ORV

No need for forgiveness, LOL, I could see how someone casually passing by there might think it was a cigar room, but they are pretty strict about it.

This is not correct, you must be thinking about another cruise line. Oceania does have an indoor smoking area in the Horizons lounge on the port side as you walk in, but cigars are not allowed in there. Sometimes people don't know that and might fire one up. It would make a great cigar bar smoking area though. Cigars and pipes on Oceania are only allowed in the smoking area on the pool deck, starboard side. Deck 12 on the O ships and Deck 9 on the R ships.

Get a new invoice for the Jan cruise now that you've completed your 4th one. It should show the Bronze perks on it. Once that's in their system it should show up on your Manage cruise acct. You should also get a hat and a tote bag, which I've never been able to get.

Well, at least it's a new question.

One would think so, but add up disembarkation day, attendant on last day of contract, going home, expensive sunglasses setting out on shelf, having breakfast, then coming back to get carry ons and clear room by 8am, discover sunglasses gone. When attendant is confronted sunglasses are magically found in trash down the hall, claimed must have got knocked off the shelf into trash while cleaning. Got them back, didn’t press the issue. So it can happen. Just wondering if maybe the attendant was not coming back. Who knows, but those that think they won’t take anything are just being naïve, like I was, until it happened to me.

Don’t forget you also get the 3 bags of laundry. Also as you referred to, you get to book your advance specialty restaurants sooner than everything below you, which is the bulk of the cabins on the ship. To me this is one perk that really sets concierge apart if it’s important when you dine, and whether you prefer to eat alone or share. You also get a bottle of bubbly.

As well they should.

Outdoor smoking area on Oceania has been on starboard ever since I started cruising on them in 2009. The indoor is on the port side.

Well since they can't make their website work right at least they have a sense of humor about it. That's a start, realizing and acknowledging there is actually an issue.

Yes, you are correct.

I’m pretty sure all deposits on Oceania are refundable up until a month before final payment. And then it’s $250 per person until final.

Yes, it makes sense, but I always have to stop and focus on what dates he’s writing.

Funny, the only time I've been to St Vincent we got soaked while on a tour. Just out of curiosity, what is your age range?

Actually on Oceania it’s a bit different than larger cruise lines. There are only a few ships. A very large percentage of the passengers are repeaters. I’ve got almost 30 in and every cruise I meet those that easily have double or more than me. Prior to Covid the crew and officers are/were long term employees. Many of them 15 or more years. Many of them are still around. When you put this all together it creates an environment where the crew actually does remember you without cheat sheets. Maybe not your name at first, but they do remember your face. In September we cruised with 2 bartenders we first met in 2013. They definitely both remembered us. But I’m a memorable guy. 😝

I forget which ship, but one morning at breakfast in The Terrace “Fire” by Jimi Hendrix came on. I was like WTH, isn’t this Oceania?

Have you ever had kickback on this? Do you just ask for a Polo menu and they comply. I realize this is an option in Privee, but never heard of it in each individual restaurant. If that's the case I might start ordering from Toscana when I'm in Polo. Can you mix and match?

On the other hand you're back there with the owner's suites. One would think the best butlers would be serving that area.

There is a certain segment of cruisers that feel that the MDR dress code should apply anywhere on the ship after 6 pm. This comes from historically being a rule on many ships and still is on a few cruise lines. These are the folks you see on the dress code threads trying to force their point of view on others regardless of what the dress code is. They're living in the past.

I think they use other names due to some negative publicity with the Steiner name in the past.

What we don't know here is what your room category is and how many days out you were able to book. Always makes a big difference.

I was going to point out the same thing. You're going to have all these costs on any cruise. So you're way ahead of the game. I have one in February, we're using miles for the flight, points for the hotel room, and Elite perks for some drinks some internet. But we'll still spend a bit. But like many others we might bet $50-$200 in the casino when we cruise. Certainly not big spenders. On our last cruise we pre-bought $50 of play and she put her card in to access it. Maybe this triggered the free offer. We've had two others since we booked this one, so apparently we're on the list. We didn't book either of those as they couldn't work in our schedule.

Is this for the Jan 4th cruise? Apparently these aren't as hard to get as some people think they are, if you got it with 40 days of sailing.

Man, I hate to tell you, but you should have come here first, got insight from Oceania regulars then gone forward with the booking with more information. As you say, lesson learned. Unfortunately, it's an expensive lesson. Good luck with putting the rest of it together. As many of us often say, find an experienced Oceania Travel Agent and have them guide you through the ins and outs of their process. Enjoy your cruise.

I see you enquired, but who else did? I went back and checked and see one other poster mentioned calling. Is there a thread somewhere on a Roll Call or a FB post that has the multiple people on it? I guess I haven't seen those, but have to admit I have not been checking Roll Calls during this period.

Could there be any more confusion than the posts on this thread? Does anyone have any actual facts, or just supposition? With all due respect I don't consider what some customer service rep that answers the phone at Oceania as actual facts. On the other hand, if you talked to someone higher up in management that might carry a bit more weight.