Cruising Australia on the Spirit

Need help from past cruisers who have done this cruise. I am thinking about booking this cruise thru a travel agent but have some concerns. We are platinum members of Carnival. First off we need to use a completely different carnival website. The payment needs to be in Australian currency which our card will convert but the cruise line is going to charge me an additional 1.12 % doesn't make sense. Also because we are from the US we were told that we can't pre book our shore excursions. Any help from past cruisers on this Australian itinerary would be greatly appreciated.

You might ask on the Australia/NZ board here, but I think that 1.12% is an Australian charge for using a credit card. Something the cruise line has to charge but doesn't get to keep... If you don't already have one, get a credit card that doesn't charge any foreign transaction fees, because I suspect the charge will go through a bank in Australia and your card would charge a fee for that...EM

The payment needs to be in Australian currency which our card will convert but the cruise line is going to charge me an additional 1.12 % doesn't make sense.

It makes sense when you realize that the same fee is paid when you use your card in the US. The difference is that Australia requires disclosure whereas in the US, this disclosure is not required.

Note that, in the US, this fee is often substantially more than 1.12%.

More concerned with not being able to pre book excursions. The 1% is no big deal.

DW & I are Australians. We’ve mostly cruised on Royal Caribbean and mostly out of Sydney.

Last year we did a B2B on Carnival Spirit Out of Sydney. We felt there were more similarities between the two lines than differences but what we did notice was that the passengers were almost exclusively Australians and New Zealanders. There were hardly and North American passengers on board.

It would appear that Carnival has made a choice to market to Australians when homeporting in Australia. The Spirit went through an "Australianisation" process which included installing Australian power outlets and Aussie Dollars are the onboard currency. And the Aussie website will only allow you to book on Aussie cruises. I think that the VIFP program is slightly different down here. Oh, and the drinks packages could be different, I think. (DW & I are teetotallers so not 100% sure on that).

It would be interesting to hear from peopl who have sailed on Carnival in both the USA and Australia.

BTW, it’s Single Digit Day! :D

We board Carnival Spirit next Monday for 10 nights.

Also because we are from the US we were told that we can't pre book our shore excursions.

It's not because you're from the US. Carnival Australia operates as a separate company with different rules to Carnival US and nobody can book excursions except on board. Note also that they only offer Bottomless Bubbles and Cruise the Vineyards - Cheers isn't available.

Thanks for the info. Lots of things to consider when traveling so far. Would be interested in hearing your comments after the cruise Sparky 74

Last year we did a B2B on Carnival Spirit....

Hi, I have a question about doing the back to back on the same ship. A friend and I are doing the same thing in Nov./Dec. From what I've read here on CC, we should get some kind of letter the night before the first leg ends with instructions on how to debark and then re-embark. Some have said they have all doing the B2B gather in a specific spot then escort them off to get checked back in with new sail and sign cards.

Is this how yours was handled? Do they do this early or wait until most of the others are already debarked before taking you back to security/checkin?

Thanks for any clarification you can give.

We have done several b2b and unless you are changing cabins you can just go off the ship like any other port day, do some sightseeing, and check back in at boarding time. If you're docked in Sydney there is a lot you can easily walk to, including the opera house and sightseeing harbor cruises. If you are changing cabins, just pack up and tell your cabin steward the new location and your bags will be there when you return. Enjoy your cruise!

A B2B on a ship sailing from and to a US port required that all passengers be 'dinged' off the boat on turnaround day, to zero down the ship, before new passengers can begin to board. Rules are different in other countries and may be different in Australia. In Europe, it is just another port day. EM

Need help from past cruisers who have done this cruise. I am thinking about booking this cruise thru a travel agent but have some concerns. We are platinum members of Carnival. First off we need to use a completely different carnival website. The payment needs to be in Australian currency which our card will convert but the cruise line is going to charge me an additional 1.12 % doesn't make sense. Also because we are from the US we were told that we can't pre book our shore excursions. Any help from past cruisers on this Australian itinerary would be greatly appreciated.

I am also from the states and I hate to tell you this, but Carnival AU, both the web page and the customer service are NOT good. There are a lot of things you can do on the regular Carnival page that you can't ever do on the AU page.

I recommend a TA for help, and Australian TA would be best. If you have a group page for your cruise, there may be someone on there that knows someone, if you know what I mean mate.

Need help from past cruisers who have done this cruise. I am thinking about booking this cruise thru a travel agent but have some concerns. We are platinum members of Carnival. First off we need to use a completely different carnival website. The payment needs to be in Australian currency which our card will convert but the cruise line is going to charge me an additional 1.12 % doesn't make sense. Also because we are from the US we were told that we can't pre book our shore excursions. Any help from past cruisers on this Australian itinerary would be greatly appreciated.

Also, the conversion to payment in $AU is really no big deal. The small fee is hardly noticeable compared to the main payment. The ATM on the ship dispensed $AU as well.

DW & I are Australians. We’ve mostly cruised on Royal Caribbean and mostly out of Sydney.

 

Last year we did a B2B on Carnival Spirit Out of Sydney. We felt there were more similarities between the two lines than differences but what we did notice was that the passengers were almost exclusively Australians and New Zealanders. There were hardly and North American passengers on board.

 

It would appear that Carnival has made a choice to market to Australians when homeporting in Australia. The Spirit went through an "Australianisation" process which included installing Australian power outlets and Aussie Dollars are the onboard currency. And the Aussie website will only allow you to book on Aussie cruises. I think that the VIFP program is slightly different down here. Oh, and the drinks packages could be different, I think. (DW & I are teetotallers so not 100% sure on that).

 

It would be interesting to hear from peopl who have sailed on Carnival in both the USA and Australia.

 

BTW, it’s Single Digit Day! :D

We board Carnival Spirit next Monday for 10 nights.

I did 2 repositioning cruises in Carnival Legend. One from Long Beach and one that I joined in Hawaii. only a handful of Australians on the Long beach cruise, and only a handful of north Americans on the Hawaii cruise. I also think it was spring vacation in Australia when I went so TONS of kids. Completely blew that one.

The VIFP points from the Hawaii cruise, which was BOOKED under Carnival AU were applied to my Carnival U.S. account, which was nice. The exchange rate was not bad so the use of AU$ was no biggie.