Carnival Just Took Over. Here’s Why It’s NOT Going Well (YET).

Carnival Cruise Line has officially taken over P&O Australia, making it the only year-round cruise operator in the region. But with their first cruises underway, early reports suggest things aren’t exactly smooth sailing. From staffing shortages to onboard tech issues and unexpected changes to drink packages and premium experiences—are we actually getting less than we had before?

In this video, I break down the biggest complaints so far, what Carnival promised, and why many passengers feel like they’ve taken a step backward. Is this just teething issues, or a sign of things to come? Let’s dive into the truth about Carnival’s Australian cruise takeover.

I’ll also be sailing on Carnival Adventure soon to see firsthand if these issues persist—so make sure to subscribe and hit the notification bell so you don’t miss my honest review!

📢 What do you think? Are these early reports concerning, or is this just part of the transition? Drop a comment below!

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Music by Master Planned Music

[calumshaw]

Just back from my first ever Carnival cruise, a 10 day journey up the Queensland coast, styled for some reason by a misnomer as "Queensland & Great Barrier Reef Cruise". A couple of points, firstly the crew were sensational, not just isolated individuals but just about every crew member we came across was bright alert and happy, all doing a great job. Secondly, the ship Carnival Splendor - Yuck what a disaster that ship is, maybe great if you're under 10, but as an adult the ship felt like a garrish ride at Luna Park, thirdly the staterooms, we had an Ocean Suite and it's the first cruise (out of more than 30) we've ever been on where it is impossible to sit on the balcony whilst the ship is in motion - it was about the only skinny thing on the ship. So Adrian, Carnival is off our list - it's a design and styled nightmare straight out of the Rocky Horror Show. Unfortunately because Princess was completely sold out for 2025 and Cunard has abandoned Australia in 2025 we booked a Carnival Adventure Byron Beach Club cruise for August going to the old reliables - Noumea, Vanuatu and Fiji. Hopefully, and it was your recommendation a few months ago, the ex P&O ship will have more appeal than Splendor.

[barryhamm]

Not providing some of the various Byron Beach additions is NOT just a down grade - it is a BREACH of contract. We paid for these things so they should be provided.

[Carmenn]

I’ll be on Adventure next week, I’ll share my thoughts when I get back. I’ve been on this ship before and loved it under P&O especially the live music, they hired extremely talented musicians and although I prefer Royal Caribbean overall, my favourite live bands/musicians have been on this ship. I was on Splendor in February so it will be interesting to see the difference with the change over. Thanks for keeping us updated!

[graememackley]

Thanks for your video, we are booked on adventure in a few weeks and taking friends who have not cruised before. They are not tech savvy and we were hoping it would be a straight forward experience for them, we will see.

[dawnsmithson]

We booked on P&O a guaranteed BA cabin. We paid more for this as we only wanted to be on deck 11. When the migration went through, I was downgraded to a BC cabin and all Carnival could could say, was that its a BA cabin on them. They changed their categories and refused to place us back to our original cabin type which was contracted through P&O. We aren't even on board yet, and I have spent hours trying to get this fixed. How do they justify downfrading TWO categories with no apology. We had a contract, and they could not honour it.
Finally, we were offered a full refund. Well there goes my Birthday cruise we were looking forward to.
Not good enough Carnival, not good enough.

[markeaston]

Well said Adrian. Cruisers pay good and often hard earned money and someone needs to hold them to account.

[sylviagovers]

We have already cancelled our July Adventure B2B. No regrets, we have put our refund to better use with a payment on our November Celebrity Edge cruise. Still doing Splendor in May with a B2B, but that may be it for us for Carnival.

[medleyoz]

I'm on Carinval Adventure over Easter so hope some of these issues are ironed out. Especially the drink package issue as we specifically got the P&O one that included specialty coffee once it was confirmed they would honor them on Carnival - as Carnival Australia for some reason don't include coffee in any of their drink packages and I really don't want to have to waste time at guest services getting all our coffee removed from our bill.

[MelRunsThings]

Look forward to your review, but hopefully Carnival have ironed out the issues by then.

[peters]

We're looking at a Sth Pacific Cruise May next year. Hoping to go on Carnival Adventure. As we went on P & O Adventure last month and loved everything about it! Hope the 'issues' today are just 'start up' issues.

[AussieCruisingAdventures]

I travelled on Encounter and had purchased a non alcoholic drinks package when it was still P&O it was not honoured and I have never spent so much time at guest services trying to get refunds ended up only having 9 drinks from it the whole 3 days very disappointing and as for the cocktails waiting while the bartenders looked up ingredients to make them was so time consuming. As for service well a smile costs nothing and we were all aware they were struggling but…. To ignore people no eye contact or acknowledgement that was disappointing it was also the first time I have never left tips pretty much sums it up I can only pray they improve

[MaggieKingsway]

This is Carnival Lite. Spirit, Splendor and Luminosa never quite matched the full experience and inclusions of a Carnival U.S. based cruise and these 2 ex P&O will never match Spirit, Splendor or Luminosa. Carnival are not going to spend the big bucks to get these ships fully Carnivalised. Any Americans coming to cruise here will be in for a nasty surprise onboard Encounter ir Adventure.. My bet is Carnival will wait a year or 2 and will announce these 2 ships are getting the chop and we'll get a cast off older US ship instead.

[sharonbosworth]

I have an issue going on with Carnival at the moment. I booked the Adventure for May 2026. I have paid $49 x 2 deposit on a special that P&O had late last year. I booked an oceanview room ( I am claustrophobic), either obstructed or unobstructed. When the change to Carnival came, they have put us in an interior room for the same price. I will be contacting them on the 7th April as that is the soonest I can according to their recorded messages. Have you heard of any of this happening Adrian???

[jasongoldie]

Thanks for the update. I’m booked on Encounter in June and when booked through P&O ordered the non-alcoholic drinks package and part of the deal was $200 onboard credit. Hopefully by the time I cruise there won’t be any of these issues in honouring these. The last thing I want is to have to constantly go and get refunds throughout the cruise for coffee.
Yes, they have had plenty of time sort these things out and when dealing with what people booked and paid for with P&O as far as honouring all aspects of the booking.
I just don’t understand why they are not including things that are included on other Carnival ships. It seems like a slap in the face.

[lorrainewratten]

We were on Maiden encounter 80s cruise last week. Agree with all your comments. I would add that the shop only sells lollies and chocolates...no essential or other items
Also the tvs inroom only have American TV shows and only usa ads 12 of them each commercial break
The larger tvs rhat had lounge chairs in the casino have been removed. There are a few smaller ones added overhead of roulette tables...they need a sports bar

[brendangregory]

booked to go on Encounter in late April from Brisbane, i hope they smooth things out quickly haha but its great to be informed

[garywatkins]

I think we need to give them a bit more time before we judge them it's a bit like when we came out of covid it didn't runs smoothly for a while fat enjoy your show keep up the good work

[dalepalmer]

Just got off Adventure. The transition didn't go very well. They had the staff cleaning and doing maintenance in Melbourne instead of learning the all new computer system. Also, the bar staff were understaffed and over worked and they also had to learn all the new names for old drinks. I guess Carnival obviously tried their best, but it really didn't go as well as they, and us, would have hoped. Guest services were very very busy.
They were 1 thousand passengers down, so we were glad they weren't at capacity.

[Rob-jw]

As someone who has been on Pacific Adventure and Carnival Splendour some things are the same like signing a paper receipt at the bar and a digital menu are both on Carnival Splendour and I expect that to happen with the transition from P&O to Carnival and to be honest it doesn’t really bother me

[happytraveller]

I agree with the printed information, but you’ll get some people that don’t read anything or listen to anything that they’re told. Case in point, my own family -who are currently on a carnival ship, and I’ve given them so much information about what they need to do, what to look out for, how everything works and they didn’t listen and confusion has reigned 🤷‍♀️. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink sometimes.😂