MrsSheba

6 hours ago, pinotlover said:

When we were on the Vista, a minimum of a group of eight could book one of the La Reserve menus in the Privee on any given night that the Privee wasn’t reserved for a ship function. The Vista reserved the right to add up to 2 more to the Group.

 

If you didn’t have a minimum of eight, you could put your name on a waitlist to see if Oceania could put together a group for that menu. In doing this, one had no clue which night the dinner would be, or if it would happen. So if you had other plans for the evening Oceania finally notified you of, availability, you had to choose.

 

The prices of the meals quoted above have now increased fairly significantly. Likewise, since they now can only be booked aboard ship, the price may be further increased by any applicable VAT tax. Adding 20% VAT to an over $400 meal pushes you to a $500 each affair. What I can’t remember is if the quoted prices included gratuity, which would add to the price.

 

As I have stated before, a combination of this overly expensive meal, a cumbersome reservation system, and not refreshing menus and wines leads me to believe Oceania is killing off the concept. 
 

On the Vista, Privee can only be reserved via a La Reserve dinner. On our upcoming April Riveria cruise, there are no La Reserve dinners being offered.

Gratuities are included.  On our cruise, Privee with the Odyssey menu was popular enough to be held on three different nights.  At the one we attended, there were four people who were traveling together and three separate couples.  Everybody had a great time.  Since we had booked the cruise when the O Life onboard credit option was still available, we used some of our onboard credit towards the dinner.  Sadly, this will no longer be possible with Simply More.

Yes.  Go see the dining reservations person once  you board.   She will put your name on a list and once enough people have signed up, you will get a confirmation.  

The Penthouse cabins on Vista are beautiful..so much space and storage.

A couple of people on our Vista cruise used blown up noodles.   Wasn't a problem.

Very early in the morning

We were on the 11/19 through 12/1 Vista cruise.  Our CD said that there were 1177 passengers on board, so basically at full capacity.  Except for one or two isolated incidents, it always felt like it was well staffed.

We loved the Vista library, also.  What changes are they making for the Allura library?

We are currently on Vista and have had two excellent experiences in Polo, once with an 8:00 reservation and once with an extra 9:00 reservation.  Pace of both meals was excellent and the service could not have been more gracious.

We are currently on a Vista Caribbean cruise and so far, it has been delightful.  We have found the ship to be beautiful, the staff friendly and the food delicious. If you are thinking about booking excursions, I would do so only for islands where the ship will dock.  We have already had one tender port on this voyage cancelled due to wind.