mancunian

I don’t have any idea of speed to fuel efficiency but surely speed will be dictated by how big the tanks are and having enough fuel to get there. They may have to travel at 15 to do this. I am sure the bean counters will have worked out the difference in cost of fuel to the expense of going to Colombo for the start of the cruise and the airfares.

I agree with you. There are some on here who seem to be really enjoying the whole thing.

My guess is that SS has discovered far too late in the day that their insurance will not cover them for passengers. Do you think they will fly the crew from Aquaba to Dubai and just do the trip with a skeleton crew I bet the captain who went off on 8 December as we embarked is relieved.

We returned from Moon on the 22. December. One morning my husband had gone to a lecture and I had gone to Dolce Vita where it invited guests to have coffee with the officers i have not come across this before and presumably guests and officers had not either as very few of them there. The hotel manager was and came to join me. We chatted generally and she asked which lines we had travelled on when I said we had done around 70 cruises. I told her some of them and said we had decided earlier this year there were now only two cruiselines which interested us - Silversea and Oceania which both had strengths and weaknesses though actually not many in either case. They were both excellent lines - SS strongest strength was definitely service and crew, Oceania’s was food which now seemed a weakness on SS since our cruises (3) last year on Spirit. We talked a little about this and she said did I mind if she phoned to ask the food and beverage manager to come up to talk to me. She asked him to talk to me, write down what I said and have a meeting with her later. He was a little defensive and I must say I felt a bit sorry for him and I was trying to put things as tactfully as possible, but I said we found the quality of the meat was not always as we had found it previously and that at some meals it was tough and/or tasteless. He said he had been with SS for many years and that the suppliers had not changed and that he ordered the food.I could not bring myself to ask if the budget had been cut, or indeed not raised with the cost of food increases, and the much dearer fares. He would not have told me anyway, but they know the answers to that. I said instead that it must be the preparation.at fault. I gave him some examples, and also said I felt Atlantide service had deteriorated, and our displeasure at the small menus at La Terraza. I praised highly the salt kitchen, its food preparation, staff and excellent maitre’d. The Maitre’d told me the next day that the hotel director and food and beverage manager told had visited for dinner the previous evening. (he did not know I had been talking to them, or if he did they told him I agree with the above comments that if we want the old standards back talking to those in charge is the way to go.

Agree as they would not be directly involved but would have thought they would have seen some start in preparations. As I said possibly very low key celebrations!

We received a glossy brochure on all the luxury lines from a UK travel agent which said 4 Jan in Fort Lauderdale. Must be going to be a very low key event.

That made me laugh too. Like you I wear trousers and possibly a long skirt on formal evenings though often trousers then too. However I have just had my comeuppance. My leg is much worse and cannot bear the pull of trousers on the side of my leg when sitting and my daughter went out yesterday and bought me three skirts. I feel somewhat underdressed now. The really bad news however, is that we have had to cancel our spring cruise on Spirit.

not sure if it is mentioned but the strength of Oceania buffet is anything that can be cooked individually iwhich can be lobster fish, steak and other meats and stir fry’s. You can go back to your table and a waiter can bring it to you or you can stay and watch. I personally love their buffet because I never like eating too much in an evening and. i can get better control on quantity on the one hand and on the other a you can see what is being offered. The buffet tables are set like a restaurant and they are attractive decor does not feel like a buffet

We have been on the Oceania Vista this year and it certainly in our view was excellent and can give SS a tun for the money having also done Moon and Dawn this year. These are the only two cruiselines that interest us these days. We have done just under 70 cruises altogether. I am afraid the difference is about food and price which swings in Oceania’s favour

I agree fully. We were on the Dawn three months ago and the crew were fine. We are currently on the Moon and we have commented on the friendliness of the crew and how many know our names. Of course on our cruise it may be that as we are only half full they have more time, but I guess if dronn thinks so on a full ship there is something in it

I agree with you

We too had torrential rain in the morning few people got off the coach at the first stop coming very wet indeed. Our excursion had. lindos around lunchtime so we were lucky.

We are currently on the moon and service everywhere has been excellent though cannot say the same for the food with the exception of SALT. We were on Oceania earlier this year and the food and Preparation were excellent. Having said that the shore excursions team on O was the worst we have experienced

Not sure. We are on deck 8, suite 823. It had a small left, right, left motion which I thought was the stabilisers being near the front because whilst not very rough there was some movement