NCHPcruiser

It’s great that delegation worked for you! My husband is a freelance furniture designer with a small multi-tasking creative staff. It would not work well for anyone in the office to do payroll though he has in the past had his accountant’s staff do it for him. It’s actually simpler for him to do it himself since most peoples paycheck is different every month. If payroll were the only issue though he wouldn’t have a problem having someone else do it.

I understand what you mean but if he enjoys what he does and I certainly don’t care why shouldn’t he do what makes him happy. It is not stressful to him (or me) though leaving it all at home for others to do would be. He is able to work from an office about three days a week and the rest we spend at the beach or traveling. He worked very hard to get to this point and for us it’s perfect!

MNSUE, I think the S-class spread sheet cruisestitch is referring to is a “sticky”, one of the first topics in the cruisecritic Celebrity Forum. It has information on specific cabins on specific ships. I have found valuable information there in the past. When the premium package isn’t one of our perks, we upgrade as soon as we board. It’s quick and easy by going up to any bar. It will make a bartender very happy and might help in ensuring prompt service from him the rest of the cruise! Enjoy your cruise!

Thanks everyone for your responses. I do not understand the technical jargon and will have my husband take a look at what has been said. Though the bottom line seems to be that he shouldn’t expect very good internet. We would have access to the lounge so that sounds like a great place for him to get some work done IF he had good internet. Ij77346, I appreciate your first hand recent report! I am disappointed and discouraged though! I know Oceania appeals to an older demographic that is not as addicted to constant communication through instagram, FB and twitter though eventually that group will begin to look at premium cruise lines and will expect consistent internet. I can easily do without checking my accounts for days at a time (at least on a cruise) but unfortunately good, reliable internet is a deal breaker for Charles. I’m glad we have not booked our flights yet! Oceania please update your internet service! I doubt we are the only potential customers that expect reliable internet service (with locational exceptions) though most will not have been on Cruisecritic so will be unaware until they board. I’m glad I inquired. Martha

Our first Oceania cruise is booked for next August 2020 (previous post mistakenly said 2021). After reading about the “almost unusable internet” on the Marina I am concerned that it might not be the ship for us. My husband will need to work during the 22 days we will be onboard, perhaps not daily but an hour or two every couple of days. He works for himself, loves what he does and is fortunate that he is able to work remotely if planned ahead. (I see no end in sight and am perfectly happy with that as long as it includes trips of increasing length!) Payroll is critical (and it unfortunately can not be planned ahead). His emails include large files (mainly drawings). We are accustomed to very good (if not great) internet. Our trip last February to Australia and NZ for four weeks (16 days on a cruise) did not present a problem as he was always able to quickly do what he needed to do so work really didn’t overly intrude. I’m sure we would love Oceania but ... I would appreciate any honest feedback concerning the internet on the Marina (or on Oceania ships in general). Thank you! Martha

A little shuffling of chairs isn’t an issue at all so I won’t be overly concerned. Thank you all! Twiga, have a wonderful time on your cruise!

We used a TA with Oceania Connoisseur’s Club to book our cruise. The two segments were given one booking number. As an Elite plus I know the in’s and out’s of booking Celebrity cruises. I have a steep learning curve to overcome with Oceania!

We booked the next to the last PH2 available on the Marina next August. It is our first Oceania cruise (two cruises booked together as an “extended journey” or a what’s commonly called a B2B). No PH1’s were available. We are not particular about what section of the ship we are on and coming from sailing on larger Celebrity ships I don’t think anything will seem too far away. However, we are under Terrace Grill. If anyone has experience in one of the staterooms how much noise (if any) should we anticipate? Martha

I appreciate everyone’s answers! It is nice to know that we can bring wine aboard from shore excursions. I’ll also be sure to book our specialty dining as soon as permitted. Will also book La Reserve in advance. LH2, upon further inspection of my invoice I did find when we are able to book reservations. Flatbush Flyer, I’ll be sure to reference our cruise as an “extended journey” in the future! Perhaps someone could explain why the distinction between “back to back” and “extended journey” is important.

We booked our first Oceania cruise today (Marina back to back, August 7-29, 2021) and I have a few questions to start off with. I’m sure I’ll have others! We are in a PH2 and our TA will send an email when we are able to make our specialty reservations (sometime in May I believe). At that point, is it difficult to get preferred times? Is La Reserve booked prior to boarding? I understand that we may make other reservations once onboard and getting preferred times at that point would be more difficult and vary cruise to cruise. I think we are able to bring six bottles of wine onboard. Are we able to bring 12 bottles aboard initially since we are on a back to back? Is this a strict policy? It seems in the past I remember reading on CC about people bring significantly more than 6 bottles onboard but this may have changed. In any event it is better than Celebrity’s two bottle policy. We have the beverage package and will upgrade once onboard. For anyone who has also cruised in a suite on Celebrity, is a PH fairly comparable in size to a Sky Suite on a S-class ship? Are Roll Calls generally active? I ask because we prefer small group tours (less than 10) and have in the past either organized or joined tours with others on our Roll Call and are hoping to do the same in a few ports on this itinerary. We are excited about sailing on a ship much smaller than any of our previous cruises! And for me, the planning is half the fun. Thank you! Martha

Thanks for posting your first impressions! Looking forward to what you add later in your cruise. We have also sailed on all of the current Celebrity ships and are looking forward to our February cruise on the Edge. We too are branching out and have an Oceania cruise booked next year.

If Suite availability on a specific deck area is the issue, there is a good chance that what you want may be available prior the next July. You could then upgrade. We have done this several times and have always been able to switch once a cabin in our desired area became available after final payment was due.

We were on Solstice (Australia/NZ) for 16 days in March. There were no themed nights that we remember. It is probably much too early to know what shows might be aboard nine months prior to cruising. Only once have we had towel animals on our bed (kissing swans along with rose petals on what our butler mistakenly thought was our anniversary, nice gesture though!). Perhaps those traveling with children might see them more often.

I think a lot of US university spring breaks begin Friday, March 6th. Others begin the following week. I don’t think Celebrity is a popular cruise line for spring breakers though so I wouldn’t worry too much about that. If I were considering Carnival or RC I would definitely steer clear of those weeks!

Safe travels! Looking forward to your post over the next several weeks!