Hundreds of cruise passengers who booked their holidays by phone last Friday did so unaware that their Carnival Australia cruise consultants were taking calls in their pyjamas.

Carnival Australia employees were invited to ‘dress down to stress down’ to raise funds for Lifeline on Australia’s annual ‘Stress Down Day’ last Friday.

Carnival Australia CEO Ann Sherry cruised the company’s head office to judge the best dressed sleepwear-inspired outfits.

Employees Rosalino Gonzales, Elise Wellfare, Nicole Huby, Antonia Papadopoulos and Rachel Kenrick were judged as wearing the most creative outfits.

“It was a fun day with a serious intent to support Lifeline’s community work in crisis counselling,” Ms Sherry said.

“Lifeline has been one of our three Carnival Cares partners for the past two years. We support them with donations of surplus items from our ships when they go into dry dock.

“To date, nearly $140,000 has been raised in this way to help fund Lifeline’s 24-hour telephone counselling service,” she said.

Colourful Lifeline ‘Stress Down Day’ slippers were on sale on the day at $25 a pair with Carnival Australia matching staff donations dollar-for-dollar.

The company also donated $5 for each employee taking part in a series of workshops on meditation, yoga and laughter, with both initiatives raising almost $2000 for Lifeline on the day.