We’re on board the Carnival Encounter, an older and smaller cruise ship.  Built in 2002 for Princess, it was handed down to P&O Australia in 2019, given a spruce up, and named Pacific Encounter.  In 2024, it was announced that P&O Australia was being folded into Carnival Australia, and just last month the ship was rebranded as Carnival Encounter.  A lot of work has gone into repainting, relabelling, and reprinting everything, from the hull to the menus, and the many things stuck on various surfaces all over the ship.

After our dubious experience with brand new “state of the art” behemoths, we were quite happy to be on a more traditional ship, without the bolt-on amusement park (ok there is a water slide, but it’s been added in such a way that it doesn’t really intrude on the open deck space).  The cabins are still very much Princess style, and we are right at home.  Unpacking was easy – we know exactly where we prefer to put everything.  One of my favourite features is the walk in wardrobe – a simple but very effective space.  This one has a motion sensor light which can’t be switched on or off permanently.  It comes on for about 10 seconds before plunging you back into darkness.  I discovered that if I gave each item of clothing a flourish towards the ceiling before placing it on its hanger, I could trick the light into remaining on almost continuously.

The bathroom has the dreaded Curtain of Clinginess, hated by cruisers the world over.  And there is insufficient space to swing Captain Kumamon, let alone any unsuspecting cat that might be lurking in there.  But it is practical, and if we keep everything stowed ship-shape, we manage fine.

This design of ship has been unkindly dubbed “the Shopping Trolley”, for obvious reasons.  The “handle” across the stern is a nightclub, reached by a sloping walkway.  During daylight hours it is (so far) a haven of peacefulness, where there are very few people, but plenty of comfy lounge chairs overlooking the wake – perfect for reading a book or zoning out as you watch the mesmerising movement of the ocean blow.

The rest of the ship is pretty standard.  There are three restaurants and a small buffet.  The food has all been tasty and well-prepared.  Gourmet foodies might not be overly impressed, but the service is efficient and we have no complaints with the quality.  There’s the usual assortment of trivia, games, dance classes, and various ways to entice you to part with money – but interestingly, the usual in-your-face hard sell has been missing (yay).  Perhaps they’ve worked out that Australians don’t go for it as much as other nationalities.  Last night we learned that of 2800 passengers (almost capacity), 2500 of us are Aussie, nearly 200 are Kiwi, and the rest are made up of just 1 or 2 representatives of other countries.  It’s a very different mix for us compared to our other cruises.

Brisbane doesn’t have the same spectacular harbour to sail out of that Sydney does – the cruise terminal shares the same piece of mangrove swamp that is home to the airport.  We glided away smoothly and without too much fanfare.  It was a glorious afternoon, and there was plenty of open deck where I could find my own space, feel the wind on my face, and enjoy watching the patterns made by sun, sand and sea.

We clearly missed the memo about matching, colourful shirts – it’s a big thing on this cruise to dress the whole family in the same holiday-themed outfits.

At dusk we drifted past the unmistakeable outlines of the Glasshouse Mountains, with the lights of Noosa up ahead.  We slid around Fraser Island in the dark; when we woke we were as far north as Rockhampton.  The seas are smooth with a gentle swell, and we feel an occasional rolling.  We are currently crossing the Coral Sea as we head north.  Eventually we will pass the tip of Australia, arriving at Alotau on Friday morning.

On our first of two sea days we skipped trivia – unusual for us.  By today we were ready to jump in and get our brains going.  Round 1 was called general knowledge, but it was trivia in the proper sense of the word.  We guessed most of our answers, scoring a miserable 9 out of 20; the winners scored 15.  We were going to have to lift our game big time.  The next round was Australian geography.  On a ship with a mostly US demographic we would have romped this in, but with so many Aussies on board, we had our work cut out for us.  We fared much better with 15 points – but the winners got an almost perfect score of 19.

Fortified by lunch, we went on to our third round for the day.  This one was 1950s history –much more up our alley.  Our score of 17 points was enough to earn us a coveted Carnival Medal!  You only get one per team though, so rather than resting on our laurels, the challenge is on to get another one so that we have a matching pair.

We returned to our cabin for afternoon siesta to discover that Captain K has met a new friend.

So far we are liking the ship.  Some places are understandably crowded and noisy, but we are learning where and when the peaks are.  Trivia is very popular, as are dance classes and destination talks, and there is always a queue for free pizza.  But there are numerous quiet corners too, and if we want fresh air and a view, it’s easy to step outside, head upstairs, and find yourself a nice uninterrupted vantage point.  The promenade deck is largely uncluttered with funky lounge furniture or strange artworks – just old fashioned timber benches, and railings to lean on as you watch the ocean go by.   We’ve slipped easily into shipboard life.  This time tomorrow, we will have visited a new, and very different country.

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