Carnival Cruise Line to Absorb P&O Australia

[CDaze71]

@arxcards, friend in common. Hmmm I wonder who this is. 

[arxcards]

12 minutes ago, CDaze71 said:

@arxcards, friend in common. Hmmm I wonder who this is. 

@CDaze71, without outing anyone, it is a prolific cruiser that is connected to a school. I also figure that half the school staff in Greater Brisbane will cruise at the drop of a hat, and that might not have narrowed things down much. 

[CDaze71]

28 minutes ago, arxcards said:

@CDaze71, without outing anyone, it is a prolific cruiser that is connected to a school. I also figure that half the school staff in Greater Brisbane will cruise at the drop of a hat, and that might not have narrowed things down much. 

Ahhh haaaa I think I know. K

[rkmw]

2 hours ago, arxcards said:

You had me wondering about a secret handshake level, but they do top out at Diamond.

Diamond Plus is a Royal Caribbean thing.

Geoff I know that Royal has diamond plus but if they did transfer p&o points to Carnival they might have to make another level besides diamond 

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, rkmw said:

Geoff I know that Royal has diamond plus but if they did transfer p&o points to Carnival they might have to make another level besides diamond 

As much as they keeping asking for a higher tier, any Carnival VIFP at 1000 days is still Diamond. In the grand scheme of things, adding P&O numbers would barely be a blip on their loyalty program. They also have a milestone program to keep the serious cruisers interested.

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

As much as they keeping asking for a higher tier, any Carnival VIFP at 1000 days is still Diamond. In the grand scheme of things, adding P&O numbers would barely be a blip on their loyalty program. They also have a milestone program to keep the serious cruisers interested.

Princess have killed their milestone programme, at least for us here in Australia. ☹️

[arxcards]

27 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Princess have killed their milestone programme, at least for us here in Australia. ☹️

Lost to all.

The Carnival one is a quirky OBC deal.

[CDaze71]

JH has been telling all his followers for months now, that a new updated VIFP Program is in its way and details will be released by the end of the year. 

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, CDaze71 said:

JH has been telling all his followers for months now, that a new updated VIFP Program is in its way and details will be released by the end of the year. 

Eventually. Months down, maybe months to go. Usually when there is a tinkering, there are winners and losers - more benefits at top tier, and less for those below. There has been no real suggestion about a new tier, but the goalposts could always be moved.

 

The main changes mooted appear to be how points are gained in addition to a simple days at sea ratio. Currently there are no extra points for solos or suites, and there has been solid rumours about bonus points being gained via onboard spending, much as HAL Mariner program does. There is also mention of their milestone program being enhanced.

 

The other possibility is for Carnival to do a reciprocal recognition across their brands like Royal does for theirs. If it is so complicated to administer that it takes Carnival several months to convert a thought bubble into an announcement, I am starting to think this is a real possibility.

[SinbadThePorter]

12 hours ago, arxcards said:

I have other Brisbane friends telling me that Carnival serve up dog food

 

Wise friends. I also count myself amongst the Brisbane Carnival haters. I'd start a club, but I'm too busy planning Princess trips.

[arxcards]

9 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

Wise friends. I also count myself amongst the Brisbane Carnival haters. I'd start a club, but I'm too busy planning Princess trips.

I can see the comparison from a HAL, Princess, Cunard, Celebrity or even a Royal cruiser. As for P&O cruisers making the comparison with Carnival, it is Pal v Chum and I have gotten bored with Pal.

[Mycruiseobsession]

I am considering - a big maybe considering booking one of these P&O operated by Carnival cruises next year...

 

Thinking/wondering/wishing if they will do a Buy 2 Get 2 Free sale like P&O used to do a couple of times a year?! 

 

I feel like they don't need to now they've reduced itineraries etc and the interest generated by people wanting to book on P&O Au before she "disappears" may result in the end of the big discounts.

 

Please pray to all the gods, heavens and fairy godmothers 🧚‍♂️🧚‍♀️for me. 

 

 

[CDaze71]

I'm not booking one of the new Carnival (ex P&O) cruises until I've heard from JH on whether it'll be a Carnival product or not. From what I have heard it will not be and still up charges for everything. However if I hear they do bring the Carnival product, I'll book on Encounter. 

Buy two, get two free will be a thing going bye byes along with P&O. And prices will go up for sure. 

[woodscruise]

Sydney ports list has been updated and it is showing Pacific Adventure from July 2026-July 2027. I thought, especially for the new entries it would have shown Carnival Adventure.

 

[Mycruiseobsession]

2 hours ago, CDaze71 said:

From what I have heard it will not be and still up charges for everything. However if I hear they do bring the Carnival product, I'll book on Encounter

 

Yes at the moment the operated by Carnival cruises are still exactly the same as the current P&O ones except that they will be using the Carnival app onboard rather than the P&O one and the cruises will count towards regular Carnival VIFP points. (Bye to Princess)

 

I am hoping that whilst they are still technically P&O operated by Carnival that they will then throw in a couple more of the old sales.

 

There's not really any choice for us, we want to depart Brisbane and the options are limited.

 

I haven't booked it yet... just saved it. If there's a great sale then I will.

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, woodscruise said:

Sydney ports list has been updated and it is showing Pacific Adventure from July 2026-July 2027. I thought, especially for the new entries it would have shown Carnival Adventure.

 

I am going to guess until the ships have been officially renamed then Pacific stays.

Edited July 1 by Mycruiseobsession

[reeves35]

In a lead-up to her retirement and probable scrapping, Pacific Explorer leaves Sydney Harbour for the final time today.  She now commences an Auckland season followed by short seasons in Melbourne, Adelaide, Melbourne again and Perth before leaving Australian waters permanently in February.   Hopefully Sydney Ports give Dora a bit of a send-off today.

[dizzy1948]

On 6/4/2024 at 11:38 AM, dizzy1948 said:

Best part for us is - we booked the repositioning cruise from Freo to Adelaide. Now cancelled. Also booked and paid for the return flights Adelaide to Perth. Just had emails from P&O about refund or offer of future cruises.  (We'd booked 2 cruises) Oh, the joys of retirement, got all the time in the world to solve this little lot, seeing as we can't get on a cruise to anywhere, nowhere, somewhere!! 😜 

Ok - here we go again. P&O to return all pre-paid monies. We've booked a new cruise through Princess, Fremantle to Sydney. Jetstar have been wonderful - changed our return flights from Adelaide to Perth, to Sydney to Perth (extra cost course.) Found a Princess cruise Fremantle to Sydney - booked that. Have to change flight bookings again around Feb 2025 for Dec - no extra cost. Let's see if we manage it this time😏ps you might want to steer clear of us.

[Mycruiseobsession]

Just out  of curiosity I placed a 3 day hold booking on a "P&O Pacific Encounter operated by Carnival"

 

And it shows up as a future cruise on my Princess account as a credit to be counted for Captain's Circle.

 

 

 

[rkmw]

4 hours ago, Mycruiseobsession said:

Just out  of curiosity I placed a 3 day hold booking on a "P&O Pacific Encounter operated by Carnival"

 

And it shows up as a future cruise on my Princess account as a credit to be counted for Captain's Circle.

 

 

 

That’s right because p&o points go onto your Princess account until the takeover next March then you’ll start from afresh with p&o points going to Carnival

[Mycruiseobsession]

7 hours ago, rkmw said:

That’s right because p&o points go onto your Princess account until the takeover next March then you’ll start from afresh with p&o points going to Carnival

 

Well this cruise is well past March 2025 - that was my point.

 

The ones listed as "operated by carnival" are currently still allowing the captain circle credit.

 

[rkmw]

5 hours ago, Mycruiseobsession said:

 

Well this cruise is well past March 2025 - that was my point.

 

The ones listed as "operated by carnival" are currently still allowing the captain circle credit.

 

I have a p&o cruise also booked past next March and I checked my Princess account and it’s on there too so I presume anything booked on p&o now won’t go on the Carnival site until the takeover in March 

[Mycruiseobsession]

@rkmw yep so what I am being wishful/ positive thinking is that these specific "P&O Operated by Carnival" one's maybe grandfathered at the switch over.

 

Then say the new 2026 itineraries will simply  be Carnival, no mention of P&O at all.

 

I would take screen shots of the Captain's Circle P&O allocated ones.

 

No one knows for sure what will happen and of course this is just my favourite "maybe scenario."

[rkmw]

1 hour ago, Mycruiseobsession said:

@rkmw yep so what I am being wishful/ positive thinking is that these specific "P&O Operated by Carnival" one's maybe grandfathered at the switch over.

 

Then say the new 2026 itineraries will simply  be Carnival, no mention of P&O at all.

 

I would take screen shots of the Captain's Circle P&O allocated ones.

 

No one knows for sure what will happen and of course this is just my favourite "maybe scenario."

With us booking p&o cruises now beyond next March I doubt they will be grandfathered to Carnival because they are on our Princess account 

 

if you belong to FB and asked John Heald  on FB don’t know if he would know as yet 

Edited yesterday at 01:15 AM by rkmw

[Mycruiseobsession]

On 7/6/2024 at 11:08 AM, rkmw said:

With us booking p&o cruises now beyond next March I doubt they will be grandfathered to Carnival because they are on our Princess account 

 

That's  OK! 

 

You choose doubt I choose hope! (Wishful thinking) 🧚‍♀️

 

We can agree to disagree and we will know the outcome when it happens 😉

 

 

[arxcards]

On 7/6/2024 at 11:08 AM, rkmw said:

With us booking p&o cruises now beyond next March I doubt they will be grandfathered to Carnival because they are on our Princess account 

 

if you belong to FB and asked John Heald  on FB don’t know if he would know as yet 

JH is not supposed to announce changes before official announcements are made. He may well know, but not be allowed to communicate beyond the repetitive - more exciting announcements to come. Case in point, when Spirit returned to service in Alaska, JH broke the great news. Exciting news for everyone, except those with active Brisbane bookings that weren't officially notified until 3 days later. Loose lips can sink ships.

 

However, they have already announced that P&O cruises beyond next March will be part of VIFP. At a certain point, these future cruises will disappear from Princess Captains circle - as future cruises, no points are being lost.