cruisecrazyaussie

MMDown Under Have you booked a December cruise at the great rates currently available? I could not resist and have booked the same itinerary departing on Carnival Luminosa on 4th December. I have so missed cruising due to Covid and think that a coastal Queensland trip is good in the current situation.

If we want this roll call to mean anything we need to start creating the feeling of a group. I hope you all agree. I suggest we introduce ourselves this time with first names and previous experience with Carnival. As for us, we are Miriam and Rudi from Tweed Heads and this will be our first Carnival cruise. I have cruised for a number of years mostly with Holland America and Princess but want try out Carnival Luminosa as it will be operating out of Brisbane for the summer months. We will be cruising with a couple who are first time cruisers. Over to you - parad1se, Suecanknit, duckdownunder59, Kelly3, paddydownunder and Ashanti. Hope to hear from you all.

Hi MMDown Under You must be close to the border yourself on the Queensland side. Yes, Coolangatta and Tweed Heads are known as Twin Towns as we are so intertwined. Will you be on the cruise too?

Looks like we will be a small group of cruisecritic members on the inaugural Carnival Luminosa cruise this Sunday! Most of us are from Queensland and I like to think that Rudi and I are honorary Queenslanders as we live just on the border! I hope that we can all meet sometime during our cruise and give a special welcome to Gloria and Raul from Miami. Any suggestions? Cheers Miriam and Rudi

My problem is that I have no easy way of getting my stock holding statement as I do not have a broker and do not have the same access as those who have direct holdings as the shares were originally purchased through a broker. I'm in a limbo land and would really appreciate advice on how I can resolve the issue.

My broker dumped me a few years ago as my 100 Carnival PLC holding was too small for the business. Since then I have had to rely on Carnival's agent in England, Equiniti Ltd via shareview.co.uk to prove my share ownership. I used my dividend statements while they had them but am having difficulty in showing current proof of ownership as shareview does not provide regular statements. After a number of attempts and many hours I managed to get Equiniti to send me an email with my current holding at 4 October. I sent it to Carnival with a copy of my share certificate and details of my cruise on Carnival Luminosa 4 December but have not had a response as yet. Is there an easier way??!!

Thanks arxcards, great news! Also thank you for the link to the drink prices video. Rather reasonable prices really.

Thanks for the responses. Yesterday I found the link below which details the current October 2022 Australian drinks prices on the Carnival Splendor. Beers mostly $8.50-$9.50 and cocktails mostly $16-$17. Only one photo including wine prices - from $33 a bottle for an Australian Chardonnay. Can't find anything yet on the 'Cruise the Vineyards' wine package. Does Carnival add a service charge to drinks? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOpYlvqkyxs

I'm booked on the first cruise for Carnival Luminosa ex Brisbane on 6 November and, as a guide, would like to know what the current drinks and wine package prices are for the Carnival Splendor. According to what I have found out so far, the Cheers drinks packages is currently Au$119 per person per day. Yes Au$119!! Is that correct? I don't want to pay that so want to know what I can expect to pay for drinks and wine packages on board.

Good news! Fantastic to know that there will be no gratuities added to the wine packages and other drinks. - certainly a cost saving! I was aware of the situation with Princess and P&O Australia but did not know that it applied to all of the Carnival PLC brands in Australia waters, including Carnival cruises..

Now, this has been taken direct from the Carnival website a few minutes ago. Hope it works - fingers crossed! https://www.carnival.com.au/~/media/CCLAU/pdf/media-centre/wine-package-au-2019

OOPHS!! McAfee tells me that my download 'looks dangerous'. Sorry.

wine-package-au-2018[5520].pdf Not sure if this will work!

Thanks arxcards. I have what I think is the 'Cruise the Vineyard' list for 2018 Aussie cruises on Carnival. A number of Aussie and NZ wines 5 for $185 for the Deluxe Package and $228 for the Premium Package. I presume that was in AUD? If correct in 2018 the Deluxe would equate to about Au$37 plus say $8 gratuities - total Au$45 a bottle. The Premium about Au$46 plus say $9 gratuities - total Au$54. Adding another 20% for price increases would make it Au$54 for Deluxe and $65 for the Premium bottles. Do you think those figures would be in the ballgame? (I have a PDF but somehow cannot attach it to my reply - I'm 70 and feel a bit challenged by IT issues! I've tried to drag and choose the file without success! I'll try again and post if I can find a way.) Miriam

Hi Ondine Thanks for the link to the comprehensive and recent wine lists and prices. Looks like the most reasonable bottle of wine is US$30 which I think would translate to about Au$45. I expect that there will be additional gratuities of around 18-20%, so close to another Au$9. That would make the total price for their most reasonable bottles about Au$50-$54. I love my wine and that's a pretty steep price for the cheapest of their wines!! I do hope that the 'Cruise in the Vinyards' package will drop the price - hopefully 25% or so. Don't know if the Vineyards package includes gratuities? (Holland America's wine packages do.) Also it would be good if there were more Australian and New Zealand wines that we know. Cheers Miriam

Thanks for this information arxcards. Somehow I had thought that Carnival had at least one ship based in Australia since cruising recommenced, obviously not. I have previously cruised with Princess (Elite) and Holland America (4 star Mariner) but this will be my first Carnival cruise. So I'll just have to wait and see unless someone on one of the first Carnival Splendor cruises here in Australia would get that info for me.

I've booked on the first Australian cruise of the newly acquired Carnival Luminosa from Brisbane on 6 November and am looking for the details and price of the 2022 'Cruise the Vineyards' wine pack on other Carnival ships in Australian waters this year. I have the 2018 details which included Au $185 for 5 bottles in the Deluxe Wine Package and Au $228 for 5 bottles in the Premium Wine Package. Hopefully the prices haven't gone up to much! Would also be great to have the current Drinks List and prices. We so look forward to being on the inaugural journey ex Brisbane. Only 51 days to go! cruisecrazyaussie Tweed Heads

My husband and I are also booked for 6 November. Looking forward to it. Elite with Princess but first cruise with Carnival. Miriam (Tweed Heads, Northern NSW)

Well OzKiwiJJ I can'tn use the card you suggest although am in a balcony! I've checked my phone and I have Android 7.1.1 and Samsung Experience 8.5. Anything I can do to improve this?

Thanks rkmw. I'll turn up for boarding at 11.30am and see what happens!

Thanks arxcards. As for elite, while entitled I've found no priority boarding ever out of Brisbane. Maybe things will be different with the new Brisbane Cruise Terminal. In the past, I just had to queue up with everyone else, unlike overseas ports where it was easy and quick boarding

Thanks for the feedback. As Aus Traveller thought my Samsung Galaxy phone (about 4/5 years old) is not compatible with the Medallion app. My travel agent has loaded the app on her mobile and still did not get a check-in time. She mentioned that I may be in Group B but had no idea about what time that meant. Any ideas?

Have a fantastic time! I look forward to hearing of your experience at check-in as I'll be on the Coral Princess on 26th June ex Brisbane and have the same questions about the vaccination certificate still being 'pending'.

I also cannot access the Medallion app as my Samsung Galaxy Smart Phone somehow is not compatible with the app!! I managed to upload the required docs for my cruise in 9 days time on the web version and am now in the 'green lane'. However, like others, I cannot find my boarding time anywhere and not even my travel agent can find it!! I have tried to phone the Princess help line but gave up after waiting. I've also tried the chat line a few times in the last few days and have been timed out on each occasion including once today! I am very upset about this supposed 'improvement' which has done nothing more than cause a lot of frustration. I am elite but it could be my last cruise with Princess!