zalusky

If you don't care about money than be spontaneous! I have often found that getting the getting the restaurant/better shore excursion/discount/itinerary/evidence to persuade friends requires some research. The last sailing we would have done a number of things very different had I researched a little more. Our post cruise hotel appeared to be a 3.5 star hotel but in fact was more like a 1 star hotel with AC that did not work etc. A little deeper dig into Tripadvisor and I would have seen that.

Does not make a lot of sense to allow a ship in with half untested starting in Bali and the other half originally started in Sydney so we have a mix Oh well!

We just finished an Oceania cruise Bali to Sydney and had no testing requirements. Go figure!

We haven't ruled them out. My wife was interested in the Culinary Discovery Excursion as well and was disappointed they are not on the R ship experience either.

Wednesday last week. Manly seemed to have long lines at all the cheaper restaurants. The more expensive 4 dollar restaurants not so much. Yea Circular Quay area was busy but not as bad.

We just completed our first Oceania cruise around southern Australia. It was a last minute cruise as our summer cruise to Norway was cancelled due to catching Covid. We are open minded and trying upscale lines out and may try them all. We are booked on a Viking cruise to Italy on May. Why Viking? Included excursions, retractable pool covers, cheaper drink packages and the ship is nicer overall. However I cant say much more till its over. We found things we did not like Oceania R class I mentioned in other threads: single self service laundry room, lack of bathrooms by lounges so I doubt we would do R class again. Seabourn, and Regent are some we might look at next. After that we will decide what next.

Is the pool bar open just during the day or all bar hours. On my recent first time Oceania I found that not all drinks were offered at all bars. The pool bar had things like daquiri and margarita variations not offered in the other bars due to some of the ingredients not available in the other bars. The pool bar was closed at night. I also kind of hated that the bars all had different menus. Of course Viking has the ability to cover the pool. Does that change the game and keep the pool bar open longer especially in variable climates?

We just returned last week from an Oceania cruise from Bali to Sydney southern route route. Dec 26 - On arrival in Bali the airport looked at our vaccination cards. The same day boarding Oceania they did not check for vaccinations or require testing . When we arrived at our first Australia stop in Broome - Dec 28 we all went through a walkthrough with Australia customs in the main lounge. There was no vaccination check or RTAM test required. However I did notice some people getting swabbed at subsequent ports boarding (possibly entertainment people).

We just got back from a Sydney cruise on the competition and one thing I will note is January is nuts in Sydney. We did a ferry to Manley and there were lines everywhere. The only restaurant that did not seem to have a line was the german Bavaria restaurant.

Excited to be going on my first Viking cruise this May. What do they have in the area of Chocolate Martinis and/or Ice Cream drinks? Is that something where you just ask the bartender to create something?

Cruise lines have to attract newer and younger customers as their older ones die off. It's just a fact. Younger customers expect and demand modern conveniences. In fact there are many services today you cannot do without a smart phone Uber being a classic travel example. I check my security system cameras on a regular basis when I am away. On my most recent trip I was negotiating and completing contracts to get my solar system upgraded. It's not always about Facebook although we did enjoy watching the Hockey playoffs one year from our stateroom balcony. And no I never used the phone to deliberately ignore my table/bar neighbors.

Maybe so I asked for a watermelon daiquiri and he said they did not have the ingredients. He could have suggested what they could have done but as you said. In Horizon I was looking for an ice cream style drink at one point and did not see anything available. They all have different menus and the pool bar is the only one with the big selection of margarita’s and Daiquiris. Which does not help when they are closed at night.

I have to disagree. Why did they redo the rooms recently that cost a lot of money. They could have spent that all on food. At a certain point we all die and they have to bring in younger people. I don’t even understand how not having bathrooms next to the Horizon even passed code. Of course they probably don’t have building codes. Now I am not a complete whiner. The staff and guests were great. Everybody was very friendly. Everytine I sat down I had wonderful conversations. Even the six plates of snack surprise in our room after the penguin parade was appreciated. Our butler was 0 to 60 in all our needs. However the things I mentioned detracted from my enjoying the cruise. I was also surprised that given all the hype about the food. I was somewhat unimpressed except for the Waves grill which I hit many many times. The Terrace grill had its moments but was also quite repetitive.

So first impressions don't matter and its love it or leave it and don't you dare suggest improvements.

People aren't staring at their phones to check their account status or request/checking reservations. They are staring their phones to do a lot of non cruise stuff like read social media or news ... I saw plenty of people looking at their phones on Regatta. I am not suggesting an app to text your other friends on the ship. Just one example is many times when I am at a port I want to know my reservation times or whats on the ships menu to decide if I should eat in town or go back to the ship. And yes that means I should be able to access the ships data over the internet and not be limited to accessing it just while on the ship. Regarding plumbing yes thats an issue but not as bad as you think in most cases there are cabins above and below implying plumbing is all around and just has to be connected to. Taking out an inside cabin and replacing it with a laundry room would be one of the easiest changes they could make.

Lets see here what else could they have done in the latest R redo: Little or no bathrooms by the two largest lounges on the ship - steal some casino/Horizon space Visibility in Regatta lounge is very erratic - maybe raise the stage a little One self service laundry room for the entire ship - just steal an inside cabin on another deck Things they could fix now: Closing Waves at dinner time when Terrace offerings is less than impressive or you want a mix. Lousy Sushi - very dry rice and tiny tiny cuts of sashimi Cannot get any drink at any bar - especially since they have different hours Also this has been mentioned in other threads but I seriously wanted an app at times to do quick checks on my reservations / shipboard account / port info and other Currents data. Having to look at my TV is old school.

I get that but I chose it for the itinerary and I was curious to see if the best food at sea was true. There really aren't many lines that do the circumnavigation. Hindsight I might have like the Seabourn itinerary better. I am not a loyalist I am willing to try lots of lines to see what they offer. Maybe we will try the O class ship at some point. I don't mind a small ship but I would bet if O were building an R class ship from scratch they would change quite a few things.

On the other side of the coin we chose the Sydney Metro Marlow hotel because it was one of the pickup spots for the fabulous Blue Mountains tour by Andersons. We knew we were going to be mostly out and the hotel was less important but it was awful. The AC did not seem to work on our entire floor. They had to replace the door on the safe in our room. The towels were paper thin. The beds were awful. On the second night we asked if there was a room we could be moved to where the AC worked and they put us in a room with a double and a single. The bed wheels did not lock and the bed moved across the floor a little too easy. The AC was weird as it made the room cooler but did not seem to reduce the humidity. The one positive thing is it was close to transportation. There were two different trams within a block and Chinatown was a block away.

One of my big complaints this year was being in Fremantle during the big New Years week holiday. Rottnest Island was a disaster packed with locals vacationing. It looks like 2024 is scheduled later. Good Luck!

When I said tired I meant architecturally tired. The carpet/pain/etc were fine. The Regatta lounge is flat and it's hard to see the entertainers if you are not in the front row. I had to bend my neck many times even in the so called aisle seat near the center. There is only a single person bathroom for that lounge. The Horizon lounge has no bathrooms. You have to go down a floor. The casino was only used about 20% and should be repurposed. There is only one self surface laundry room for the entire ship and was always busy.. They should repurpose some inside cabins on other decks for additional capacity. I am not happy with the bar situation. They all make different drink. One time I wanted a daiquiri and was told only the pool bar has the ingredients for it and it is not open in the evening. All bars should have access to all ingredients. Personally there were a number of times I was not interested in the main restaurant or the Terrace Grill and just wanted a Waves item but its not open in the evening. Now the staff was excellent and we were lucky enough to have gotten PH room or I would more to complain about. My only complaint on the entertainment was the strings. They were just off. The cruise director and the rest of the entertainment including the guest entertainment was great. We are on Viking next in May and I look forward to compare. I am not a loyalist.

We also were only on the Bali to Sydney leg and di not experience the issues on the first leg but as I mentioned I am curious of experience on other Oceania cruises of examples showing why Oceania is so loved. Was this a complete anomaly or normal for Post Covid. I know the shore excursion people talked a lot about losing a lot of tour operators post covid so I won't fault them there. I am more curious about food differences pre and post Covid and whaqt they did for trip interruptions on other sailings.

Oceania cancelled 3 excursions before we boarded and then two more were cancelled on boarding day. What we did notice is even though we went below the YWC minimum of 8 they did not take away YWC status and we continued to receive the 25% discount for the one we added. As previously mentioned we also lost two port days with the hull cleaning ironically those were ports that had shore excursions on boarding day. Makes me wonder if they knew. We also had a engine failure for 5 hours around dinner time. Basically lost propulsion and the no hot water for a while. The Terrace kept working but I think I heard that people in the specialties had issues. The staff treated us pretty well but the ship is a little too tired for my tastes. This was my first Oceania cruise and I enjoyed the socializing with other passengers a lot but I plan to check out the competition to see where to land. Seabourn hits a lot of the ports I liked here and I might try them next time if I go down under. I would be interested to hear from Miriam as a more experienced Oceania cruiser a little more on the insulted and disrespected comments to put them in a appropriate place in our experience. IE what did Oceania do previously that they did not do here.

Wow I loved Burnie. If this is going to be a regular deal. They need to rejigger their itineraries completely and add an initial sea day or something.

We like to have the TV on when we get ready in the morning but that’s just us. I am also working with my solar provider to add extra panels before the NEM changes and keeping in touch on a daily basis.

Relative to other cruises you have been this has been the most erratic for internet. If it’s not going to be available in port I just wish they would spell it out similar to the shops not being open.