Vallesan

As a matter of interest do you ever get more that 10% off Oceania’s price?

Thank you so much for this review. We should have been on the cruise with you but had to cancel at the last minute. So it was really very good to see your photos. We are fortunate enough to have been in Asia many times and there were actually only two ports we’d not visited. This was probably going to be our last ‘long haul’ trip so there was a great deal of disappointment at the time of cancelling. Anyway, your photos brought back so many good memories that I almost feel like I was on the trip after all! Thank you once again.

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My next cruise isn’t with Oceania but I’m hoping it will be warm weather. It should be so I’m looking forward to eating under the stars! Also, just checked to see which other ships may be in port with us. Only two ports with other ships on the same days, one is Saga Spirit of Adventure and the other Wind Spirit so hopefully no ‘monsters’ …. fingers crossed!

Unfortunately all the reviews on this website are pre February 2020. Times that’s changed since then!

We usually get 10% reduction from the Oceania price from our TA, is that the same as your ‘rebate’ from Oceania?

Hlitner. I do think many cruisers are kidding themselves when they think it’s a great way to ‘see’ a country. I agree! I’m not all together certain people cruise to actually ‘see a country’. Get a flavour maybe? We cruise purely for the cruise ‘experience’! If we wanted to really ‘see’ a country we would visit on a land trip.

I would think it is too! Never sailed Celebrity but do know the difference between Fiat and Lexus! Have driven Lexus for 25+ years! Have also driven Fiat!!

In the UK we don’t get any ‘cash’ rebates. Are they from your TA’s or Oceania ?

Just wanted to say that I think that when it comes to activities with SB it depends very much on whether you are doing a ‘warm’ or ‘cold’ weather cruise. We sailed Caribbean with Oceania and Eastern Europe with Seabourn last year. Both warm weather cruises. Seabourn had many deck activities with special buffets, music, and evenings on deck. I don’t recall anything extra special on Oceania. So I guess it’s not just food, activities and price etc. that need to be considered but, just to muddy the waters even more, also the ‘type/time’ of the cruise!

Glad we our ‘soul’ fellows!

I have friend who can’t resist a ‘bargain’. She has a house full of bargains, food … full freezers…., shoes, clothes, household ‘stuff’ you name it she’s got it. Problem is she has cupboards etc full to capacity with ‘stuff’ she not only doesn’t use, but doesn’t even know she has! Personally, I prefer to spend my money on something I know (well will have a really good idea about) that will be enjoyable, than ‘bargain hunt’ just for the sake of it.

We booked B2B so as not to have to travel via Istanbul airport …. been there, done that, don’t really want to repeat it! As you say, whatever happens it will be no hardship ‘floating around the eastern Med’ even if we do repeat ports. We will still be waited on well and I won’t have to say ‘what shall we have for dinner tonight?’ as I do each morning!

It’s 6 bottles in the upper suites plus beers etc. etc. I think the issue is how ‘sociable’ you want to be. It might be far more fun having cocktails with other people, in say Martinis, or by the pool. On the other hand it might not!

Yes that’s my understanding too. I was waitlisted on a cruise and decided against paying the charge for the ‘priority’ waitlist but was still offered a cabin with a week. So unless anyone is absolutely ‘desperate’ to take a particular cruise I would suggest maybe trying the ordinary waitlist first!

Sorry if I misinterpreted your post. When we travel, no matter by which means, ‘stuff’ happens. I guess missed ports are just one thing, like late or cancelled flights, pre-ordered transport not turning up, luggage getting lost. All are just part and parcel of ‘travelling’ these days. Obviously there’s no need to be ‘satisfied’ with any of the above but ‘acceptance’ is the probably the best way to enjoy ‘the joy of travelling’!

Unfortunately we don’t have the experiences here of ‘satisfied’ customers, of whom I’m one. As I’ve said above we’ve had very few port changes or cancellations in all of our 10 Oceania cruises, in Europe, the Caribbean and Asia. Surely that can’t just be down to ‘luck’. I think the ‘majority’ of satisfied customers just never post here. If the dissatisfaction was as great as is suggested Oceania would be out of business!

I agree with you on both counts. We have sailed on 10 Oceania cruises and I can count on one hand the number of missed ports. Our last three Oceania cruises, which amounted to 44 nights in total, two cruises missed no ports and one, 22nts in the Med August 2022, missed two due to weather. Who would have known the Med had serious storms in August but it did, it was a freak! Port charges … in the grand scheme of things … a drop in the ocean! They wouldn’t enter my head either.

I have similar concerns for our September/ October cruise which also has an overnight in Istanbul. For us it’s the middle of a B2B so it is an embarkation/debarkation port. As Mareblu says we can only ‘go with the flow’!

It will be interesting to see how the two cruises compare especially as they are so close together. Apart from the size of the Cunard ships, I have never fancied the ‘two class’ or is it three, that Cunard operate. I love the fact that once you leave your cabin on an Oceania ship everyone gets the same service. Although that’s true of the ‘luxury’ lines too.

Strangely enough we have a cruise booked for September 24 on the Riviera. We booked in mid January and the cruise ports had already been changed … we gut an extra port day!

Really interesting observations about ‘hotel’ staff working at ‘sea’!

I know how you feel! We have booked flights but do feel it might just not happen. My thoughts are that because they have downgraded the refit, and given the amount of revenue they have lost over the last few years and now the war in the Middle East they will do their very best to have this sailing as scheduled. Think this may be a bit of a waiting game. Fingers crossed!

I also look forward to your ‘live thread’. When it comes to ‘value’ I also think that is a very subjective issue. Value can be calculated at the basic pound shillings and pence (dollar) level of price, or possibly the ‘value’ is in the size of the ship. Small ships may offer one person more value because there are no ‘lines’, but for others the value may be in the great entertainment and facilities like water slides. Some people see ‘value’ in butlers others see them as an expensive ‘extra’. I am a ‘fan’ of Oceania, but do sail luxury lines too, but have also seen great changes in pre and post 2020. Mainly not for the better. I understand the issues cruise lines are facing with huge debts and lack of the well trained teams they had pre 2020. Oceania is not alone in ‘downgrading’ their product. At the end of the day I understand this. I know that the product ‘that was’ no longer ‘is’. I accept the ‘now’ so I keep cruising. For anybody who expects pre 2020 standards in any ship/line I suggest you think very carefully before parting with their money! I think we have to come back to the very basic idea that Sthrngary noted ‘expectations’! Some people pay ‘’in their estimation’ a lot more than a ‘mainstream’ costs and their expectations are heightened sometimes too highly. Personally, I go on a cruise expecting to have a great holiday, good food, good service, pleasant fellow travellers. I don’t expect perfection no matter how much I pay. Nothing, I repeat nothing, in life is ‘perfect’. Leave ‘entitlement’ at the bottom of the gangway before you board and you will have a good trip. I find if I’m pleasant to the staff they are pleasant back and do what they can to make the trip enjoyable. What more can you ask for?

Could be.