morpheus4356

Based on the level of service received, I would agree that Oceania is indeed overpriced. I stayed in a PH1 and if I had paid anywhere near what the brochure price was, I would not have been a happy camper. For $5500 pp for a 7 day cruise there should have been someone available to wipe my butt 24/7.

After getting back from our cruise, the answer to my original question is, yes we were definitely too old for Oceania. We saw one couple on the entire ship that looked younger than us. We had a great time though and will probably be spoiled when it comes to cruising on other more age appropriate cruise lines.

Honestly I think you could probably make it, it takes about 45 minutes to get to the airport. Just roll your own bags off the ship and hop into a nearby cab. Why take the chance though.

The whole point of a guarantee is that it is guaranteed.

The Internet on Riviera is pretty much unusable. You will definitely need unlimited minutes to try and do anything on it.

My blue book arrived the day I flew out lol.

My girlfriend wore jeans pretty much every time to the main dining room / specialty restaurants and no one ever stopped us from eating there. Just wear a nice top to go along with them and make sure they are a decent pair.

Stranger things happen. We were just offered an upgrade to a Penthouse suite if we wanted to swap our Alaskan cruise in June for a choice of 6 different 7 or 8 day cruises in the Med for this summer at no extra cost. We currently have a veranda suite booked. We are not going to do this, for several reasons, but you never know. Hope it happens for you.

I'd recommend the penthouse suite. Having a butler and any specialty restaurant menu item delivered to your room is pretty awesome! Plus you get a cool gold ship card to wave around :)

Thanks for everyone's insight to my questions.

I just booked today and happy with the price, it may be a bit more expensive than your usual cruiseline, but from 2799 USD in the brochure for 7 days, it was originally offered at 2599 USD by the TA. I tried to convince him to please please please cover our gratuities but no go, but he did bring it down to 2540 USD (every bit counts when you are converting from Canadian dollars!). With that free unlimited internet and we chose the 600 USD OBC instead of the tours, the value would have been there for the tours, but I'm not sure I want to go on 3 tours. So we will pay gratuities and maybe shuttle bus back, will probably order a bottle or two of wine,that 600 probably won't last too long ;) I was looking on line and could not find another better price, and we use the same TA all the time and trust them, so I can't guarantee that someone else in Toronto would have gotten us a better package. Cruise prices seem to have gone up in the past year, seem like even a Caribbean cruise on a regular ship runs about 2000 with flight.

So after Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess, Celebrity now we are trying something new, and excited to compare the O experience to the others!

Thanks again for everyone's time and kindness in responding.

I just came back from a cruise on Riviera. The Internet is almost unusable so don't count on it to do any sort of productive work. Otherwise we had a great time.

My 30+ old kids would love to cruise on Oceania. They have stressful jobs and like to relax on the ship, do some zip lining etc. off the ship. Unfortunately, Oceania is out of their budget range right now. Too many other commitments in their lives.

Believe it or not, Oceania was the best deal available for us when we considered how many extras they throw in. Free airfare, free excursions, free specialty restaurants, free unlimited internet package, included port fees, we even managed to get our gratuities thrown in! Also I hear that their verandah cabins are ridiculously large compared to most cruise ship staterooms.

I am super excited about our cruise on May 5th. :)

Well I am already booked with my similarly aged girlfriend on a Riviera 7 day Athens to Athens cruise so I will have to make the best of it. At least I won't have to worry about a bunch of drunks or unattended kids running around.

Will there be anyone my age on the boat that isn't serving us? Serious question!

 

I called my travel agent and asked him to pay $ 1000 on our upcoming July 2016 Konningsdam sailing. He called Holland America, paid the $ 1000 on our AMEX card and I have already received an email from American Express notifying me of the credit I will be receiving.

 

Not everyone receives the same offers. Last month, there was an offer for Celebrity Cruises, pay $ 1000, receive a $ 250 credit. We did not receive this offer.

 

Hope many on this forum will be eligible for this great savings.

I also received the offer on my Amex blue card. How does the payment through a travel agent work? When you book through a travel agent do you get billed by them or Holland America?

I found a travel site through the popular site that gives you different quotes for cruises with a cheaper price than advertised on Holland America and it would be great to book through them.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think I will try to book a cruise on Regal since I will be getting an inside cabin and am sticking to the comp dining options.

Hi, I am looking at two Western Caribbean cruises on either Celebrity Silhouette or Princess Regal. My question is, how does the dining compare on each ship, specifically the complimentary options? It is my goal not to pay any extra for "specialty dining" as I don't feel like spending an extra $70-$100 per meal.

Princess seems to offer a lot of complimentary dining choices and even has a sit down Italian restaurant and pizza kitchen, whereas Celebrity seems to be focused on specialty dining and class specific restaurants.

Is Princess a better fit for someone that wants to stick to comp dining or do Celebrity Solstice class ships have just as many options?