Woofa

While have not done one it is on our bucket list for the future. Relax, eat, sleep late, eat, be lazy, eat, read, oh and did I mention eat.😀

This thread feels like it has gotten out of hand. Lots of good suggestions for the OP to follow up this week. I suggest we let the OP do that then report back.

One suggestion, as its not clear from your post. If you don't already have one I would look into getting a good TA who specializes in luxury cruising. I would also try and determine what ports are most important to you. Mediterranean cruises can be very port intensive often with no sea days. This combined with overseas flights can overwhe!m some travelers, even younger ones. Not sure how much time you can take but given the option I would think about a 9 or 10 day cruise combined with at least one day pre and post cruise stay. Sounds like a great trip, have fun.

I wonder if in fact the best thing to do when this happens is to make sure management knows about the issue. (Either on the mid ship survey (assuming you can fill it out) or to a higher up person on board the ship.) While I don't doubt they know it happens, they may not be aware of how many people are affected (and how big a deal it is to some people). I know from previous topics and posts, at least sometimes O follows through and frees up chairs. Perhaps they just need to implement that policy more regularly. From our limited experience and all that I have read, I assume O does not want to get involved if they are not clearly in need to.

Forgive me if I am mistaken but I thought you could only use it for culinary excursions not culinary classes. If someone with experience can confirm.

I think the difference is that if you have OLife with the basic beverage choice already it is an additional $30 pppd. If you don't have any beverage package ( only possible if you booked before SM became the new pricing) then it is the higher amount for the full package.

All non alcoholic beverages ( exceptions maybe for certain non alcoholic beers or mocktails,) are included. With SM you also get wine with lunch and dinner in the restaurants. Need to move up to the paid package for liquor and of course If you don't care for the wine choices you can pay for bottles of wine or bring your own on board and pay the $25 corkage fee in the restaurants.

My bad, thanks for the correction.

Just a quick note from our experience on Riviera in the Caribbean. The main pool is not overly large but I always got a spot with personal space. While the pool deck chaIses fill up and stay filled, most of these people are really not sunning or getting wet. In fact many were not even attired to do so. Most of the all day chair hogs we saw were basically spending the day, mostly in the shade, relaxing, reading, etc. It was clear many never got off the ship and I believe if there was another, "non pool" area with an outside shaded area to fit so many, they would happily go there (especially if it allowed you to look out on the water). Even those in the pool, like myself were basically in for a few minute dip, cool off then back out. There is no real swimming opportunities during the main part of the day as having just one or two others in the pool precludes this. Some don't even get in the actual pool but wet their feet on the shallow side sections. One or two tried to do yoga, or at least stretching, right at the handrail and stairs but in truth there is not room for this and they were in the way of anyone getting in or out. Our cruise at least skewed pretty older and of course, most above 60, certainly above 70 were not looking to tan. Maybe a dozen or so people really soaking in the rays, mostly somewhat younger (read 50's) and with great tans already. I assume many of them live in south Florida and stay tan all year round. And I will agree with those who felt like the live music poolside which I think started in the afternoon was too early and too loud. No need for this imo before late afternoon or early evening. I am a little hard of hearing and I felt it was just too loud in that area.

From your description it sounds like you live in a very casual area. From years of reading posts here and our ten days on Riviera earlier in the year I would say that while Oceania is not dressy, it is also for the most part not that casual either. As stated above Terrace Grille and waves pizzeria are casual even at night and jeans or shorts are ok. The GDR and specialties are not that casual. You can read dozens of posts where jeans were ok, not okay, you name it. The only conclusions I have come to are that dressier jeans may well be okay while sloppy jeans might have them ask you to change. for what its worth I probably saw more sport coats than jeans although both were in the minority on our cruise. The night I wore a tie to Jacques certainly had me amongst the most formally dressed on the ship. I would not hesitate to pack jeans but I would also make sure to take the next level up if you planned to eat in the venues listed. On the plus side, for men at least, khakis take up less room and are lighter than jeans. Have a great cruise whatever you choose.

One thing to keep in mind, in my opinion, is also the level of food savvy of the customers. In my opinion, over the course of its history O, a smaller niche line, has attracted a clientele of well traveled and well ate (not sure this is the right word, sorry) people. Many live in and around major cities and have access to a very high level of food. They have spent a considerable amount of effort, time and money throughout their lives enjoying dining. Most likely they are also older (as is the typical O clientele) and have found exactly what they like in their area and frequent those restaurants. Of course many cook well also. As a result, they are knowledgeable, and picky when it comes to food. A previous poster has opined that a relative of theirs judges a cruise food option on whether it is a restaurant they would return to and frequent on land. Respectfully I don't find this reasonable. Having lived in New York, The Philly area, and Miami I do not feel its reasonable that the GDR, or even a specialty restaurant is going to come close to what I found as my go to places for different cuisine in those areas. Now that I live around Dallas (which does not compare food wise in my opinion) maybe we are closer. Yes, we expected better than Applebees and yes, we felt the food across the board was good to very good. Perfect, no. Would I go back if this was a land restaurant? Well, depends on price of course but assuming it was a higher end restaurant, most likely not. That does not mean we did not enjoy it. We read thousands of posts before we chose O and I felt the consensus was that no line that was not considerably more expensive (and not even clearly those) had consistently, significantly better food to the opinion of these boards. As has been said before, go in with an open mind, a reasonable expectation and not buying the marketing and I believe most people will be happy.

Just another take on this. Certainly I don't know but I have to venture a guess that you can stack up just about everything as money decisions. Most likely made by the accountants leaving management with no good choices. Before assigning malicious intent perhaps what we are seeing is the reality of the post covid era. Everything I have read indicates that O was seniors baby. Without his presence the bankers may not be willing to give as much slack. There seems little argument that pre covid, O gave great value and made many people happy enough to be very loyal. is that value diminishing? Yes, but lets not forget that much of what O has been changing to just in the last year is already pretty standard in its class. We are on Marina next Thanksgiving. we had hoped for a replica of the beautiful bathroom we experienced on Riviera earlier this year. Things happen. Better a partial refit than none at all. For all I know management had to fight tooth and claw to keep that. My experience with management across the board has generally been that the last thing they want is to make their customers mad or lose them. and I have to believe that senior is still somewhere in the background doing his best to give advice. The last thing he would want is to see O fail now that he left. This is a tough time For all cruise lines and O has still managed to launch a new ship class with number two on the way. I would also find it hard to believe that anyone would argue that the O demographic hasn't aged and that they must figure out a way to lure more cruisers who will be cruising after 2030, 2035, 2040. And more cruisers who are willing to spend out of pocket money on the cruise itself. On our ten day cruise in January we spent just $35 on the ship. My wife had two drinks. Now for us cruising O was a push that we made happen but lets face facts. While I think O does want our business, I think that if I were management, I would prefer more people able and willing to drop hundreds or thousands on anything and everything available on board for purchase. And I mean out of pocket, not OBC. Anyway, now I am just ranting but my point is, I doubt management is sitting in a room thinking up ways to make people mad at them. Much more reasonable to me to assume they are caught between a rock and a hard place and doing their best to keep their heads above water.

That is good news for us. Will be on Marina in November and happy to try aquamar. Another option is always nice.

When we were on a full Riviera on January we followed the advice from these boards and checked by guest services as well as the restaurant itself once it was open. We snagged a second Jacques reservation. Honestly we did not try very hard as we enjoyed eating in Terrace when they had the grill and had good weather to eat outside. On the last night I was speaking to someone I met playing bridge and they had eaten at specialties 9 of the 10 nights. I do not know what cabin level or how many cruises they had on O. Remember that on an O class ship if you eat in each restaurant including the pizza at waves at night that is already 7 dinners (8 if you eat at la reserve or privee one night (for a charge)) Also remember that the specialties are not supposed to have higher quality food (ymmv). On our next cruise on Marina next year we will most likely try for a second reservation at polo and/or Italian.

I can only guess but I would think that O started from just adding an excursion in every port, as some other lines do, then made the decision to give the credit allowing people to at least decide within the confines of the offered excursions. Theoretically this might be more palatable to some (us included) if we could reserve a more expensive (less people) excursion in a single port. Whether this will be a reasonable option (especially when not staying in an upper level cabin who I believe get first crack) we shall see. As I and many others have said, if these excursions are not working for someone, best to think of SM as a price increase, skip the excursions completely and then decide if new pricing takes O out of the running for your dollars. But, as we have also said previously, not as if there are alot of other options out there for less. Plenty of talk on these forums about quitting O but other than a few cruises on premium or luxury lines, very little about finding cheaper prices on the whole. Of course, cabin and cruise choice can make a big difference. My guess, regardless of what seems to be popular here, is that most cruisers will stick with O and pay the difference. For most people, changing lines can be a costly and difficult process. Thanks for your review, sorry about the bathroom issue and excursion issue but glad you basically liked the ship and the food.

Agree completely. One of the problems with simply more is that as far as I know it was released in combination with other cruise increases. Some here have indicated their cruise price went down, or stayed approximately the same. Others a huge increase. The issue seems to be that when you rebook under SM you might be paying a new and significantly higher base cruise cost than you had last year or previously. Bottom line is to call your TA, or if no TA then call O directly and ask the current price for rebooking under SM. It is worth a call for sure if you like what SM offers as it may add value for you. As for tours, ships tours in general cost more than private and O would seem to be higher than most. Cruises booked prior to SM will be your last chance to pay a cruise only fare, or in your case pay for olive benefits not available under SM. Please let us know.

I may be mistaken but I thought the upgrade was the cabin you got, just that you paid a lower price for it.

This sounds a very reasonable review and we thank you for posting. Overall I think that many here would agree that if you can find a similarly priced itinerary on SS, a luxury line, you should certainly think about it. This is the second comparison in a short time of O to a luxury line (the other being SB.). I would think both lines would be better compared to sister line Regent, the true luxury level line. I am glad that in these reviews, O at least warrants comparison. The real question of course is price. When I have looked in the past I have not felt O prices across the board to be in the same ballpark with any of the luxury lines. Of course so much depends upon itinerary, room selection, your decided inclusions, etc. certainly, I have no doubt that you can sail O for quite a bit less under the right circumstances, even including new SM prices. Good luck wherever you sail.

My real question, and it may be too early to determine this, is in regard to the excursions. I assume that ships excursions will have more people, as many under OLife sailed cruise only. 1. Will most excursions now be more crowded or full? 2. Will people have a difficult time trying to take a single higher level excursion (pricewise) as opposed to only being able to find the base "bus" excursions open? 3. Will O add in enough additional excursions as needed to handle the additional load? 4. Will most people end up leaving excursion money on the table or adding in additional funds to use the full credit? (O wins either way.) I don't think we will be able to answer these questions for quite a while as I doubt we will see a fully (SM) booked cruise until well into next year or 2025. While we may not be thrilled to have no choice but to pay the higher price in the future for the included credit we do believe it would take some of the sting out of the equation if we found it reasonably easy to use some or all of that credit to take an excursion or excursions that we like from the list. Time will tell.

@DrKoob Thank you for bringing us along and giving your review and thoughts. I don't think you are in any way overly negative. As you stated above, you are a certain type of cruiser (very tech savvy, need a higher level of internet, don't care so much about spa, room size preference, etc, etc.). And you would be most comfortable finding a single line which you can be loyal to getting what you want in return. We hope you find your niche. We are glad you tried O and assume you will need to try most other lines to find your perfect fit. Maybe it will be O under simply more, maybe you will find a better fit. It is your money and we feel you have the right to spend it anyway you want. There is no perfect line for everyone. In today's world even more so people will have to make certain choices and most likely not get everything on their wish list (even if they spend alot more.). We have only taken one cruise. We chose O and enjoyed it. We have another booked but who knows what the future will bring? We feel no loyalty to O and would be happy to try another line in the future if the right situation appears. For us all of the loyalty perks short of the free cruise, while nice, are not a big deal and we have no reason to think we will never get to cruise #20 so that is basically meaningless as well. Enjoy the rest of your cruise and all your future cruises.

I think we all agree this is not the best scenario but, as has been mentioned previously almost all premium and luxury lines now do this so unfortunately it is the reality. Let O know your concerns so maybe they will adjust their policy in the future.

Okay so may need some confirmation on this one as SM is new. I do show that Harvest Caye in Belize has a private Cabana rental for $259 but it also says on the bottom "Price listed is per cabana, not per person, therefore, only one person needs to reserve the cabana.". You would think that O has not yet gotten the kinks out of the new SM system for an excursion such as this.

We had a similar experience at an all inclusive in Cancun. People are often amazed at what you can sometimes get if you ask politely. On our cruise we felt that staff was really helpful, especially for first-timers like us. I know many people are not comfortable asking for something additional or different but we feel like if they can make it happen, they will try. Similar to @Flatbush Flyer I was born in Brooklyn and I was taught that when its your money, you should not hesitate ( within reason) to at least try and get what you want. Worst they can do is say no.

Yes, as many here have said before. "Free" is really better described as "Included."

We grew to enjoy eating at the terrace. Not a typical buffet as they serve you at the stations instead of people touching the food. Our favorite was the grill which they had most nights. Grilled to order steak, lamb chops, salmon, shrimp and lobster and veggies. May have to wait a few minutes but worth it to us. They also have a carving station, pasta, sushi, etc. Often find items they are serving in the MDR. If weather permits and you can snag a seat outside can be very pleasant. We also stopped in just for some sushi or a desert. We ate breakfast there many days as well.