Carnival Spirit's arrival in Sydney...

[Sutho]

Just testing sizing options. I will be sharing as many photos as I can of all upcoming visits so am testing old photos and resizing them to make them fit better.

 

 

[cjm66]

Just testing sizing options. I will be sharing as many photos as I can of all upcoming visits so am testing old photos and resizing them to make them fit better.

 

 

 

 

Still too wide for easy scrolling down on my laptop which has quite a large screen. OK on iPad which resizes itself. A suggestion - why don's you use the TEST Forum to practise? Ir was set up precisely for problems like you are experiencing. Not an easy forum to find - buried right at the top of the index. Here is a link:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=225

 

For got to say you just start your own thread about resizing photos. I don't think there is one but did not look too deeply.

 

Good luck!

[timtam2]

Yikes! That is way too big! When I access the website via my phone, large photos like that cause havoc and lock up the browser - I always have to restart my phone. How about thumbnails with a link?

[wildweston]

All good here :)

[The_Big_M]

Fine for me.

[Sutho]

Ok I think it might somehow be the computer I am using. I have a Win7 PC with 23inch monitor and I use that when I am at home. I uploaded the first batch of photos from my laptop in Sydney and it is only 14inch screen. The first lot came out a good size. The Queen Victoria I resized to 1600 before uploading to facebook and inserting the link via my computer.

[Royalty X]

I love the large pics! My iPhone and iPad automatically make them smaller. When I'm on my laptop, yes they're large, but the detail is incredible. Beautiful pics Sutho! Anywhere where we can see all your HQ ship pics in one place please?

[Sutho]

Until Facebook came along I used to have albums spread out on competing sites but was always limited by size. Facebook is ok but its hard to share albums. I keep the cruise ship albums public. I find either on Facebook I can share the link to any thread and sometimes FlikR works but their size is limited on what you can share.

 

I am open to suggestions on where I can store the high resolution photos. Though one thing I found is that when I put them up I start getting PM's from people either wanting jobs on the ship I have just photographed or asking to sort out issues. My last email just the other day came via Facebook with someone claiming their cabin steward walked in on them naked on Carnival Spirit and they were asking for the cruise line to compensate them.

[Royalty X]

I am open to suggestions on where I can store the high resolution photos. Though one thing I found is that when I put them up I start getting PM's from people either wanting jobs on the ship I have just photographed or asking to sort out issues. My last email just the other day came via Facebook with someone claiming their cabin steward walked in on them naked on Carnival Spirit and they were asking for the cruise line to compensate them.

Oh dear...:D LOL!

 

I use Photobucket for my pics but I dunno of that would work for HQ stuff or not.

[MMDown Under]

Prior to the cruise the slots in the casinos had been replaced with brand new ones for the Australian market. All I and many passengers can say is be prepared to be robbed Australia in triple quick time! If the slots on board are typical of Australian ones I can't understand why any Aussie would ever participate in this form of gambling.

 

The Ship is eleven years old and is naturally dated by modern standards but is mechanically sound and clean and has been well maintained. Sending a ship to Australia is in cruise terms the first step to the breakers yard and I find that sad having cruised on it twice before with many fond memories.

 

I suspect Carnival have collected their laziest entertainment staff and dispatched them to Australia in the same way as Britain dispatched persons for bad behaviour in the eighteenth century. So if any Australians are reading this don't expect to be over entertained!

 

Part of Cruise Review "The Spirit is Pensioned Off" by Elphin.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=109523

[Mum81]

Prior to the cruise the slots in the casinos had been replaced with brand new ones for the Australian market. All I and many passengers can say is be prepared to be robbed Australia in triple quick time! If the slots on board are typical of Australian ones I can't understand why any Aussie would ever participate in this form of gambling.

 

The Ship is eleven years old and is naturally dated by modern standards but is mechanically sound and clean and has been well maintained. Sending a ship to Australia is in cruise terms the first step to the breakers yard and I find that sad having cruised on it twice before with many fond memories.

 

I suspect Carnival have collected their laziest entertainment staff and dispatched them to Australia in the same way as Britain dispatched persons for bad behaviour in the eighteenth century. So if any Australians are reading this don't expect to be over entertained!

 

Part of Cruise Review "The Spirit is Pensioned Off" by Elphin.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=109523

 

I have to agree with the part about the poker machines or "slots". In general we find the pokies in the US a lot "looser" than in Aus, in fact so much so that we never touch them here, but always have a dabble when we are in America.

 

I thought this was something to do with the fact that the US Government doesn't rely on the revenue from the pokies, like ours does, as they have many other taxes eg. state tax, sales tax etc. However I don't know how this applies to cruise ships as one would assume that the Aus Government doesn't see any revenue from cruise ship gambling.

 

It doesn't bother me personally, but this combined with the other changes they have made to The Spirit, may serve to turn off the American visitors, that Carnival was hoping to attract.

 

Yes, the ship is 11 years old, but our other year round options are Pacific Dawn - 21 years old, Pacific Jewel - 22 years old and Pacific Pearl - 23 years old, so I am looking forward to having a newer ship here.

 

I can't comment on the entertainment, but am looking forward to see what the first batch of cruisers out of Australia have to say when they get back.

[Cruise ship fan]

 

It doesn't bother me personally, but this combined with the other changes they have made to The Spirit, may serve to turn off the American visitors, that Carnival was hoping to attract.

 

It doesn't look like Carnival is trying to attract americans with the ship. Since the ship is no longer listed on the US website, you need to go to the Carnival Australian website for it.

[MMDown Under]

It doesn't look like Carnival is trying to attract americans with the ship. Since the ship is no longer listed on the US website, you need to go to the Carnival Australian website for it.

 

Don't you just love the way they try to divide up the world!

[The_Big_M]

Don't you just love the way they try to divide up the world!

 

Pluses and minuses. If we were under the US operation then we'd be paying onboard in USD and other things would likely be harder (as they'd be controlled by head office which is in a different time zone).

 

Having it locally means it's customised for local tastes more.

[Royalty X]

Pluses and minuses. If we were under the US operation then we'd be paying onboard in USD and other things would likely be harder (as they'd be controlled by head office which is in a different time zone).

 

Having it locally means it's customised for local tastes more.

It's true about the US dollars thing but that's no biggie with the current exchange rate (and it's cashless cruising anyway). Besides, RCI have a local office overseeing the Aussie operation but it's all controlled from the US. If they can do it, why can't Carnival?

[Debsta]

It's true about the US dollars thing but that's no biggie with the current exchange rate (and it's cashless cruising anyway). Besides, RCI have a local office overseeing the Aussie operation but it's all controlled from the US. If they can do it, why can't Carnival?

 

Are you on FB finetuneit? I have photos of her arriving and departing Suva if you would like them?

[The_Big_M]

It's true about the US dollars thing but that's no biggie with the current exchange rate (and it's cashless cruising anyway). Besides, RCI have a local office overseeing the Aussie operation but it's all controlled from the US. If they can do it, why can't Carnival?

 

I'm sure they could i.e. just have the ships as temporary visitors but still based in the US. Spirit came under the local P&O - now Carnival - operation as the local office wanted to expand though. That's why she's here permanently. RCI's ships are still based in America as they're only here as visitors. They don't have the same scale of operation here like P&O/Carnival do.

[Cruise ship fan]

I'm sure they could i.e. just have the ships as temporary visitors but still based in the US. Spirit came under the local P&O - now Carnival - operation as the local office wanted to expand though. That's why she's here permanently. RCI's ships are still based in America as they're only here as visitors. They don't have the same scale of operation here like P&O/Carnival do.

 

It still doesn't explain why all ties were cut of with the Carnival US fleet. Carnival cruises in Europe are still on the website. Also when you look at Princess the Australian based ships have always remained on the website.

[Sutho]

I think it is very strange how it is not available to international passengers. You would think Carnival would take advantage of it being here. The charging of things in Australian dollars is irrelevant these days any cruise ship you go on can charge your final balance in your local currency.

 

I have been looking at prices for cruises on this one and they fares do seem rather steep and expensive. I know the ship has allot to offer and is a step up from what P&O Australia and possible even the Sun, Dawn and Sea Princess, but I cant understand what justifies the high prices. With Royal Caribbean having Voyager of the Seas, Radiande and Rhapsody of the Seas here you would think they would drop prices to pull in passengers.

[Cruise ship fan]

 

I have been looking at prices for cruises on this one and they fares do seem rather steep and expensive. I know the ship has allot to offer and is a step up from what P&O Australia and possible even the Sun, Dawn and Sea Princess, but I cant understand what justifies the high prices. With Royal Caribbean having Voyager of the Seas, Radiande and Rhapsody of the Seas here you would think they would drop prices to pull in passengers.

 

Well in terms of quality, Carnival should actually be the cheapest (in terms of service etc, excluding the ship), then P&O, Royal Caribbean then Princess. But Carnival wants to be the more expensive.

[The_Big_M]

It still doesn't explain why all ties were cut of with the Carnival US fleet. Carnival cruises in Europe are still on the website.

 

It does, because Spirit was transferred here. The ships operating in Europe are only deployed there temporarily (like the RCL ships do here), head back to the US and are still part of the Carnival US group.

 

Also when you look at Princess the Australian based ships have always remained on the website.

 

That's another way it could have been done, but Princess' website is already set up for that, with IP recognition and redirection so you have a single booking system holding all the details. Customisation is done for visitors with local contact and booking details, and pricing in the relevant currency.

 

With Carnival, the US website doesn't have the smarts like that and it's designed for US customers. They need to build a local site for each place they target customers.

 

The accounting differs depending on the approach taken (e.g. for Princess vs Carnival) and it may well have been simpler for them to do it the way they did for Spirit. With Princess, they still can and do deploy the 'local' ships to and from other regions so they're not as 'permanently' deployed here.

[The_Big_M]

Well in terms of quality, Carnival should actually be the cheapest (in terms of service etc, excluding the ship), then P&O, Royal Caribbean then Princess. But Carnival wants to be the more expensive.

 

Carnival is positioned above P&O, and equivalent to Royal Caribbean, but with differences between them.

[Cruise ship fan]

Carnival is positioned above P&O, and equivalent to Royal Caribbean, but with differences between them.

 

Thats how they want it but they really shouldn't be they are way, way down the line. They are like a Formula one hotel and Royal is like a Hilton, when they are compared.

[The_Big_M]

Thats how they want it but they really shouldn't be they are way, way down the line. They are like a Formula one hotel and Royal is like a Hilton, when they are compared.

 

We'll agree to disagree. There are some things Carnival do better, and some things RCL do better, but overall facility and service wise they're broadly equivalent in what they offer/include.

[fishtaco]

We'll agree to disagree. There are some things Carnival do better, and some things RCL do better, but overall facility and service wise they're broadly equivalent in what they offer/include.

 

 

Is that broard equivalence Carnival Australia V RCI or Carnival USA V RCI ?

 

Den