China and 2018

[rlkubi]

Not sure if anyone posted about this yet.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7305

Edited October 28, 2016 by rlkubi

[Peace Love and Travel]

My reply does not have anything to do with China but I think the repositioning cruise from Singapore to Sydney would be amazing!

 

Does anyone have any idea what additional changes they could make to the Carnival Spirit when it has already been refurbished a couple times, and relatively recently?

 

The ship will arrive in Singapore in May, be refurbished, and then sent back to Australia. If that occurs in June/July, what might the ocean conditions/weather be? A smooth trip, or possible rocky?

 

Also, how do Aussie passengers compare to North American passengers? I am assuming the majority would be from Australia.

 

I would love to book this cruise but I think the one way flights to Singapore and then from Sydney back to Canada would make this too cost prohibitive for us!

 

TIA!

[chengkp75]

My reply does not have anything to do with China but I think the repositioning cruise from Singapore to Sydney would be amazing!

 

Does anyone have any idea what additional changes they could make to the Carnival Spirit when it has already been refurbished a couple times, and relatively recently?

 

The ship will arrive in Singapore in May, be refurbished, and then sent back to Australia. If that occurs in June/July, what might the ocean conditions/weather be? A smooth trip, or possible rocky?

 

Also, how do Aussie passengers compare to North American passengers? I am assuming the majority would be from Australia.

 

I would love to book this cruise but I think the one way flights to Singapore and then from Sydney back to Canada would make this too cost prohibitive for us!

 

TIA!

 

There is no guarantee that any "changes" will be made in shipyard in Singapore. Since the Spirit is now 15 years old, she needs to be drydocked twice in 5 years, and the last drydocking was in early 2016, so this is merely a statutory drydocking.

[riffatsea]

I have flown on Singapore Air from LAX to Tokyo non stop and the airfare was very reasonable! After the short stop in Tokyo it continued on to Singapore.

I have to say it was the BEST airline experience I have ever had even in lowly coach!! Food, service comfort was excellent!!

Lots of folks in that region like to travel so not just folks from Australia would necessarily be on the ship.

[Peace Love and Travel]

Thank you for your replies!

 

I didn't realize 2 drydocks in 5 years are a requirement, but it's good to know that!

 

I have never flown Singapore Airlines but I will keep them in mind! I have flown Malaysia Airlines to Asia previously and had no issues with them. But one way tickets can be tricky to find reasonable prices on, so thank you for the tip!

[tidecat]

I suspect Carnival (the line) will not be sailing in China at all, especially now that Carnival (the corporation) has announced a joint venture with China's CSSC:

 

http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/15786-china-state-shipbuilding-and-carnival-corp-expected-to-announce-cruise-order-next-week.html

 

Still waiting on confirmation of Splendor's and Miracle's plans for 2018 where Splendor is allegedly headed back to Long Beach and Miracle would head to Tampa.

 

 

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[Thorncroft]

I suspect Carnival (the line) will not be sailing in China at all, especially now that Carnival (the corporation) has announced a joint venture with China's CSSC:

 

 

 

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I think you're right about CCL in China. A lot has changed since the first China gold rush was on. I think Carnival was smart not to rush in.

[Thorncroft]

I have flown on Singapore Air from LAX to Tokyo non stop and the airfare was very reasonable! After the short stop in Tokyo it continued on to Singapore.

I have to say it was the BEST airline experience I have ever had even in lowly coach!! Food, service comfort was excellent!!

Lots of folks in that region like to travel so not just folks from Australia would necessarily be on the ship.

 

Singapore Airlines is ranked #3 among the top 100 airlines, behind only Emirates and Qatar. I flew them back in the '80s on a charter flight and they were amazing. The only bad thing about the flight was that we had to stop in Seoul, Korea, deplane and get back on the plane. South Korea is in a constant state of high alert, and it was the pits. We had to pull the window shades down during landing and take off and weren't even allowed to peek out the windows.

[jimbo5544]

I think you're right about CCL in China. A lot has changed since the first China gold rush was on. I think Carnival was smart not to rush in.

 

 

Have you read anything about Quantum and how it is doing over there? I think the slow down of moving ships there is also tied to the assistance with the new China based ship building, possibly even contractual.

 

 

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[chengkp75]

Have you read anything about Quantum and how it is doing over there? I think the slow down of moving ships there is also tied to the assistance with the new China based ship building, possibly even contractual.

 

 

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I think you are right, that Carnival originally planned to move a lot of existing ships to China, but when they worked out the deal for Chinese flag ships, they have slowed this down. I don't believe it is contractual, as it is very difficult for a country to limit foreign ship commerce, but that Carnival will be receiving a "most favored nation" status due to their using Chinese flagged ships. This will affect things like regulatory inspections, health and labor laws, and itineraries, as these ships will be able to do all China itineraries, as well as from one Chinese port to another, since their cabotage laws are similar to the PVSA.

[jimbo5544]

I think you are right, that Carnival originally planned to move a lot of existing ships to China, but when they worked out the deal for Chinese flag ships, they have slowed this down. I don't believe it is contractual, as it is very difficult for a country to limit foreign ship commerce, but that Carnival will be receiving a "most favored nation" status due to their using Chinese flagged ships. This will affect things like regulatory inspections, health and labor laws, and itineraries, as these ships will be able to do all China itineraries, as well as from one Chinese port to another, since their cabotage laws are similar to the PVSA.

 

 

Thanks for the added information as always. It will be interesting to see how sailing from there go over time.

[jimbo5544]

As further confirmation, here is more info from other sources.

 

http://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/planned-for-china-carnival-spirit-will-remain-in-australia.html