Tranquility Base

I'm sure it will be a Delight (pun intended)

Hmmm.... So Vista can visit Istanbul every month from May through to September. Riviera can visit in October. But in November there is a safety concern ..........

Here is my guess. It’s about 33 days between cruises. It’s about 23 days sailing at 20 kts. Not enough spare days to make both segments ( via Cape Town) interesting enough. Sail high speed Dubai - Cape Town, non- stop,(10 days), without pax. At CT, a splash & dash for fuel, grub & scrub for food, board pax and on your way. That way, there may be enough days spare on the Cape Town - Civitavecchia segment to make it a nice segment.

There weren't many 50% ones if I recall. Perhaps only 2 or 3. One was the revised non-stop (Red Sea) one from Dubai - Trieste which now has been cancelled

Sorry to hear that. One of the questions now would be: do they sell a Dubai - Cape Town - Civitavecchia as a cruise, or do they sail without passengers. It would appear to be about 24 days at 19 kts without any ports stops.

Looking at the website, it appears the next cruise advertised for Riviera following the 14 May Dubai visit is now 17th June out of Rome.

For info: I've also had at gate security checks at Singapore and Dubai. Of course in some classes of travel both SQ & EK provide bottles of water at your seat on boarding, or anytime on request.

As has been mentioned, Riviera visited Turkiye in Oct / Nov last year. It visited Istanbul on 3 occasions with 4 overnights. It's last stop was on 29th Nov before it departed for the Suez transit. It also visited Izmir & Kusadasi during this time. Sirena also visited Turkiye during this time. As has been mentioned it doesn't appear as if Vista's visits were cancelled. They are still visiting in May this year, unchanged from their schedule. Riviera is scheduled into Dubai on 14 May. The next cruise advertised is 29 May out of Trieste.

Great, thanks. I'll be able to plan my first day as a DIY day, and will remain flexible regarding actual shuttle departure timings.

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According to the UK Gov website, Qatar is eligible now. Six further counties from the Middle East become eligible on 22 February. The timetable for further countries, as far as I can find, has not been announced.

Are you saying the UK has now set the date as to when Australian passport holders will need the UK ETA ? I thought the start date was yet to be announced.

For Coral it is both. Primarily a transit, but also a scheduled embarkation for some.

Is there sometimes an alcoholic Ginger Beer available on O ? If so, I wonder if that would be included in SM. I guess I'll find out onboard.

Thanks. An FCC would be OK, as that should be able to be applied to an existing booking (I hope). If SBC would that be Refundable SBC ?

I think the 'regulation' will come from a local level as we are already seeing in an increasing number of countries and ports. Either banning ships of a certain size or simply not spending the dollars to upgrade facilities to accomodate them. Leave the Mega ships to their ports; and I'll simply find a cruise on a small ship to their more "boutique" ports. Yes, it becomes somewhat of a problem when we share ports (IE: Alaska), but a destination such as that makes up for the inconvenience in other ways.

@IWantToLiveOverTheSea Wow, it certainly does. Many thanks for the comprehensive post ......appreciated. Whilst I'm familiar with Saigon I haven't docked at Hiep Phuoc. So yes, I think I'll plan the first day shuttle & DIY, but I'll be sure to have the port written down in Vietnamese as my backup for a taxi ride back. I have a ship's tour booked for 2nd day due to early all aboard time. Nah Trang is also familiar so we are DIY. Yes, have only docked on an 'R' ship....otherwise tender. Chan May, yes we are on a tour to Hoi An. Last time there we docked overnight at Tien Sa which is only 10km from Da Nang. So Chan May is more distant, but Hoi An is still worth revisiting. Thanks for the Tet reminder. I will mention this post on our roll call for all to peruse.

If you book onboard and then refare to a lower price a month before sailing, what happens to the excess fare you have now paid ? Is it turned into SBC, or can you transfer that excess to another booking ?

Sure. However, if a sale is annotated "new bookings only", and this being 2024 with the mandatory $150pp cancelation fee, might a cancelation and new booking now be required ? IE: The refare on the same booking number may no longer be an option. Therefore this $300 per couple fee would have to be factored into the maths. ??

Do Oceania have Sales which are limited by the phrase 'new bookings only' ? IE: Apart from the 'booked onboard' refare option, having a sale price which cannot be applied to an existing booking; even before final payment date

I would check on the Aussie forum to see if they have been returned. In June last year whilst in Dubai those loungers were replaced with chairs.

Thanks for coming back with that @pmatawan That's good info. One other query if I may. Did you hear any comments regarding the shuttles into Saigon from the Hiep Phuoc port ? How long the shuttles to & from town were taking, and what time the last shuttle left from town on the first day in Saigon.

Onboard my wife uses Messenger and I use Skype. I use Skype to call any landline or mobile as it costs only a few cents. Skype to Skype voice calls work well most times, and video calls work better during off peak times.

Precisely our approach also. For the OP. We have yet to cruise under SM, all ours so far were O Life. That will change mid year when we cruise using SM. The drinks package has a value for us. The Excursions credits have a value for us. When we book our excursions using SM credits, and other credits, we are trying to make sure we book to lessen the chance of having them unusable at the end of the cruise. If it happens, whilst frustrating, it will not be a huge deal for us in the big scheme of things. Will it make us switch to another line ......No, that factor would not cause us to switch. However, we may well switch occasionally, as shown in Hank's post which I quoted above. But it wouldn't be any unusable SM credits that caused that.

I have two 15 day cruises booked. One has 7 ports and requires 4 excursions for the discount. The other has 11 ports and requires 6 excursions for the discount. Your cruise has 11 ports; so 6 excursions looks consistent.