Tarwood3

Following….  We are on Riviera in Penthouse Suites 11035 and 11051 (the moms)…,.   We were a bit concerned booking these rooms as well. We were under the pool deck once on Azamara and it was awful….  

Can’t wait for the Vista! Booked on the April 26th (the one after the maiden voyage), Barcelona to Lisbon!  Sure hope delivery doesn’t get delayed!

Our May 7th Venice to Rome cruise was just changed a couple days ago. We are now embarking in Ravenna, about 2 hours south     I guess Oceania is slowly rolling out the changes , depending on what port they choose, Trieste, Ravenna or wherever. 

Have a great cruise! We just booked the same thing Cape Town to Mahe but in 2024 on Spirit! Last time on Spirit was the last cruise before it got stretched! 

20 hours ago, Westiesheepie said:

Can someone review Xuan’s Mekong Delta tour please. We have 2 days in HCMC on Seabourn Ovation in February. I believe we dock right in town. Thanks.

Hi there! We have toured with Xuan and he is excellent!! We cruised on Silversea Silver Muse Nov 2018.  We also had 2 days in Saigon and so I did some research to find a good guide and Xuan’s name kept popping up...both on Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor.  Some folks said he was the best guide they had ever had.  Anyway, I booked him about 6 mos out since I knew he was pretty popular based on the reviews on CC. He was quick to respond , recommended a couple different itineraries and then we altered a couple things to tailor it more to what we were interested in.  Once we were all booked  with him, we got his whatsapp number and made it very easy to communicate prior to our cruise.  Xuan is from the Mekong Delta originally, so his all day tour there was fascinating with a local’s perspective.  Vietnam is such an amazing country and every minute of your trip will keep you engaged since it’s so unique.   As you may know, many Vietnamese can be somewhat difficult to understand, their accent can be quite strong when speaking English but Xuan is very easy to understand and very well spoken. I think that’s really important with a tour guide ...they must have an excellent command of the language and he does indeed.  Xuan loves to take pics and so no worrries, he will get lots of pics of you to remember your trip by.  Our 2nd day we did Saigon and he took us to neighborhoods that few locals go to.  Markets that few local go to.  On that day, we told him taht really wanted to see “daily life” of Vietnamese .....  we told him we wanted to do a trishaw through the streets of SAigon and what a ride we had! It was about a half hour and utterly fascinating. He even road ahead on a motorcycle and would stop at intersections and stand in the street to get pics of us being chauffeured around ...love the action shots! He really is one of the best guides we have ever had...so personable, so kind ,....since our trip, we have recommended him to friends and colleagues that have traveled both for business and pleasure to Vietnam and they all have raved about him as well.  Let me know if you have anymore questions.  Happy to answer.  We are looking at an Asian cruise again in 2022 and if we choose one that stops in Veitnam, we will definitely hire Xuan again.  

7 hours ago, Beagle5 said:

 

We did a Baltic cruise on the Marina this past July 2019. It was our second Oceania cruise and we have a B2B booked on the Riviera in the med this coming July 2020.

On our first Oceania cruise we made good friends with a couple of guys from Florida - we just started talking to them while in the line at Waves Grill. On our second cruise (the Baltic one) there were quite a few LGBT but we only spoke to one guy who approached us. He was traveling with his Dad and going slightly crazy. LOL.

There are no organised FoD events. If we meet other gays that's great, but if we don't that's fine too.

Oceania is usually pretty quite after about 10pm - however they did have an ABBA night as we pulled out of Stockholm which kicked on and the dance floor in Horizons was packed.

Oceania is the highest price point cruise line we have been with. Compared to Cunard, RCL and Princess, we love the food, the included specialty restaurants, and the general ambiance. 

Try to lock in a night at La Reserve if you can - we met some fun people there.

Great insight !! Thanks so much!!

Who’s on?  My partner Ben and I are from Sarasota, FL and we are doing this cruise with our parents and Ben’s sister.  We have been to Australia 5 times and NZ once...and can’t wait to go back...one of our favorite places in the world!

We are going on Oceania for the first time in July on Marina for a Baltic cruise.  We thought we would try them for the food and it’s mid level price range....we normally cruise Silversea, Seabourn etc...but occasionally throw in a Celebrity for something different.  We arent particularly loyal to anyone, we like to sample.  Hoping that there are some friendly gays...our last cruise on Crystal, the gays were pretty snobby.  I hear the ship is pretty nice..hoping for the best!

On 9/4/2019 at 12:45 PM, schmerl said:

We just booked the Renaissance of Culture cruise though the Baltics. This is our first Oceania cruise and we are really looking forward to it. 

Do most of you take the ship's shore excursions or book your own?

We are on this cruise as well and its also our first Oceania cruise

On 8/15/2019 at 7:22 AM, KirkNC said:

I was hoping they would delve deeper into the Black Sea and include stops in Georgia and northern Turkey.

Exactly why we booked Azamara ....they have the best Black Sea itinerary....

Can you use your onboard credit (the O Life $$) to pay for excursions when booking them 240 days before sailing??

10 hours ago, palm beach said:

Tarwood3,

I booked tours with Xuan for Saigon and the Mekong Delta. Did you have any kind of vaccination before going on the cruise? How about mosquito repellent, is it necessary

 

 

We didnt have a problem with mosquitos......and we didnt use repellent.  We have traveled so much around the world, that I’m up to date on all vaccinations anyway, so honestly I dont remember if we needed something for Vietnam.  Usually if there are vaccinations required, it is listed on your invoice from Silversea at the bottom with all the info about the cruise...visas, vaccines, etc...  otherwise, check with your doctor or go to the CDC’s website. Also, I’m sure there is a travelers vaccine clinic near you....just check their website or call...

On 6/27/2019 at 2:20 PM, Covepointcruiser said:

Go with Seabourn or Silversea if you want a luxury experience.   See if you can get either for $1000 a day.   Azamara is perfectly fine for most folks but if you think you will be disappointed you should cancel.

Yep, you can get SB or SS for $1000 a day...of course depends on when you book and where, but its not difficult to do.  And thats the thing...we have always done a mix of luxury and premium lines...to balance out travel expenses.  But lately, AZ has gotten so expensive and our Sky Suites on Celebrity are more than or equal to what we would pay on SS or SB...so for same price or lower, we will do SS or SB every time..  

7 minutes ago, palm beach said:

Tarwood, you have been so helpful. I had looked at private tour guides and his name showed up. I will contact him, his reviews were excellent but knowing someone who used him is a better review. 

I can’t thank you enough for all your help, I hope you don’t mind if I have other questions in the future.

You’re quite welcome....I hope you enjoy Vietnam as much as we did!! Xuan does some unique things that big tour groups cant...so that’s nice to have! Book as early as possible ...he’s quite popular. 

Like I said in an earlier post, if your cruise goes to Halong Bay in Northern Vietnam, please do the 12 hour Hanoi excursion .  We were freaked out by the time at first. We only like half day excursions but we were assured by shore excursion staf that it is well worth it! There were only maybe 50 people who did Hanoi.  We were split into groups of 6 and each group was in a comfortable mini van with private guide.  And each group did its own thing.  So we felt like it was a very private tour.  Probably the best ship excursion we have ever done. The description of tour says its a 3 hour drive on uneven roads but this isn’t true.  They built a new freeway and its great! 

One more thing...I just looked back at my texts to my guide...the actual port name that we docked at was called Hiep Phuoc Port in the Xa Long Thoi neighborhood.  The shuttle went hourly to Union Square which is adjacent to the Hotel Continental Saigon that I sent a pic of.  Obviously these things could change but for the mid size ships I think this is the norm.  There was a Viking ship docked on the other side of the river from us.  No ships were downtown.  I think only the very small ships can make it downtown....

10 minutes ago, palm beach said:

Tarwood3, thank you for your helpful post. The distance to town is not too bad, it could be worse and a shuttle is provided. Some ship dock so far away from Saigon. 

You mentioned you had a private tour guide, were you pleased with him? Would you mind sharing his name?

Great pictures!

 

Yes, I highly recommend our guide.  I actually had found quite a reviews on him through Cruise Critic before our cruise and everyone raves about him and we were not disappointed.  His name is Xuan Le....his English is excellent...and couldnt be a nicer guy.  He customizes his tours to whatever you want to see, but will happily give you examples of itineraries.  No need for advance deposit.  Just pay him when finished with tour.  His email is tourwithxuan@gmail.com and his name Xuan is pronounced like “Soon”.  He is very used to dealing with luxury clientele .  By the end of our 2 days together, we felt like old friends and still keep in constant contact with him.  We have sent several friends to him and everyone has loved him! I will find a pic....  he will reply via email..but once you firm something up, he prefers to correspond via whatsapp.  

Tell him Gary and Ben recommended you....he loves us! 

25 minutes ago, Unibok said:

That’s great news, Tarwood! I was hoping there was something closer to the city than the big port. Thank you for the details and the map!

You’re very welcome! Btw...the sail out was unlike anything I had ever seen.  We went to the deck above Tors Observation Lounge for a good view forward...few people go up there btw.  Anyway, I have never heard a ship blow its horn as much as we did...I lost count after about 40 times.  The Saigon River is a very busy waterway with lots of barges and small boats that don’t yield to larger ships...they are pretty ballsy and arrogant.  The captain was getting very impatient with slower vessels not getting out of our way....quite the sight. 

Hi there, we haven’t been but me and my partner are booked on the first Antarctica cruise late November.  There are different things to see depending on the month you go .  Some months are bettter for whale watching, others for penguin babies, others for seeing the large icebergs etc....  we found an easy to use guide at AudleyTravel.com which breaks down each month on “when is the best time to go”.  We chose early in the season before many tourists have been and also because we want to see the massive ice bergs.   We dont really care about penguin babies late in the season besides we have heard that the land is covered in penguin poop and smells late in the season...lol.  Anyway, to each his own, we all go for different reasons.  Do some simple google searches on best time to go and things to see...maybe we will even see you on our voyage!

Kaiseki is aJapanese cuisine is known for its meticulous preparation and beautiful presentation. It's also known as the most expensive type of Japanese food — meals can have more than 14 courses. Kaiseki restaurants offer a private room — often with a view of a Japanese garden.

On 5/9/2019 at 7:17 PM, palm beach said:

Stumblefoot, I completely agree with you. Now we will be in the middle of nowhere for 4 days, that’s way too much. Very poor planning from Silverseas.

Completely disagree with you on the poor planning comment...youhavent been and therefore you don’t understand the area...this is as close as they can get...the large ships like Royal Caribbean and Princess have to go to Phu My ...about a 3 hour drive each way......We have done the Vietnam cruise on the Muse and SS does an excellent job. 

So we did Vietnam in November on the Muse.  We did not dock in Phu My or anywhere near.  We were able to sail up the Saigon River quite a ways but sadly not in downtown.  We were in an industrial port in an area called Xa Long Thoi. Silversea ran regular shuttles to Central Saigon.  The distance isn’t too far to central Saigon, its the traffic that can be difficult.  Sometimes it could be an hour, sometimes it was 30 mins.  At first we were quite disappointed, but it ended up not being too bad.  We had a private guide both days we were there.  The first day he just met us at the shuttle stop in front of the Hotel Continental Saigon.  At the end of the day, he dropped us off there and we took the SS shuttle back to ship.  The second morning we started very early, so our guide just met us at the entrance to the port.  I will try to include a map of where we were docked.  Look for the red dot on the map.  Hope that helps.  Ask if you have any other question.  We recommend you do Saigon one day and the Mekong delta another day...but there are so many tours and different places to go!! You will love it! Its an amazing place.  We love Saigon but we loved Hanoi even more.  Even though Hanoi is a 12 hour excursion from where you dock in Halong Bay stop..its definitely worth it!!!

I was hoping that all ships would have itineraries through May 2021, but just a few....we were hoping to take a closer look at the Accra to Lisbon on the Cloud which usually is in March or April...but nothing on the Cloud or any of the expedition ships and Spirit only to March 2021...we have tentatively booked teh April 5th 2021 Tokyo to Tokyo...hits everywhere ,north , south and central.  Excellent itinerary, but yes, very expensive.  

9 hours ago, PelicanBill said:

Not a specific RCCL news item.  I am surprised it was moved to "Ask A Cruise Question" rather than the News board.

Agreed, dumb place to move it to...I’m sure the moderator just wanted to bury the story...

19 hours ago, SantaFeFan said:

 

Not at all surprised that this would be posted on www.cruiselawnews.com. It's a website published by ambulance chasing type of attorney Jim Walker who makes his living suing cruise lines for just about anything he can profit from as he bottom feeds the cruise industry. He loves this sort of thing as it brings him more cash for his mansions. 

 

Still, breaking environmental laws is not acceptable, regardless of who profits from prosecuting such issues. 

The article was originally published in the Miami Herald...regardless of the source, it really is just terrible...

I’m surprised things of this magnitude arent reported and investigated by the national news....this is all very disturbing...