Carnival Cruise Line to Absorb P&O Australia

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, Ondine said:

 

Both are listed as Transit rather than Turnaround (but this doesn't necessarily mean much).

 

It does mean there will be no passengers embarking or disembarking.

[woodscruise]

A win for Aussie cruisers Although bad for the local cruise industry, the sunsetting of the P&O Cruises Australia brand (CW 05 Jun) could be good news for Aussie travellers, Dan Monheit (pictured), Chief Executive Officer and founder of creative agency Hardhat believes. Monheit told CW although the closure of the P&O Australia brand would mean less domestic options for local cruisers, the result could include more competitive prices elsewhere. “It’s possible the net result of this is good for Australians but bad for Australia,” he pondered. “Maybe the net result of this is more options and more competitive prices in other markets, but locally, having fewer options,” Monheit added. A leading behavioural economics expert who will present at the upcoming Travel24 conference (CLICK HERE), Monheit said navigating the closure of the cruise line will be a challenge for parent company Carnival Corp, particularly given how the Australian industry fared duiring the COVID-19 pandemic. Monheit believes one way Carnival Corp can capture the positive attention of the cruising public is through advertising. “I think there’s definitely a desire for confirmation, commitment, and certainty things are actually going to happen,” Monheit said. “In every category, part of the marketing spend is to reassure people who have already bought the product that they did a good thing,” he added. “Especially at a time like this, it wouldn’t be a bad strategy to overinvest, having people feel like the brand is still behind them, and they’re still going to get every bit as good an experience as they’ve been anticipating.” The value of being in-market is highlighted by the fact Carnival Corp’s competitors are likely to increase their advertising presence in the wake of P&O Australia’s closure. “I’d be very surprised if we didn’t see lifted competitive activity, especially as business gets tougher,” Monheit said. The Hardhat head also suggested the loss of the cruise line billed as “Australia’s home grown” may not be as broadly felt within the travelling public as within the cruise industry. “I think the play for Carnival Corp is to get P&O loyalists experiencing [Carnival] as soon as possible and backing themselves they can give these people a good experience.,” Monheit added. “They’re going to enjoy it, they’re going to go again.”

 

Source cruise weekly 21June 2024

[arxcards]

A marketing company suggesting they should spend more on advertising - ingenious! 🤣

 

They do need a hook though. For mine, they need to find a way of turning P&O passenger goodwill into a tangible benefit on Carnival, or risk losing them to other brands. I reckon it would be cheaper to woo existing P&O cruisers than to advertise for new cruisers to replace them.

 

Either way, I think there is some interesting news for Carnival to drip feed us with.

[ceeceeDee]

16 hours ago, arxcards said:

A marketing company suggesting they should spend more on advertising - ingenious! 🤣

 

They do need a hook though. For mine, they need to find a way of turning P&O passenger goodwill into a tangible benefit on Carnival, or risk losing them to other brands. I reckon it would be cheaper to woo existing P&O cruisers than to advertise for new cruisers to replace them.

 

Either way, I think there is some interesting news for Carnival to drip feed us with.

I agree, Geoff. It would appear that there are a lot of P&O cruisers who are less than enamored with Carnival and who are actively looking at other brands.

[Aus Traveller]

16 minutes ago, ceeceeDee said:

I agree, Geoff. It would appear that there are a lot of P&O cruisers who are less than enamored with Carnival and who are actively looking at other brands.

There would be an easy way for Carnival to 'grab' these P&O cruisers and maybe even keep them. They could amalgamate our P&O cruises into the Carnival loyalty programme.😁

[cruiser3775]

They could also offer things which are free on Carnival but attract a fee on P & O (or vice versa), so that Carnival looks more attractive to former P & O cruisers.

[2022cruisey]

I have two teenagers, don’t drink and none of us were that keen on our one Carnival cruise.  Their favourite is Princess, but they also like P&O.  Carnival is too loud, has constant on board announcements, has lots of emphasis on drinking and the food is very American.  The constant kowtowing for tips/10s was very grating.  Also signing for drinks etc is a minor annoyance on both Carnival and P&O when you are used to the medallion on Princess.  We have one more booked on P&O, then another booked on Royal (only because it was an exceptional deal).  Booking another Princess for Alaska soonish.

None of us plan to go on Carnival again unless it is an amazing deal.

[CountessCookie]

18 hours ago, arxcards said:

A marketing company suggesting they should spend more on advertising - ingenious! 🤣

 

They do need a hook though. For mine, they need to find a way of turning P&O passenger goodwill into a tangible benefit on Carnival, or risk losing them to other brands. I reckon it would be cheaper to woo existing P&O cruisers than to advertise for new cruisers to replace them.

 

Either way, I think there is some interesting news for Carnival to drip feed us with.

I wonder if their big bosses are working in a mindset of, "we don't care if the locals aren't happy. We have more ships down there than anyone else, if they want to cruise, they will come to us."

 

Edit: however, it is also a seems a bit silly that they didn't run a bit more Carnival centric advertising down here before pulling the plug on P&O. I've seen a bit more for other Carnival owned lines on TV this year, but not Carnival itself.

 

(I tend to be sceptic of big cooperation's view of their customers)

Edited June 22 by CountessCookie

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

There would be an easy way for Carnival to 'grab' these P&O cruisers and maybe even keep them. They could amalgamate our P&O cruises into the Carnival loyalty programme.😁

That would be a win for us, and something that will keep us doing occasional short cruises with them, as we did with P&O. Our hit & miss P&O history added to our short Carnival cruises would give us platinum VIFP. Not a big deal in the scheme of things, with some priority & token extras, but there is still a feeling of getting something for loyalty.

 

But, this would be a sticking point. If you had to lose your P&O status towards Princess Captain Circle in order to get them credited for Carnival VIFP, there would be a riot. A definite carrot for you, I and others that would keep our elite status regardless, but what of those who have 15 P&O + 3 Princess cruises?

 

One thing is almost 100% sure. Carnival operated "P&Oish" cruises from next April will no longer count towards Princess. Their PR soapbox was big on highlighting VIFP coming to the P&O ships, but they are not about to tell you it is replacing Captains Circle in the same sentence. Maybe they will let you choose how you apply your past P&O loyalty, but that all sounds a bit complicated.

[arxcards]

25 minutes ago, CountessCookie said:

I wonder if their big bosses are working in a mindset of, "we don't care if the locals aren't happy. We have more ships down there than anyone else, if they want to cruise, they will come to us."

 

(I tend to be sceptic of big cooperation's view of their customers)

Sort of a yeah nah. 

Yeah, they are killing-off P&O as a restructure to save on costs. We don't have a choice.

Nah, they don't want their existing passengers to spill away from their brands. In Sydney it is very mixed, but not so in Brisbane. Going forward, Brisbane will have two Carnival ships, a summer of Royal Caribbean and a short Princess season. For Brisbane P&O cruisers, Royal Caribbean is already preferred ahead of Carnival. The board and management of Carnival care deeply enough to have us thinking we are on a winner, so that Bradbury of the Seas doesn't become Brisbane's year round ship.

 

Over time, I think Carnival will adjust their brands to match our market - more Princess, less Carnival. If Princes offered winter cruises out of Sydney or Brisbane, I would have no reason to cruise on Carnival at all.

[CountessCookie]

3 hours ago, arxcards said:

Sort of a yeah nah. 

Yeah, they are killing-off P&O as a restructure to save on costs. We don't have a choice.

Nah, they don't want their existing passengers to spill away from their brands. In Sydney it is very mixed, but not so in Brisbane. Going forward, Brisbane will have two Carnival ships, a summer of Royal Caribbean and a short Princess season. For Brisbane P&O cruisers, Royal Caribbean is already preferred ahead of Carnival. The board and management of Carnival care deeply enough to have us thinking we are on a winner, so that Bradbury of the Seas doesn't become Brisbane's year round ship.

 

Over time, I think Carnival will adjust their brands to match our market - more Princess, less Carnival. If Princes offered winter cruises out of Sydney or Brisbane, I would have no reason to cruise on Carnival at all.

Don't tease us with the suggestion of a winter princess season. 😜

[arxcards]

25 minutes ago, CountessCookie said:

Don't tease us with the suggestion of a winter princess season. 😜

We used to have one of them here for much of the winter, and the ship also gave us Pacific Circle or Indian Circle cruises. I am on a short winter cruise on Splendor in a couple of weeks time to celebrate Barb's birthday, but it is 2nd prize. Our apparent full-time Princess ship will be Iceland at the time, so Splendor it is. Yes, it is brash and busy but we can handle it for short cruises. We also prefer Princess food to Carnival, but we don't mind the idea of 2 meals per day on Carnival - brunch & dinner, with an occasional lunch time snack.

 

If we had a Princess winter option, it would be Carnival who? Fiji is noice at this time of year.

[reeves35]

2 hours ago, CountessCookie said:

Don't tease us with the suggestion of a winter princess season. 😜

Hard to see unless Alaska legislate some sever cutbacks on cruise numbers.  Currently, there is just so much money to be made for Princess in Alaska where it is the largest cruise line with preferential port and Glacier Bay access. I don't think an Australian winter denominated in the Pacific Peso could make economic sense.

 

[SinbadThePorter]

49 minutes ago, reeves35 said:

I don't think an Australian winter denominated in the Pacific Peso could make economic sense.

 

As you say Alaska cruise capacity is coming into question and there's still Lelepa to throw into the mix. If that happens, and it's a big if, Royal will have to do winter cruises from Sydney and Brisbane (and Auckland?) to make it viable. If Royal start cruising in winter, there will be extreme pressure on Carnival Corp to provide better than a couple of Carnival Cruises ships.

Edited June 22 by SinbadThePorter

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, reeves35 said:

Hard to see unless Alaska legislate some sever cutbacks on cruise numbers.  Currently, there is just so much money to be made for Princess in Alaska where it is the largest cruise line with preferential port and Glacier Bay access. I don't think an Australian winter denominated in the Pacific Peso could make economic sense.

 

Just about balance. If they see Sydney as a 2 ship market during winter, it would be dumb to be catering it with two Carnival branded ships. Not all Princess ships are pinned to Alaska.

[rkmw]

9 hours ago, arxcards said:

That would be a win for us, and something that will keep us doing occasional short cruises with them, as we did with P&O. Our hit & miss P&O history added to our short Carnival cruises would give us platinum VIFP. Not a big deal in the scheme of things, with some priority & token extras, but there is still a feeling of getting something for loyalty.

 

But, this would be a sticking point. If you had to lose your P&O status towards Princess Captain Circle in order to get them credited for Carnival VIFP, there would be a riot. A definite carrot for you, I and others that would keep our elite status regardless, but what of those who have 15 P&O + 3 Princess cruises?

 

One thing is almost 100% sure. Carnival operated "P&Oish" cruises from next April will no longer count towards Princess. Their PR soapbox was big on highlighting VIFP coming to the P&O ships, but they are not about to tell you it is replacing Captains Circle in the same sentence. Maybe they will let you choose how you apply your past P&O loyalty, but that all sounds a bit complicated.

A lot of Princess cruisers who have made the most travelled lunches their p&o cruisers don’t count anymore but if they transferred them to Carnival myself plus a lot of others would be Diamond plus on Carnival if they had a Diamond plus loyalty program so it would be very interesting if they do decide to transfer them from Princess to Carnival but I doubt it would happen 

[Mycruiseobsession]

5 hours ago, arxcards said:

 

If we had a Princess winter option, it would be Carnival who? Fiji is noice at this time of year.

 

And this time of year is So much lower cyclone risk for the north east coast and South Pacific waters.

 

You would think our winter would be appealing  for "Tropical Escapes" to these ports.

Edited Saturday at 10:21 AM by Mycruiseobsession

[Aus Traveller]

18 minutes ago, rkmw said:

A lot of Princess cruisers who have made the most travelled lunches their p&o cruisers don’t count anymore but if they transferred them to Carnival myself plus a lot of others would be Diamond plus on Carnival if they had a Diamond plus loyalty program so it would be very interesting if they do decide to transfer them from Princess to Carnival but I doubt it would happen 

Me too. If my P&O history was transferred to Carnival I would also be Diamond plus, but, I agree, I don't think this will happen.

[arxcards]

26 minutes ago, rkmw said:

A lot of Princess cruisers who have made the most travelled lunches their p&o cruisers don’t count anymore but if they transferred them to Carnival myself plus a lot of others would be Diamond plus on Carnival if they had a Diamond plus loyalty program so it would be very interesting if they do decide to transfer them from Princess to Carnival but I doubt it would happen 

Correct. P&O days haven't counted to Princess most cruised lunches for ages. Those of us who would still hold elite status after a change would get the best of both worlds. 

However, there would be even more of the predominately P&O cruiser group that would lose their black medallions, mini-bar and laundry if those changes were made. Still a win if they are happy to continue cruising with elevated status on Carnival, but a loss if they would rather be on Princess. Most of my P&O friends hate Carnival with a passion.

Edited Saturday at 10:30 AM by arxcards
T

[CountessCookie]

5 hours ago, reeves35 said:

Hard to see unless Alaska legislate some sever cutbacks on cruise numbers.  Currently, there is just so much money to be made for Princess in Alaska where it is the largest cruise line with preferential port and Glacier Bay access. I don't think an Australian winter denominated in the Pacific Peso could make economic sense.

 

I can fully understand that. Alaska is a bucket list for me. But not foreseeable future. My work really limits how long I can take off.

[CDaze71]

I would also be Diamond on my Carnival VIFP status if my P&O Cruises counted towards Carnival. But I do not think this will happen. I'm Elite on Princess and I reckon the P&O Cruises days will just stop accruing to Captain Circle from the March takeover of  Encounter and Adventure and start on Carnival.

Come on JH make some bloody announcement. I keep stalking his page every night and everytime someone asks about P&O he keeps saying soon. 

Oh and @arxcards, I'm not one of those P&O Cruisers who hate Carnival with a passion, I LOVE CARNIVAL. 

[arxcards]

38 minutes ago, CDaze71 said:

Come on JH make some bloody announcement. I keep stalking his page every night and everytime someone asks about P&O he keeps saying soon. 

Oh and @arxcards, I'm not one of those P&O Cruisers who hate Carnival with a passion, I LOVE CARNIVAL. 

I reckon that is correct about how the loyalty programs will be handled, so that leaves no carrot for P&O cruisers to remain loyal to Carnival. They can just book Princess instead, and use the CC loyalty status they have already built instead of going back to square one with VIFP. It isn't so much about the perks as it is about being seen as a new cruiser.

 

lol. I am aware you love Carnival. Also our friend in common is very much a Carnival girl these days too. At the other end of the scale, I have other Brisbane friends telling me that Carnival serve up dog food and have canned a small group cruise for late 2025 because it will be a Carnival Encounter.

 

I think John has learned from past comments that loose lips may sink ships. When Spirit was taken away to cruise Alaska during the latter days of covid, John made the big announcement about how exciting it was to have an extra ship in Alaska. Wonderful, but that was 48hrs before Brisbane passengers were notified that their Spirit cruises had been cancelled. Nice to know there is more news to drip feed about Carnivoz, so I wait with bated breath and expect a media release which JH will recirculate. So far, the big soapbox news for Carnival has been the Hub app (P&O has an app) and they will be able to accrue VIFP points (instead of CC points).

Edited Sunday at 12:09 AM by arxcards

[ceeceeDee]

13 hours ago, arxcards said:

Correct. P&O days haven't counted to Princess most cruised lunches for ages. Those of us who would still hold elite status after a change would get the best of both worlds. 

However, there would be even more of the predominately P&O cruiser group that would lose their black medallions, mini-bar and laundry if those changes were made. Still a win if they are happy to continue cruising with elevated status on Carnival, but a loss if they would rather be on Princess. Most of my P&O friends hate Carnival with a passion.

Yep, we're passionate about hating Carnival! 😆 I don't know what it would take to get me on board. Probably a free suite with everything thrown in - like that's going to happen. Still, to quote the James Bond title 'Never Say Never'.🙄

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, ceeceeDee said:

Yep, we're passionate about hating Carnival! 😆 I don't know what it would take to get me on board. Probably a free suite with everything thrown in - like that's going to happen. Still, to quote the James Bond title 'Never Say Never'.🙄

The free eggs benny at seaday brunch is delightful. 🤣

[arxcards]

15 hours ago, rkmw said:

A lot of Princess cruisers who have made the most travelled lunches their p&o cruisers don’t count anymore but if they transferred them to Carnival myself plus a lot of others would be Diamond plus on Carnival if they had a Diamond plus loyalty program so it would be very interesting if they do decide to transfer them from Princess to Carnival but I doubt it would happen 

You had me wondering about a secret handshake level, but they do top out at Diamond.

Diamond Plus is a Royal Caribbean thing.