edgee

Well, just let me say out of my ten cruises on O, I think two of them have stuck with the exact itinerary listed when I booked the cruise. My other cruise experiences on Celebrity, Crystal, Princess, HAL, and Regent, I can remember five times itineraries have been changed and two of those were on Regent which is also owned by NCL Holdings and shares some staff with O. I believe there are many times when it is a close call weather wise, O always makes the more conservative decision. Just my opinion based on experience.

AA has put this idea of only allowing miles earning on direct bookings and with preferred agencies on hold. Not sure when it will start but also not clear whether cruise line arranged air will or will not be considered to be "preferred" suppliers such that miles will be earned on bookings by them.

David, I guess it depends what you compare it to. Immediately after you and I were on Vista I cruised on Celebrity Ascent. Obviously, Vista is uncrowded compared to those sorts of larger ships..I could really see the differences, although we were in the Retreat, which for us alleviated somewhat the crowding issue. On the other hand, we recently completed a transatlantic on Regent Splendor, which, by comparison makes Vista seen crowded.

Can happen with any cruise line, but in my experience with nearly 50 cruises, ten of which were on Oceania, Oceania tends to alter itineraries and times in more often than other cruise lines.

Problem is pervasive. We'll respected cruise reviewer Gary Bembridge recently did a YouTube review on Vista...see below. Says he loves Oceania but will not sail Vista again due to noise between cabin issue. https://youtu.be/5aOXEYQXQW0?si=Kx-4RmEZA3bo3DB9

That's probably the reason then. My TA offers me savings of about 10% or more off of the fare Oceania charges direct bookers. Another reason to consider using one.

Are you in their records as normally using a travel agent? Or does your profile with them indicate that you normally book directly? I always use a TA and never get a call from either Oceania or Regent when I sign in to look at cruise availability on their sites.

Try going to website of major on line cruise agencies. Several let you search for Oceania cruises and a map pops up with deckplans with flashing dots over available cabins in category you are considering. Fares listed are without air.

Even for folks in the same cabin SM excursion credits are technically not shareable. Encountered a rare occasion where DW and I wanted to go on separate tours in a port. Hers was more expensive than mine and used up rest of her SM credit. I could not use the few extra bucks in my SM excursion money to cover balance of her tour beyond what was left in her SM excursion balance. Had to pay extra 20 bucks or so to cover excess cost of her tour while my SM excursion balance showed about 25 bucks remaining.🤔

Have been on nearly 50 cruises on 6 different cruise lines. Only time encountered Noro Virus was on an Oceania cruise. IMHO the staff served system on Oceania creates crowds at the Terrace Cafe and create the facade if a more overall sanitary environment without the reality. Waiting in a crowd at the dessert area of the Terrace on Vista with folks barking instructions to servers and breathing all over each other seems a lot less sanitary (and less pleasant) than serving plated desserts to myself in an uncrowded, relaxed atmosphere on Regent Splendor. I experienced both in the last two months.

Thanks, thought of that, but Delta is only airline that flies both routes without crazy connections on at least one of them and their system will not accept a multi city fare for those routes.

I live on Long Island and loads of miles on United. Thought of booking United for cruise from Rio in 2025, but found that they only seem to fly to South America via Houston which adds a connection and about 4 hours of extra flying. Will do nonstop on AA!

Booked Splendor March of 2025 Rio to Lisbon. Regent Air allowance is $4300 pp. Live near JFK, so when Business Class NS JFK to RIO became available for just $2100 pp, I booked it paying just $100 per person extra to make it refundable. I am finding, however, that the LIS to New York fares for March are extremely high unless I book TAP (about $2100 pp) which has an iffy reputation. Questions: 1. How does Regent calculate the portion of air allowance for return home if you choose to do the outbound portion of air on your own? Do they give me air credit for half the $4300 which is $2150 and then book the return portion under their portion? 2. Does anyone know if Regent is likely to put us on TAP under a contract they may have with that airline. (Airfares for Delta and United are $4000 or more one way.) Thanks for any advice. Ed

And after completing your walk down the donkey path and get back to the ship, plan a trip to the gym to grab a bunch of lysol wipes to clean up your shoes😁

I had heard that 17 day drydocks/refurbishing time was built into both Mariner and Voyager schedules for late 2025. However, when I look at schedules for both ships, neither of them appear to have a gap in their schedules for fourth quarter of 2025 or even early 2026. Does anyone know if ships these are still scheduled for major refurbushings and, if so, when?