving our ports...always adds to the magic of the moment...so no steel bands please.

No art auctions...we dont like rip offs of any kind.

Roll hotel charge (i.e. "tips") into cruise price.

The same booking conditions enjoyed in the US...i.e. smaller deposits, more flexibility, more incentives for loyalty.

I dont mean that I don't enjoy the US based ships...I do..but if you want it to feel more aussie then these things could help.

 

Sue

 

I like everyting you have listed, and particularly the one about entertainers.:) If the cruiseline keeps booking the same entertainers, at least they could have a new routine.

[The_Big_M]

Correct: neither of THOSE two points (which were in one post) mentions Pip-Off.

And you are preaching to the choir about prices being a factor of supply and demand. As I have written for those who bother to read.

However, it you had read the entire thread before posting this reply, or even read all the quotes in my post, you would have seen that at least two posters other than yourself had qualified current Australian pricing as a Rip-Off.

 

Actually, I had read the entire thread, and posted that as those were my two quotes from earlier in the thread that you inserted, straight after you wrote: "Americans (for the most part) do not think that cruising is a Birthright, nor do we carp publically when we beliefe that this LUXURY is an overpriced "Rip-Off"" and had included in a block of subsequent examples where people had said it was a rip-off.

 

Hence it seemed that you were claiming my posts were amongst those saying it was a rip-off, when I had said no such thing.

[MMDown Under]

Music from our country particularly on entering and leaving our ports...always adds to the magic of the moment...so no steel bands please.[/size][/font]

 

FRESH seafood! :D Even if only for the first night! with FRESH milk :D Even if only for the first day and night :p

 

Great suggestion, Sue. I always find Waltzing Matilda and I Still Call Australia Home very moving.

 

Great suggestion, Debsta. Would be nice if they could feature fresh seafood.

 

Fresh full milk, full yoghurt and butter. I would rather have half the quantity and twice the taste!

[smalldog]

Fresh full milk, full yoghurt and butter. I would rather have half the quantity and twice the taste!

 

Yes, fresh milk would be lovely, but have skim as well as full-cream please. :)

 

I can't have full-cream milk (or reduced fat either - it has to be skim/non-fat) and so I carry powdered skim to use in case they don't provide skim.

[smalldog]

Now that we are on a roll.

 

Kettles in the cabin please and tea, in the dining room, which has been made with water that has been boiled.

 

Leaf tea, in a teapot, would be a nice bonus.

 

Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful to have Proper Tea. *sighs and goes off into daydream*

 

I do understand they are avoiding fire hazards with the room kettles, although I'm not sure that the hair dryers and curling irons etc that people have are any safer...

But I don't really think that it would threaten world security to have at least SOMEWHERE on the ship where water was Actually Boiled for tea. *sighs again*

That tea and coffee station idea is a corker. What if there was a little Zip instant boiling water thingy at the steward's station????

[MMDown Under]

Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful to have Proper Tea. *sighs and goes off into daydream*

 

I do understand they are avoiding fire hazards with the room kettles, although I'm not sure that the hair dryers and curling irons etc that people have are any safer...

But I don't really think that it would threaten world security to have at least SOMEWHERE on the ship where water was Actually Boiled for tea. *sighs again*

That tea and coffee station idea is a corker. What if there was a little Zip instant boiling water thingy at the steward's station????

 

I understand that ships departing from Southampton have kettles in the cabins, so it can't be seen as a fire hazard there. More a recognition that the British love their tea, as we do.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

That tea and coffee station idea is a corker. What if there was a little Zip instant boiling water thingy at the steward's station????

 

I think its a good idea too...you would still have to bring your own tea bags though ,as if they put them out...people would hoard them away.:D

 

[Debsta]

On Rhapsody they had tea making stuff in the cabin....that was a JS though. But it was just so wonderful to wake up and make your morning cuppa and sit out on your balcony without a) waiting for room service and b) getting dressed to go upstairs. I'm a beyotch in the morning without my instant tea hit as soon as I wake up :p

[Izabelle]

We had tea making facilities in our ocean view cabin on ROS and also on Arcadia, it is nice to be able to make a cuppa when you feel like it especially first thing in the morning.:)

[smalldog]

On Rhapsody they had tea making stuff in the cabin....that was a JS though. But it was just so wonderful to wake up and make your morning cuppa and sit out on your balcony without a) waiting for room service and b) getting dressed to go upstairs. I'm a beyotch in the morning without my instant tea hit as soon as I wake up :p

 

I know exactly what you mean. I always start the day with a nice hot cup of tea and a sliced apple, first thing I get out of bed. It has a civilising influence upon me. ;)

[smalldog]

We had tea making facilities in our ocean view cabin on ROS and also on Arcadia, it is nice to be able to make a cuppa when you feel like it especially first thing in the morning.:)

 

REALLY? So it IS possible. We need to start a cuppa revolution. :D

[smalldog]

I understand that ships departing from Southampton have kettles in the cabins, so it can't be seen as a fire hazard there. More a recognition that the British love their tea, as we do.

 

Good on the Brits. If the rest of the world drank a bit of tea, there would probably be less trouble in the world. ;)

[cjm66]

REALLY? So it IS possible. We need to start a cuppa revolution. :D

 

We have been doing this subversively for years. Never underestimate the importance of being able to boil the billy while travelling. We junked the gas bottle and porta stove after the Tri Star went down, used metho pastilles for heating a a billy can under fold out stove - to the amazement of our guide on the River Kwai - and now use a light weight plastic two cup jug that will boil water, heat soup or milk and can handle electicity at varying voltages. Works very well on a cruise ship and has travelled with us for years well past its guarrentee.

 

Colleen

[Nemspy]

I think what also should be kept in mind before deciding that "Australians are paying tips with higher prices" and that "Australians are being ripped off by higher prices than cruises in America" is that the national average wage in Australia is between 65 and 70,000AUD per year (that's around 68-73500USD or so) which is significantly more than the average US wage.

 

What you're looking at with the higher prices in Australia is largely due to higher income in the marketplace. So really, an Aussie paying 3 grand for a cruise is basically shelling out the same sort of money - in real terms - as an American paying 2 grand.

[MMDown Under]

I think what also should be kept in mind before deciding that "Australians are paying tips with higher prices" and that "Australians are being ripped off by higher prices than cruises in America" is that the national average wage in Australia is between 65 and 70,000AUD per year (that's around 68-73500USD or so) which is significantly more than the average US wage.

 

What you're looking at with the higher prices in Australia is largely due to higher income in the marketplace. So really, an Aussie paying 3 grand for a cruise is basically shelling out the same sort of money - in real terms - as an American paying 2 grand.

 

Oh come on!

 

They do it because they can and they loose a lot of goodwill because of it!

[Nemspy]

Oh come on!

 

They do it because they can and they loose a lot of goodwill because of it!

 

 

Well that too, but let's face it - it's the underlying reason for it. Since I moved to the USA I have been astounded by the way just about everything is cheaper here - houses, food, entertainment - etc. It's not because people think Aussies are some sort of big suckers, it's because of inflation. When I move back to Australia next year, for example, it's going to be hard to come to terms with paying $400 a week rent for a place comparable to what I get here for half of that - but that's all tied in to the cost of living which drives wages back home and it all evens out in the end.

[bazzaw]

Nemspy

 

I believe you are correct. Cruises in the US are cheaper than they are in Australia - and beer in the UK is cheaper than beer in Australia. These are indeed both related to the level of wages in the different countries.

 

The difference between those two situations is that to get the cheap beer in the UK, you physically have to go there to get it. But, with cruises, these days you can "purchase" the US cruise via the internet--- this is what is complicating things.

 

There now some "physical" items (eg E-readers like Kindle) that are also cheaper in the US than here, but now the Internet allows them to be purchased via Internet and physically delivered here. As you rightly point out, there is more to this than initially meets the eye - and more to it than simply a matter of "WE, in Australia, are all getting ripped off!!"

 

Barry

[MMDown Under]

My interest in this subject started with someone writing a letter to the editor in the Sydney Morning Herald.

 

He was in the UK, with his family, and tried to buy a Med cruise, with flights included from the UK.

 

As he was Australian, his TA in the UK couldn't sell him the cruise package and he was advised he had to go to an Australian TA, even though he was in UK.

 

It is no surprise that the Australian TA's quote, without airfares, was more expensive, for the same Med cruise, than the UK quote, with airfares.

 

He and his family went with another cruise line.

 

Whilst it is not difficult to find another Med cruise, why should he have had to do that just because he was Australian.