Flatbush Flyer

Have your TA do it. you can also do a mock booking and look manually through way too many screens since each time you look at availability it only shows a selection. I sure hope you booked with a TA who shares commissions. Otherwise, direct booking with O is throwing some TA rebate $ down the drain.

Despite the obvious opportunity for someone with zero concern for public health to phony a self test, self testing is still preferred to no testing.

That you only name mass market alternatives may mean that you have not looked fully at cruise line pricing practices. There are other industry segments including premium, luxury, expedition and even yacht charter. If all you are doing is comparing cabin fares across cruise lines and industry segments, you need to relook at how you’re shopping. A far better quantitative comparison is what I call the net daily rate which is the total cost of all required and optionally desired costs for your cruise vacation divided by the number of days involved. When you do this, you may find that what appears to be a “more expensive” cruise on a premium/luxury ship includes some if not all the options for which you’d be nickel/dimed on a mass market ship (charged for a specialty restaurant or internet or even a bottle of water? LOL!) A perfect example involves our preferred premium cruise line which include airfare or an air credit. For an intercontinental air transit, that could mean $1500+\- per person that would incur an extra charge on a mass market ship. The other truly nice thing about the cost of a premium line is that the inclusiveness is usually flexible with a menu of options to choose. (So you don’t pay for booze if you don’t want it). Of course, there’s also the qualitative items like food, service and cabin amenities as well as crew and space ratios as well as maximum passenger loads that seldom would approach 1500 people (would you prefer 700 fellow passengers to 4,000?). Add to all that far more interesting itineraries other than the Caribbean, Med and Alaska “milk runs.” Of course, premium/luxury cruises would not have floating amusement parks, phony art auctions, speakers hawking shopping sites, pesky photogs, and thundering herds of humanity and the aforementioned nickel/diming for every little thing. All that said, do the research and find a well respected TA who specializes in cruising - particularly premium/luxury cruising. That TA will interview you regarding you experiences, preferences and expectations and help you to zero in on a short list of possibilities. (And that costs you nothing). Just from your opening comment on this thread, I’m betting that carefully chosen TA will reinforce the reality that Carnival is not the right line for you.

You may want to read the Cruise T&Cs and Ticket Contract more carefully. Oceania assumes no responsibility for the performance of third party performers including air carriers. Acting only as a TA in booking air, O will assist in any necessary rebooking due to air delay or cancelation. But, any associated expenses or compensation is an issue between you, the airline and your travel insurer. And don’t forget that boarding at a later port stop may be restricted by local authorities (if available at all). A somewhat similar misconception is that the ship will always wait for latecomers from its own tours. Bottom line here is that “time and tide wait for no man.” Port authorities have the final say on whether a ship can overstay its allotted time in port (and Mother Nature is very picky about adhering to her tide tables). In this situation, however, O’s Port Agent (always printed in the daily Currents) will provide logistical assistance. And, though O’s legal mumbo jumbo still absolves them from responsibility for third party performance, Destination Services MAY (and most likely will) compensate you for the next port logistics costs. That said, however, anyone without their own Travel Insurance (Trip Interruption) coverage may find themselves S.O.L.

Most veteran Viking Ocean cruisers I have met on Oceania ships agree that O’s itineraries (particularly the exotic multi-segment ones) are far more interesting and they add that the food is quite superior. O does have a very small casino and you will see the occasional well behaved kid. But those are hardly reasons not to step up to a far better experience.

Room steward should be changing out robes regularly without being asked to do so.

Interesting. Every embark reminder email I’ve ever received from O has one generic line buried in it reminding you that YOU are responsible for complying with ALL travel requirements/restrictions. This is in addition to statements like “O no longer requires tests” or specified restrictions notices like “arriving from China.” You may want to reread the notice that was sent to you. It may have only specified the O and Japan status. But, I’m betting the generic CYA reminder was in there too. Of course, even without seeing/heeding the Oceania CYA statement, it’s always best to review the website testing/visa/etc requirements/restrictions of cruise lines and air carriers PLUS transited and destination countries PLUS local authorities (particularly in port cities).

All cabins have bathrobes and slippers plus Bulgari toiletries.

Actually, it’s a three step process. You left out the requirement of a local/regional government (i.e., the equivalent of a State). For example, we’re currently on a SYD-SYD-PPT Oceania cruise. O didn’t require a test for embarkation and Australia didn’t require a test for arrival at SYD. But, the State of NSW required one for cruise embarkations. Despite O’s usual CYA statement/reminder that the passenger is responsible for meeting the current govt. requirements, there was s long line of folks needing pierside RATs at approx. $100 pp.

The blocked middle seat is a usual practice of Lufthansa. However, we can usually live with those short internal Europe “non-United bizclass” connections because you still get lounge access and Lufthansa often has flash sales on those segments. However, I’ve found that it’s better to call United to book those combos since their online pricing may not always reflect the Lufthansa flash sale on the connecting flights. That has saved us “beaucoup bucks” on more than one occasion.

It would be interesting to see how O’s Air Dept. would treat that. Usually, their PE seat deals are intercontinental legs only. So a deviation fee and/or price differential might be required. And IMO, if I’m doing a flight to Europe from California, I’d prefer one long haul bizclass and a puddle jump (SFO or LAX to FRA or other major hub and then connect to BCN). It all comes down to price vs comfort & convenience.

Same brand as before the Refurb: Samsung. Anticipating your next question: the input source jacks (for an HDMI device connection to allow streaming of stuff you bring) are disabled.

While LA has a larger population within reasonable drive from the port area, most out-of-state folks would/should prefer SF, which is more compact and user friendly.

Again- look at the Vista (and Riviera) itineraries through first quarter of 2025. As I said earlier, one O ship is going to the Pacific (I had hoped it would be Marina) and Vista will get stuck in Miami as a cash cow.

Depends on the airline and the aircraft. The terminology can be tricky too. Premium Economy or Premium Plus or Whatever, it can range from extra legroom only to a somewhat larger/non-lay flat seat with a better meal and free booze. Add to that, the probability that, if you have a US domestic leg in your itinerary, the “Premium Economy” will be only for the long haul intercontinental flight. Whatever the seat types are, if you’re doing a 12-15 hr long haul (we just did SFO-SYD 15 hrs +), anything but “lay flats” (e.g., United Polaris) is asking for a very uncomfortable experience. Even shorter long hauls to Europe from California (we often do SFO-FRA then local connects) scream out for lay flat seats. And, if you do opt for bizclass, do not use O air. Their bizclass quotes look good until you realize you don’t get credit for the coach tix purchased in the “with air” cruise fare required to get that bizclass quote. You end up paying for two tix per person! In addition, if you want specific non-stops on a preferred carrier, you’ll also be looking at possible deviation fees and fare differentials - particularly on non-contract airlines. My advice: take the air credit and DIY.

Whatever you do, don’t use O air for bizclass. And if you do bizclass from California, I can tell you from multiple experiences that a reasonably good price is available from United (SFO-FRA and codeshare on Lufthansa FRA-BCN).

Firstly, you must understand that what Oceania requires is only one piece of the puzzle. On our current SYD-SYD-PPT cruise, while O and the country of Australia did not require Covid tests, the State of New South Wales did require it for cruise embarkation. A lot of folks who didn’t heed O’s email reminding them to check local requirements (even though O had dropped its requirement) ended up needing to pay about $100 pp pier-side for a Rapid Antigen Test. Admittedly, many of O’s Alert emails are poorly written. But, something like “follow local requirements” is pretty straightforward. On the lighter side: When someone on our Roll Call also pointed out the NSW test requirement for embark, one respondent answered something to the effect: “We don’t have to worry about that. We’re leaving from Sydney.” 😳

Look at Vista’s itineraries in ‘24 and ‘25. Then look at Riviera’s in ‘24 and ‘25 (where you’ll notice far more Pacific Rim ports than previously). There’s only one true “market” in the Pacific: The Rim (which is an always moving market). That said, the main “home base” would be LA (though I’d prefer SF). But, whichever O class ship it is, it will do crossings across the four Pacific quadrants as it moves across associated summers/winters.

Vista is already the next added O ship. Allura will be ready in 2025. All O ships will remain “small” at under 1200 passengers. I predict that Marina (or Riviera) will move permanently to the Pacific and, if anything is built in the foreseeable future after Allura is launched, it will be O’s first expedition ship.

Ultra works the same as regular O Life (unless you are trying to get an adjustment to a previous booking that had it’s own “deal” (Most O breaks are not combinable). Usually, O Life w/o air is the same price as Cruise Only w/o air per cabin to which has been added the per cabin value of the O Life SBC. (So, never take the regular O Life SBC - zero added value).

If one has a handful (or more) of Rx containers, it can be a huge inconvenience to fumble with individual bottles on a daily basis (not to mention the space they take up. “To each his/her own.”

Read the Promotions section on the O website and it is clearly explained. Basically, allowable O Life tours are anything with a list price <$200 and w/o added letter designations (e.g., OS, OE, et al.). Remember too that your O Life allotment is an even split for a double occupancy cabin (I.e., 8 tours perk = 4 pp). And, these tours count towards your itinerary’s minimum number of purchased tours for the YWYW 25% discount on your added ones.

Thank you for your kind thought. But, other than some “rock ‘n roll” that is great for falling right to sleep at night, we’ve avoided getting the brunt all of the weather issues. That said, we’ve missed a total of only three ports since we boarded in mid-February (Napier, Norfolk Island and Vanuatu). Obviously, all were significant weather/sea conditions. And yet, I expect that we’ll hear some grumbling from a handful of passengers who blame O for Mother Nature’s trickery and want compensation for this/that/the other thing.

And still, without a pharmacy printout (on letterhead and preferably with item pictures) to show at any required inspection, anyone can put anything in a Rx pill container.

Per my reliable source: Vanuatu Emergency Services has declined Regatta assistance. Only government/military aid allowed for now. We’re heading to Fiji.