Covepointcruiser

The Penthouse cabin on Oceania is not a suite but simply a cabin that is a little larger than a regular verandah. You do get a shared butler if you want to call a shared butler a dedicated butler.

We are trying Regent the end of March sailing from Miami to Barcelona. We are getting a Penthouse Suite and this allows you to make restaurant reservations 90 in advance of the crossing. I don’t like having to decide where we want to eat that much in advance it’s one way of ensuring you eat in the specialty restaurants you like. We were allowed to reserve tours 5 or 6 months in advance and a few were already sold out. This is one thing I prefer on Seabourn already is you don’t need to reserve in advance. Since this is a repositioning trip it is priced reasonably.

It could be worse, in the Cunard Grills everyone from the U.S. gets a package including drinks/wine up to $12. Of course their prices for drinks are lower than Celebrity but if you get a wine for $12.50, you are charged $12.50, not just the 50cent overage. I don’t know if this is only Cunard under the Carnival umbrella. It doesn’t apply to Seabourn although there are extra charge wines and drinks for which you pay the total charge. How about Princess and Holland American?

I would typically add 20% for Spa Services so I was surprised to see they only added 18%. I did not tip over that amount. Spa services are over and above the usual Seabourn services and few people opt to use the additional services. Is there a cruise line that does not add gratuities to Spa Services?

The Grill restaurants are open for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

I am happy vow renewal is not required in our church. The vow you make at your wedding does not expire. We do celebrate anniversaries. Is this particular to a certain religious belief that you need to renew your vows, or has someone in the marriage broken them??

I don’t remember a Patio for dining on the Venture. My memory may be failing. There is a pool on the stern but never saw anyone eating there but this was in Greenland. Since you are not on a true Arctic/Antarctic expedition it will be interesting to see the changes on a warm weather trip.

Mr Luxury/Isr45 I will immediately contact the CEO and senior staff stating that many only sail the Encore and Ovation because of the Retreat. The last thing these ships need is more cabins/suites, what in the world are they thinking! Every cabana is in use today with happy passengers. Certainly hope your TA has very little influence and we will also contact our TA who may have more a little more influence.

Wish we enjoyed the hotter weather destinations, your photo’s are wonderful. We are in St. Kitts today, 86 degrees, so too hot for us. Our next cruises on Seabourn are to Greenland and the Canadian Arctic and then to the Antarctic. I always thought we would get more tolerant to heat as we got older but it has not happened.

We always take those small bottles of MIO exercise blend. We just add it to water and it doesn’t have the sugar we don’t need. Do they make vitamin water without sugar? We were surprised to again have fresh orange juice. The must have found oranges in Terre de Haut.

We love the Retreat but it may not be for everyone. We like a quiet serene place to spend the days at sea and in port. We can barely hear the loud music played by the pool so if you enjoy that music and scene, skip the retreat .

And so it happens again, disasters in Maui have caused vacations to be disrupted. The coast of the Kauai is beautiful and can only be seen from the sea although there is a hiking trail through the cliffs where you may see some of it if you don’t break your neck. Hope Ohiojohn enjoys his new cruise. What cruise line is allowed to dock in Venice? Cruise ships are now docking in another town and you must take a water taxi to get to Venice.

These are the menus from the Ovation retreat. Should be similar to Encore.

We are 10 days into a repositioning cruise on Seabourn Ovation transatlantic. We have run out of fresh berries, bananas and fresh orange juice. We provisioned in Lisbon and had seven days continuous at sea. Fortunately no shortage of premium wines and liquors. I don’t understand Celebrity’s supply problems in Asia with major ports almost every day. Our first port in the Caribbean is Terre de Haut, Guadeloupe. It’s a small island without cars, only golf carts and scooters so I doubt we will get supplies here. Wishing you a happy belated birthday and a great cruise.

Bet there was a maintenance issue with numerous cabins such as no air conditioning, plumbing not working or flooded cabins. The OP now has gotten a sweet deal.

So sorry the OP’s vacation was disrupted by the war in the Middle East. If you were still provided a cruise of the requisite nights/days you were not owed a OBC or FCC. Would have been nice of Celebrity but not required.

No, you can’t reserve a specific cabana. We go up early, they open at 9:00 AM and select the one we like. We all seem to have different favorites.

Breakfast and Lunch have been served daily in the restaurant while we have been at sea.

We will tip during the cruise if our attendant, waiter is getting shore leave. That way they have some additional funds to use.

Definitely don’’t leave your balcony door open as it ruins air conditioning for adjoining cabins plus extreme noise in the passageways. On newer ships the heat/air conditioning turns off when you open the balcony door to save energy. Of course it will go back on when you close the door.

We prefer the Ovation/Encore because of the Retreat and the larger Earth and Ocean, and TK Bar and Restaurant. The Retreat is one of the best places on board for a minimal up-charge. We purchase it for the sailing and are always assured of a quiet space, great service, sun loungers, shaded table for lunch and shaded cabana with sofa and television. Each day you receive a $50 spa credit and a premium bottle of wine or champagne. We choose to have our wine at dinner so we don’t need a premium wine package.

We are on the Ovation now and the staff couldn’t be better. We boarded after Avalon left in Lisbon. We don’t sit by the pool so we haven’t ordered anything from there during the day but we enjoy Earth and Ocean in the evening. We are in a Spa Suite and no complaints about the service. The pool area seems crowded and everyone wants to be by the pool. The min restaurant has been open every sea day for breakfast and lunch and we have only had one port in 7 days.

Yes, you have to order them at the same time.

For the same charge you can order multiple meals to your cabin. It’s the same charge whether you order 1 or 6 meals.

We attempted to book the QM2 12/8/25 round trip and the Q5s-Q7s are totally booked except for one Q7 accessible suite. We don’t need an accessible suite (at least not in 11/23) so we are waitlisted for any non accessible suite in those categories. As far as I know this crossing opened up in the last week so the suites are selling fast. We had a wonderful time on the 12/22 B2B2B and loved the Christmas flavor.