arxcards

I am not up to speed on what to do there, but there is a shuttle into town - $6pp at last count, and it seems they have now added a HOHO bus. Their visitor site might have something for you. https://portlincoln.com.au/what-to-do-port-lincoln/cruise-ship-visits/

There was an awkward transition when the old way was being withdrawn before the new way had been properly put in place. Now it is just tap your credit card on the turnstile on your way on & off the platform. We have had the 10c container deposit going for a while, and I have been storing in garbage bags, unable to come to terms with what is required to recycle them. For the first time yesterday, I loaded 4 bags in the boot to drive to one of the newer bulk recycling depots. After less than 10 minutes, I was driving away with $23.20 of cruise money already deposited in my account. I will be back with the remaining 7 bags same time next month.

Nothing that I have noticed. I am not aware of any posts being removed, and it has just dropped to page 3 from inactivity as far as I can guess.

Royal will book Brisbane cruise terminal slots, but don't book their shipping movements for Brisbane till much later. Royal has shipping movements booked at Yorkeys for Quantum & Voyager in 2024/25 and 25/26 respectively; as well as Shute Harbour for Quantum in 24/25.

Not to overthink it, as you can go any which way. This path does involve a few stairs, but is almost opposite your hotel foyer. At the bottom of the stairs is a pedestrian crossing that pretty much puts you at bag drop on the other side of it. It will likely look a bit different, as there are probably 5 of those bikes there by now. If stairs are an issue, heading a bit further south to the spot in post 18 gives you a downhill roll of your luggage instead of pulling it up the ramp at the north end. Bag drop is at the south end of the building. You will see for yourself, OPT is one of the most convenient cruise terminals in the world.

We usually head straight to Waterfront for barking lunch too. There was some recent chatter that P&O had done away with barking day lunch in the Waterfront. I can neither confirm nor deny whether this is fake news, a one off, or if they are getting everyone ready for the Carnival days.

It is a bit quiet there, but you can say hi on the "2024" Queensland cruise roll call.

Now the ships are bigger and longer, we seek out cabins close to the aft lifts. Noise is rarely a problem for us. It isn't about less walking, but time spent walking boring corridors. Bonus, especially on Princess is that these are D or E grade cabins, and cheaper than the middle of the corridor.

True for Noumea, but that is also taking away Isle of Pines, Mare, Lifou (and the long lost isle of Ouvea). A 10 night Island cruise from Sydney can only reach 2 ports out of Mystery Island, Vila and Luganville. Personally, Noumea is heaven compared to Luganville, and there are plenty of things to do if you get 1/2hr away from the port. If is all meh for now and glad we don't have any affected bookings.

There are two versions that call at Borfolk Island. Each year they do a Bounty cruise, and that is one of the ports. They also had a small number of Auckland departures on Pacific Explorer. Come next February, none of those options remain - no more Explorer and no more Bounty cruises available for booking. I don't think it is a realistic plan B port. To date, most itineraries have had to drop 1 or 2 ports to cruise further, and they are calling in Luganville, Santo Vanuatu.

I am not aware of a Blue Iguana cantina being added on Splendor, but there was already a Blue Iguana tequila bar on the pool deck.

I thought Coastal Kitchen on Ovation was awesome, and preferred the food to that of the specialty restaurants that were also inclusive with our suite. The only downside to embarkation lunch there was not dining under the sails of the Opera House. Otherwise the quiet & steady service was a treat. Not so much about fine dining, but relaxed and polished service, pretty much how dining rooms used to be.

It must be an almost sold out situation. Dubai to Singapore is showing again, with only 1 inside category available - but sold out when you click further.

None of the cruise lines are going to call at a “Avoid nonessential travel” destination. If Carnival & P&O are anything to go by, you will be informed of itinerary changes a couple of months prior to your cruise. Maybe Royal will be better than that. An inside birdy tells me one of the cruise companies has put a line through Noumea & Lifou through till October 2025, but they have decided not to communicate to their passengers yet.

Good priced guarantee cabin? Public area above is potential noise (kids games arcade). The off-the-wall pullmans are not retrofitted, they are standard Star Princess issue, and are much more conveniently designed than the retrofitted ones that pull up from the floor. But, if hand picking a cabin, I personally go for a designated twin cabin with public decks above & below, even if it means a small premium being added to the fare.

The change of the dry dock date has juggled around itineraries either side of it, including yours. Crown Princess will be out of drydock and returning into Brisbane from Singapore on 4th January, so it will still be the same ship, but similar itinerary and different date.

If you pronounce it a certain way, it explains Splendor's decor to a T.

Masala Tiger has moved to deck 10, and an ala carte priced "MadSizzle" BBQ has taken its place. It just seems they want to swap the +$$ BBQ to be in a more prominent location.

I believe the fried eggs are still there, along with the burnt fried eggs in the black pearl.

The MDR and 555 food was the highlight of our July Splendor cruise. I loathe queuing upstairs, and will stick to pizza or deli when I have no choice. Carnival Spirit decor was pretty garish too. The newer ships have moved on a bit, no longer having the Farcas interior designs. His decades of influence are still around, but not as in your face, so I hope that bodes well for the P&O rebrands. You might get a laugh out of this 2008 article: https://www.rivieramm.com/news-content-hub/news-content-hub/carnival-splendor-is-in-class-of-its-own

Correct, the service crew don't have access to that info. But the housekeeping supervisors certainly do, and they are known to pass-on who among their passengers has taken their daily grats off. If they are US passengers, they will be expecting a cash tip, otherwise they are very alert to being stiffed. All they can really do is smile and do their job anyway, perhaps wary about going the extra mile.

That is good advice, and also dependent on whether you have a no conversion fees built into your card. Another way of prepaying is to find out what the conversion rate is for buying OBC. As they will often only hedge for once per season, it can be a beneficial rate, and then the grats are getting deducted out of your prepaid OBC each day. Sadly this is not in our favour at present: Buying $US100OBC currently costs $AU155. At today's rate it should only could cost $AU147, losing $8 per $100. As with my above example, today I could pay grats for: $AU396pp for our 16 nights. The US price of $17 per day is $272, which converts today to $AU400.18. Add a 3% conversion for anyone with that sort of account or pre-purchasing US cash will be closer to $AU412. As you say, best to watch closely and do your own sums. I will likely wait until final payment is done before deciding anyway, but if it is much of a muchness it is convenient to get it all out of the way before departing.

A water leak isn't a drydock issue, and I would hope they are trying to fix it on the run. The same applies to older air-conditioning systems that can't handle the humidity to the point that the ceilings are dripping with condensation. The wear and tear is a worry, as she was only drydocked 18 months ago. Unless they are planning a change of carpet decor in March, there is nothing to stop them replacing worn carpet on the run as well. We have encountered (no pun intended) carpet replacement on several cruises. Beyond a bit of rebranding and change of POS systems, I don't know what they have in store in March, but they can certainly take care of minor engineering issues. The full scheduled drydock services are mostly for engineering compliance inspections and below the water stuff, where they tack hotel reno's to the list to make the most of their docking time. Any of those hotel issues can also be tackled during the 2 week swap-over in March. For us, P&O has always been a secondary cruise line with ships that have already seen their best days before they arrive here. That doesn't necessarily make them bad ships, but they are inclined to have evolving maintenance issues. Second hand ships aren't necessarily a Carnival trait, so it will be really interesting to see how Carnival massages the ship at changeover. PS: Encounter's next scheduled drydock is in Feb 2026, so she is only half way through her 3 year maintenance cycle.

I believe the ceilings in Lido are sporting a new look. Enjoy your cruise.