Carnival Luminosa Cruise to Papua New Guinea

 

This was our first cruise to Papua New Guinea and our second cruise on the beautiful Luminosa. We have been to Port Moresby Airport before, in transit to Manilla, and we really were not impressed - another story!

Our cruise itinerary:

Day 1 Sunday - boarding in Brisbane.

Day 2 Monday - fun day at sea.

Day 3 Tuesday - fun day at sea.

Day 4 Wednesday - Alotau, PNG.

Day 5 Thursday - Conflict Islands, PNG.

Day 6 Friday - fun day at sea.

Day 7 Saturday - Rabaul, PNG.

Day 8 Sunday - Kiriwina Island, PNG.

Day 9 Monday - Conflict Islands, PNG.

Day 10 Tuesday - fun day at sea.

Day 11 Wednesday - fun day at sea.

Day 12 Thursday - disembarkation, Brisbane.

We had balcony room #4359, which we booked back in July and we chose our own cabin. We liked the cabin behind the lifts as it is usually very quiet. People get out of the lift and go left or right, except for the three cabins behind the lift, and we were in the middle cabin in a connecting room. We have had connecting rooms before and they too are usually very quiet. Not this one. It could have been the ship, but we think the neighbours were yelling too much - can't pick your neighbours.

A few days before departure there was an itinerary change with Rabaul being replaced with Cairns, and the order of ports was changed. Days 1-4 remained the same Day 5 was Kiriwina Island, Days 6 & 7 Conflict Islands, Day 8 at sea, Day 9 Cairns, Days 10 & 11 at sea, Day 12 Brisbane.

Papua New Guinea is located very close to the equator, so is hot and humid all year round. I did question my choice of going in November. We packed light, with only light comfortable clothes and drank lots of water, especially during the day. Also lots of mosquitos, so we packed not only sunscreen for the day trips, but also tropical strength bug repellent. We didn't need to use the bug repellent.

We also exchanged $100 for 200kina at Crown Currency Exchange at Aspley. Crown Currency Exchange is also available at the cruise terminal, on the right as you enter the building, before departure and on arrival day. We didn't spend much, a little at Alotau, nothing at Kiriwina, and Conflict is credit card only.

Alotau was lovely. The ship was docked and it was an easy walk off and on.

We didn't like Kiriwina. From getting off the tender one was bombarded with locals in small boats trying to sell goods - from live birds to wooden trinkets. The markets extended both way for what seemed like forever, along the beach selling the same (what looked like mass produced) wooden objects and baskets. To be honest we saw cheaper objects at the smaller Alotau markets we stopped at. We tried to sit on the beach, but locals came up and wanted to sell us things or take us on a tour. It really didn't feel comfortable so we went back on board. We won't get off at Kiriwina next time we cruise here.

Conflict Islands was absolutely beautiful and we look forward to going there another time.

Now the ship. We do like Luminosa. The staff are great, the food good and the entertainment also good.

I like the amount of trivia and games during the day.

 

We ate in a mixture of the main dining room and the Lido Marketplace (buffet) and can't fault the food. We like the late night dining options and the 24/7 tea, coffee, cordial and hot chocolate.

A great cruise.

 

Carnival Luminosa Balcony Cabin 4359

Cabin 4359 - on deck 4 behind the aft lifts starboard.

 A cabin for 4 - we had three. There is a pull down bunk above the lounge bed.

Very quiet, fridge cold, hot water hot, cold water cold, air con good.

Straight down to main dining room, straight up to adults only Serenity.

Drinks on Carnival Luminosa - March 2023

Now to drinks. We had plenty of choices both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. The prices for reasonable for a cruise. Novel - at first - were the edible straws. There were three flavours, strawberry, orange and chocolate. If you were a slow drinker the straws would deteriorate into the drink. Next cruise I will take my own re-usuable straws.

Sex on the Beach was my favourite cocktail.

..and Kiss on the Lips was pretty good too.

Like other cruise lines, consistency is an issue. This is also Sex on the Beach cocktail.

 I discovered half way through the 7 night cruise that I could get a cocktail pitcher with 4-5 drinks for $49. So I got a pitcher of Sex on the Beach. It lasted me all afternoon, night, and next afternoon. Tasted great at first, but after all the ice had melted it was not so good. Won't do that again.

 

Peter would buy the bucket of beers. It use to be buy 6 pay for 5, but now its $6 off - that $1 off each beer.

The Alchemy Bar had a unique bar menu that lit up when it was opened.

The prices for the drinks were the same all over the ship. Soft drinks (Coke range) come in cans. Of course there were included drinks. Water at all the bars and the four drink stations in the Lido Marketplace, available 24 hours for tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and cordial drinks.

 

Follow PetalliTravellers or me Alli Hale on Instagram  and Peter on YouTube

Carnival Luminosa - Food - March 2023

One of the good reasons to cruise is the fact that there is all inclusive food, accommodation and transport. We always eat at the included restaurants, although there are a couple of paid restaurants we may eat at in the future. As I said in the previous blog, the food was ok. Once on board, we went straight up to the Lido Marketplace for lunch - no hand washing facilities or hand sanitizer. We ate there most days and always found something nice to eat, and there were always plenty of tables to eat at.

The Lido Market place is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There were different areas set up with different cuisines on both sides for lunch and dinner. Most stations are served by staff. Breakfast has the same station each side. We had breakfast up here from day 3 onwards. I like Eggs Benedict and after no success in the main dining room we were pleasantly surprised with the breakfast up stairs. The eggs were perfectly cooked every time and I was even able to get extra hollandaise sauce. 

Eggs Benedict alternated between spinach one morning and ham the next. I took the ham off. I wasn't too impressed with the breakfast sides.

 Lunch time at Lido Market place has more variety. The Pizzeria is open all day into late night. Pizzas were ok, good for a snack.

 

The menus were slightly different each night.

 

 

Salads were self serve, as were sweets.

In the Adults Only area at the back of the Lido Market place there is a BBQ station open for lunch only.

Out closer to the pool is a hamburger station open most of the day on one side and a taco station on the other side - near the soft serve ice-cream.

In the evening there is a Bistro that has and a few nights there was also items from the main dining room menu.

And at extra charge seafood place.

There are 4 drink stations available 24hrs. Two of them have hot chocolate.

One uses the app to book brunch on sea days and breakfast on port days, as well as lunch and dinner (unless one books early or late dinner). We had brunch in the Vela Dining Room (main dining room) the first two mornings. Eggs Benedict comes with smoked salmon. The first morning both the eggs were hard boiled, and the main dining room doesn't have hash browns.

 The second morning I asked for extra hollandaise sauce and breakfast potatoes. They were not very nice and the egg was had again.

 Peter had fried eggs the first morning and said they were good.

Peter had an omelette the second morning and it was just ok.

The French toast was good, sweet but good.

 

We had late dining and arrived at 7.45pm each evening as the doors were opened. The menus were on the app. One couple we were dining with didn't have phones that would display the app so we needed to wait for paper menus. Here is the menu for one night.

 

The food was ok to good, servers were very good, but service was very slow at both brunch and dinner.

 

I have no idea why chicken parma is now served on spaghetti on cruise ships - and the spaghetti tastes like it is out of a can.

Desserts were pretty good, well at least the ones we tried. Unfortunately because the dinner service was so slow we didn't get to taste many desserts. Late dinner was 7.45pm. The shows were 7.30pm and 9.30pm. Shows ran 45-50 minutes. We couldn't go to the first show, and all but one night main meal was served  just before 9, so one of us had to leave before dessert to get good seats. Next time we will book the 'my time' dining for 7pm.

 

There are extra paid restaurants on the ship, but we didn't try any of them.

Follow PetalliTravellers or me Alli Hale on Instagram and Peter on YouTube