Hambagahle

Not really. The cruise had been booked, deposit paid, last May. I was getting ready to make the final payment (which I have done). My TA is someone I have dealt with for cruises for well over 10 yaers now. And she is great! She and the company she works for are among the biggest "clients" of both Oceania and Regent. (Almost all their staff were invited to the christening of the Vista last May and in December to the christening of the Grandeur). It was I who wanted to add the SM because I (and my husband) hate being "nickled and dimed" if you know what that means? We have a Vista suite. We have 6 bottles of complimentary wine/spirits of our choice in that suite but we don't like thinking, when we are in a bar "well this drink will cost another $35 or so...) I am not fussed about the amount I spend per day because we don't go on cruises often and this may be our last anyway. So I am a happy camper with the SM package.

Before SimplyMore we had planned to take the full beverage package which would have cost us $69 per person per day - so $690 pp for the cruise. Plus we were planning to take a few excursions. With SimplyMore the upgrade is only $30 pp/day - so a total of $600 for the cruise AND all the excursions dropped by 25%. Both my TA and I think in our case this is worthwhile.

On the contrary - we did the maths (with our TA's help) and initially came out about $66 better off with Simply More, mostly because of the drinks at meals and therefore reduced price of the full beverage package. But then I read the "fine print" and saw that if we booked one more excursion we would get 25% off ALL the excursions. And since there was one we wanted to take - we did that. With the money we saved as a result we then booked yet another one - all at 75% of cost. For us it makes sense. I think if you don't drink alcohol or wine it probably doesn't.

Thank you so much. I am used to Swiss prices so find all this reasonable even with the 50% increase for same day service...

Sorry! But really all the Americans I know - in total 2 ! (my brother in law and his wife) - love a "buzz". Husband used to be an American but now is Swiss. Can't think of any other Americans that I know. So while I agree it sounded like generalizing. It wasn't. I should have said "both the Americans I know". Mes excuses.

What does that mean ? I have heard of "amen" ... but don't know "ahem" ?

I don't like generalising either. But all the Americans I know like a "buzz". And think that noise in a restaurant is great. I don't. Not a problem. I don't have to eat in those if I don't want to!

Seems that Americans like noisy restaurants. Like you - we don't. I don't use hearing aids but if there is a lot of background noise it is hard for me to hear. And where is the pleasure of a nice dinner if you cannot talk with the people you are dining with?

Looking at the Ember menu (sample menu anyway) I see some things that we might eat - Lobster Roll, Crabcakes - but not much more. Plus I hate noise. Everyone says Ember is very noisy. I am thinking that we will eat there, starters only, and then go to the Terrace Café. IF the noise isn't too bad I suppose we can order a second round of starters ? We loved Jacques. Which is not "Haute Cuisine" but far more "bistro" food. It is wonderful. Very sorry to see it go.

Would anyone have a somewhat recent laundry list for Oceania with the prices on it please? I am trying to pack lightly and if prices are not completely stratospheric I am thinking of getting things that need ironing done on a 24hr or even same day basis. Many thanks!!

Apparently Regent has gone back to the pre-Covid policy of putting a notice on the "hogged" chair and confiscating the belongings. Hopefully Oceania will too. If I were on a cruise where this happened I would speak with the GM. iI is really not fair.

I rather like my "sheltered life". And I have been using computers since the late 1970s. Internet probably since late 1980s. It was very very new then. The language on the Oceania site re. dinner reservations is now back into English. so it must have been a blip. Someone pushed the wrong button...

1. I have never encountered a problem like this before. 2. I do not read Portuguese. I had to look up on Google translate to find out what language it was (!) and to then translate it. 3. it is bizarre in the extreme to be on Oceania cruises US site and have Portugese thrown at you!

Snaefell - I am Swiss. I live in Switzerland. Aside from a couple of trips to France (for lunch and then home) I have not left Switzerland since 2020. My computer has never been to Portugal. In fact it has never been outside Switzerland (it will when we go on our cruise but that is months away). And I have never once seen any Portuguese words on Oceania's site. so why, suddenly, are my dining reservations using Portuguese dates?? When I booked them a few days ago they were all in English. I find this odd.

I have not had one of the outside life boat drills in the last 30 years of cruising...on Oceania and on Regent the drill was conducted in the theatres or the main dining rooms depending on where one's room was... Inside, dry and not affected by weather. I do remember one of those outside drills though - on the Union Castle line in 1952. That was a few years ago.

How on earth could I have a Portuguese IP address?? I live in Switzerland...which is a long way from Portugal. As for dates - there are no country specific dates here. All European countries use the same date format: DD:MM:YYYY

Thank you!

If I have to watch it before watching anything else on the TV - I won't see it! I never watch TV aside from the news here at home. Doesn't seem too smart to me. I have read that you must go to your muster station before you can access your cabin/suite? Is there a stamp to get or something? I don't have a problem with this but I do think the "old fashioned" mandatory life boat drill was a better idea.

Actually it IS bizarre - why put something in Portugese on Dining Reservations which were made in English ?? And to someone who has no connection to Portugal at all. (I have been there - three times - but not in the last 15 or more years).

I am in Switzerland, where I live. We have a fair number of Portugese here but that is not one of our national languages!!

I made dining reservations for our 21 April cruise last night. went to check them today and what I think might be the days of the week are in a language I do not know. (Might be Portuguese?? But WHY??) Example - first day on the ship and we are booked for Polo it says "terça-feria abr.22". This is bizarre !!!

It depends I suppose on whether the vast majority of people are boarding what is essentially a new cruise or whether the segment you are taking are part of a longer cruise. We always reserve Red Ginger for the first night - sort of "celebration we are finally here!" sort of thing. And it works well for us. Then we ask our butler to get us more reservations for later nights. I suppose if we didn't have a butler we would use the dining res. desk...

Even if you declined the OLife package you can probably switch to SimplyMore...the "new and improved excursion and drinks package". We did. Switching has saved us some money. Not a lot - but some. I am all for that!

I have to say that having read Rick Steves book on Switzerland and having found a lot of problems with it - and the same with his guide to Florence - I am not a fan of his. But if he can point you in the right direction I suppose why not? Istanbul - when we were last there a very long time ago we did our own thing. It never occured to us that we would need a guide. Turkey is a bit different now and so are we! (A generation older...). But sadly we are not going there...

I totally agree with this - you need a guide, and a good one at that, to make sense of Ephesus. When we were there (a long time ago...) we were in a group that had two university professors with us. One from Oxford and the other from London. They did a magnificent job of preparing us for the day there and then leading the group around the site. Sadly Oceania has seen fit to remove Ephesus from our itinerary this time around... We have had some good Oceania tours - one in Belize to a Mayan site was incredible. Partly for the guide and partly for the boat driver on the river who was able to spot any kind of wildlife around. We have also had some not great tours (I remember one in Palma when we simply left and went back to the ship) and some "middleing" ones. It is really the luck of the draw but as Hank has pointed out the odds of a really good tour are not great at the moment.