bob brown

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

That’s why they bought the AQV ships — to prevent somebody else from entering the market. 

Viking can expand.  Other's can also bring newbuilds.  Maybe not for a while, but eventually.

8 hours ago, Tom47 said:

It took them years to agree to merge PS with ACL, after requests from cruise pax.  We cruised PS 1st time in 2019 and it was an issue then.   I doubt AQV will happen, but you can live in hope.

If they want to keep most of AQV's customer's, it might be a good idea to make it happen.  Otherwise, some other player might enter the market, (besides Viking), and take some of them...

🤷‍♂️

3 hours ago, Tom47 said:

They have merged loyalty programs with ACL, parent company, about 4 months ago.

That’s no help to me, as I haven’t sailed on either previously.  Now if they would “merge” their loyalty program with the former AQV, since they purchased some of their vessels, that would give me some “status”…😉

Hey people!   Don't you realize that these pins are by far the most expensive jewelry I own?

(As in the fares paid to obtain them)....😁

Has anyone cruised this line more recently?

2 hours ago, goletans said:

Thank you. I had missed this topic.

I see that as usual with O it depends on who you talk to and when as perks change.

For now I will assume that I will be able to request my free 14-day cruise 180 days before sailing and that my husband may also get the perk. However, he will not get an additional free cruise on his 20th. Any other benefits we may or may not receive is up in the air for now. Oceania will figure out how much we will pay for the sailing. We hope it will be a solid savings.

I had long given up on 'O' doing what is "right", and accepted it is what it is;  but since this subject has resurrected, I will comment...

If someone can take a friend on their "Milestone" free cruise, who say, has no history on "O", does that person, who begins cruising on 'O' on their own, now have to cruise 40 times to get their first "earned Milestone"?    That would seem to be how 'O' is interpreting their "fine print".

Or...suppose someone else wants to take that person on their first Milestone cruise...would they have to pay to go on it, since they have already been on another person's Milestone?

The "fine print" does not address all these possibilities.   The perk should be for an individual to use, and the status of the 'guest', should have no bearing on whether they can be a 'guest' of the Milestone awardee, or not.   Or simply change it to make it clear, the milestone cannot be 'shared'.

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

ACL would not use the AQV ships in their Pearl Seas subsidiary, as this would eliminate their ability to bypass the PVSA.  The ships need to be US owned, and Pearl is not a US company.  Why initiate a US subsidiary to a non-US subsidiary, when they can operate US flag Great Lake ships directly under ACL.

Okay...then just divert some of their new coastal ACL ships to cover the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence itineraries.  Then keep or get rid of the Pearl Seas ship.   🤷‍♂️

I am still hoping ACL takes the opportunity to increase their presence on the Great Lakes and upper St. Lawrence via their Pearl Seas subsidiary, hopefully with a pair of new ships, to replace the former Victory pair...

And sail into Chicago instead of Milwaukee on most sailings...

I am wondering if it is the scope of the Longshoreman's union that handles ship's mooring lines at docks and piers?  Is it from the same 'craft' that loads and unloads baggage and freight from ships, or a separate entity?

Anyone do the St. Lawrence Seaway on the Pearl Seas, Pearl Mist?   Wondering how their food compares with AQV...

The American Queen is in a class by itself, not just for its steam propulsion, but also for its size.  Its size allows it to offer a level of on board entertainment and facilities that a smaller boat cannot.

The modern Viking Mississippi probably comes closest in that regard…

On 2/28/2024 at 1:47 AM, steamboats said:

 

The American Queen is built in 1995, the American Empress in 2003. The American Countess and American Duchess are new. The Cape boats (Ocean Voyager / Ocean Navigator ex Cape May Light / Cape Cod Light) are also from the long ago Delta Queen Steamboat Company era.

 

steamboats

The American Countess and Duchess aren’t exactly new, either…rebuilt from former Iowa gambling boats…

On 2/22/2024 at 9:03 PM, Tom47 said:

We were on an ACL Columbia river cruise in 2022 and found the food very good.  Pearl Seas is owned by ACL and they have now merged loyalty programs..

I am one of those displaced from an AQV booking for their Ocean Voyager Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway cruise this year that chose to try the Pearl Seas, Pearl Mist version of it.   Nice that I will be able to use that status on the ACL brand later...

I am hoping that Pearl Seas will expand to fill the vacuum, and maybe with a new ship for that market, more like the two that Viking has...

15 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

Is it just me (and the TV choices I make), but does it seem to anyone else that ACL is suddenly increasing their advertising? Maybe hoping to pick up passengers from AQV?

I too have noticed recent ACL ads.  I am not sure if they are running more, to target former AQV customer's, or maybe I am just more aware of them now...🤷‍♂️

12 hours ago, 0106 said:

BTW, I have never see the commercials the two other times I watched on a ship.  Just the live stream of the game.

The same for the two Superbowls I have seen on Oceania cruises.  Instead of the often entertaining commercials, they just kept repeating the same boring network "promo's", over and over and over...🥱

I wish they would be more like their rival, ACL, as far as investing in new boats and ships, although I haven’t sailed with that line yet to compare their products.

Due to AQV canceling my Great Lakes and St. Lawrence cruise this year, I will try ACL’s subsidiary, Pearl Seas Cruises, Pearl Mist for a similar itinerary.  Not sure if that will be a good measure of ACL or not, since the Pearl Mist is not a US registered ship, so a different crew experience…

17 minutes ago, Globalfish said:

A similar article appears at https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/American-Queen-Voyages-cancels-February-sailings.

 

Methinks that greedy venture capitalists took a long-standing company with a fine reputation and ran it right to the ground.  Not sure it can ever recover but wishing it the best.  The first step should be to get back to their roots on the Mississippi and chuck the expedition stuff (i.e. Alaska) and other “flotsam and jetsam.”

Agree that they should not get into the Alaska market.  IIRC, they don't even own the expedition ship they use up there, but charter it from another company.  I would have liked them to stay on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence market, however...

On 2/2/2024 at 7:37 AM, LDVinNC said:

They have "encountered an occurrence"?  What does that mean?  Not sure that is even good English!

So sad, we have loved AQV.

Not sure if they ever restored the Z-drive

that they lost on the American Queen, that caused our Red Wing to New Orleans cruise last October to need an escort tug the whole way....

Could be that, or something else?

13 hours ago, MRVEGAS711 said:

The Ocean Navigator is STILL in Portland, Maine after its fire in October. Don't know if they have the money or parts to fix it. Neat looking ship, I pass it everyday. Hopefully my city seizes it and we have a new party boat!

They have already announced that the Ocean Navigator and the Ocean Voyager are up for sale (doubt anyone other than a scrapper will make an offer).

On 2/1/2024 at 7:35 AM, CruiserBruce said:

Need to know the difference between a cruise that is roundtrip out of a US port, versus a cruise that starts at one US port and ends at another.

Ensenada serves round trip cruises, such as Los Angeles to Hawaiian Islands and return as a port of call.   It occasional serves as a termination port for a one way Hawaii to Ensenada repo cruise, where the passenger's will then be bussed to San Diego or Los Angeles, or the reverse.  In these cases, the ship will sometimes "deadhead" to San Diego or LA...

3 hours ago, Shmoo here said:

Correct.  Key West is in the USA.  Not a foreign country.

😉

3 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Any of the Atlantic and Caribbean ports qualify for a foreign port for the roundtrip cruise requirements.

Yes…as long as they are foreign.  But for example, Key West would not, right?

One region's loss, is another's gain.   I imagine Capetown, and similar, are having to scramble to accommodate all the extra ship's that want to now call there...

On 1/29/2024 at 4:54 PM, OlsSalt said:

Request to start a new thread about the good old days when HAL had 8 smaller ships to choose from, and the Elegant Explorer Prinsendam:

 

S class: Statendam, Maasdam, Ryndam and Veendam

R class: Amsterdam, Rotterdam and now only the Zaandam and Voldedam.

Prinsendam -class by herself

 

Sailed them all and loved every single one of them, last S class was the Maasdam In-Depth cruise to Alaska,  Russia Far East and two weeks around Japan. But the Veendam also took us to Cuba too before she was retired.  Small enough to get into the downtown ports, sea worthy enough to see the world.

 

For some of us, HAL only means these smaller ships. Reluctantly now accepting the Vista ships by default. Not crazy about the NA or EU - okay for shorter cruises, but probably will never return to the Pinnacle class impersonal behemoths.

Of note is that the 8 ships mentioned were all designed for and built for HAL, except the Prinsendam, which was inherited from Seabourn, and was built as the Royal Viking Sun for Royal Viking Line, unless (not likely) you were referring to the original HAL Prinsendam built in 1972 and sunk in 1980

The exception for San Juan is sort of an enigma, as it is excepted from part of the PVSA rule, prohibiting cruises starting from one US port and ending in another (itself), but it is not considered a "distant foreign port" to serve as an intermediate stop, on say, a Fort Lauderdale to San Diego, Panama Canal cruise.   Whether it would be considered "a near foreign port" for a cruise that would say go from say Fort Lauderdale to San Juan and return, without any additional foreign ports, I am not sure..Probably a moot point since.I don't think there would be any cruises that would ever sail that far with only that that on a round trip itinerary, anyway...🤷‍♂️