First cruise from Australia, what’s different from the North American based cruises?

[lasekeye]

Hello,

We just booked our first cruise “down under”, on the Splendor, which has/will be refit for the Australian market.  What is different?

Also, this sailing didn’t have an option to pre-pay our tips.  My TA said tipping isn’t such a big thing in the Australian market, “they probably pay the crew more, so tips aren’t required “???

[Relaxing Robbies]

Biggest difference is no smoking in the casino on Aussie cruises.

 

Carnival Australia cruises do not allow you to book and prepay things like shore excursions online - you have to wait until you are onboard.

[GUT2407]

Fares sold in Aus, must include the tips, yours doesn’t. 
 

There will be way more Aussies.

[NSWP]

1 hour ago, GUT2407 said:

Fares sold in Aus, must include the tips, yours doesn’t. 
 

There will be way more Aussies.

And more beer drinking and no formal wear in the MDR, shorts and thongs and footy jumpers lol.

Edited March 15, 2022 by NSWP

[M-H-B]

Yes, Splendor has been one of Carnival's main ships here for a while from what I gather so it has already been fit with our power points etc.

I'm cruising on Splendor from October 19th, my first Carnival cruise, I've been only on Royal Caribbean up until now. But I imagine, apart from the tips, not much will be different for you in comparison to US cruising.

As someone else said, at the moment Carnival don't have drinks packages, dining, wi-fi etc available for pre-purchase, but others have said that they normally do, and the lack of it at the moment could be due to the fact that until yesterday, there was no end date in sight for the cruise ship ban in Australia, so you should keep an eye on your planner.

For more experienced Carnival Australia cruisers, there are some great groups on Face  book .

 

[GUT2407]

1 hour ago, NSWP said:

And more beer drinking and no formal wear in the MDR, shorts and thongs and footy jumpers lol.

At least you got the right team.

[OzKiwiJJ]

The onboard currency will be in AUD and your daily gratuities will be charged in AUD, which may be why you can't prepay them. I'm not sure what the current AUD daily charges are but you should be able to buy OBC to cover them if you want to have those charges paid in advance. 

[lyndarra]

5 hours ago, NSWP said:

And more beer drinking and no formal wear in the MDR, shorts and thongs and footy jumpers lol.

Typical bogan comment.😁😉

[lyndarra]

4 hours ago, M-H-B said:

 

 

4 hours ago, M-H-B said:

Yes, Splendor has been one of Carnival's main ships here for a while from what I gather so it has already been fit with our power points etc.

I'm cruising on Splendor from October 19th, my first Carnival cruise, I've been only on Royal Caribbean up until now. But I imagine, apart from the tips, not much will be different for you in comparison to US cruising.

As someone else said, at the moment Carnival don't have drinks packages, dining, wi-fi etc available for pre-purchase, but others have said that they normally do, and the lack of it at the moment could be due to the fact that until yesterday, there was no end date in sight for the cruise ship ban in Australia, so you should keep an eye on your planner.

For more experienced Carnival Australia cruisers, there are some great groups on Face  book .

 

I've done a few N American cruises (X & HAL) and found not much different except the tipping as others have mentioned. Food wise offerings are similar. However, if you are eating off ship just remember that here an Entree is a starter or appetiser. What you call an Entree we call a Main Course but you may already know this. Also, if shopping or eating ashore, GST and any taxes are always included in listed prices.