MEFIowa

And that inflation includes the double whammy of a seriously declining currency. Took about 19TL to the $ in late 2022, but was at 28TL to the $ in Nov 2023 and is now over 31.50 TL to the $ today. So they raise prices due to inflation just in TL and raise them again due to a declining TL to foreign currencies. Turkey has to import so much.

Though when I compared prices in TL for the underground cistern tour and the Raki hard liquor in the Jan 2021 Rick Steves' guide to Istanbul, prices have skyrocketed: - Basilica Cistern Jan 2021: 20 TL ($1) - Basilica Cistern Nov 2023: 450 TL ($16)

As I clearly said, "For very inexpensive transportation in Istanbul". Public transportation there is quite amazing for tourists who want to use it. And Rick Steves' guide to Istanbul gives you some great walking tours on both sides of the Golden Horn. We did one each on both sides. This was in comparison to what Southern Gary said, "The Manger of the stand said the Taxi Driver would take us to the Bazar, stay with us and bring us back for $60." I spoke with someone who paid $100 for his taxi trip to the old walls. We paid TL90 or a bit over $3.00 total for the 2 of us. And we WALKED from the ship across the Golden Horn to Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Spice Market. You can walk to the Bazaar on a nice day.

I was on the same cruise as Southern Gary and did the B2B off Riviera that brought us back to Istanbul the next weekend. So 4 days and 2 nights there. For very inexpensive transportation in Istanbul, there is a metro station just outside Galata Port on the main street there running WEST (e.g., to Old Constantinople, across the Golden Horn to Hagai Sophia) and EAST (e.g., new Dolmabahçe Palace). You will find a kiosk there that lets you buy and load an Istanbul card for public transportation. Single trips on the metro were TL15 or about 55 cents. We took the metro west to the big stop on the west of the bridge crossing the Golden Horn. 15TL. Then took #38 bus (from the bus station right across the Golden Horn, north of the metro stop) to the Old Walls about 4 miles out. Again, TL15. We walked a Rick Steves old city neighborhoods route back about 2 or so miles. Then took the metro back to the port. Again, just another TL15. So that was 45 TL each for us or total of 90TL. Was 28TL=$1 then. Now around 31.60TL

Though what about your cabin? What type? Deck? Any issues? What do you love about it?

The sweet spot for most sales, especially the "big ones", tends to be the B and A cabins. The 4 category upgrade sales, for example, bring the price of the Bs and As down much closer to the G and F cabins. I use them to get out of an initially booked G or F into a C, B or A. And summer with Vista is starting off during peak time on the newer ship, which O isn't normally looking to discount, if they can help it.

And NARY a single dollar figure provided. And nothing on how much you spend thru your TA in the past 1, 3, 5 or 10 years. Funny how it is always vagueness. But it is never gauche to make all the claims about the benefits of TAs? Odd. Isn't that your point, "Look at us and what our TA does for us!" The whole POINT is to encourage people to look at and use O SALES. Each and every time a new sale happens, study it.

And... how much have you spent with your TA on all your various cruises over the past 1, 3, 5 and 10 years? That's the point! Lots of bookings.

What, none with any specificity, just as I immediately note you didn't provide any specificity. I never get numbers. I'm happy to give out numbers. Our 10-night B3 at $1749 and our 10-night A3 at $1899, both on Riviera. Airfare came in at $1000 round trip. As I said, alcohol just for the 20 nights and excluding what I took home under $60 total. AND we had $725 each in OBC! I seriously DOUBT on our recent 26-nights in Europe, 20 on Riviera, that any of them paid less than we did overall. But then we book under sales and rebook under sales and my wife loves to track airfare. I even did the currency work, buying our Euros the year before when the Euro was at about 99 cents to the dollar. We bought E500. (As of Wednesday's WSJ page, 1E=$1.0859. I'm tracking 4 currencies for our upcoming Baltic cruise.) 10-nights on Riviera 12/2021 was A4 $2099 and 10-nights on Sirena 11/2022 was B2 $2399

No, I'm not. I book under sales and rebook under sales. Did "cruise only" before SM and book our own excursions and airfare. Bring our own alcohol on board. I did contact one of those supposedly amazing TAs. They make some wonderful videos of O cabins, for example. They did NOT want my business. So, for those without a TA, try this: Call a TA up and say, "I only want to book an O cabin on a deep sale with no airfare and no alcohol upgrade package and we'll do our own excursions." Then tell us all, how did it go? What is weird is how those extolling the virtues of TAs NEVER tell us how many thousands of dollars annually and over a 5- and 10-year period they spend with their TA. TAs know their whales and they know the clients that generate them money. They don't work for free. Unlike those who talk in generalities, I provide specific details on what I spend on the cabin, airfare, and excursions. I spent about $100 for all the alcohol I bought in Europe for our 26 nights there (including 20 on Riviera), and I packed 3 bottles of hard liquor in my checked back, looking at them as I type this.

Opened technically at 0700 on Riviera (20-night B2B 10-11/2023). We did laundry on both decks 9 (had an A3) and 7 (had a B3). I think wife and I used the self-service laundries 5 times total, because we started after 3 nights in Venice and were ending with 3 more nights in Barcelona. Did last load the day before the cruise ended. Our room on deck 7 was pretty close to the laundry. I stopped by at 0645 and it was open. So I started a load. (I had a blast being "Assistant Deputy VP of Laundry Operations" for the respective decks, due to my expertise in using the detergent, washers and dryers) Having access to the newspapers in the Concierge Lounge from our A3 was nice while doing laundry.

Calendar Qtr 1 is Jan-Feb-Mar. Calendar Qtr 2 starts Apr 1. Sounds like another such increase. Often seen around Jan 1 or Jul 1, too.

Gina and I hope to get back to Destin. Did part of our 2018 honeymoon there. Starting it in Charleston, then to Savannah, and ending in Destin. The road construction going west was a bit of a pain then! If you get the chance, take the boat out to Ship Island to have it all to yourself for the day. I had proposed to Gina next to the large cannon on the upper deck of Fort Massachusetts on it: "Ship Island is the site of Fort Massachusetts (built 1859–66), as a Third System fortification. Part of the island is included in the Gulf Islands National Seashore." Ship Island (Mississippi) - Wikipedia And DO some amazing bucket list in-depth vacation. For me, that was 2 weeks in Paraguay in April-May 2022. I've studied the country since my college days in the 1980s. Hope to get to Madagascar in 2026! SEE THE AMAZING TRAVEL/HISTORY WORKS BY JOHN GIMLETTE, A BRITISH ATTORNEY.

I enjoy buying travel guides from the local Half-Priced Book store. Detailed ones. Like Rick Steves' for European cities and areas. Then I study the city tours he sets out. Walking thru the route in my mind as I follow the map and read the descriptions of what we'll see. Then I'll have the book with me when we actually get there and walk the route. Did that in Istanbul, for example, taking the #38 bus 4 miles out to the old walls of Constantinople and then walking his route back, finding everything on the route. Doing this for out upcoming 22-night Baltic cruise on Sirena. Studying London, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Tallinn, Stockholm and more. Of course, I salivate at the thought of going into local grocery and liquor/wine stores to see what bargains I can find on beer, hard liqour and wine. It was paradise in the Med last year. Whether Italian wine, Montenegrin beer or brandy from Greece, Serbia and Spain. With some bizarre finds like red Etna fire water and Turkish Raki.

Though not too long ago, sometime in 2022 or 2023 on my NPR station in Iowa I listened to a CBC "As It Happens" radio discussion of the famous "Canadian Spiral Tunnels". From what I remember, there were both westbound and eastbound trains in the Canadian Rockies that are amazing! https://www.clevercanadian.ca/spiral-tunnels-in-canada/#:~:text=The Spiral Tunnels are a pretty cool engineering,and are connected by a series of switchbacks.

And for me the "real world" STARTS with O's sales. That Extraordinary Savings Sale in early 2023 that was an absolute blow(!) out did NOT come from any TA. But from O. And that saved $$$$. As opposed to OBC or the like that are pennies on the dollar in many cases. My A3 on Riviera last year was $1899 PP for 10 nights and the B3 on her as the B2B was just $1749 PP for 10 nights. That's the "real world". Of sales.

YOU left out a critical component, as people can read these boards for years, as I have: "And thus we read here of people who either complain about their TA or want to find one of these mythical uber-O TAs but can't because they can't be named here. I've read repeated claims over the past few years here from O passengers whose TA wouldn't reduce a booked cruise because of a sale or who NEVER told them about the sale to begin with."

Yours to keep. We received one of the nicer more functional older tote bags on Riviera 12/2021 and then this new less functional one on Riviera 10-11/2023. I had the first one with me on that cruise, too. I use it to bring back my alcohol in ports. Very sturdy.

Though to keep things in perspective, O had 8 major sales in 2023 and started the year with the New Years Sale, that just ended 2/29/24. So that was a mere 5 days ago! O now has a smaller sale on 30 cruises. BUT SALES are still oh so TODAY. Will be interesting to see how many sales O has in 2024. Right now were at 2. With 9 months to go.

My wife smokes so I get all the socialization I want in the 2 smoking areas. Weirdly, I get to know so many members of the crew in the smoking area up by Horizons. On Riviera last year the Russian captain was there all the time. Sometimes by himself, often with crew. Had a nice chat with him about our respective days in the military. And the point of sampling inexpensive alcohol purchased locally is to test that theory: Is the cheapest Italian wine decently drinkable? Yep, delicious. Whether one bottle at E1.49 or three bottles assorted at E5.00. Same for so many beers and hard liquors. I could live on Greek, Serbian and Spanish brandy! Inexpensive doesn't have to mean low quality.

Oceania does NOT care nor monitor how much beer, hard liquor or wine you bring on board. I brought all three on board in Trieste 10/30/23 as I did on Sirena (11/2022) and Riviera (12/2021). And brought back all three from various ports throughout our 20-night B2B. In 2022 I remember people did look at my smiling & asked me questions as I pushed with my feet a 6-bottle canvas carrying bag in the "snake" that was the G-B line at Terminal J, that had 5 bottles of wine and one of vodka. Had 12 pack of beer in my suitcase. In Trieste we embarked, had lunch, then left. Brought back my haul of beer, hard liquor and wine from a grocery store later that afternoon when we came back.

Though in the absence of details one has no idea why this cruise was so bad for you. You didn't like cruising alone? As long as the itinerary had some nice ports and I could do some interesting excursions, that price would make it worth it. But then I'm not shy about solo traveling. Spent 2 weeks in Paraguay back in Apr-May 2022. I was up at 0500 wandering around Asuncion, Humaita, Pilar, and more all by myself. Never forget the kid on a motorcycle herding cattle down the dirt streets of Humaita at 0630. Or feeding monkeys hanging down from trees in the square in Santa Maria de Fe at 0530. And I don't speak any Spanish!

Reminds me why I bring my own beer, hard liquor and wine on board to drink in my own cabin. Paid just E1.49 for a bottle of Italian red at a grocery store in Naples. The wine shops there would sell assorted bottles of wine at three bottles for just E5.00. Montenegrin beer on sale in Kotor grocery store for just E0.69 per 500 ml can. Great prices on brandy in Greece, Montenegro, and Spain. Stocked up on a lot of beer, Italian grappa, and wine at the start with great prices in a grocery store in Trieste.

We enjoyed our 10-night cruise in a B2 on Sirena in the E. Caribbean in 11/2022 from Miami. Thankfully was just $2249 PP cruise only (booked on Riviera in the W. Caribbean 12/2021, and that 10-night A4 was just $2099 PP cruise only). Thank God for sales & discounts. But prices have climbed since then esp. under SM.

Check to see if there is a Roll Call for your cruise. We're on Sirena in the Baltic from August 28-September 19th. B2B London to Stockholm and Stockholm to Copenhagen. There is a Roll Call for these cruises. Not very active, however.