Hlitner

Renting a vehicle to carry 11 is going to be a problem.

The answer to the rental car question is, yes. Not a problem with a one way rental as long as the drop is in the same country. In the past we have rented from Europcar, Hertz and Budget, in Civitavecchia and dropped at FCO. If renting for more then 3 days you might want to check out Autoeurope and Kemwel as they will often have good deals with the major rental car companies. Hank

On the Vista the announcements are not coming in the cabin, but are still somewhat audible from the corridor speakers. It is loud enough to wake light sleepers. By the way, we have heard a rumor (from a pretty reliable source) that some soundproofing will be added to parts of the Vista, this summer. It will be in the form of injected foam. If true, it might help alleviate some of the complaints about noise bleed between cabins. Hank

It has been more than a year since our last visit to FCO, so we cannot be sure about the current procedures. In Italy, all things can change overnight with little or no warning. Personally, we always like to have a hard copy boarding pass, even when we rely on our phone. We think of it as a backup and it has saved us time and hassles in multiple airports. Hank

Good Day from Funchal, Today is our first European port (on this cruise) and it has long been a personal favorite. Madeira is often talked about as a sun-drenched island, but today it is damp, dreary, foggy, rain showers, temps in the 60s (F), etc. There is much to like about Funchal as the city is very walkable, has lots of shopping, restaurants, cafes, etc. It is also well known for its cable car that whisks folks up to the top of the local mountain where one can explore the expansive botanical gardens and access the famous toboggan ride where you are pushed down steep streets in a sled. However, today, if one went up to the top cable car station, they would find themselves in a cloud with limited or no view. But the cable car is operating for those who want to enjoy the gardens in the mist. DW and I spent the later part of our morning just taking a 2 1/2-mile stroll around town. We only had to use the umbrellas for a few minutes, town was full of life, and it felt good to get off the Vista where we had been since March 27. Our cabin continues to be one a very quiet haven. We have not heard our neighbors, once, on this cruise. Perhaps we will be lucky and keep these neighbors until our debarkation in Trieste :). Our onboard Internet service has been near flawless for the entire crossing and Skylink is a true gamechanger for some of our fellow passengers. We have met several that are able to reliably do real work (essentially work from home) because of decent Internet. A big change from only a few decades ago when cruisers would head to the phone booths when they reached a port. Last night we, again, had dinner in the GDR where I had an excellent Filet Mignon. The quality of my steak was better than we experienced on Explora Journeys and about equal to the usually fine filets found on Seabourn.

You are right about O. Great product and we shall return 😋. But CDs need to tone it down.

No doubt that many Prime Rib fans would be disappointed with this presentation. Although I would prefer a 2 pound bone-in slab, the truth is that much of it would go to waste. I think O is looking for a compromise, and perhaps it needs more tweaking. Hank

Let’s deal with the CD announcement issue. They are NOT piped into the cabins, but the sound of the the announcement bells is easily heard in many cabins and enough to wake many light sleepers. In our experience (18 cruise lines) the higher the quality of the line, the fewer announcements. O is trying hard to compete with Carnival when it comes to annoying PA announcements. We have yet to meet anyone who says they look forward to hearing a CD reading the daily schedule. O is too good of a line to have this BS. Hank

We agree. Although we still enjoy Princess, it “ain’t” no Yacht Club. Hank

What they currently have in waves is a burger topped with some chunks of lobster which seems to be the new version of surf/turf. And that sandwich is quite good (as are all the sandwiches in Waves). We still have not tried the afternoon tea. It just does not fit our usual schedule and the reality of cruising on O is that we are never hungry. Everything, schedule wise, changes once we get to Europe and have many ports. I can see the situation where we might miss lunch (OMG) and finally get to tea to enjoy a cup with some snacks. Hank

Good day folks, This morning, several hundred late sleeping folks (we have lost an hours sleep for the past 3 nights) were cheerfully awakened by those nasty bells and the soothing voice of Peter (our CD) with his important 9:30 am (8:30 for many body clocks) announcement that breakfast was being served until 10! He then went on with his other important items which was to read the schedule found in Currents! If these annoying announcements are O company policy then they should have a PA system in their home office and be disturbed several times a day by such important announcements. We continue moving eastward (at about 18 knots) towards Madeira. It has turned into a gorgeous warm day and quite a few fellow passengers have been spending some time in the sun (including yours truly). Today I will talk about a popular O topic which is the cuisine. Last night, DW and I enjoyed dinner in the GDR and my meal was truly enjoyable. In fact, my starter was a true star and something we hope DW can duplicate at home. It was on the menu as "Crispy Scallops parrillas." It was a dish suitable for the cover of Bon Appetit! Small scallops (not sure if they were bay scallops or cut-up sea scallops) were wrapped in crispy phyllo dough and surrounded by a colorful garnish. For me, it was the most interesting dish (so far) we have had on the Vista. Yesterday I mentioned that "grilled prime rib" was on the menu and I decided to give it a try. Our waiter warned me that it was not normal "prime rib" but simply slices. The plate had 3 slices (similar to the size and shape of London Broil slices) with a brown gravy. The slices of beef were over 1/4 inch thick and were truly prime rib presented in a different way. The taste was good (just like eating a big slab of prime rib) and the gravy tasted like an au jus reduction. It was easy to see the economic benefit of serving prime rib in this manner, but the taste and texture were spot on. The Vista has an excellent pastry chef because we have found almost all the breads to be excellent. That being said, I am still looking for my first New York quality bagel on a ship. The bagels here are quite good, but they do not have that proper chewy texture one finds in the bagels of New York or Montreal. For lunch we returned to our favorite lunch venue which is Waves. I had the Philly Cheesesteak, which is my favorite sandwich in Waves. I do think we could crown Waves as having the "best sandwiches" at sea. Many folks are fond of Aquamar, but this ole guy is not looking for "healthy cuisine" on this cruise 🙂 Speaking of Waves, DW has enjoyed several of the decent malted milk shakes. Today we were also able to get our requested Perrier. Yesterday there was none on the ship, so it must have magically been smuggled aboard via pirate ship (in the middle of the night). We are finally on Madeira time and today's schedule is back to normal with a single 9:30 show. After more than a week of relaxing sea days we now must try to find the energy to handle many upcoming ports Hank

Funny you mentioned this 😋. This evening we saw a couple, who is following this blog, who gave us the same tip. Hank

We have taken several Seabourn cruises, since the post COVID restart, and never noticed penny pinching. The only change was lots of new staff. And there is certainly no penny pinching on the new Explora Journey 1. Hank

We continue on our easterly course headed towards a Friday morning arrival at Funchal. Today marks a week since we embarked from Ft Lauderdale. Since DW and I did not bother to get off at our only stop (Great Stirrup Cay) we have not set foot on land in more than a week. For us. it is all good since we love our lazy sea days. The weather is OK with blue skies and seas with swells about 4 meters. While the ship does move around in these seas, it is not enough motion to bother most folks. Last evening, DW and I returned to Red Ginger and shared a table with a delightful couple. Dinner was quite good (DW and I both had the sea bass) and the table conversation enjoyable...so we did not leave Red Ginger until after 9:30. No reason to hurry since there has been a major schedule change aboard the Vista. Last evening (and tonight) the usual 9:30 show has been changed to 5:45 with a movie showing after dinner. We skipped last evenings Production Show (did not want to watch another high school musical). As usual, I was among those who closed down the ship around 11:30. I think it is safe to say that no more than 10% of the passengers are out and about after 10:15. Several have told us that they head to bed by 8:30! Had lunch at Waves today and discovered that the ship has run out of Perrier and Pelligrino. Our table service was somewhat comical. DW and I sat at a table for 4 (all the 2 tops were occupied) and about half way through lunch a waiter stopped at our table and cleared away the two extra place settings. About 5 minutes later another waiter decided to set a third place setting at our table. Less than 5 minutes later another waiter raided that 3rd place setting and took away the water glass. I mentioned in an earlier post that there is no Prime Rib on the menu of any of the reservation-only restaurants. But I noticed on our TV menus, that in the GDR (tonight) one of the mains is "grilled Prime Rib." We shall see what that is all about :). Speaking of food/drink, yesterday I decided to order a glass of Orange Juice in the Terrace Grill. The juice was semi-awful and tasted like cheap stuff out of a can. One might compare this to Seabourn where they have a large self-service juice machine (the type where they dump dozens of whole oranges in a hopper) in their Lido restaurant. Vista now has a Bundled Laundry deal. 20 items for $24.95 (wash, dry, folded...but not ironed). What I find interesting is that this is offered only on select dates (April 3, 4, 6, and 9). I guess there is some logic to this offer Also noticed a "Top California Cabs" wine tasting is on today's activity agenda. Only $95 + 20%. $228 a couple for wine tasting is a bit rich for my blood. Hank

I would agree with what you say about Seabourn service. The only other line that we have found comparable is MSC's Yacht Club (essentially a luxury ship within a mass market ship). We continue to find the service here on the Vista "uneven" ranging from outstanding to something much less. We do think all the cruise lines (even Seabourn) have had staff issues related to large number of new hires post COVID. I should mention that our cabin steward falls into the "outstanding" group and is good as any steward we have had on luxury lines. Hank

Check out Sifracar. They used to be the local Hertz franchisee, but I believe they are now independent. In years past they were willing to deliver cars right to the pier (for pick-up and drop) although you would need to ask them if that is still permitted. Hank

Much depends on you and how much you are able and like to walk. DW and I, easily walked from the train station to the center of Rouen, down to the river, etc. Over a long day one can certainly walk a few miles. While we can still handle a 10 mile walking day (and we are in our 70s) there are plenty of folks that have difficulty getting from one end of the ship to the other or walking down a single flight of steps. It is about 2/3 of a mile from the train station to the Cathedral Hank

If the OP is simply talking about a cancelled excursion, that is no biggie and all too common on many cruises. A lot of the land tour companies (some of which contract with cruise lines to provide excursions) have had issues getting enough qualified guides. COVID decimated the tour industry and lots of folks moved into other lines of work. Hank

Already doing it on the O Board. 🙂 Hank

The clearest sea water we have experienced was at various islands in the South Pacific. Bora Bora was certainly among the best. The water off Northeastern Australia and out at the Great Barrier Reef was quite amazing. Hank

I cannot help with the return as we always had a rental car. But Taormina is not like Cinque Terre. Taormina seems to handle crowds quite well. The situation in Cinque Terre is a true shame and made much worse by the use of La Spezia as a cruise port.

Have not done high tea. Yet.

Afternoon from the middle of the Atlantic, This morning we were notified that the Vista has cancelled its visit to Horta (Azores) which is the 2nd port (in a row) cancelled. This is due to bad weather forecasts for the Azores. The Captain has changed our course to a more southerly course and we are, instead, heading to Funchal (Madeira). This change has also put us into better weather and today was a gorgeous sea day with seas in the 1-2 meter range, blue skies, and temps in the 70s. We also had a following wind so it was a near perfect day to be outside. This morning, we had the "Country Fair" which is a major activity (on the pool deck) where there are various games, prizes, etc. It was well attended and kept the pool deck busy from around 10:30 until noon. With all the constant banter (from Peter, our Cruise Director) it almost reminded me of a Carnival cruise. As a rule, we find the higher-class lines have fewer announcements. Peter usually has a longish daily update around 9:30, more to say around noon, and will usually have another schedule update around 4. I prefer the attitude on Seabourn where there are very few announcements, and it is assumed that passengers are capable of reading the daily schedule. A couple of nights ago we went to our first Production Show and thought it was generally awful! Sorry to say it was more like a bad high school musical production than what we expect on ships. The Vista has a 12 person entertainment team which includes 4 singers. Nobody was impressive and the sound was not good. This was probably a combination of the lack of talent and a lousy choice of music and choreography. Thank goodness that, so far, we have had really decent Guest Entertainers. Perhaps O should consider hiring a company like Belinda King Productions (they handle Seabourn, some Princess, etc) to staff and Produce their shows. On Easter Sunday, the ship put on an expansive brunch buffet (from 9:30 - 1) in the GDR, There was a good selection of the usual breakfast items (i.e. Omelet station, eggs benedict, bacon, etc) and quite a few lunch offerings. There was also a decent array of desserts. While this was all good (and we did enjoy ourselves) I could not help but notice the lack of higher priced items like a decent raw seafood bar, caviar, etc. Like we have seen on some other lines, the galley staff seems to do more with less, which is a talent. Last evening DW and I decided to have a pizza dinner at Waves. The pizza was quite good, but the service very uneven. In fact, of the 4 items we ordered (2 kinds of burrata and 2 pizzas) two were incorrect when served. At the next table, a gentleman ordered a meaty pizza with mushrooms. There must have been a language problem because his pizza was delivered with "mustard" instead of mushrooms. It is the first time I have ever seen a "mustard pizza" which was promptly sent back :). Obviously, a language misunderstanding and somewhat amusing. We have heard some rumblings about little things that are just not right, in terms of decor. Some of the carpets are already showing signs of wearing (dye completely faded) and others tell us that some of the railing in the GDR are already worn. We could not notice the absence of a lower rail (i.e. brass rail) at Martini's bar. Rumors are that there will be some workmen coming aboard, in Europe, to make some "corrections." None of this is unusual on a new ship, but certainly worth mentioning on this blog. DW and I continue to enjoy most everything here on the Vista. Perfection? No. But we still think it is a good product for this class of cruising. Some others do not agree. One single lady told me she feels a bit out of place (she gets funny looks when she asks for a table of 1) and prefers Seabourn where she says the atmosphere is better for single ladies. A couple of men, who previously liked O, have been turned off by the way a request (for Liquor 42) was handled by O. They did get them a single bottle (which they had requested pre-cruise) which was offered to them for $100! The item is not stocked in the bars. They contrasted this with a similar request they made on Seabourn. That line had a large bottle waiting for them in their suite, and also made sure the item was stocked at all the ships' bars. This might best explain the difference between a "Premium Line" and a "Luxury Line." We also met a nice European couple who has cruised (3 times) on Explora Journeys. This was their 2nd O cruise, but they said they intend to focus on future cruises with EJ. Interesting comment for us (we have also cruised on EJ) and Waltershipman (who is likely following this blog). In all fairness to O, Explora Journeys is generally a lot more expensive than O. Since we did not bother to get off the ship at Great Stirrup Key, DW and I will now have 8 consecutive sea days before reaching Funchal. Love it :). Hank

As stockholders we love folks that have little interest in price or deals. As frequent cruisers we prefer good deals :). Hank

Good warning that applies to most of the popular tourist destinations around the world. Hank