Vallesan

Guess it’s ’horses for courses’ . I like afternoon sun on my balcony.

We faced two bad experiences in Miami. 1. We arrived at the airport. Had assistance . Arrived at baggage retrieval. Assistant called porter. Two cases, He walked 5O yds with the trolley. We are from UK. OH gave him $5 and he said “NO” it’s $10! 2. Stayed at the Intercontinental. Ate in the steak restaurant with 15% + taxes. A server, who hadn’t served us, came to our table and said “the hotel take the service charge can you leave an extra tip” My ‘tip’ was ‘If they don’t pay you enough find another job’. Very unimpressed.

Evening shorts are ‘tailored’ shorts not ‘pool’ shorts!

Yes it’s worth it just for the extra space. Butler … you might enjoy or not… depends on your needs. We don’t enjoy eating in the room so not a great advantage for us. Just one word of warning … deck 11 has a big overhang from above. When we book PH we always book deck 10.

I do like Oceania’s served buffet and I must admit I feel a little less safe when there are self serve buffets. I carry hand sanitiser with me and just use it more often if I feel a little uncomfortable. So easy to carry in a pocket/bag everyone should.

Even cruise only without flights???

Wish we could get those prices in the UK!!! At those prices no wonder there are so many US passengers!

That is such an important point. I’m guessing not that many people ask about the numbers sailing but it does make a huge difference to service…. it must. We sailed Silversea and there were 390 passengers and 440 crew!! Service was amazing! Yes, the veranda cabins on the ‘R’ ships are tiny so we have to upgrade to PH, which actually makes other luxury lines more competitive, because their entry cabins are the same size as the PH on ‘R’ ships!

Oh dear! Not sounding great but try and look at it as a ‘glass half full’ and enjoy the good bits. We’ve always enjoyed the ‘R’ class ships but sailed on the Riviera last autumn and realise we now prefer the larger ships with 4 speciality restaurants. If we want a ship with fewer passengers than the Riviera etc. we now choose Seabourn or Silversea. In saying that we still love Oceania but on some itineraries the smaller ships can get into smaller ports like Seville instead of Cadiz. I guess no cruise line is perfect so you just have to go with the ‘best fit’ for you.

So good to hear from ‘happy cruisers’! Enjoy!

Our first cruise with Oceania was in 2015 and we are just about to take our tenth in January but we have only had one ‘itinerary’ change and that is Izmir for Corfu in May 2024. Yes we have missed ports due to ‘weather’ but never actually had an ‘itinerary change ‘!

These days I think lots of people are happier to sail without flying so maybe that’s why P&O, Fred Olsen etc are more popular in the UK?

I feel for you having to travel with these people. Fortunately, this will be a one-off as they will never travel with Oceania again. In future none of us will be forced to endure their whingeing and bad behaviour when we sail Oceania. It’s never excusable to berate the staff it’s just ignorant and ill mannered. Enjoy your trip as best you can.

I agree with you. It seems that Japan is the only country where wages are high enough and a ‘tip’ is seen as an insult.

I agree with you Red Ginger isn’t an authentic Asian restaurant and would be a disappointment if that was what was expected. I go there and enjoy the food for ‘what it is’ not for how it measures up to an authentic Asian restaurant!

I often wonder when I see these comparisons why people tend only to compare service, food and price. Firstly, it’s very difficult to make food/service comparisons as they are so subjective. Secondly, the price of an inclusive cruise is difficult to compare with a cruise where most items are paid for individually. And of course ‘price’ often sets the level of ‘expectation’ which is very difficult to quantify. Finally, I very rarely see anyone comparing ‘size’ which for me is the very fundamental difference between the various lines. I personally, prefer the small ship experience and would never travel on a ‘monster’ for many reasons. So I wouldn’t compare huge ships with their much smaller sisters. A far better comparison would maybe be between ships with under 1300 passengers ? Just my thoughts!

Well said!!!

That is your perogative. You pay your money and you make your choice!

I agree with you entirely! People just don’t seem to understand the nature of the countries they are visiting. Pleased to hear you’re making the best of a less than ideal situation. I’m sure lots of other passengers are enjoying it too. Some people are only happy when they are complaining!

Maybe Oceania has handled things differently to other cruise lines, but maybe not in every case. My concern would be, given NCL’s current financial state, if all passengers had been refunded, and as some expected, compensated too, then they could very well be looking at insolvency. That scenario probably would impact far many more people with cruises booked with them right into 2026!

Yes, this threat has been around since 2000. People really need to do a bit of homework before the travel and assess their own risk aversion. The piracy threat is quite minimal so no need for panic really!

Thank you for your post. It’s always interesting to read about other peoples experiences. You mention that this is your first post Covid cruise. We have taken three cruises with Oceania since mid 2022 and one with each of two other lines. Sad to say but none were faultless. I think the biggest issue is that lots of staff who were in the cruising industry are no longer working on ships. When ships weren’t sailing Oceania, for one, was not paying any wages, not even retainers for the butlers. So naturally lots of staff had to find other ways to support themselves and their families. I guess also lots of the staff realised how much home life they were missing when away at sea. So the crux of the matter is that there is so much pent up demand for cruising but not enough well trained returning staff to service all ships. Hence lots of new, and maybe not so well trained staff, on ships. Maybe in a few years when crews ‘meld’ again the service will approach the days prior to 2020.

Usually a TA will add a discount to Oceania’s price. I have booked several times either onboard or via Oceania direct and then passed it over to my TA. The discount is usually 10%. I’ve found with most cruise lines that include flights unless you are happy to travel from London the flights, even comparatively short flights to Europe involve, involve a change of plane. They won’t use companies like EasyJet so options become very limited for us in the Northwest. Recently we flew LHR-Athens return. The Manchester flight was routed out via Frankfurt and back via Amsterdam! We decided to take the Heathrow option but only because there were included business class flights!

Just want to add one point to this discussion. We have often booked shared tables at 7/7.30 pm only to find they are tables for two. There are obviously a high number of no shows. Don’t be out off by booking shared tables.

Sorry for the misinformation. Last February when we were on Oceania was the last time we paid gratuities. Memory not so good these days!