Trip Report/Review of Carnival Splendor

[oskarNZ]

Port Reviews

 

Noumea 

 

Noumea is the one stop on the cruise where I struggled to make a decision about what to do.  I knew very quickly what I wanted to do with my family in the other 3 ports, but to be honest, nothing offered in Noumea was really grabbing my attention.

The night before we landed in Noumea, one of the comedians on the cruise made a joke about the place which was not exactly complementary.  (It was actually really funny in the moment, but I won’t try to repeat it as out of context it will no doubt fall flat).  But let’s just say it summed up a lot of what I’d already read about the port and also matched my feelings of other cities in the South Pacific that we have visited and ultimately saw as a gateway to get places prettier and further afield.  

(Please, no offence if you love Noumea.  Different strokes for different folks...)

 

With that in mind, I knew I would have a better chance of doing something we enjoyed if we booked an excursion or activity.  But after researching everything on offer, both privately and on the ship, no options were really standing out above the rest.  It wasn’t until a few days before the cruise that I finally stopped overthinking things and narrowed our options down to Amedee Island or Snorkeling.  I literally made the final decision standing in the shore excursion queue with the latter winning our because it was shorter and cheaper.  
 

Anyway, the tour we ended up choosing was called “Snorkel the Famous Lagoon of New Caledonia” and the description on Carnival is as follows:  

”Noumea is surrounded by crystal clear, calm, warm waters and teaming with colourful marine life just waiting to be discovered. 

Disembark your ship and join your friendly guide on a short walk to your Catamaran departure point. Hop aboard and make yourself comfy as you venture off for a 30-minute ride over the lagoon to one of the top snorkelling marine park destinations: Signal Island, Laregnere Islet or Master Island. The exact location will be chosen by your skipper depending on the conditions of the day. 

With your equipment pre-prepared, hop on in and enjoy approximately 1 hour discovering the underwater magic of New Caledonia Lagoon – listed Word Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2008. Keep your eyes peeled Sea Turtles are often found playing just off shore. ”

 

We discovered on arrival that the tour was run by a company called AquaNature who pleasingly get good reviews online.  Their catamaran is not that big, so numbers were limited and my guess is that the tour sold out.  I’m pleased we booked it, because overall we really enjoyed the tour.

 

They took us to Master Island, the closest of the three.  I was happy with this decision as the ocean was pretty choppy and the catamaran was bobbing around quite a bit (not to the point of feeling unsafe, but to the point that I didn’t find the ride relaxing).

They provided all equipment for those who needed it (including wetsuits or rashies if you wanted them), but the majority of the guests bought their own. We had snorkels and masks, but borrowed flippers and rash tops.  
 

The husband and wife team were extremely professional. On anchor, they split the group in two and each of them went out with a group to monitor them in the water.  
 

The water did have a reasonably strong current which I liked as it moved us across the reef quite nicely, but I wouldn’t recommend the tour to anyone not confident in the water.  There is no where to stand and take a break.  
There was one person in our group who I think found it all a bit too much and returned to the ship quite quickly.  

 

We were told that we would see turtles (plural) and see turtles we did. They seemed to be everywhere and I’m sure we saw a good dozen or so.  The only other time I’d seen a lot of  turtles in one spot was in Curacao, but this Noumea spot felt a bit more authentic (in Curacao they were drawn to the spot by fisherman casting off waste catch.  Here, their behaviour seemed more indicative of a natural habitat.) I also loved that the AquaNature team cared about the turtles well-being and were very strict about no one touching or interacting with the turtles.  
 

Beyond the turtles, the range of reef fish we saw was pretty standard for this part of the world.  It was cool though to see one of the largest reef sharks I’ve seen and there were more giant clams here than I have seen elsewhere.   Visibility was okay and the coral wasn’t great.  
 

While it won’t quite slip into my list of top 5 snorkelling experiences, I really enjoyed the morning and have no regrets whatsoever about booking it.  I would recommend it to anyone comfortable in the water.  
 

Sorry, they’re not great photos.  I realised too late that the camera screen was quite dirty.  

[aussielozzie18]

This is a great review.  Thank you. Looking forward to more.

[oskarNZ]

1 hour ago, aussielozzie18 said:

This is a great review.  Thank you. Looking forward to more.

Thanks.  I’m pleased you’re enjoying it.  

[oskarNZ]

Isle of Pines

 

It is quite rare for us to arrive at a Port with no paid activities planned, but after researching Isle of Pines, I felt that the island looked so beautiful, no prebooked activities would be needed.  
 

In comparison to popular ports in the Caribbean, many popular Pacific Island cruise ports are largely untouched.  By that, I mean that there is very little infrastructure on the islands and the local population is relatively small, so excursion options are very limited.  I suppose they’re similar in ways to the cruise lines private islands in the Caribbean, only less ‘groomed’ and no chances of reserving a beach chair (we put our towels straight down on to the sand in this end of the world).

It looked like there were a couple of excursions on Isle of Pines that we could of done, including a bus tour past churches and the like, but the beaches looked so gorgeous it

seemed a shame not to enjoy them.  And enjoy them we did.  Isle of Pines was our favourite port of the cruise and one of the prettiest beaches I’ve been to.  I thought the whole place was lovely.

 

In the end we didn’t spend a single cent of Isle of Pines and perhaps, in retrospect, it would have been nice to have thrown some dollars the locals way by at least buying a cold drink.  But, I do think it says something about a place if you can have a great time on no money.

 

We landed there on New Years Day and because of late night partying the night before, people were slow to queue for tenders.  I understand that the longest tender queues were around midday - about 2 hours later than what would usually be expected.
Our family, however, are always up with the birds on vacations and we like to do quite a lot before lunch.  Using our Faster to the Fun perk, we headed to the Black Pearl restaurant which was the meeting point for priority tenders.  I’ve got to say, this is where the FTTF perk really proved to be worth its cost.  In fact I’d book it again for this perk alone.  
Staff meet you in the restaurant, they escort you to the lift where they have already used a Walkie talkie to hail a priority lift for you.  Then another staff member welcomes you when the lift doors open and walks you straight to a waiting tender.  It all makes you feel quite important.  
Using this perk, we got on the first tender of the day to Isle of Pines which I was quite pleased about. 

 

On the tender ride, we spoke to a couple who had been to the Island before to ask them if it was clear which direction to walk in order to get to the beaches. There are two main ones people choose from - one calm bigger one good for swimming and another smaller one that has a big rock in the water which is a popular snorkelling location.  
The couple said they were heading to the snorkeling one, so we said we’d follow their lead and head in the same direction.  It literally made us the second cruise group of the day (after that couple) to get to the beach and it gave us free choice of a nice spot under a tree and time to admire a largely empty beach (there were a few Island-based tourists already there).

If like us, you enjoy seeing places in a largely untouched state, I recommend getting to the beach early like we did.  It was really lovely.

 

We also got to snorkel by the rock before others arrived to stir up the water and while I wouldn’t rate the snorkelling there, it was still pretty and the water is lovely and clear. If you are new to snorkeling, you would probably find the site quite impressive.  
What I loved most was simply the picturesque nature of the spot and the softness of the sand.  I think it’s the softest, finest sand I’ve come across and I spent ages just running it through my fingers.  
 

We stayed at this spot for at least an hour enjoying that it stayed relatively quiet the whole time because people were slow coming off the ship.  Then, for a change of pace, we made the walk to the bigger beach and swam and hung out there for a while.  I found this side to be more sheltered and the water to be calmer.  
 

By lunch, the beaches were getting crowded and we had had enough sun for the day so we headed back to a quiet ship.  It was a really nice day and a very relaxing one.  
If I was to do a South Pacific cruise again, I would be happy if it included Isle of Pines.  

The beach with the rock

The main longer beach which is right next to where the tenders dock.

My son also loved the softness of the sand.

The snorkelling area wasn’t vast, but there were still plenty of pretty fish to be seen and a little bit of healthy coral.  

Edited January 15, 2020 by oskarNZ

[cheznandy]

Love Isle of Pines too!! We also like to get off early and find a spot up the end of the front beach. 

The snorkelling around sacred rock isn't what it used to be back in the 80's

Loving your photo's, thanks!!

Edited January 15, 2020 by cheznandy

[LincolnLegend]

Thanks for the review, I'm on Splendor at the beginning of March, it will be my first time with Carnival so it's nice to read this prior to cruising.

[oskarNZ]

8 hours ago, cheznandy said:

Love Isle of Pines too!! We also like to get off early and find a spot up the end of the front beach. 

The snorkelling around sacred rock isn't what it used to be back in the 80's

Loving your photo's, thanks!!

I can imagine that in the 80s it would have been amazing.  Sadly, neither tourism or climate change are good for our reefs.  

[oskarNZ]

4 hours ago, LincolnLegend said:

Thanks for the review, I'm on Splendor at the beginning of March, it will be my first time with Carnival so it's nice to read this prior to cruising.

How exciting.  The beginning of March is very close now.  
I’m pleased the review is helpful.

[oskarNZ]

Mare

Because I have just a short window before I need to head to work, I’m going to skip my longer Lifou review until later today and jump ahead to Mare.  
 

Like in Isle of Pines, we made use of the FTTF priority tenders and got onto Mare fairly early.  Unlike New Years Day, people seemed to be up earlier today and keen to get ashore quickly.  Tenders were busy as were the queues to the Yejele beach buses which is the ‘excursion’ we had opted to do.  I say excursion, but in reality it’s just a shuttle to a pretty beach where you are on your own for the day.  
 

Options are limited in Mare, so my guess is that almost everyone who disembarked at this port chose this option.

 

The ride to Yejele is about 20minutes each way and a nice chance to glimpse the Island landscape.  Depending on your spot in the queue, you either get loaded onto a full size bus or a shuttle van and it very much seems that a large number of island residents own shuttle vans and chip in on the day transporting people. Expect tidy, but basic vehicles with windows open rather than AC. 
 
We were on a bus and it would have been a really nice touch if the driver had given us a bit of an Island commentary as we traversed the Island.  But it didn’t happen on our bus and I haven’t heard accounts of it happening on others.  In all fairness there probably wasn’t the onboard speaker system to do it and I’m not even sure if the driver spoke English.

 

Anyone, once again we were early to arrive to the beach and we found what we thought was a lovely sheltered spot umbrella’d by a tree.  (By the way, I always look up first to check the tree is not a coconut tree.  I am paranoid about one of those things falling on your head 😬).

 

I must say, the beach is beautiful.  The sand is not as fine as it is in Isle of Pines and seemed to be a bit shelly in parts, but the water is lovely and clear and it did appear to be a great place to swim. 

 

The water was quite cool when we arrived and we weren’t really ready for a swim, so we pulled out our books and prepared for a few hours relaxing in the shade.  Digging my toes into the sand, I noticed that I was unearthing a whole lot of black bugs.  It was a bit off-putting, but they seemed quite harmless and weren’t biting, so I tried to ignore them.  About 15 minutes later my husband started shaking his head and said something had jumped in his ear.  I was surprised as the black bugs didn’t jump, but it was then we became aware that the black bugs were now joined by hundreds of jumping sand fleas/crabs.  

Needless to say, we couldn’t relax and knew we needed to get up and move.  The beach had got busy in the short time we were there and most under tree spots were already taken.  Plus we weren’t sure if moving would help or whether the bugs were up and down the whole beach.

 

The suggestion was made to return to the boat and enjoy a quiet ship and I feel a bit bad saying this, but that’s what we decided to do.  I think the transfer people were a bit shocked to have people returning so early and generally I wouldn’t give up on a spot so quickly (particularly one as pretty as this) but in the moment it’s what we felt like doing, so it’s what we did. 
 

When we returned to the ship, my son headed of to the slides where he rode over and over without queueing and my husband and I went to the Serenity area and enjoyed a choice of seats and a mostly empty pool and hot tub.  It was the only time in the week we went to Serenity as we didn’t have the energy or want to try for the ‘empty of people but claimed by items’ chairs during the rest of the cruise. The area is very popular and almost always busy.  
 

So overall, a very short port day and perhaps not as memorable one as hoped.  But I can say that the beach is beautiful and if you pick your space in the sand wisely, I think you would have a lovely day.  

Our tree umbrella with too many bugs underneath it.

It’s otherwise a gorgeous beach

Edited January 15, 2020 by oskarNZ

[mahdnc]

How did the beaches and snorkeling compare to what you saw during your Caribbean Reflection cruise?

[jldev]

Just happened upon this review, and I'm really enjoying reading so thanks heaps for posting 🙂  

[oskarNZ]

1 hour ago, jldev said:

Just happened upon this review, and I'm really enjoying reading so thanks heaps for posting 🙂  

You’re welcome.  I’m pleased you’re enjoying it.  

[oskarNZ]

3 hours ago, mahdnc said:

How did the beaches and snorkeling compare to what you saw during your Caribbean Reflection cruise?

 

 

Jinek Bay (the report I still have to write) had the nicest snorkelling we experienced on this cruise and I would say the coral and sea life was on par with what we saw in Bonaire.  But in saying that, I preferred Bonaire as snorkeling with that ginormous bait ball of bigeye scad is my all time favourite snorkeling moment to date.  

When snorkeling, we’re always on the lookout for something unique or something we haven’t seen before and I tend to judge our experiences based on that, so perhaps my opinion wouldn’t match up to others.

 

But I guess Snorkeling in Isle of Pines was comparable to that small snorkeling area at Sugar Beach on St Lucia.

 

Not sure about Mare as we didn’t snorkel there but I guess I would compare snorkeling near Master Island in Noumea to snorkeling at the Sculpture Park in Grenada.  The coral and fish life was just okay (probably a bit better in Noumea) and the water visibility could also have been better, but both had a unique highlight (lots of sculptures vs lots of turtles) which made them absolutely worth the journey.  
 

Our all time favourite snorkeling in terms of a healthy reef with lots of coral and fish, has been in a few remote spots off the coast of Fiji.  They’re not spots you would visit on a cruise and I can only assume there would be similar remote spots in the Caribbean where if you got far from the crowds, you’d be rewarded with healthier biodiversity.

 

So while that answer was all a bit wishy-washy, hopefully it kind of answers your question.

Happy Memories of Sculptures and Bait Balls

 

Edited January 16, 2020 by oskarNZ

[mahdnc]

Somehow, I knew you were going to bring up Fiji. Even though I haven't followed your advice (yet), I have NOT forgotten about it. 
 

Also the South Pacific have the giant clams which you can't find in the Caribbean.  You have a nice picture of one although I cannot judge its size. 

Edited January 16, 2020 by mahdnc

[oskarNZ]

Lifou/Jinek Bay

 

I’d read really good things about snorkeling in Jinek Bay, so I knew as soon as I saw the limited excursion options in Lifou that that is the option we wanted to do.  
 

Jinek Bay is a marine reserve where, in order to protect the coral, visitor numbers are strictly caped at 200 swimmers per day (100 in the morning and 100 in the afternoon).  I knew that on a ship of 3000+ these tickets/passes would sell quickly, so, as mentioned earlier, it’s the reason I booked FTTF in order to make sure we each secured one of these tickets before they were gone.  
 

I’m not sure how different cruise lines work, but I now know that Carnival secure all the day’s passes and there are no tickets for sale if you just bowl up to the Bay.  I lost count of the countless numbers of people walking to Jinek Bay to see if they could get a pass there and being sent away.  I was pleased to see people were being turned away, because while they easily could have made thousands of dollars more by selling passes to the walk-ups, the reef wouldn’t have been happy.  
 

Here’s the thing: if you can snorkel and are confident in the water, I would argue that going to Jinek Bay is one of your best choices on the Island of Lifou.  
There is a beach not far from the tender dock which is pretty, but not as nice as the one in Isle of Pines, and I could tell from the number of people roaming the island and heading in the direction of Jinek Bay, that many with no pre-determined plans were on the hunt for something a bit better.  
 

When you get off the tender you walk a short way and are greeted by a line of local stalls.  These markets were really busy on Lifou and I could again tell people were wandering around wondering what to do.  (Also, as a side note, people on these New Caledonian Islands didn’t hound us to buy something like a lot of Caribbean ports we’ve visited, which is something we liked).  I was really pleased we’d booked Jinek Bay, as I felt like we knew exactly what we were doing and where we needed to go.

 

Past the markets, you reach a sign that points you in the direction of Jinek Bay.  I really think the locals should add an addition to that sign on cruise days that reads something like “All passes sold out for the day.  No water access without one” as it would stop people wasting their time by walking all the way there.  
 

Beyond this sign, you walk about 15 minutes along Island roads to reach the bay.  The road follows a shallow incline, but the only thing particularly difficult about the walk is the hot sun. Just before Jinek Bay, there is a fork in the road and if you bare to the left, you can carry on uphill to a pretty Island church.    
 

Once at Jinek Bay, you find a spot for your bags on a grass bank under a tree (I took all valuables with me in a waterproof neck pouch) and you go to a small manned entrance where you show your ticket in exchange for a wool wrist band.  The entrance is essentially some stairs down a cliff into the water (careful, they were a bit slippery).

 

There is no beach to speak of at Jinek Bay, but at the bottom of the stairs is a small coralless patch of sand in shallow water where you can put on your gear.  The reef closest to this is where less confident swimmers tend  to congregate and the coral isn’t quite as nice as spots further out.  There is a bit of a current and I would recommend people think twice if they aren’t confident in the water.  Also, depending on the tide, the water clearance above the coral can be a bit shallow in parts, so you have to be confident enough to keep swimming and not drop your legs and flippers on to the coral.  
 

With this being said, I think it is worthwhile having flippers to help make swimming easier.  We don’t own flippers as they are too bulky for our suitcases and during every excursion or resort where we’ve previously needed them, they have been supplied.  At Jinek Bay, nothing is provided, so we took our masks and snorkels.  I had read one review of Jinek Bay where someone mentioned hiring flippers from a market stall at the Bay and I hoped this would be the case on this day.

At the markets near the tender dock, we noticed a man renting full sets of gear.  We asked if he had just flippers and he said he did for $10AUD a pair (rental).  His flippers were old and not in the best condition, but I would argue that they still looked better (longer and softer) than the hard-looking plastic ones they were selling as part of snorkel packages on the ship.  My son and I rented some, but he didn’t have any big enough for my husbands large (size 13-14) feet, so my husband said he was happy to swim barefoot.  
As it turned out, my husband was fine without the flippers, but he did need to work harder to get through the water which would have made the experience a bit more tiring for him.  
 

Also worth noting: this was the only guy we saw on the island renting snorkeling gear.  I’m pleased we didn’t wait until we got to Jinek Bay as there was no one hiring gear there.  

 

Overall, we really loved our Jinek Bay snorkel as there were plenty of nice patches of coral and a good variety of fish.  Sadly, we didn’t see much that was new to us (unless you count a couple of New Caledonia’s well-known banded sea snakes) but it was still a worthwhile experience.  I would recommend it.

 

After an hour or so in the water, we called it quits and headed back to the bank to dry off.  We then returned to the markets to return our gear and then headed for the ship.  Overall, a great morning.  
 

 

The tender jetty

Jinek Bay

The beach nearest to the jetty

Jinek Bay

Edited January 16, 2020 by oskarNZ

[oskarNZ]

47 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

Somehow, I knew you were going to bring up Fiji. Even though I haven't followed your advice (yet), I have NOT forgotten about it. 
 

Also the South Pacific have the giant clams which you can't find in the Caribbean.  You have a nice picture of one although I cannot judge its size. 

Hahaha, I do so love Fiji 😂

 

From memory, that clam was perhaps half a meter wide.  There were quite a few and some a bit bigger than that one, but I’ve heard some grow bigger than a meter and I didn’t see any that big.  

[oskarNZ]

My photo just reminded me: at Jinek Bay they do provide free hire of floating noodles for less confident swimmers. 

[SinbadThePorter]

1 hour ago, oskarNZ said:

The entrance is essentially some stairs down a cliff into the water (careful, they were a bit slippery).

 

So is the smooth hard limestone in the water at the bottom of the steps. I knew it was slippery and still slipped on it.

[oskarNZ]

13 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

So is the smooth hard limestone in the water at the bottom of the steps. I knew it was slippery and still slipped on it.

Good point.  My guess is that slipping getting into that water is a common, daily occurrence. 

[oskarNZ]

Food, Glorious Food

 

It’s fair to say that my family like food and nice meals play an important role in our joy of travel.

I knew booking the cruise that Carnival is not hailed for its cuisine, but I still hoped that we would enjoy what was on offer.

 

Reflecting back, I think our overall summary is that we found the food perfectly adequate.  Realising food tastes are very subjective, I would give the food an overall score of 6/10 with the majority of meals sitting somewhere between a 4 and 8. Nothing we tried was downright nasty or inedible (except perhaps the free coffee).   
 

Further thoughts are probably best shared as a list.

 

CRITICISMS

 

- that whipped white stuff is not butter.  It is so aerated it barely has any taste.  Similarly jelly and jam are not the same thing.  Both the white stuff and the clear red stuff are more suited to the American market and should be changed to suit cruising Downunder. The same could be said about the free coffee.

 

- the buffet is not great.  Compared to other lines I’ve been on, I felt like it had poor flow and the options were limited and a bit boring.  Combined with the burger and pizza places, everything felt a bit like Western convenience food and I was a bit over it by the end of the week.  
 

- the Mongolian Wok Place in the buffet has nice enough food, but the speed of the queue is ridiculous.  I only ever queued once as I didn’t have the patience to wait 30minutes + for a stir fry.  I get that people love it, but I would argue that the buffet needs more options and this is not a good use of space.

 

- Dessert options in the buffet are really limited and this cake lover was a bit over cake by the end of the week.  It feels like they have one main cake and butter cream recipe which they adjust daily with a bit of flavouring and food colouring and then put on display like it’s a new food item.  I would love to have seen some variety such as mousse, custard options, pavlova, eclairs ... anything really other than cake, jelly and biscuits. The one day some variety was offered (ie the Chocolate Extvaganza) the queues were insane.  

- Dining Room food was REALLY slow to come out during the first few days of the cruise.  I was really worried that it would be like that the whole 9 days, but it was great to see that it improved considerably as the cruise progressed.

 

- I wouldn’t recommend the Green Eggs and Ham breakfast unless you have kids under 10 years old.  While I would argue that one is never too old to love Dr Seuss, in this case I would make an exception.  On arrival, our waiter joked “Welcome to kids club” and that’s just what it felt like.  The high pitched background music of kids singing the likes of “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” was enough in itself to drive us out of there quickly.  Plus the food, with all its colouring, was better to look at than eat.  
 

- The Fahrenheit restaurant is nice enough, but I think over-priced for what it is.  I felt like it suffered from a bit of an identity crisis, where the ambience was of a fine dining establishment but the food was presented (a slab of meat and lots of bowls of side dishes) and tasted of a good Texan Steakhouse.  The disappointment came at dessert where I went in with high hopes and walked out a bit irritated.  I had read that the art at your table thing was more for show than taste, but keen still for a flashy dessert, I ordered the chocolate ball thing.  I also asked for a plate of fruit as I occasionally do in the main restaurant (without issue) as I like to end with something a bit palate cleansing.  Firstly, I was told only one dessert per person which took be by surprise as at $55 per head it really wouldn’t have killed them to give me a bit of fruit.  Secondly, I made the wrong choice by opting for the chocolate thing instead of the fruit as it was really not great.  It was described as having warm chocolate custard poured over the top to melt the ball.  If hot water mixed with cocoa powder is custard, then I guess I got what I ordered.  I was left with a small ball sitting in a bowl of brown coloured water and it really wasn’t appetising. 

OKAY

- Food wise, I didn’t mind the mad hatters tea party, but I’ve done it now and probably wouldn’t do it again.  I do like the way they decorated the restaurant.  
 

PRAISES

 

- Service in the dining room was really friendly and professional.  We had early seating in the Golden Pearl which is an option we were really happy with.  My husband commented that he thought that the colour of the  Golden Pearl made it feel lighter and less closed in than the Black Pearl and I would agree with this.  Plus I love that both restaurants have a lot of booths.  My family was assigned one and we loved it.  The one small downside is that we were off to the side and couldn’t really see the main dining room floor where most of the dancing and partying happened.  
 

- Food that should of had spice in it, did have spice in it.  My experience with cruise lines is that they tend to appeal to the masses by holding back on seasoning (especially Disney where the food was always under seasoned).  However, we were pleased to discover In this case that food we expected to be spicy was.  I’m not the biggest fan of Indian cuisine, preferring cuisine from almost every other area of Asia, but I did find the Masala Tiger place on board to be very good.  There were a lot of non-heavy meat options and the salads and range of condiments were really tasty.  It became my lunch go to during much of the week.  I also liked the deli, but the queues here were often quite long.  
 

- The breakfast yoghurt parfait available in the dining room was really good. I know that that’s a really random thing to say, but it was the most impressed I’d been by a single menu item the whole cruise.  The delicious Greek yoghurt with honey and dates and a granola filled with cashews, hazelnuts and even some fresh raspberries thrown in - it felt like something made with quality ingredients and was in stark contrast to the penny pinching with the whipped butter.  I saw adults all around the restaurant ordering this parfait, so it’s popularity didn’t lie with me alone.

 

- The meals at dinner were generally pretty good, but I was particularly impressed by the vegetarian options.  While I’m not a vegetarian, I feel a bit guilty I’m not, so often pick vegetarian food items when they look tasty.  I ended up eating about 4 vegetarian main courses that cruise and I enjoyed them all.  For Mexican night, I ordered the stuffed, fried capsicum and it was delicious.  My family love Mexican and all agreed that I had picked the best menu item that night. We all ordered the vegetarian lasagne when it was offered and thought it was very good.  
 

- I like that each night the main dining room would celebrate a country by offering food from that culture.  I also loved the festivity of the dining tables on New Years Eve.  It made the night feel very special.  
 

- Serving sizes were good and I always left the main dining room satisfied but not stuffed.  

Mad Hatters Tea Party

 

Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast 

Baked Alaska dessert on the last night of the cruise

New Year’s Eve dinner menu

Edited January 16, 2020 by oskarNZ

[oskarNZ]

Onboard Costs

 

Overall, I didn’t feel penny-pinched on this cruise and I walked away with an onboard bill that I was comfortable with.  
 

On Celebrity, I always felt that the percentage of onboard ‘activities’ aimed at getting more money out of you was far too high.  But I didn’t feel this way with Carnival.  This paired with port stops where it was very easy to do activities that were free or inexpensive, this whole cruise felt like reasonably good value for money.  
 

As far as alcohol goes, I generally only drink 1 or 2 cocktails per day when I’m on vacation and thought the approx $AUD10-$14 per cocktail was fair.  The rest of the day, I was generally happy with the included cups of tea, lemonade from the buffet and water.  Ocassionally, I would get a mocktail or freshly squeezed vege juice from the java cafe and I thought the approx $6 cost for these was fair.  
Because I rarely spent more than about $30 per day on drinks, I do think the cost of the alcohol package is a bit ludicrous.  
My husband and son got the soda package because it was priced very fairly at less than $10 per day.  From memory, soda was about $2.75 per can and I’m not 100% sure they would have broke even, but it was great for convenience, especially since my son had no charging options on his card.  
 

I thought the onboard shops were quite good and catered to all budgets.  The shops on Celebrity were too focused on expensive brands when sometimes a cruiser (aka me) would be much happier with a cheap and cheerful cruise themed Christmas tree ornament.  I would say though, do a bit of online price research before believing that the prices are better than what you’ll get on land.  Some perfumes and alcohols were cheaper for us to get here in NZ non duty-free.  
 

The Green Eggs and Ham breakfast and the Mad Hatters Tea Party were each $10 per person. I thought this price was reasonable (despite not liking the breakfast).
 

The spa was an exception - I thought the majority of treatments there were very expensive.  Prior to the cruise, my mother had rung Carnival to put some money onto my onboard account for a birthday present.  It came with strict instructions to use it for a bit of pampering.  I was keen to do just this and was all ready to splash out more than what she had given me on spa treatments.  
I decided to start with some salon treatments as unlike the massages and facials, the prices seemed fair.  I began with a hair cut and thought the Japanese staff member who did the cut did a really great job.  I’ve been happy with the cut ever since.  
Pleased with this, I booked both my son and I in for a pedicure.  My son likes having his feet rubbed so I thought it might be fun to take him along.   Unlike the hair cut, I was super disappointed.  My son didn’t want to get his toenails coloured, so I just assumed the lady would rub his feet a bit longer or even soak them a bit longer in the foot bath.  Instead she stayed in time with my beautician and completely stopped working on his feet for the last 15minutes of the treatment.  She walked off and then when she walked back about 10minutes later she spent the time tidying her work space.  We were both sitting in massage chairs and I think she thought that sufficed as a treatment when she walked away.  The charge for him was the same as the charge for me and in retrospect I should have queried it at the time. 

Beyond that, the pedicure was pretty average and the hot stone massage part of it was disappointing.  My therapist spent the last 10 minutes of the treatment trying to upsell me on expensive oils which I always find off-putting and far from relaxing. The massage chair felt great at the time, but I do suspect (without evidence) that it is the reason I had a lot of hip pain the rest of the week.  
After this not so great treatment, I was put off spending any more time in the spa. Since the massages and facials were very expensive, perhaps it’s a good thing. 
 

We never attended Bingo or paid activities like the Ship Tour or Build a Bear, so I can’t comment on any of these.  
 

 

Edited January 17, 2020 by oskarNZ

[oskarNZ]

Disembarkation

 

Approximately half way through the cruise we  got a letter in our cabin asking us to request an early (7am) or late (9am) disembarkation time.

We picked late and got 8:45 which we were happy with.  You have to be out of cabins at 8:30am, so to avoid twiddling your thumbs an 8:45 time is actually better than a 9am one.  
 

I was surprised to discover that Carnival Australia encourage able-bodied passengers to carry their luggage off the ship.  On past cruisers we were encouraged to drop our luggage in the hall the night before.  I actually much prefer walking my bags off the ship as I like having my stuff with me when I wake up on the last day.  
 

After a relaxing breakfast in the dining room, we chilled out in our cabin for a while before clearing out just before 8:30.  We then waited for our number to be called (almost exactly at 8:45) and then we disembarked. It was all pretty straight forward and seemed much more organised than embarkation.  
 

Outside of the terminal, I paid for a bit of data to book a Uber to take us to the airport. It was all pretty easy.  A word of advice though, don’t pick the Uber option that just states ‘Sydney airport’ if you want to get to the International terminal.  You have to scroll down to find this option as this terminal is further away than the domestic one and costs more money.  I had to repick our destination once in the car.

 

We had booked a flight direct to Queenstown with Jetstar.  I try to avoid booking Jetstar unless the price or timing is correct and in both cases it was. In all fairness, I’ve flown them many times without issue, but I like Air NZ and would rather have flown them given the choice.  

Jetstar’s check in system at Sydney airport is archaic at best.   We had a good 5 hours to fill before our flight and wasn’t expecting that Jetstar wouldn’t even let us check in our bags until 3 hours before the flight (I should have read the fine print a bit better because it does state this, I’m just not used to it being the case).  
 

Once check-in opened, it was like bulls to the gate with literally hundreds of people trying to get in line at once. (I think multiple flights were opening at once).  We were lucky to be near the front of the line as the queue moved S L O W L Y.  Only one lady was checking the non-priority queue in and she was much more set on getting extra money out of customers by carefully weighing all their luggage (including carry on) then getting through the queue quickly.  A few other staff arrived to open up their counters, but they encountered some technical issues and walked off with no obvious sense of haste.  It was ridiculous.  We were only about the sixth family in line, yet it took us close to 30 minutes to get up to the check-in counter.  I can only imagine my level of panic had we been one of the families that were about 30th in line.  
 

The kicker is that we had prepaid quite a bit for a Sydney airport lounge thinking we had a lot of time at the airport to fill in.  In the end, we got less than 2 hours in the lounge which made it quite an expensive purchase.  It was a nice lounge though.  
 

Well, that’s it folks...  

 

If I’ve forgotten something or anyone has any questions, I’ll do my best to address these.  But, otherwise, I’m sure I’ve rabbited on long enough.
 

Happy cruising.    

 

 

[mr walker]

Really enjoyed reading your report - you have a great presentation style, and give a balanced report, good & bad, without the hyperbole of so many.

 

I am sure that people will benefit from the experiences you related, be that re the ship, or the ports.

 

Thanks for taking the time.

[MadWoofter]

Great review thanks.  

[oskarNZ]

2 hours ago, mr walker said:

Really enjoyed reading your report - you have a great presentation style, and give a balanced report, good & bad, without the hyperbole of so many.

 

I am sure that people will benefit from the experiences you related, be that re the ship, or the ports.

 

Thanks for taking the time.

Thanks for the nice feedback.  I appreciate it.  
 

I always like reading balanced reviews, so try also to write them.  But I’m also conscious that the negative stuff might come across to some as overly picky or critical.