Steelydad2021

6 hours ago, edgee said:

Problem is pervasive. We'll respected cruise reviewer Gary Bembridge recently did a YouTube review on Vista...see below. Says he loves Oceania but will not sail Vista again due to noise between cabin issue.

 

https://youtu.be/5aOXEYQXQW0?si=Kx-4RmEZA3bo3DB9

 

Abutting cabin noise may give the Simply More pricing scheme a run as the biggest pain point. 

Got very lucky with super quiet neighbors on same Vista cruise as Sir Gary except for one afternoon when it sounded like they were in our room and speaking on a PA system. 

Also lucky to catch a few random chats w/ Sir GB in his wanderings about the ship and given his massive audience and influence O might pay attention and correct although his video indicates that is not likely. 

Still quietest most sedate crowd on a full ship ever which is not a complaint at all.  Fun to have the run of the place. 😀  

21 hours ago, Harters said:

This was our third Oceania cruise and the first on Vista (previous ones on Marina and Nautica). It was also our first transatlantic and we were really looking forward to all those sea days – we knew it would be a much more relaxing holiday than O’s usual port intensive cruises.

 

We’d flown from our local airport to London, on the Sunday, staying overnight at Heathrow, then on to Miami the next day. We spent a couple of nights at Miami Beach. Flights and Miami hotel had been arranged by our cruise travel agency, meaning the whole deal gave us protection under consumer law as a “package holiday”, protecting us should the agency, Oceania or British Airways go bust. Unlikely in the latter two cases but good to know that we were covered.

 

Oceania had given us a check-in time of 13.30 at the cruise port. So, what to do between our hotel check-out of 11.00 and then? Well, we wondered about just turning up early and see what happened. The worst might be that we were denied entry to the terminal and had to hang about there. My partner asked for advice on an Oceania Facebook group and received the consistent reply that they would be no problem going early. So we did. Unfortunately, so did everyone else. We joined a long and slow moving queue but, in due course, we were on board and heading for the Terrace Café for lunch. It wasn’t that long till it was announced we could go to our cabin.

 

We were in 9063 – a A2 Concierge cabin. It’s a good size, well designed with a comfy, firm bed, enough storage space for the fortnight’s trip, decent shower cubicle, etc. We experienced none of the issues of noise from adjacent cabins that have been extensively mentioned on Cruise Critic (although we did hear of others who did have problems – so this is a real issue). In the latter part of the cruise, I developed a bad cough as, seemingly, did quite a number of other passengers. I can only hope the noise from that didn’t annoy the neighbours. I’m sorry if it did but there was nothing I could do about it. The cabin attendant kept the place spotless and was really helpful. In fact, “spotless” is a word you could generally use about the whole ship. As you walked about, there were always folk cleaning.

 

Thought and money has gone into the design of the public areas. There’s a considerable amount of artworks – wall hangings, sculpture, ceramics, etc. The mosaic “floral pictures” on the Terrace Café wall must have cost a small fortune in themselves.

 

As for the food, I suppose the first question must be is this “the finest cuisine at sea”. Well, with only Oceania experience to call on in recent decades, I’ve nothing to compare that marketing slogan against. But, I do know the food was pretty good and when you think that this is mass catering, probably better than “pretty good”. With North Americans representing about 1000 of the 1200 on board, it’s no surprise that the food is rightly geared to their tastes. A particular disappointment was that almost every dish where you expect the vibrancy from spices seemed dumbed down and generally quite bland. There was one negative of note and it applied in the Grand Dining Room and the specialities. And that was the amount of time we regularly sat there with menus in our hands, waiting for someone to take our order. It wouldn’t be acceptable in a land based restaurant and it really isn’t acceptable here. But, once your order is in the system, everyone is generally fine. The sommeliers (they are not really sommeliers in the usual sense of the word) are generally on the ball, regularly offering second and third pours. . Our booking was under the Simply More arrangements which got us included booze at lunch and dinner. This was nice, although I don’t drink alcohol and my partner only sparingly. I do enjoy the occasional alcohol free beer or wine, so was able to take advantage of this (although the alcohol free Merlot is very thin on flavour and I couldn’t really recommend it – better than nowt, I suppose.

 

Some brief comments on the various restaurant venues:-

 

Grand Dining Room – we ate here most nights. Always found something we wanted to eat and the food was good quality. We also had a few breakfasts and lunches. It was nice to be served a “proper” breakfast and the lunchtime French bistro classics were also good.

 

Terrace Café - good for breakfast and lunch. Lots of choice. Nice to sit on the open terrace on good weather days. We had dinner once when the buffet was given over to a “Spanish Market”menu. , which was excellent, both in the variety of choice and the use of traditional flavours. I felt myself whisked back to Mallorca with the sobrasada on toast and suckling pig. 

 

Waves – went for lunch a few times. Good sandwiches. In the evening, it becomes a pizzeria. We went once – pizza was fine. Think good quality supermarket pizza, rather than it being as good as your favourite place at home.

 

Aquamar Kitchen – we went for lunch a couple of times. This is the ship’s “healthy option”, which is probably why we weren’t keen. Nice enough salads, poke bowls and the like. Small portions – we went to Baristas afterwards for coffee and got pastries from the Bakery, as still hungry..

 

As for the four specialities, we enjoyed the variety. It’s a plus point for O’s larger ships, over the two on the smaller ships. We liked Ember. The food was excellent but it was the space that really made it. It’s a very modern design and the open kitchen is always going to add excitement to a restaurant. Polo Grill and Toscana both did their jobs well – plenty of choice on the menus and cooking is to a high standard. Red Ginger, however, was a disappointment, as it had been on our Marina cruise. For “Asian Fusion”, read dumbed down food. We complained about one dish (the only complaint about anything on board). That was the beef rendang and were told it was prepared and flavoured as it should be. Happens to be a dish we know well and this was just wrong on several levels. But, that aside, the specialities were fine and made for a good balance with the other options. None would meet our “Holiday Restaurant” test – if it was a restaurant at home, would we become regulars. Polo and Toscana are the best two but neither are as good as the steakhouse and Italian that we go to regularly.

 

 

Baristas is good for daytime coffee. My partner, who is a tea drinker, says it’s the only place on board where the water is hot enough to make a proper cup of tea (I’m sure she could do a full ten minute rant about the tea in Horizons at afternoon tea time). . The Bakery attached to the space is excellent for the likes of quiche, beignets and other sweet treats. In the evening, it becomes Baristas Aperitivo – a lovely bright cocktail venue that seems to be ignored by the vast majority of passengers. Nope, I don’t understand why. Not least as Martinis is so cold that we found it actively unpleasant to sit there.

 

No-one’s going on an Oceania cruise for the entertainment. I mean, it’s OK but not really better than OK. It’s a larger performance company than on Nautica but, truth be told, we found the quality of performance to be not as good. On other nights, there were “guest performers”. Danny Buckler did a good comedy magic routine. Vocalist Nik Page was OK, if a bit shouty. We’d seen Duo Esencias on Nautica last year. Seeing them once was enough. We didn’t go to the shows after Day 9.

And, yes, comments by others about the design of the Vista Lounge are all true. It’s easy to find your view of the stage blocked by someone in the row in front. So you do regularly see folk shuffling around to new seats.

 

With regard to excursions, on our previous cruises we’ve always taken the “free” excursion perk, as consistently recommended on the Cruise Critic forum. We find that the Simply More excursion credit suits us better in that we can spend it on any available trip, rather than being tied to the very basic ones. For example, we booked a more costly gastronomic excursion in Malaga as that part of Andalucia is very well known to us from previous land based holidays. So, with a mix of ports where we planned to do our own thing and three where we’d booked ships excursions, we were looking forward to them. Unfortunately, the three ship’s excursions were all at the end of the cruise. By that time, I’d picked up the bug I mentioned earlier and my COPD had flared up, so we cancelled two of them. And, I’d have to say, the one we did, in Monaco, wasn’t that great. You did learn a bit about the history but you only get to see three major sites – the Cathedral, Prince’s Palace and the Casino. There’s no  feeling of even scratching the surface of Monaco. I think we’d have done better buying a ticket for the hop on, hop off bus and doing our own thing. But we did spot someone famous (or, more accurately, infamous). As we were waiting for the bus back to the ship, Sir Philip Green walked past.

 

So, that’s about it.. We had a really nice time. So nice, that we’ve booked a cruise for next year (same cabin – so fingers crossed the lack of noise issues wasn’t just down to very quiet neighbours). I think Oceania has probably made a good decision in making the pricing more inclusive – the change in excursions and drinks with meals. And, for the next cruise, gratuities will be included in the headline cruise price for British (and other European?) customers, as it has been for the Australia and New Zealand market for some time. It’s in response to O’s discussions with the UK cruise travel agent industry which, I understand, has called for it. Oh, yes – we’ll manage our port days better, treating some as sea days, so we finish our cruise properly rested, rather than having rushed around and feeling the need for another holiday to recuperate.

Tre helpful and useful info Harters b/c after our Vista sail last month we are sort of on the fence on an O go again.

It would help a lot if they fixed the noise issue although it was rare to hear the next doors, when we did, it sounded like they were in our room.

Your review of the restaurants is spot on.

If we do it again, kick off our high heel sneakers and spend that last piaster for O, it will because of the vibe, the feel, the mood, the formula. 

O tries.  The restaurants are the draw and fun, even had a great meal in the main dinning room with a memorable pear dessert (the smell of prickly pear mmmm). 

Not expecting perfection - only a fool would say that but O's got the right rhythm, not too tony a tone and a fine feel.

On 4/6/2024 at 9:39 PM, AmateurGO said:

r&rd's description of that Sept/Oct cruise "around" Iceland is spot on...  we were there also.  We scheduled our trip with a couple of days in Reykjavik after the cruise for the Golden Circle and a south coast tour.  I understand that WS will discontinue Iceland cruises a week or two earlier now.  

In addition to the missed ports and not a real circumnavigation of Iceland, I have to point out the other potential issue related to weather.  Those high waves and wind will toss the ship around a bit and we did have a couple of days of that kind of weather.  We could feel the effects, but were not significantly affected by the motion, but many people were.  The last night (after the roughest day) Amphora only had about 1/3 to 1/2 as many people dining as normal.  Motion sickness remedies were quietly being provided, but if you are at all susceptible to motion sickness, I'd suggest you bring your own medications.

I do rather complete trip reports of our trips: if you want to read/view the report of this trip, check my personal (non-commercial) web page: http://hammocktree.us/Iceland23//Iceland-23.htm

There is a video from the last day of the cruise that will give you an idea of the movement.

Thank you AmatuerGo

Insightful comments, useful info and well written ... plus nice pics in the link.  At least WS had a fall back of sorts so you saw some unique areas that makes this island a draw.

Booked WS Iceland for this August and hoping for puffins (we know northern lights in summer is not realistic) and smooth sailing but suspect anything can happen and for that matter anywhere.

We have been bounced in to seasickness and missed ports in the Caribbean on a pre-stretch WS yacht. Just off the much bigger Oceania Vista in the Carib a few weeks ago and springtime high winds canceled one port.  Suspect many wished another one was canceled too given the tender smashing against the ship during loading. 

Even a stretched Star Pride is not real big.  Big WS fans for same reasons as you but have to wonder if bigger cruise ships fair better around Iceland?

48 minutes ago, MarkWiltonM said:

 

Can you share more about this? 

Certainly MarkWiltonM

Children we have it right here

Go concierge (IMHO worth it just for best dine times), then online at midnight sharp when reserves open up (60 day b/f if memory service) and times are there for the taking. 

Then show up just a few min early at appointed hour and we were seated by a window w/ an sea view at sunset w/o even having to ask

or sit outside at Terrace Cafe ... stare at Biscayne Bay, where the Cuban gentlemen sleep all day as the song goes

17 hours ago, bchbum4000 said:

I have a feeling that I might have been on the same cruise you have just written about. 

Vista Western Caribbean. March 9 to March 16.

I second everything you have said in your post.  We had the same experiences as you had

This is not the standards that we have been used to on previous Oceania cruises. Our dinner in the Polo was great Tom a Hawk veal chop and the sides were inedible.  The mushrooms were over cooked, the baked potato was Luke warm.  We ate in the buffet more on this trip then ever before. The Wave had the best food.  Food isn’t the reason why we cruise, but on a high end cruise and for the money we paid it should have been better.

 

I too, am looking for another luxury cruise line to take next.  I don’t know if going back to the Riveria or the Marina would be good or has the quality of food also not living up to their standards.

 

 

Yep, also on Vista then w/ missed last port but so it goes and so it goes and so it goes, the way its going no one knows ... when that will happen.   

Tendering on an earlier day was a rocky adventure and the ensuing catamaran a rock n roller coaster which O might have regretted not canceling.  Still ... have to question this Simply More scheme which seems to leave many missing out and feeling badly just built in.

Food experiences were overall a solid A.  

Ember - thanks to CC advice, sitting on the side so no noise issue ... its the lightest themed ... as a pub apparently ... no issues w/ quality but service seemed confused.

Also thanks to CC advice on snagging early times for 2 top worked well and earned window seats for sunsets over the ocean, which makes even a slightly overcooked steak at Polo no static at all.

7 hours ago, ORV said:

I was enjoying your View from Vista. Just curious if you would Do it Again?

and that is the ultimate question, innit ORV?  

Wheel turning round and round

did they change the water to cherry wine, turn the silver to gold?

They did or did a good job of trying even if not always perfectly executed.

O is in tune.  Four lightly themed restaurants included, (Ember theme is ... a pub? alrighty then if you say so, very lightly themed but DW had her favorite meal there) emphasis on food, right properly behaved crowd, civilized tea time and coffee bar. 

Little worried about so many complaints of room noise but ... Yep we would do it again.

now we dolly back, now we fade to black...

3 hours ago, LuAnn said:

I have seen that "setup". There was usually a sign in the corridor asking people to stay quiet. As you say...mixed results for sure!! 🙂

 

Mixed drinks = mixed results 

Its tough to please all members of the audience - the listeners and the socializers, someone is gonna be unhappy.

Another Tanquaray, I’ll wait for 20 past.

But the thin walls on the Vista does seem a common refrain for many even tho we got lucky.

Once had a neighbor on a river cruise who blasted Barbara Streisand starting at dawn … 

No offense to Babs (or Clean Willy) but too much of anything…

Thins walls you cannot get away from and could reasonably be a deal breaker.

Understand may be such a dealbreaker for our vlogger critic extraordinaire Mr. Gary B. And that major dude has mondo influence.

Wonder if that is fixable …if they wanted to.

8 hours ago, Sailnsurf said:

Thanks for your objective comments.

 

I have a first time Oceana cruise booked and have already been informed on this forum about almost all I need to know about how to best ensure my GF needs are met (I am coeliac). I know from cruising on HAL that those needs were well met when it came to dining arrangements as seems to be the case with O, but it was the all day options which fell short and it is in this area that I have little information.It is sometimes hard when those in your group are tucking into delightful looking pastries and suchlike if  there are very limited or no GF options.

 

It would be very helpful if you ( and others) could give information about those all day snack options e.g. is there a good choice of GF confectionaries available, are there GF ice creams ? Are there GF High Tea options?

 

 

Yep - its pretty well organized and the things you think are precious I understand.

pre-order dinners from a menu by 10pm the night before,

at the buffet just ask what is GF, (GF toast at breakfast takes a few min since it seems to come from another floor(?) but is delish)

usually some ice cream/gelato options are ok and some not,

high tea has GF interesting sandwiches and treats on request (its not on the same cart but seems somewhere close by b/c they come right quick), did not do room service so cannot say,

Barristers has GF muffins and sometimes other snacks on request but also takes a few minutes as the servers run and get although based on the number of others ordering GF there one has to wonder why they just don't keep more on hand.

Generally, the GF bread, especially the warm dinner rolls, are quite tasty, the snacks less so. 

Have to add whatever the past complaints here, the fruit variety and quality was excellent.

You won't starve.

Time to grab a piece of something that I think is gonna last.

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

Hmmm you think anyone talks at a Steely Dan concert?  LOL.  I have a close friend who is not a classical music lover, and she thinks classical music lovers are pretentious when it comes to keeping quiet in the presence of live classical music.  But put many of those folks in a Jazz Club/bar (such as Take 5 on Princess ships) and they will talk loudly without any consideration for the jazz lovers.   And how about in a piano bar?  Should folks have conversations when an entertainer is playing/singing?  

 

While I think most agree that it is proper to be quiet when in a theater setting, it is very open to debate about doing so in a bar/lounge where there is some entertainment.  

 

Speaking about classical music lovers, on some HAL ships they used to have classical (often chamber music or perhaps a violin/piano duo) that would play in a room that had an adjacent main corridor.  Folks would come walking along (it was a main route after leaving the MDR) that wide corridor chatting away and "disturb" the classical music lovers sitting in the adjacent lounge (which was completely opened to the corridor).  Some of the music lovers would try to "shush" the masses coming from dinner, and it was almost amusing.  While many of us would show respect for the audience and not make much noise, there were others that could care less that some folks (the audience might be 100) want everyone to be quiet.

 

So what is the proper decorum?  You will likely get all kinds of answers.

 

Hank

This and LMAO - might have to turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening.

HAL has the best music at sea IMHO in the House of Blues but those cats can blow and no conversation will be had, heard and probably should not be attempted because your going to turn and stop, start to finger pop.   

Talking in movies, in concerts or on cruise recitals or Dan concerts ... do you get what you pay for?

Maybe it depends on how much it costs to hear the entertainment in question? 

2 hours ago, LuAnn said:

Same here. The evening crowd was REALLY into the music. Horizons is big enough that during tea time there are plenty of places to sit away from the quartet if you want to chat. At least that is what we found. 

Like that

It is definitely big enough LuAnn with lots of sea view seats and a fantastic vibe.  

And yet talkers plant right up front, no tears and no hearts breaking, no regrets.

The quartet is so gracious, taking the talking in stride without missing a beat.  

Pros

... or playing a loud video on a cell phone at lunch, geezer geez

Listeners v. socializers, who is right?  Or does it depend on the time and place?

Ya know who would know the right balance?

One Sir Gary Bembridge, knower of all things cruising and who was at tea today and whose advises is second only to CC opinions or maybe it's a tie.  Should have asked him what is proper.... dang...

or a teenage rocker 

or the girls in France

Yes we all are partners in this cosmic dance 

but that's another tune

Not so loud anywhere, never had to ask for example "are you with me Dr. Wu? can you hear me doctor?" 

But riddle me this Dr. Koob -- at say afternoon tea where there is live music w/ a string quartet but also food being served, is that a proper setting for chatting or would that disturb the listeners?  Because looks like daggers flew around the room at talkers there.

Where does it stop? Where do you draw the line, where one can't go for that?

... but then again, that's another 70's band.

1 hour ago, MEFIowa said:

Though almost no one knows where their name came from. See William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch.

Like that

Now your trading fours 

1 hour ago, Twiga said:

I love your Steely Dan references, @Steelydad2021.  Very clever!  I would love to hear Steely Dan at the pool!

Right?

A lil yacht rock for the kids is all 

nothing wrong w/ crooning but a tad more toe tapping grovessential 

2 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Plus, don’t forget, they are fairly fluent in English. What this means is that no pecking in the glass while making subhuman guttural grunts and indistinguishable noises are necessary. Nor is sticking one’s arm under the shield to point directly into the food looked favorably upon. A simple “ May I have some bacon please?” gets one very good service with a smile.

We got grunts, noises, pecking and whatevahhhh 

In all my travels as the facts unravel, I have found this to be true

JK - passengers superfine here on the Vista

Hurry the bottle pinolover

45 minutes ago, Techno123 said:

Do staff still serve from the buffet - if so that at least removes some of the horror of other guests with unwashed hands using all the serving utensils then leaving the handles in the food 😱

Yes, indeed the staff do serve from the buffet Techno123.

And yes, that removes the horror of the great unwashed reaching, leaning, breathing, coughing, maybe putting items back ... yechhhh. 

And they serve quickly, can answer dietary questions, its generally service w/ a smile and maybe they help over doing it at the ice cream bar so we don't lose that number ... on the ole scale.

7 hours ago, Mareblu said:

Thank you so much for taking the time to post your considered review.  We are sailing with friends on Vista in a few weeks, and really looking forward to trying a new Oceania vessel.  We've enjoyed Marina, Nautica and Sirena (a few times on Nautica) so it will be interesting to compare.  No voyage is perfect, and food and wines are subjective commodities, so we don't embark expecting Utopia.  It's always a great idea to begin from a positive perspective, we find, so we'll see.

All good Mareblu 

Sounds like you are a big Oceania fan.  Glad to hear you like the line enough to ...do it again.

Waves rocks

and so does the Ocean 

so much so we missed port in Mexico today 

pool water going nuts

Rock n roll but steady goes the Vista

Yikes 

Very sorry

No crowds in Terrace or elevators this sailing

Maybe they figured out some things out? 
Or

maybe just dumb luck for us my friend?

Or 

maybe O is on best behavior since there is a celebrity critic on board?

One Mr Gary Bembridge 

Spotted him drinking a Zombie from a coco shell 
 

This kids got the eye

call it pirate radar 

Great tips and lots of complaints on these here CC boards all of which helped prep for the much needed vaca on the Vista now

To compare various threads w/ the actual current on-board experience & naturally YMMV, its all IMHO ...

• Thin walls/loud neighbors – for the 1st time in 5 days, we heard a bit of the TV next door last night and only for a short time, DW & I are on the sound sensitive side so brought a travel noise machine which did the trick but she actually said it was “too quiet” at night a few days ago, hah
• Chair hogs/pool crowds – well yeah but knew it would be like that and has been said around here, I tend to go to the pool to be in the water which is cooler than expected so keeps the masses away nicely
• Full ship/crowded – you’d never know we are at capacity, staff say the guest demographic (read older) means many stay in their rooms or do not more around the ship much so it almost eerily empty, reminds of when we sailed the X Apex just after Covid w/ only 25% but the Vista is full up
• Older clientele – sure but very well behaved, so who cares? We are all getting there
• Small gym – it is small for the ship size but O knew the demographic they serve apparently and I have never had to wait for the equipment even on sea day AM's
• Slow internet – N/P, enough to keep up w/ the necessaries work-wise
• Smokers – N/P w/ wafting odors
• Odd flavor drinking after – nope, only if you let it sit too long
• GF- decent enough job accommodating dietary needs
• Loud or lousy sound track – now this is important – volume is appropriate, tunes heavy on crooners from all decades and this just me but more by a certain yacht rock band would be welcome … what was that group’s name?

Nothing is perfect but “you’ve go to learn to live w/ what you can rise above” … so this really into the nits

• Aquamar - hot tub tiny tiles are coming off, odd since its a new ship
• Room was not vacuumed when we arrived, quickly fixed
• Surprisingly no emphasis on hand washing … like less than pre Covid? 
• filet was medium not medium rare in Polo

Overall, the formula is solid - 4 included lightly themed specialty restaurants, emphasis on food sensations, libations, call it on par w/ say a Luminae & WS, way above a Holland A

We booked well b/f “Simply More” so jury’s out on whether its “Simply More Money” … you say it’s a crazy scheme, I already bought the dream

Good questions CNSJ and good point terrydtx

Service - generally a push, a wash, a tie and you might say serviceable - no real standouts good or bad just variations within the usual bell curve  ...

but will say this ...

on both ships it became clear very early to go with the waiters' nightly dish recommendation otherwise there were some real stinkers.  For example, the Club Orange prepared choice was consistently solid particularly the Peruvian chicken but recurring options on the menu were lukewarm and/or tasteless or both.  Forewarned = forearmed...the waiters know how to guide w/o actually being overtly critical of what is not good so its best to put your trust and let them choose IMHO.

Found following waiter recommendations on the preferred dish to be even more important on river cruises.  Seems most lines want to have menu choices just to have choices but it's not a good sign when the waiter says "oh we have not had anyone order that for a while."  Not a fan of sending food back and less so of having to do so.

Cabins - it was Vista v. Sky Suite but not sure how fair cabin comparisons are since guests have some control over the selection, location, size, price etc.  In any case sunsets and sunsets over infinite horizons look good from most balconies - this bright familiar sun - and high up on the ocean cruise value prop but yeah, seems many unhappy comments on the infinite verandahs.  Sometimes change for change sake is not needed.

Allow myself to introduce myself as Austin Powers said.  DW & I are late 50's, offspring sprung and just off the NS Carribee run from 3.4.23 to 3.11.23 which makes for the 9th cruise.  Watched the Apex pulled out and into Port Everglades min apart and since Apex was our last ocean voyage, the ships are roughly similar in size, age, passenger demographics & price point, just for smiles and giggles, some comparisons.

Naturally, YMMV

Entertainment - NS for the live music category w/ the sweet Music Walk concept, though as noted on these boards, it feels a tad close, dark and crowded.  Nonetheless, BB King All Star band is note perfect and can those cats play.   But whatever your taste in tunes - angular banjos sound good to me - Lincoln Center, Billboard & Rolling Stone are all fun w/ hard working entertainers.  So, if tunes be your thang, then let's all meet at the end of the street, take me where the music is and this is your ship.  More the big stage extravaganza on the Apex.

Food & drink - libations, sensations and usually high in the value prop

- Buffets: Apex Oceanview over Lido for variety, quality and layout with the 2 story window views

- Cafes: Cafe al Bacio over Dutch by more than an edge in all ways

- Luminae beats Club Orange in vittles, service, ambiance and menu

- Specialty: Apex again s/a/a

Common space: similar layouts but the NS pool cover might be better in colder climes otherwise Apex has a lighter, brighter look & feel but only the natural plantings keep the vibe from crossing into glitz

Close call and would not rule out the NS again especially for that Glacier Bay itinerary

Again YMMV so just saying

Interesting.  Thought there might be nuances.  

Mindful this is both subjective but just how worthwhile is this sale?  And probably very speculative but how likely are other similar offers?  Or are all bets off given the current unprecedented times?