reeves35

3 hours ago, arxcards said:

I was just poking around with a semi-related topic, and thought a Melbournians might get a bit of a grin from this media release:

 

https://www.carnivalaustralia.com/media-releases/2016/november/victoria-sails-into-biggest-summer-of-cruising-as-emerald-princess-makes-maiden-visit.aspx

 

Much of the blame for the failure of cruising out of Melbourne can be laid at the feet of successive state governments.  Over time, they have gradually ratcheted up port fees charged to cruise lines but have done nothing to address the clear infrastructure issues. 

Station Pier is a disgrace; it is dilapidated and forces passengers to queue out in the weather because there is insufficient space available undercover.  I first visited there as a child in 1970 as my grandmother joined a world cruise on Chandris' Australis; it hasn't changed much in the intervening 54 years.  A bit of foresight 30 years ago would have made the Bolte Bridge a tunnel under the Yarra and a new cruise terminal could have been built just about to where Marvel Stadium is today.

On top of the terrible terminal facilities, passengers and visitors emerge out into Port Melbourne where they are greeted by a graffiti covered shell that was once a grocery store.  It has remained that way for nearly a decade.  They walk past this on the way to the tramstop where visitors are forced to work out the complete shambles that is the Myki ticketing system.  Surely, Route 109 trams should be free on days when cruise ships are in port.    

12 minutes ago, arxcards said:

The discrepancy only makes sense to those that have taken a position in TCCL stock.

 

Carnival does have upside, but that is held back due to the massive quantity of $8 bonds that were issued in 2020.

 

Neither company is currently returning a dividend. I haven't taken much notice of NCL.

Dividends aren't really as much of a thing in USA as they are are in Australia probably because they don't have a franking regime.  In US, shares (or stocks) are more about growth.

1 hour ago, Chiliburn said:

Was going to buy some RCG shares at $70 but it seemed to much hassle.

I think you have to put in a U.S. tax return.

 

Royal Caribbean said at the start of the downturn. The biggest mistake we made was to cancel new ship ,last time.So they just kept building them right though the pandemic. Even new terminals like Ravenna Italy.

Carnival has a lot of old assets and they will have to borrow big .

With current order backlogs, the major shipyards in Germany, Finland and Italy are pretty much booked solid until 2027.  Following the delivery of Queen Anne and Sun Princess this year, Carnival Corp currently has 3 ship orders outstanding with two more Excel ships for Carnival due in 2027 and 2028 whilst Princess will receive Star Princess next year.

RCI has 4 ships outstanding, 2 Icon class, 1 Oasis class and an Edge class for Celebrity.  Norwegian has 2 more Prima Class on order plus a new 169K  type in 2028. Meanwhile, MSC has 3 super-sized ships on order.  Other outstanding orders include 1 more for Virgin and a couple for TUI's German Mein Schiff operation.

Interesting to note that. apart from Virgin, all of this ships on order are in excess of 150K RT.  The continuation of the megaship generation means there is not much chance of any newbuilds coming to Australia anytime soon with nearly all port facilities both here and in our region unable to accept such large vessels.

22 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

It would be good, I know it’s a premium brand but small expedition ships getting into small port . They would have to lower their standards,a LOT .

 

Who bought it off Royal Caribbean, can’t remember.Your good at finding things like that Geoff .

Azamara is now owned by Sycamore Partners, a US based private equity organisation.  It is unlikely that they consider themselves long-term holders so will probably look to flip the asset in the medium term though it is hard to say who'd be interested.

5 hours ago, jam19872016 said:

Yes, all of those items are included on Firenze and Venezia although not being familiar with the current product, I can't speak to how the quality would compare to what you are paying for currently. With the exception of the burgers, none of those included items are particularly good quality but decent enough for an included food item.

 

Of course the difference is, those ships are targeted to the US audience which would not be used to paying for those items. I have to wonder who the target audience is for these upcoming Carnival branded ships? If the ships remain in Australia, I don't believe it will be marketed much to the US, they have been trying, and failing, with Splendor and Luminosa with insane bargain fares and aggressive casino comps but the flight costs are too much to attract anyone except those looking to check off a bucket list item or large amounts of disposable income and time, not repeat cruisers that would sustain the business plan long term.

If you are going to do the bucket-list trip all the way from US to AU, chances are you'll make it special and therefore more likely to be heading towards a more premium offering such as Princess, HAL, Cunard or Celebrity.

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

Fancy getting paid extra to go on holidays. How awesome. 😂

Outside of the public service and highly unionised companies, I don't think many Australians get leave loading anymore.  I haven't had it in 25 years.

The wording from Carnival is decommissioned which tends to suggest scrapping.  Of course, it is always possible that a last minute buyer is found such as what happened with Pacific Dawn which was snapped up by Ambassador at the death knell. 

If it were to happen, you'd probably be thinking of cruise-lines like Ambassador or Celestyal as being candidates but they have both expanded a lot in the past couple of years and may want to bed down their current fleet before attempting another expansion.

What we don't know is what the real condition of Explorer is.  We know her public areas are pretty good having been updated by P&O when she came over from Princess.  We also know the cabins are pretty much unchanged from when she was launched 27 years ago.  The real unknown is her engineering condition.  Major parts may be wearing out meaning any new life is not economic.

53 minutes ago, ceeceeDee said:

Yep, we're on Encounter in December. Silence from P&O is deafening. We got a message from a travel insurer we haven't even used! Obviously I'm somehow on their mailing list. Only thing from P&O was an email a few days back advising a change to embarkation and disembarkation times. Don't know about Cruislings, I think we're Mushrooms.🙄

I guess that, since your cruise is well in advance of P&O's scheduled "sunset", you are unlikely to hear anything from P&O.  For you, hopefully, the cruise will be just as you had booked.  I assume those that are being contacted are where the cruise is being cancelled which is all Explorer cruises post-March and a couple Adventure and Encounter cruises across March.

26 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

One of the stated (in passing) reasons for the change is the difficulty of repositioning P&O branded ships outside of Oz/NZ.

 

So I expect the 2025/6 season may see some movement. Fewer ships and shorter seasons.

That probably makes some sense.  Carnival cannot move P&O ships to Asia or Alaska in the Northern Summer like they can a Carnival branded ship such as Luminosa.  Of course, the flipside of this is the ships in Australian waters will not be particularly Australian with US branded outlets (Lido Marketplace instead of The Pantry etc), US power sockets etc.  

1 minute ago, windsor26 said:

Not unless that use AUD  and get rid of tips

Yes, a permanent placement would require AUD onboard, AU power outlets etc.  Tips and gratuities are really a formatting thing.  Carnival including P&O and Princess include it in their pricing in Australia so it is not obvious; that doesn't mean they are not charging it.  I imagine RCCL would probably use the same strategy.

48 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

I rarely notice decor while on board and certainly don't remember post cruise, except for one cruise which was garishly Egyptian themed. That may have been my one and only Carnival cruise - possibly Spirit?

I think the garish Egyptian theme may have been Pacific Sun (formerly Carnival Jubilee).  Spirit has the weird purple and red themes in the central atrium.  Both are Joe Farcus interiors who did all Carnival's interiors from the original Carnivale through to Carnival Magic though Carnival Dream and Magic were toned down to some of the previous over-the-top styles.  

3 minutes ago, woodscruise said:

With this news today, I wonder if the additional charges that P&O have will continue when the ships become Carnival. (This is one reason why I have not cruised P&O for a number of years). A prediction, Australia will lose at least one ship during the winter months.

That is not a prediction, it seems to be already a fact.  Unless Luminosa no longer does Alaska seasons, there is no way this announcement is anything but a year-round capacity reduction.

From a marketing point of view, I would have to question how Carnival has handled this announcement.  Surely, they would have foreseen that not everyone would be thrilled by the announcement so it is puzzling that there was nothing new or interesting contained with it. 

A smarter move may have been to combine the closure (and Explorer retirement) announcement with something upbeat and positive like a fleet addition, a special series of farewell sailings...anything!  Instead, all we got was a dry piece of PR babble obviously written by a marketing department operative in Miami who probably hadn't heard of P&O Australia until being asked to write the press release. 

If ever there was an opportunity for RCCL to properly enter the Australian market, this is it.  There will be a number of loyal P&O customers who don't want to move to Carnival but currently have no other choice.  Will it happen?, probably not.

Not exactly excited about this.  Carnival seems to send us its old ships with hideous Joe Farcus era interiors.

In many respects, this was always bound to happen.  Carnival Australia was an odd beast with shared back office functions but with P&O reporting through to Princess in California whilst Carnival reported through to Carnival in Miami.  This will now be clearer with a sole reporting line to Miami.

It will be interesting to see how the Carnival livery is incorporated into the Princess ships.  The "whale tail" is the Carnival signature but only one of the four Australian ships will actually have it.

Will this change accelerate a change in the fleet in the medium term? Possibly, but you wouldn't hold your breath and, even then, it would be a, by then, decade old Dream Class at best.  Unless RCCL or MSC decided to set up a year round competitor to Carnival in Australia, there remains no likelihood that Carnival will sign-off a newbuild for Australia.

1 hour ago, margo2011 said:

Global Ports Holding

 

The world's largest independent cruise port operator is set to take over Liverpool's cruise liner terminal. Global Ports Holding (GPH) has signed a 50 year agreement with Peel Ports Group, which will see up to £25m investment, including the construction of a new terminal building.3 Apr 2024

https://www.bbc.co.uk › news › u...

 

Liverpool's £25m cruise port plan will see 'passengers double' - BBC News

GBP25M doesn't seem a lot for a new terminal.  That sounds more like a big shed.

2 hours ago, Pushpit said:

Fares have clearly tumbled on this cruise. First figure is the fare just after the change was announced, the second is today's fare, 2 people sharing, UK point of sale, pounds sterling.

 

Inside - was £1398,  now £1098

Oceanview was not available, now £1198

Balcony was £2118, now £1298

Club was £3198, now £2898

PG was £2698, now £2398

QG was £4598, now £2998

Is it weird that Britannia Club is GBP500 more than Princess Grill and only GBP100 less than Queen's Grill?

6 hours ago, Frikki said:

Thank you so much for your quick and helpful reply.  I don’t know if I will actually attempt a bike ride but the option sounds interesting.  Would love to do a tour of the Melk monastery - we’ve driven past it twice.  Also very interested in Durnstein.

A visit of Melk Abbey is included as part of the Travelmarvel tour.  You get bussed up, do the tour and then can walk back to the ship through the town or get a bus back if you want to.  The early afternoon is spent cruising the Wachau Valley with a late afternoon visit to Durnstein which is really pretty

2 hours ago, Frikki said:

Just jumping on to this thread.

 

We are doing this cruise in August.  Reeves35, I remember reading your informative review a few weeks ago and it made helped me to understand the day to day activities.

 

I have a couple of questions…

1. Is there tea/coffee available other than meal times? If so, is it an extra cost?  I do like my cup of tea!

 

2. I have heard that push bikes are available on some cruises.  Does Travel Marvel have them?

 

Thank you!

Glad you are doing the cruise in August.  You'll have a great time.

Tea and coffee is available 24/7 in the lounge along with cookies.  This is included in your fare.

Bikes are available though I didn't use them as the most popular spot for riding is between Melk and Durnstein and the person I would have ridden with was sick on the day.

Depends how far you want to travel.  For an American like you, there is the Mississippi.  In Europe, there is also the Rhine, the Main, the Seine and the Douro.  There used to be the Volga too but it is off-limits for the foreseeable future.  If you want to travel further, there is the Mekong in Vietnam and Cambodia which is very different from European rivers but supposedly amazing.

Select are extra cost. The sample is from a day where there were no included excursions which was unusual. 

Travelmarvel are really good with dietary needs.  Speak to the Hotel Manager when you get onboard but wait staff tended to ask at every meal if there was special dietary needs so they could bring GF breads etc.  Meals are flexible so if you want to substitute one thing for something else, that is not a problem usually.

The menus are displayed every day outside the restaurant so you can decide if you want to have the restaurant meal that night or the casual meal in the Irish Bar.

I managed to find a couple of photos of menus I had taken.  We usually took them on the way into breakfast if they were up so we could have a look.  Daily newsletters are not distributed in your rooms but available on the TV as well as posted on the wall outside reception.  I've added a sample here too.

Hope this helps.

Travelmarvel does not use AMA Waterways ships though APT still does until the end of 2024 when it receives 2 bespoke ships of its own.  

Travelmarvel has 3 identical bespoke ships all launched in 2021.  I sailed on both Vega and Polaris last year from Amsterdam to Budapest.  We were originally on Vega but had a ship swap in Nuremberg due to water levels on the Danube.

I did put up a review Travelmarvel Review but feel free to ask me any other questions you may have.

5 minutes ago, Jim_P said:

Noumea is certainly no loss imo, I had been planning on just staying onboard and enjoying a less crowded ship. I just hope they don't change the itinerary to QLD or Tasmania. 

I can guarantee it won't be Tasmania this time of year.  Depending on the remainder of your itinerary, I'd guess another sea day is most likely.

Carnival has posted the following on their Facebook page.