alcpa1

DaveyWavey70, Have you joined your Roll Call? Singles are almost always embraced and encouraged to participate in the meet and greet as well as all shipboard activities.

We've done two end of the season cruises to Alaska and did not see the Northern Lights. That early in the fall season would have been a tremendous bonus. Good luck!

Just returned from a Sirena sailing and so many were upset because there was no availibility for many of the shore excursions. In addition those who had accessibility issues had very few options. I hope that the Simply More excursion issues will be ironed out. It is a new program that had a lot of issues on our sailing. I recommend you book as early as possible.

We were on Sirena March 17 from Panama City to Miami. We were requested to board late via an email on the 16th. The ship went through a required cleaning with several venues closed for two days. We never heard of any health issues for the entirity of the cruise. If the ship left late from Miami it could have been a Coast Guard inspection. There were Coast Guard officials in the terminal when we disembarked.

Love your posts!!! Hank, keep it up and we will book Vista asap. I just finished my last load of laundry after returning from the Sirena. I missed a tissue in a pocket but no fear it came out exactly as it went in - stiff and without a loss of a single fiber.

Just off an O sailing this morning. Another option is to book a sharing table. This adds another layer of booking flexibility and O guests are generally gregarious.

Gary, When we get back from our Sirena cruise in a couple of weeks we need to meet for lunch and dream and scheme together!!!

I was on a webinar with O this afternoon where it was announced there will be a rate increase for all sailings on April 1st.

We knew this before our first O cruise and we are set to be on board again in a few short weeks. BTW we missed a port on Celebrity and the port fee was never refunded. No OBC was offered nor was there any visible weather issue nor viable explanation.

We normally use Blackberry as well but this time we have an earlier flight out of LHR and think it's best to use a local company that won't face the common traffic problems a London based company might face.

It's best if you have an early flight to find a company that calls Southampton home. I have found four, Totally Driven UK, Twelve Transfers, West Quay Cars and Radio Taxis. There may be more. The only one I am familiar with is West Quay. International Friends and other companies out of London share drivers if that matters to you. We are looking for this summer and rates have really gone up since we did this a couple of years ago. One way to control costs is to share the ride with other passengers on the cruise.

In the past, as part of RCCL, other documents including pictures taken during the cruise showing the ship, or a picture with the staff or captain etc. have been accepted. I don't know the Sycamore Partners approach but it's worth a shot. Pardon the pun! This happened to us in the 1980's and now we keep documentation, including photos, sea pass cards, and our cruise docs.

Welcome to Cruise Critic I am ex Celebrity sailor too. Yes the menus do change. There are, of course, some repetitions like your always available selections on X. Don't forget you have the 4 specialty restaurants in addition to the MDR too.

Jim_Iain, We have usually been able to take advantage of certain sales. Some are targetted, some are restricted etc. but overall we have saved substantially and/or upgraded our cabin. We have also had to cancel and rebook to get around the fine print. Since you generally sail in suites you may not have the same offers that are applicable to less lofty cabins. It's always worth a call to your TA!!!!!!

I also recommend you use both with the understanding that your travel agent will handle almost all of the arrangements with Oceania. We often book onboard and transfer to an agent particularly familiar with Oceania. There are multiple agents like connoisseur agents and preferred agents who can guide your booking and also offer assistance and perks to enhance your cruise experience. We have booked cruises with many different lines doing this routinely. The one thing I would also suggest is avoiding group bookings. You should get this information from your agent. There are little things that could affect your fare and alterations to upgrades, price adjustments etc.