Harters

I'm with Iain. Toscana is the only speciality restaurant that passes our "holiday restaurant test" - if it was land based and local, would we become regulars. FWIW, I'm a big fan of tiramisu. It's something I will always order in a new Italian restaurant, just to see if it beats my "top two ever". Best ever was a place near home that we go to regularly (although, there must be a new chef as it's different on our visits in the last couple of years, and not as good). Second best ever - a place in Burlington, Vermont.

As yet, we don't know where the OP has booked this cruise but, at the guess that they are in the UK, payment will have been to the TA's account because that's how it works here. As already mentioned, Oceania's terms and conditions are set out in the contract and, also, on Oceania's website. Bear in mind, assuming the OP is British, that care needs to be taken with advice offered on the forum. Most contributors are American and the terms and conditions that may apply to them, can be different for Britons as our contract with Oceania is governed by English law. For example, our terms include the protection under the Package Travel Directive. This link is to Oceania's terms for British customers and you'll find the cancellation charges at Paragraph 9a https://www.oceaniacruises.com/sites/default/files/2024-06/Oceania Ticket Contract_UK.pdf It should be straightforward to work out what is due on cancellation, And, of course, then straightforward to work out if your agent is trying to screw more out of you. As Vallesan has mentioned. cancellation charges would first be deducted from your deposit, so that may be soaking up the money paid If you eventually decide that you are not cancelling, maybe we'll meet on board Vista on 3/6. 😀

That's right, Terry. Disappointing that you've not had any sort of response. There's another thread where someone complains of a similar lack of response (different issue). I think it's just poor customer relations to basically ignore folk who are paying good money to them. I'm sure I must have received a standard reply to my comment, simply "top and tailed" to personalise it. Important thing is that we've logged our disquiet with O, so they cannot say the change has met with universal approval. It's all we can do until the time comes when we decide if we're voting with our wallets.

Disappointingly bad practice not to respond even if it would be just platitudes. Customers have an expectation of being treated with respect

I sent an email to Guest Services and got a reply in about 24 hours. I posted the content upthread at #456

I find that particularly so with the starters, where several can be the same or similar every night. It can leave you with very limited choice of new things to eat.

Good luck. But my bet is that you're more easily going to find British dishes in NYC than on an American cruise ship. I've sailed with Oceania on a UK to UK cruise and I can't recall the food being any different from the other cruises we've done with Oceania. It's all very American orientated, as I'd expect and I'd be really surprised if Celebrity was significantly different. By the by, yes, I know many Americans seem to be very averse to lamb, finding it too assertive a flavour. Most times when I've seen lamb on a restaurant menu in America, the lamb has come from Australia which, to my mind, is simply not great quality. But I have eaten lamb raised in Colorado and it's been fantastic - almost as good as the Herdwick breed from northwest England (my part of the world).

Me neither. But sometimes it's necessary. During my working life, I was on strike three times. Two were local disputes. The other one was a national pay dispute - I was secretary of our local branch at the time, so responsible for keeping the strike solidly effective. It was, I'm proud to say.

I quite look forward to getting the UK version every evening. Not least to see what stories it's covering- and how that compares with what stories, say, the BBC is covering. Quite often, the newsheet will have a story that just doesnt seem that important in terms of the events in the UK. Can't recall which organisation actually writes it.

Might be a question better asked on the Celebrity forum

Absolutely no worries.

You'll find that different European countries have different attitudes towards tipping generally. There's sound advice, at post #8, to research the particular countries you're visiting. Please bear in mind also that the UK is a European country and not something separate from the others (except that we are one of the 17 countries in Europe that are not members of the Union).

I used to think I was. Unfortunately I wasn't. Which is why I went on the wagon nearly 25 years back - and have stayed on the wagon since then.

It'll be a combination of our particular pre-existing conditions and our ages. Both All Clear and Staysure are in the same area for costs but for the last couple of years, AC has been slightly cheaper. That's not surprising as I think both companies use the same software (as do most travel insurers) to assess risk when you fill in the online application.

Very possibly. It's the sort of shabby marketing ploy that I associate more with companies selling sofas, rather than cruises.

Certainly on Vista, there was always a "souffle of the day" in the GDR. Can't recall flavours, I'm afraid.

I suppose this much depends on the country, many of which will generally have a low/no tip culture. I come from one such culture so my instinct is not to tip at all (unless I was visiting somewhere heavily influenced by American tipping culture, such as the Caribbean). FWIW, we did a ship's excursion from Vista in Monaco earlier in the year. I had not intended to tip and, when the trip finished, the guide had walked away from the bus, clearly not waiting for anyone to tip her which, as far as I could see, no-one did.

You're welcome, Pete. If you think on, perhaps you could come back to the forum and update us as to how you got on. Travel insurance for old crocks like me like constantly shifting quicksands, so "latest info" is always handy.

As I understand things, the count starts when you enter the Schengen area and stops when you leave. I believe (but am not certain) that this includes territorial waters. So that probably means it starts when you arrive at Amsterdam and stops when you leave Hamburg and would include any sea day between the two, as you would be in Dutch or German waters.

My recollection is that they give a nationality breakdown of guests. On our Vista transatlantic, earlier this year, the overwhelming majority were Americans, as always. Followed in order by Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders and Britons. I think those four groups totalled about 200. I have it in mind, from a previous cruise, that this "running order" also represents Oceania's overall customer base. What was interesting was the number of nationalities represented by only one person. My guess is that many of those will have been US residents, but not citizens.

This may be yet another difference between the US and UK travel agency industries. The UK industry sells a product and the costs and profit are included in the price it charges. I think it most unlikely that our industry would want to specify, in its customer invoices, a breakdown of those costs, such as the costs of planning.

Not by me. I enjoy going to restaurants and, when I'm on holiday, that means I get to go to a restaurant every night. I've no interest in having dinner in the cabin.

Pete Firstly, I'd suggest asking your GP if they'd still advise you to keep taking the medication. They probably will but it's worth an ask. Blood pressure and cholesterol issues will be of minor consequence to an insurer, so long as they are both under control. But you will need to declare them as "pre-existing conditions" and they will count towards the cost. We have a long list of conditions so our insurance is never cheap. We've previously used Staysure and All Clear, both are which are advised by the Martin Lewis Money Saving Expert website as being amongst the best for folk with existing conditions. Costs obviously depend on your range of conditions and what you want insurance for. You could do a "dummy run" on the websites of the two I've mentioned to get an idea. But, FWIW, our current insurance with All Clear is an annual policy for the both of us including the cruise cover addition, for trips in Europe and costs about £1200. For last year's policy, we needed to add cover for the US and Caribbean - we were doing a transatlantic cruise and were spending just six days in that region. It more than doubled the cost to just about £3k. Possibly means that'll be our last trip to the States - it's probably not worth the extra cost for that.

It's one of the significant reasons why we book a Concierge. Important to us to get a two-top at the right time - sharing at 6.30 is definitely not our thing. And on the right day - we don't want to do a speciality on a day we'd also planned a nice long lunch ashore.

It usually works for us to eat at 7.30, giving us time for a relaxed dinner and still make show time. We came unstuck once on Nautica in one of the specialities where service had been rather slow and we had to make a decision between dessert or show. I lost and we went to see the show. 😀