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This is on Riviera but the balconies are identical.

Today a poster on the Roll Call for my Marina Feb. 14 sailing was told Oceania may not off La Reserve for this cruise. I was really looking forward to it.

Just thought I should add that when I posted earlier about all the loud erratic bangs I was also deck 7 midship.

It is a Vista problem. I was on the Founders voyage and there was erratic loud banging every night. Sounded like they were still building the ship all night long.

Just received the latest Oceania brochure and it clearly states La Reserve menus are staying the same. I hope they aren’t shutting down Marina’s La Reserve ahead of the refit when it will become Aquamar.

See attachment.

Remember you can use Simply More excursion credits for cooking classes or La Reserve as they are booked through Destination Services. Of course these are only available on Riviera, Marina and Vista.

I was told by the O rep that they were just behind in getting the dates for my Marina Feb. 14 sailing.

Azamara has a sale on now for solo travelers.

I would suggest taking the train to Rostock. Less than 30 min. ride and train runs every 20 minutes. The ticket station is right in Warnemunde. Need euros and see if you can buy the return ticket at the same time. There is not very much to see in Warnemunde other than a cute lighthouse and some great spaetzle and beer. Rostock is a beautiful town with amazing churches you can climb up in to see great views. Wonderful shopping street. Enjoy.

Santorini is a huge problem, even with fewer ships than that. Getting up the hill was not mentioned by the previous poster. The line is formidable to get up but years ago we did find a way around that which I’ll explain in a minute. We found no good option for back down. We tried walking down once, but never again, two of our group slipped and landed in donkey poop. Back to our arrival after getting off the tender. We saw numerous small boats offering to take us to the other end of the island. Some offered a mini tour which included a bus ride up the hill at that end by Oia which is my favorite part of Santorini, and a bus ride back to the town where the cruise ship is. Worked out perfect and we just took a local bus back to town, less than a dollar at the time and really scenic. Still couldn’t avoid the huge wait for the lift down. If there are no tour offerings with a bus ride you can walk up the road at the far end of the island.

Some use there shipboard credit for bingo.

I don’t see the shore excursion as a fixed dollar amount as good a deal. The old O Life choice of shore excursions gave you eg. 4 shore excursions and charged you $100 each which you could use for shore excursions worth up to $199 each. I found you only needed one one more shore excursion and you were already in the 25% off tours bracket. Now with SM with the dollar value they give you it may only buy 3 or less tours. It will now make it much more expensive to even reach the 25% off level.

I have cruises booked until May 2025 under the cruise only program as I definitely do not like the SM program. I am hoping it will die a swift death.

I wonder what the “free cruise” will look like when “Simply More” takes effect Oct. 1st? Will it be Simply More or Simply Less?