rabbit1971

Hi Tiger5687,

We used Gateway tours in Noumea, and friends used them in Port Vila also.

Genivieve and Alfred are fantastic, very accomodating. their website has a great range of tours they offer, but they are also happy to tailor something for you also.

we are sailing again in 2016 and plan to use them again.

Cheers maree

Plugs on the Spirit. Are they Australia ones or US ones. So I know if I need to bring a US adapter?

Hi Sarah,

There are both power points on the spirit, located under the mirror on the desk. Found it quite handy as we had baught out camera overseas and we used its original plug without needing the australian adapter, and we could still charge the kids laptops at the same time.

we also baught along a power board with no problems, had it in our laptop bag, no questions asked. The web page states you can bring a power board on as long as it does not have a surge protector.

Have a great trip.

Cheers maree

Hi,

The carnival australia page has some great tips on it pre cruise, ideas such as using an old magnetic strip card ( ie shop card or expired credit card) to open /shut your room safe. I think you will find it under the now you have booked section .

We sailed last october on the spirit and had an absolute blast.

I am happy to answer any questions you might have.

Cheers maree

Hi, we were in Fiji last october and used a great tour comapany called, great sights fiji, they have many great suggestions on their website with ideas of what to do. We have only been to Suva, and as we had our two kids with us we wanted an educational component to our trip so we checked out the museum of natural history, which was quite interesting, particularly info on the early settlement of Fiji. The market was also great value, I swear they had the sweetest pineapple I have ever tried, and my teenage daughter and MIL tried Kava. Other than that i would suggest look at the tours they organise for outside the city

Any questions feel free to ask.

Cheers maree

Hi sapphire,

My family went on the carnival spirit oct 2013 and had a blast. There were my family, me 43, dh 45, dd15 and ds11, and my mum 65 and mil 67 and we all had a blast. We toured suva and port Denauru. We had organised private tours throught great sights fiji, as my son is in a wheelchair, at port denaru we had a look at the Veisei village which is the first landing/settlement in Fiji and looked at the orchid gardens ( which were fabulous if you like orchids) and the shopped at nadi.

In suva we toured the museum which was interesting but not rivetting, and went through a local market where dd and Mil tried Kava, not a lot in Suva to see, so a tour outside of the city might be the go. Great sights offer many different types and can tailor one for you. the driver and guide we had were fabulous.

as for noumea we went with gateway tours, with alfred and genivieve, and again had a really good day. We checked out the aquarium and Jean marie Tjoubou cultural centre, then had lunch at a local patissierie and then toured around the city for a look, but again they are happy to tailor a day for you.

We loved mystery island and Isle of Pines where my hubby and daughter tried their hand at snorkelling for the first time.

We also had an extended balcony on deck 7 and loved the location.

You will have ablast.

Any questions feel free to ask

Cheers maree

Hi, Chefs table can be held on any day, they will send your invite the night before in your mailbox outside your cabin. Champagne and wine are freely availble during the 8 course meal, my husband and I went to celebrate his birthday and had a wonderful evening, you get a complimentary group photo and the recipe for carnivals choc melting cake too.

Enjoy, cheers maree

Hi,

On our first ever cruise last year on the carnival spirit, I personally had no issues walking around the ship, but I wasn't a late nighter either. On two occasions my 15 yo daughter was asked if she was "legal" for a better word/ propsitioned by drunk males, as she walked back to the cabin, but both times she was in a public space with plenty of people around, so she didn't feel threatened.( they were just idiots mum)

I guess it is common sense to not place yourself in an at risk situation, just the same as onshore, as you still get a wide range of individuals/ personalities on a ship, a bit like a small town on water.

cheers maree

Hi pinknotes where do I start ?

1. How did you get from the airport to the harbour ?(taxi,train,bus)

2. Is their anything we should take on the boat or not take.

3. Did you take the cruise tours or did you do your own thing on the islands.

4. Did it cost more than you expected e.g drinks & tours.

Is their anything else you would recommend thanks.

 

 

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Hi,

We were a family of 6 ( 2 grandma's, myself and hubby a 10 yo boy and 15yo girl), and had a fabulous time.

One of the best pieces of advice i was giver ws to take a hanging bathroom organiser that hangs on the bathroom door, frees up heaps of space and when you have 4 in a cabin thats a great thing.

Grab youself some cheap snorkels and flippers to take as the snorkelling is fantastic, my hubby and daughter had never snorkelled before and hired at the islands for $20 each, which added up.

reef shoes are great also.

If the kids are interested in the kids clubs ( which even my fussy teen enjoyed) registration is on embarkation day at around 4pm.

We booked our own tours ( our 10yo is in a wheel chair) mainly so we knew we could get around, but we found that there were plenty of options on the warf to book if you hadn't organised a ships tour.

Drinks were moderatly priced, soft drink and friut drinks for the kids were around $2.50, beer and wine about what you would pay in a club/pub, cocktails varied from $7 to $10.

take a wide mouthed drink bottle as you can add ice at the ice station and then top up with water or squash.

we also took a smaller bottle to put apple juice in at breakfast time , from the lido deck as it was the only time it or orange juice was free, so it was a cheap drink for my son who loves his fruit juice.

Hope you have a great time. we had a ball.

Cheers maree

Hi, we were in Noumea on a sunday and yes the pastry shop is open. There is a little supermarket next door and you can grab cold drinks from there to have while you eat your pastries in the pastry shop ( we had a guide with us who assured us that is was done all the time) the bread is to die for, so are the little custard filled donuts, they aslo have a good range of filled bagguettes and specialty cakes, my son had the opera cake and couldn't stop raving about it. Yum!!

Cheers maree

Does anyone know how much it is with one of the hire car companies to get from the airport to the overseas passenger terminal?

Hi eiself,

With town cars it is a flat rate from the airport to the city, irrespective of where you are being dropped off. we had a vito Van ( as there were 6 of us plus a wheelchair) and it cost $115 to the city and if we used them from our hotel to the OPT it was the same fee.

Fantastic service, very propmt and friendly, would definetely use them again, patricularly if its a family group of 2 or more as it is comparable in price to the shuttle.

They are quote happy to send you a quote also if you contact them off their website.

Hope you enjoy your cruise. You'll have to let us know how it goes.

Cheers maree

Hi,

As you said some love Mona, some hate it, there are however many displays not suitable for children ( around 20%) but are not marked as resticted, so you may have to steer your grandchild away from certain exhibits, but it certainly does what it sets out to do, and that is getting people to talk about what is art.

Cheers maree

Hi,

My family were there in october last year, we had pre booked a tour with great sights Fiji ( also booked them at port denaru) and found them to be excellent, i noticed that they also had representatives hawking their tours at the warf, so you could book as you get off the ship.

For your query eiselef, the larger ships dock at the container port and it would be quite a hike into the town and not sure how safe it would be.

We visited the local market with our fijian guide which was a great help and my daughter and mother in law tried some kava and we ate some local fruit ( the pineapple is the best i have ever tried), we went to the museum, drove past the white house and the parliament, but if you can book a tour to take you out of the city i would do it.

We never felt threatened or unsafe at any time, but we did have our own driver and guide with us.

Hope this helps

Cheers maree

Thanks Maree! I think you need to go back this october & next! Or Fiji 1 year & Great Barrier Reef the next. Glad your son had a brilliant time. Hoping my autistic 4 year old also does!

Hi Esilef,

already ahead on that one, family decided we will try the Legend next october ( would love to do this october but finances wont allow) We missed out on swimming with the turtles off mystery island and want to go back and do it again, plus see some of the different pacific islands, we are defintely hooked.

i am sure your family will have a ball. Did you book and accesible cabin for your hubby? We didnt and found it was a bit of a tight squeeze getting the manual chair in the door- but we managed.

Cheers maree

Hi JOeJoe59,

We pre booked, mainly due to their being 6 of us including a wheelchair, and we were met at the warf by our driver and guide, very friendly and very efficient, but there were quite a few people "hawking" at the warf from the same company so if you wanted to book on the day I am sure you could, we just wanted to remove the unceratinty.

The fee we paid was for an 11 seater bus ( due to wheelchair) but there were 6 of us, and we had booked the same company for the following day in suva ( I would really recommend getting out of the town, not a great lot to do in suva).

It came to $522 fijian around $300 australian , so $50 AUD per person for 4.5 hours,

but they are very flexible and can sort an itinerary out to suit your needs

Hope this helps, and have a great trip, we certainly did.

Cheers maree:)

We have been to Port Denarau before back in 2011. The last time we went there as it was our first time there, we just explored Port Denarau, and had a look around many of the resorts.

 

Now we are going back there in a couple of weeks and

 

I was wondering what else is there to do Port Denarau?? Is there anything not miss??

 

And what would you recommend doing in Port Denarau??

Hi,

we were in Fiji last ocrober and booked a tour with Great Sights Fiji, mainly because our son is in a wheelchair and we weren't sure if ship tours would be filled or suitable.

We went to the orchid garden which was gorgeous, also to the Veisei village ( first landing of fijian people in Fiji) which was very enjoyable, we also had a look around Nadi and at the nadi Hindu temple which has some amazing hand painted art work, just incredible, we spent a half day doing this and were back on the ship early afternoon. i have been told that the mud pools/ thermal pools are also worth a look.

Hope this helps.

Cheers maree

Cruising to Fiji can we get mobile phone coverage? Is it worth taking our iPhones to call home?

Hi Esilef, we were in Fiji in october and I had no issues with telstra post paid coverage, my mum had tesltra pre paid coverage and had very poor service, in fact almost none at all which really annoyed her as she had pre paid an $80 package for overseas. I had telstra turn off our data roaming on our ( mine and my daughters) phone so we wouldn't end up with a huge bill, and just used free wifi where I could find it, we mainly used texts to keep track of everyone.

I hope you and your family enjoy the south pacific, we had a wonderful time ( 10 yo in a wheel chair with cerebal palsy) so much so we are trying to decide if we go again this october or next !

Cheers maree:)

Hi, We took one in our lap top bag, no problems at all.

Cheers maree

Hi Maree

 

It was so enjoyable to read your review & that Carnival looked after you so well & your family had such a great holiday.

 

The staff on cruise ships are just the most amazing people, invariably happy to do whatever they can & always smiling. It must at times be difficult for them to see all the passengers & their families having such a wonderful time & they're away from their own families for months on end.

 

Q1: Did you book the Chef's Table & Nouveax when you got on board, or were you able to book pre-sailing?

Q2: Great tip on the bathroom organiser - will the door shut with it hanging?

Q.3 Did you have early/late dining, or Your Time dining in the Empire? I'm curious as to queues & wait time for Your Time dining.

 

My wife & I couldn't wait 'til August next year for our cruise on the Spirit, so we booked a 5 night "taster' for February.

 

Maybe our paths will cross one day on the Spirit!

 

Cheers

 

Phil:)

Hi Phil,

we booked the chefs table before we left as it fills up fairly quickly, the steakhouse we booked at the service desk when we got on board, if you book to eat at the noveau on the first night you get a free bottle of wine we, had a fairly decent red.

The bathroom door does shut with the organiser on it, no worries.

we went with early fixed dining at 5.30, as we didn't think our ten year old would cope with the late sitting, and it worked well for us, gave us time to eat and make it to the early show time of 7.30

My son is eager for us to book again, and is asking " when we can go on the spirit again mum".

cheers maree

Hi Baxter5. What cabin number & deck were you on? We will be about 13 cabins from the front on deck 7. Will take my Avomine & hope they work as well this time. Suexxx

Hi Sue,

we were on the spirit three weeks ago, I was also taking avomine but it didn'y work and i was funny in the head for the first day, so i went to the medical bay and got Meclizine, $3.20 for two days worth and they worked an absolute treat, they are also available from the service desk on deck two. we had cabin 6273 which is at the back of the ship.

Cheers maree

I just returned from my P&O holiday.

During a visit to the Isle of Pines, one of the first market stalls you pass had a cook book for $30 on all the island type recipes.

I was going to buy it on my way back to the ship but forgot:(

I was wondering if anyone see's it on their trip can you let me know the title of the book please as I was thinking I may be able to find it on the net.

Hope you can help Thanks in advance :)

Hi Taffy,

The book was called Cuisine de nouvelle Caledonie,

the only reason i remebered to look as someonelse on here asked the same question but I was unable to find the thread to post the reply, the book was priced around $40 from memory

Hope that helps Maree

Hi, The Tchou Tchou price listed in the spirit "fun ashore" guide is $59.99 per adult and $39.99 per child, it takes 2 hours and the tour ran 8.30, 8.45, 9.00, 10.45, 11.00, 11.15, 1.00, 1.15, as listed in the guide.

The guide has many other tours listed also, i can fax, email it to u if u like.

Cheers maree

As a tasmanian I hope i can give you some tips on visiting our lovely stae.

Port Arthur is a fascinating place to visit, as for the travel to Port Arthur a lot of the regiom was devastated by fires last year, so still a lot of scorched black earth to see, a lot of redeveloping building happening. It is quite a pituresque drive normally, with the tesselated beach, the blowhole, devils kitchen and Tasman arch ( all naturally occuring ) on the way to port arth. If you were to stop and look at these places along the way the trip will take you a good 9- 100 min from hobart, do that return and you have 3 hours from your day.

The Port Arthur site has a lot to offer, depending on the pass you purchase you can either buy your own at the cafe or have it privided in the cost of you pass, the gold pass also provides morning and arvo teas too I think. My family spent two full days going around the site, including isle of the dead, the point Puer boys prison ,. so their is alot to see, not sure if possible in your time frame//

I f staying closer to hobart, there is the shot tower at Taroona ( around 20 min from warf) well worth a drive, and if Zoo/ wilslife parks are of interest then Zoo Doo at Richmond is the better of the two, they do their own little safari where you ride around in a jeep and feed the animals, good fun!! You would also get a look at richmond which is a lovely historic town, the bakery their does delicious food too.

Personally I think Port Arthur wouls be to much of a stretch time wise and leave you frustrated at not being able to get around it all.

Just my two cents worth:)

cheers maree

Hi, we just came off the spirit in october and the train is still running, you can book it on the ship as a ships tour, runs for around 2 hours, and I think the cost is $60 per adult, but i can check in my ships tour book that i have at home, if you like.

Hi all,

My family of 6 ( hubby, myself, 15 yo daughter, 10 yo son in wheelchair and two grandmas) all travelled for 12 days on the spirit.

We had two normal interconnecting extended balcony cabins, with 4 in one room and 2 in the othere ( the two bathrooms worked well:D)

Rooms were larger than I expected with ample space to unpack all our clothing, we took a bathroom organiser to hang on the back of the bathroom door (which was fabulous idea picked up from this forum)

Food We really could not fault the food, we ate in the lido buffett for brekkie and lunch and the empire dining room of an evening, and the staff were amazing, if my son didn't like his meal they quickly and happily swapped it, or if he really liked it they were happy for him to have a second go at it.

if I did have to pick a fault , some of the food at breakfast in the bain marie was not overly hot ( particularly the scrambled eggs), but it was not enough to spoil our holiday, and if you were happy to que for a few minutes at the omelate station you could get hot eggs done however you wanted.

Service we found the staff to be amazing. They went out of their way to be helpful, to the extent of carring my son down a flight of stairs in his wheelchair ( a combined weight of around 50kg) so he could get onto the tender boats, no mean feat i can assure you. Our fears of him not being able to participate in the islands stops were unfounded as he was able to get off at all our ports, regardless of whether they were docked or tendered.

Embarkation/Disembarkation Again, found this to be stress free and very quick, even with the wheelchair, with many helpful staff around to give assistance iof needed.

I will add that this was our first cruise so i have no comparison to be made with other lines, but we were all really impressed with our experience and would definuitely do another cruise with carnival.

We also ate at the chefs table and the noveau steakhouse and found the meals to be outstanding, and we have eaten at some top rate restuarants including Quay and Aria, and found the quality to be as good.

So all up a very positive experience and one I can recommend to those less mobile.

Any questions fire away and i will do my best to answer them

Cheers maree

PS the only downside is I now cannot wait to book our next one:D

My 15 yo daughter and my 60+ MIL tried kava at a suva market, made from the powdered roots and water, daughter sa1d it was not the worst thing she had ever tried ( that was fermented soy beans in japan:eek:) made both their lips tingle but that was it. They both put it down as an experience, the fijians were stoked that they were happy to give it a go, and at $1 fiji ( around 60 aus cents) it was a cheap experience.

Cheers maree:)