Carnival Legend confirmed to base in Melbourne

[CruiseCriticAUeditor]

http://www.cruisecritic.com.au/news/news.cfm?ID=7029

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[lisalila]

My brother went to a info night on tuesday night here in Melbourne with Carnival and Cruise About and they said that they were looking to have a Carnival ship home port in Melbourne for 2018. They also said that they want to have one here permanently but the the port needs to be upgraded which they are in the middle of discussing with the port and the government about getting it done so hopefully something can be done and we can get a ship down here for good :)

[GUT2407]

Save some airfares for many.

[croydonCruiser]

That's great news! :D:D

[vrogers]

Woohoo it will make life easy being able to broad in Melbourne, recently boarded QV in Melboune, so easy, my husband drove right on the pier down to the end where porters opened the boot took out my luggage, and bingo before I knew it up in the lift ready to check in, sooo easy...not sure the same ease with boarding a couple of thousand, but no airport headaches have to be a bonus.

[eaglebowler]

What's it like sailing out of the bay? I',m guessing it could be a bit rough?

 

I wonder what the itineraries will be. Would it take 2 days longer to reach Noumea from Melb?

[GUT2407]

What's it like sailing out of the bay? I',m guessing it could be a bit rough?

 

I wonder what the itineraries will be. Would it take 2 days longer to reach Noumea from Melb?

 

Sailing out of the bay is like sailing out of any harbour, sometimes smooth, sometimes rough.

 

Two days longer to islands? Well it's only a day to Sydney so not sure how you get two days longer. And for those from Melbourne there's a day less in flying to Sydney. Seems a wash. And one day less to Tasmania, also opens some trips to South Aus.

[eaglebowler]

Sailing out of the bay is like sailing out of any harbour, sometimes smooth, sometimes rough.

 

Two days longer to islands? Well it's only a day to Sydney so not sure how you get two days longer. And for those from Melbourne there's a day less in flying to Sydney. Seems a wash. And one day less to Tasmania, also opens some trips to South Aus.

 

I didn't "get" 2 days longer, I was asking as I've never sailed out of Melb.

 

I agree, Melb would be a great departure point, Driving to Melb from Adel would be much cheaper than the airfare to Sydney.

[GUT2407]

I didn't "get" 2 days longer, I was asking as I've never sailed out of Melb.

 

I agree, Melb would be a great departure point, Driving to Melb from Adel would be much cheaper than the airfare to Sydney.

 

Some lines are planning some sailings our of Adelaide too I understand.

[eaglebowler]

Some lines are planning some sailings our of Adelaide too I understand.

 

Yeah, more each year, just that the itineraries don't interest me. South Pacific is our destination of choice.

[MMDown Under]

Yeah, more each year, just that the itineraries don't interest me. South Pacific is our destination of choice.

 

Are there no longer itineraries to the South Pacific from Adelaide?

[eaglebowler]

I've never noticed any, but I've only become interested in cruising over the last couple of years.

 

From here they tend to cruise to Melb/Tassie or west to Perth.

[pattle66]

I guess we will be doing a few cruises in 2018 :D:D

I do prefer RCI but I'll get used to Carnival if we save on travelling and get to cruise more:cool:

[jessica3152]

Great to see some more competition coming into Melbourne. Currently Princess charge much more for their NZ cruises ex MEL than they do for basically the same cruise out of SYD. The presence of Carnival Legend may temper this a bit. The growth out of MEL must also be tempting RCI to base a Royal Caribbean or Celebrity ship out of MEL each summer season. It makes no sense for them to leave a city of 4M people solely as a the preserve of Carnival Corp.

[6666oz]

When I first saw the Lady from Carnival talking on the tv news a couple of weeks ago about the Legend being based in Melbourne for 2018 I got all excited

 

BUT,

 

when I checked out the itineraries for what they were offering what a downer, :(

 

just a few 3-4 day short breaks and a cruise to NZ, BIG DEAL, come on Carnival stop pussy footing around and offer some decent 14-16 day cruises around the pacific islands.

Edited May 26, 2016 by 6666oz

[MMDown Under]

When I first saw the Lady from Carnival talking on the tv news a couple of weeks ago about the Legend being based in Melbourne for 2018 I got all excited

 

BUT,

 

when I checked out the itineraries for what they were offering what a downer, :(

 

just a few 3-4 day short breaks and a cruise to NZ, BIG DEAL, come on Carnival stop pussy footing around and offer some decent 14-16 day cruises around the pacific islands.

 

I don't think the cruiselines have ever taken into account that Australians get four weeks leave, plus public holidays. We are used to long holidays, so short cruises don't seem worth the effort.