Eliot Ness

The wife and I are also on this cruise. We are actually doing a B2B2B and this is the last leg of our journey. We're excited about a new ship and sailing past the Statue of Liberty! Basically we're getting out of the cold for 3 or 4 weeks!

The wife and I are on this cruise also. We're actually doing a B2B2B and this is our second leg and has the most interesting ports. We have never been to Princess Cays and it has been 20+ years since we've been to San Juan. We love the pool at Amber Cove and the donkeys on Grand Turk. Basically we're getting out of the winter cold for 3 or 4 weeks, exploring a new ship and sailing out of a new port! John

We've been to Nassau many times but I was hoping to get back to Blue Lagoon. I was there when it was a private island for Premier Cruise lines (Big Red Boat), long out of business and was hoping to see all the changes. Oh well, another time perhaps. You can easily walk to town and the huge straw market. A couple of times we caught a taxi and went to Atlantis, but that was when the ship was staying overnight. A city tour is easily found right at the port, no need to book an excursion. We went to the area known as the Fish Fry (Arawak Cay) once taking a bus. This area has a lot of little restaurants or store fronts selling all kinds of seafood. It looks like Viator offers a $20 shuttle there and back, but make sure you get back to the ship on time. I might explore the cost of a taxi or see if a local bus is still an option. We're doing a B2B2B on this ship and this is our first leg.

We're booked on this cruise, and we just did the 31 day from Seattle to Brisbane. We had to skip Alaska and the Philippines because of weather but they added a port or two in Japan and an extra night in Indonesia. Japan was wonderful, such a beautiful country with polite and courteous people. We're looking forward to going back there and hopefully making Alaska this time. Our PVP said there is an issue with the Fly2Fun on this cruise and he has reported it to the tech people. We did the Fly2Fun on the last transpacific and it was fine. I think the wife and I are going to research flights today. As far as no laundry, most of the pax are platinum or diamond and get free laundry. We loved the last cruise and are thrilled to be doing it again in reverse. We also did the 22 day south Pacific cruise last April so we've grown quite fond of the Luminosa.

Yes, jeans will be just fine on the ship, although you might want to wear something a bit less casual for elegant night in the dining room. Our Alaska ports were cancelled due to weather, but we were prepared to wear layers if needed. We both brought lightweight down jackets, sweatshirts, rain-gear, etc. Paul, we also did the 22 day and I'm happy to say the food was a lot better on the 31 day going from Seattle to Brisbane. Both the Lido and MDR food was vastly improved, although we thought the pizza and deli were pretty good on both cruises. Although we had to miss Alaska and the Philippines Japan more than made up for it, it is a beautiful country with gracious and polite residents.

The wife and I just booked this cruise. We just got back from the Seattle to Brisbane crossing, but weather forced us to skip Alaska and the Philippines, but Japan is incredible, we loved it and look forward to returning. Aomori should be absolutely beautiful in the spring. We were also on the Luminosa last April from Brisbane to Seattle for 22 days via Fiji, Tahiti, and Honolulu so we like the Luminosa. It's basically a Spirit class ship.

No, they don't have to be bagged separately. My only experience with whites are underwear which doesn't come back quite as white as done at home, but acceptable. Remember all the laundry is washed in fairly hot water and dried in a hot dryer so be cautious with items that might shrink. My pre-washed jeans came back OK as did some sports grey t-shirts.

I think I gave you the incorrect Zip Code, it should be 95511 but if that doesn't fill in the blanks try the 95111 I posted earlier (one of them is correct 😄). Some people are posting on the Facebook pages that John Heald is looking into somehow streamlining this process. I think I would still attempt to get the Visa yourself; I can see the nightmare if Carnival tried to process these unless they somehow strike a deal with Indonesia.

http://molina.imigrasi.go.id/ It's a very tedious process. Here are some tips: 1. Have a good copy of your passport and a photo of yourself ready to upload. 2. For the address use Cruise Port and 95111 (I think , I'll verify tomorrow and correct if I'm wrong) for the zip code and all other blanks will fill in. 3. Call your Credit Card and make sure they won't block an Indonesian charge (~$35). That was my biggest problem and it took 2 calls to iron it out. I probably spent 4-6 hours over 3 days doing this. The second day the site would error out loading the payment page. Website errors seem pretty common. Don't hesitate to walk away for a while if you get errors. Also don't worry about starting all over, I did that at least 3 or 4 times. It was very frustrating. It took 3 different photos of my passport to get one that was accepted. Be sure to verify the info it automatically populates from the passport is correct. One photo it misspelled my last name with an H instead of an M. I've read where one person had to start over 28 times! Hopefully yours will go smoother than most. Good luck and I'll try to help with any problems you might run into.

You'll need the Australian and Indonesian visa; both are done online. The Philippines require an application done 4 days prior to entry.... Carnival will give us internet access to complete it on board. You should have already gotten an email from Carnival about this, if not I can supply links to the visa sites.

I'm pretty late to this thread, but I was stationed at NAHA Air Base for a few months in 1971. I remember one of our favorite meals was getting a plate of taco's at a restaurant called George's. To my surprise, after doing a Google search, the restaurant is still there, but in a new building. Our ship stops there in October so we'll hop in a cab and head to George's. Hopefully the area around it will still have some shops and clubs.

Tony and Denise, I'm not sure if all 6 slots are filled yet or not, but my wife and I would love to go on that tour, and most likely any of the others you are planning. My email is jmiller981<at>aol<dot>com. Thanks, John and Wanda

Yes, that's fine with me, I was stationed in Okinawa in the USAF. I expect t to see more changes, maybe not actual ports but port times.

We were on this cruise with you and your review is pretty spot-on with our experiences also. She isn't our favorite ship, but we had a good time and just booked the 30 day return to Brisbane via Seattle, Alaska, Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines. We figure all of the Aussie bacon will be purged by then 😉 John

We just got back from the 22 day Brisbane to Seattle cruise on the Luminosa and just booked this 30 day adventure. We're excited to see Alaska, Japan and all the other ports. Hopefully we can link up with table-mates Allen and Rose from the 22 day cruise we just took. John

I'm starting to get confused on what dates we're going to be at the ports. Carnival shows us crossing the date line on Thursday April 20, then in Tahiti the next day on Friday April 21. Isn't there a date change crossing the date line? Plugging in our cruise dates into Shore Excursions: https://www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com/?source=Adwords&gclid=Cj0KCQiArsefBhCbARIsAP98hXTYYzpL39I3nDFTCeb-aXFyNUO1X37JcAIVBYUM63mpQ2olwrQ38roaAq8oEALw_wcB They show us repeating April 20, which throws off scheduling private excursions. They also have Noumea on the 15th instead of the 16th and Suva on the 17th instead of the 18th. This really makes booking private excursions a hassle. I've already booked Noumea and Suva with Viator, but now I'm concerned that I've booked the wrong dates. Any ideas on this?

Hi all, the wife and I have been booked on this cruise for a few months. We had a great casino deal on the Celebration's maiden voyage from Southampton to Miami in November, so now we're looking forward to this trans-pacific. I'm kind of late looking for excursions.... John

Opps! Thanks for the clarification, it is very much appreciated! Lizzy, thank you so much for all of the valuable information! One more question, we are reading mixed suggestions on converting money; some say to just get a little and use credit cards, what was your experience? Thanks!!!

Lizzie, did you drive yourself or use a service? We will be in London the end of October and that sounds like a great (long) day trip. Can you also give me some more info about your hotels location (address)? Was it in a good spot to do sightseeing? Also, how long was the trip to South Hampton, how did you get there, and did you stay in a hotel? Thanks in advance!!!!!

I've had the same issue for about a week. Finally this morning it started texting me codes for verification when I tried to login, but it still wound up with one of about three errors. Then I tried one more time this afternoon and it finally let me buy 3 e-cards. I don't think their system is very stable, at least not for me. I might have to suck it up and join AARP if this keeps up. Once I delete the mobile APP off my phone I can't login in. I have to reinstall it and wait from about a couple of days to a week before it lets me login in on my computer again. Thanks to all who post the codes for points, it really helps!!! 👍

I love these gift cards, but is there anyway to get these without having to install that annoying Drivewise App on your phone? I always have issues with it recognizing that I've installed the App even after logging in. Thanks for all of the codes!