Carnival Cruise Line to Absorb P&O Australia

[Aus Traveller]

2 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

This has always been a bit confusing to me, but I thought that if you had a P&O Oz Cruisling number it was also automatically your Princess Captains Circle number.

Yes. For a while now P&O and Princess use the same loyalty number.

[Aus Traveller]

4 hours ago, arxcards said:

 

There is a "Find my VIFP number link" on this page, and it is as easy as name & DOB. VIFP Club Member Cruise Deals - Learn More At Carnival I haven't ever needed to quote it during booking.

Thanks. I tried the link but got the same answer as I did several months ago - "Sorry we are unable to find your VIFP number". Maybe I will have to email or phone and give them the details. The reason I want to follow up on this is because we have a P&O cruise booked for May next year. According to today's announcement, it will be a Carnival cruise. Although I don't think it will make much difference during the cruise, I prefer to have my cruising history rather than starting out as a newbie.

 

P.S. I tried the Carnival site with my husband's details and, Lo and Behold! I have a number. I will still follow it through with Carnival.

Edited June 4 by Aus Traveller

[windsor26]

3 hours ago, reeves35 said:

If ever there was an opportunity for RCCL to properly enter the Australian market, this is it.  There will be a number of loyal P&O customers who don't want to move to Carnival but currently have no other choice.  Will it happen?, probably not.

Not unless that use AUD  and get rid of tips

[reeves35]

48 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

I rarely notice decor while on board and certainly don't remember post cruise, except for one cruise which was garishly Egyptian themed. That may have been my one and only Carnival cruise - possibly Spirit?

I think the garish Egyptian theme may have been Pacific Sun (formerly Carnival Jubilee).  Spirit has the weird purple and red themes in the central atrium.  Both are Joe Farcus interiors who did all Carnival's interiors from the original Carnivale through to Carnival Magic though Carnival Dream and Magic were toned down to some of the previous over-the-top styles.  

[SinbadThePorter]

1 minute ago, reeves35 said:

I think the garish Egyptian theme may have been Pacific Sun

 

It might also have been Carnival Legend which was out here for a while.

[reeves35]

1 minute ago, windsor26 said:

Not unless that use AUD  and get rid of tips

Yes, a permanent placement would require AUD onboard, AU power outlets etc.  Tips and gratuities are really a formatting thing.  Carnival including P&O and Princess include it in their pricing in Australia so it is not obvious; that doesn't mean they are not charging it.  I imagine RCCL would probably use the same strategy.

 

 

[Jim_P]

The horrible Egyptian theme was the Carnival Spirit. I remember it well, being my first time on a Carnival cruise. 

[Ondine]

When Carnival spat the dummy last year and withdrew from Melbourne (they weren't actually here) but took Cunard away from the end of last season and Princess from Dec this year there was no mention of P&O Au which also sailed under the Carnival umbrella.  That tells me that this was well on the way to be implemented then.  Another reason why Grand Princess got itineraries for Alaska when she was expected to replace Explorer.  Been in the works for a long time and the spat with the Vic Government was a red herring.

[ceeceeDee]

1 minute ago, Jim_P said:

The horrible Egyptian theme was the Carnival Spirit. I remember it well, being my first time on a Carnival cruise. 

Even if you don't normally get sea sick, that would do it!

[gbenjo]

Carnival said it was because of the regulations that they have to operate under in Australia that was a reason for the merge but wouldn’t the same regulations apply to any ship operating in Australia regardless of which line was operating it?

[rkmw]

15 minutes ago, windsor26 said:

Not unless that use AUD  and get rid of tips

Royal doesn’t have gratuities on their AU cruises but still have US currency onboard 

[Jim_P]

11 minutes ago, Ondine said:

Been in the works for a long time and the spat with the Vic Government was a red herring.

I agree.  The port fee thing was silly, per person it didn't equate to much, we already pay for the port fees with our fare, they could have added the difference to every fare and nobody would have noticed. Likewise Virgin using the Red Sea as an excuse to pull out of Australia, which is ridiculous since they could easily just do a repositioning cruise coming the other way from the US like most of the other cruise lines.  

 

I think it comes down to the weak Australian dollar on top of the cost of living crisis leading to people spending less on board. The issues with NZ as well as the shortage of passenger terminals in Sydney also probably helped them make the decision that we just aren't worth it.

Edited June 4 by Jim_P

[rkmw]

20 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Thanks. I tried the link but got the same answer as I did several months ago - "Sorry we are unable to find your VIFP number". Maybe I will have to email or phone and give them the details. The reason I want to follow up on this is because we have a P&O cruise booked for May next year. According to today's announcement, it will be a Carnival cruise. Although I don't think it will make much difference during the cruise, I prefer to have my cruising history rather than starting out as a newbie.

 

P.S. I tried the Carnival site with my husband's details and, Lo and Behold! I have a number. I will still follow it through with Carnival.

Carnival have a different number from Princess and p&o

[ceeceeDee]

6 minutes ago, gbenjo said:

Carnival said it was because of the regulations that they have to operate under in Australia that was a reason for the merge but wouldn’t the same regulations apply to any ship operating in Australia regardless of which line was operating it?

I would have thought so.

[Aus Traveller]

5 minutes ago, rkmw said:

Carnival have a different number from Princess and p&o

We used to have different numbers for Princess and P&O, but a few years ago P&O adopted the Princess number. I now have a different number altogether for my husband's Carnival 'account'.

[SuitesRbest]

So said, lot's of memory's on this cruise line.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Just now, Aus Traveller said:

Yes. For a while now P&O and Princess use the same loyalty number.

Our loyalty number is the same on Princess, Carnival, and Cunard. We haven't cruised P&O.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Just now, rkmw said:

Carnival have a different number from Princess and p&o

They may not have realised you were the same person. 

 

At one stage Rolf ended up with a different number for one cruise - it took a couple of phone calls to sort that out. 

[MicCanberra]

1 hour ago, Jim_P said:

The horrible Egyptian theme was the Carnival Spirit. I remember it well, being my first time on a Carnival cruise. 

I didn't mind the Egyptian decor, it meant I could ask for whatever I wanted and there would be no denial.

[2022cruisey]

Very disappointed.  We went on our first P&O from Freo to Indonesia and back earlier this year.  I really enjoyed the Australianess of the cruise, no endless spruiking for tips and no over the top, fake friendliness of the crew.  Compared to Carnival Splendor last year trip to Noumea where it was just so American in volume, food and tip culture.   Princess is in between the two in attitude if you have the drink package, much more low key.

On the weekend I booked a P&O for September, glad nothing is changing before then.

Have also booked RCI for next April, haven’t been on them, hoping they are not too American.

[rkmw]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Our loyalty number is the same on Princess, Carnival, and Cunard. We haven't cruised P&O.

My Princess and p&o number is different to Carnival 

[CountessCookie]

1 hour ago, gbenjo said:

Carnival said it was because of the regulations that they have to operate under in Australia that was a reason for the merge but wouldn’t the same regulations apply to any ship operating in Australia regardless of which line was operating it?

I just see this as as meaning the can pull the ships from down here when they want to. A bit harder to do if the ships are sailing under P&O "Australia" 

[MicCanberra]

15 minutes ago, rkmw said:

My Princess and p&o number is different to Carnival 

Likewise, as is my Cunard and HAL numbers

[Bowm54]

Word of the rebrand arrived swiftly, on arrival in Kiriwana on Wednesday the locals were definitely in a Carnival spirit.

Some onlookers were bemused however the next day in Conflict islands it was all Pies and icecream.

 

[Kiwi_cruiser]

RIP P&O Australia 😞

 

They will be missed.

 

It will be interesting to see what changes Carnival does.

 

It will also be interresting to see how much support Carnival will give to the people in the South Pacific, like what P&O does now?