daleandrews

Explora posted information for offered excursions this morning (February 16) on their website. As of now the information does not look complete -- it's only there for the first half of our Glasgow to NYC cruise -- and the presentation is a bit of a challenge (the tours only appear in a window at the bottom of the page on my laptop). But, anyway, something new to explore!

We booked early also, Glasgow to NYC in September. I like the plans as reflected in the renderings of rooms and common areas as depicted on the Explora website. I'm particularly anxious to see photos showing how the actual product looks. It's a bit frustrating having so little information out there -- I'm used to lines that have been around for a while and that have lots of posted videos by the lines themselves and by TAs. I imagine there will be an influx of such information long about the time of the naming ceremony in early July.

Interesting stuff. We are scheduled on the 24 day September cruise from Glasgow to NYC via Iceland and Greenland. Did you hear any discussion as to when excursions might be posted? I had earlier heard rumors of this month (February) but lately there was also a report that excursion booking and an updated website might not be up until April.

Great! (My brother and his wife live in Palm Bay! Great area.)

Same here. We paid 18,930 (early pay discount) for the 24 night Glasgow to NYC cruise this coming September. Booked it just before the LAST increase. With that increase and the one this week it looks like we are around $7000 below what the rack rate would be now.

Some months back I signed up on their website to receive newsletters. I've never actually GOTTEN a newsletter but every once in a while they send out a promotional email. I received one a couple weeks back saying there would be a January 16 rate increase.

And FYI there is an across-the-board fare hike coming on January 16 according to Explora's emails.

The prices were per suite until about a month ago when they all switched to per passenger. Happened at the same time that they raised fares. (According to an email Explora sent out there is to be another price increase around January 16.)

We are on the September cruise Glasgow, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Northern Canada, NYC, 24 days. Longest cruise we have ever booked.

Everybody who has already booked (including us!) should be feeling pretty good after today's across the board price hikes.

We will be on Marina next week (Nov. 1). We are in a PH and are traveling with another couple who are in a Concierge cabin. When our date for reserving restaurants came up I was easily able to make our reservations on line and, in each case, add our two friends in as guests even though their reservation window had yet to open. I did this for 8 reservations, 2 per specialty restaurant, even though our friends only had guaranteed slots for 4 nights. This is all pretty self-explanatory in the on-line instructions. A couple things to watch out for, though. First, you apparently can't add more than 2 guests -- the option to add a guest disappears after the second is added. Second, if your trip is a segmented journey, made up of 2 shorter underlying cruises, your reservations must be spread out -- with us, 1 per restaurant in each segment to reach the total of 8.

Just in case some have not received or did not read the email sent out by Oceania today, October 24, it provides as follows: Embarking From Greece – Updated October 24, 2022 · Fully Vaccinated and Unvaccinated travelers may embark. · The definition of Fully Vaccinated for voyages embarking in Greece is as follows: All travelers over the age of 18, whose primary COVID-19 vaccination will be beyond 270 days at the time of disembarkation from their voyage, must have a COVID-19 booster prior to embarkation. In lieu of a booster 270 days after the primary series, travelers may present a government recognized or official medical Certificate of Recovery. · Fully Vaccinated travelers do not need to test prior to embarkation. · Travelers that cannot meet the definition of Fully Vaccinated must present a negative, medically administered covid-19 test. PCR and Antigen test results may not be older than 72 or 48 hours respectively at the time of boarding. · Booster mandates are in effect and strictly enforced to meet the definition of Fully Vaccinated – see above.

That was the case, but a week or two back the Greek government removed the pre-cruise testing requirement. https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/environmental-health/greece-lifts-cruise-related-covid-19-testing-updated It's the failure of Oceania to reflect this in their policy that has some of us scratching our heads.

I've been watching this issue closely since we also board in Athens on November 1. I'm not unsympathetic to Flatbush Flyer's point, but this is still a little strange. Oceania currently has a blanket statement that pre-boarding tests are no longer required except where required by local regulations, and the web page detailing such local regulation exceptions includes Greece. But Greece has now rescinded the pre-boarding testing requirement, which SHOULD put Greek embarkations outside of the local exceptions. When we received Oceania's email about boarding instructions yesterday evening I sort of expected it would remove pre-testing for the November 1 Athens embarkation but (of course) it didn't -- it just re-stated the requirement. I get the point that the over-all decision as to whether to require pre-testing or not require it any more is a difficult one entailing a cost benefit analysis the outcome of which individuals may or may not agree with. But what I don't get is making the decision to abandon pre-testing and then continuing it for one port in a manner inconsistent with the overall approach of the company.

And just for comparison sake, on Azamara even if you purchase the premium spirits package Dalwinnie (a personal favorite of mine) is only available at an additional charge.

A couple other idiosyncrasies in making dinner reservations. When I was first prompted to enter the names and reservation numbers of guests I wanted to add to our table I entered the name and reservation number of the husband of the couple we are traveling with. The response on the screen was that the system was unable to identify the guest. I then tried the name and reservation number for the wife of the couple and the system took that entry without a problem. Thereafter it asked me if I wanted to add another guest, and I entered the husband's name and reservation number -- the same one the system had "not been able to find" originally -- and it took the name this time with no trouble. I surmise from this that there must be a principal passenger referenced in the system for each booking and that that passenger's name and number has to be entered first. Also of interest -- while I was prompted as to whether I wanted to add another guest after adding the first one, no such prompt is given after adding the second guest. I suspect that is why everyone trying to reserve a table for more than 4 people is having a problem with the system -- it looks like the system immediately cuts off when the fourth guest has been added. Also, as referenced above, if you are on a cruise with several underlying segments, and you are allowed more than one reservation per restaurant, be sure to space your reservations so that one for each restaurant is in each segment of the cruise. The system won't allow you to have multiple reservations at any restaurant within one segment. Hope this helps!!

Yes, our friends otherwise had a lower cap and their Specialty reservation opening date had yet to occur. I had read in another thread here that you could nevertheless add guests from a lower cabin category once yours was open so I decided to try it. The only problem we had was that two of the eight nights that we could reserve I had trouble adding. I called O and they explained that since our cruise was actually comprised of two underlying cruises I had to be sure that half of our allocated reservations were apportioned in each segment. The rep from O then added two nights later in the cruise, added the same Concierge guests in, and the system took the reservations. So I now have reservations for the 4 of us on each of our nights. I think this all of this also comports with information supplied by O on the FAQ pages.

We are scheduled on Marina November 1 for 19 days. We are in PH and had no trouble reserving all of our allotted specialty reservations on the first day reservations opened. We added two friends, travelling Concierge for each dinner, even though their reservation opening date had not yet occurred. The system allowed us to add them as guests for each of our reservations even though their total number of guaranteed reservations was less than ours.

Thanks for all of the great information and suggestions.

We are scheduled for our first Oceania cruise this November, Marina, ending up in Barcelona on November 19. We are spending one night there before flying back on the 20th. This is our first time in Barcelona (would like to have spent more days but need to get back for Thanksgiving). On previous cruises on other lines there has usually been a one day tour available ending in a transfer to the airport that is offered at disembarkation ports. Does anyone know if Oceania does this? We are thinking of staying at an airport hotel because our flight on the 20th is in the a.m. and we want to be sure we have plenty of time but would still like to at least see something of Barcelona in the little time we have. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

As far as I can tell all of the on-line Oceania provisions relating to reimbursement for Covid quarantine days have been deleted from the Oceania website. Unless I have missed something I would surmise from this that Covid refunds for quarantine days are no longer given.

Ditto! The best penthouse view I've seen. (We will be on board and in one in a little over 2 months.)

Their earlier program, previously outlined on the Oceania website, was very generous. It was in place when a pre-boarding test was still required. Under it if you showed up and tested positive, but could show you had tested negative recently (I think it was 72 hours) your fare was reimbursed. If you could NOT show such a prior test the fare was not reimbursed. And then if you tested negative at boarding but later tested positive during the cruise you were given a per diem refund of your pro-rated fare. And during any quarantine on board medical cossts were waived for services performed by the Oceania medical team. Also, if you were positive at the time of disembarking Oceania paid for quarantine costs at the disembarking port. I was very surprised when I read about the program -- it struck me as more generous than a traveler should expect. But, in any event, all references to that program are now gone as far as I can determine.

As far as I can tell it looks as though the Oceania provisions concerning reimbursements related to testing positive before (or for that matter during) a cruise are no longer on their website. This, along with their statements in several provisions that travelers should carry insurance for Covid-related expenses, leads me to believe that the reimbursement program no longer exists. If this is the case it would be nice if Oceania had so stated rather than just eliminating the provisions.

Our first trip isn't until November, but the description for the beverage upgrade on Oceania's web page says the following: " PRESTIGE SELECT Enjoy unlimited premium spirits, Champagne, wine and beer wherever and whenever you wish . . . .