Mid-April vs. Late Sept. Cruise - advice please

[CatDiego257]

We are planning our first Australian cruise in 2024 to celebrate our 25th anniversary. I was all set to book a Carnival cruise for April but then saw the same cruise offered at the end of September/first of October. I know what is our Fall is AU's summer, so wondering if it's worth it to postpone and book the Sept cruise? TIA!

[SinbadThePorter]

Which cruises are they? Are they local Australia/NZ or Transpacifics?

 

If you are going to NZ, April is generally better than September weather wise.

 

Your Fall (Autumn) is our Spring and visa versa.

 

 

[joejoe 59]

You probably would need to consider that the end of September into mid October is school holidays here in Australia. 

[yarramar]

1 hour ago, CatDiego257 said:

We are planning our first Australian cruise in 2024 to celebrate our 25th anniversary. I was all set to book a Carnival cruise for April but then saw the same cruise offered at the end of September/first of October. I know what is our Fall is AU's summer, so wondering if it's worth it to postpone and book the Sept cruise? TIA!

As above, It depends on the actual cruise itinerary as to which time is best

[Sparky74]

If it’s a trans-Pacific cruise consider if you want the long flight and jet lag at the start of your vacation or at the end of your journey. For me, I prefer to get the long flight out of the way at the start and come back to work refreshed. JMHO

 

I'd also add that Australia is a large and diverse country. And nearly 3 million square miles we're the sixth largest country in area after Russia, Canada, China, the USA, and Brazil. There’s lots to see from the Top End, the Great Barrier Reef, the Snowy Mountains, Tasmania, the Red Centre, and, and, and… And then New Zealand is just across the ditch with its own unique landscapes, culture, and version of the English language. 😁

This is to say, plan to spend as much time here as you can. It’s quite an effort to fly half way around the world so make the most of it! 

[MicCanberra]

Agree with the cruise destination, south Pacific or Queensland and it wouldn't matter, anywhere else here like Tasmania, south Coast and especially NZ, April and would be better.

[cruiser3775]

The four seasons are opposites, so your Fall (we call it Autumn) is opposite to our Spring. In the southern parts of Australia, that's September, October, November. 

In the tropical parts of the country, there are no conventional temperate climate seasons, so September/October is the Dry season - a good time to come for those areas, though June to August is a little better.

If you want to see the desert landscapes of Central Australia, come in your summer. 

Also look at public holidays.  In April, if it is Easter time, plus school holidays, things will be busy and get booked out.  School holidays vary from state to state a little, and should be avoided if you can There will be a lot of children on a cruise that co-incides with our school holiday breaks. Here's a list for 2024:
https://www.holidays-info.com/australia/school-holidays/2024/

Edited November 13, 2023 by cruiser3775

[MMDown Under]

Is your cruise just to Aust or Aust and NZ?  For the latter I'd book mid April, for the former I'd book late Sept. Just check the school holidays.  

[ceeceeDee]

Bear in mind that if you are planning on visiting the tropics (Cairns, for example) from September onwards it is extremely humid and from around December is the wet season.

[Aussieflyer]

One other thing I would add is that the OP mentioned a Carnival cruise. There were some people on the cruise my son and I did in July to the South Pacific (Splendor) who had flown in from the US. Although they were enjoying the cruise, some commented that the ship was not up to US standards in many ways. As one of the cheaper lines in AU, it is fine for a bit of cheap and cheerful so to say (as long as you know what you are getting) but personally I wouldn't like it to celebrate a special occasion.

I haven't been on Lumiosa but some people here said it is perhaps better than Splendor. 

Edited November 13, 2023 by Aussieflyer

[SinbadThePorter]

9 minutes ago, Aussieflyer said:

I haven't been on Lumiosa but some people here said it is perhaps better than Splendor. 

 

I haven't been on Splendor, but I'd hate to think it was worse than Luminosa. Not my favourite ship. In fact, it's my least favourite of the ships I've travelled on in Australia, and that includes the Pacific Explorer.

 

To the OP, I would suggest that unless there is a compelling reason to prefer Carnival, then either Princess or Royal Caribbean would be preferable. It's a long way to come to sail on a very ordinary vessel.

Edited November 13, 2023 by SinbadThePorter

[Sparky74]

2 minutes ago, Aussieflyer said:

One other thing I would add is that the OP mentioned a Carnival cruise. There were some people on the cruise my son and I did in July to the South Pacific (Splendor) who had flown in from the US. Although they were enjoying the cruise, some commented that the ship was not up to US standards in many ways. As one of the cheaper lines in AU, it is fine for a bit of cheap and cheerful so to say (as long as you know what you are getting) but personally I wouldn't like it to celebrate a special occasion.

I haven't been on Lumiosa but some people here said it is perhaps better than Splendor. 

Now that's interesting! 
DW and I were onboard the Carnival Splendor for her trans-Pacific cruise, 23 nights from Seattle to Sydney last year. 
By and large it was the Aussies onboard who were unimpressed. More than one Australian was heard to mutter that if this cruise was indicative of the "product" that Carnival was bringing to Australia (post-pandemic) then they would be spending their cruising dollars with other lines.

DW & I haven’t been back onboard a Carnival ship since but that’s not solely based on our experience of that cruise. 

[CatDiego257]

7 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

I haven't been on Splendor, but I'd hate to think it was worse than Luminosa. Not my favourite ship. In fact, it's my least favourite of the ships I've travelled on in Australia, and that includes the Pacific Explorer.

 

To the OP, I would suggest that unless there is a compelling reason to prefer Carnival, then either Princess or Royal Caribbean would be preferable. It's a long way to come to sail on a very ordinary vessel.

 

 

Interesting to consider, thank you. We have cruised on Royal Carribean, and Norwegian, and are very surprised to prefer Carnival. I say "surprised" because at the low price point we weren't expecting that much when we took a short Mexican Riveria cruise with friends a few years ago. We lived in San Diego at the time - the cruise port was only an hour away, so why not. Turned out to have a very charismatic cruise director (MarQ), good food, and a house band so fun and talented that my husband hung out with them and they are still FaceBook friends all these years later and stay in touch. Our balcony room was spacious and quiet, service was great. I will say that my research indicates that the Luminosa is inferior to the Splendor in some ways so we will definitely book Splendor. 

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, CatDiego257 said:

 

 

Interesting to consider, thank you. We have cruised on Royal Carribean, and Norwegian, and are very surprised to prefer Carnival. I say "surprised" because at the low price point we weren't expecting that much when we took a short Mexican Riveria cruise with friends a few years ago. We lived in San Diego at the time - the cruise port was only an hour away, so why not. Turned out to have a very charismatic cruise director (MarQ), good food, and a house band so fun and talented that my husband hung out with them and they are still FaceBook friends all these years later and stay in touch. Our balcony room was spacious and quiet, service was great. I will say that my research indicates that the Luminosa is inferior to the Splendor in some ways so we will definitely book Splendor. 

A couple of guesses in my response. Firstly, any assumption of a transpacific in the thread would not fit with Splendor.

 

We haven't done much Carnival, but see them as having their own way of doing things - not better or worse, just different. People who love Carnival really love Carnival. That isn't us, but I can appreciate a point of difference. If I wanted to compare Splendor and wish it was more like Coral Princess, then I should just book Coral instead. It has been a while, but we have a short Carnival Cruise next month. We are looking forward to the differences vs our usual choices.

 

All else being equal, I would prefer September to April. 

[aussielozzie18]

Luminosa is deemed inferior to Splendor by some families because it doesn’t have water slides.  Given the majority of cruises are to the South Pacific and Moreton Bay - I can understand those families frustration.

However, it has a much nicer decor, better ship layout and just as friendly crew and entertainment staff.  Our side by side balconies were great.   Have another cruise on Luminosa booked.  Carnival are fun ships and that’s what they offer.  

Edited November 13, 2023 by aussielozzie18

[JohnGc]

2 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Luminosa is deemed inferior to Splendor by some families because it doesn’t have water slides.  Given the majority of cruises are to the South Pacific and Moreton Bay - I can understand those families frustration.

However, it has a much nicer decor, better ship layout and just as friendly crew and entertainment staff.  Our side by side balconies were great.   Have another cruise on Luminosa booked.  Carnival are fun ships and that’s what they offer.  

     Great to hear. After many years cruising on RCC and Princess we have decide to give Carnival a go. We are booked on the Luminosa for a 7 day cruise. We are both getting up there with our ages and unlike at lot of older people we are looking for less of a quiet life. Looking forward to mixing in, if not to strenuous joining in the fun. We love to see people enjoying themselves and the sail away party on Carnival sounds great. If we need a break there is always the balcony. 😁

 

[MMDown Under]

2 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Luminosa is deemed inferior to Splendor by some families because it doesn’t have water slides.  Given the majority of cruises are to the South Pacific and Moreton Bay - I can understand those families frustration.

However, it has a much nicer decor, better ship layout and just as friendly crew and entertainment staff.  Our side by side balconies were great.   Have another cruise on Luminosa booked.  Carnival are fun ships and that’s what they offer.  

I couldn't understand the comments on Luminosa being inferior, as I thought it was a beautiful ship.  I would happily cruise on her again if she did longer cruises, esp to the South Pacific islands.  However, I have never cruised on a ship with water slides, etc., so can understand the attraction of these for children. 

[aussielozzie18]

8 minutes ago, JohnGc said:

     Great to hear. After many years cruising on RCC and Princess we have decide to give Carnival a go. We are booked on the Luminosa for a 7 day cruise. We are both getting up there with our ages and unlike at lot of older people we are looking for less of a quiet life. Looking forward to mixing in, if not to strenuous joining in the fun. We love to see people enjoying themselves and the sail away party on Carnival sounds great. If we need a break there is always the balcony. 😁

 

Even with a balcony, we spent a lot of time in the adults only Serenity deck.  The food in the MDR was always very nice & the service quick. We didn’t go with traditional seating but we found it very easy to book a table at various times that suited us via the Carnival App.  
 

Fahrenheit 55 is their specialty dining venue and the service there was superb.

 

Enjoy your cruise.  It’s nice to try different cruise lines.  

[aussielozzie18]

6 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

I couldn't understand the comments on Luminosa being inferior, as I thought it was a beautiful ship.  I would happily cruise on her again if she did longer cruises, esp to the South Pacific islands.  However, I have never cruised on a ship with water slides, etc., so can understand the attraction of these for children. 

I cruised on the Splendour to the South Pacific after Luminosa and seeing how popular the water slides were with the kids, I can understand that frequent Carnival family cruisers would miss them.  But for us, Luminosa was ideal and if both cruised from Sydney, we would pick Luminosa over Splendor.

 

[JohnGc]

8 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

I couldn't understand the comments on Luminosa being inferior, as I thought it was a beautiful ship.  I would happily cruise on her again if she did longer cruises, esp to the South Pacific islands.  However, I have never cruised on a ship with water slides, etc., so can understand the attraction of these for children. 

Yes fair comment. Great for kids on the ships with the entertainment. I thought the photos of the Icon looked like a fairground. 

[JohnGc]

7 minutes ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Even with a balcony, we spent a lot of time in the adults only Serenity deck.  The food in the MDR was always very nice & the service quick. We didn’t go with traditional seating but we found it very easy to book a table at various times that suited us via the Carnival App.  
 

Fahrenheit 55 is their specialty dining venue and the service there was superb.

 

Enjoy your cruise.  It’s nice to try different cruise lines.  

Thank you, Did read about the Fahrenheit 55 and used some of our obc and booked it for one night. We are hoping when on board if we enjoy the food we can do it again, if not booked out.

[aussielozzie18]

5 minutes ago, JohnGc said:

Thank you, Did read about the Fahrenheit 55 and used some of our obc and booked it for one night. We are hoping when on board if we enjoy the food we can do it again, if not booked out.

I know you have already booked it but just an fyi, if you go there on boarding night you get a free bottle of house wine or a discount off other drinks. Like you,  I used my OBC and getting a free bottle of wine with dinner as well was a nice bonus.

[SinbadThePorter]

7 hours ago, CatDiego257 said:

I will say that my research indicates that the Luminosa is inferior to the Splendor in some ways so we will definitely book Splendor. 

 

With Splendor you get sail out and sail in to Sydney Harbour and docking at Circular Quay opposite the Opera House, which is always a bonus. Enjoy. 😁

 

I notice in April she has a NZ cruise followed by a Queensland cruise. Either would be very good, both would be excellent.

[Aussieflyer]

9 hours ago, CatDiego257 said:

 

 

Interesting to consider, thank you. We have cruised on Royal Carribean, and Norwegian, and are very surprised to prefer Carnival. I say "surprised" because at the low price point we weren't expecting that much when we took a short Mexican Riveria cruise with friends a few years ago. We lived in San Diego at the time - the cruise port was only an hour away, so why not. Turned out to have a very charismatic cruise director (MarQ), good food, and a house band so fun and talented that my husband hung out with them and they are still FaceBook friends all these years later and stay in touch. Our balcony room was spacious and quiet, service was great. I will say that my research indicates that the Luminosa is inferior to the Splendor in some ways so we will definitely book Splendor. 

Glad that you prefer Carnival then and are happy with the cruise line. Hope you have a great time on Splendor (with the advantage that she sails out of Sydney which is always spectacular). 

[Jean C]

21 hours ago, Sparky74 said:

… And then New Zealand is just across the ditch with its own unique landscapes, culture, and version of the English language. 

Hahaha - cheeky 😝 🙊 

In NZ and Oz we have the advantage of seeing a lot of US TV programmes and films so are familiar with many Americanisms and terminology - you probably won't have that advantage, but don't worry, we'll understand you even if you don't understand us 😊