plettza

7 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Is VIFP a cruise club or Carnival loyalty thingy? 

Loyalty program.  Like Princess' Captain Circle and HAL's Mariner program.  I haven't investigated the other programs too much but with Carnival's, you get things like free laundry and expedited boarding after achieving Platinum (75 days I think).

13 minutes ago, Janet&Carl said:

 

 

If you have VIFP you get it from $386 - who can resist that price even if it does have loads of sea days.

That's an amazing price but it's not coming up for me with my VIFP number.  In fact, when I looked last week to now, the price has shot up severely.

Are you Platinum or Diamond status on Carnival's VIFP program?  I'm only Gold so maybe I'm not getting the same deal.

3 minutes ago, NSWP said:

 Many sea days, love the sea days. 

Me too.  Chillin' in a bar or lounging in the Serenity area poolside.  Port days are overrated!😎

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

She disappears for a bit over the winter, but that is because she is doing a world cruise from Brisbane.

Ok, I didn't scroll down far enough when I checked her sailings.  She seems like a nice ship.  I'm keen as to get onboard

32 minutes ago, v8thunder said:

We are also! I have been waiting a long time to be the 1st ship (I do now that Explorer will visit before)  to cruise out of the new terminal. VERY EXCITED!!!!!! 73 days to goooooooooooooooo

I haven't been on a ship since mid 2019.

I'm jiggy to get amongst it as well.  I found this Princess cruise, the first outta Australia for some time, and thought, "why not?".  My partner doesn't wanna come so I'll be solo.  I wonder what she'll say when I make my way to Sydney Airport to fly to Brisbane knowing she missed out!  (And yes, I did offer her to come)

1 minute ago, v8thunder said:

Hey plettza,

Are you on the June 16th sailing?

Steve

Yes indeed.  Out of Brisbane...  I've never sailed Princess before and certainly never out of Brisbane.  I'll fly in that morning.

23 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

No. As Julie confirmed, the Coral Princess is ours. She would have been converted for our market. That usually involves installing Aussie power sockets and changing the voltage of the power. Other changes are easier - prices on everything on board to AUD.

Nice.  She looks like my kinda ship.  A good space/passenger ratio.  As I mentioned, I've never sailed Princes before so I'll come in with a fresh perspective.  I noticed her sister ship, Island Princess, was maxed out with more staterooms and they ruined the stern with more cabins.

7 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Coral Princess will be based in Brisbane so we will see her often.🙂

I understand only for a few months and then she sails back to the US.  Indeed, I couldn't find a sailing after April next year out of Australia

On 4/2/2022 at 3:28 PM, Aus Traveller said:

P&O have a cruise from Sydney scheduled on 31st May. Princess is starting on 16th June, cruising from Brisbane.

I'll be on this Princess cruise out of Brisbane.  Never been on Princess before so I can't wait; not only for my first Princess cruise but also the first out of Brisbane onboard Coral.  You won't see her too often in our waters.

On 4/2/2022 at 10:00 AM, MicCanberra said:

Depends on your job, I can do mine now from on a ship.

C'mon, Mic.  Beer taster/critic is not a real job 😊

On 4/2/2022 at 8:16 AM, Esilef said:

can you Work from home on a cruise ship? Asking for a friend……..🤔

I'd need good internet.  Skype for Business/Teams meetings along with remote control access to computers, but yeah, I could.  I work in IT support and just need a good, steady connection via VPN.  As long as Carnival doesn't block Netscaler VPN connections, I'm in.  I have thought about that even before the pandemic.  My boss got us tablets/laptops with VPN accounts back in 2018.

I'm half tempted to try this one time; take a cruise but "work from home".  Red Frog Pub in the background on a Teams call, chomping on a Guy's burger 🍔 with a frosty ale 🍺 by my side. 😜

On 4/1/2022 at 2:14 PM, Sparky74 said:

23 night Transpacific from Seattle to Sydney on Carnival Splendor sailing on 6th September 2022. Interior cabin from $1,716pp on the Australian Carnival website. That’s less than $75/night!

Man, I am so tempted to jump on that deal, but we have a Hawaii to Sydney cruise onboard RCI during that time.

I only get Passport as an option as well.  However, this will be my first time aboard Princess so I wouldn't know any different and I've never used this app before.

The earliest one is 12th of August out of Sydney.  Still winter I guess.  I mustn't have scrolled down far enough to see that one.

Their page seems to be slow loading now.  

I just checked Princess' website and they have now listed winter sailings for Coral Princess.  Maybe Princess believes there's a dollar to made during our winter season.

The early ones seem to b out of Brisbane.  Pity there aren't any from Sydney

Back in 2020 I booked using an online travel agent. Never again. The cruise got cancelled by Carnival but the travel agent still charged me a $100+ fee for the work they supposedly did. I know they got their funds back from Carnival so they just pocketed that $100. They provided no additional service that Carnival couldn't have done. I know because I called Carnival and asked what they were doing for the travel agents. 

I don't blame Carnival nor the travel agent for the cancelled cruise but for them to pocket $100 for doing Jack sh&t burns me up. 

3 hours ago, NSWP said:

I remember the days, many years ago when my benchmark for a cruise on Princess was $100 pp per day twin share for an oceanview cabin.  Them days are gonzo.

I don't know about Princess, but scoring a sub $100/night cruise on Carnival for a balcony was what I kept on trying to find back in the day. I guess I'm looking for that price point now that we're back into the swing of things. I think our last sub $100/night cruise was December 2018

Those were the days

On 3/17/2022 at 1:34 PM, LincolnLegend said:

If you have cruised with Carnival, keep an eye on your emails, I got an offer like @plettza and can book a cabin for a 10 nighter out of Sydney  for 320 pp, ocean view. It is for certain cruises, can only be used once and only for 2 people but is an amazing deal. There is also a 9 night NZ offering in November this year for under 300 pp, inside cabin.

What was strange is I never got an email offer before I booked.  I just happened to be browsing  the Carnival website and saw these crazy prices.  They were quite fleeting and no longer available later that night.

But that price you got is similar to what was on offer when I browsed.  I should've taken more screenshots for reference.  In any case, I'm stoked.

I did get an email a day or two ago for an inside cabin also in November if I recall which was also cheap as chips but I won't have enough annual leave to go.  it might be the same offer you got.

24 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

It also could have been an error. I have heard of that happening. When it did, the cruiseline honoured it. Enjoy your super-special cruise.

It was a strange occurrence. When i opened an I Private browser window and my partner logged in with her VIFP number, none of those deals appeared. Nada. 

I gather it was just be related to my VIFP number somehow. 

And to confirm, I didn't sneak off the US site. These deals were in AUD and included port fees, taxes, etc. 

The offer had a rate code but I didn't get a screen shot of that. I probably should've taken more screen shots to back up my side of events. 

38 minutes ago, portcbob said:

What ship please???????

Splendor ex Sydney.

Checking the site again, those prices are no longer there at all. I must've jagged a flash sail. It was under their Pack ''n' Sail deal.

I just booked a Carnival cruise for January  next year. 11 nights to South Pacific, $800 total for a balcony that I chose.  That's not per person, that's total. Something is whacked  with their prices. There were other cruises that were/are similarly priced sailing to various destinations. But when I thought I'd try and book a second cruise at those prices, going through the booking process, those rates went missing.

I just had to pay in full at the time of booking 

I'd be more than happy to tip if notable, high-ranking execs within coporations like Carnival Corp or Royal Caribbean Group such as Arnold Donald, Richard Fain, etc. worked solely on tips.  Something tells me those discussions of executive remuneration being provided by tipping or "gratuities" don't come up in the board meetings.

I tried to dig up some photos I may have had from my 3 Spirit cruises last year to see if I took a snap of the drinks menu.  I couldn't find any.  But, from memory, a Scotch and mixer was about $12.50 (Dewar's White Label).

I mostly drank Scotch and No Sugar Coke so I don't really remember the prices for other drinks.  I can try and dig up some print outs of my onboard Sail and Sign account if you need more accurate info.  I think I kept those somewhere.

These prices are in AUD as the ship charges in Aussie Pesos.

Another option is to buy the Bottomless Bubbles soft drink package and just purchase the spirits with a mixer.  With this, the bartenders almost always deduct the soft drink mixer component off the total ($1AUD off) because of the package.  That would bring my example drink to $11.50 AUD

My Carnival cruise for April 2nd was cancelled a couple of weeks ago.  If they start sailing again in April, it'll be later in the month.  I rebooked for June cruise but I doubt that'll sail.  However, that is a Queensland cruise from Sydney so who knows; there may be the opportunity for Australia-only sailings.

It looks now like our Carnival cruise will be the first CCL cruise to sail next year as it departs in late March.

To get onboard, I'd be happy to mask up, get tested and have the itinerary altered to Australia-only cruises.